"Onmyouji, Dark Swordsman, Magic Swordsman…"

Looking at the match-ups, I murmured, "This Sword Lord of Jianghu is definitely a powerful team. Give it your all, everyone. I want you girls to fight like you want to utterly crush them, even if the actual results might differ!"

He Yi said with a smile, "Good luck on the first match. Judging from the matches this Onmyouji fought in, his skills are bizarre to say the least. Make sure he doesn’t trip you and score a cheap win over you."

I nodded and raised the Purple Ying Sword higher. "Don’t worry. For my gold and my MVP title, I’m going to win this match no matter what!"

Beside me, one of my strongest contenders for the MVP title, Beauty Lin, stared at me and complained, "Can’t you lose at least one match, Little Cheat? If you advance to the semi-finals with another flawless victory, the MVP title will truly be out of our hands…"

I grinned. "Don’t worry, my dear, I promise I’ll beat this Onmyouji perfectly for you!"

……

Swhoosh!

After I teleported to the arena, I saw Now and Forever, the Onmyouji staring at me with a cool gaze from his corner. He looked to be around 30 years old, and he had firm, chiseled features that looked like they were carved out of stone. He wielded a scepter and donned a black-and-white magic robe. Actually, his whole attire looked bizarre in a way that I couldn’t really describe. His Famous General Skill was Mage Soul, a stratagem that boosted Magic Attack by 100% and spell casting speed by 50%. It was very powerful to say the least.

I activated Martial God and Great Earth Transformation in quick succession, boosting my attack power and surrounding myself with three cyan blades. Then, I stood on the grassy field and waited for the countdown to begin.

Now and Forever suddenly smiled and asked me, "Is there nothing you would like to say to me, Lu Chen? I’m an opponent you’ve never seen before. You must be curious about something, right?"

I thought for a moment before answering, "What are you expecting me to say, really? Let’s have a good battle?"

"Hmph! Lowly commoner…"

Now and Forever let out a disdainful chuckle before continuing, "I should’ve known that not even a CGL Heavenly King is immune to the stench of barbarism. The likes of you will never make it far in any court that matters!"

I suppressed my anger and smiled dangerously. "What do you mean, barbarism? If I’m a barbarian, then what are you?"

Now and Forever continued to sneer disdainfully. "Do you perchance think that you and I are comparable by any metric? Oh no. I am a loyal servant of our country, while you are just a bandit who fights to protect his tiny corner of the world. Don’t even think to compare me to the likes of you, swine. All I ask of you is to wash your eyes and watch, Today, I will show you exactly how inferior you and your guild are! Sword Lord of Jianghu will be the final winner of this WEL!"

If this guy was trying to provoke me, he was doing a very good job at it. I gave my sword a wave and swore angrily, "Bullshit! If we are bandits, then what the fuck do you think you are?"

Now and Forever’s sneer turned enigmatic. "Well, I suppose I don’t need to keep it a secret. I don’t serve any corporation. I am a direct hire of the China VR department. Do you understand now? I am the one who truly serves the country!"

"The China VR department?"

"That’s right!"

It was at this moment I heard a beep. It was a message from Zhang Chun. "Lu Chen, there’s no need to argue with him. This China VR Department he’s talking about is a newly created department that’s led by an executive chief of the State Council. I heard that they had recruited a bunch of top-tier players to conduct the Nation War and fight for our national interest, and this Onmyouji must be one of them. Regardless, there’s no need to waste words with this idiot. Just cut him down and show him who’s the real boss of the battlefield!"

I nodded and sent him a reply, "Got it."

I became calm despite my enemy’s arrogance. I knew full well that a battle couldn’t be won without a cool head. I wasn’t so blinded by anger that I couldn’t see that Now and Forever possessed the aura of a true top-tier expert, not to mention that I had seen the way he fought during the previous battles.

Finally, the countdown began—

3!

2!

1!

Fight!

The grass beneath my feet scattered as I charged toward Now and Forever. I fired a Dragon Slaying Slash at him and pointed my palm to the sky, dropping Ancient Seal right on top of the mage.

Bang! Bang!

MISS!

MISS!

Now and Forever calmly took a few steps back to dodge the Dragon Slaying Slash and tanked the Ancient Seal with his Magic Shield. Then, he gave his scepter a wave and launched a wave of ghastly purple flames at me—Fatal Will-o’-Wisp!

I raised my left arm and summoned the Dragon God Shield to block the magic spell!

Boom!

49887!

Both the scorching pain across my arm and the damage number rising from my head informed me that this mage possessed an incredible amount of Magic Attack. If I was a normal metal-armor warrior without Ghost Deity Shield, I would’ve received at least 120k damage from that spell!

I changed directions and ran toward Now and Forever at a curved angle. Then, I fired Thousand Ice Slash at him from afar!

Boom!

Now and Forever hurriedly Blinked to safety, the storm of icy blades causing nothing more than a cloud of dust. At the same time, he retaliated by summoning a purple ghost that clung to my body and slowed me down drastically. It was the signature skill of the Onmyouji class, Ghastly Plague. It temporarily reduced the target’s movement speed and attack speed by 25%, and it was a most deadly skill in a PvP battle.

Since my movement speed was greatly reduced by Ghastly Plague, I circled around the mage from a suitable distance and searched for an opportunity to land the killing blow.

Meanwhile, Now and Forever waved his scepter again and summoned a sea of flames from the sky. He laughed as he chanted, "Hellish Tribulation"!

The skill had a radius of 10 yards, and I lost a ton of HP instantly. It was an AoE magic spell that was as strong as Lian Xin’s Dimensional Storm!

"Heh!"

I smiled. He wasn’t the only one with a broken AoE skill. I retaliated with Coiling Dragon Revolution!

"Roar!"

The spiraling blade and storm instantly destroyed Now and Forever’s Magic Shield and a large chunk of his HP, dealing 48289 damage!

Shocked, Now and Forever hurriedly waved his scepter and shouted, "Soul Forge!"

Swhoosh!

+48289!

A skill that instantly healed him back to full health? Incredible. The Onmyouji class truly was a powerful secret class!

However, I had dodged two hellish flames that were blocking my way and closed the distance between us to zero while he was distracted. Then, I pressed my sword against his chest.

"Ah?!"

Now and Forever’s mouth fell open. He wasn’t expecting me at all because I had used a shrubbery to cover up my charge. Before he knew it, it was already too late.

A cone of cyan flames burst around the blade of my weapon. Universe Break would pierce his torso at any moment now.

It was at this moment Now and Forever smiled again and conjured a translucent mirror between the two of us. At the same time he growled out, "Yin Yang Mirror!"

It was too late to cancel the skill now, so I thrust my sword forward and attempted to skewer him!

Bang!

However, the Yin Yang Mirror actually reflected my skill and caused the Universe Break to hit myself instead. Worse, it even resulted in a critical hit!

190768!

I was stunned. This is so unlucky!

Now and Forever waved his scepter one last time and hit me with a lightning fast Fatal Will-o-Wisp!

51935!

One second my body was burning, and the next I was teleported out of the arena. When I looked down, I saw Now and Forever looking at me and laughing arrogantly, "Is this all you got? Little Heavenly King my ass! You are a disappointment to our country!"

……

"That motherfucker!" Li Chengfeng growled while clenching his teeth.

Gui Guzi was also red with fury. "Yo host! Let me at ‘em! I’m going fucking stab that motherfucking sonuvabitch myself!"

However, He Yi simply shot me a smile and said, "I would tell you victory or defeat is commonplace blah blah blah, but I guess you don’t need me to tell you that."

I chuckled in return. "Yep!"

A confused Lian Xin pouted at me and asked, "Big brother Lu Chen, I don’t understand why you’re laughing. You just lost a fight!"

Beside her, Lin Yixin giggled behind her palm, "Oh Lian Xin, you don’t understand your big brother at all!"

"Huh?" Lian Xin’s confusion grew even bigger. "What do you mean, sister dumb girl?"

Lin Yixin frowned a bit at the not-very-kind nickname, but explained, "You know how fast Lu Chen is. You know he could’ve executed that Universe Break in 0.15 seconds and murder Now and Forever before he could even react. Instead, he chose to delay it for almost 1.5 seconds before he finally used it. Why? It’s because he was baiting Now and Forever into revealing his trump card. This way, your chances of securing the 2v2 match will be much higher. Am I right, Lu Chen?"

I shrugged once before teasing her, "You’re too smart for your own good, girl. You’re going to scare away all your potential husbands…"

Lin Yixin shot back a sweet smile. "My marriage is my business! Worse comes to worst, I’ll just stay unmarried forever!"

Li Chengfeng laughed. "That would be a shame…"

Now that Gui Guzi knew what was going on, he scratched his head and said, "Damn, boss Broken Halberd is so much smarter than I am. Baiting an enemy into using his trump card? Damn. Why didn’t I think of that myself?"

Chaos Moon giggled. "Forget it, you lack the brain to outwit anyone but a child. Just focus on growing your brawn and you’ll be fine…"

Gui Guzi: "..."

……

The second battle began quickly, and I was once again teleported onto the battlefield. Again, I activated Great Earth Transformation immediately.

Now and Forever sneered at me disdainfully. "If this is all you have then you may as well surrender now, Lu Chen. Little Heavenly King? You don’t deserve your title…"

I smiled at him and said, "Just shut your trap, will ya? I promise I’ll teach you a lesson in humility right after the countdown is over."

"Like hell you will!"

I wasn’t going to waste any more breath on him, so I simply kept quiet and waited for the countdown to reach zero. Then, I immediately launched my assault!

I threw my sword and watched it crush practically everything in its path be it tree or stone. The Mountain Crush effect of the Purple Ying Sword was incredibly profound on a hill forest terrain like this, not to mention that the way Coiling Dragon Revolution carried all that debri unto itself made it looked like a world-ending hurricane. Although Now and Forever was expecting me to use Coiling Dragon Revolution, the reality of the skill still dwarfed his imagination. In his panic, he chose to Blink out of the skill’s way!

That made things very simple for me. I locked onto his figure and predicted where he would move to next. Then, I Charged!

Swhoosh!

I appeared behind Now and Forever like a lightning bolt and summoned a cone of cyan flames around the blade of the Purple Ying Sword once more. Then, I pressed the weapon to his throat and said,

"Break!"

67992!

Universe Break pierced his Magic Shield, and it was a weak point attack. Naturally, it was a one-shot. Now and Forever gaped at me as he uttered, "What… how… are you so fast…"

He didn’t get to say anything else before he was sent away from the battlefield. The entire fight only lasted 1.5 seconds, and I bet that Now and Forever’s mind was stuck like rusted gear after the roller coaster of emotions he went through just now.

……

The third fight was almost a complete copy of the second. I took his life with a lightning-fast Universe Break just like before, and again, I was too fast for him to cast his Yin Yang Mirror. His brain just wasn’t fast enough to truly make use of his powerful skill!

The score turned 2:1, and I successfully claimed the first point for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls as promised!