I was inside the game, but I could still hear the cheers of the audience coming from outside the battle room. Countless Chinese exchange students had traveled to the stadium in person just to support their team. Their hearts burst with patriotism and joy when they saw a brethren of their own displaying an excellent mastery of magic to destroy the fourth best expert of the Japan server with incredible skill.

On the other hand, Red Maple and the rest of his comrades didn’t look as confident as they were before. Cyan Frost’s defeat was a wake-up call and a realization that the China champion team wasn’t as fragile as they imagined. Red Maple might think that the China server had declined when all its top experts such as Frivolous Scholar, Seven-Star Lamp, Paralyzing Wind of Sorrow and more retired from the game, but he was wrong. China could never run out of top-tier talent. Every time the old retires, a new era of experts would stand up and take their place. They were only humiliating themselves every time they tried to challenge us.

……

The second match was Beiming Xue versus Purple Thunder. The enemy’s class was a secret assassin class, and there had to be something special about him. Usually, it was incredibly difficult for an assassin to enter the Top 10 of the Hall of Fame of any server. For example, Farewell Song of China was easily one of the Top 10 duelists in the China server. However, he couldn’t even make it into the Top 10 of the leaderboard of a Nation War because his job was to lie low and assassinate key targets, not cut down every enemy in his path—which directly contributed to contribution points—like a warrior.

Swhoosh swhoosh!

A pair of lights entered the battlefield. Purple Thunder wore a black leather armor and wielded a pair of dark green daggers. His lips were curled in a slightly disdainful manner as he said to Beiming Xue, "I wasn’t expecting to see an archer in the WEL internationals, much less a 1v1, to be honest.”

Beiming Xue simply raised her bow and said smilingly, "You poor boy! Don’t worry, your great aunt’s gonna teach you exactly how an archer dominates in a 1v1 match right away!"

The countdown began, and Purple Thunder vanished into thin air. The map was Autumn Square, more specifically a town square from the medieval period. Unfortunately, there was no way to identify his location besides watching out for disturbed leaves on the ground, and stealth was so broken that they didn’t even leave shadows on the ground. How does that even work? On the other hand, if assassins did leave shadows on the ground, then no one would play the class as a matter of course.

3!

2!

1!

Beiming Xue moved to the back and activated Great Earth Transformation. On the other side of the battlefield, a ripple of energy suddenly disturbed the air as well. Looks like Purple Thunder was also a Divine General!

"Well of the Abyss!"

Beiming Xue immediately fired her Divine General Skill, but it only resulted in a MISS. Somehow, Purple Thunder had dodged it in the nick of time before melting completely into thin air.

Whoosh whoosh...

However, Well of the Abyss was a vortex that sucked everything into itself for a short period of time, so the leaves near the skill were all flying toward it. Some of them flew into an invisible target that was most certainly the assassin she was looking for.

Beiming Xue immediately raised her Ice Soul Feather and loosed a Skypiercer!

Swhoosh!

Countless arrows rained on top of Purple Thunder and forced him to roll out of the way. It looked a bit panicky, but the assassin himself was anything but that. After he got back to his feet, he activated Haste and rushed Beiming Xue despite the massive health loss he had suffered so far.

Beiming Xue calmly aimed her bow and used Evil Spirit Volley. Twelve arrows immediately flew toward Purple Thunder in rapid succession!

"Hmph!"

Eyes brimming with fighting spirit, Purple Thunder activated his seventh-promotion skill, Dance of Death, and increased his speed drastically. Like a shadow, he shortened the distance between himself and Beiming Xue in an instant and used Blade Vortex. It was the strongest offensive skill the Assassin class had, and the reason he used it so quickly was because he knew that the Chinese archer was stronger than he had given her credit for. It was impossible to CC and kill her the standard way, so he shifted his goal to chipping as much health as he could before killing her!

A bit of excitement entered Beiming Xue’s eyes. Lifting the Ice Soul Feather with one hand and pulling out her dagger with the other, she parried all three attacks before firing a point-blank Spiraling Arrow Blade!

This time, Purple Thunder couldn’t help but feel a bit of panic. His health had dropped dangerously low!

However, he suddenly bent his knees and tensed up like a bow. Then, he cried, "Lightning Strike!"

Swhoosh!

As if he had divined the secrets of space itself, Purple Thunder suddenly appeared next to Beiming Xue and sank his dagger into her flesh, dealing 89288 damage!

Worse, flames suddenly surrounded Purple Thunder as he swelled like a balloon. He shouted again, "Die!"

Bang!

To our shock, Purple Thunder exploded and engulfed Beiming Xue in flames. A moment later, a figure escaped the thick smoke and landed safely on the ground. It was none other than Purple Thunder himself. He had detonated his own body, but managed to escape death via a shadow clone. It was his Divine General Skill, Shadow Explosion!

Swhoosh!

After Beiming Xue reappeared next to us, she gripped her Ice Soul Feather and complained with a pout, "I’m so angry!"

I smiled reassuringly at her and said, "Relax, at least you know you need to watch out for his Divine General Skill now. That Lightning Strike also allows him to reach you instantly like Charge, except it has zero cast time and can only be dodged preemptively. You’ll win as long as you maintain your distance. Also, don’t waste your Well of the Abyss like that anymore. The reason he won was because you used it way too frivolously the first time. Check the map, predict his location, and the match should be yours."

"Mn, I got it!"

Beiming Xue teleported back into the arena, and this time the map was Grassy Field. I smiled. This was about the best map Beiming Xue could get against Purple Thunder!

As expected, Beiming Xue easily determined her opponent’s location via his footprints and fired Skypiercer. The super AoE skill gave Purple Thunder nowhere to run, so he did exactly what he did last time—activating Haste and Dance of Death—and rushed Beiming Xue.

He opened up with Lightning Strike, but Beiming Xue jumped and blocked the attack with her bow. After allowing the momentum to carry her to the back, she pointed her palm at Purple Thunder and used Well of the Abyss!

Beiming Xue left Purple Thunder’s side too quickly for him to self-destruct this time. Worse, his tactic was completely countered by Beiming Xue. The moment he awoke from Well of the Abyss, he ate Spiraling Arrow Blade and Bone Eroding Arrow to the face and died!

The score was now 1:1, a tie!

The third round was Snow Plains, and it looks like the system was watching over Lil Beiming today. The second Purple Thunder took his first step, the indentation on the snow revealed his position. He never had a chance. The Archean-grade bow Ice Soul Feather doubled Skypiercer’s damage, and it had a chance of freezing its target. That was exactly what happened during this round.

Crack!

Icicles grew around Purple Thunder’s feet and immobilized him, preventing him from taking even a single step!

Purple Thunder exclaimed in shock, "What the fuck is this?"

Beiming Xue’s Spiraling Arrow Blade and Explosive Arrow pierced his body before he even finished speaking. No level of equipment—at least not on an assassin—could withstand the might of Beiming Xue’s Windchaser set and Ice Soul Feather.

The score turned 2:1, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls now led the battle with a 2:0 score, threatening match point. It was my turn to face the enemy’s ace, MVP of the Japan server, and god in the eyes of countless Japanese players, Red Maple!

……

Chiang!

At the waiting area, Red Maple planted his sword on the slab beneath his feet and shot me a dangerous smile. "Don’t think you’ve won. This is just the beginning!"

I smiled back. "Think? We’ve won already, you just don’t know it yet. Oh well, it’s not like it matters anyway. Our 16th-finals opponent in the China nationals was stronger than you are…"

"Fucker!"

Red Maple swore furiously, "Duel me if you dare! I’ll show you what true swordsmanship is!"

"Sure. Wait for me…"

I laughed and summoned the system fairy. Then, I teleported into the battle arena!

Swhoosh swhoosh!

We entered the battle arena at almost the same time, and we both activated Great Earth Transformation. This match was critical to both of us for very different reasons. I wanted to 3:0 God’s Domain in a dominant fashion and deliver Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls into the Top 8. Red Maple wanted to turn the tables and reverse-sweep us, or God’s Domain would have to bid the WEL internationals goodbye prematurely. There were only two Japanese teams in this competition, and one of them had been eliminated already. This meant that they were the only ones left to carry the flag of their country. If Red Maple lost here, he would be disappointing tens of millions of Japanese players.

Of course, shaming the fucker was exactly what I was hoping to do. This guy was so arrogant that he acted as if the entire China server was beneath him. He thinks his mastery of the sword is peerless? Very well, I’ll give him a taste of Chinese swordsmanship and beat him in his proudest area! If there was one thing I knew for certain, it would be that no one knew the sword better than I did!

……

The countdown began, and the air tensed to the point where you could almost see it—

3!

2!

1!

Fight!

Red Maple dashed toward me like a loose bolt immediately after the battle began. I ran toward him myself before using Thousand Ice Slash!

Boom!

52883!

Red Maple shuddered, but didn’t look affected by the skill in the slightest. He fired his own skill at me while shouting, "Fire God Flurry!"

Its speed was too fast. It almost looked like one long attack!

I knew that it was impossible to parry the skill perfectly, so I spun the Purple Ying Sword in a circle—parrying two of the attacks—before angling my shoulder to eat the third strike. At the same time, I ran past him and rammed the Dragon God Shield against his back!

70992!

32822!

It looks like Fire God Flurry was similar to Burning Blade Slash in that the third and final hit dealt an insane amount of damage. I lost a ton of HP even considering my current Defense!

Red Maple was moving way too quickly. He faced toward me and swung his weapon again!

Chiang!

I parried the attack with the Purple Ying Sword and kicked him with lightning speed!

Bang!

However, Red Maple wasn’t boasting when he claimed that his swordsmanship was first-class. Somehow, he managed to withdraw his sword in time to block my kick and sent me stumbling to the back instead. Before I could recover my footing, he tossed a ball of lightning at me while shouting, "Die!"

I immediately activated Ghost Deity Shield and raised my left arm!

An electrifying sensation coursed through my body despite the skill. At the same time, a shocking damage number rose above my head—90092!