I had no idea what that skill was, only that it almost deleted 100k HP from me. It was at least as powerful as a spell from a top-tier mage like Luo River God of the Capital herself. If I wasn’t mistaken, this Thunder God Ball was a dual-type skill that was effective against all kinds of armor just like my Coiling Dragon Revolution!

It was a bad idea to remain passive and wait for death to claim me, so after backing about ten yards I ran toward Red Maple at top speed!

Eyes burning with fighting spirit and laughing, Red Maple raised his weapon and said, "Is this all you got, MVP of China? Die!"

It was Fire God Flurry again. Red Maple apparently had an incredible sense of distance because he timed his attack so that it would hit me the moment I entered within 5 yards of him, also the maximum attack range of his skill.

Theoretically speaking, I wouldn’t have time to react to the attack. In reality though, Red Maple had underestimated my reaction speed. Right before Fire God Flurry could touch my nose, I zigged 45 degrees to the right, spending merely 0.15 seconds to dodge the skill perfectly, then zagged back onto my path as if I never left it. Once I moved close enough to Red Maple, I slammed the hilt of my sword right into his face!

Bang!

Blood spilled out of his mouth as he staggered backward, the impact nearly costing him a tooth. While he was distracted, I seized the opportunity to fire Burning Blade Slash at him!

"Ah?!"

Red Maple exclaimed in shock. Knowing that the skill was deadly, he immediately crossed his sword in front of himself and used Guard.

Bang bang bang!

The three sword auras rocked his body and dealt a ton of damage—

39029!

42828!

52989!

Red Maple was shocked that he had lost over 130k HP despite Guarding. Before he could do anything else though, I ran up to him and kicked him right in the stomach!

"Get lost!"

Bang! Red Maple failed to block the attack in time and was sent rolling across the ground. The clash of Divine Generals was intense to say the least.

Red Maple plunged his sword into the ground to stop his momentum. Then, he bounced back to his feet and summoned a gust of wind at the center of his palm. He shouted, "Wind Dragon Revolution!"

Whoosh whoosh...

A hurricane appeared out of nowhere and took the form of a Wind Dragon. It was an AoE magic skill! The skill swept across my body and deleted over 60k HP, but I was undeterred. After I healed myself with Tenacity of the Dead, I rushed Red Maple again, knocked his blade out of the way and cut him right across the shoulder!

"Ah!"

49291!

The attack was just a basic attack, but it was too fast for the so-called number one swordsman of the Japan server to react to. Enraged and humiliated, he zigzagged around me, brought his sword low and tried to slash me across the waist.

There was no time to think. I raised the Dragon God Shield and slapped his sword out of the way. At the same time, I shuffled my feet twice in an S-shaped pattern, avoided any follow-up attacks that might come from him, and arrived behind his back. One of the helix maneuver’s best traits was flexibility. I could attack or not anytime I wanted to while I was running along its orbit!

A tai chi image appeared beneath my feet as the Purple Ying Sword burst into indigo flames. Universe Break easily cut through his body like paper!

110293!

Red Maple let out a scream of pain. He had used a healing skill beforehand, but the attack still brought him to red health. Summoning a swirl of divine energy to his arm, he turned around in a hurry and fired his Divine General Skill at me—Maple Kill!

Whoosh whoosh whoosh…

Countless maple leaves appeared out of nowhere and flew toward me.

I gritted my teeth and made the snap decision to throw my weapon at Red Maple. The Purple Ying Sword wreathed in dragon-shaped energy piercing his body first. You think you’re faster than me? Idiot!

120399!

After that, I took three quick steps to the back and successfully dodged out of harm’s way. Red Maple’s Divine General Skill probably hit like a truck, but unfortunately for him, it had the start-up time of a truck as well. There was little chance it could hit a player at my skill level.

Thud…

An ashen-faced Red Maple dropped to his knees and died. I, on the other hand, was well over 35% HP.

The score turned 1:0. For now, the lead was mine!

……

The arena had background music, but it wasn’t nearly enough to suppress the thunderous applause and cheers coming from outside the battle room. If Lin Yixin’s fight against Titan God was a duel of skills, then my fight against Red Maple was a true duel to the death. Red Maple thought of me as his mortal enemy, and vice versa. That was why we had employed every tool in our arsenal to murder the fuck out of each other. Technique, character skills, stats, combos and so on. The goal was to slay the enemy as effectively and efficiently as possible!

Red Maple’s speed and swordsmanship were top-notch, but it was clear that he was still a tad inferior to me. The higher you climbed, the deadlier the power gap between players became. The Japanese player’s tactics were even lousier than Candlelight Shadow’s, and while it wasn’t a big gap. it was just enough to give me a win.

"Keep this up, big bro! One more round, and victory is ours!" Beiming Xue said sweetly from outside the arena.

Lian Xin also planted the butt of her scepter on the ground and cheered, "Lu Chen, do your best! Lu Chen, do your best!"

He Yi simply smiled without saying a word. It was clear that she had full confidence in me.

……

Swhoosh!

After Red Maple teleported back into the arena, he glared at me frigidly before saying, "Don’t think you’ve proven your strength just because you got lucky. The real battle has just begun!"

I didn’t answer him. I preferred to prove my point with the blade in my hand.

The countdown began, and Red Maple activated Great Earth Transformation once more. Staring daggers at me, he growled, "I’ll grant you a horrible death this round!"

I brandished the Purple Ying Sword beside me and replied, "You know what, I won’t activate Great Earth Transformation this round so you can’t say that us Chinese players are bullies who enjoy bullying the weak. Now come. It is time we determine a victor between the top rung of our servers!"

Obviously, my stats would fall behind Red Maple’s without Great Earth Transformation, but when it came to mental state, I dare say that I was in a better place than Red Maple. If I lost this round, I still had another round to make things right. But if Red Maple lost, then his team would be kicked out of the competition. Shameful or not, he didn’t have the choice not to use Great Earth Transformation. When the countdown hit zero, Red Maple took the initiative and rushed me first!

Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh!

Three slashes flew my way at lightning speed. For all my mockery, I wasn’t stupid enough to pretend that he didn’t deserve his title as the number one player in the Japan server. Still, my mind remained as calm as a lake, and I felt like I knew almost every movement he was about to make. The Purple Ying Sword dashed forward to meet its challenger!

Chiang chiang!

I parried two of his attacks before withdrawing my weapon. Then, I activated Guard to reduce my damage taken!

Bang!

29487!

It was a lot of damage even though it was a successful Guard. Great Earth Transformation obviously weighed a lot in any battle.

Red Maple turned his sword away so he could summon a ball of lightning around his left fist and punch me. I gathered the Magic Piercing Punch myself and met his fist head-on!

Bang!

The energy dissipated, and we both took a few steps away from each other. My arms felt numb, but I rushed Red Maple again before it could recover some feeling. I would be in danger if I allowed something this minor to disrupt my attack rhythm.

Red Maple’s tactic was obvious. He planned to overwhelm my defense with speed. After he knocked aside my sword, he jumped into the air and slammed his knee into my chest. My parries seemed powerless because Great Earth Transformation gave him too much stats.

Not waiting for the suffocating sensation in my lungs to disappear, I spun around Red Maple, grabbed his waist armor, and pulled him toward the ground. He launched a right foot at me right before the impact, but I responded with an elbow strike of my own and sent his right foot slamming into his own person instead. Stats or not, gravity and force were on my side this time. Sensing an opening, I thrust my leg forward and kneed him right beneath the chin!

Thud!

39092!

Red Maple couldn’t defend against it. It was simply too swift and unexpected. I ran past his prone body before turning around and launching Burning Blade Slash!

Bang bang bang!

At this point, it was looking really bad for Red Maple because he was suffering blows without being able to trade back. He hurriedly raised his arm and used Maple Kill again, but I backpedaled as much as I could while firing three Ancient Seals into the air. I also raised the Dragon God Shield to block the Divine General Skill with Ghost Deity Shield!

69929!

Maple Kill’s damage was really high, but my Ancient Seal also dealt 100k+ damage to him. His HP entered the red zone again in just the blink of an eye.

Thud thud thud...

I ran along an unpredictable path before pointing my hand at him. God Binding Art!

Swhoosh!

The skill landed successfully, but Red Maple activated War God Rampage in the nick of time and nullified the status effect. Face red with anger as he charged toward me, he shouted, "Dammit! I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you!"

I retreated to the back and dropped Icy Cyclone Domain on top of the man. The skill didn’t slow him, but it did do a fair amount of damage. A moment before he was about to reach me, the image of a dragon appeared around my sword once more. The weapon cut right through Red Maple’s body in thunderous fashion!

592880!

It was an impossible number. The only explanation for it was that the Coiling Dragon Revolution had triggered the Purple Ying Sword’s quintuple damage passive. It was the final nail in Red Maple and God’s Domain’s coffin.

Thud!

Red Maple collapsed helplessly to the ground despite his struggles. Glaring furiously at me, he said, "Just you wait! I won’t forget your face, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. I, Red Maple, swear to storm your city with a million-strong army of Purple Grape City! Revenge will be mine!"

I simply said, "Revenge will be yours? We’re the ones who should be saying that!"

Pa! Red Maple disappeared the moment my sword returned to my hand. With this, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had officially advanced to the quarter-finals with a 3:0 score!

……

Swhoosh!

After I teleported out of the arena, Beiming Xue hugged my arm excitedly and said, "Big bro, you’re amazing! That Red Maple’s so-called peerless swordsmanship is practically a joke before yours!"

Lian Xin also praised smilingly, "Red Maple’s swordsmanship may be peerless, but he’s lacking in every other area. Big bro Lu Chen’s swordsmanship, tactics, positioning, skill timing, combo and more are all among the best of the best!"

I blushed. "You may stop praising me now…"