The King's Avatar

Everyone held hope for Song Xiao because he never panicked, because he always performed spectacularly during critical moments.

But this time? Ever since Ye Xiu’s Lord Grim pierced through his defenses, Song Xiao failed to successfully get them back up. If it was said that he had deliberately left openings in his defense looking for a counterattack, then right now he was purely focused on resisting his opponent’s attacks; he was playing on the defensive to survive.

However, even in this sort of situation, players proficient in defense could still find ways to break through the opponent’s offense and seize opportunities to turn the tides.

Song Xiao was a calm player and was also exceptional at defense, which was why unlike other players who were overwhelmed by the Unspecialized Blitz during the regular season, people felt like he definitely wouldn’t lose like them.

But from the looks of it, they shouldn’t hold any such expectations. Song Xiao was being suppressed just like every other player. Receding Tides was in dire straits. As for Song Xiao’s current state of mind, no one knew.

“He only has 10% health left,” Pan Lin hadn’t given up. He hoped to see a sudden reversal at the final moment. But then he looked at Lord Grim’s health and despaired.

73%.

Lord Grim still had so much health left. Song Xiao’s playoffs opening was starting off unlucky. As soon as he left the door, he met a brick wall.

It’s not going to just end like this, is it? Some were muttering in their hearts. In particular, the Team Blue Rain fans had confidence in Song Xiao, because Song Xiao never let them down at the crucial moments.

But… there’s a first time for everything. In the end, Song Xiao had his first failed performance when it mattered.

Loss.

70%. Lord Grim’s health halted here when Song Xiao’s Receding Tides fell.

The stadium applauded to Ye Xiu, of course. Some brave young fellows were even so bold to shout “1v5!”

Song Xiao walked out from the player booth on stage. The broadcast zoomed in on his face, but there didn’t really seem to be any particular expression on it.

“Song Xiao’s performance today is a bit disappointing!” Pan Lin sighed.

“Or perhaps our expectations for him were too high,” Li Yibo said, “Song Xiao’s technical skill isn’t considered anything outstanding, but rather it’s because of his exceptional mental fortitude that he’s able to perform beyond his usual skill level during key moments like the playoffs. On the other hand, other players get nervous and might become too cautious, leading to a decrease in their level of play. One side plays worse, while the other side plays better. As a result, it’s not hard to understand why Song Xiao always seems to play spectacularly in the playoffs. Unfortunately, his opponent this time was…”

“Saying Ye Xiu gets nervous in a playoffs match sounds more like a joke, doesn’t it?” Li Yibo said.

“Yeah,” Pan Lin confirmed.

“So Ye Xiu dominating him isn’t anything unexpected. If Song Xiao’s opponent had been a Happy rookie, perhaps things may have turned out differently,” Li Yibo said.

“It looks like Blue Rain didn’t expect Ye Xiu to appear first even in the playoffs. Their original idea was probably not to have Song Xiao encounter Ye Xiu,” Pan Lin analyzed.

“Yeah, let’s see who Blue Rain’s second player is,” Li Yibo started paying attention to the big screen. The playoffs was set up to always be suspenseful. It wasn’t like the regular season’s group arena, where the two team’s lineup would be listed all at once before the three players went onto the stage. The playoff’s five-player group arena was done one at a time. Before it was time, no one besides the player’s respective team would know who would be up next.

Lu Hanwen, Blade Master, Flowing Cloud.

Finally, the big screen displayed the name of Team Blue Rain’s next player.

“Uh, this…” Li Yibo wanted to say something but then hesitated. Lu Hanwen was still the Alliance’s youngest player, but he had already been a part of the main roster for two years, entering All-Stars both years. In his first season at just fourteen years of age, it was because of his mistake that the team lost.

Team Blue Rain’s method of training Lu Hanwen was too unrestrained. Nowadays, no team would throw their rookie out onto the battlefield to play around and figure out things for himself. Everyone trained their rookies methodically step by step. Quite a few people expressed their worries for how Team Blue Rain was treating Lu Hanwen.

When rookies first entered the Alliance, they needed time to get used to the intensity and pace of the professional circle. Many talented youths were able to immediately adapt and shine as soon as they stepped onto the stage, with all sorts of awards suddenly being thrown at them.

But what rookies never knew was that what they were facing wasn’t the true professional scene. Because they were a newcomer, neither they nor the pro scene was familiar with them. And once they started shining, the pro scene would notice them, and the other opposing teams would make preparations to target them. It was only at this moment would the rookies truly be facing the pro scene; teams would use anything at their disposal for the sake of winning.

Countless rookies crashed into this iron wall, leaving their heads broken and bloody. And this was the so-called Rookie’s Block. Many of the current Gods had hit this wall before.

They had broken past it, but numerous talented players disappeared into nothing after hitting this wall. The more massive the blow, the greater the pressure, the more unfavorable it was for the rookie’s growth.

In many people’s eyes, Blue Rain’s Lu Hanwen had fallen into such a predicament. And to no one’s surprise, once the teams started familiarizing themselves with him, his performance dwindled. However, Lu Hanwen never fell into low spirits. He continued to work hard. It was as if he had just entered the Alliance. He continued to preserve that endless reserve of energy.

Dwindling performance? A mistake dragging down the rest of the team?

Lu Hanwen had experienced and suffered through them all. However, his enthusiasm never wavered. He was true youth filled with boundless spirit. His heart was filled with sunshine without a single bit of haze.

Blue Rain had used the method most suitable for him. He didn’t need to be protected. He could face setbacks and crash to the ground heavily, but he would always quickly climb back up, stumbling until the day he flew.

“Coach Li, what are your thoughts on this matchup?” Pan Lin saw that Li Yibo seemed to want to say something and switched the conversation to him.

“Ye Xiu is experienced. Lu Hanwen is driven. It’s going to be an exciting match,” Li Yibo smiled.

Pan Lin guessed that this wasn’t what Li Yibo had originally wanted to say, but it wouldn’t be good to press him on air. He could only continue with a brief introduction of Lu Hanwen’s situation as he watched the young player get up from his seat and head to the stage.

“This Lu Hanwen has a big heart!” Pan Lin suddenly said, when he saw Lu Hanwen cross Song Xiao.

“Yes, compared to skill, the heart is much more difficult to train. Lu Hanwen is only a young kid. How rare,” Li Yibo said.

“Blue Rain’s two players are talking with each other. Is Song Xiao passing on the experience he had just gained from this match?” Pan Lin guessed.

“Blue Rain should have that knowledge way beforehand!” Li Yibo remarked. After all, Blue Rain and Happy had fought against each other twice in the regular season already.

“Perhaps a new discovery?” As Pan Lin said these words, Song Xiao and Lu Hanwen parted. Lu Hanwen went onto the stage, while Song Xiao returned to his seat.

“Is he really hard to fight?” Huang Shaotian asked.

“My eyes went blurry,” Song Xiao got to his seat and shut his eyes.

“Blurry?”

“That umbrella changes forms again and again and again non-stop. I really can’t bear it,” Song Xiao said.

Everyone in Blue Rain looked at each other. When they prepped for this match against Happy, Ye Xiu and his unspecialized were obviously a huge focus, but they hadn’t prepared for something like this.

“What is this?” Blue Rain’s Spitfire, Zeng Xuan, sighed. Spitfires could be considered as the best at interfering with the opponent’s line of sight. Others might not be able to reach the apex and emulate Zhang Jiale’s Hundred Blossoms style, but it had become a commonly utilized Spitfire technique.

Ye Xiu’s technique was different from theirs though. They simply used visual effects, but Ye Xiu directly made visual attacks! Making someone’s eyes go blurry, that was the effect of Flash Bullet!

“What did you say to Lu Hanwen?” Yu Wezhou asked Song Xiao.

“I told him to try to cut in from the side or circle to the back. Try not to fight face to face. Doing so is truly too disgusting. Truly. You guys should try when you have the chance,” Song Xiao said.

Yu Wenzhou didn’t ask any further and watched as Lu Hanwen went into Blue Rain’s player booth. Then, the characters loaded in. Flowing Cloud and Lord Grim entered the map.

Lu Hanwen obviously wasn’t the type to go around in circles. Flowing Cloud went directly towards the center. As for Ye Xiu? He once again took a roundabout path, a different route than last time too. Previously, he had Lord Grim go to the left, this time he changed it to the right.

“Playing dirty again!” Huang Shaotian ground his teeth. He was a bit nervous too. He knew of Lu Hanwen’s style better than others. Lu Hanwen wasn’t good at dealing with dirty play. An ordinary level of dirty wasn’t a big deal, but Ye Xiu’s dirtiness, on the other hand, was on another level.

“Lu Hanwen is taking the straight path, while Ye Xiu is taking a roundabout route,” Pan Lin explained the opening.

“Ye Xiu seems to be taking it at a medium pace! It doesn’t seem like he plans on rushing for a position,” Li Yibo commented on Lord Grim’s movement speed.

“Where is he planning to mount a sneak attack from this time?” Pan Lin said. Ye Xiu’s strategic movement wasn’t completely dirty. He didn’t hide, attack, retreat, harass, retreat, harass, and annoy his opponents to death. Most of the time, he would launch a sneak attack to gain the initiative and then keep fighting face to face. However, this was the group arena. The less health lost the better. Under these circumstances, it wasn’t impossible that he would play completely dirty. The Glory Textbook. No one believed that there was no style Ye Xiu could not play.

Would he play dirty?

Everyone stared at Lord Grim’s unhurried movement and thought quietly to themselves.