The King's Avatar

“Tang Rou’s rhythm isn’t good…” After careful observation and thought, Li Yibo finally concluded.

“Oh?”

“Too rushed. It’s a bit out of control,” Li Yibo said.

“This… it’s not anything too surprising,” Pan Lin sighed.

When they talked about Tang Rou, losing control of her rhythm was a point that frequently came up.

For many rookies, the issue was usually because they lacked confidence. They played scared and over cautious, unable to bring out their full potential.

But Tang Rou? She attacked aggressively and fearlessly. Scared? Not at all. No confidence? Also not an issue. Her problems weren’t playing scared or playing too careful, but rather playing too aggressive.

Playing too aggressively didn’t result in her being unable to bring out her full potential. Instead, it pushed her to try for impossible goals, which led to numerous problems.

“It looks like Tang Rou doesn’t have a good solution to this problem!” Pan Lin sighed.

“You can’t really say that,” Li Yibo said, “She actually pays quite a bit of attention to this problem of hers, but Huang Shaotian unwittingly forced her into this trap.”

“Oh?”

“Huang Shaotian is extremely good at controlling the tempo. He’s making Tang Rou feel like if she tries just a bit harder, she’ll be able to break through. But when she ups the tempo by just a little bit, she discovers that it’s still not quite enough. Huang Shaotian has been slowly increasing the tempo to a speed that Tang Rou isn’t able to handle,” Li Yibo said.

Shua shua shua!

Three sword lights, three strikes.

Opening!

Tang Rou finally let out an opening. She had good hand speed. Her awareness, decision-making, and reaction speed weren’t bad either. But in this fast-pace battle, her awareness and her decision-making weren’t enough to ensure she made no mistakes. She didn’t have the experience that Ye Xiu and the others did. Her intuition and instinctive reactions weren’t always the most optimal.

An opening appeared, and Huang Shaotian wasn’t going to let it pass. The cautious Troubling Rain instantly launched a powerful counterattack.

Three streaks of blood flew into the air.

Troubling Rain attacked fast and finished fast. It wasn’t the start of a shift in position. He simply used the opening to deal as much damage as possible to Soft Mist during the short window of time. Tang Rou’s playstyle was forceful, and she quickly found her footing again. Huang Shaotian simply took a step back and let Tang Rou have it.

“This…” Pan Lin didn’t understand, “Huang Shaotian’s counterattack was so short! Was the opening not enough for him to establish an offensive play?”

“He could have, but because his opponent is Tang Rou, he decided to retreat,” Li Yibo said.

“Why?”

“Because Tang Rou is an extremely aggressive player. If Huang Shaotian wants to attack, he can’t avoid forced trades. If this were a normal 1v1, he would have no fear of doing so. But Happy still has another player, so Huang Shaotian wants to minimize the amount of damage taken and go into the next match with as much health as possible.”

“Oh,” Pan Lin understood. This logic was easy to understand. Huang Shaotian chose to play differently because of the situation.

He calmly controlled the pace and carefully observed his opponent. He carefully dodged or blocked her attacks and whenever the slightest of openings appeared, he would mercilessly strike it and deal damage to Soft Mist. He was never persistent. After a few attacks, he would go back to being careful and wait for the next opportunity to appear.

“Huang Shaotian is teaching Tang Rou an important lesson! His meticulous control over the pace of the battle is absolutely brilliant, ” Huang Shaotian sighed.

“But why does it seem like… Tang Rou is speeding up?” Pan Lin questioned.

Li Yibo immediately checked. Soft Mist’s attacks were becoming increasingly fierce.

“This is… if she isn’t able to realize her problems, how can she improve!” Li Yibo grieved, feeling disappointed in her.

How stubborn!

Many of the audience members felt the same way.

Tang Rou winning Best Rookie didn’t help win her much public favor, instead it only increased the hate towards her. Watching her hit a wall was something many people liked to see.

A difference in attitude gave off different opinions.

From a positive point of view, Tang Rou recklessly speeding up was a show of unwavering determination and bravery. From a negative point of view, she was stupidly stubborn; she wouldn’t shed a tear until she saw the coffin.

Go die!

Most people were the latter. They wanted to see Tang Rou fail and feel shame for her loss.

But she kept on speeding up, using 100% of her abilities. However, she kept trying to push her limits, using 101%, 102%, 103% of what she had.

What is this girl thinking?

Huang Shaotian didn’t understand.

Huang Shaotian didn’t think she was that ignorant. He didn’t think that she didn’t know her limits. He didn’t think that she didn’t know she was leaving all these openings in order to increase her tempo.

As for himself?

He was Glory’s number one opportunist. You’re going to give me all these openings. What’s the meaning of this?

Huang Shaotian wondered, but he didn’t relent. If a suitable opportunity appeared, Troubling Rain would take action. In order to seize these opportunities, he had no choice but to increase the tempo to match her.

Is that her aim?

Does she want to wear me down?

If that’s your plan, then you’re too naive!

I’m far more experienced than you. My judgement is more precise than yours. Just you alone won’t be enough to reach a tempo that I can’t control! Before that happens, you’ll be the one to fall! Look, another opening.

Bladestorm!

A storm of blades swept over, a whirl of blue sword light that rushed towards Soft Mist. Suddenly, amidst this dense sea of blue light, red flames burst out.

Hundred Dragon Meteor Strike?

Soft Mist had let out an opening, but she still attacked, abandoning any plans to defend. The Hundred Dragon Meteor Strike collided with Troubling Rain’s Bladestorm. The attack was meant to cover a fan-like range, but Tang Rou condensed it into a small area, focusing its destructive power.

Bang bang bang bang….

Blue and red light clashed, but some of them still went through. Tang Rou didn’t retreat, and it was too late for Huang Shaotian to cancel it. Rather than be the only one to get hit, it was obviously better to make a trade.

Pu pu pu pu…

Both sides were hurt. Blood splattered as the opposing lights clashed and burst forth.

In the end, Huang Shaotian was the one who won the trade, dealing more damage to Tang Rou than she did to him. However, Huang Shaotian couldn’t be happy about it. His goal was to minimize the damage he took. This trade was completely outside of his expectations.

Tang Rou’s offense didn’t stop. After the Hundred Dragon Meteor Strike, her spear continued to strike at Troubling Rain.

Huang Shaotian’s calmness wasn’t shaken by this unexpected exchange.

She’s still speeding up?

He could feel a change in Tang Rou’s tempo. After giving up on defending, she focused all of her effort into attacking.

As a result, more openings appeared so much so that Huang Shaotian wasn’t actually sure which openings to seize because there were simply too many good ones.

It didn’t matter though.

Just one opening was enough. If there were this many good openings laid out, then it didn’t matter which one he took.

Completely reckless. Tang Rou had thrown caution out the window in front of Huang Shaotian. Facing this opportunist, there was no difference between one opening and one hundred openings. Tang Rou didn’t care if she gave away any openings. She continued to speed up the tempo.

Troubling Rain’s sword was about to hit Soft Mist, but facing this reckless offensive, he couldn’t avoid taking damage as well.

Huang Shaotian had the upper hand, but it was again at the sacrifice of his original goal.

Huang Shaotian had no doubt that someone who let out a hundred openings would never beat him. But at what price?

Shit!

Huang Shaotian realized it.

At the beginning, he had been baiting Tang Rou to increase the tempo. Huang Shaotian was very pleased, seeing her fall for it.

But just when he thought that a good tempo had been achieved, Tang Rou didn’t stop. She raised it even higher. And Huang Shaotian had no choice but to keep up with her.

Huang Shaotian hadn’t thought this reckless move would cause him any trouble.

But later, he realized that while Tang Rou left even more openings, she traded it for a more powerful offensive. All of her energy was being put into attacking.

A threat?

Everyone laughed. With so many openings, how could this sort of offensive be a threat?

But Huang Shaotian knew that it was trouble.

He would have no trouble beating Tang Rou.

But the trouble was what came after when he needed to face Happy’s next player.

Tang Rou wasn’t playing to win this 1v1, but rather for Happy’s next player to win.

The damage she could deal couldn’t compare to the damage that Huang Shaotian could deal by taking advantage of her openings. However, she gave Huang Shaotian no choice but to take damage as well.

She wouldn’t beat Huang Shaotian, but she ruined Huang Shaotian’s goal.

The moment that Soft Mist fell, she told everyone her intentions.

“I might lose, but Happy definitely won’t!”