Every team who advanced to the semi-finals of the WEL China compet.i.tion had, figuratively speaking, obtained the ticket and visa necessary to partic.i.p.ate in the internationals. Therefore, the matches after this were purely a tournament for honor. Starting now, every team—especially those belonging to super guilds, namely Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya and Candle Dragon—would do their utmost to prove that they were the true king of the China server.

Of course, there was also the fact that the reward for the champion included 5 levels, 5 Luck, and a chance to draw a Cambrian Divine Armament. No one in their right mind would let go of such an opportunity, and that was before mentioning the very real, very huge RMB reward. In this day and age, was there anyone who would complain that they had too much money?

……

The first match between Snowy Cathaya and Soul Battle Robes was Lin Yixin versus Song of Ice and Fire the Frozen Berserker. Song of Ice and Fire had proven himself to be a major dark horse in the compet.i.tion, showing off great skills and super-tier control at the very least. Currently, I suspected that he was one of the very first elders of Soul Battle Robes, and the only reason he came out of retirement was because Seven-Star Lamp had asked him to. Otherwise, it didn't make sense for him to be as skilled as he was. I might've even guessed that he was Seven-Star Lamp himself if he didn't seem as tenacious or as tactical as Seven-Star Lamp was.

Bang!

Song of Ice and Fire changed to a different weapon for his fight with Lin Yixin. He now wielded a war axe with a pole as long as a spear's, and what looked like a fire dragon crawling at the edge of the axeblade.

Li Chengfeng's eyes narrowed. "Holy f.u.c.k, is that… the seventh Immortal-grade weapon on the Weapon Ranking, the Fire Dragon Axe?"

"Fire Dragon Axe?" I asked with a frown.

"Mn." Li Chengfeng nodded. "It's a Level 180 Immortal-grade weapon with a whopping 3750 max Attack. While its Attack is a tad lower than your Purple Ying Sword's, it has a ridiculous amount of armor penetration. The Seven Star Veluriyam Sword is only ranked 15th on the Weapon Ranking, so technically speaking, Beauty Lin's equipment is worse than Song of Ice and Fire's right now, even if she has the Devil Bell."

I gritted my teeth a bit. "Seriously? The Fire Dragon Axe… what the f.u.c.k have Soul Battle Robes been doing recently? How the h.e.l.l did they come by such a powerful weapon?"

Gui Guzi responded, "I heard that Soul Battle Robes had gone to the peak of Dragonbone Mountain Range to slay a dragon while we were grinding at b.l.o.o.d.y s.h.i.+eld Domain. At the time, we all thought that it was a joke and that they were just throwing their lives away. It looks like we were wrong though. They must've killed a fire dragon to obtain the Fire Dragon Axe."

He Yi nodded in agreement. "Yes, I didn't dwell on this myself when I heard the news. Soul Battle Robes hadn't looked like a guild that could possibly beat a high-level Immortal Rank boss at the time. I supposed that that changed when she found first-rate experts like Ringwraith, Song of Ice and Fire and G.o.d Bone."

Beiming Xue blinked as she held my arm and comforted me, "There is nothing to worry about, big bro. If nothing else, don't you trust in Sister Lin Yixin's skill? She's the one who taught me my CQC techniques, you know. I'm certain that you are the only player in the entire China who is better than her in terms of skill."

I replied, "I know. Lin Yixin was a star even before she joined Heavenblessed. Frivolous Scholar had made a statement after he retired, and he said that skill wise, Lin Yixin and Murong Shanshan were the two best female players of all the games Eternal Moon Corporation had ever released. Even Ling Xue was only the fifth best female player in his opinion. This was why Lin Yixin was invited to join the CGL Hall of Fame less than three months after she started playing Heavenblessed. The girl had started as a solo player, and not only did she hone her individual skill to peak levels, she even founded a super guild like Snowy Cathaya. That is why I don't doubt her skills in the slightest. However, Song of Ice and Fire's cla.s.s's skills are way too powerful. Did you see how he freezes his opponents earlier? It's almost as good as Lin Fan's Freezing Slash."

Li Chengfeng smiled. "Well, that's true. There is nothing scarier than a fighter with top-cla.s.s mechanics and a cla.s.s with a high chance of freezing their opponents. We can only pray that Beauty Lin can overcome the odds and defeat her opponent now. I want to see the Beauty Lin who has the higher win rate against Paralyzing Wind of Sorrow with my own eyes!"

I laughed. "Oh man, now that you mentioned it, Paralyzing Wind of Sorrow and Dark Shadow Drifter are retired, aren't they? You're stronger than them now, but your chance to settle your score with them is long gone, hahaha…"

Li Chengfeng raised his sword threateningly. "What the f.u.c.k, what kind of bro pours salt on his brother's wounds like that? How did I ever become brothers with a b.a.s.t.a.r.d like you?"

Beiming Xue immediately waved her own fists and threatened, "Li Chengfeng, I'll kill you if you insult big bro one more time!"

Li Chengfeng clasped his fists together and apologized jokingly, "Oh, this little one will not mock my lord any longer, so please forgive me, princess! I will surrender even my health and blessing, so please…"

We all laughed at his antics.

……

Meanwhile, the countdown to the start of the match had already begun. Standing on a gra.s.sy field, both combatants exchanged quiet but challenging gazes with each other.

The moment the countdown reached zero, Song of Ice and Fire let out a battle cry and charged toward Lin Yixin, the fiery, draconic energy of his axe drawing a beautiful arc across the air. The attack was basic and yet seemed positively unstoppable. As expected of a first-rate expert, even his basic attack exuded tremendous skill.

Lin Yixin crossed her weapon in front of herself and pressed her left palm to the flat side of her blade. The two weapons made contact with each other, and a huge shower of sparks later, Lin Yixin was blown away from the point of impact.

"Haha!"

Song of Ice and Fire let out a laugh before rus.h.i.+ng her again. He raised his axe and shouted, "Ice Breaking Slas.h.!.+"

Swhoos.h.!.+

An axe of ice around 10 meters long abruptly manifested in midair and fell right down toward Lin Yixin's head!

Eyes filled with determination, Lin Yixin abruptly unsheathed her dagger and swung at the ice axe from a sharp angle. The skill rocked her delicate but gorgeous body like a leaf, but the damage number that appeared above her head was—30982!

She had successfully parried the skill, but only partially. If we looked at their Strength stats alone, Song of Ice and Fire was obviously stronger than Lin Yixin. This was very normal because Lin Yixin was a light wanderer, a cla.s.s that focuses on both Strength and Agility scaling. It wasn't her style to fight strength with strength anyway.

After she let the tremendous force of the skill push her out of its range, she pushed herself off from the ground and bounded toward her opponent with a sudden burst of speed—crus.h.i.+ng a tiny green flower in the process. This time, she lowered her dagger and swung her Seven Star Veluriyam Sword instead—Barrier Break!

Song of Ice and Fire didn't dare to tank the skill, so he hurriedly dodged to the side and swung his arm at her ribs at the same time.

However, Lin Yixin abruptly rotated her body with lightning speed and curved past Song of Ice and Fire before he could blink. Her unusual trajectory allowed her to sink her Seven Star Veluriyam Sword into his chest and land Barrier Break!

60992!

Song of Ice and Fire let out a yelp of pain, but he didn't allow his anger to take control of him. On the contrary, the so-called berserker was eerily calm when he pointed his palm at Lin Yixin and said, "Bone Wall!"

Bang bang bang!

Three Bone Walls appeared around Lin Yixin instantly. Worse, the only exit was in the direction Song of Ice and Fire was rus.h.i.+ng from and conjuring a storm of ice around his axe, shouting "Frozen Flurry!"

The triple-hit skill's chance of freezing a target was over 90% !

"It's over!" Li Chengfeng blurted.

The rest of us were holding our breaths and watching the battle closely as well.

……

For a second, it looked like Lin Yixin was stunned by the storm of ice falling toward her head. Then, a nameless fury suddenly burned in her purple pupils, and she charged forward with both her dagger and her sword at the ready. Red cape fluttering like a ball of fire, she came within touching distance of the frozen berserker and swung her weapons three times in a row. She was so fast that her movements were invisible to many people.

After that, Beauty Lin jumped and slammed her knee against the opponent's chest armor, causing Song of Ice and Fire to fly across the air. Before he even landed back on the ground, she appeared on top of him, withdrew her dagger, grabbed the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword with both hands and plunged it into his chest!

Pu!

67812!

That wasn't all. She gathered her power a second time, and a wave of ice and fire whooshed out of her sword and penetrated the frozen berserker's body a second time. It was yet another weak point attack!

110298!

At this point, Song of Ice and Fire was completely stunned. He hurriedly used Ice Recovery to recover his HP.

However, Lin Yixin leaped over his body and used Sword Boomerang. A while later, the weapon returned to her sheath on its own, and for a second she looked like an action hero walking toward the camera with an explosion happening behind her.

What actually happened of course, was Song of Ice and Fire collapsing to the ground without even being able to see what the last skill that killed him even was. Eyes filled with shock and disbelief, he scattered into data particles and flew out of the battlefield.

……

Beside me, He Yi, Beiming Xue, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Stranger of Three Lifetimes and every other expert was flabbergasted. No one could say anything for a very long time.

I looked at Li Chengfeng and asked him, "Have you seen anyone parrying a flurry in 0.3 seconds before?"

Li Chengfeng shook his head even as he clenched his fists. "f.u.c.k, of course not! Just… just how strong is Lin Yixin really? Lu Chen, do you think you can do what she did?"

I thought for a second before answering, "The success rate would be less than 30%, but it's not impossible."

Li Chengfeng looked at the sky and let out a long sigh. "I guess my defeat wasn't undeserved after all…"

I smiled and gave him a consoling pat on the shoulder. "You're fine. Not everyone has Lin Yixin's level of talent. If you want, I can spar with you a lot more in the future. You will surpa.s.s Candlelight Shadow one day!"

Li Chengfeng smiled back and clenched his fists. "Hmph, you're right. I cannot rest until the day Candlelight Shadow is destroyed!"

……

While we were talking to one another, the second round of the first match was over already. This time, the round ended in just 27 seconds. Just like the previous time, Lin Yixin had used the helix maneuver to defeat Song of Ice and Fire. Both players were top-tier experts, but there was a clear gap between their strengths. Moreover, Lin Yixin's helix maneuver had her own style added into it, and it made her look like a soaring b.u.t.terfly. The effects were the same, but visually speaking, it was a lot more appealing than the standard helix maneuver.