Sharpening The Knife Doesn’t Delay The Cutting of Vegetables With The Bow[eSports]: Chapter 54

54. Nunchaku

“The changes in the new season update are quite big.”

Xiao Nan swept a glance and muttered, “The Spirit Jade System for Battle Preparation has been canceled? There’s also this new Special Soul Jade, it seems quite complicated.”

“Captain, what’s your take?”

Luo Baibai asked Yang Yunche who was at the side.

Yang Yunche was the brains of ZMD, as well as a master tactician, and his opinion determined the future direction of the team.

Yang Yunche took out his phone, opened the official announcement, and analyzed:

“Canceling the Spirit Jade system means there will be no attribute bonus when landing in the early stages, this is not good news for tanks ……”

As ZMD’s tank, Xiao Nan’s Spirit Jade configuration focuses on resistance and maximizing health. In the early game, when everyone’s equipment is not good, his ability to hold the ground is strong. Now with this change, as no one has Spirit Jade upon landing, the early advantage of the tank position is significantly reduced.

“The hero balance adjustments are quite good. This way, my Furious Tide can be a permanent choice next season. The effect of the water formation blocking long-range weapons is very useful. With this change, it will be easier for me to retreat or counter-attack.”

Yang Yunche played Furious Tide in the tournament last season, and this revamp is undoubtedly great news for him: “There’s also the revamp of the Demonic Blade, it’s also a pure enhancement, the counter-attacking ability is much stronger when it’s turned on, and with the increase in mobility and instant invulnerability, the ability to save your life is also greatly improved, so you can play the Demonic Blade as your main player next season.”

Chen Xingran’s eyes lit up, “Good.”

“And what is this new weapon?” Luo Baibai was confused, “Nunchaku? What’s it for? It seems quite ordinary looking at the picture ……”

Below the announcement was a picture of the nunchaku’s basic skin, two short wooden sticks connected together by a chain, without sharp blades, it looked plain and ordinary.

“Nunchaku ah ……”

Chen Xingran looked at the short stick’s design in the picture, a hint of nostalgia flashing in his eyes.

“Do you know about it?” Xiao Nan was a bit puzzled, sensing something off in Chen Xingran’s tone, and asked.

Chen Xingran smiled slightly, “Yes.”

“Xingran, could it be that you’re a martial arts master?” Luo Baibai looked at him, eyes shining, “You’re good at fighting, skilled with a blade, and now you even know how to use this kind of weapon! Did you accidentally obtain some ancient martial arts secret by the cliff when you were a child, like in the movies? Or do you have the soul of an old man with white hair who nurtured you into a martial arts master since childhood? Is it, is it?”

The more he spoke, the more reasonable it sounded to him. He waved behind Chen Xingran, “Hello, old man, can you see me?”

Chen Xingran patted his shoulder helplessly, “Watch fewer unrealistic movies.”

“And less soap operas,” Xiao Nan added from the side, “Last time, Luo Baibai watched some crappy drama and cried his eyes out for a whole week.”

“But it’s really touching.” Luo Baibai retorted stubbornly, “The male lead got cancer and was about to die. He confessed his love to the female lead only to find out that she was his long-lost sister. And when he went back, he got hit by a car and lost his memory. It’s so tragic!”

Chen Xingran: “…”

Didn’t quite understand the preferences of young people these days.

In the next two days, they entered intensive training again. In these two days, Chen Xingran had familiarized himself with almost half of the assault-type heroes. Destiny has a large number of heroes, with dozens in the assault type alone. Achieving this in two days was already quite good.

On the day before the version update, Yang Yunche gathered them and discussed the new tactics.

“Due to the version update, our lineup will have some changes next season.”

Yang Yunche faced the three in front of him and said, “Baibai will still main Fate and Rosary Beads in the next season. These two heroes still hold a dominant position in the support role. Xiao Nan, you have a week to get Shatter Mountain’s proficiency up. I need you to get proficient with Raging Tyrant and Dragon Soul to coordinate with our new tactics.”

“Okay.”

“Copy that!”

“Xingran’s blade skills are excellent, and that’s our current advantage. Our playstyle needs to change a bit; we can’t be as conservative as before,” Yang Yunche said. “Next season, we need to build our strategy around his aggressive blade style to fully utilize his strengths.”

Just as Yang Yunche said, Chen Xingran’s close combat skills were fierce and aggressive. Ordinary professional players couldn’t withstand it; getting burst down by his blade was a common occurrence. If they continued to play like they did when You Hongwei was around, it would undoubtedly be like tying both arms, not only making the fights timid but also hindering Chen Xingran from fully showcasing his individual value.

Yang Yunche wanted to develop another tactic, utilizing his Furious Tide’s Water Formation to divide the battlefield, creating a more suitable environment for Chen Xingran’s aggressive blade style. As long as his Water Formation was well executed, it could block the enemy’s other teammates outside the water, and the brief stiffness when passing through the Water Formation could significantly delay the enemy team’s support time.

In this way, by quickly overwhelming an opponent with Chen Xingran’s blade skills, bursting them down, and combining it with his long-range weapon’s high damage to kill an enemy in the shortest time, it formed a situation where they had more players fighting fewer enemies.

This idea had already taken shape when he first invited Chen Xingran. With this update, the Water Formation gained an additional effect of blocking long-range weapons. Arrows, bullets, and shells shot from outside the Water Formation would be separated by the Water Formation, eliminating the need to worry about the enemy covering the battlefield with long-range weapons. It was like giving wings to a tiger, a modification tailored for Yang Yunche’s tactic.

Of course, whether they could achieve this and how effective this tactic could be in actual combat would depend on the specific situation after the official server went online and their level of coordination.

There was still some time before the new season’s Destiny Cup, allowing plenty of room for experimenting with different tactics, developing the playstyle that suited their team the best.

Not only them, but in these days, major teams also conducted detailed analyses targeting the new version. The significant enhancement to the Demonic Blade this time raised its status in the four-person mode. Many assault players in various teams had already started practicing the Demonic Blade in the past few days, increasing its appearance rate in ranked matches.

Of course, the highlight was the introduction of the new weapon. Over these days, they collected some information about the Nunchaku and had a basic understanding of it. This was an ancient esoteric weapon, short and nimble, flexible yet firm. It occasionally appeared in some niche modern martial arts movies, but the use of the Nunchaku in movies was mostly for performance, not providing much practical value.

Since there was no Bruce Lee in this world, the Nunchaku as a weapon wasn’t as well-known as in Chen Xingran’s original world. It remained to be seen what kind of performance the Nunchaku would have in the game.

“The official server has been updated!”

The next day, Luo Baibai opened the game, preparing to log in and open a chest. Upon seeing the update information, he exclaimed with delight.

“Everyone, log in!”

Yang Yunche glanced at the announcement, gathered the entire team, and soon, the four members of ZMD were assembled in the training room.

Chen Xingran logged into the game and casually started a livestream.

Public training matches of the team were not allowed to be livestreamed, but because they were playing ranked matches, there was no such restriction. After Chen Xingran signed with ZMD, his bank balance could barely be considered that of a small rich person. Although he wasn’t lacking money, he had grown accustomed to livestreaming and interacting with the audience. Fu Zhou and the others had no objections to this. After all, Chen Xingran had just joined the team, and livestreaming could quickly let the outside world understand this new member of the team, accumulate popularity, and be beneficial for his future matches.

“I’m here~ I’m here~!”

“Did Ran Ran see today’s update?”

“How do you use the Nunchaku… I tried it in the training room a couple of times, but I don’t understand it at all.”

“I’m the same. If the motion correction is opened low, it’s basically unusable, and I end up hitting my own face… dealing a thousand damage to the enemy while damaging myself eight hundred.”

“I opened the motion correction to the maximum, and it can barely be used, but it feels so stiff.”

“Can the streamer use the Nunchaku? Teach us!”

“You’re thinking too much. The new weapon has just been released. Do you think the streamer will use it… we all have to start practicing from scratch, right?”

“I just saw Li Haoyuan soloing in another streamer’s channel, and he was using the Nunchaku too. Hahaha, it’s so funny. God Yuan is like an old man shaking his hands with flowers.”

“Hahaha, I saw it too. It’s hilarious.”

“The master’s style is gone.”

With the introduction of the new weapon, the Nunchaku, many players logged in to try it out. However, this peculiar-looking exotic weapon was truly challenging to control. If motion correction wasn’t set high, players found themselves hit in the face by their own Nunchaku before even starting, making it an agonizing experience.

Is this weapon purely meant to torment people? Unlike other weapons like the Tang Sword, BroadSword, Dagger, etc., which have sharp edges, even the Whip, due to the powerful kinetic energy generated when the whip’s tip is swung, has extremely impressive damage and is easy to use. As for the Nunchaku? Not only does it have a short attack range, but its most important drawback is its low damage. As a blunt weapon, its damage can’t compare to swords and knives. A single hit barely deals a few dozen points of damage, similar to scraping therapy.

The Nunchaku had only been online for two hours, and there were already a large number of players protesting on the official forums, feeling that this weapon is difficult to use and has low damage. They requested the officials to strengthen it or simply delete this troublesome weapon.

Before even starting the fight, one gets battered by their own stick. How is this playable? Although motion correction exists, which high-ranking player opens it to 80% or more? It’s practically unusable, right?

“Nunchaku? Yes.”

Chen Xingran’s response was very honest. He said, “This weapon looks simple, but there are many small techniques when using it. It requires a certain level of proficiency and is more suitable for close-range combat.”

After a moment of thought, he continued, “It’s a bit hard to explain verbally. You’ll understand when I use it later. Nunchaku is very simple. Its biggest feature is that it’s easy to learn and user-friendly. You don’t need any martial arts foundation; anyone, regardless of age or gender, can learn it.”

“？？？？”

“I suspect you’re messing with me.”

“Easy to learn and user-friendly? Are you sure? I’m afraid the Nunchaku I’m playing with is fake.”

“Is the streamer a beta player?I don’t remember Destiny having a beta version?”

“Ahhh, I want to see, I want to learn!”

“Teach me! Teach me thoroughly! If you don’t teach me today, don’t think about ending the broadcast!”

Of course, the barrage also had many different opinions.

“Lying ghost, right? Just learned to use the new weapon right after it came out?”

“Li Haoyuan can’t use it, and the streamer is good at boasting.”

“Hehe, who can’t talk big?”

“Sit and wait for a face slap. You don’t think swinging it a few times casually means you know how to use it, right?”

After becoming an official member of ZMD, Chen Xingran’s live stream viewership skyrocketed like a rocket. With more people in the live stream, there were naturally different voices. In addition to his original fans, many fans from other teams and ZMD’s professional black fans joined. Of course, fans of You Hongwei also entered his live stream in succession to raise the tempo.

“Let’s begin.”

Yang Yunche couldn’t see the barrage and thought that Chen Xingran was just chatting with the audience. He said a word in the team voice chat and then started the ranked match. Half a second later, they found a match.

Chen Xingran responded and no longer paid attention to the arguments in the barrage, focusing on the game.

This round, they landed in Huntian City, with Chen Xingran landing near the City Lord’s Mansion, and Luo Baibai landing with him, just a few steps away.

“Report locations,” Yang Yunche said.

Xiao Nan: “I’m outside the Huntian City, near the clock tower, and there’s no one around.”

Chen Xingran: “I’m at the City Lord’s Mansion with Luo Baibai. I can see two people in our field of vision; they shouldn’t be from the same team.”

Yang Yunche: “Search for supplies first, avoid early fights, and gather at my location after finding armor and weapons.”

“Ok!”

“Good.”

Chen Xingran rushed into the City Lord’s Mansion, with Luo Baibai following closely behind.

After the game update, the supplies on the map seemed much richer. In addition to armor, weapons, armor shards, blood packs, weapon repair tools, and other supplies, there were scattered Soul Jades of different qualities.

At the beginning, everyone’s bags were empty, so they picked up whatever they saw. Chen Xingran casually picked up a few Soul Jades: two white ones for health, one blue one for attack, and a purple one for close-range resistance.

“Purple close-range resistance, Luo Baibai, come get it.”

Chen Xingran picked up the purple Soul Jade and said. Support players were often the first target in team fights, and they needed survivability more than Chen Xingran. Health and resistance Soul Jades were generally prioritized for support and tank roles.

“Here… Wait, I have an enemy here!”

Chen Xingran was on the second floor, and Luo Baibai was still on the first floor searching for supplies. They encountered an enemy face to face: “He has a knife!”

“Coming, hold on.”

Chen Xingran quickly looted on the second floor. At the end of the second-floor corridor, there was a secret room with a high chance of spawning high-quality items. Chen Xingran rushed over at the fastest speed, opened the secret room door, and sure enough, a purple nunchaku and a purple longbow lay quietly inside.

“Can you handle it?” Yang Yunche asked in the voice chat. “If not, retreat and regroup to push forward.”

“I can,” Chen Xingran’s answer was decisive and straightforward.

Yang Yunche chuckled. Indeed, when it came to face-to-face combat, Chen Xingran had never said “I can’t.”

Even if facing opponents like Lu Mingyu or Li Haoyuan, Yang Yunche believed that Chen Xingran’s answer would be the same, always affirmative. This young man had a mild and polite personality in real life, appearing exceptionally easygoing. However, once in a combat state, he transformed as if becoming a different person, exuding an air of unrivaled confidence, a posture that declared, “I am invincible,” making it dazzlingly difficult for people to look away.

Proud and even a bit arrogant, but Yang Yunche knew he had the strength and confidence to back it up.

“Then be careful.”

“Got it.”

Chen Xingran put the two purple weapons into his infantry pack, switched to the nunchaku, casually picked up a blue armor, and headed straight to the first floor.

“Oh, starting with purple weapons, you’re quite lucky.”

“Should you find a Tang Sword or something before going down? This purple weapon is a pair of nunchaku…”

“Hehe, didn’t we say we’re here for a lesson? Isn’t this just right?”

“Estimated to get beaten, waiting for a face slap.”

“Can you not *BB? These black sons keep driveling even before the fight. Trouble you to stop being annoying.”

*BB – Talking nonsense. “BB” is in Beijing and Northeastern dialect, originally coming with a slang “You can you up, No can no BB” (“你行你上，不行就别BB”）. This slang means that “if you are better than who you criticize, you go and do it; if not, then shut up”.

“Just said what? The new weapon has just been released, and these guys are shamelessly claiming they can use it. Do they think they’re martial arts masters?”

Chen Xingran descended the stairs and happened to see Luo Baibai being chased and attacked by a knife-wielding enemy. He didn’t stop, swiftly approaching like a meteor. With a swing of the nunchaku in the air, he grabbed one end of the stick, then exerted force with his wrist, like a snake emerging from its hole, delivering a crisp and decisive swipe directly on the enemy’s wrist!

“Bang!”

A muffled sound, the enemy’s attack was instantly halted.

“Xingran, my Superman!”

Seeing Chen Xingran coming to his rescue like a god descending from the heavens, Luo Baibai, moved to tears, had no way to repay him, so he chose to express his gratitude with a skill. He directly threw a Yin and Yang spell on Chen Xingran’s head, providing him with a continuous healing effect.

“Hide behind me.”.

Chen Xingran responded nonchalantly, his tone casual yet brimming with confidence, as if he could hold up the sky even if it fell, inexplicably giving people a transcendent sense of security.

“This line is so good!”

“Ah ah ah, Xingran, you’re also my superhero!”

“Recorded it, will cut it out and listen before bedtime.”

Chen Xingran didn’t have time to look at the barrage. His hands kept moving. Holding the staff with a two-handed sky-supporting grip, after interrupting the enemy’s action with a decisive swipe, he quickly closed the distance and engaged in close-quarters combat.

The construction of the nunchaku is unique, with a chain structure. Unlike ordinary straight staffs, the acceleration of most weapons is actually the acceleration of the arm. However, the unique chain structure of the nunchaku gives it a whip-like effect, allowing the front end of the stick to achieve a faster acceleration, greatly enhancing the striking force!

“Bang, bang, bang!”

Once the distance was closed, the advantages of the nunchaku were fully displayed. The opponent’s broadsword was powerful, but in close-quarters combat, it was obviously less flexible than the nunchaku. In Chen Xingran’s hands, the short sticks connected by the chain extended like an extension of his arms, drawing smooth and sleek trajectories in the air.

He didn’t swing it randomly like most players who first encountered nunchakus but instead, he used the power of his wrists to swing it lightly. After rotating, he attacked with a whipping motion, similar to a long whip. This didn’t require much force but could cause considerable damage.

Chop, sweep, swing, flick…

Seemingly simple, the nunchaku in Chen Xingran’s hands instantly turned into an unstoppable weapon. Every time it hit the enemy, the stick bounced back, and before the force dissipated, he transformed it into the next attack, smashing down again with a faster and more furious speed.

Don’t underestimate this simple “bounce.” The nunchaku, through this bouncing method, could retain the force of the previous attack well and significantly shorten the attack interval. In the eyes of the enemy, the nunchaku in his hands became faster and faster. After several accumulations, the stick shadows in front of their eyes were already too fast to see clearly!

Starting from the feet, the force extended from the feet to the legs, from the legs to the waist, and all the way to the arms. Chen Xingran’s 0% motion correction allowed him to control every inch of his body’s muscles. Using the “*inch force” method, he exerted force like the flick of a whip’s tip, making it impossible to see the trajectory! He swung the nunchaku like lightning, with a “swish,” the enemy hadn’t reacted yet, and they had already taken a solid hit, making it impossible to defend!

*from one-inch punch. The one-inch punch is a punching exercise from Chinese martial arts performed at a range of 0–15 cm (0–6 in). The one-inch punch was popularized by actor and martial artist Bruce Lee. The one-inch punch is a skill which uses fa jin (translated as explosive power) to generate tremendous amounts of impact force at extremely close distances. This “burst” effect had been common in Neijia (internal martial art) forms.

-52.

-64.

-77.

-92.

-111!

At the beginning, the damage wasn’t high, but as time passed, the potential energy of the nunchaku kept accumulating, causing the damage to increase. After a few seconds, one hit could directly knock off a large portion of the opponent’s armor and health.

This is where the advantage of the nunchaku lies!

Unshakeable in form, relentless in motion, pure in form and spirit. Every movement involves the entire body, and when still, the whole body remains still.

Utilizing the bouncing of the nunchaku brings a continuous and uninterrupted attack. Once stuck, the opponent will endure a constant and accumulating damage. Moreover, the potential energy in each rebound becomes stronger, the attack intervals get shorter, and the damage inflicted becomes higher. The incredibly flexible movement trajectory makes it impossible to defend against. What seemed to be a frontal attack wasn’t even defended against before the next strike hit the left waist.

Of course, the nunchaku also has weaknesses. Just maintaining a certain distance from the nunchaku allows the accumulated damage to restart.

The opponent obviously thought of this. Being a player who could reach the Shura stage, he directly lifted his broadsword, using the vast blade surface to resist one attack. Then, he activated a skill to retreat. Eventually, after paying the price of armor penetration, he successfully escaped the short-range attack range of the nunchaku.

Chen Xingran’s expression remained unchanged. Although the opponent had left the attack range, his movements continued. The two hands alternated in swapping the nunchaku, the stick body fluttering like a butterfly. Left-right nunchaku swap, reverse left-right nunchaku swap, behind-the-back nunchaku swap… Accompanied by the clattering sound of the chain in the middle of the short stick, with interweaving afterimages, it was overwhelming, and one couldn’t see where the next strike would land, let alone the trajectory of the stick. The attack range was also unclear.

This is another major advantage of the nunchaku—Dance of Flowers.

Here, the Dance of Flowers is not purely for aesthetic purposes like in TV dramas or movies. Instead, it is achieved by whirling the nunchaku to keep it constantly in motion, preserving its movement potential energy. This way, in the next attack, it doesn’t have to accumulate energy from scratch. At the same time, the flexible movements serve to confuse the enemy, making it impossible for them to determine his next target.

“F*ck, so handsome!”

Beside him, Luo Baibai was completely astonished.

The opponent hesitated for a moment, facing the defensive net constructed by the stick shadows of the nunchaku. There was a feeling of not knowing where to start. He gritted his teeth, relying on the high-quality broadsword in his hand. He rushed forward again, swinging the blade, attempting to break Chen Xingran’s defense head-on!

“Be careful!”

Luo Baibai shouted from behind.

Chen Xingran smiled slightly. In the next second, he directly took a step forward, and the nunchaku in his hand unfolded in front, meeting the broadsword blade directly. The iron chains connecting the two short sticks met the blade of the broadsword!

Then, he exerted force in his arms, muscles tightening. With a swift movement of his hands, the iron chains instantly entangled the broadsword blade, rendering it immobile.

Inch Reverse Spiral Stick!

“!!”

The opponent obviously hadn’t expected the nunchaku to have this function. The fierce attack came to an abrupt stop, directly stuck in place, unable to move!

Chen Xingran held the nunchaku in both hands, and with a shift of his foot, a relaxed shoulder and a raised chin, his two arms formed a circle. The power transmitted from his feet to his waist and then to his arms, the whole body’s strength twisted like a hemp rope, and he gave it a forceful twist!

“Swoosh—”

The broadsword in the enemy’s hand flew out, soaring into the air.

Exploding Blade!

Chen Xingran once again discovered a significant advantage of the nunchaku in the game.

Perhaps to balance the low attack power of the nunchaku, Chen Xingran could clearly feel that the nunchaku was more likely to trigger the exploding blade effect than other weapons, possessing stronger built-in durability destruction.

At this moment, the enemy had only half of their health left, entering a stiff state. The initial damage of the nunchaku was not high, requiring time to accumulate before causing a significant amount of damage. In order to execute the exploding blade, Chen Xingran gave up accumulating momentum using the Dance of Flowers. He couldn’t instantly kill the opponent like Tang Sword’s Thunderclap, but he could disable them.

With a thought, a classic scene flashed through his mind.

In the eyes of hundreds of thousands of viewers in the live broadcast, and under the incredulous gaze of Luo Baibai, Chen Xingran turned to retract the nunchaku. His right foot approached his left foot, the muscles of his back tensed—

A fierce and elegant side kick!

“Swoosh!”

-681!

This side kick was as swift and powerful as the wind, gathering all the strength of his body. It directly kicked the opponent, who was trapped in the stiffness, three to four meters high. A massive damage number floated above, instantly clearing all the remaining health points. The opponent then heavily fell to the ground, turning into a soul mound on the spot!

Accompanying this crisp and forceful side kick was Chen Xingran’s cool and powerful short whistle.

“Ada—!”

*ada – those sounds they make while fighting.

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