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Sharpening The Knife Doesn’t Delay The Cutting of Vegetables With The Bow[eSports]: Chapter 90
90. Karma Cup, Competition Server
Yang Yunche and Lu Mingyu exchanged a glance, both seeing the same astonishment in each other’s eyes.
Who would have thought that the shy and timid young man in front of them was actually the prince of the famous Yun Tai Group?
“Captain, congratulations.”
After struggling for a while, Yang Yunche finally blurted out, “Be nice to your little prince at home from now on, or else your position as captain might be in jeopardy.”
If Yun Yin was really the prince of Yun Tai Group, then what he said was probably true. Yun Tai Group wouldn’t interfere in the internal affairs of the All Stars team. For Lu Mingyu, this was undoubtedly good news, and the idea of having Yun Yin join the first team was even more logical and natural.
“What… what prince?” Yun Yin’s face turned red. “Teacher, don’t listen to his nonsense. I’m not the kind of person who relies on family connections…”
“Hmm.”
Lu Mingyu came to his senses, glanced at Yun Yin, and asked, “Do you want to join the first team?”
“Yes.”
Yun Yin thought for a moment and said seriously, “I didn’t want to before, but now I do. I want to enter the professional arena, challenge more masters, and fight side by side with you, Teacher. It’s just that…”
It’s just that he didn’t know whether Lu Mingyu truly recognized his abilities or if it was because of his relationship with Yun Tai Group. He had never competed before, and even his recent exposure to ranked games in the virtual world was just beginning. He lacked self-awareness and confidence in many aspects.
Seeing Yun Yin’s thoughts, Lu Mingyu said, “Don’t overthink it. I’ve had the idea of having you join the first team before. Your relationship with Yun Tai Group, I only found out about it from you just now, and it has nothing to do with this.”
After all, Yun Yin was still a young child, and his thoughts were written all over his face. After hearing Lu Mingyu’s words, he felt relieved, looked at his teacher in front of him, and smiled happily, “Okay!”
…
“Captain.”
On the way back, Chen Xingran seemed to suddenly remember something and asked Yang Yunche, “Last time, Manager Fu mentioned that besides the penalty fee, is there any other reason why Lu Mingyu is unwilling to leave All Stars?”
Yang Yunche nodded. “Yes.”
“For what reason?” Chen Xingran was curious.
“It’s something from a long time ago.”
Yang Yunche fell silent for a moment before saying, “At that time, Lu Mingyu wasn’t the captain of All Stars, just an ordinary member of the team. The captain at that time was called Qi Shaocheng.”
“Qi Shaocheng?”
It was the first time Chen Xingran had heard this name, and he was momentarily stunned.
“It’s normal if you haven’t heard of him.”
Yang Yunche paused. “Before Destiny was released, Qi Shaocheng and Lu Mingyu were both professional players of the game Absolute Enlightenment. Before Destiny, Absolute Enlightenment was probably the most popular action game. Lu Mingyu took over as the captain of the Destiny division after Destiny was released.”
“What about the former captain?”
“Qi Shaocheng… He went to the Destiny Division in the America Division.”
Chen Xingran was taken aback. “Huh?”
He thought the former captain had retired, but he hadn’t expected him to go to another division.
“There’s a top-notch swordsman who’s very famous in the America Division, called LightElk. You should have heard of him…”
Yang Yunche stopped midway, seeing Chen Xingran’s puzzled expression. “Oh, I forgot, you don’t pay attention to players from other divisions… Anyway, he’s a very skilled swordsman. He used to be Lu Mingyu’s captain, Qi Shaocheng.”
“Initially, Qi Shaocheng was supposed to transfer to the Destiny division with Lu Mingyu. But for some reason, he abandoned Lu Mingyu and went to the Destiny Division in America alone, leaving Lu Mingyu to handle the mess of forming the All Stars team, which hadn’t been established at the time. Captain Lu took over as captain under pressure, and he was quite young at the time.”
Yang Yunche sighed. “Although Lu Mingyu himself claimed that he refused to leave All Stars because he couldn’t afford the penalty fee, I think there’s also this part of the reason. He wants to prove to Qi Shaocheng that All Stars can thrive without him?”
After some thought, he added, “It’s just my personal speculation, may not be accurate.”
“So, there’s such a backstory.”
Chen Xingran nodded in understanding. “But now that All Stars has found a suitable assault player, they’ve overcome the difficulty.”
Yang Yunche asked, “What do you think of that kid?”
Chen Xingran replied, “He’s talented, has a strong learning ability, and most importantly, his sword has character.”
Character?
Yang Yunche was momentarily puzzled by this description.
Chen Xingran didn’t elaborate further. As a non-martial artist, it’s hard to understand the abstract concept of swordsmanship. He said, “If I ever open a martial arts school in the future, I might consider taking him as my apprentice.”
“Aren’t you afraid of teaching your apprentice so well that he surpasses the master?”
Yang Yunche joked, “If you meet him on the battlefield in the future and lose to him, it would be quite embarrassing.”
Chen Xingran smiled, seemingly unconcerned. “If he can achieve that.”
Yang Yunche looked at him and blinked.
He absolutely adored Chen Xingran’s confident and assertive demeanor.
—
Sure enough, a few days later, news spread from the All Stars club that the team had been acquired by the Yun Tai Group. As Yun Yunche had said, the new owner of All Stars did not interfere with the team’s internal affairs but delegated authority to Lu Mingyu.
Just as fans of All Stars rejoiced, thinking that Lu Mingyu could finally fulfill his ambitions without constraints, All Stars announced the new roster. The new assault player of the team was a teenager under eighteen, Ji Yunyin.
On the official announcement poster, there was a young boy with a youthful face, although his expression was serious, one could still easily sense his nervousness and restraint.
The news caused a stir in the gaming forums once again. This new assault player of All Stars was neither a professional player nor had any achievements. What qualifications did he have to become a starting member? Speculations were rampant, some thought that All Stars was deliberately deteriorating after losing the Snake King, while others believed that Lu Mingyu must have his own reasons.
However, the external voices did not affect Lu Mingyu. He did not participate in interviews or offer explanations to the public. Instead, he pushed aside various commercial activities and began intensive secret training.
The Karma Cup is approaching, and various teams have reduced their commercial activities and started preparing for the competition. In the professional gaming arena, everyone understands clearly the importance of achievements in terms of prestige and commercial value.
In recent days, the Karma competition server has been bustling. Professional players, who usually seldom appear on this server except for training matches, have now immersed themselves in a series of training matches.
The official server has most of the features that the competition server offers, including the ranking mechanism. However, the competition server usually has fewer players, and even when queuing for matches, it often takes a long time to find opponents. But recently, the queues for matches on the competition server have been bursting with players, with queues opening almost instantly, and the opponents encountered are all professional players from various teams. It’s even more intense than the high-ranking matches on the official server.
There’s a barrier between professional players and regular gamers. The players in the high-ranking matches on the official server are already considered top-notch among the gaming community. However, when facing professional players, the gap between the two sides is still like a chasm.
For example, Ta Xue, who is also a strong live streamer, is a skilled player known on the solo queue leaderboard. But even if facing a professional player from a second-tier team, Ta Xue can easily find himself overwhelmed. Years of training have made professional players far superior to ordinary gamers in terms of both skills and game understanding, making it impossible to compare them on the same scale.
S.Pub is a second-tier team in China, mainly competing in secondary leagues and small-scale commercial competitions. With the Karma Cup approaching, they have also signed up for the event. Regardless of whether they can advance to the regular season, as long as they are a professional team, they won’t miss out on this top-tier professional event.
The competition server has been crowded these days, and S.Pub quickly entered matchmaking.
They were lucky to start with a jungle route, and their equipment quickly took shape. In matches of this level, S.Pub was on edge at every step, not daring to engage recklessly. Every route they took to roam and gather resources required careful consideration because no one knew which top-tier or even elite team would appear next.
They cautiously avoided battles and soon arrived near the Cloud Mist Heavenly Palace.
“Captain, I hear fighting noises.”
The tank player of S.Pub, leading the way, heard the intense sounds of combat coming from the Cloud Mist Heavenly Palace and said, “It sounds like more than two teams. What should we do?”
The captain of S.Pub, who played the assault position, pondered for a moment and said, “Let’s go take a look, find an opportunity to intervene, but don’t rush in recklessly.”
“Okay.”
“Got it!”
Avoiding battles all the way might indeed secure a spot in the finals, but it doesn’t make sense for the whole team. In fact, in the competition, without eliminations, relying solely on survival points makes it difficult to advance to the later stages of the tournament.
The members of S.Pub carefully climbed up from below the Cloud Mist Heavenly Palace, making a leap several meters high. Following the towering buildings, they quickly reached the rooftops, where they gathered cautiously to observe the situation below.
Inside the Cloud Mist Heavenly Palace, three teams were engaged in a melee, their blades and shadows intertwining in a dazzling display. After all, they were all professional teams, each player skilled in combat. When they clashed, the dazzling skill effects mixed with the swipes of different-quality weapons created a visually stunning spectacle.
Moreover, the teams fighting in the Cloud Mist Heavenly Palace showed a balanced offense and defense, indicating their well-trained coordination. As soon as someone’s armor was broken, support quickly arrived to help dismantle the enemy. They spared no effort in using their skills, and once a teamfight went awry, they immediately retreated as a group to replenish supplies, making them extremely difficult to defeat.
This is also why teams in the finals of professional competitions often outnumber those in regular ranked matches.
Unlike regular gamers, professional players don’t get overly aggressive when they see low-health enemies. The overall benefit of the team always takes precedence, even over easy kills. Therefore, it’s common to see a player chasing low-health enemies but immediately retreating to help teammates once they realize the situation.
“Look at that guy, he’s amazing!”
The tank player of S.Pub pointed at a player on the square in front of the Cloud Mist Heavenly Palace’s temple, exclaiming in surprise.
Others followed his gaze and indeed saw a Demonic Blade player standing in the center, fighting two opponents with ease. Despite being surrounded by two professional players, he seemed unfazed and even managed to outlast them, while his opponents’ health dropped faster than his.
“Swish!”
With a flash of his blade, the Demonic Blade player rushed forward, engaging in combat with a thunder fist player. With a fierce onslaught of attacks, the thunder fist player soon found himself overwhelmed and declared broken armor.
Seeing their teammate in danger, the thunder fist player’s ally rushed to support him, raising his shield. However, the Demonic Blade player showed no fear, swiftly dodging the shield and attacking the support from another direction!
“Whoosh!”
At the moment the Demonic Blade player leaped, a faint sound of a bowstring being plucked was heard in the air, followed by an arrow flying towards him. Alongside the Demonic Blade player, the arrows, one from each side, cut through the enemy formation like sharp blades, directly breaking the armor of the targeted support.
The targeted support was instantly in a precarious situation.
The shield player and two assault players on the side wanted to go up and support, but the next moment, a resounding dragon roar echoed, and the Dragon Soul Avatar appeared on the battlefield, standing firm. Under the attack of two dragon breaths, the others were forced to retreat, missing the best opportunity for support.
Almost simultaneously, without timely support from teammates, the targeted support was cleanly killed by the Demonic Blade player’s swift attacks, followed by two arrows flying in and finishing off the remaining health, leading to the support being instantly focused and killed.
“So strong!”
The members of S.Pub looked at each other, feeling a chill run down their spines.
Although the blades of professional players are indeed formidable, isn’t this level of swordsmanship a bit extraordinary?
The captain of S.Pub leaned out, trying to locate the position of the archer. Soon, he spotted a Furious Tide at a high point above the temple, crouching on the arm of the statue above the temple. His figure was faintly visible in the dense white clouds, and every time the bowstring rang out, an arrow would be released, skillfully assisting teammates in dealing damage and dismantling fire, like a strategist overseeing the whole situation. Each shot seemed ordinary, but always played a crucial role.
The captain of S.Pub only glanced up a couple of times, but it seemed like the Furious Tide above had sensed something and turned their heads towards them.
The captain of S.Pub immediately withdrew his head and continued to hide behind the roof.
“Did they spot us?”
A nervous teammate asked.
“They probably didn’t… I just took a quick look.”
The captain of S.Pub said uncertainly.
“Should we still engage? They’re almost done fighting.”
The team that first lost a support player due to the incredibly fierce swordsmanship of the Demonic Blade had been defeated. With the combination of the Furious Tide and the nimble Prayer Bead Pill, they had trapped an enemy, while the Dragon Soul True Form controlled another. Meanwhile, the Demonic Blade, like the grim reaper’s scythe, rushed forward every time the Dragon Soul controlled someone, refreshing his skills with each kill. His figure seemed to shuttle through the battlefield like a demon, quickly wiping out the opposing team.
The other team in the Cloud Mist Heavenly Palace also lost a player to the Demonic Blade, and the remaining members subsequently had their armor broken one after another. They dared not linger in battle any longer, abandoning their fallen teammate and retreating as a group.
The Demonic Blade and Furious Tide team didn’t pursue them, instead beginning to search for treasure chests scattered throughout the Cloud Mist Heavenly Palace, replenishing their supplies and recuperating on the spot.
In theory, after a teamfight like that, they shouldn’t have many skills left. The Demonic Blade’s ghostly fire had extinguished, indicating that his Ghostly God state had ended, and the Dragon Soul Avatar above had landed as well.
In such a short time, they shouldn’t have had time to fully recover their state. All members of S.Pub had their ultimate abilities and skills available, making this the best time to strike.
After several rounds of team battles, the loot left in the Cloud Mist Heavenly Palace was incredibly abundant. With just a glance, one could see many golden treasure chests—indicating equipment of gold quality inside. If they defeated this team, obtained these high-level equipment and supplies, and managed their resources slightly, it would be enough for S.Pub to advance to the finals.
“Captain?”
A teammate asked again, with a hint of urgency in their tone. “Are we engaging or retreating? They’re healing up. Should we attack or withdraw?”
The captain of S.Pub gritted his teeth, weighing the risks. Such a good opportunity would be hard to come by if missed. Although the Demonic Blade’s swordsmanship was formidable, he seemed a bit overconfident. After the team fight ended, he only replenished his armor once before starting to heal, clearly not at full health. As long as they took advantage of the opponent’s lack of vigilance, focused fire on the Demonic Blade, there was a good chance they could take him down.
Suppressing the slight unease in his heart, he gave a decisive order: “Tank, initiate the attack, don’t hold back, go all out. The Demonic Blade doesn’t have his ultimate ability anymore, focus fire on him first.”
With his command, the four members hiding on the roof immediately leaped down, like four large geese covering the sky with a dark cloud.
“Charge!”
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