The King's Avatar

Sun Xiang let out a smile, but this time, no one could see it. One Autumn Leaf didn’t make any unusual movements. He simply leapt downwards.

Everything so far had been going the same as Du Ming’s fight against Fang Rui. The differences began after One Autumn Leaf jumped down.

Dragon Breaks the Ranks!

One Autumn Leaf crashed down like a meteor. By borrowing the force of gravity alongside Dragon Breaks the Ranks, his fall speed was many times faster than when Moon Luring Frost dropped down!

Such a powerful force was naturally very noticeable, but Fang Rui still didn’t lift his head to look up. Boundless Sea’s movements weren’t as unhurried as before though. He rushed forward, not to pull away, but to circle around the stalagmite.

Boundless Sea circled behind the stalagmite. The fierce One Autumn Leaf seemed to suddenly freeze at this moment. Then, One Autumn Leaf pushed off the stalagmite, placing his spear, Evil Annihilation, horizontally in front of him. It seemed like he planned on changing directions before he touched the ground. However, it seemed like his timing was a bit off. In the end, One Autumn Leaf touched the ground and turned around, but he didn’t make a large enough turn. His body was bent over, and the momentum from Dragon Breaks the Ranks completely vanished. It almost looked like he was plowing the fields.

“Hahaha,” Chen Guo didn’t hold back her laughter, “You wanted me to see this?”

“Well…” Ye Xiu didn’t know what to say.

From Sun Xiang’s actions, if Fang Rui had done the same exact thing as he did last round, no matter how he mixed it up, the Dragon Breaks the Ranks from Sun Xiang’s One Autumn Leaf would be able to deal with it. His extremely technical right-angle turn in midair was truly quite brilliant. It wasn’t something that just anyone could do, and as a result, that made it difficult for the opponent to predict.

Sun Xiang had fully utilized the information that he obtained from his teammate’s fight against Fang Rui. He wasn’t like what Chen Guo thought, using the same exact method to show his teammate that he was better than him. He was using the same method so that he could replicate Fang Rui’s response to it. Since he would know what Fang Rui would do, he could come up with a way to counter it. It was a perfect example of a group arena team strategy, taking advantage of the knowledge gained from previous rounds.

Unfortunately, Fang Rui did something completely different than what he did last round. Boundless Sea circled directly behind the stalagmite. No matter how brilliant his turn was, it was impossible for One Autumn Leaf to circle around the stalagmite so quickly.

Sun Xiang had been caught off guard by it. The surprise made him react slightly too slow, and he ended up faltering on the extremely technical turn in midair. It was why One Autumn Leaf looked like he was a farmer plowing the field right now.

Since he failed to execute the move perfectly, there was a small opening. Boundless Sea circled back and shot out a blast of qi.

Sky Piercing Strike!

The qi flew rapidly, but it missed!

One Autumn Leaf seemed to know that Boundless Sea had attacked from behind him. He jumped up, leaping over the Sky Piercing Strike. Then, he twisted around in midair. Battle magic was already gathering around his spear, Evil Annihilation!

Crash down! Shattering the Lands!

Magic descended and then spread outwards. The surface of the earth swelled and then burst!

The magic condensed and exploded, sending dirt flying violently into the air. Fang Rui knew that the situation wasn’t good and didn’t dare contend against it. Boundless Sea immediately ran away. Sun Xiang had completely put a stop to Fang Rui’s sneak attack. In this instant, Chen Guo hated to admit it, but… she seemed to see a shadow of the former Battle God.

Brandishing his spear, One Autumn Leaf chased after Boundless Sea. As Boundless Sea ran, he would turn his head back to check behind him. He looked like he was in a panic. Soon, he reached another stalagmite and immediately hid behind it.

Sun Xiang didn’t hesitate. One Autumn Leaf rushed towards the stalagmite at a diagonal. The moment you circled around behind a stalagmite, there would be a slight opening. This opening was too small though, and to most people, it wasn’t enough time to respond to a potential sneak attack. However, Sun Xiang had the confidence that he could.

One step!

There was no one behind the stalagmite. Boundless Sea had plans on making a sneak attack. After using the stalagmite to block Sun Xiang’s vision, he continued to scurry away.

Sun Xiang sneered. One Autumn Leaf continued to give chase. However, so far, there hadn’t been any opportunities for One Autumn Leaf to create any Neutral Chasers. As a result, he didn’t have much of an advantage in movement speed, and the two maintained the same distance between each other. Sun Xiang wasn’t in a hurry though. He just needed to keep close enough to Boundless Sea.

He might not catch up, but what about after his Dragon Breaks the Ranks went off cooldown?

Everyone realized it. The broadcast put a special countdown, showing the cooldown on Dragon Breaks the Ranks as if it was Boundless Sea’s death timer.

Chen Guo couldn’t laugh.

Last round, Fang Rui had looked dominant against Du Ming. This round, Sun Xiang was chasing him around as if he were a stray dog.

Is there nothing he can do? Chen Guo looked at Ye Xiu. Ye Xiu understood her intent and answered: “Don’t worry. Fang Rui is still in control.”

“In control?” Chen Guo looked at Boundless Sea. It looked more like he had completely lost control.

“If that’s what Sun Xiang is thinking too, then that’d be great,” Ye Xiu sighed.

“What’s that supposed to mean!” Chen Guo replied.

“Haha…” Ye Xiu pretended like he didn’t know.

“Okay! Dragon Breaks the Ranks is about to be off cooldown!” Pan Lin shouted, “3, 2, 1!!”

Pan Lin soon swallowed his words because Sun Xiang didn’t do like he had imagined, immediately using Dragon Breaks the Ranks once it came off cooldown.

Sun Xiang wasn’t in a hurry. He could see that Fang Rui wasn’t in a panic. Fang Rui was still running away because he hadn’t found any opportunities to counterattack. If he hastily made a move, he might actually be giving Sun Xiang an opening to attack him. A single Dragon Breaks the Ranks wouldn’t be enough to fully close the distance between the two of them.

Sun Xiang had completely ignored Fang Rui and provoked Tang Rou, but that didn’t mean he was underestimating his opponent. From the start, he had used all the knowledge that he had to gain the upper hand. This was more than enough to show that he had respect for his opponent.

Sun Xiang wasn’t as young and naive as when he was captain on Team Conquering Clouds, nor was he as arrogant as when he was on Team Excellent Era. He had matured, using the appropriate behavior to face a match.

Are they just going to keep running until the end?

Seeing that neither side was doing anything apart from running, the viewers couldn’t help but be puzzled. The finals was a grand stage to be on. It couldn’t just end up being a contest of who was better at controlling their stamina, could it? That would be too boring.

Even though that was what most people were thinking, there really didn’t seem to be anything apart from stamina consumption that would change the situation. The broadcast showed the stamina bars on the two characters, which was extremely rare to see in a pro match.

“It seems like Boundless Sea will last longer?” Pan Lin said.

“I doubt either side will have any problems controlling their stamina properly. However, there’s an inherent disparity between their classes. Even though One Autumn Leaf has a bit more stamina, Qi Masters consume stamina slower. It’s probably designed that way to show how the circulation of qi allows Qi Masters to more efficiently utilize their energy!” Li Yibo said.

“No one really cares usually though, no?” Pan Lin said.

“But right now… it’s very important,” Li Yibo refuted.

“To think he would take advantage of such a small detail, no wonder he’s Fang Rui…” Pan Lin said.

“Yes.”

“So he’ll have a bit more stamina to use, which he can use to run a bit faster and move farther away from Sun Xiang. And after that?” Pan Lin said.

“After that he can use it to find an opportunity to counterattack…” Li Yibo struggled to explain. Pan Lin felt that it was a pretty unlikely justification as well. Such precise calculations, requiring perfect execution over a long period of time, all so he could get a bit farther away from his opponent. That didn’t seem very logical.

Some words weren’t meant to be said out loud, but in their hearts, they were thinking the same thing: I’ve already taken off my pants, and you want me to see this?

Once the race was over, it would just start again. This sort of development was too boring to watch. Pan Lin and Li Yibo had no way to hype things up. Stopping people from dozing off was the best they could do.

“One Autumn Leaf is out of stamina,” Pan Lin said listlessly.

“Yeah,” Li Yibo replied listlessly.

“Fang Rui should know, right?”

“He should know!”

“Do you think Sun Xiang has any ideas?” Pan Lin said.

“If he had any ideas, wouldn’t he have used them by now?” Li Yibo answered.

“True…”

“He’s out.”

“Yup.”

“So now…”

“Dragon Breaks the Ranks, fuck!!!” Pan Lin shouted. He couldn’t help but curse, and he hadn’t noticed it all. He was completely astonished. He hadn’t expected it at all. To think Sun Xiang would choose to use Dragon Breaks the Ranks once his stamina ran out.

It was truly surprising. Fang Rui must not have expected it either. That arrogant Sun Xiang was exceptionally calm. It was truly surprising.

Dragon Breaks the Ranks!

One Autumn Leaf rushed forward, and this skill’s speed was far faster than a sprint. But there was a bit of distance between them. Dragon Breaks the Ranks would take some time to close the distance, and that was where the issue lay. But who would expect a Dragon Breaks the Ranks at this moment? A slight hesitation may result in Fang Rui not being able to react in time.

But Fang Rui didn’t hesitate. He had unexpectedly thought of the Dragon Breaks the Ranks.

Boundless Sea moved horizontally, successfully dodging the Dragon Breaks the Ranks. Then, he responded with a Spiral Qi Rush. However, One Autumn Leaf didn’t immediately stop after Dragon Breaks the Ranks missed, like Fang Rui had expected. One Autumn Leaf continued right past him. As a result, the two seemed to swap places. One Autumn Leaf wasn’t able to close the distance, but Fang Rui wasn’t able to get his counterattack. However, Qi Masters were experts at mid-range. The skills that he had in mind couldn’t be used because of the distance they were at, but he had many others skills he could use.

Qi Blade!

The attack was inherently difficult to see. With Fang Rui’s sneaky methods, people who weren’t paying close enough attention probably didn’t even think Boundless Sea did anything.

The Qi Blade flew out. Boundless Sea’s palms continued to gather qi for the next skill. One Autumn Leaf had turned around, brandishing his spear, but he couldn’t make any attacks because of the distance. Suddenly, his body flickered. A trace of magic was all that remained in his original position. One Autumn Leaf had disappeared.

Teleport! The skill that One Autumn Leaf put on his weapon today was Teleport.

The first time using a bonus skill on a weapon would always be a surprise, but Teleport was a very common Mage skill that people chose. Even when it was spread to all classes, Teleport was the most commonly chosen skill. No other superclass had a skill that was so beloved by everyone.

Even if the Teleport distance was rather small at level one, it was an extremely versatile skill that could be used to escape or to attack.

Was Fang Rui caught off guard by this sudden change?