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Sky Strike, Falling Flower Palm!

A small combo created from low-level skills. Falling Flower Palm’s powerful Blow Away sent one NPC into the air, crashing toward Lord Grim, who was still hanging onto the wall. The offensive against Ye Xiu resumed.

As the saying went, Ye Xiu had tried riding a tiger and now found it hard to to get off. At least, this was what many pro players thought.

He hadn’t acted first because he’d been concerned about drawing the aggro of the NPCs. He’d hoped the NPCs’ battle ability could wear out Sun Xiang.

But no one had thought that these NPCs were so weak. From the very start, they hadn’t dealt much damage to One Autumn Leaf. Instead, they’d served to buff One Autumn Leaf.

Five types of chasers, golden Battle Spirit. One Autumn Leaf was in his peak state right now, the highest peak he’d ever reached in these ten plus years.

And right now, the one he was attacking was the one who had brought him into this world, Ye Xiu.

What should Ye Xiu do?

He hadn’t attacked at first, and if he attacked now, he would still attract the NPCs’ aggro. If, under the interference of the NPCs, he was then attacked by this One Autumn Leaf in peak form, he really should have just acted earlier.

Now that things were at this point, maybe his best option was just to continue avoiding battle!

This was what everyone was thinking. But this time, Ye Xiu didn’t control Lord Grim to continue dodging. Even though Falling Flower Palm’s Blow Away effect was strong, strong enough to send a character flying this high, the character would only fly slower and slower. By the time it arrived, it posed no threat. Lord Grim stretched out his hand and easily grabbed the NPC. With a Fling, he tossed it back at One Autumn Leaf below.

Everyone was caught off-guard. They thought that this was the really worst decision. Ye Xiu surely would have calculated this, right? What was this guy planning now?

The pro players in the audience began to ponder this, but onstage, Sun Xiang didn’t think twice. He had already decided to stop trying to engage in mental battles against Ye Xiu. He was focusing all of his energy in carrying out his offensive.

No matter how Ye Xiu would respond, there was only one plan in his heart: knock him down, get rid of obstacles, knock him down!

Dodge!

One Autumn Leaf dodged the NPC that Lord Grim tossed at him. Evil Annihilation flashed out, sweeping up another NPC, and throwing this human cannonball at Lord Grim once again. And when Lord Grim grabbed the NPC, he immediately attracted the attention of all the NPCs, and a few long-range attacks were already beginning to point toward him.

Boom!!

A round of cannonfire came toward him first, but Ye Xiu, who’d predicted this, was already controlling Lord Grim to dodge. When the NPC that One Autumn Leaf had thrown came toward him, Lord Grim dodged again.

Sun Xiang was already beginning to attack Ye Xiu, but he wasn’t in a hurry to rush up to him. He was continuing to spend a lot of effort dealing with the NPCs that came at him, and whenever he had the chance, he would keep throwing these NPCs at Lord Grim.

No matter how good Ye Xiu’s technique was, this kind of struggle on the side of a mountain wall was still more difficult that the freedom of movement that being on the ground offered. Facing the combination of attacks thrown at him by Sun Xiang and the NPCs, he soon found himself too busy to deal with them all.

“Why bother?” The pro players once again expressed their confusion.

If he was still going to dodge the attacks, then why do that grab and Fling earlier, inviting so many attacks upon himself? It wasn’t like he couldn’t have dodged that, and if he’d dodged, then he’d only have to deal with Sun Xiang right now. If he only had to deal with the human cannonballs that One Autumn Leaf was tossing at him, Ye Xiu could easily keep controlling Lord Grim to dodge, all the way until the end.

“I don’t understand!” Practically everyone was shaking their heads. They couldn’t figure out what Ye Xiu was planning. As for the televised broadcast, the commentators were even quieter. If even the pro players couldn’t see the intention, how could Pan Lin and Li Yibo dare discuss it? They might as well pretend that this question didn’t exist.

Only Zhang Xinjie, Team Tyranny’s Zhang Xinjie, the Zhang Xinjie who never overlooked any detail, appeared to have a thought.

“What is it?” Han Wenqing asked. He understood his teammates, and seeing him like this, he knew that Zhang Xinjie had thought of something. When he asked this, the surrounding players who had heard all looked over. Everyone wanted an answer to this question.

“The ambushing troops atop the cliffs will likely act soon,” Zhang Xinjie.

“Oh?”

Everyone looked at the screen. From the aerial viewpoint, they could see the NPCs atop the cliffs. After the two armies of NPCs had appeared, they had also started moving, but it looked like nothing but preparation. Even now, there was no sign that these NPCs were about to attack. How could Zhang Xinjie tell?

“It’s not clear what the condition is for activating their ambush, but I imagine that it is one of two options. One, that it’s time-based, and once a certain time is reached, they activate. Two, that it depends on the damage taken by the NPCs, and once they suffer enough damage, they come and sweep the field for good,” Zhang Xinjie analyzed. Everyone had seen the map introduction earlier. The hidden troops weren’t on equal footing as the two groups of NPCs down below. They could be considered the final victors of this battle. They were waiting for the two armies to wear each other down, and then without any risk to themselves, they could descend and wipe out both sides.

“Ye Xiu is waiting for this?” someone asked.

“It seems so. During the intro video, I took note of the time the ambush began and the number of NPCs left on both sides. Both conditions will be fulfilled soon,” said Zhang Xinjie.

“But so what if he waits until these ambushing troops activate? How will that change the situation?” someone wondered.

Zhang Xinjie didn’t answer. He simply continued to think deeply. Clearly, this was a question that he hadn’t found the answer to yet, either. Judging from the time that Ye Xiu began to attack the NPCs, it should have something to do with the hidden troops, but Zhang Xinjie also couldn’t determine how they could be useful to Ye Xiu. They were only ambushing troops, they weren’t his reinforcements. They would attack all of their enemies, and they wouldn’t go out of their way to avoid attacking Lord Grim or One Autumn Leaf. It was more likely that the ambushing troops would also treat them as targets to be destroyed. What was Ye Xiu thinking?

At this moment, atop the canyon, a small rock was suddenly carelessly pushed by an NPC. The rock tumbled down without anyone noticing, and even when it reached the ground, it didn’t attract any attention. However, it seemed as though this were a signal, for the NPCs hidden on both sides of the canyon suddenly began to move. They didn’t make any greeting. As soon as they appeared, a wave of boulders was pushed down.

Boom boom boom boom!!

The sound of tumbling boulders echoed through the canyon, and a number of NPCs were hit and directly smashed into pulp. The NPCs also began to use all sorts of long-range Glory skills to attack. With this ambush, the canyon instantly fell into complete and utter chaos. But the two ground armies didn’t seem to be in too much of a panic. Those who could were immediately counterattacking the NPCs above, the close-range NPCs were still fighting amongst each other below, and they didn’t forget about Lord Grim and One Autumn Leaf, either.

There were still NPCs tangled around One Autumn Leaf, but most of Sun Xiang’s attention was on Lord Grim. The activation of the ambushing troops, he’d seen this scene as well. The NPCs on the ground wouldn’t be able to last too long, and after that, it was unclear whether or not the ambushing troops would continue to attack them. For now, it seemed like their attacks were aimed at the two players’ characters as well as the other NPCs.

Sun Xiang didn’t care about any of this, nor did he think about how he could use this situation to his advantage. He was focused entirely on Lord Grim. When this ambush rained down, Ye Xiu had no way of keeping Lord Grim perched on the cliffside, and Lord Grim finally landed on the ground.

Charge!

One Autumn Leaf charged!

Lord Grim charged!

Amidst the chaos, as attacks rained down upon them from all sides, the two of them were still focused on their true opponent. Swift and fierce, they rushed toward each other.

Tyrant’s Destruction!

Sun Xiang had One Autumn Leaf to unleash a Tyrant’s Destruction. A 180-degree sweep, pushing away three NPCs at once.

But Ye Xiu wasn’t that easy to deal with. Lord Grim unsheathed his sword, Collapsing Mountain! He actually used this skill to jump right over the Tyrant’s Destruction, and came crashing down toward One Autumn Leaf.

Retreat!

One Autumn Leaf retracted the skill and backed away. Five types of Chasers, stage eight Battle Spirit. One Autumn Leaf’s power and speed were both at the peak, and his movements were nimble like never before.

Facing this kind of One Autumn Leaf, surrounded by hostile NPCs. Under these conditions, Ye Xiu actually still wanted to fight him directly?

What was he thinking!!

The pro players were all incredibly anxious. They believed that Ye Xiu had calculations, they believed that he wouldn’t just fight an unprepared battle like this. There must be something here that they had all overlooked.

Upwards Slash!

The Collapsing Mountain missed, so Lord Grim swiftly swung his sword into an Upwards Slash.

But, Draconic Crusher!

Evil Annihilation swung down with all the power of Mount Tai. The accumulation of so many buffs gave him incomparable speed. Under normal conditions, a Battle Mage would have no way of displaying a Draconic Crusher that was even faster than an Upwards Slash.

Draconic Crusher had very high priority. Never mind one Upwards Slash, even if there had been five Blade Masters doing Upwards Slash together, they would still be slammed down by this Draconic Crusher.

Boom!

Evil Annihilation struck the ground. This attack had cleaved Lord Grim from head to toe. But Lord Grim hadn’t fallen – Evil Annihilation had simply passed right through his body!

Shadow Steps!

At last, the first skill that Ye Xiu had chosen to add to his weapon for the final match was revealed. The Blade Master skill Shadow Steps.

But One Autumn Leaf’s Draconic Crusher had come so quickly that there was no way Ye Xiu had activated that skill then. Shadow Steps had perhaps been used even before the Collapsing Mountain. Ye Xiu had simply used the skill so quickly that when the skill was used, the shadows hadn’t even had the chance to fan out before he’d already completed the controls for Collapsing Mountain. With this Collapsing Mountain, the one who’d leapt forward was still one person, but by the time he came down, the Shadow Steps had fully taken effect, and the one Lord Grim who finished the Collapsing Mountain was a shadow, one of four Lord Grims.

By the time Evil Annihilation had pierced Lord Grim’s head, Sun Xiang already realized that something was wrong. He immediately wanted to cancel this skill and adjust, but by the time he did the controls to cancel the skill, the Draconic Crusher had already struck the ground.

Moonlight Slash, Full Moonlight Slash!

Two streaks of bladelight flashed, leaving two streaks of blood on One Autumn Leaf’s body, lifting him up into the air.

“Do you have enough experience to control a One Autumn Leaf in this state?” Ye Xiu asked in the chat.