The All Star Competition adopted a civil war mode. In layman's terms, two players would use the same sect's game characters to exchange pointers. Whoever defeated the opponent first would be the winner.
Sword Three had many sects to choose from. Using the exact same moves, the key to victory often depended on whose control and awareness was better.
A few famous teams had sent people to the competition venue. Lao Fan crossed his legs and looked at the big screen. "Captain, do you have any players you like?"
Ye Xiaoran wore a baseball cap with a low brim and a mask covering his face. He lowered his long eyelashes and didn't say a word.
He put one hand into his bag and stroked the cat from time to time. The cat was also obedient and stayed in the bag without jumping out.
Lao Fan wasn't angry at the cold rebuff. Like Ye Xiaoran, he wrapped himself up tightly, afraid of being recognized by the fans. Luckily, their seats were hidden and the team's staff blocked them, so they didn't cause any commotion. "From what I see, this Gu Yan seems to be pretty good. Look at how accurate his predictions are. He predicted that the opponent would rush to the left. Tsk tsk, the opponent suffered a huge loss this time and took a ton of damage!"
The data analyst heard this and looked up. "We have followed all the players for a long time. A few of them are pretty good and can be considered."
Team WIND was one of Sword Three's veteran teams. They had won three league championships. As the captain, Ye Xiaoran's sect pool was unfathomable and could be said to be the overlord of the entire sect. Unfortunately, two years ago, Ye Xiaoran's partner retired due to injury. They hadn't found a suitable successor, so the team's results started to decline year by year.
Ye Xiaoran watched a few matches and was dispirited. It wasn't until a Hidden Sword player came on stage. His attacks were fierce, and his attacks were as smooth as cutting vegetables, that he made a soft sound of surprise and sat up a little.
The data analyst noticed his slight change and said, "Jiang Nan, recognized as the number one Hidden Sword player in the Telecom District. He's considered one of the top Hidden Sword players."
Lao Fan: "Oh, oh, oh, this is not bad either."
The data analyst said, "Actually, she's the one we think the most highly of. We've watched her livestream recordings before. During the team battle, whether it's the speed at which she switched targets or the timing at which she freed her teammates from crowd-control, she grasped it perfectly."
Ye Xiaoran said calmly, "I'll give it a try later."
Lao Fan was surprised. "Captain, you're going up?"
Ye Xiaoran nodded. "Come with me to the audience challenge round."
The so-called Spectator Challenge was an interactive segment of the All-Star Competition. The winners of each class would draw lots to choose a spectator, and the spectator would then choose how to spar. It would be a 1v1 duel or a 2v2 team battle.
In the arena, the battle between the different professions had come to an end. It was time to draw lots for the audience's challenge. Because of the announcement, the first round was a team battle to challenge Jiang Nan. The host smiled and said, "The lucky audience chose the team battle. Then our contestant Jiang Nan can also choose a partner."
Jiang Nan chose Gu Yan without hesitation. After that, the contestants prepared and the commentators appeared again.
Commentator 1: "We all know that Gu Yan and Jiang Nan have been partners for many years. I heard that these two have known each other since they were young. The top five teams in the Telecom District's Arena were all defeated by them.
Sword Three is split into three areas: Telecom, Netcom, and Dual Channels. The Arena is a type of gameplay in the game. Players form teams to fight 2v2, 3v3, or 5v5 in a random map. The winning team wins points and Famed Sword Coins, while the losing team loses points.
When a team's points reached a certain point, they would be ranked on the Arena Ranking Board. The higher the points, the higher the ranking, which meant that the team members were more powerful.
Commentator 2: One Jiang Nan is already hard enough to deal with, and now there's Gu Yan. I'm really worried about these two spectators. They won't be traumatized, right?
Commentator 1: Perhaps, there will be some unexpected twists.
…
"The organizers feel that it's boring to have the contestants beat the spectators every year, so this year's team battle is changed to the contestants and the spectators … In other words, you and the spectators will team up to fight Gu Yan's team."
Jiang Nan calmly listened to the staff's explanation and smiled reservedly. "It's quite innovative."
In fact, she was a little speechless. They didn't even inform her in advance that the rules of the game were changed. Now that it was done at the last minute, how could she refuse?
Seeing that she didn't have much of a reaction, the staff secretly wiped his sweat. He also received the notice at the last minute. Fortunately, the contestant had a good temper and didn't take it to heart. "Yes, yes, yes. In fact, this is also a surprise from the organizers … Well, if there are no other questions, please follow me. I'll take you to your teammates."
Jiang Nan smiled politely and went on stage to meet her new teammates.
It was a person who wrapped himself up tightly. The brim of his hat was pulled very low to cover his eyes, and he wore a mask on his face. Other than his slender fingers that rested on the mouse and keyboard, there was no other part of his body that was exposed.
Because there would be photographers following the contestants to take pictures, many people who didn't want to reveal their faces would choose to wear masks. However, it was the first time Jiang Nan had seen someone who was fully armed like this.
"Hello, I'm Jiang Nan."
She sat down beside him. Ye Xiaoran looked up. His eyes hidden in the shadows seemed to be flowing with light, but it disappeared in an instant.
He nodded and looked away without saying a word.
It seemed that this "new teammate" was a little cold.
Jiang Nan muttered to herself and skillfully logged into the game. "Which sect do you want to take?"
Ye Xiaoran said concisely, "Tian Ce."
His voice was low and sounded a little stuffy because he was wearing a mask. Jiang Nan vaguely felt that this voice was a little familiar, but she couldn't remember where she had heard it before.
Jiang Nan thought for a moment. "Then I'll take Jing Yu."
Ye Xiaoran was slightly startled.
He originally thought that if he played Tian Ce, Jiang Nan would play Hidden Sword. These two classes complemented each other very well. They played tacitly and basically used a set of skills to bring people away.
However, Jiang Nan actually took Jing Yu!
Compared to Tian Ce, Tian Ce was of course better. Tian Ce used Da Lei, which greatly increased the basic attributes for 8 seconds. Jing Yu then used a burst attack to kill people.
This configuration mainly relied on Jing Yu. Tian Ce's existence was like the Thunder God, and its only use was to summon thunder.
Ye Xiaoran was silent for a while before saying, "It's not challenging."
Jiang Nan: "???"
Ye Xiaoran: "Let's play Tian Ce."
Jiang Nan: "…"
I'm sorry, brother. Are you thinking too highly of us or are you thinking too highly of us?
"Tian Ce is too unpredictable. It's not stable."
Although she didn't know how strong the audience was on Gu Yan's side, Gu Yan was definitely not an opponent that she could let down her guard against.
Ye Xiaoran insisted. "Let's try."
"Bro, have you heard of this saying?" Jiang Nan said amiably. "To play Tian Ce, you need to sleep with tacit understanding."
This configuration relied on unparalleled tacit understanding. They could switch targets quickly, accurately, and ruthlessly. They were playing a 2v2, so there was no Wet Nurse to heal them. This meant that even the slightest mistake would cause them to lose the game.
Ye Xiaoran: "We'll know the result after we play."
Well, it seemed like she couldn't convince this person.
Jiang Nan compromised. After all, this was an interactive segment. Winning or losing was secondary. The right thing to do was to make the audience happy.
She pressed the OK button.
At this moment, the opposing team's lineup was revealed. Double Ice Heart, complete Tian Ce!
Jiang Nan slowly took a breath. "I think I'm done for."
***
The two commentators were also surprised by this lineup.
Commentator 1: "Double Ice Heart … Gu Yan's team actually got Double Ice Heart!
Wow, this configuration doesn't seem to be a match for a rookie team without a Wet Nurse, right? "
Commentator 2: "I don't know if Double Ice Heart is a match for them. I only know that Lightning Shakyamuni specializes in dealing with internet addicts.
Do you think Tian Ce can last half a minute against Double Ice Heart? "
Commentator 1: "The game has already begun. Let's see how the players will react."
After the 30-second countdown, Ye Xiaoran rode Red Hare and took the lead. He just happened to pass by Lao Fan.
Because the goal of this competition was to judge Jiang Nan's awareness and control, Ye Xiaoran and Lao Fan had already agreed to suppress Jiang Nan the whole time.
Lao Fan and Gu Yan went straight for Jiang Nan. Two streaks of pink electricity landed on her body and broke the blue sword shield that surrounded her.
The Double Ice Heart came aggressively. Jiang Nan was stacked with several layers of continuous damage. Her health dropped like it was her period. She immediately used her damage reduction skills and retreated to increase the distance between them. Gu Yan and Lao Fan increased their speed and chased after her.
Ye Xiaoran rode over and trampled Lao Fan. The latter immediately released the crowd-control and pushed. Ye Xiaoran predicted it and dodged it with Qinggong. He rushed in the opposite direction and met up with Jiang Nan.
As Old Fan had been held back by him, he had fallen a distance behind. However, Gu Yan had already rushed in front of him. Jiang Nan took advantage of his unprepared state to stun him with a swing of his sword. He channeled his energy to deal damage before slamming the ground to send Gu Yan retreating. Following that, a resplendent golden sword of light slashed down from the sky, hitting Gu Yan on the head.
Gu Yan lost half of his health in an instant.
Jiang Nan's awareness and prediction were very good. Not only did she catch Gu Yan off guard, she also caused him to be stunned. Gu Yan was unable to release the crowd-control in time and took a ton of damage.
It was said that when a teammate turned into an opponent, one would develop an obsession of "I can lose the match, but my teammate must die." Now, it seemed that Jiang Nan had undoubtedly entered such a state.
Gu Yan had underestimated his opponent and was focused on by Jiang Nan. He also came to his senses. He chased after her while a string of text bubbles appeared above his head.
[Current] Gu Yan: Jiang Nan, I'm telling you, I'm going to beat you today!
[Current] Jiang Nan: Are you kidding me? You're already doing very well by suppressing half of my health. What else are you thinking?
Jiang Nan would not lose to anyone when it came to provoking others. However, at this moment, Lao Fan rushed over. The suppression caused by a professional player was not the same as before. Gu Yan was like a tiger that had grown wings. The more he fought, the braver he became.
The shield around Jiang Nan was shattered one after another. Her health dropped rapidly. She estimated the duration of her skills in her mind and asked Ye Xiaoran, "Your skills are almost done, right?"
Ye Xiaoran did not deal much damage throughout the entire match. He replied, "Yeah."
Jiang Nan: "Good, let's counterattack. Take down Gu Yan first!"
As long as the coordination between the two was good enough, there was no need to worry about not being able to kill someone!
Ye Xiaoran whistled and mounted his horse. Jiang Nan raised his heavy sword. The light of flowing gold shards fluttered. Lao Fan dodged instantly and retreated with his Qinggong. Gu Yan did not react as fast as him. As soon as the shards touched him, the weapon in his hand disappeared.
Now was the time!
Jiang Nan shouted, "Disarm!"
Ye Xiaoran rode his horse and rushed towards Gu Yan like a hot knife through butter!
The horse's hooves raised high and stepped on Gu Yan. Jiang Nan unleashed his ultimate skill. His heavy sword created a flowing gold tornado. Every time it swept past, Gu Yan's health decreased by more than half. Once the crowd-control ended, he got up and tried to escape. However, Ye Xiaoran, who had been waiting for a long time, controlled him again. The timing was just right. He lifted Gu Yan into the air and stabbed him rapidly.
[Kill him!]
[Spectator 1 successfully killed Gu Yan!]
The audience was in an uproar!
Ye Xiaoran dismounted from his horse and activated Extinguish. He then quickly stunned Lao Fan. He worked together with Jiang Nan to control Lao Fan from the beginning to the end. Lao Fan did not have a chance to use his damage reduction skills. He could only be pressed to the ground and beaten up.
[Kill him again!]