1586 Ten Years, Samsara

The Myriad Manifestations Umbrella in broadsword form wasn't bright, and its shape was so strange that it was laughable. But when it came plummeting down, carrying a strong gust of wind, even Zhou Zekai couldn't laugh. 

Ye Xiu didn't dodge, didn't retreat. Just like this, he met the attack head on. Under the rain of bullets, Lord Grim slashed forward with a Collapsing Mountain. 

With Zhou Zekai's level of control, he could easily change the angle of Cloud Piercer's attack to land many shots upon Lord Grim's body. But so what? 

He could damage Lord Grim, but he couldn't stop the fall of Lord Grim's Collapsing Mountain. In terms of attack priority, long-range attacks were no match for close-range, this was a design that Zhou Zekai couldn't change. Even if he could use the Level 75 Thunder Snipe and blast Lord Grim's head again, he couldn't force Lord Grim back. 

Ye Xiu understood this point extremely clearly. To defeat a long-range class, he could only advance, and could not retreat. Whether facing an ordinary gamer in Glory's Arena, or the number one Great Gunner Zhou Zekai, it was all the same. 

And so, he didn't retreat. 

And so, he maintained his forward-facing attack stance. 

He did so when faced with the Thunder Snipe.

He did so when faced with the rain of bullets from Speed Firing.

The Collapsing Mountain came down, and Zhou Zekai had no choice but to dodge. Cloud Piercer hurriedly retreated, at the same time lifting his gun and firing toward the midair Lord Grim. 

He chose to dodge, but he didn't give up on attacking. 

But Lord Grim suddenly changed direction in midair, plunging downward with a speed that shouldn't have been possible with a Collapsing Mountain. 

Ye Xiu had anticipated early on that Zhou Zekai could dodge to the side and attack at the same time, and so he began making midair adjustments as soon as he jumped up for the Collapsing Mountain. 

Collapsing Mountain cancel, Falling Light Blade!

A broadsword could use Falling Light Blade as well. The form wasn't as light or graceful as it would be with a lightsaber or tachi, but it carried greater momentum and pressure. 

With this change, Lord Grim's path skewed toward Cloud Piercer, and Cloud Piercer, who was currently jumping back to avoid the Collapsing Mountain, could not easily change direction again. 

But the current controller of Cloud Piercer was Zhou Zekai, that Zhou Zekai who was said to be able to do anything onstage except heal. He was actually able to react fast enough to keep up with Lord Grim's swift change from Collapsing Mountain to Falling Light Blade. The bullets he fired from the gun he just lifted were knocked away by the Falling Light Blade, but then he was already moving. Characters in midair especially relied on recoil to adjust their movement. 

This whole process took less than a second, yet the two of them fought with so many changes, so many inputs. What level of technique was this? 

The broadcast wished to show stats of the two players' handspeeds, but by the time they displayed this data, that moment had already passed. They just couldn't catch up to the battle rhythm. All of this had happened in the span of time Cloud Piercer took to jump back once. 

Cloud Piercer landed, and immediately looked for a direction to roll. Even though he had adjusted his aim precisely, he could only damage Lord Grim, it wouldn't impact his skills very much. Immediately after, Lord Grim landed, and the force from the Falling Light Blade expanded. Cloud Piercer, who had started rolling, couldn't avoid all of the damage, but he was able to dispel the effects of the attack with the greatest speed. When his roll was halfway through, two muzzles were already pointing at Lord Grim from the ground. This kind of attitude was very similar to Ye Xiu's mindset when he stepped backward after the Thunder Snipe to stabilize himself. At any moment, both of them were working hard to find an opportunity to attack. In a situation where only half a step of retreat was necessary, no one would retreat any further, not even an inch. 

Gunshot! 

Gunfire burst forth from the muzzles of the revolvers. At this moment, Cloud Piercer and Lord Grim were already within melee range of each other, but even in this kind of small space, Lord Grim actually didn't have control over the situation. Cloud Piercer was supposed to be better at long-range, but his gunshots didn't stop. It was as though he carried two knives in his hands, that spitting fire and those nonstop bullets serving as sharp blades, accurately slicing any enemies that dared approach! 

At this point, he had already broken past the idea of Gun Fu. This wasn't a combination of taijutsu and gunfire. Zhou Zekai's gunfire had become a form of taijutsu, thanks to his extreme control, taking precision to the limit. 

"Too strong!!" In the broadcast, Pan Lin couldn't hold himself back, forgetting himself as he shouted. Because he believed that he was far from the only one who had fallen into the craze of this moment. The entire Glory world was probably trembling from this scene. Long-range, short-range, two completely different kinds of classes, but under Zhou Zekai's control, this wall built into the game was actually broken. His Cloud Piercer danced with his gunfire like a close-range class. Wildfire, Shattered Frost, they spat out not individual bullets, but a tight and continuous stream. They were the searing and deadly blades in Zhou Zekai's hands!

"Brilliant, beautiful, unbelievable!!" All sorts of praise tumbled from Pan Lin's mouth. "This is the summit, this is a revolution, I think that even Ye Xiu would have to admit this point."

"Yes! Worthy of being Glory's number one!" Li Yibo hurriedly broke in before Pan Lin could steal away all the words and spotlight. But would someone misunderstand? Would anyone not know the person about whom Li Yibo was talking? Of course not. The person he was talking about was of course Zhou Zekai, only Zhou Zekai, the Zhou Zekai who could break through the very fundamentals of Glory's design through sheer skill. 

The number one in Glory was him!

Li Yibo directly gave this conclusion. Facing Ye Xiu, the Ye Xiu who repeatedly surprised and humbled them, Li Yibo still dared to declare this without hesitation. All of those lessons and experiences from before, he no longer remembered them. In their eyes, there was only the sheer strength that Zhou Zekai displayed. A thousand troops and ten thousand horses couldn't stop him, how could a mere Ye Xiu?

Yes, a mere Ye Xiu. 

Right now, everyone saw nothing but Zhou Zekai's stunning, jaw-dropping performance. Ye Xiu? Or a wooden dummy? A scarecrow? It didn't matter. He was just a backdrop, a not-too-bad backdrop, serving to augment the protagonist. 

Too powerful, too brilliant, too beautiful, too unbelievable, the summit, a revolution!

Pan Lin said that even Ye Xiu would have to admit this point. 

Yes, Ye Xiu very much admitted it. It was indeed very powerful, very brilliant, very beautiful, very unbelievable. 

But the problem was, this kind of incredible power, brilliance, beauty - he had already experienced it ten years ago!

Ten years ago, he had experienced it all. 

If not for an accident, this brilliance should have stepped onto this stage ten years ago. 

Ten years, samsara*.