720 The Drunkard’s Heart Isn’t in the Cup

Wei Chen’s trash talk was rather straightforward. Sun Xiang had stomped the ground in anger, but Tao Xuan and Xiao Shiqin didn’t have much of a reaction. However, Ye Xiu’s words cut deeper into their hearts. Even Xiao Shiqin started to sweat.

I hope we come across Excellent Era someday.

It sounded like a reasonable statement, but who would ever think a championship team like Excellent Era would be eliminated by some random players in the Challenger League? Ye Xiu was telling Tao Xuan not to be so confident, but there really shouldn’t be any reason for Excellent Era not to be confident. Their team was simply too heaven-defying when placed in the Challenger League.

No one but Tao Xuan himself would know what he was feeling towards these words, but he clearly heard the implied ridicule. He replied: "Ha ha! How come it sounds like these words are more appropriate for you? How’s it going? How’s your preparation for the Challenger League going? Are the people sitting here your teammates?"

It was all clear now.

Xiao Shiqin finally understood.

Even a blind person could see that Ye Qiu and Excellent Era had some sort of conflict with each other. The two sides evidently didn’t part on good terms like he and Team Thunderclap had. After Ye Qiu announced his retirement, it seems like he wanted to create his own team and return to the Pro Alliance. Things happened to play out like a drama and Excellent Era actually ended up relegated. The two sides unexpectedly became enemies in the Challenger League.

It was obvious why Tao Xuan brought them over to pay Ye Qiu a visit.

For them, it could be considered a demonstration of their strength. For the other side, it would put them under greater pressure. At the same time, it was a warning to Xiao Shiqin that their run in the Challenger League wouldn’t be easy. With an opponent like Ye Qiu hiding in their midst, they couldn’t relax.

Yes, they couldn’t relax.

How could Xiao Shiqin dare to underestimate a God like Ye Qiu? He began playing Glory precisely during Team Excellent Era’s dominance in the Alliance under Ye Qiu’s lead. When he became a pro player, Team Excellent Era had just become three-time champions and Ye Qiu’s fame was at its peak.

Ye Qiu’s influence on their generation of players was incomparably deep. How many of them grew up studying Ye Qiu’s playstyle? Underestimate Ye Qiu? Maybe players from the newer generation like Sun Xiang might, but for Xiao Shiqin, he didn’t dare to even think of it.

Our opponent is Ye Qiu…...

Xiao Shiqin understood what Tao Xuan wanted to tell him. He wasn’t a person who gossiped much and didn’t have too much interest in understanding the grudges between Ye Qiu and Excellent Era. As opponents, Ye Qiu wasn’t a stranger to him. He grew up watching Ye Qiu play in the Alliance. After becoming a pro player, he had fought against him many times before. At that time, he had been looking for ways to defeat Team Excellent Era. Now, he had become a member of Team Excellent Era, and his number one opponent was unexpectedly Team Excellent Era’s former captain, Ye Qiu. In any case, they could not lose this fight. There was no leeway in the Challenger League.

"What exactly are you guys here for?" Seeing Tao Xuan acting all delighted, Chen Guo felt like she needed to show that she existed.

"Nothing really." Tao Xuan smiled, "I just wanted to bring our captain and vice-captain to pay a visit to their senior and see if any advice could be given to them."

"Advice?" Tang Rou became excited, "How about a spar?"

"Huh?" Tao Xuan was a bit surprised. He took a look at her. That was just something he had said! He had no intentions of bringing these two All Stars to challenge anyone. They didn’t even have their account cards on them!

"Who’s going first?" Tang Rou was already eager to give it a try.

"They’re not going up together?" Steamed Bun asked.

"That’s not good, right?" Tang Rou hesitated.

Sun Xiang couldn’t help but want to give it a go, but Xiao Shiqin was calm. He spoke first: "There’s no need for us to spar. We’ll see each other again on stage sooner or later. We’re simply here to say hi to our senior."

"That’s right." Tao Xuan laughed. He didn’t mind Xiao Shiqin taking matters into his own hands. Team Excellent Era currently needed someone who could take the initiative and make firm decisions. Although Team Excellent Era appointed Sun Xiang as team captain and Xiao Shiqin as vice-captain,Tao Xuan was certain that the person calling the shots would certainly be Xiao Shiqin.

Sun Xiang didn’t have much desire to bear the responsibilities of a team captain, but he liked the title of team captain. As a result, Tao Xuan didn’t bother making trouble by switching his position to something else. Xiao Shiqin’s position as vice-captain was enough to lead the team. Tao Xuan believed that an experienced player like Xiao Shiqin would be able to understand his intentions and perform his duties appropriately.

Just like now, he was very satisfied with how Xiao Shiqin stood out and gave his reply. On the other hand, Sun Xiang’s eagerness only made him sigh: he really is young. This type of willingness to fight was meaningless to them. What were Sun Xiang’s and Xiao Shiqin’s statuses? Against those random people that Ye Qiu had found from who knew where, of course they should win. If they happened to lose, that would be a huge loss of face. It would also increase the other side’s morale and confidence.

Sun Xiang didn’t consider this sort of lose-lose situation. He saw that the other side wanted to challenge him, so he wanted to beat them. That was it.

Xiao Shiqin clearly thought of the consequences and stopped it from happening. He simply restricted the situation to only talking.

Tang Rou saw that there was no fight to be had. Her enthusiasm waned and she went back to focusing on the game. She knew why the other side came, but she had no place in their talks, so she didn’t bother with it.

However, the way she didn’t put Sun Xiang or Xiao Shiqin in her eyes attracted their attention. Truthfully, when Team Excellent Era had been relegated and Ye Qiu was confirmed to be their opponents, Tao Xuan had been anticipating this moment for awhile.

He began paying attention to any information on Ye Qiu. He gathered any conjectures in front of him, such as what pro-level experts he had on his side.

These were just conjectures though. Tao Xuan didn’t want to be bogged down by conjectures and not facts. He wanted to use this opportunity to give them a greeting, while probing out Ye Qiu’s team to see what type of people he had. He wanted to know the background of these various experts. If there really were so many Glory experts, how could they all have been dug out by Ye Qiu? If so, those Club workers, whose job was to pay attention to any potential talents, were too useless, no?

When he walked through the door, he saw Wei Chen. Then, he saw the classes used by Tang Rou and Steamed Bun from their screens.

Battle Mage, Brawler.

These two classes completely matched the reports given by their guild, Excellent Dynasty. Tao Xuan felt like his trip here wasn’t a waste. He had a much clearer grasp of Ye Qiu’s strength now. However, seeing that there were 12 computers in the practice room... was it supposed to be one for each player? It was already quite late, so it would be very normal if not all of them were still playing in the practice room.

Thinking of this, Tao Xuan felt like he may have been a bit hasty. It was currently vacation time and it was late at night. Not all of Ye Qiu’s team might have shown up! If he directly asked, it would be too obvious. The other side could simply lie. Right now, the biggest advantage that Ye Qiu possessed was that Excellent Era had no knowledge of his team. Even though Excellent Era had Sun Xiang and Xiao Shiqin as their core, Sun Xiang was using One Autumn Leaf, which Ye Qiu couldn’t be any more familiar with. Xiao Shiqin was no stranger to Ye Qiu either.

I need to find other opportunities to scout him out!

All of these thoughts sounded complicated, but Tao Xuan tidied them up in an instant. Just when he was about to say something, there was another knock on the practice room door. The same employee stuck his head in and said: "Boss, there’s someone looking for you again!"

"Who is it this time?" Chen Guo wasn’t in a good mood. Excellent Era had brought two All Star level players to show off their strength. How could she be happy?

"He says his name is Qiao Yifan." The employee said.

"Oh?" Chen Guo turned to look at Ye Xiu. Ye Xiu immediately took note of the name.

"So Yifan’s already here!" Ye Xiu headed towards the door.

"Who is it?" Steamed Bun asked.

"One Inch Ash." Tang Rou knew.

"OH! That fellow! I’m going to go too then." Steamed Bun jumped up.

"Me too." Tang Rou got up as well.

"How interesting." Wei Chen also had a deep impression of the Ghostblade and also headed out of the door with everyone else.

"Little Li, could you take care of the guests?" Ye Xiu told the employee to attend to the three guests in the room. Everyone else had already walked out in a line. Only Tao Xuan, Xiao Shiqin, and Sun Xiang were thrown aside in the practice room. The person accompanying them would be Happy Internet Cafe’s Little Li.

Little Li clearly wasn’t sure how to handle this situation. Unfortunately, he had been abandoned by the others already. He looked at the three in front of him at a loss of what to do. In the end, he squeezed out a few words: "Would any you like some water?"

"No need. Thanks." Xiao Shiqin replied.

At this moment, Tao Xuan was so angry, no words could come out of his mouth. How disrespectful! This was unadorned disdain for them. Excellent Era’s owner, captain, and vice-captain had just been thrown aside in a practice room just like that. Ye Qiu left an employee here to attend to them and then everyone just ran over to meet some random punk. Who was this person? Was he more important than them?

"Qiao Yifan….. That name sounds quite familiar?" Xiao Shiqin muttered.

"Really?" Tao Xuan was surprised. He felt like this person’s background shouldn’t be small, but after thinking about it for awhile, he couldn’t think of anything.

Sun Xiang remembered though: "Isn’t he the one that lost to Li Xuan in the All Stars Rookie Challenge?" Sun Xiang had participated in the Rookie Challenge, and had been quite depressed at the results. The painful experience deepened his impression of the event, so he even remembered a no-name like Qiao Yifan.

"Right, it’s him." Xiao Shiqin hadn’t been wrong when he said that the name sounded familiar. If Qiao Yifan wasn’t so invisible, he would have thought of it awhile ago: "He’s from Team Tiny Herb. Even though he has never gone out on stage, he’s an officially registered member of Team Tiny Herb."