1395 There’s Still a Gap

Bang!

Flowing Cloud's Silver weapon, the greatsword Flame Shadow, clashed against the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella with a dull sound.

Meteor Form!

The fastest of the powerful Level 75 skills was as quick as lightning, even when used by Flowing Cloud, who had a slow attack speed. Still, Lord Grim managed to parry the attack.

"Oh, what a shame. If Flowing Cloud were using a tachi or a lightsaber instead of a greatsword, that attack definitely would have hit," Li Yibo sighed. But to his surprise, after this attack, although Lord Grim managed to parry it with his umbrella, his body was still pushed backward. The Myriad Manifestations Umbrella was actually jolted to the side.

"This…" Li Yibo was shocked. Even though Meteor Form was a Level 75 skill, this skill prioritized speed and involved the blade moving light and fast. In terms of attack priority, it wasn't very strong. Lord Grim might not have high-level skills, but he should have still been able to parry it. But Lord Grim's movement right now made it look like he hadn't been able to withstand the impact of this attack at all.

Purposefully faking an opening?

Just as this thought flashed through Li Yibo's mind, he saw Flowing Cloud unleash another Headwind Strike. The sword tip swung in a circle, and Lord Grim's chest spurted blood.

"Beautiful!" Pan Lin was already shouting. Lu Hanwen finally broke through Ye Xiu's crazy attacks and successfully counterattacked within the span of one move.

Sword attacks came out one after another, whistling through the air. Li Yibo watched a few attacks, and suddenly reached a realization.

"Even though Flowing Cloud doesn't have a high attack speed, the greatsword gives his skills greater impact. That Meteor Form just now, if he'd been using a tachi or a lightsaber then Lord Grim might have been able to parry it, but because it's a greatsword, his skill priority wasn't high enough, so it was directly knocked aside," said Li Yibo. 

"This is a very good opportunity! Hopefully Lu Hanwen can take advantage of it," Pan Lin shouted.

In an instant, the attacker and defender had switched roles. But Flowing Cloud's combo had only reached the sixth attack, an Upwards Slash, when Lord Grim jumped into the air. He took the Upwards Slash and flew even higher, then raised the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella over his head. Pa pa pa, the umbrella folded and lengthened, the flaps beginning to hum and spin. Instantly, Lord Grim was pulled to the side.

Rising Dragon Slash!

Lu Hanwen hurriedly controlled Flowing Cloud to use an attack that would hit Lord Grim in the air, but he was too slow. The sword light flashed right by Lord Grim's body. But Lu Hanwen barely had time to feel regret when the humming noise from Lord Grim's umbrella suddenly stopped, and Lord Grim was already extending his right leg…

Eagle Stamp!

Bam bam bam bam.

Four consecutive kicks mercilessly fell upon Flowing Cloud's body, and the priority of his Rising Dragon Slash had long since expired. He'd originally wanted to use a Falling Light Blade to get away, but he was still too slow, and Lord Grim stamped down upon him.

Shing! Lord Grim pulled out the tachi from his Myriad Manifestations Umbrella, Falling Light Blade! Lu Hanwen hadn't been fast enough to use it, but Ye Xiu now very leisurely used it. The tip of the sword pressed against Flowing Cloud's throat, and they continued to fall.

The entire audience was stunned.

This reaction, this combo…

Lu Hanwen had only just broken through and begun a counterattack! The Happy fans live at the stadium hadn't even had time to begin worrying about Ye Xiu when this guy recovered the situation. In comparison, Blue Rain's players only made their fans worry more.

Bang…

Because of the Falling Light Blade, Flowing Cloud was stuck and couldn't escape. Just like that, he was crushed against the ground, sending up a cloud of dust. Punisher, Earthquake Sword, Lord Grim used another flurry of ground attacks against the already-fallen Flowing Cloud. Lu Hanwen was once again at the disadvantage. 

"Aw, Hanwen didn't grasp it well!" Huang Shaotian sighed. He was also a Blade Master player, so he had quite a right to speak about the judgments made in that moment. He felt that that opportunity had been created extremely well, and if it had been him, there was no way he would let the opponent get away after only six attacks in a combo.

"His attack was a bit slow," Yu Wenzhou said.

"Mm… The equipment would have a bit of effect on that, but the greatsword should have been enough to deal with that situation. Hanwen didn't have good control, the timing wasn't accurate enough," said Huang Shaotian.

"Or you could say, Ye Xiu's timing was simply too accurate," said Yu Wenzhou.

Huang Shaotian paused and realized, indeed, that was the case. The attack rhythm of the unspecialized Lord Grim was extremely rapid, and Ye Xiu's controls were still so accurate. Lu Hanwen's Flowing Cloud was a greatsword Blade Master. It was hard enough for slow to keep up with fast rhythm, and because the opponent was Ye Xiu, the difficulty was only greater.

"Find another opportunity, kid! Don't give that guy another chance to show off!" Huang Shaotian said, grinding his teeth. 

Ah, too bad!

Lu Hanwen had only managed six attacks before Ye Xiu took back the initiative, so of course he was disappointed. He was positive, he was optimistic, but he wouldn't forget scars instantly. As a pro player, he couldn't afford to forget scars so easily, because every scar was a lesson, something that led to growth. Lu Hanwen's personality didn't help him forget scars; it allowed him to actively face his scars, never fleeing.

Maybe I could've done this or that instead, and it would've turned out better…

Lu Hanwen, just like this, grew up through these "ifs" and "maybes." From mistakes and failures, he accumulated experience nonstop. But this kind of growth didn't happen overnight; making a mistake once didn't guarantee that it could immediately be avoided next time. After all, with Lu Hanwen's current skill level, the mistakes he made wouldn't be those particularly obvious kinds of mistakes. Sometimes, it would be a problem of small, inadvertent habits, and it would require a lot of time to pick them out and fix them.

Over these two years, Lu Hanwen's growth had been clear to see. He had grown so much since he entered the Alliance, but the opponent in front of him now…

Lu Hanwen sighed deeply.

By the time he'd entered the Alliance, this God in front of him had already become a legend. He never would have thought that he'd have the chance to meet him in-game. That summer, Lu Hanwen had followed Blue Brook Guild to train in-game, and that summer he had accumulated numerous painful failures.

An extremely difficult opponent, possibly even more difficult than Senior Shaotian.

At that time, Lu Hanwen had already felt it, and that had only been in-game, where the two of them hadn't had too many face-to-face exchanges. At first, he'd only heard from Blue River, the guild worker bringing him along, about how this person stirred up storms and reaped the profits. Afterwards, the exchanges in-game had only verified Blue River's words. Lu Hanwen clearly remembered how even he, someone who had clearly come to support Blue Brook Guild and fight Lord Grim, had ultimately become that guy's helper in the process of stealing the Boss.

He's too good!

Lu Hanwen could only think this. In terms of skill and technique, he could still work hard to improve, but those things like strategic layout and maneuvering? It was like their captain Yu Wenzhou.

Lu Hanwen could could view Huang Shaotian as the goal he was chasing after, even the target that he wanted to surpass, but Captain Yu Wenzhou… forget it! How could he ever match that kind of guy? Lu Hanwen never believed that he had that kind of mind.

Their in-game struggles allowed Lu Hanwen to learn Ye Xiu's skill in this area, and this alone was already breathtaking. And then Happy entered the Alliance, this legendary God returned to the professional stage, and then, 37 consecutive individual wins.

How could this kind of person be beaten?

Whether in terms of strategy or technique, he still just couldn't compare?

Compared to Ye Xiu, Lu Hanwen could only draw this sad conclusion. He was brave, he was fearless, but he could recognize skill. Yet even when recognizing this huge gap between himself and Ye Xiu, he could still battle courageously.

There's still a gap!

Lu Hanwen was very clear on this point. As for whether or not he could close this gap, Lu Hanwen didn't think about it too hard. Victory wasn't simply determined by such a gap. Lu Hanwen, as well as most of those who were raised in Blue Rain, held this belief in his heart: A gap isn't scary. A gap doesn't determine everything!

Because they had a captain called Yu Wenzhou. Because their captain had a weakness that was fatal for most pro players.

But Yu Wenzhou frequently used his situation to tell Blue Rain's team members and Blue Rain's trainees who dreamed of becoming pro players: A gap isn't scary. What's scary is giving up because of a gap.

"Even someone like me hasn't given up - what reason do you have?"

Even now, Lu Hanwen still remembered the words that Yu Wenzhou had once said to the trainees at training camp. Although he was very young, he could understand this relatively straightforward point. And Yu Wenzhou's experience of walking through Blue Rain's training camp was even more of a real, living motivation for all of them.

In the training camp, they wouldn't give up on their dreams; on the battlefield, they wouldn't give up on victory.

They saw the gap, but they wouldn't shrink from the gap.

Continue on like this!

Facing a gap, Lu Hanwen doubled down on his determination. Win or lose, he wouldn't think about the outcome too much. He just knew that he had to put his full effort in to do everything he could.

These efforts weren't meaningless, because this was the group arena. This was a team project. Whatever health and mana of Lord Grim's that he could deplete, the next Blue Rain player would feel the benefits. This would become the basis of their victory.

So, fight hard!

"Lu Hanwen really has a great attitude. Even though Ye Xiu has completely suppressed him, he isn't retreating or getting discouraged at all," Li Yibo praised.

"He definitely has a bright future ahead of him," Pan Lin said, moved.

Although the two praised him freely, the fact that they were talking about his future made it clear that right now, they didn't think Lu Hanwen would win.

44%!

When Lu Hanwen's Flowing Cloud fell, this was how much health Lord Grim had left. Blue Rain had already sent up two players, but they had only knocked away a little more than half of Ye Xiu's health.

"Happy is already in a two-point lead," Pan Lin announced.

"1v2, and in the playoffs… Ye Xiu really deserves the title of King of Dueling this season. Just this kind of performance should be enough to silence the doubts that he only won so many consecutive victories because he hadn't met strong opponents. Ye Xiu had the ability to achieve victory at lesser cost to himself, but he didn't need to do so in individual battles," said Li Yibo.

"But if he wants to 1v3 right now, it looks like it'll be a bit difficult. Lord Grim lost a lot more mana than health," said Pan Lin.

"There's still 11%," said Li Yibo, after checking.

"Uh… this time, at least, he shouldn't be carrying mana-boosting equipment, right?" Pan Lin still clearly remembered the events of last year's Challenger League.