Chapter 1 The Nature of Blades

The nature of the Blades Society was briefly mentioned in the previous chapters—it has official backing. All members of the society are drawn from military, police, and political institutions. They nominally belong to an independent team under the Internet Police, but in reality, there's much more to it...

Some may question why government departments would organize a group of people to create accounts and lie dormant in a game, only to carry out their work later.

Well, it's a long story... Clearly, in the real world of this novel, there are settings such as gods and ghosts, hell and heaven. Therefore... naturally, there are also departments within the government agencies of this world that specialize in dealing with these supernatural situations. And the authority of this mysterious department is quite astonishing. They have the full capability to order this to be done. Not to mention the manpower of the Blades Society... If necessary, it's not impossible to draw a regiment of troops to form an organization in the game that is stronger than any professional studio.

However, because Woody has a good personal relationship with the current head of that mysterious department, the other party adopted this more relaxed form of intervention. Basically, it's an attitude of "only monitoring, not acting." If something major really happens, the relevant departments will definitely prioritize taking down Dream Inc. headquarters in the real world…

Of course, these plot lines are not the core content of this book, so let's return to the story.

[Qi Sha] (Seven Kills), although known as the third-in-command of the Blades, is actually the number one expert in terms of individual combat ability. Because their number one and two are similar to the head and political commissar of the group, or rather, the commander and strategist.

And Qi Sha is a general.

Everyone who can rank in the top twenty of the combat power list is a top expert. Although he is ranked sixteenth, this does not mean that those ranked ahead of him can win against him, nor does it mean that those ranked behind him will definitely lose when they meet him. As long as their strengths are within the same range, the outcome between two players is full of variables.

Unfortunately... Xiao Tan is not in Qi Sha's league.

"That emblem..." Qi Sha saw the conspicuous emblem of the Hell Frontline Society from afar, "Heh... to actually encounter someone from Hell Frontline in the first match." How could he not remember the name of the society to which Feng Bujue, who defeated him in Gotham City, belonged…

Before the fight even started, Qi Sha was already excited.

"Qi Sha, that Qi Sha of the Blades..." Xiao Tan also often checks the rankings. He naturally has an impression of IDs that are relatively easy to remember like this one. "Hmm... super bad luck. I encountered an expert ranked in the top twenty in the first match." He thought to himself, "But... such an opponent is perfect for testing just how far my strength has come."

Faced with a powerful enemy, Xiao Tan not only did not flinch, but instead was filled with fighting spirit.

At this moment, the environment around the two was a barren open space, the hardness of the ground under their feet was moderate, and the surface was covered with a layer of withered grass and sand. Above them was a clear sky with the sun directly overhead, providing an unobstructed view. Because it was a script dedicated to the preliminary round, there was no plot and the map was very simple.

Moreover, the system very "thoughtfully" allowed these two players, who mainly focused on close-range combat, to meet directly... As soon as they entered the script, they could directly see each other.

The two were about a hundred meters apart. After facing off for a few seconds, Qi Sha spoke first, saying in a loud voice, "Friend, since it's a competition, then I won't be polite."

"I hope you will enlighten me." Xiao Tan reached out, and the energy-charged triangular military spike appeared in his left hand. His right hand also clenched into a fist and rotated, and the blade claws popped out in response.

"Oh... this kid is much more polite than their leader." Qi Sha mentally retorted, replying, "Likewise..." He used fists, and his main weapon was a fine-grade pair of gauntlets, so he didn't need to prepare anything, and he stepped forward.

"So fast..." Xiao Tan, looking at the suddenly blurred figure in his vision, felt the pressure increase greatly. As the saying goes, experts know what's what as soon as they make a move. As soon as Qi Sha moved, Xiao Tan understood that his opponent's speed was definitely not below his own.

At this moment, Xiao Tan also moved instinctively. As he moved horizontally, the sleeve darts on his left arm flew out at high speed.

"Trying to probe my speed and reaction?" Qi Sha dodged the darts with ease while muttering to himself, "This strategy is quite reasonable, but it may not be meaningful."

In the blink of an eye, the distance between the two had been shortened to within ten meters, and none of the five darts shot by Xiao Tan hit.

"Tch..." Seeing that the other party was recklessly charging head-on, a fierce energy vaguely rose in Xiao Tan's heart. He snorted coldly and said, "If you want to engage in close combat so badly... then I'll grant your wish!"

Although his words were harsh, his next action was... to roll. He rolled suddenly and quickly... and unexpectedly.

As an extreme player who only focuses on fighting, Qi Sha will not fear anyone in close combat. Even if he faced characters like Shiva or Tun Tian Gui Xiao, he firmly believes that he will not suffer losses in fighting.

And Xiao Tan's experience and skill in fighting were far inferior to his opponent. He could only contend with Qi Sha in terms of speed…

Therefore, if he wanted to win, relying on conventional fighting methods would definitely not work...

So, Xiao Tan simply went in the opposite direction, striving for every move to be surprising and every style to be amazing.

"Hmm?" Qi Sha really didn't expect that the other party had posed and revealed his weapons, but didn't use them at all. Instead, he was quickly rolling on the ground, sweeping his left leg directly at his ankle.

"Hmph... suddenly starting to attack the lower body... unorthodox." Qi Sha raised his knee and stomped down like lightning, dodging the attack while counterattacking.

Who knew, Xiao Tan's sweep was just a feint. At this moment, his right leg performed a scorpion kick, kicking the opponent's abdomen backward.

Qi Sha's reaction was slightly slower, but he still had time to change his stance, choosing to barely exert force with his supporting foot, stepping on the ground and rebounding his body.

Seeing this, Xiao Tan immediately swept his sleeve, bringing out a bit of cold light, and chased after him.

Although it was a sleeve dart attack launched with a flick of the hand, it was still as powerful as an arrow.

Unexpectedly, Qi Sha, who had no support in the air, only responded with a sneer. "Not bad, you can actually make me reveal an opening, and you also know how to seize it." Before he finished speaking, he had already used two fingers to clamp the fast dart shot at his throat.

"Are you kidding me..." Xiao Tan broke out in a cold sweat. At such a short distance, and Qi Sha was still in a slow, suspended state from a forced jump, yet he could catch such a fast hidden weapon.

"It's not over yet..." Qi Sha smiled.

Before the words were finished, his hand had turned one hundred and eighty degrees, and he used his index and middle fingers, which were clamping the dart, to forcefully flick it, reflecting the dart back in the same trajectory.

"Crap... Two-Finger Vacuum Grip!" Xiao Tan exclaimed, and with a twist of his body, a flash of blade light flew out, barely blocking the dart.

He was right, Qi Sha was using the "Two-Finger Vacuum Grip" from Hokuto Shinken. Anything like arrows or flying knives can be caught with this move and reflected. Unless the incoming attack far exceeds the power of a normal arrow, or a barrage of ammunition flies in within a short period of time, such hidden weapon attacks are useless against the user of the Two-Finger Vacuum Grip.

"It's a pity, if you could fire a barrage of shotgun bullets with a flick of your hand, I might really suffer a little damage." Qi Sha's composed attitude showed that he was still at ease.

As he spoke, he had already reorganized his stance and instantly stepped in front of Xiao Tan, who had just gotten up. "Let me show you something fun... Wolf Fang Hurricane Fist!"

A rain-like barrage of fists suddenly struck, as swift as a gale and as sharp as wolf fangs.

It wasn't that Xiao Tan wasn't prepared, but this continuous attack was really hard to avoid. The only method he could think of was... to defend with offense.

Xiao Tan gritted his teeth, moved his body, and slightly adjusted his posture, then extended both hands at the same time, returning the favor.

The military spike and blade claws danced with layers of silver light, like two wild silver snakes, spiraling and dancing to meet the wolf fangs. In an instant, a series of "clanging" sounds erupted between the two, like dense rain tapping on windows, or pearls falling on a jade plate.

Qi Sha's steel gauntlets were quite powerful, and coupled with his own strength, he clearly held the upper hand when facing Xiao Tan's two bladed weapons.

However, skills are skills after all. [Wolf Fang Hurricane Fist] wasn't just something Qi Sha randomly shouted; it was indeed one of his skills. And Xiao Tan was simply relying on his reflexes, rapidly swinging his weapons to block.

When the two collided, Xiao Tan was naturally at a disadvantage.

After a moment of intersecting fists and blades, Xiao Tan had already suffered more than a dozen hits. His left hand was almost exhausted, and his right wrist was sore. As for Qi Sha, only his fists were slightly numb.

"To actually rely on instant reactions to forcibly withstand a skill..." Although Qi Sha was outwardly calm, he was secretly shocked, "A bit interesting... It seems it would be impolite to kill this kid with a normal move..."

"Killing intent!" Xiao Tan himself didn't know why, but these two words appeared in his mind. He wasn't looking at the other party's eyes at this moment, and Qi Sha hadn't shown any signs of unleashing a big move, but Xiao Tan had a strong feeling that the opponent's fatal blow would arrive in the next instant.

And at this moment, Qi Sha also muttered in his heart, "Apart from speed, other aspects are basically not worth watching... Let's send him on his way..." Then he unleashed the [Reverse 108 Styles: Great Serpent Mower].

He raised his left hand high in front of him, snapping his fingers, and a point of fiery light exploded from his fingertips. Then, the lower half of his body slightly shifted, and his torso rotated from left to right, and his whole body was enveloped in golden-red scorching energy. Finally, his right hand pushed forward, sending out a surging ball of explosive flames, pouncing towards his opponent.

This set of movements was completed in one go, leaving Xiao Tan only one second to react. If he hadn't noticed that this was a killing move the moment his opponent snapped his fingers, he would probably have been doomed to be instantly killed.

Boom, boom, boom...

With three consecutive explosions, Xiao Tan's figure was swallowed by the flames.

"Is it over..." Qi Sha thought, "No!" He sensed something...

Although he had watched his opponent get hit head-on by his big move, his years of combat experience told him... it wasn't over.

Sure enough, a ray of white light pierced Qi Sha's eyes.

It was sunlight, reflected by the sharp edge of the military spike, blinding sunlight.

A silent, ghostly shadow came to Qi Sha's side and rear, an arm stretched out, and the sleeve sword at his wrist was already against Qi Sha's throat...

The sleeve sword popped out, but did not pierce Qi Sha's neck. In the last, final, fractions of a second, Qi Sha still made a move... He dodged to the side and quickly tilted his head back.

His neck was injured, and blood flowed profusely. His terror points also climbed to their peak in that second, but he still managed to escape death and instinctively counterattack.

"Clang—" With a sound, his reversed fist struck Xiao Tan's reversed military spike.

The impact between this strike and block helped Qi Sha to widen the distance and buy himself time.

"Is it an afterimage..." Qi Sha made this judgment based on experience. "He deliberately waited until the last moment to separate an afterimage, to withstand my killing move... and the real body quietly approached, to slit my throat... Hmm... It's almost as if he sensed that I was going to unleash a big move in advance."

Cold sweat rolled down Qi Sha's forehead, and he couldn't help but secretly rejoice... If the other party's blade hadn't happened to reflect the sunlight just now, I'm afraid that sleeve sword would have pierced into my head from under my chin... and the victory would have already been decided.

"Isn't Hell Frontline just a small society of four people..." Qi Sha thought. After the cloak snatching battle, he had also asked Long Aomin a few questions about Feng Bujue, but he didn't ask in detail. "It's clearly a society for casual players, but how come anyone who comes out is so sharp..."

Xiao Tan had no idea what the other party was thinking. He immediately launched another move, [Reverse Blade Spin Slash], relying on the move to close in, approaching his opponent in the fastest and most threatening way.

He had worked so hard to build up some advantages in this short period of time. If he couldn't seize the opportunity to pursue and turn it into a winning position, then all his previous efforts would have been in vain.

"He's much more troublesome than I imagined..." Qi Sha covered his neck with one hand, and supported himself on the ground with the other, using the momentum to do a somersault, changing to facing away from his opponent, and started to run.

"No way... he's actually running away..." This was the scene Xiao Tan least wanted to see. He had already lost nearly 40% of his survival points from [Wolf Fang Hurricane Fist], and [Reverse 108 Styles: Great Serpent Mower] hadn't completely missed him either. In order to ensure the success of the afterimage tactic, he had to activate [Feng Zhu Chen Xiang Hua Yi Jin] at the moment he was about to be hit, so he still brushed some of the explosive flame damage...

At the moment, Xiao Tan's survival points were only 24%, and in the competition mode, it was not allowed to use survival point supplements. Players without medical specialization had no sustain at all... One life until death.

As long as Qi Sha stopped the bleeding, stopped underestimating him, and seriously dealt with him, then Xiao Tan would definitely be defeated within twenty moves.

"Sorry... I underestimated you a bit before." Qi Sha's voice came from ahead, against the wind.

Xiao Tan could see clearly that the other party had taken out hemostatic items from his bag and covered his neck.

"You fought well..." As the word "well" came out, Qi Sha's figure disappeared from Xiao Tan's sight. "I look forward to..." These words actually came from behind Xiao Tan.

"Shadow Step..." Xiao Tan knew things were going to be bad, but it was too late to turn around. He simply increased the force under his feet, leaned forward, hoping that the other party's speed couldn't keep up.

"...meeting you in the semi-finals." By the time Qi Sha finished his sentence, his fist had already pierced through Xiao Tan's chest from behind.