Chapter 1 The International Star Tournament Begins

The schedule for the International Star Tournament was released to great fanfare, with the opening match featuring a clash between the previous champions and runners-up: France's Tulips against China's Dynasty.

The tournament organizers clearly believed that this gimmick would attract more attention to the Star Tournament, touting the slogan of the runners-up challenging the champions. Inviting the previous season's champion and runner-up to the opening match is basically a specific tradition in various professional events.

The effect was indeed excellent. This opening match was the focus of much attention, an unprecedented spectacle, especially for the Chinese audience. Being the runner-up is an honor, but it also represents a regret, and they hoped to see Dynasty defeat the Tulips and get the season off to a good start.

Not only the audience, but all teams aspiring to enter the international league were paying attention to this opening match, preparing to study the characteristics of Dynasty and Tulips in order to target them in formal battles. Knowing yourself and your enemy is the key to victory.

Han Xiao was also watching the match, after all, the Dynasty guild had purchased hundreds of bottles of ability potions from him in bulk. He had to observe the effects and see if he needed to provide after-sales service.

The Star Tournament continued to use the same approach as last season's international tournament, with specific collection crystals appearing in the shop, similar to dungeon crystals, pulling the participating players into the same virtual scene for the competition. The official and Galaxy Times provided full coverage, with commentators chattering away.

A few days before the start of the match, Galaxy Times interviewed the Tulips and Dynasty teams respectively, asking for their views on the match.

The Tulips' captain, the God-level player Lost Angel, exuded confidence, saying that he would definitely win the match and defend the honor of the previous champion, and so on. Carrying the champion's aura, most viewers naturally favored the Tulips.

On the Dynasty side, Wang Hou Jiang Xiang never knew what humility meant, bluntly telling the Tulips to wash their chrysanthemums and wait, they would definitely hammer their opponents hard—of course, that wasn't his exact words, but that was the gist of it.

Meeting on a narrow road, the Chinese audience didn't want to see Dynasty being humble and low-key. Bloodthirstiness can boost morale. They all waved their flags on the forum and shouted their support, after all, Dynasty had been singing all the way in the divisional regular season, showing the momentum of "I can pierce the sky". Chinese players had extremely high expectations for Dynasty, fearing that they would become the next Temple from the previous season.

Temple suffered a lot of criticism last season and became a negative example, typical of being fierce in internal battles but useless in foreign ones.

Various experts conducted pre-match analysis, most of whom believed that the Tulips were slightly stronger. The official position was also the same, placing Dynasty in the challenger's position.

Galaxy Times made a summary report:

"Captains Wang Hou Jiang Xiang and Lost Angel have exchanged harsh words in the air, with no one backing down. Both seeded strong teams have the potential to win the championship, and they are evenly matched. They will present a wonderful battle with many climaxes, and the suspense will be maintained until the last moment. Who will ultimately win, please wait and see."

……

Under much anticipation, the day of the opening match soon arrived.

Countless players poured into the live broadcast channels, including the official channel and the Galaxy Times broadcast channel, inviting guests to watch the match together. Many viewers smiled when they saw the guest list of the Chinese version of Galaxy Times, which included Rou Bao Da Gou.

Rou Bao's video career was thriving, and he finally transformed himself from a name into a celebrity, with a group of hardcore fans and haters. Mixing in with the guest lineup composed of various professional players, it had a bit of a hilariously obvious feeling of just making up the numbers...

The two teams used the collection crystals to enter the competition venue early. Under the guidance of the host, Wang Hou Jiang Xiang and Lost Angel led their teams to go through the motions and had a brief interview dialogue, then went to prepare.

While waiting, the commentators and guests analyzed for a while, and then began to chat.

The female commentator of the Chinese section of Galaxy Times asked several guests, "The match is about to start. Why don't you predict the results and tell us which team you favor, and give your reasons."

The guests' answers were similar, saying that the Tulips were very strong, but they favored Dynasty, rambling on about a bunch of rational analysis reasons, mainly because they didn't dare to say they favored the enemy in front of the Chinese audience.

Only Rou Bao and the gorgeous bitch next to him were different, with extremely firm positions and no hesitation.

"I favor the Tulips team. France will definitely win!"

Many guests looked at him in surprise.

The commentator couldn't help but ask, "Are you sure? Why?"

"This is a bit complicated to explain..." Rou Bao's tone was serious, acting as if he knew something, "Have you heard of anti-buffing?"

The commentator was immediately dumbfounded. He thought Rou Bao had lost his mind, but it turned out he was just being mischievous. If it wasn't for his image, he would have said, "Show your mom!"

After Rou Bao explained, the barrage changed from a screen full of question marks to a dense "France will definitely win", leading a wave of collective anti-buffing.

After the few people joked for a while, the match officially began, and the relaxed atmosphere suddenly became tense. The audience's minds were highly focused, and they threw themselves into the match.

The first match was a team battle, and the broadcast camera followed the two teams throughout. Han Xiao mainly watched Dynasty.

In a random venue with complex terrain, Dynasty didn't rush to find their opponents as soon as they entered the field, but took out one mechanical prop after another to carry out tactical arrangements.

The commentator said in a timely manner, "Dynasty has chosen a steady and conservative tactic, using mechanical props to create favorable conditions. It is worth mentioning that all the props used by Dynasty are Black Star series machines. The Black Star Army has a complete set of mechanical product systems, which provides convenience for the teams in the Shattered Star Ring division to formulate tactics. In comparison, the Tulips team does not have an advantage in this area."

Rou Bao nodded in agreement, "Indeed, according to my investigation, players in other divisions lack the means to easily obtain complete sets of equipment like the Black Star Army. Although professional players can still put together a set of powerful top-level equipment, it will take them more time."

As soon as the Black Star Army was mentioned, the Chinese players were as excited as if they had been injected with chicken blood. The barrage was filled with dense "Black Star is awesome", "Commander, love me again" and "The Dragon Seat Simp Association is here" and so on...

It would be fine in private, but mentioning the Black Star Army in the public arena of an international competition made the players in the Shattered Star Ring very excited. The Black Star Army was the link connecting many players in the Shattered Star Ring, becoming a common language.

Han Xiao was a little surprised. He hadn't been prepared to be mentioned suddenly, and he had a strange feeling of "I'm not in the martial world, but there are legends about me in the martial world."

The match continued, and the two teams moved on the map, finally discovering each other's whereabouts and rapidly approaching each other.

The audience suddenly became nervous, holding their breaths and waiting for the battle. In their opinion, once strong teams clash, it must be an earth-shattering event, capable of splattering brains everywhere...

However, fantasy is often very different from reality, and the real situation was contrary to expectations.

There was no evenly matched fierce battle. Dynasty crushed the Tulips team from beginning to end, beating them violently and ending their opponents in a destructive manner.

The commentators and guests were so excited that they were incoherent. The Chinese audience was indescribably excited, while the audiences of other countries were stunned. They had no inclination and had originally expected to see a back-and-forth battle, but they didn't expect that the previous champion would be crushed and easily defeated by the runner-up.

In the subsequent arena match, Dynasty also won the match with an absolute advantage.

The official commentators and referees were dumbfounded. The organizers wanted to make the opening match a wonderful dragon-tiger fight, so they arranged for the previous champion and runner-up to fight, but they didn't expect the Tulips to have a cold streak and be easily defeated by Dynasty.

Dynasty won without any suspense, the barrage exploded, and there was a carnival on the forum. The Chinese audience only felt elated and couldn't wait to praise Dynasty to the skies.

Han Xiao wasn't surprised by this result at all. In his previous life, the French Tulips won the first championship, but in the second season, they were reduced to an ordinary strong team, and in the end, they almost didn't make it into the top eight of the international tournament. Their strength had shrunk severely.

And Dynasty was much stronger than in the previous season, so in his opinion, it was normal for this result to occur.

Although the Tulips were the previous champion, the French players lacked the unique advantage of Chinese players—that is, there were too few French keyboard warriors!

Without encouragement and pressure, unlike the Chinese players who live in a difficult environment and are full of motivation in order not to be flamed, the French style was obviously not associated with hard work. They relaxed after winning a championship, simply showing off themselves. Dynasty won the runner-up in the previous season, and they were even more motivated.

He remembered that in the opening match of his previous life, the two sides were the French Tulips team and the American Underworld team, and the result was that they were also hammered by Underworld. Now, Dynasty replaced Underworld in the first season and won the runner-up position, so the ones hammering the Tulips became Dynasty.

After the opening match, the experts changed their tune and began to tout Dynasty, fully implementing their consistent role as hindsight experts.

The teams from other countries all regarded Dynasty as the most powerful competitor, concentrating on studying the match recordings, trying to find a tactic to counter them.

Dynasty's victory caused a sensational impact, gaining a lot of attention, overshadowing the other three major powerhouses. The Chinese audience cheered for it, almost regarding Dynasty as their main team, and in their excitement, they also placed high hopes on them.

Most of the players in the Dynasty team were more or less nervous.

As a member of a powerhouse, they were very clear that the current situation was a double-edged sword. If they won all the way to the end, then needless to say, they would definitely be put on a pedestal.

But once they lost, everyone's mistakes would be magnified, and they would be flamed to death. The higher the exposure, the greater the pressure. Only Wang Hou Jiang Xiang, who had seen great storms, didn't care about this.

……

After the opening match had a cold streak, the International Star Tournament officially began. The strong teams performed exhibition matches, which were regarded as a warm-up for the international regular season.

The champions of the nine major divisions all demonstrated their level and showed their style.

The schedule for this season was tight. After the Star Tournament ended in a carnival, there was a few days of rest before the divisional finals seamlessly connected.

In the Shattered Star Ring division, the eight strong teams were divided into four groups according to their points ranking: Dynasty against Nine Gates, Jiangcheng against Berserkers, Changkong against Yuxiang Eggplant, and Temple against Rainstorm, best of five games.

The most anticipated match was Changkong against Yuxiang Eggplant. The two powerhouses met in the first round. Because only the top four could participate in the international regular season, this meant that one powerhouse would be absent from the international regular season.

Yuxiang Eggplant missed the international regular season last season, and this time they had gathered their energy to defeat Changkong and fight for a spot.

Unfortunately, Changkong still won, and Yuxiang Eggplant was eliminated again, hiding in the corner and drawing circles.

Soon, the results of the first round of the divisional finals were out. Dynasty defeated Nine Gates without any suspense, maintaining their momentum.

Jiangcheng against Berserkers. The two sides fought inextricably, reaching match point at two to two. At the critical moment, Kuang Dao and Xie Xiaojian broke out, and finally thrillingly defeated the Berserker team led by Yan Ran, making it into the top four.

Temple against Rainstorm. The result was surprisingly cold. Jiang Yuluo was as if blessed by the gods, rubbing Li Ge on the ground. In the end, Rainstorm eliminated Temple three to one and entered the top four. Temple went to draw circles with Yuxiang Eggplant.

The list of the top four was released to great fanfare. Dynasty, Changkong, Jiangcheng, and Rainstorm. The result exceeded the expectations of many viewers. Two major powerhouses were actually absent from the international regular season.

The top four divisional teams had already qualified, and the next step was the fight for the divisional championship, which was also an honor.

The match list for the second round made Han Xiao suspect that Kuang Dao had also touched Fording. The two powerhouses Dynasty and Changkong were matched up, while Jiangcheng was matched up against the relatively weak Rainstorm.

Kuang Dao only started leading the team this year. The Jiangcheng team was originally only a second or third-rate team, but they actually obtained the qualification for the international regular season and fought all the way to the divisional top four. Their performance as a dark horse attracted a lot of attention.

As a Mech Martial Artist, his fighting style was diverse, mature, and stable, and he was more famous than in the previous year, beginning to consolidate his position in the professional circle.

Due to Han Xiao's influence, the profession chosen by Kuang Dao was different from his previous life, but as far as the current situation was concerned, his professional path was going more smoothly.