Chapter 11 Misstep

With a diagonal roll, Qiao Yifan's phantom blade almost slipped through the gap beneath the Blood Cross, dodging with extreme peril. He truly didn't want to miss this excellent opportunity to trap his opponent in the ice array. He wanted to seize the chance and launch an attack quickly.

Rolling past the Blood Cross, Qiao Yifan's phantom blade raised its blade, intending to open another ghost array to block the opponent's retreat. The endless ghost arrays, though each with different effects, consistently kept the opponent within his own boundaries. This was a common strategy and routine for phantom blade PKs. Qiao Yifan's ice array had trapped Li Xuan's ghost slash, and he was confident he had an opportunity. He opened another array, but before the chant was even complete, Li Xuan's ghost slash suddenly turned and thrust out a sword.

The two were at a distance, so an ordinary slash wouldn't reach. But after Li Xuan's sword thrust, the land within the ice barrier suddenly churned, like a rising wave, instantly rolling towards Qiao Yifan's phantom blade.

Magic Swordsman skill: Ground Fissure Wave Sword.

This low-level Magic Swordsman skill was clearly only learned to the first rank by Li Xuan, as seen by the limited distance it covered. But the distance, though short, was just enough to reach the position of Qiao Yifan's phantom blade at the time.

This time, Qiao Yifan had no choice. If he were caught by the Ground Fissure Wave Sword, his chant would definitely be interrupted. Helpless, he had to interrupt it himself, dodging the attack again.

From Silver Light Falling Blade to Cross Slash, and then to Ground Fissure Wave Sword. Swordmaster, Berserker, and Magic Swordsman's low-level skills, all learned to the first rank, not for damage, but for effect. But relying on the reasonable use of these three small skills, Li Xuan's ghost slash had safely reached the edge of the ice array's boundary. Qiao Yifan had ultimately failed to deploy a new barrier to trap his opponent within a ghost array.

Qiao Yifan secretly lamented. It was rare to start with an ice array that trapped the opponent, and even triggered the freeze probability. It was such a great opportunity, but he failed to grasp it.

But PK was ever-changing. It would be too simple if every opportunity could be fully seized. Moreover, his opponent was a top-tier expert among ghost swordsmen. Although Qiao Yifan felt regret, he wasn't discouraged. He carefully observed the movement of Li Xuan's ghost slash and immediately rushed forward again.

Li Xuan, however, showed no sign of panic. In this exchange, he had finally experienced Qiao Yifan's strength firsthand. His performance was orderly and methodical, but not particularly strong. Seeing Qiao Yifan rush over, he didn't panic, casually executing an operation and opening a Blade Formation for himself first.

Qiao Yifan saw this and quickly stopped, preventing his phantom blade from entering the opponent's barrier. Standing outside the barrier, he also began to chant. A dark purple flame rose from his phantom blade's blade, instantly solidifying into a burning humanoid figure, opening a Flame Array.

With the emergence of the Demon God, the surrounding area within the barrier was instantly filled with leaping dark purple flame imps, scurrying around, eager to find a target to ignite. The Flame Array was overlaid on top of Li Xuan's Blade Formation, with some overlap. However, Li Xuan's ghost slash had already taken a step back, avoiding the Flame Array's range.

Qiao Yifan ignored it, never expecting the Flame Array to trap his opponent. This array was just to provide cover, allowing him to break into the opponent's Blade Formation head-on.

All of this sounds complicated, but in fact, it all happened within a few seconds. The speed at which the two dispelled the array and moved was extremely fast. As the Flame Array was deployed, Qiao Yifan's phantom blade quickly charged into the range of Li Xuan's Blade Formation, but unexpectedly, Li Xuan's ghost slash also charged into this area at the same moment, as if unafraid of the Flame Array's damage.

This charge caught Qiao Yifan off guard. Li Xuan's ghost slash raised its blade and delivered a Moonlight Slash, followed by a Full Moon Slash, which usually followed Moonlight Slash. No one had yet found a way to break this combination of slashes. Players had even given it a name, calling the two slashes together the Double Moon Slash.

Qiao Yifan was caught unprepared, taking both slashes head-on. The ghost slash's attacks, enhanced by the maxed-out Blade Formation, were quite sharp. Qiao Yifan's phantom blade's health dropped again, but he quickly used a fall recovery to stand up. The opponent had also charged into his Flame Array, which was another opportunity.

However, the audience could see more clearly at this moment.

The instant Li Xuan's ghost slash charged into the Flame Array, the purple flame imps immediately swarmed towards him. Then, in the brief moment of this swarm, Li Xuan's ghost slash unleashed a Double Moon Slash. Immediately afterwards, he jumped backwards, and although the purple flame imps were fast, they ultimately missed, and Li Xuan's ghost slash jumped out of the Flame Array.

Applause filled the arena.

He had ventured through the Flame Array without being caught by the purple flame imps. This was undoubtedly extremely precise judgment and operation. Li Xuan deserved to be called the number one ghost swordsman. No one grasped these things more deeply than him.

When Qiao Yifan flipped back to his feet, he had already seen how Li Xuan had retreated from the Flame Array unscathed. He was genuinely shocked this time, and he vaguely felt that his decision might have been somewhat ill-considered.

Li Xuan retreated, remaining still, waiting for Qiao Yifan to step forward. He had truly entered his role, completely treating it as a teaching match to educate a rookie. He wanted to fight with some style and skill, thereby erasing the audience's impression of his earlier vulgar and graceless actions.

Qiao Yifan had no retreat at this point and could only advance.

Using terrain, using positioning, using characters.

Double array chain, triple array kill…

Qiao Yifan had used all possible means, without mistakes, exerting his best effort to one hundred percent. But it was useless. All his tactics were easily resolved by Li Xuan. The audience cheered again and again, and Qiao Yifan knew they were definitely not cheering for him. His health was constantly being reduced, but after several rounds of conflict, the damage to Li Xuan's ghost slash was less than one-fifth.

Qiao Yifan was once again at a loss.

The previous time, it was an accident that led to panic. Adjusting his mentality could solve it. But this time, it was a deep sense of powerlessness.

Qiao Yifan felt that he had exhausted his skills. He had used all the moves and tactics he could, but he couldn't do anything to his opponent. Every plan of his failed at the first contact, replaced time and time again by the loss of his own health.

And his opponent? In these several rounds, he hadn't taken the initiative to attack once, or even to evade or dodge. He simply waited for him to charge, then countered his attacks, resolving them calmly, and gave a little counterattack. Even when there was an opportunity, he didn't launch endless combos like he did at the beginning, but instead left gaps so that Qiao Yifan could continue.

Defeat the opponent?

At this moment, Qiao Yifan no longer held such fantasies. Even the goal of showcasing his skills, which he had wanted to do, he didn't know how to achieve. His thoughts and intentions hadn't been fully expressed even once. He was holding back a surge of energy, but he couldn't unleash it at all.

His health was already in the red. In the next round, he probably wouldn't be able to withstand even one counterattack.

Fight!

What else could Qiao Yifan do at this moment? He focused his mind again and charged forward. His fingers danced, moving even faster than before. His character danced around Li Xuan's ghost slash, instantly dropping four ghost arrays.

And his opponent?

His opponent was still standing outside the array. From the moment Qiao Yifan dropped the first ghost array, he had already started to move. His character was constantly shifting, and ultimately managed to break out of the narrow gap between the four ghost arrays as they were being placed.

Qiao Yifan was desperate. He couldn't even do things that he could barely do in practice. Li Xuan's ghost slash pounced forward. From the character's poker-like expression, Qiao Yifan seemed to see a mocking smile. No, not one, but two, three, more… some he recognized, some he didn't.

The blade fell, and amid the applause, Qiao Yifan's phantom blade collapsed.

Qiao Yifan stood up from the stage, feeling a little dizzy. He knew he had completely failed.

Two beams of light shone down, illuminating the two contestants. It was just the Rookie Challenge, so both the victor and the loser received the same treatment.

Qiao Yifan walked off the stage and into the center of the arena. He saw Li Xuan standing in front of him, smiling, and saying something to him, but Qiao Yifan couldn't hear a word. He mechanically shook hands with the other and silently walked off the stage.

Behind him, Li Xuan was raising his hands and greeting the audience, saying a few words that included praise for Qiao Yifan. But Qiao Yifan knew that these were just irrelevant pleasantries. The other was just showing his grace. These praises had nothing to do with him, the one being praised. Even if a pig were lying on the stage where he had just sat, Li Xuan would sincerely say, "Not bad, you fought well."

Qiao Yifan walked to his seat and saw his teammates. These people who should have been most familiar to him felt so unfamiliar.

Qiao Yifan bit his lip and finally didn't go in, but walked down the corridor.

"Yifan!"

He heard someone calling him from behind. He recognized Gao Yingjie's voice. He didn't stop, but walked even faster.

The lights in the stadium were mainly focused on the arena, and they were extremely stingy with the audience seats. Especially this time, they were using holographic projection technology. To enhance the effect, these extra areas were even darker. Gao Yingjie chased after him but couldn't find Qiao Yifan anywhere.

Reaching the exit of the corridor, Qiao Yifan couldn't help but look back again.

The arena was still so dazzling. It was his first time on such a beautiful arena, but probably also his last.

==================================

The second update is here! As you can see from the competition results, there is no rainbow without experiencing wind and rain, right? Why did Little Qiao lose so completely? Please listen to the next chapter for the breakdown. (To be continued, if you want to know what happens next, please log in, there are more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)