Chapter 11

Xia country official livestream platform, on the stands.

"The eleventh match is about to start, but our captain hasn't shown up yet." Liu Chongyuan said, "Should we go and call him?"

"Don't rush." Li Miaomiao said, "The last match just ended, and the guest commentators need to talk for more than ten minutes!"

"Actually, the previous matches were quite exciting, and there are several teams that are really strong." Yang Qingshuo said, "They might face us in the second or third round. Isn't it strange that Brother Xu isn't watching the matches?"

Wang Yi smiled and said, "The captain is just confident."

"Don't worry, he'll watch the match videos after the first round is over," Li Miaomiao explained.

"The official livestream schedules a match every half hour," Heng Fang said. "But an actual battle only lasts ten minutes at most! The pre-match interviews, guest predictions… and the post-match analysis and commentary take up most of the time. Lao Xu saves time by watching the videos after the matches are over."

"Hm?" Li Miaomiao saw a figure appearing in the distance; it was Xu Jingming.

"Jingming," Li Miaomiao immediately called out.

"Lao Xu, you've finally arrived," Heng Fang laughed.

"You're the captain, yet you left us all here," Liu Chongyuan also said.

"Don't worry, I timed it perfectly," Xu Jingming said with a smile. "Arriving ten minutes early, no problem, right?"

*Whoosh.*

Suddenly, a female figure appeared, heading straight for Li Miaomiao.

"Hello, Meow Meow, I'm Xia Rong, an assistant from the Xia country official livestream platform." The woman said with a smile, "We'll be inviting all the members of your Pearwood team on stage later. Here's the interview outline. The host will ask some of these questions. You can prepare briefly. If you don't want to answer, you can let another teammate answer."

She handed a stack of documents to the team manager, Li Miaomiao.

Li Miaomiao took it and looked at it, smiling. "These questions are deliberately provocative."

"Pre-match interviews always need some spice," Assistant Xia Rong said with a smile. "Later, the official livestream platform will send invitations to the six of you. If you accept, you'll appear on stage."

Xu Jingming and the others all nodded.

"I won't disturb you any further." Assistant Xia Rong then left.

"One interview outline for each of you." Li Miaomiao began to distribute them, one sheet of paper per person. Xu Jingming took one and smiled as he read it.

"Ten billion viewers are watching, so we still need to be careful," Liu Chongyuan said, a little nervous.

While looking at the interview outline, Xu Jingming asked, "In the previous ten matches, is there anything in particular we should pay attention to?"

"There are many experts," Wang Yi said. "We aren't even sure if some of them are hiding their strength."

Xu Jingming nodded, deciding to watch the videos after the matches.

Soon, at exactly 5 p.m., the Xia country official livestream platform sent out invitations.

"Mom, Dad, Grandpa, we're going to the match now," Xu Jingming said to his family.

"When you're on stage for the interview, no matter what, you can't let your momentum be suppressed," his father, Xu Hong, said.

"Simply put, talk trash!" Old Master Xu reminded him.

At the same time, Wang Yi, Heng Fang, Yang Qingshuo, Liu Chongyuan, and Li Miaomiao also said a few words to their family and friends. Then, all six team members accepted the livestream invitation at the same time.

…

Xu Jingming and his team appeared on the commentary platform.

"The six members of the Pearwood team, please sit here." Host Liu Xin greeted them warmly. Xu Jingming and the others sat down in order. At this time, the six members of the Thousand Sails team also appeared and sat down in turn.

"Sister Yi!"

"Sister Yi is here!"

"Meow Meow, wow, Meow Meow can actually go on stage."

"Meow Meow is awesome. She can go on stage at the Fire Seed Cup National Competition, even though she's just a substitute member."

Countless viewers watched, including many fans of Wang Yi and Li Miaomiao.

On the commentary platform, a slightly chubby female guest smiled and said, "I'm a fan of Wang Yi and also a fan of Meow Meow. I didn't expect to have the opportunity to interview you today. First, I want to ask Meow Meow, how does it feel to be on stage?"

"It's nothing special," Li Miaomiao said with a smile. "I think I'd be happier if you asked me this question during the finals."

"The finals?" Host Liu Xin and the other male guest exchanged glances.

"What spirit!" Liu Xin said with a smile. "We must remember this and ask again during the finals."

The female guest then looked at Wang Yi. "Wang Yi, we all know that many teams were inviting you, and you only made your choice on the last day before registration. What made you choose Xu Jingming and his teammates?"

"Because, among all the teams that invited me," Wang Yi said with a smile, "My current teammates are the strongest!"

"The strongest?" The male guest looked at Xu Jingming with a smile. "I want to ask the captain of the Pearwood team, Xu Jingming, do you agree with what Wang Yi said? The teams that invited Wang Yi include the Immortal Grace team led by Zhang Qing, the Golden Roc team led by Tie Lianyun, and several other powerful teams."

The female guest also followed up, "Li Miaomiao said she wants to be on stage during the finals. Captain, what do you think?"

Xu Jingming smiled slightly. "We're just talking trash. We're not that strong!"

The other five members of the team all laughed.

"Thousand Sails team, are you confident in defeating the Pearwood team?" The male guest immediately looked at the other team.

"We don't have the confidence to defeat them," Captain Hao Fan said with a smile, a fierce glint in his eyes. "But if they want to win? They'll have to lose a few teeth!"

The other team members were also full of fighting spirit.

Judging from the information they had, the gap between the two sides was still quite obvious. Because of this, the Thousand Sails team was even more determined to fight to the death. Even if they were all wiped out, they would have to take down two or three members of the other team.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the eleventh match, Pearwood team versus Thousand Sails team, is about to begin." Host Liu Xin looked at the combat space displayed behind them. "The map for their battle is a mountain forest."

…

A mountain forest after the rain, a muddy mess.

Xu Jingming and the other four members of his team, and the five members of the Thousand Sails team, all arrived at the same time. Some appeared on the ground, some in the trees, and some simply on the mountainside. But they were all within a one-kilometer radius.

"First, let's converge and gather around Wang Yi," Xu Jingming was on the mountainside, running uphill while communicating with his team through voice chat.

"According to the rules of the main competition," Heng Fang said through voice chat, "At the end of each round, the winning team will have a combat strength ranking based on their performance in the actual battle! Except for Liu Hai's team and Lei Yunfang's team, which are fixed at number 1 and number 2. Other teams will have a new ranking based on their performance."

"In the second round, there will be 16 teams. Then, number 1 will fight number 16, and number 2 will fight number 15," Heng Fang said. "In the early stages, we have to avoid those two seniors' teams so we have more opportunities for fighting and sharpening our skills! If our team had another third-order expert, we'd have a better chance of facing those two seniors' teams."

Yang Qingshuo said, "The team's combat strength is calculated based on the strength each member displays in the competition. So even if we want to hide our strength, we can't hide too much… If we hide too much, we might be ranked 15th or 16th."

"Just perform normally. It's best if you can break through your limits and reach the third order during the battles," Xu Jingming said through voice chat. "I'll make a move depending on the situation."

"Okay."

The team members were all very serious. These top experts were almost all stuck at a bottleneck, and each of them yearned to break through. If their combat skills reached the third order, their evolution methods would also improve quickly.

"Charge!" Hao Fan, the captain of the Thousand Sails team, had twin sabers at his waist and charged ferociously in the lead.

"Yes!" The four other members followed their captain, charging together. There were no archers in the entire team; they were just charging head-on.

Xu Jingming, Liu Chongyuan, Heng Fang, and Yang Qingshuo had already protected Wang Yi.

"Hao Fan is an old-timer who has reached the top eight in the World Martial Arts Competition, so he's very strong. None of those he invited are useless." Xu Jingming said through voice chat, "It's mainly up to the three of you to block them."

"Leave it to us," Heng Fang, Yang Qingshuo, and Liu Chongyuan said, full of fighting spirit.

*咻!*

Accompanied by a sudden arrow piercing through the air in the mountain forest, fast and swift, the two sides officially clashed.

*嗖.* The middle-aged Hao Fan flicked his hand, sending out a stream of light that collided with the arrow with a bang.

"What amazing hidden weapon skills." Xu Jingming praised in his heart. Some of these older generation contestants were ordinary, but those who continued to practice diligently after retiring had some strange combat skills.

"Charge."

Hao Fan continued to charge forward. He was the tip of the spear for his team, and the four team members followed behind him, charging straight towards Wang Yi's position.

After all, the mountain forest map was only a kilometer in radius. Hao Fan and his team had already determined the approximate location of the Pearwood team. Running at a speed of hundreds of meters per second, they could already see Xu Jingming, Heng Fang, and the others.

"Throw!" The middle-aged Hao Fan ordered.

The four team members behind him threw their flying axes, throwing them with both hands. In an instant, they threw more than a dozen flying axes at Xu Jingming and the others. Each flying axe blurred through the air, and each one exceeded a speed of a hundred meters per second, instantly reaching Xu Jingming and the others.