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While Zhifei's Holy Heal supplied a much greater recovery than Yuan Baiqing's Great Heal, the cooldown for the ability was much higher. Thus, if Xuelian didn't utilize the advantage she had now to out-trade Vaccaria, the match would be troublesome in the later stages.

Lunge!

Forgotten Winds stepped forward as Xuelian stabbed her blade forward multiple times, emitting cold streaks of light towards Vaccaria. With the speed and angles Xuelian had struck her blade forward at, even Wang Jiexi was having trouble keeping up, as he was stabbed twice.

By the time Vaccaria casted Disperse Power and reduced the attack, speed, and cast time of Forgotten Winds, Xuelian had already retreated as she ran backwards, waiting for the effects to disperse. Of course, Wang Jiexi didn't simply just let Xuelian go, this time, he went on the aggressive, as he chased Xuelian. 

Swerving through corners, Xuelian didn't have an easy time as she evaded the abilities Vaccaria threw at her. Disperse Powder lasted for 10 seconds, and to a pro-player, even 1 second could change the tides of the entire game. 

Zhifei made an attempt to catch up to Forgotten Winds in hopes of casting a cure to remove the debuff, however the speed in which the two were going at left her in the dust. It wasn't like Xuelian was ignoring her, but the way Vaccaria positioned himself made it seemingly impossible for the two to meet up. She would have to tank quite a bit of damage if she were to just ignore the attacks. 

Turning past another corner, Xuelian felt a cold chill run down her spine.

"Woops..."

Yuan Baiqing's character, Wind Guard Aweto, was standing in front of her.

Hypnosis was a skill that inflicted a sleeping status onto a target with the condition of having the caster face the target. Knowing that their plan had succeeded, Baiqing Holy Commandment Light shot a flicker of light onto Forgotten Winds, causing the Xuelian to take 30% more damage than usual.

Only now did Xuelian realize that she had fallen into Tiny Herb's trap. Vaccaria had probably used Disperse Powder with the intention of forcing Xuelian to run away from her Zhifei, rather than using it as a debuff for a trade. 

For a few seconds, Xuelian wasn't able to move as she tanked the attacks from Wang Jiexi. Even Aweto threw in a few auto-attacks, to the spectators, it seemed as if it was more as a taunt as the damage didn't amount to much. But Xuelian wasn't willing to hand over a free win, as soon as the hypnosis wore off, she struck forward onto Wang Jiexi with great speed.

Rising Dragon Slash! Falling Phoenix Slash!

A common blade master combo that sent the target flying into the air before making a great leap so they could send the enemy crashing into the ground again. Although the technique would enable Xuelian to finally grab the initiative, Wang Jiexi already predicted the move, thus he swept Forgotten Winds off her feet with his broom.

However, while Wang Jiexi seemed to be a step ahead, Xuelian quickly conducted a quick-roll as she immediately swung her blade upward while her character was in the motion of standing up.

Upward Slash!

Finally able to grasp onto an opportunity, Vaccaria was sent flying as Xuelian didn't waste any time in following up with her combo.

Triple Slash! Downward Wind Slash! 

Immediately closing the distance between Forgotten Winds and Vaccaria, she slashed her blade in quick succession as three consecutives sword lights were sent piercing into Vaccaria's body. 

"I can't just let you off with three simple stabs after all that…" As if still furious about falling into their trap, Forgotten Winds struck down heavily onto Vaccaria, sending him crashing into the ground, leaving a straight line of rubble from the impact of the skill.

By this time, Zhifei had already caught up and casted numerous spells onto Forgotten Winds, healing a small chunk of her health and mana by 30%.

In Glory, there was never a combo that could last forever. Xuelian had no choice but to retreat when Vaccaria regained his footing. 

Sacred Fire!

Storms of white flames erupted as the effects blinded the screens of the players. Zhifei had casted the spell when she noticed the health difference between Vaccaria and Forgotten Winds. Because the spell had a cast time and produced a loud sound, Aweto and Vaccaria were able to easily escape from the area that was affected. Still, even though the Sacred Fire didn't hit anyone, the flames still erupted as it blocked the view from the opposing players, giving time for Xuelian to escape.

The difference in health was too large between the players, if Xuelian had kept on advancing, she would have lost without a doubt!

Though it looked disgraceful to retreat after showing such vigor, she didn't care, as long as she would be able to win, everything else could be neglected.

…

"How sly, you guys are pretty good!" As the flames dispersed, Yuan Baiqing typed in all-chat, continuously switching his camera angle as he searched for Zhifei and Xuelian.

"They got praised by pros…"

"Ah! Ah! So lucky!"

However, the stadium immediately went silent when they saw a few words pop into Tiny Herb's team chat.

"Stay focused."

Not just Aweto, even the players from Tiny Herb watching the match were shocked. Their captain was telling them to stay focused? In a setting like this? 

"The Blademaster is pretty good." Because he was a Blademaster player himself, the moment he saw Xuelian Guard against the Magic Missile at the last second told him that the girl wasn't an ordinary player.

At first, he had thought that the girl was simply lucky and nothing more than a fluke, however even if he was lucky, he wasn't sure that he was able to guard against the attack from Vaccaria.

And her later actions proved it, the technique and control over the Shadow Steps… she was using the ability to its highest efficacy!

The other players upon hearing Liu Xiaobie's comment were shocked. 

"How good?" Despite the momentary silence, someone finally asked back. 

Liu Xiaobie glanced at Gao Yingjie who posed the question before diverting his eyes back to the screen, muttering a few words.

"Huang Shaotian…"

"What?! Are you saying she's as good as Huang Shaotian?!" Yingjie didn't know how to respond as he scratched his head.

"Hahaha, Xiaobie, you haven't fallen in love with the girl have you?" The other players didn't believe it, although they didn't play the Blademaster class, they still had tons of experiences in Glory! How could they not tell if she was a good player?

Xiaobie didn't answer any questions, in fact, hearing Yingjie's question, Xiaobie came up with an answer that even frightened him, but he dared not say it aloud.

Someone who could play a blademaster better than Huang Shaotian…

...

Aweto, although not knowing why the captain had said such words, still focused upon having been given the command.

Vaccaria rode on his broom as he swerved into the air, looking for traces of the pair.

Since he didn't see any signs of the players, Wang Jiexi threw down multiple lava flasks, slowly burning the buildings beneath him.

On the other side, Zhifei was still rapidly casting heals onto Forgotten Winds. She knew that it was only a matter of time before they were forced out.

Looking at her health bar, Xuelian was able to restore quite a bit of health as it was now at 65%.

"Zhizhi, can you hold the opposing cleric for a bit?" Though it was a long shot, Xuelian still asked the question. She knew that her only way to win was to have a 1 on 1 duel with Vaccaria. 

The opposing cleric was too much of a hassle, she would never be able to win with him supporting Vaccaria.

As much as she hated to say it, the gap between Zhifei and Yuan Baiqing was too huge.

In a 2v2 scenario, unless the opposing players misplayed by a large margin, there was no way of winning.

"Ah? Hold him? How?" Zhifei was taken aback by Xuelian's question. She was just a cleric! How could she prevent the other cleric from running away?

"Body block, cast hypnosis, taunt him with autos, you name it!" Xuelian replied in quick fashion as she peered out the window.

The flames were soon nearing them as they didn't have much time. However, if Zhifei didn't want to go on with the plan, she wouldn't force it.

"I guess… I'll try?" Zhifei wasn't fully confident, afterall, the other player was a pro!

"Great! Although the distance between Aweto and Vaccaria isn't exactly huge, if you run in the 4'o clock direction, Aweto would be the only to spot you, and would probably chase after you. Once he does, I'll rush in and stop Vaccaria."

Zhifei acknowledged with a nod of her character, before running out when Xuelian have her the signal.

The spectators watching the game had witnessed the entire dialogue between Xuelian and Zhifei, some of them thought it was silly, wouldn't work and was a waste of time. However, there were also people silently praying for the duo to cause an upset and by some miracle, perhaps even win.

"How bold!" Ye Xiu who had kept his eyes on the screen the entire time thought amusedly.

Still searching for the duo, Baiqing captured a small shadow fly by his screen as he immediately gave chase, giving out the information to his captain. "4'o clock!"

Seeing Baiqing's words, Wang Jiexi prepared to turn around when he saw a sword swinging down on him.

Miss!

Even Xuelian didn't expect the fast reaction time from Wang Jiexi. It had to be said that her sword came as a sneak attack and fast at that, but Wang Jiexi still managed to have Vaccaria roll to the side.

Although there was the initial shock, if she was perturbed by a movement like this, she didn't deserve to be called a former pro.

Triple Slash! Sword Draw!

Increasing the number of sword lights, Xuelian struck out at insane speeds, sticking onto Vaccaria like a sore-thumb, preventing him from meeting up with Aweto.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Multiple short bursts of exchanges happened as both their health bars fell rapidly.

The two however didn't care as it seemed the two were patiently waiting for an opportunity to explode.

"Hypnosis!" Zhifei had managed to circle around a building and sneak a hypnosis onto Aweto, placing him asleep.

"Huh?" Aweto was surprised, a hypnosis? Even if he fell asleep, Forgotten Winds wasn't here, so what was the point of using it?

Still, Zhifei immediately ran up and poked at him with her staff.

Pu… pu… pu…

-1, -1, -1…

"Hahahah!"

"What is this girl doing? Haha…"

The audience were stunned as they watched the amusing spectacle.

Aweto on the other hand was sitting there dazed. What the heck? Was she planning on embarrassing him? Fine, you want a fight, you got one!

Because the match was being broadcasted, and would probably be shared online, Yuan Baiqing felt that he needed to fight back because he would be made fun of if he just let the opposing player poke at him! 

As soon as the hynopsis wore off, Baiqing immediately casted his as Zhifei fell asleep.

Pu… pu… pu…

Because his equipment was better than Zhifei's, he was able to deal more damage.

-5, -5, -5…

...

Although Wang Jiexi was wondering where Aweto was, he didn't have a chance to ask him as he was constantly being pressured by Xuelian. 

He couldn't type or run at all!