<h4>Chapter 22 – Dropping the Ball</h4>
---------------------------------------------------------------
Every game in the regr season of the Miracle Professional League was divided into the single-eliminationpetition (winner stays on until they are defeated) and the team battles.
The arena adopted the KOF system, which meant that three yers yed alternately on each side. Thest yer to survive would win the game and the winning team would umte three points. The team battle was a 6V6 battle to capture the crystals. There were three crystals: red, blue and white. One crystal was worth two points for a total of six points. This way, the total score for each match in the regr season was nine points.
This game model of the arena and team battle had been in use since the first season. It was the unified system ording to Miracle’s official regtions and was used in the Professional Leagues of all countries.
The eight teams in the first division would be ranked by the total number of points after two rounds in the regr season. The top four would enter the yoffs and would knock each other out until there was the winner, runner up and third ce team.
This time, Wind Colour and Time met in the regr season and both had very high chances of winning the season.
Both were traditionally strong teams. No one could doubt the personal ability andmand level of Ling Xuefeng. On the other hand, the old captain might’ve retired after the fourth season and the rookie Tan Shitian took over as captain, but Tan Shitian’smanding style was very flexible and responsive. He was among the leading yers in the next generation of yers and his strength couldn’t be underestimated.
“The seats for today’s game are packed. I believe that many spectators are currently waiting in front of the screen for the showdown between Wind Colour and Time.” Once the leaderboard was finished, Yu Bing continued. “We know that Wind Colour’s y is dominated by dark spells and most yers are of the demon or blood kin races. Meanwhile, the Time team favours the light department and they are mainly elves or angel yers. The two teams have truly met their match.”
“Yes, it is as Sister Bing said. These two teams are old rivals and I think many people are looking forward to today’s game.” Kou Hongyi followed closely. “The game will start soon and the yers have officially entered. Let’s look at the preparations of yers on both sides.”
The live broadcast cut to a soundproof room. The yers were already seated in their uniforms.
The Wind Colour team took the characteristics of the demon and blood kin race. They wore pure ck T-shirts with a small amount of red embellishments. This simple ck-red look was domineering. Meanwhile, the Time team had a pure white uniform with a small amount of elf green forest embellishments. They looked sunny and the style of the Time team was very harmonious.
One was dark and one bright, the two teams were clearly enemies in the Miracle League.
The screen zoomed in on the two captains. Once he saw Ling Xuefeng’s handsome face on theputer screen, Li Cangyu couldn’t helpughing. “This person still hasn’t changed.”
He was just as handsome as before and his face still had no expression.
He sat in front of theputer and quickly tapped on the keyboard with his slender fingers. This was Ling Xuefeng’s habitual pre-match warm up. His hand speed was very fast and his tapping fingers dazzled the people watching. They could imagine how this man’s terrible speed would erupt at key moments in the game.
Compared to him, Tan Shitian looked rxed as he smiled in the soundproof room. He rubbed Cheng Wei’s head and didn’t know what to say. Cheng Wei sent him a look before turning to his position and ignoring him.
A group of fans excitedly wrote in thements area: Captain Tan rubbed his head! –If Vice-Captain Cheng doesn’t let you rub his head, I will give you ten heads to rub!
-Our Vice-Captain debuted earlier than you and his head is smaller than yours! Don’t bully him!
Wind Colour’s fans said: Asking for a crushing by Captain Ling! Asking Captain Ling for an outbreak!
–Captain Ling is handsome when he abuses the opponent!
–Captain Ling smiles at good opponents. When he doesn’t smile, the opponents will be under an extreme psychological pressure!
The game hadn’t yet started and there were already tens of thousands of messages in thements area. It was obvious that the two teams were extremely popr. Not only were the seats full but many viewers were watching the live broadcast.
***
Finally, the hour hand pointed to 9 o’clock and the camera cut to the big screen in the centre of the stadium. The words ‘The Miracle Professional League’s sixth season ? Thest match in the first round of the regr season ? Time VS Wind Colour’ appeared on the screen, causing warm apuse.
Yu Bing said, “Audience and viewers, the match between Time and Wind Colour is about to start. The referee is in ce and let’s first look at the single-elimination battle… The two captains have submitted the yers order list. The first yer for Time is Vice-Captain Cheng Wei while the first yer for Wind Colour is Vice-Captain Yan Ruiwen. Then the first stage of the arena will be the confrontation between a white magician and a ck magician.”
“What a coincidence.” Kou Hongyi smiled and said, “Vice-Captain Yan and Vice-Captain Cheng are the top yers in the magician ss. The ck and white magic are ipatible with each other and the mutual restraints are very serious. This duel will certainly be exciting!”
As he spoke, Cheng Wei’s character ‘Only Dedication’ and Yan Ruiwen’s character ‘Unforgettable’ entered thepetition room.
Only Dedication was wearing white angel equipment. His hands held a staff where the tip had a threeyered ring symbolizing peace. The centre emitting a dazzling silver-white light. Unforgettable wore pure ck magician robes and his staff had purple vines wrapped around it. The tip was simr to the shape of an eye, giving off a hint of dark arrogance.
“We can see that the weapons chosen by the two yers are the angel’s Bright Heart and the demon’s Eye of Death. The two weapons’ data are very close and maximum magic damage is added.” Kou Hongyi spoke excitedly, “Vice-Captain Yan and Vice-Captain Cheng should show us the ultimate showdown between ck and white magic. Let’s see who can seize the chance!”
***
The match officially started.
The arena map for the regr season was very simple. It was a wide square with light marble tiles and a circr fountain in the middle for yers to walk around. This terrain was fair to both yers.
Kou Hongyi just finished speaking when the two yers met at the central fountain on the screen.
Yan Ruiwen started with using Death Spell on Cheng Wei while Cheng Wei instantly resolved it with Purification. He followed up with Seal of God to counter Yan Ruiwen but thetter flexibly moved and evaded it.
Yu Bing exined calmly, “The level of both sides isn’t much different. It is obvious that they are trying to test each other and this game might be yed slowly…”
She hadn’t finished speaking when Yan Ruiwen suddenly used Soul Curse ck magic, hitting Cheng Wei and directly reducing his blood by 20%!
“Uh…” Yu Bing was stunned before quickly reacting. “The attack by Vice-Captain Yan is truly unexpected. Soul Curse is an instant skill but it doesn’t lock onto the target. A person with quick reactions can move a bit to evade it. Xiao Wei… is he a bit distracted?”
Yan Ruiwen was actually quite surprised. He used this trick but he didn’t expect it to actually hit the opponent.
Cheng Wei’s status seemed a bit wrong?
Yan Ruiwen immediately grasped this opportunity. His fingers quickly hit the keyboard and he released Dark Fear.
“It’s another hit!” Kou Hongyi’s tone was very surprised. “Cheng Wei is affected by fear for three seconds and is probably very ufortable.”
A yer affected by the fear status couldn’t release any skills. This was a single yer arena and there were no teammates to help relieve the negative state. Cheng Wei could only rely on moving to avoid the opponent’s attack.
However, Yan Ruiwen wasn’t a fool. Immediately after the fear hit, he used the ultimate ck magic spells— Shadow Winding and Hell mes!
The two spells hit and Cheng Wei’s blood volume directly dropped to 50%!
The audience watching the game were very confused. Cheng Wei and Yan Ruiwen were at almost the same level. It was reasonable to say that these skills should’ve been avoided. The match had just started yet Cheng Wai was inexplicably beaten to half blood? Where was the expected duel between masters? Why did Cheng Wei seem to be in a trance today?
The 50% blood Cheng Wei seemed to have finally recovered his spirit. He directly used Sacred Light to improve his magic defense while he used Combat Voice to attack Yan Ruiwen. The sess of his pre-judgement meant that he removed 15% of Yan Ruiwen’s blood. This was the standard that Cheng Wei should be at!
Yu Bing finally sighed with relief. “There were some surprises in the opening but this is a chance to see how Cheng Wei recovers from the disadvantage.”
The two sides started to fight with magic. ck magic spells tended to have very strong attack power while white magic spells facoured soft control. One was bright and one was dark, the two people pouring out their spells was very exciting.
However, Cheng Wei experienced too much of a loss in the beginning. Heter tried to recover the situation but Yan Ruiwen was the vice-captain of Wind Colour. His y was very calm and they had a simr level. It was impossible for him to give Cheng Wei an opportunity.
10 minutester, Cheng Wei finally fell helplessly and Yan Ruiwen entered the second stage of the arena with 40% of his blood.
***
On the Wind Colour side, the ck magician Guo Xuan sat in the spectators position and couldn’t help feeling puzzled. “Is Time’s vice-captain not awake?”
Ling Xuefeng frowned slightly. “Perhaps he hasn’t adjusted his state.”
He knew that Cheng Wei was affected by the news of Cann’s disbandment. Ling Xuefeng was very clear about the rtionship between Li Cangyu and Cheng Wei and he knew that Cheng Wei saw Cat God as his master. This guy must’ve slept badlyst night and the game was early in the morning. He was presumably still sleepwalking. It was normal for Yan Ruiwen to seize the opportunity to win since there was no room for distractions in a duel between masters.
In the second round of the arena, Time sent Lu Hao, who was a main elf archer of the Time team. The 40% blood Yan Ruiwen met Lu Hao and knocked out half of the opponent’s blood before dying, sessfullypleting his mission.
Ling Xuefeng didn’t openly praise his vice-captain but looked at him with appreciation.
Yan Ruiwen smiled and spoke with sitting down, “Xiao Cheng yed strangely today.”
Ling Xuefeng nodded. “I can see that.”
Yan Ruiwen patted Guo Xuan’s shoulder and said, “Xiao Guo, it is your turn.”
“Yes, look at me!’ Guo Xuan immediately went to his position.
Guo Xuan VS Lu Hao, both sides were having a duel using their strengths.
Guo Xuan was full of blood while Lu Hao had been knocked to half blood by Yan Ruiwen. There was no suspense about the oue. The two people steadily fought and Guo Xuan sessfully killed Lu Hao, bringing Yan Ruiwen’s half blood advantage to the third stage. In other words, the half blooded Guo Xuan was about to face thest defender of the Time team.
Yu Bing frowned. “The Time team has lost two yers in a row while Wind Colour’s second yer Guo Xuan still has 50% blood and the third yer hasn’t appeared yet. If the third yer is Captain Ling, it will be very difficult for Time to win.”
Her statement was very polite. If Ling Xuefeng yed personally, it didn’t matter if Guo Xuan only gave him a bit of advantage. Ling Xuefeng was almost always the winner when he yed guard.
“I can see that Time’s yer is Ten Days, the youngest captain in the league, Tan Shitian!” Kou Hongyi’s voice increased with excitement. “Will Captain Tan make aeback for his team? Let’s wait and see!”
***
Li Cangyu couldn’t help asking, “This is Tan Shitian?”
The yer’s appearance was shown at the bottom of the live screen. The young man sitting at the table looked very rxed. He had a smile on his face and didn’t seem affected by the disadvantage of the previous two yers.
Li Cangyu didn’t know this person but after seeing his calm and excellent mentality in the face of a disadvantaged situation, he knew that Captain Xu made the correct decision when he appointed Tan Shitian as Time’s captain. Tan Shitian was much more mature than Cheng Wei.
Sure enough, Tan Shitian wasn’t affected by the disadvantageous situation and yed very calmly.
His ss was a ‘bard’, also known as an ‘archer’. Tan Shitian’s debut waste but his reputation was the loudest. His style of y was quite elegant and flexible and he took full advantage of the agility of elves. When he stayed in the distance and kited the opponent with his bow and arrow, his winning percentage was very high.
Guo Xuan with 50% blood was soon sent off. Time’s Captain Tan Shitian had 70% of his blood left, which was equivalent to recovering 20% blood. This captain’s strength wasn’t normal.
Li Cangyu couldn’t help praising him. “Tan Shitian yed well.”
Thisment meant that Cat God acknowledged Tan Shitian’s strength.
Bai Xuan couldn’t help ncing over at him. “Even if Tan Shitian recovered a bit of the situation, his health has been reduced and he also consumed a lot of blue. He will die if he faces Ling Xuefeng.”
Li Cangyu replied, “He might not necessarily face Ling Xuefeng.”
He just finished speaking when Wind Colour revealed their yer yer. ID: Shepherd, the blood kin summoner Qin Mo!
The audience was in an uproar.
Li Cangyu smiled at his correct guess.
Bai Xuan reluctantly said, “You really know Ling Xuefeng!”
“Yes.” Li Cangyu honestly admitted it. “With my understanding of him, he sent Qin Mo to the arena so the group battle will be his double control with Xiao Xu, the ck magicians Vice-Captain Yan and Guo Xuan will be the outputs, plus a berserker in the front line and a blood kin sacrifice healer.”
The arena battle was still ongoing and he actually guessed the lineup of the six member team.
Bai Xuanughed. “With your worldly knowledge, the games will be spoiled in advance every time.”
Li Cangyu touched his chin. “It is just my guess. I might not necessarily guess right.”
Li Cangyu said this but Bai Xuan knew that his probability of guessing was almost 100%.
Li Cangyu knew Ling Xuefeng too well. Every time he guessed Ling Xuefeng’s lineup against another team, he would be very urate. However, every time they met each other, they would guess wrong. It was probably because Ling Xuefeng also understood Li Cangyu very well?
There was such a strange understanding between them that they couldn’t understand each other.
From the first season to the third season, Wind Colour and FTD faced each other six times. The two captains kept guessing each other’s thoughts and the result was that they guessed wrong. They never faced each other on the arena!
---------------------------------------------------------------
You can also join my discord channel to chat with fellow readers about the novels;
---------------------------------------------------------------