Chapter 1 Loading Complete

[Peak Tournament S3, Round 4]

[Arena: Haiyuan Domain Ruins]

After the teleport, system prompts rang in the ears of the [Warring States] and [Loser Alliance] team members.

Immediately afterward, a desolate landscape dotted with broken walls and ruins came into view.

Looking around, all that remained were castles shattered into rubble, dried-up moats, houses with foundations destroyed, and broken, withered trees...

This scene couldn't help but make one wonder—had this domain suffered from war or been attacked by monsters?

[The match will begin in thirty seconds]

Soon, the "vanguard battle" of this match entered the preparation phase; when the system voice sounded, the "vanguards" of both teams transformed into white light and entered the arena.

The vanguard of [Warring States] was [Sasaki Mei].

And the vanguard of [Loser Alliance] was actually... [Loser Uncle]?

Sasaki Mei was shocked when he stood on the field and saw his opponent.

As the strategist and main force of the [Warring States] team, Sasaki had a high degree of say in the team's formation; today, he himself had arranged himself in the vanguard position.

The reason... was because he judged that the opponent's first player would be either [Seven Kills] or [Sky Steed].

This was indeed a very reasonable guess. Everyone knew that Seven Kills and Little Ma Ge had strong solo combat capabilities, but their ability to cooperate with others was very worrying. Considering that the two sides in this match were very close in strength, and it was very likely that all five rounds would be played, in the first of the three singles matches, one of these guys who seemed to "only be able to play singles" to outsiders should come out.

Sasaki Mei was sure of this point, and arranged himself, the most suitable person to deal with these two, as the vanguard.

But the actual situation was—[Loser Alliance] actually sent Loser Uncle in the first round.

Given Loser Uncle's strength, it would be a better strategy to let him play the lieutenant general battle, deputy general battle, or general battle, but letting him play the vanguard battle... really exceeded everyone's expectations.

"I've been set up..." After a few seconds, Sasaki quickly calmed down and muttered in his heart, "'Strategist' Honghu... is indeed not a mere reputation, I'm afraid there will be some other calculations in the subsequent 2v2..."

The preparation time was limited, and before he could think too much, the system announced the start of the match with a [fight!], and the isolation barrier disappeared in response.

However, at this moment of the start of the battle, both sides remained motionless.

Loser Uncle's hands rested on the belt of his tattered bathrobe, standing leisurely; his whole body was loose and unconstrained, as if he was defenseless... However, his eyes under his sunglasses were fixed on his opponent, without even blinking.

On the other side, Sasaki Mei was not so "relaxed", at least his hand was already on the hilt of his katana, and his body was also in a combat stance with a single step forward and facing the enemy sideways.

They maintained this state for about a minute, and then Loser Uncle suddenly opened his mouth, "Did you find it?"

"Heh..." Sasaki Mei smiled, "If I had found it, I would have already made a move, wouldn't I?"

"Hmm..." Loser Uncle pondered for a moment, spreading his hands, "Alas, I didn't find it either, it's not easy."

Without a doubt, they were discussing the same thing—a flaw.

In the realm of shogi (also known as Japanese chess), there is a saying... "The most perfect formation is the state before the first step has been taken in the opening. As soon as a step is taken, there will be a flaw."

At this moment, the game between Loser Uncle and Sasaki Mei was like this; although their postures were different, the essence was the same: "a perfect state without revealing any flaws", therefore, neither of them was willing to take that first step.

"It's not that difficult..." Sasaki Mei thought for a few seconds, then continued, "There are other ways, aren't there?"

Hearing this, Loser Uncle raised an eyebrow, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "Okay, I'll accompany you..."

As soon as he finished speaking, Loser Uncle proudly inhaled, his battle aura soared, and he unfolded an invisible killing field.

Sasaki Mei was also prepared, and his superb sword intent surged out, instantly resisting the opponent's momentum.

In this way, the fight between the two came from the tangible to the intangible.

On the battlefield, the killing intent suddenly condensed, and two forces intertwined in the air, unwilling to give way to each other... causing a chilling atmosphere to envelop a hundred meters around.

"So... your limit is about here?" After a while, Loser Uncle was the first to speak and break the silence.

The fact that he could say this meant that... in this not-so-long silent confrontation, he had already won.

"Listening to your tone..." When Sasaki Mei replied, beads of sweat were already dripping from his forehead, "...you seem to have some strength left..."

"Not just some strength left..." Loser Uncle still pretended to be relaxed, continuing, "With this level... I haven't even used 50% of my strength."

Of course, this was not true, but Loser Uncle was at least one level higher than Sasaki Mei in terms of hard power, which the latter had truly felt in this fight.

"Hmph... alright, then I'll learn about your so-called 50% strength!" The next second, Sasaki Mei snorted coldly and stepped forward.

After testing the difference between himself and the enemy at the energy level, he had no reason to continue to consume with Loser Uncle (continuing to consume meant losing); since he couldn't win at the energy level, then he could only charge into the formation, wield his sword to break the enemy, and rely on moves and tactics to win.

But we just said... in a situation where neither of them has flaws, the one who makes the first move is at a disadvantage.

Loser Uncle, who was waiting for the opportunity, completely captured Sasaki's movement trajectory and the trend of his sword moves with his dynamic vision. When the enemy attacked, Loser Uncle used his palms and greeted him with a move of [Unemployment Bankruptcy Palm], hitting the flaw revealed when the opponent made his move.

If this palm landed, Sasaki Mei would be seriously injured even if he didn't die, but Sasaki Mei was not so easy to be hit... For a mind-based player like him, as long as he could, he would leave a backhand in every step; now, knowing that his first move was extremely easy to be countered, how could he act without any countermeasures?

In the blink of an eye!

In that flash of lightning, Sasaki Mei forcibly used a move of [Sick Sword Bamboo Dragonfly] towards the side, curbing the forward momentum of his sword style; immediately, his whole body rotated with his sword, and he turned sharply to the side... He relied on this attack skill with mobility to narrowly avoid Loser Uncle's S-level palm technique and jumped to the side and rear of his opponent.

"Chance!"

Opportunities pass in an instant, and decisions must be made decisively.

Seeing that Loser Uncle's palm power was not exhausted, and there was a slight deviation in his body posture during the palm retraction, Sasaki Mei immediately decided to sacrifice a killing move, seeking to defeat the enemy with one blow.

Instantly, a gloomy and strange sword intent condensed and bloomed, and the entire world, when Sasaki Mei made his move... suddenly turned pitch black.

Ying—

The sword blade dances, the sound is like a wind chime.

At this moment, from the perspective of the onlookers, two lines of words actually appeared in front of them...

[Three Hundred Years to Live · Sick Swordsman Who Has Never Been Defeated]

These fourteen large blood-red characters seemed to be "cut" out by a sword, and they were printed on the broadcast screen with a whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

After the two lines of words were completely displayed, pieces of pink cherry blossoms emitting a hazy glow slowly fell, gently brushing away the writing.

When the writing faded, the sun shone on the earth again, dispelling the sudden darkness.

After the picture lit up, Sasaki Mei had already sheathed his sword and was facing away from the enemy; and Loser Uncle... was lying face down on the ground, and under his body, a large pool of blood was spreading on the ground...

"I won!" Sasaki Mei, who had not yet caught his breath, excitedly clenched his fist with one hand and shouted softly; obviously, being able to defeat a master like Loser Uncle with a weaker force made him very excited.

But two seconds later, he staggered and knelt on one knee...

"Haa... haa..." After quickly taking a few deep breaths, Sasaki Mei swallowed a mouthful of saliva and thought to himself, "This title skill is powerful... but it consumes too much... I originally wanted to hide it until the last few rounds of the competition... Alas, it's better to expose my weaknesses than to lose..."

Just as he was already thinking about the next round of the competition...

"Ah~ ah~ I've bled a lot." Loser Uncle's lazy voice sounded again.

This meaningless, nonchalant sentence, to Sasaki Mei, was like a death knell, scaring him into a surge of shock.

"How is that possible?" The next second, Sasaki Mei quickly stood up staggeringly and turned around abruptly.

But just as he turned around, a large hand had grabbed his throat.

"Of all the sword techniques I've learned, this move of yours may be the strongest single-target instant kill skill..." While Loser Uncle was tightening his hand, he said, "It's a pity... I'm not the type who will die after being 'killed once'."

Crack—

As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of a broken cervical vertebra followed.

Sasaki Mei's head drooped weakly to one side, and his eyes lost their luster.

Seeing this, Loser Uncle released his hands, letting his "corpse" fall to the ground naturally...

"Huff... done." Loser Uncle clapped his hands, looking like he was "done with work".

At this time, although the slash marks on the bathrobe on his chest were still there, and a large piece of crimson blood had not yet dried, the sword wound on his chest had disappeared.

At this point, the audience also believed that the game was over; Loser Uncle's ranking on the overall strength list was already higher than Sasaki Mei's, and this result was not too surprising.

However!

Chiying—

A sword cry broke the settled situation.

A sword light reopened the unknown battle.

Who would have thought... Sasaki Mei's "corpse" lying on the ground could still move!

A person whose neck had been broken not only did not die, but also suddenly stabbed a cold sword while lying on the ground, slashing and breaking Loser Uncle's left leg's knee from bottom to top.

Then, Sasaki Mei quickly stood up with a bizarre movement that seemed like a "zombie mechanical dance", tilting his head and re-assuming a fighting stance.