Chapter 1 The Sound Stops, the Blade Arises

As the words ceased, the intent of the blade rose.

Before Xu Huai Shang could even make a move, her two opponents had already adopted a defensive stance.

They were both well aware… that reacting only after seeing the attack would likely be too late.

Two seconds later, Xu Huai Shang lowered her stance, shifted her weight backward, and crossed the dual blades in her hands in front of her, instantly unleashing a move called [Bei Tian Shi Zi Huang] (Northern Sky Cross Phoenix).

This move was an evolved skill, transformed from the C-level combat skill [Bei Tian Shi Zi Que] (Northern Sky Cross Sparrow).

Similar transformations had been mentioned many times in previous chapters. For example… Feng Bujue's [Careless Repair] later became [Not-So-Careless Repair]; Juan Menghuan (Corpse Blade as King)'s [Turning Cloud Wave Thousandfold] became [Turning Cloud Wave Ten Thousandfold]; and Li Ruoyu's [Seven Sunny Frosts Cold] and [Blazing Sky Flying Snow] merged into one, becoming [Bipolar Killing Sonata]; and there were also techniques like [Baseball Fist] and [Mingyu Gong] that came with their own inherent upgrade attributes.

The aforementioned phenomenon is generally referred to as "skill evolution."

In fact, any skill has the potential to evolve. The catalyst for skill evolution is usually frequent and skillful use of the skill, or… a specialization breaking through to S-rank.

In Thriller Paradise, when a player's level is maxed out and their main specialization has reached S-rank, there is basically no room for improvement in explicit stats. However… there are still many implicit stats that can be improved. For example - "self-created skills."

At this stage, the players who can come into contact with this field can be said to be few and far between. For example, Feng Bujue's use of Lan Jiao (Tempest Kick), and Tianma Xingkong's control of the Tianma Liu Xing Quan (Pegasus Meteor Fist)... had already stepped on the threshold of "self-created skills." As long as they take another step forward, they can enter a vast new world.

Of course, to create your own skills, an S-rank specialization is indispensable. This hard requirement can also be said to be the watershed between masters and ordinary people.

And Xu Huai Shang is undoubtedly a master - a top master. Her ability, awareness, and mental fortitude… are not inferior to any top male player, and may even be better. She is now much stronger than she was during the "Butterfly War" when she activated the [Soul Descent] state…

Whoosh—

In the blink of an eye, a cross-shaped blade aura bloomed from the tips of Xu Huai Shang's blades, rushing towards Brave and Fearless and Brave and Invincible.

These two weren't very fast, but their attack, defense, and reaction abilities were strong. Since they were already prepared, they naturally chose to "defend" against that skill.

Faced with the scarlet red slash, Brave and Fearless thrust his spear forward in a straight line, releasing his fighting spirit; Brave and Invincible crossed his fists together, his strength sinking into his dantian.

Soon, the left and right ends of the "cross" blade aura struck the two players. At that moment... they faintly heard a terrifying phoenix cry in their ears. Immediately afterward, they felt their bodies surrounded by a chill…

Although the temperature on this icy peak was already very low, until just now, Invincible Bro and Fearless Bro hadn't been affected by the cold. Because level fifty players have a high resistance and adaptability to ambient temperature, even in environments of forty degrees Celsius or minus twenty degrees Celsius, they would not lose survival points because of it; only the physical sensation of hot and cold, discomfort, and the additional consumption of stamina would still take effect as usual.

However... after coming into contact with the energy of [Bei Tian Shi Zi Huang] (Northern Sky Cross Phoenix), the two of them simultaneously felt their bodies stiffen, making it difficult to move.

The two of them reacted almost at the same second... although the special effect of this skill looked like burning flames, the essence of that "flame" was actually extremely cold power.

"If you only look at the recording..." Xu Huai Shang immediately closed in after launching the attack and said, "...you would definitely think this move is a fire-attribute attack, right?"

"Hmph…" Brave and Invincible quickly took out a bottle of [Antifreeze] from his knapsack to remove his "frozen" state, then guarded in front of his teammate and replied, "It was indeed a bit of a surprise… If we had known it was an ice-attribute skill, we wouldn't have taken it head-on."

Clang—clang—

Before he finished speaking, Xu Huai Shang's dual blades had already slashed at Brave and Invincible's wrists.

"Ugh—" The latter was delayed by the previous frozen state, and his movements were hasty. He was immediately knocked back a dozen feet, grunting. Including the previous skill damage, Brave and Invincible had lost a total of 32% of his survival points.

"During the battle just now, I have noticed..." Xu Huai Shang did not let up, taking advantage of the gap when Brave and Invincible was knocked back, and launched another fierce attack on Brave and Fearless, who had not yet stood firm, causing the latter to retreat again and again, "You rely too much on the pre-match intelligence analysis… as if you had already anticipated 'which moves to take', 'which moves to dodge', and 'which moves to break' before the fight…" She paused for half a second, her footwork suddenly changed, and with a light, exquisite, and even graceful movement, she unleashed a reverse side chop, attacking the dead angle of her opponent's ribs, "This kind of tactic is indeed reasonable and efficient in evenly matched or advantageous situations. But… once you encounter experienced opponents who are good at improvising, it will become a double-edged sword that cuts yourselves."

As she spoke, Brave and Fearless's ribs had already been cut by Xu Huai Shang... and this was just the beginning.

Fearless Bro was different from Invincible Bro. Because he used a long weapon like a spear, it took him longer to adjust after losing his posture. That's why Brave and Invincible, who had reorganized his posture earlier, came to cover him. Unfortunately... Invincible Bro was knocked back after holding out for only a few seconds, which gave Xu Huai Shang an excellent opportunity to kill Brave and Fearless...

In this kind of battle using weapons, a very important basic element is "distance." In a duel between masters, they often start by breaking into a "distance" that is favorable to themselves in a defensive posture.

Generally speaking, "distance" can be understood as - the distance, time, and psychological space required for both sides to strike.

To give a few more common examples... for example, if you use a guandao (a long Chinese pole weapon) to chop someone, then your distance is at least one meter two or more; if you use a watermelon knife to chop someone, the ideal distance is two-thirds of your arm length plus about thirty centimeters; and if you use a small folding knife to chop someone, then the distance is about the same as if you were using your own hand blade to chop someone...

In short, every weapon has its own most suitable distance. If the distance during combat exceeds your own distance, you can only defend and cannot attack; and if the distance is less than your own distance, the power of the weapon and the performance of the user will be limited.

At this moment, Xu Huai Shang, who had seized the space in front of Brave and Fearless, occupied an overwhelming advantage in distance. Brave and Fearless, who used a spear, could not attack at all at this distance. His defense also appeared clumsy and full of dangers. Moreover… Xu Huai Shang's strength was already stronger than Brave and Fearless. Under a fierce barrage of quick attacks, Fearless Bro's survival points dropped rapidly, and the cuts on his body were also increasing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"This is not good..." Brave and Fearless anxiously thought to himself while parrying, "...to be counter-killed in a two-on-one, am I joking?"

Originally, Fearless Bro wanted to use words to force Xu Huai Shang to launch a preemptive attack, and then he and his teammate could rely on their intelligence advantage to take it easy and counterattack defensively. He didn't expect... they couldn't withstand the other party's preemptive attack.

"This won't do… if I die like this, I won't be able to save face and I won't be able to keep the bonus… now I can only fight to the death!"

Seeing that the situation was about to collapse, Brave and Fearless finally made up his mind to reveal his trump card, at least to fight the opponent to the death.

"Ah—" The next second, Fearless Bro let out a pig-slaughtering scream.

After all, they were teammates. As soon as Brave and Invincible, who was rushing back to support from a few meters away, heard this sound, he knew... I don't need to rush up anymore.

Sure enough, after taking two knives head-on, Brave and Fearless stood firmly, raised his spear high, and used his title ability…

[Name: Pastry Chef Tornado]

[Special Ability Type: Active]

[Consumption: Instantly consumes 1,000 stamina points upon activation, and then consumes 300 points per second; once the skill is activated, it cannot be stopped until the player's stamina points reach zero. ]

[Effect: Raises the weapon above the head and rotates it using the power of the arms, creating a range-based continuous killing effect like a tornado (cooldown time is 80 minutes, the radius of action depends on the environment, and it can only be activated with a long weapon)]

[Note: This move was created by a pastry chef known as "the strongest man on the continent." From Shanxi, he is skilled at using a large steel rod. Not only is he a good cook, but he is also a martial arts master. In addition to creating many chuuni (delusions of grandeur) dishes, he also created the famous Seventy-Seven Forty-Nine Roads Xie Family Staff Technique, and was known as the Blade and Staff Dual Prodigy alongside Seven Stars Blade Raine of the same period. ]

Whoosh whoosh whoosh—

In an instant, the spear had begun to spin above Brave and Fearless's head, and the gradually rising sound of breaking wind swept out invisible gusts of wind in all directions.

Xu Huai Shang's offensive… was actually forcibly blocked by this wind force, unable to continue.

…………

"Holy crap… what kind of move is this, it has quite the momentum."

"Will he just fly up like that and then use his mouth to fire machine guns?"

"You're all too naive! I've seen him use this skill before. It looks like he's just spinning his spear in place, but the consumption and power are both very high."

…………

The audience outside the arena was quite excited to see someone using a big move, but the players in the arena were not so relaxed.

As soon as this move came out, Xu Huai Shang's expression clearly changed.

Although this title skill has quite a few flaws, its actual effect is quite powerful… The user doesn't need to move at all, and can perform 360-degree attacks and defenses without any blind spots on enemies in the surrounding area, including those in the air.

Moreover, this [Pastry Chef Tornado] has a very strange attack judgment. People who are too close to the caster will feel a repulsive force, while those who are too far away will feel a pulling force. In short… whether you want to escape the skill range or get close to the user, it will increase the loss of survival points. It is also difficult to attack him with ranged means, because flying props with insufficient power will be blown away by this tornado.

Therefore, Xu Huai Shang could only endure it in the eye of the storm, waiting for the opponent's skill to stop.

But at the same time, Brave and Invincible's threat was approaching again…

There was no doubt that Invincible Bro was also caught in the range of the tornado, but this skill was not an "indiscriminate damage skill", so although Invincible Bro would also be subjected to the pulling of the wind, he would not lose survival points.

Under this premise, if Brave and Invincible went to fight Xu Huai Shang, then the latter's situation would be quite bad.

Running away… is possible. Everyone is in the eye of the storm. As long as you keep moving, no one can catch up with anyone. But moving means giving up defense, and the loss of survival points will also be accelerated.

Defending… is also possible, but while resisting Brave and Invincible's attack and resisting the damage of the tornado, the loss of health will definitely not be slow.

And the last choice - attacking… seems to be impossible, because it feels like doing so would bear the sum of the damage of the above two choices, which can be said to be the fastest way to die.

However, Xu Huai Shang, when Brave and Invincible approached… chose to attack.

Perhaps some people will think… this is a momentary impulse, or even a self-defeating performance, but that is not the case.

Xu Huai Shang is a player who is not easily swayed by emotions (except when dueling with Jue Ge). Most of the time, her judgments are calm and accurate.

She would do this because she saw an opportunity to reverse the situation in that seemingly most unfavorable choice…

"Captain Xu, the outcome has been decided… I'm sorry!" When Brave and Invincible moved to two meters next to Xu Huai Shang while resisting the wind, he said his declaration of victory with confidence.

"Yes… the outcome has been decided…" Xu Huai Shang turned her head, her eyes flashing with killing intent, "But I don't know what you have to be sorry about."

In an instant, Brave and Invincible's fright value soared. His intuition told him that he felt an unprecedented danger.

But… at that time and moment, it was no longer possible for him to make a detour. He could only face the opponent's killing intent head-on.

"Drink—" Whether it was to boost his courage or to intimidate, at that second, Brave and Invincible roared and unleashed a strike with the name of the move, "[Huang Ji Jing Tian Quan] (Imperial Ultimate Shocking Heaven Fist)!"

"Using fists in this wind is a mistake." At this moment, Xu Huai Shang even had the energy to point out the other party's mistake, "The power of the strike and the external fist wind will become lighter and slower due to the wind force, and it will be difficult to control…" As she said this, she actually abandoned the knife in her left hand and lightly tossed it into the path of the other party's fist.

Bang—

Accompanied by a strange noise, Brave and Invincible's fist had touched the blade surface. Although the short knife was immediately knocked away, his fist path was therefore deflected.

"A little interference, and it will become like this." Xu Huai Shang said, already stepping forward into the wind, bowing and dodging the other party's attack, and using the single knife in her right hand to launch a skill, "In this environment, the best way to attack is… a physical slash that completely contains the energy in the blade."

After saying that, the knife rose, the shadows shifted, and the body was severed.

A move [Ying. Yue Duan] (Sakura. Moon Severance), performed a textbook-like waist cut for countless viewers.