Chapter 83 Grinding Again

It was a little over two hours before midnight. Qiao Yifan didn't linger in his sentimental mood. After saying goodbye to the Great God, he temporarily logged out of One Inch Ash and switched to another account to revisit the practice runs at Lieli Land in the old server.

After all, he was a professional player, and although he hadn't been in the industry for long, it had been quite some time since he had left the Lieli Land dungeon. He could definitely complete the dungeon, but to break the record, he needed to understand every detail. Qiao Yifan began to do his homework seriously.

The distribution of monsters in each area, and their types.

The choice of routes for advancing.

The characteristics of each Boss's skills and ultimate moves.

Qiao Yifan used his main account to clear Lieli Land three times. Of course, it was no problem for his main account to solo. Even if he was on the fringes of Team Tiny Herb, being able to join was already a recognition of his strength. Although he was a bit behind his teammates, Qiao Yifan hadn't lost to Tang Rou either. He was not comparable to newcomers like Tang Rou and Baozi Invasion, who only had raw skills.

After three practice runs, it was almost midnight. Qiao Yifan switched accounts back to the tenth server and sent a message to Ye Xiu, agreeing to meet outside the Lieli Land dungeon.

On the way there, Qiao Yifan saw someone in the world chat challenging Lord Grim by name, demanding a battle for the Lieli Land dungeon record and a one-on-one duel with Lord Grim.

"Who is this person?" Qiao Yifan muttered to himself. He wouldn't mention the dungeon record, since that relied on the team, and low-level dungeons had their limits, which ordinary players could reach, so their results wouldn't be much worse than professional players.

But a one-on-one duel... that was a direct clash of skill levels. For someone to be so arrogant as to challenge Ye Qiu, it left Qiao Yifan speechless.

As far as he knew, even their captain, Wang Jiexi, wouldn't dare to be so arrogant in front of the Great God Ye Qiu. The only one who would dare to challenge him so directly was probably Han Wenqing of Team Tyranny! This Great God had been clashing with the Great God Ye Qiu since he entered the league, ending Excellent Era's winning streak and becoming their number one enemy.

In terms of skill, Han Wenqing was on par with the other Great Gods, but he had a domineering aura. Moreover, his personality was extremely stubborn and direct, scolding whenever he saw something wrong.

It was said that in a certain match, Team Tyranny performed poorly and lost badly. Han Wenqing gave his teammates a harsh scolding after the match. He repeatedly watched the recording of the match, and if he saw someone making a mistake, he would immediately drag them out and scold them. The boss of Team Tyranny was also present, and his phone suddenly rang in the middle of the scolding. The scolding stopped, and Han Wenqing turned his head to look coldly at the boss, saying only two words: "Get out."

The boss gave him face and immediately ran out to answer the phone. The entire Team Tyranny was stunned. Even the boss had been instantly killed, so how could they dare to disobey in the slightest?

Han Wenqing's character was like that. He was the only Great God in the league who was on par with Ye Qiu in terms of experience and strength. But now, a nobody from the game was clamoring to duel with the Great God Ye Qiu, which left Qiao Yifan at a loss for whether to laugh or cry.

This person's messages appeared every two minutes along the way, not wasting any cooldown time on the world chat. Qiao Yifan shook his head repeatedly, thinking that the Great God would probably ignore such a small character's challenge.

Outside the Lieli Land dungeon, Qiao Yifan's One Inch Ash finally met the Great God's Lord Grim. He also saw Tang Rou's Soft Mist, who was already familiar to him. Baozi Invasion had also been seen at the very beginning. And then, there was Flowing Clouds, the Gunner. Seeing this character, everyone who knew the identity behind Lord Grim would immediately think of Su Mucheng. The person who always stood by Ye Qiu's side, the Gunner who always stood behind One Autumn Leaf. Now that Ye Qiu had retired, was this Gunner still Su Mucheng?

Qiao Yifan didn't dare to ask too much. Although he was a member of the championship team, he was almost invisible in his own team, and his presence was even weaker in the eyes of other teams' players. Unlike the other professional players in his team, who were opponents on the field and friends off the field, Qiao Yifan had no opponents and no such friends...

"You're here." Seeing One Inch Ash arrive, Ye Xiu greeted him, "We'll start immediately at midnight."

"Okay," Qiao Yifan responded, then opened the dungeon rankings again to confirm the record. When he looked this time, he immediately noticed that one of the names in the top team looked familiar. Wasn't it the guy who was shouting at the Great God in the world chat?

"No wonder he's so arrogant. That record is indeed good. It seems he's a高手 (gaoshou, expert), but he still has to see who his opponent is!" Qiao Yifan thought to himself.

"Is your equipment okay?" Ye Xiu asked again.

"No problem," Qiao Yifan replied. The hired leveling service was responsible for providing a set of equipment. At this time, One Inch Ash was wearing a full set of level 30 Ghost Swordsman gear, wielding a level 30 purple Katana, Evil Ghost Slashing Blade, and the best accessories currently available.

"We won't pursue speed the first time. We have a new player, let him integrate into our style of play," Ye Xiu said.

"Is once enough?" Baozi Invasion probably thought of the guild leader of the Moonwatch Guild, who also said he was integrating at the beginning, but after three times, there wasn't much progress.

"It's enough," Ye Xiu said with a smile.

Qiao Yifan, who was next to him, was represented in the answer, and his heart was filled with excitement. Seeing that there were still a few minutes left, he ran to wash his face with cold water. He needed to stay absolutely clear-headed and focused, and not let down the Great God's trust.

"It's refreshed, let's enter the dungeon!"

At midnight, the dungeon attempt count refreshed, and Ye Xiu led everyone into Lieli Land.

At this moment, Blue River, who had also started running the dungeon, was absentmindedly paying attention to the world chat.

The frequent screen-spamming by Around the Serpentine Ditch annoyed him a bit. This endless energy didn't seem like it was for vindicating himself, but rather like a tantrum. Blue River didn't care if the guy had such a hobby, but the problem was that the character belonged to Blue Brook Guild, and everyone knew that, with his name hanging on the Lieli Land dungeon leaderboard!

With the identity of a guild member, and a skilled player on the record board, he was still acting so discourteously and constantly shouting in the world chat, which Blue River found embarrassing.

Blue River had given a reminder, but all he received was Around the Serpentine Ditch's cold sarcasm. The guy had just participated in breaking the record and was in an uncontrollable state of arrogance.

Blue River was extremely conflicted. Of course, he wanted the guild's record to be preserved, but thinking about Around the Serpentine Ditch's arrogant appearance, he couldn't help but wish someone would come and crush the record.

And the only one who could crush the record was Lord Grim.

At this time, Blue River felt a bit uneasy. He always paid attention to Lord Grim's level, and he had stayed at level 30 for too long. The leading characters like Blue River were already level 33. The higher the level, the more time and experience were needed to level up, so the gap would become smaller. Based on Lord Grim's previous speed, he should have been about one and a half levels behind them, but he was still at level 30. The possible intention behind this was the reason for Blue River's unease.

Especially just now.

Blue River received a message from the guild players preparing to enter the Lieli Land dungeon, saying that they saw Lord Grim and his party. There seemed to be a new character in their team, called One Inch Ash, a Ghost Swordsman, without a guild title, and whether or not he belonged to a guild was unknown.

One Inch Ash, who was that? Blue River looked at the swordman Flowing Wood, who had appeared briefly and then never logged in again, on their guild roster, feeling suspicious and uncertain.

At this time, in the Lieli Land dungeon, the newly joined Qiao Yifan was using his One Inch Ash, listening to Ye Xiu's arrangements, and perfectly cooperating with the four of them.

"Yes, that's right. Watch the rhythm of our attacks. Don't waste any time opening the array. Control the cooldowns of your skills to maximize efficiency." Ye Xiu kept pointing out. It was much easier to teach this kid with a foundation. Unlike Tang Rou and Baozi Invasion, the dungeon strategy was memorized by rote for these two newcomers, so even the guild leader of the Moonwatch Guild was better than them in truly mastering it.

Tang Rou and Baozi Invasion had enough skill to operate, but they had to memorize the strategy and be conscious of it.

As for the Moonwatch Guild leader, he was familiar with the game and understood what Ye Xiu was saying, but his execution couldn't keep up and he needed to practice.

Qiao Yifan had all the advantages of both sides. He understood Ye Xiu's points immediately, and his execution was easy to keep up with, so Ye Xiu dared to be sure that once would be enough. A professional player's aptitude was beyond the reach of ordinary people.

"Don't bother with 残影 (canying, residual shadow). Instead of opening that, it's better to use that time to make a couple more slashes to provide damage. It won't cause the aggro to go to you. You won't be attacked," Ye Xiu said.

Residual Shadow was a Ghost God that Ghost Swordsmen could summon at level 25. This ghost array could be carried around, but it was just a shield formed by a circle of ghost shadows around the character. This shield, like a shield, could absorb and negate damage, lasting for one minute. The higher the level, the more damage it could negate, and the more times it could be negated. It was purely a defensive skill. In this team coordination, Ye Xiu was telling Qiao Yifan to give up using this skill, as the others would take care of defense for him.

This kind of detail made Qiao Yifan feel touched once again. He was used to being a cannon fodder, but now, the team would actively share their energy to provide protection for him.

"Um, this ice array..."

"Is there a problem?" Qiao Yifan asked anxiously.

"No, no, you opened it very well and very timely." Ye Xiu said, turning to Baozi Invasion, "Baozi, this was your mistake!"

"My bad, my bad." Baozi Invasion called out in response.

The ice array was not supposed to be released at this time according to the original strategy, but because of a mistake by Baozi Invasion, the situation changed. As a result, Qiao Yifan adjusted himself and released the ice array at this time, immediately achieving a crowd control effect and reducing the pressure on the team.

Ice Array was a Ghost God for Ghost Swordsmen at level 30, Ice Soul. The barrier guarded by Ice Soul could inflict ice-attribute magic damage on enemies who entered it, and had a chance to completely freeze the target. It was an offensive ghost array.

"However, you actually had a better option here." Ye Xiu first criticized Baozi Invasion's mistake before turning back to Qiao Yifan.