Underneath a giant locust tree, Flowing Cloud held the greatsword Flame Shadow in his hands and stood motionless, directly facing the trunk of the locust tree. Boundless Sea had his back against the locust tree and stood motionless too.

The battle seemed to have frozen. No one knew what would come next.

The two players were very close to each other. If either character breathed, the opponent might be able to hear in this silent forest.

Boundless Sea, with his back against the locust tree, quietly crouched down.

Let alone sneak attacks, just trying to circle around the tree to the left or right would be difficult. Lu Hanwen had fast reaction speeds and played quickly too. He was on guard against these two directions. See head, chop head. See hand, chop hand. See foot, chop foot.

The battle had frozen, but the two players were thinking non-stop.

Fang Rui was constantly looking around, observing everything in front of him. He was searching for a tree to use as cover to escape.

A bit difficult. Fang Rui thought. He didn't have a better choice though. It would be easier to run than approach from the left or right. If he tried that approach, Lu Hanwen would definitely steal away the initiative.

Fang Rui began to move.

First, Boundless Sea crouched down.

Then, he gently turned 180 degrees and started to retreat one step at a time.

Fang Rui didn't choose to roll. He didn't dare let his line of sight leave the tree in front of him.

No signs of movement from the left or right.

What is he waiting for?

Fang Rui didn't know, but he had made his decision and he would stick with it. Boundless Sea continued to retreat.

Suddenly, several figures flickered from behind the tree.

Six Flowing Clouds rushed out.

Shadow Step!

It could only be Shadow Step!

Six shadows. Lu Hanwen controlled them adeptly such that Fang Rui wasn't able to tell which one was real.

Unable to continue retreating, he could only fight. Fortunately, Fang Rui had Boundless Sea retreat backwards, so his line of sight had been fixed in this direction. In the end, he wasn't caught off guard.

Landmine Quake!

Boundless Sea slammed the ground. The shockwave would reach all six shadows. He wanted to fish out the real one.

But all six shadows leaped up at the same time, dodging the qi attack.

Falling Light Blade!

Six swords crashed down with a silver light as if forming a sword formation.

Boundless Sea didn't dodge and crashed into one of the light blades.

"Did he see through it?" Pan Lin cried out.

"Probably not!" Li Yibo replied. He wanted to say more, but he didn't have time. The six swords and six Flowing Clouds all moved towards Boundless Sea.

Six swords, five fake. But if Boundless Sea continued to brashly charge through the attacks, all six swords would hit, which would mean the real one would hit.

Falling Light Blade guaranteed a knockdown. Although the knockdown could be Quick Recovered, Lu Hanwen could react to it and continue with follow ups.

Qi Wave Shield!

Boundless Sea waved his hands and a wave of qi condensed into a shield.

"This..." Pan Lin didn't understand. Qi Wave Shield wasn't Qi Guard. It couldn't block attacks from every direction. If he used Qi Wave Shield to block, it would at most block two swords.

"Genius!" Li Yibo saw through it and shouted out.

He didn't have time to explain though. Hit!

Shockwaves from six Falling Light Blades spread out. Even if five of the Falling Light Blades were from fake shadows, the visual effect would still remain. Boundless Sea tumbled out in a direction. In the end, he had been hit by the real sword.

But Boundless Sea immediately let out a palm.

A Qi Bullet shot towards one of the Flowing Clouds.

Was that the real body?

It was!

After Boundless Sea took the hit, he immediately figured out which of the six sword shadows was real from the direction he was hit in.

"If he just randomly chose a sword shadow to run into, the chances of getting hit by the real one is rather low. However, Lu Hanwen had all of the sword shadows switch directions. It can be seen that the one Boundless Sea chose before wasn't the real one."

"After that, although Qi Wave Shield could only block two, those two swords were the most difficult to deal with if they were real."

"In reality, neither of these two swords was the real one. The real one was among the remaining three. Fang Rui had eliminated three of them, allowing him to deal with the other three with more focus. He was eliminating each choice one by one."

Li Yibo spoke quickly to explain Fang Rui's thought process in the short amount of time he had.

"Amazing!" Pan Lin sighed. Fang Rui had considered so many things in just an instant. That was what it meant to be a top Glory expert.

Fang Rui was able to reset the situation with his series of reactions.

Qi Blade!

Boundless Sea slashed out a Qi Blade.

But in this dense fog, the skill's trajectory was extremely obvious, which was quite annoying for Fang Rui.

"Senior, I've said it before, but I've got good eyesight." Lu Hanwen saw it clearly. Flowing Cloud easily dodged it and continued his attack.

"Okay, I'll make sure to remember it," Fang Rui replied as Boundless Sea retreated back a few more steps.

In the past, Fang Rui would have definitely tried to use the surrounding trees to hide in and then try for an ambush.

However, Lu Hanwen's eyes and reaction speed were impressive. Fang Rui had experienced just how bad hiding behind a tree could be. He didn't plan on challenging Lu Hanwen in those two aspects.

The current situation was unfavorable for him. Fang Rui understood this well.

In this map, Lu Hanwen's eyes and reaction speed were powerful weapons and just happened to be the most effective against sneak attacks.

It was extremely rare for the opponent to become aware of a sneak attack after the sneak attack landed. Usually, the sneak attack caught the opponent off guard. Glory wasn't army against army. In 1v1s, each player had complete control of their character. If you could react in time to a sneak attack, then the sneak attack would be meaningless.

At the moment, thinking of a sneak attack was too early. Lu Hanwen was too close to him. The two sides looked to be falling into the pace for a direct battle. This wasn't Fang Rui's style as a master of playing dirty. In other words, a direct battle wasn't a style he was proficient in.

As for Lu Hanwen, don't look at how he was still young. He was the attacker in Team Blue Rain and a first-class expert in face to face combat. In addition to his personality and energy, face to face combat was one of his biggest strengths.

"Senior, watch my sword!"

When Lu Hanwen slashed downwards, he also typed out a challenge in the chat. In the beginning, people were worried. If this continued, would this kid become like Huang Shaotian and talk non-stop while fighting?

But after two years, everyone understood. Lu Hanwen sometimes talked because he had so much energy that he needed somewhere to direct it to. His hands felt uncomfortable not moving fast, so he typed to make up for it.

It seemed like he was wasting his efforts, but this kid had endless energy. A bit of wasted energy wasn't a problem, so no one criticized it.

An oppressive wind blew from Flame Shadow. The dense fog rumbled as the sword moved, and the flow of the game began to change.

Fang Rui was gradually being suppressed. He didn't hold the advantage in this sort of fight. He was used to taking advantage of the terrain, but because of Lu Hanwen's eyes and reaction speed, he couldn't do that.

"Little demon, don't be too arrogant!" Fang Rui spoke.

"Senior, please advise me," Lu Hanwen said. Who knew if he was being sincere or being sarcastic.

"Okay, little kid, I'll teach you a lesson," Fang Rui said. Boundless Sea suddenly leand to the side and let out a palm.

Spiral Qi Kill!

Boom!

The distance was too close. Lu Hanwen wasn't able to dodge it. However, in order to land this attack, his Boundless Sea was hit by a Downwind Sword Slash.

Boundless Sea was covered in blood. Flowing Cloud was covered in violent qi.

The audience was dumbstruck.

This was the lesson Fang Rui was giving to Lu Hanwen?

What was this?

Wasn't he just brute-force trading?

Trades happened all the time in pro matches, but everyone always did it cautiously, calculating who would come out on top. These trades weren't just for health, but more importantly, to create opportunities for follow ups.

But Boundless Sea's trade?

That was just purely you-hit-I-hit. There was no change in the flow of the battle. Whatever it was before was the same after.

How stupid! Fang Rui really was dirty. The crowd booed.

After Flowing Cloud was hit by Spiral Qi Kill, he quickly rushed back. As for Boundless Sea? Because of the Downwind Sword Slash, he was stunned for a certain amount of time and couldn't immediately react.

This was the reason why everyone thought the trade was stupid. If the trade had allowed Fang Rui to push Lu Hanwen away, then Fang Rui could have created more room for him to maneuver around dirtily. That would be a meaningful trade. But because he was hit by Downwind Sword Slash, this trade was completely pointless.

Triple Slash!

Flowing Cloud used this skill to approach.

The greatsword Triple Slash was ferocious and threatening. By the time Flowing Cloud reached Boundless Sea, Boundless Sea had just gotten out of the stun.

Roll!

Boundless Sea immediately rolled to dodge the third Triple Slash.

Falling Blossom Form!

Lu Hanwen's offense was extremely fast. Flowing Cloud pressed down on the rolling Boundless Sea.

Knockdown!

Falling Blossom Form forced the knockdown. Boundless Sea was now lying flat on the ground.

Falling Phoenix Slash!

Usually, a Rising Dragon Slash would follow. Lu Hanwen used it on the ground. Flowing Cloud twisted his body. His sword drew an arc across the ground, rising in the air, and then falling down...

Boom!

A powerful surging qi appeared in front of Flowing Cloud.

Dragon Wave!

The surging qi pushed Flowing Cloud, sending him flying into a tree.

How?

Lu Hanwen was surprised. Falling Blossom Form forced a knockdown and could not be Quick Recovered, so Boundless Sea shouldn't have had the time to cast the skill. Could it be...

The Falling Blossom Form had missed?

Lu Hanwen recalled that instant, calculating how much health Boundless Sea should have...

However, Pan Lin and Li Yibo saw it more clearly through their spectator view.

"Fuck, how despicable... he pretended to get hit. I've never seen that before..." The commentary criticized him.