Chapter 440: Chapter 425: Sorry, I Must Win! (5000 words! Asking for monthly votes!)

The frenzy stirred up by Juan Canyun on Weibo was still fermenting, with various marketing accounts digging deep into his relationship with the Lady of Calamity, and articles related to Juan Canyun instantly flooding Weibo.

Like “Attention to VR Professional Gamers’ Mental Health Issues: Difficulty Distinguishing Between Game and Reality?”

“What Kind of Character is the Lady of Calamity, the Top Professional Gamer Juan Canyun Confessed To?”

This onslaught of articles came at them, but they were already irrelevant to Juan Canyun because the second half of the Holy Spirit Tournament’s top eight was underway.

The first round was Zhao Mingwei versus Eternal Rosh.

Juan Canyun sat on the sofa watching the large screen in the training room; to most professional players, this match had no suspense whatsoever.

Because Master Xiao was simply too strong–this was something the eleven professional players from Dynamic Nucleus had experienced firsthand.

Black Ash even cursed during the earlier top eight ranking matches saying, ‘What the hell, state decline! This damn thing is in its prime! I even feel he’s stronger than his prime!’

Indeed… Black Ash’s failure to make it into the top eight was due to repeatedly matching against Zhao Mingwei in the ranking matches, which broke his winning streak.

This led to players during the ranking matches saying, ‘Damn it! Master Xiao is starting to matchmake!’ ‘I’m off to do laundry!’ ‘I’m off to drink tea!’ ‘My wife’s about to give birth!’ ‘I’m off to give birth!’

Players in the high rankings and a host of professional gamers all avoided the time slot when Zhao Mingwei was matchmaking, only continuing their own matchmaking after confirming that Zhao Mingwei had entered the duel arena.

Only a very few true frontline players dared to continue matchmaking during Zhao Mingwei’s session; this is what everyone in Dynamic Nucleus thought, including Black Ash, who believed he would surely take the Conflict Worlds competition.

How could an outdated, retired old gamer be a match for them?

And it turned out… they were probably not a match. The win rate of Dynamics Nucleus’s players against Zhao Mingwei was 70-30, in favor of Zhao Mingwei, as calculated by Black Ash.

Perhaps in Holy Spirit, only Caramel could face Zhao Mingwei directly, managing a mere fifty-fifty.

As for Eternal Rosh? Zhao Mingwei had consecutively beaten Rosh’s speed run records three times.

The latest record was two minutes flat, achieved by Zhao Mingwei through a reckless playstyle, but in the elimination rounds, he chose a stable method to deal with Rosh.

Thus Rosh experienced what it was like to feel despair, facing a Holy Spirit that was so difficult for the first time.

In the end, at three minutes and twenty-one seconds, with only a third of his life remaining, Zhao Mingwei eliminated Eternal Rosh.

The battle was suspenseful yet without peril; one hour later, Caramel’s match with Eternal Hilze’er began.

Hilze’er’s skills were far superior to Rosh’s, and of course, Caramel was not much weaker than his opponent either.

This fight was a pinnacle swordsmanship clash, with both spectacle and skill enough to leave anyone breathless, delighting both insiders and outsiders!

The heat of the match between Caramel and Hilze’er even momentarily eclipsed the discussions about Juan Canyun and the Lady of Calamity’s relationship.

Juan Canyun was nervously watching the duel when Mo Shigui, standing behind him, suddenly uttered a sentence.

“That NPC called Hilze’er seems a bit off,” Mo Shigui said.

“Off? It’s common for NPCs to have high attack power. What do you mean ‘off’?” asked a teammate in confusion.

“There’s an issue with its balance, and I keep feeling like Caramel is facing two opponents at once, also there’s a notch on Caramel’s Moonlight Sword,” Mo Shigui quickly shared his analysis, his years as a coach had honed his ability to observe battles keenly.

That was also why he could become Dynamic Nucleus’s battlefield commander and the only appointed president of the guild.

“A notch? Caramel should have repaired the durability when entering the arena…” Black Ash was saying this when suddenly,

a ‘ding–‘ resounded as Caramel’s Moonlight Sword, swung towards Hilze’er, unexpectedly broke. The blade of the Moonlight Sword struck Hilze’er’s longsword burning with flames and, in the moment it broke, Hilze’er took the opportunity to sever Caramel’s left arm.

“Amputating effect? Does Holy Spirit combat have amputating effects?”

This scene made all the contestants with leaping nuclei instantly unable to sit still and they stood up directly.

The combat system of Holy Spirit is very comprehensive, but there are some combat effects that are not recorded in it… That is… the limb dismemberment effect.

“There’s a disability system, but players in PVP definitely do not have a limb dismemberment system. Players can sever the limbs of monsters, but monsters can’t bite off the limbs of players. Even if severed, they will quickly regenerate,” explained a member of the leaping nuclei team.

One of the advantages of being an energy being like the Holy Spirit is that when an enemy severs a limb of the Holy Spirit, it would soon be repaired by Creation Energy, so it’s impossible for an enemy to restrict the Holy Spirit’s movement by reducing them to a limbless state.

However, Caramel’s left arm that was severed by Hilze’er did not regenerate, nor did any blood spill out; it was as if half of it had vanished into thin air.

Caramel was stunned for a moment, but quickly defended against Hilze’er’s attacks with the Shadowless Sword in his right hand. However, the fight, which was already evenly matched, became difficult for Caramel to endure Hilze’er’s assault, which was like a fierce storm, after losing an arm.

Initially, Caramel had pushed Hilze’er into a desperate situation, with only one-tenth of life points remaining, while Caramel had one-third of his. But with the opportunity presented by severing Caramel’s arm, Hilze’er managed to completely deplete Caramel’s life points.

“Player weapons shouldn’t have a destruction effect either, could this be a new update to the game system?” The contestants from the leaping nuclei team were well aware of the Holy Spirit’s combat system.

The Holy Spirit had equipment breaking effects; durability would drop to zero and the equipment would turn red and become unusable, but such a case of snapping shouldn’t be possible, and Caramel didn’t seem like the kind to enter battle without repairing his equipment.

“Annihilation effect.”

Mo Shigui suddenly mentioned an effect that those present had never heard of.

“That’s an effect exclusive to the Annihilation Legion, it’s just that we’ve fought with them too seldom… I only have a vague memory, things erased by the Annihilation Legion would be exiled to an annihilation realm, being in an exiled state. Caramel’s left hand might not have disappeared, it could just be exiled,” Mo Shigui revealed the ability of the Annihilation Legion.

“Exile? Hasn’t Hilze’er been using the power of Fire Blade? How could he use the techniques of the Annihilation Legion?” The contestants were all gaming experts, and they quickly grasped the meaning behind Mo Shigui’s words.

“I don’t know about that; we might have to consult Xingxing again, but his next opponent is Mingwei.”

Mo Shigui watched the live stream, where the semi-finals had started with Zhao Mingwei’s side, Zhao Mingwei versus Eternal Hilze’er.

Less than half an hour after defeating Caramel, the semi-final between Hilze’er and Zhao Mingwei began.

When Hilze’er, without saying a word, entered the battlefield, what he faced was… Zhao Mingwei with a somewhat terrifying expression.

“You possess the power of the Annihilation Legion, right? Can you tell me where it comes from? Who are you… and what is your purpose?” Zhao Mingwei, now in the state of Roaring Dragon and Tiger, looked at the distant and silent Hilze’er and said, “You… what are you planning?”

Hilze’er gave no answer to Zhao Mingwei and drew his sword to charge at him, but he had severely underestimated Zhao Mingwei’s fighting power. Merely from the contact, Hilze’er was overwhelmed by the roar of Zhao Mingwei’s Dragon and Tiger and couldn’t counterattack.

“So strong!”

All the professional contestants from the leaping nuclei couldn’t help but exclaim as they watched Zhao Mingwei’s exchange with Hilze’er.

“He has evolved again,” Mo Shigui, as Zhao Mingwei’s closest friend, noticed a new level of refinement in Zhao Mingwei’s skills or combat realm.

“Evolved? What evolution? Coach, you think Xiao Laugh is a Digimon? You mean to say that when he trashed us horribly a few years back, he was just in the rookie phase?” Black Pot Stewing Meat commented sarcastically.

“No, he might have been only in the infancy stage. Only after encountering Holy Spirit did he start evolving, and now he is in the growing phase,” Mo Shigui played along with Black Pot Stewing Meat’s sarcasm. “Holy Spirit helps us tap into our latent potential; haven’t you all confirmed that?”

After the battle with Black Ash Knight and the one with Denghis Xisi, Zhao Mingwei had once again improved his combat skills, intuition, and physical abilities.

In the quest for awakening, Zhao Mingwei had already collected four mythical beasts. It was only when watching Zhao Mingwei clash with Hilze’er that Mo Shigui suddenly realized… Holy Spirit wasn’t such a balanced game after all.

Even among the top gods, there was a chasm that couldn’t be crossed.

So powerful… Juan Canyun felt a chilling sensation in his heart as he watched Hilze’er being dominated by Zhao Mingwei.

Could I win against Xiao Laugh if we fought? Juan Canyun didn’t have much confidence; he could see the gap just by watching.

In less than two minutes, Zhao Mingwei had reduced Hilze’er’s life points by half, whereas he only lost a third of his own health.

“Hey! Xiao Wen, stop watching and log in. Your match is about to start,” a teammate reminded Juan Canyun.

“Xiao Wen’s opponent is the Lady of Calamity, right? He’s already professed his love to the Lady of Calamity on Weibo; guess he doesn’t have the heart to fight his ‘wife’?”

“I’m all for you forfeiting directly, since nobody’s got the heart to hit such a cute wife.”

The teammates were all urging Juan Canyun to give up on this competition because if Juan Canyun entered the competition, it meant that he had to fight against the Lady of Calamity.

Juan Canyun didn’t really take their advice to heart; he picked up his phone, logged into the Holy Spirit Forum, and checked out the opinions of the forum bros.

‘Juan Canyun the god is definitely going to throw the game! He has already declared his love on Weibo!’

‘Others rely on skill to get into the top eight, if he throws the game, what can we say? It’s just like when he gave points to Fureya.’

‘Sigh, I feel for God Juan Canyun, too many unreasonable trolls on Weibo.’

The majority of the forum bros were still supportive of the relationship between Juan Canyun and the Lady of Calamity, and they could all understand if Juan Canyun decided to forfeit.

After all, a true man wouldn’t have the heart to seriously hit the person he likes.

But… what about Juan Canyun’s decision?

He raised his head and looked at Zhao Mingwei, who was full of vigor on the live broadcast. A heavy pressure was building up inside him, as Juan Canyun walked towards the VR equipment in the VR training room.

At that moment, the pressure on Juan Canyun was even greater than during the Chaotic World Tournament.

But he still forcibly controlled his pressure, logged into the game, and directly entered the arena.

In the knockout arena, the Lady of Calamity had been waiting for him for a long time.

“You…” Juan Canyun, after not seeing the Lady of Calamity for almost half a month, wanted to say something but choked up, in the end, he just let his gaze fall on the Lady of Calamity’s abdomen.

The wound she had suffered from Fureya’s ice spear piercing through her had still not healed.

“You’re hurt,” Juan Canyun struggled for a while but in the end, he managed to say only these four words.

“So what do you plan to do about it, kid… Why don’t you just forfeit and let me move on to the finals, how about that?”

The Lady of Calamity loaded her Fire Gun; her voice showed no sign of weakness.

“…”

Juan Canyun clenched his teeth and did not answer her, but with a wave of his hand… pure white Unrivaled Gun Qi began to gather in his hands.

This Unrivaled Gun Qi gathered around Juan Canyun’s entire body and Longsword, and in a moment, Juan Canyun entered the state of Unrivaled Gun Soul.

“So your answer is unwillingness, huh? Then don’t blame me for chopping off your head,” the Lady of Calamity understood from the look in Juan Canyun’s eyes that he did not plan to forfeit!

She directly pulled the trigger at Juan Canyun, and the shot that rang out turned into a cloud of dust that obscured vision and surrounded Juan Canyun.

In an instant, the Lady of Calamity fired three more shots into the smoke, but all that was hit were the illusions Juan Canyun created with Cloud Formation.

In that split second, the Lady of Calamity looked up sharply, Juan Canyun had already leaped high into the air, the Longsword formed from Unrivaled Gun Qi was hurled towards her, but the Lady of Calamity swung her scimitar and deflected the Longsword.

The Longsword was so powerful that after deflecting it, it shattered the ground alongside the Lady of Calamity.

“So you really can do it, kid! It seems that I’m really just a hostile target in your eyes!” The Lady of Calamity couldn’t quite keep her emotions in check and yelled at Juan Canyun.

Juan Canyun did not respond; the moment he threw the Longsword, he landed, and lunged towards the Lady of Calamity…

Life-Threatening Lightning Gun!

The moment Juan Canyun made his move, it was a super-strong skill only second to awakening; the Longsword in his hand transformed into hundreds of afterimages piercing towards the Lady of Calamity.

The Lady of Calamity, countering Juan Canyun’s Longsword thrust trajectory, pulled the trigger again, but Juan Canyun once again used Cloud Formation to let go, letting his illusion continue the attack of Life-Threatening Lightning Gun, while he dodged the Lady of Calamity’s shot.

The illusion’s Unrivaled Gun Qi hit the Lady of Calamity, and in an instant hundreds of wounds appeared on her, the Lady of Calamity endured the pain from the wounds and kept retreating.

But Juan Canyun had seized this opportunity to appear behind the Lady of Calamity…

“Cough…” Just then, the Lady of Calamity coughed up a mouthful of blood. Juan Canyun watched her weak and pained countenance, and the thrusting movement of the long gun in his hand suddenly slowed.

However, the Lady of Calamity took this chance to pull the trigger, unleashing a shotgun blast like a wall that directly enveloped Juan Canyun.

Juan Canyun took the full brunt of the shot, and in an instant, his health was reduced to one-third!

This made Juan Canyun quickly retreat, and the Lady of Calamity also widened the distance between them.

“Your hesitation disgusts me!” The Lady of Calamity’s fiery red hair had come undone from the intensity of the battle, her body covered with wounds inflicted by Juan Canyun. Yet, she remained calm as she reloaded her firearm, shouting at Juan Canyun, “Don’t hold back! I am your enemy, boy!”

He couldn’t afford to hold back.

Juan Canyun had realized this during their recent clash, for the Lady of Calamity’s damage was too high. If he showed the slightest hesitation or mercy, he would be seized upon and killed!

He had to win!

With this resolve, Juan Canyun charged at the Lady of Calamity once more.

Furious Dragon Roar! Cloud Formation! Sky-Rising Dragon Breaking Gun!

Juan Canyun unleashed all his skills and damage upon her. The Lady of Calamity was no match for Juan Canyun when it came to combat skills alone.

The Lady of Calamity’s health visibly plummeted at a frantic pace, and finally, Juan Canyun delivered a thrust, piercing through her chest with one shot, utterly depleting… the Lady of Calamity’s health.

Blood spewed from the Lady of Calamity’s chest, splattering into Juan Canyun’s eyes. At this moment, his whole body was shrouded in her blood.

When Juan Canyun pulled out his long gun, the Lady of Calamity had already collapsed into his arms.

“Boy…” the Lady of Calamity said weakly, nearly inaudible next to Juan Canyun’s ear, as she caressed his cheek with her bloodstained arm, “You are still so strong.”

Juan Canyun froze on the spot, kneeling on the ground, his long gun slipping from his grasp. He held the Lady of Calamity, now lying in a pool of blood.

At that moment, Juan Canyun made a decision, looking into the Lady of Calamity’s eyes and said…

“Your wish… I will fulfill it for you!”

After hearing these words, the Lady of Calamity was stunned for a moment, then smiled happily, her laughter echoing throughout the arena.

“Kid, I’m tired, going to sleep for a bit.” After saying those words, the Lady of Calamity slowly closed her eyes.

Just then, the gates on the other side of the arena were abruptly pushed open, and a figure walked slowly into the arena, looking at Juan Canyun, who was kneeling in a bloodbath and holding the Lady of Calamity.

Juan Canyun also lifted his head to see the figure emerging from the other side of the arena. As he had expected, it was Zhao Mingwei, Caramel, the Laughing Lord.

That man who created countless legends in the Chinese esports scene, the idol of all professional players, the only god, the goal all professional players sought to surpass!

Juan Canyun gently laid the now-unconscious Lady of Calamity flat on the ground.

He reached out to pick up his long gun stained with the Lady of Calamity’s blood and then with a fierce swing, he flung the blood from the gun onto the ground. The spearhead once again shone with a sharp cold light, reflecting Zhao Mingwei’s face on the blade.

“Senior, this match… I must win!” Juan Canyun, drenched in blood, declared from a distance, staring at Zhao Mingwei with a stern voice.

The moment his words fell, the Unrivaled Gun Qi swirling around Juan Canyun began to spread, forming a colossal warrior-like phantom wielding a gun behind him.

“Is that so? Then come and try,” Zhao Mingwei said as he tossed aside the right arm and longsword he had torn off Hilze’er. At the end of his words… the phantoms of the Four Divine Beasts roared into existence behind Zhao Mingwei.