Chapter 13 - Dragged into a Conflict (Part 2)

Who would've thought that when they entered the computer room, Ye Xiu was already waiting for them?

"Here. Use this account against Huang Shaotian," Ye Xiu said as he handed an account card to Li Haoxuan. Then, he turned to Li Zhihuan, hands-on his chin as if pondering about something. "For this match, I want you to go against Huang Shaotian alone," he finally said after a while.

"Wait! Old Ye!! It wouldn't be fair if they come at me one at the time! It would look as if I bullied them! I don't want to be the bad guy who destroys the dreams of the young ones!" Huang Shaotian quickly voiced out his thought. "If you want to bully them, bully them on your own! Oh, I have a better idea! How about we group PK instead? 3v3, you and your apprentices against me and the twins! I've already given you a good handicap by taking two inexperienced players under my wing! How about it, accept? Come on, let's just PK, ah!"

"I think you got something wrong there. If it is me with my apprentices, shouldn't it be 5v1? Remember, the twins are now my apprentices," Ye Xiu said with a smirk as he took out a cigarette.

"Please don't smoke."

Ye Xiu was about to light the cigarette when Li Haoxuan spoke up. He saw that Li Haoxuan have a frown on his face, glaring at the stick on his mouth. "Zhihuan can't stand cigarette smoke. If you're going to smoke, we'll leave the room."

Ye Xiu was rendered speechless for a while before he took the cigarette from his lips and put them back into the pack. "No need to leave. I won't smoke," Ye Xiu said, and he could see Li Haoxuan relax. "Back to the question in hand. Xiao Xuan, you go first. Then Xiao Huan goes second. Xiao Fei and Yifan can choose between themselves who goes third and last."

"Wait, Old Ye! Are you really going to make them face me alone? You're forcing this ancestor to bully children, ah!"

"What are you talking about? If they want to be a professional player, then they should be bullied early! That way, they won't have an inflated ego like Sun Xiang or Tang Hao did at the beginning of their career!" Ye Xiu retorted.

"But, God Ye… I play a cleric. I can't beat a blademaster," Li Zhihuan looked up at his idol.

"You don't need to beat him. As long as you survive for three minutes against Huang Shaotian, it's your win. You don't mind that, right?" the last question was directed towards Huang Shaotian. "Of course, if you can't even beat a mere cleric in 1v1 within three minutes, you may need to reflect on yourself."

"You—! Who needs three minutes? You need three minutes! Your whole family needs three minutes! This ancestor doesn't need three minutes. Just one minute is enough!" Huang Shaotian said as he took his seat and plugged his card in.

"One minute? You must've really gotten worse. Did you know that Wang Jiexi only took less than thirty seconds to beat Xiao Tang when she just started?" Ye Xiu tried to egg Huang Shaotian more into putting in his all into the match and of course, it succeeded.

"Tsk! I was wrong about you, Old Ye! You didn't just want me to bully your new apprentice! You want me to massacre them! Don't blame me if they quit on day one! If you want to blame anyone, blame yourself for being too harsh! Thirty seconds? You're on! If I can't beat him in thirty seconds then I will spell my name backward!"

Hearing this, Li Zhihuan suddenly felt burdened. He helplessly looked up at Ye Xiu who only smiled in satisfaction at Huang Shaotian's outburst. "Xiao Xuan, go and take your seat."

Li Haoxuan glanced at his older brother who looks equally nervous. Then he looked up at Ye Xiu. "How long do I need to survive?"

"You? You'll win if you beat him."

Li Haoxuan's little plan of trying to buy time was immediately destroyed by that single sentence. "What are the chances of me beating him?"

"Zero. Right now, I don't expect you to win at all. What I want to see is how you deal with the situation when under pressure," Ye Xiu replied. "Oh, and make sure to record every match. We will go and analyze them together," he added.

Li Haoxuan nodded his head as he surrendered to his fate. He went to his seat and plugged the card that Ye Xiu handed over to him carefully. When he saw the character of the account, Li Haoxuan's eyes almost went out of his socket.

"T-this… are you really expecting me to use this?!" Li Haoxuan asked Ye Xiu.

"Of course. What else did you expect?" Ye Xiu just smiled before he went to take a seat beside Li Haoxuan. Li Zhihuan also moved his wheelchair towards Li Haoxuan and glanced at the screen.

When he saw the character, his eyes also widened in shock. "Ah! It's Lord Grim! That was Lord Grim's account card… Ah'Xuan, can I hold it later?" Li Zhihuan asked his younger brother, eyes shining with expectation.

"Sure," Li Haoxuan simply replied as if he owned the account card.

The real owner of the card who sits beside him: …

Ye Xiu cleared his throat, gaining both of the twin's attention. "Xiao Xuan, you should check the equipment first. Shaotian, go and make the room. Open arena map," Ye Xiu told Huang Shaotian.

"Already did! I've been waiting since I've sat down. Hurry up already. I'll beat all four of your apprentice and then you won't have anymore excuse to run away from our match! Tonight, I'll be sure to PK you! And…"

Li Haoxuan kept on getting distracted as he listened to Huang Shaotian's trash talk. He tried reading the information on the Myriad Manifestation Umbrella over and over again but every time, Huang Shaotian's talk would get to him.

Ye Xiu seems to notice this and can't help but shaking his head. "Xiao Xuan, when you start playing in the professional league, you'll experience this type of situation every time. You'll need to learn how to ignore them and focus on doing what you must do," Ye Xiu advised him.

"Okay," Li Haoxian started to tune out Huang Shaotian's voice. It took him a while, but he finally managed to at least read the information on the silver weapon correctly and understood most of the important bits.

"Hey, hey, hey! Xiao Xuan right? Are you ready yet? How long are you going to make your elder wait? While waiting, I even beat up a few other players to warm up. Don't tell me you plan on to make me tired first so you can have a chance to win! I tell you this, even though I have retired, I still can beat the little monster over there!" he gestured at Qiu Fei who just frowned, suddenly feeling as if he's being challenged. "So give up all those dirty tactics you're cooking up in your head. Plus, are you not a man? A man should just come straight and fight fair and square!"

Li Haoxuan continued to ignore before he entered the arena and searched for Huang Shaotian's room. "Oh, finally?! Great! How about this ancestor give you a handicap, hmm? Am I not kind? Here, come on. I'll give you 15 hits advantage!" he exclaimed and Li Haoxuan just narrowed his eyes.

"This uncle… You knew that unspecialized can only use low-level skills. How much damage can we deal with just 15 hits? How about giving me double of that instead?" Li Haoxuan said as he maneuvered Lord Grim over to Huang Shaotian's blademaster.

"I've already given you an inch and you're asking for a mile?! You only became Old Ye's apprentice for what, not even a day and yet you already learned his dirty ways?! I knew it, Old Ye is a bad influence on children!" Huang Shaotian replied. "15 hits, no more. Until you finished those 15 hits, I won't even touch the keyboard!"