Chapter 89: Such a Master

“Sister Yi, I’ll hold him back; you find an opportunity,” Xu Jingming said in the team chat, but his eyes were fixed on his master, Liu Hai. At the same time, he reached out and took out a pair of shields from his back, holding one in each hand. He then took a few steps and stood between his master and Sister Yi.

“Using shields?” Liu Hai laughed and suddenly charged forward. His stocky figure turned into a blur as he charged at his disciple.

This scene shocked Xu Jingming. What speed—he’s much faster than me.

The moment his master came close, Xu Jingming also charged forward. He struck with his dual shields as if he wanted to forge a new path.

Whoosh.

Liu Hai’s figure flashed, appearing beside Xu Jingming as if he had teleported, and with a shimmer, his saber swooped down.

Bam.

Xu Jingming retracted the shield in his left hand and blocked the strike.

Shields were very good at defense; even an ordinary person who didn’t know anything could block a large area with two shields in front of them. If it were an expert like Xu Jingming, he could block the enemy’s attack angle with a slight movement of his shield.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

However, the saber didn’t stop. After three consecutive strikes that carried ferocious might, Xu Jingming found the shield vibrating and his arm turning limp. When Xu Jingming tried to deflect the fourth strike—

The moment the fourth strike landed, it strangely stuck to Xu Jingming’s shield, causing him to deflect nothing.

Xu Jingming’s expression changed slightly, but the saber suddenly exerted strength, causing the unprepared Xu Jingming’s shield to jolt. However, Xu Jingming reacted quickly—he immediately brought the shield in his right hand to block the incoming saber beam.

Bang! Bang! Hu! Clang!

The saber flashed; every attack looked identical, but the sound of them colliding with the shield was different. The different collision sounds represented different force delivery techniques. It made Xu Jingming feel very uncomfortable as if he had fallen into a turbulent undercurrent. He found it difficult to adapt to the different forces of the strikes.

My method of borrowing force and deflecting it is useless. It even makes me a little flustered. Xu Jingming realized this. I can only use offense against offense and use a momentary release of strength to crack Master’s saber technique. The dual shields work together to make up for the deficiencies in my defense.

Xu Jingming’s shield technique changed almost instantly.

Defensive shield techniques were also extremely formidable. The moment the saber and shield collided, the shield suddenly exerted strength. It would either clash head-on, press down, or swipe to the side!

Every time the weapons collided, Liu Hai felt as if the shield in front of him was a spinning reef. It spun clockwise, counter-clockwise, and even sometimes took the initiative to slam into him.

Interesting. Even so, Liu Hai’s saber still suppressed Xu Jingming, teasing him and tearing at his dual shields’ defense.

…

Countless people in China’s official livestream were watching the battle.

When Liu Hai charged at his disciple, countless audience members became excited! It’s here, it’s here!

The apex battle they had been hoping for had arrived!

“Xu Jingming, don’t be killed in one strike.”

“Block a few more strikes.”

The audience watched nervously.

Liu Hai’s saber beams were like white streaks. They looked identical, but their might was completely different; some were strong, some were mild, and some changed like Yin and Yang. This threw Xu Jingming’s dual shields into a little chaos, and he began to show flaws. However, Xu Jingming soon changed his shield technique and became incomparably formidable.

He met each attack with an offensive strike, and he ferociously attacked a large area in front of him.

Even under the ferocious shield techniques, Liu Hai’s saber continued to suppress. But with the combination of the two shields, Xu Jingming’s defense stabilized. He couldn’t crack it in the meantime.

“Ferociousness is king!”

“Xu Jingming needs to be ferocious like this. It’s difficult to crack a shield technique that’s ferocious.”

“Haha, Xu Jingming blocked it. This gonna be gud.”

The audience was filled with anticipation. They wanted to see a twist in the battle.

Eight Extremities is good at close combat. Xu Hong—who had been eliminated—was already with his wife. He looked up at the battle and nodded in satisfaction. He’s especially good at delivering force at close range. It won’t be easy for even Captain to crack Jingming’s shield technique.

This was the difference in combat methods.

Shield techniques were good at defense, while the Eight Extremities were good at close combat. Used together… Xu Jingming’s dual shields were extremely ferocious at a distance of three feet. Even Liu Hai found it difficult to break through the dual shields with a single saber.

…

In the forest map.

When Liu Hai struck Xu Jingming with his single saber, Wang Yi was already 50 meters away. She stood behind a tree and raised her hand to fire an arrow!

Swish!

Wang Yi—who had reached Advanced in her evolutionary method and had Lv. 3 archery—produced arrows that flew at extremely terrifying speeds now.

Oh? Liu Hai—who had been paying attention to Wang Yi—frowned slightly. He dodged the arrow, and it stabbed into the tree trunk behind him, causing it to explode and collapse.

Wang Yi’s evolutionary method has also broken through. The arrow’s fast enough. Liu Hai discovered this.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

At a distance of 50 meters, Wang Yi found an opportunity to strafe.

Liu Hai had just attacked his disciple a few times when he had to dodge.

I can’t focus on my disciple either. More than half of my attention is on Wang Yi, Liu Hai thought. To kill Xu Jingming while allowing a Lv. 3 sharpshooter to shoot freely? Even I can’t do that. If I’m careless, I’ll lose from being shot. My movement technique can’t catch up to Lei Yunfang.

Even Lei Yunfang succumbed, so Liu Hai didn’t dare to casually have his back to Wang Yi. He had to ensure that he could see Wang Yi all the time, and most of his attention was on her.

…

“Wang Yi’s arrow exceeds 700 meters per second. Liu Hai is a little panicky at this speed.”

“Liu Hai is still overconfident to focus on Xu Jingming despite being attacked by the sharpshooter.”

“If he gets hit, Liu Hai might lose the competition.”

Countless audience members could tell that Liu Hai was doing his best to dodge the terrifying arrows or block with his saber.

The arrows were too fast! Even the world’s number one needed to be careful of such arrows.

“This female sharpshooter’s bow and arrow are quite impressive.” Among the Earth Alliance’s envoy delegation, the envoys from the various countries made a judgment as they watched the competition. “That shield expert is quite good at defending. He blocked Liu Hai’s saber.”

“The shield expert and female sharpshooter would be among the top three experts in Japan. China is really strong. To this day, nobody in Japan has cleared the third level of Cosmos Tower. The younger generation of China is also impressive… We have to make our countrymen work harder. We have a small population, so if we don’t work hard, we will only fall behind!”

…

Liu Hai suddenly pulled out a shield from his back, holding a shield in one hand and a saber in the other. This surprised Xu Jingming, and he became even more careful. Master is going all out?

Whoosh.

Liu Hai charged straight for the distant Wang Yi.

What? He’s not targeting me but Sister Yi? Xu Jingming was surprised and immediately followed.

Coach Liu Hai wants to defeat us one by one? Wang Yi panicked. I thought he would be so confident that he would let me fire.

Liu Hai unleashed his full speed, causing the gap between Xu Jingming—who was chasing after him—and him to grow.

Wang Yi immediately determined at a glance. He’s much faster than me; I can’t escape. My only hope is one shot.

Wang Yi instantly took out an armor-piercing arrow.

An armor-piercing arrow, coupled with the huge bow in her hand, was enough to break through the light armor of Lv. 3 experts.

A headshot is needed with ordinary arrows. With his shield in front of him, it’s impossible to hit him. Only armor-piercing arrows can be used… And at this short distance, there’s only time for one armor-piercing arrow.

I only have one shot. Wang Yi stood still calmly and pointed her bow and arrow at Liu Hai.

Liu Hai needed less than a second to traverse 50 meters to reach Wang Yi, but this was enough time for a sharpshooter at Wang Yi’s level to have several trains of thought.

She was expressionless as she watched Liu Hai charge over coldly.

30 meters, 20 meters… She allowed the distance to shrink.

I don’t believe he can block the arrow from within ten meters. Wang Yi waited for the best opportunity.

But when he was 15 meters away, Liu Hai suddenly threw out the saber in his hand. This caught Wang Yi off-guard, and she almost instinctively released the arrow!

She originally wanted to wait until he was seven to eight meters away before releasing the arrow.

However, Liu Hai was too cautious; he threw the saber from 15 meters away. It was extremely fast, and Wang Yi didn’t have the time to dodge before she was struck and penetrated.

As for the armor-piercing arrow Wang Yi shot out from 15 meters, Liu Hai only lowered his left hand slightly to block the arrow.

He must’ve practiced throwing darts. Wang Yi’s body turned ethereal as she thought unwillingly, This Coach Liu Hai is too cunning.

Liu Hai came to the spot where the saber had fallen and reached out to pick it up.

When charging at an archer head-on, one has to throw concealed weapons at the end. However, there’s no need to carry concealed weapons when dealing with juniors. Liu Hai was very accurate when it came to throwing a saber or a stone. He had indeed mastered concealed weapons.

However, he didn’t choose such a weapon during the weapon or equipment selection in this match.

He had thrown the saber at close range!

To him, he was confident in defeating any opponent in a one-on-one battle with a single-handed shield at close range, so he didn’t mind throwing the saber.

It felt terrible to have a sharpshooter trained on me the entire time. It feels much better now. Liu Hai held a shield in his left hand and a saber in his right as he watched his disciple, Xu Jingming, charge over.

“Master, is there a need for you to be so cautious with your strength?” Xu Jingming couldn’t help but say, “To deal with two juniors like us, you chose to eliminate the sharpshooter first?”

“Childish.” Liu Hai said in a private chat, “This is the National Tournament finals. If you’re careless, it’s going to stick to you your entire life. Also, you have to remember… to use your brain more in combat! There’s clearly no need for it to be so difficult and dangerous; otherwise, what’s the point of making the competition so difficult?”

“You have to be steady in a battle! If you can win, try your best to win. Why do you think I wasn’t injured in any of the five consecutive tournaments years ago?” Liu Hai looked at his disciple. “As for you, you broke your leg the first time you participated in the World Tournament? It’s because… I’m more steady.”

“It’s easy to stumble if you advance rashly. You’ve suffered so much, but you haven’t learned your lesson.” Liu Hai looked at Xu Jingming. “Fighting isn’t about being rash. Combat strategy is also a part of Taiji.”

Xu Jingming sighed inwardly. He was clearly the world champion, but he still did things in a careful and steady manner. Could he defeat such a master?

“Come now. Without the sharpshooter’s interference, I can give you better training.” Liu Hai smiled at Xu Jingming and looked very gentle..