First-Encounter Kill

Many players immediately returned to the city to seek out event NPCs and inquire about the specific rules. Mingling with the crowd, Yu Xian and Zhang Buyao were likewise learning how this event worked. [Rule 1: In this Player Combat Tournament, participants will duel via randomized 1-on-1 matchmaking. Both combatants will be teleported to a fighting arena to determine the victor. Neither the winner nor the loser will suffer true death.] [Rule 2: The tournament employs an infinite points system: the winner receives 1 point, the loser loses 1 point, and in the event of a draw, neither side receives points. The season will last for 3 months, and the player with the highest final score will be crowned champion.] [Rule 3: This Player Combat Tournament is not an absolutely balanced competition, but the weaker party will receive randomized 'affix reinforcements.'] [Rule 4: Participants may set wagers, and both sides may choose whether or not to accept the wager.] [Rule 5: In this tournament, the use of any items is prohibited.] [Rule 6: This tournament will be broadcast across myriad realms by the Fengxian clan. Fifty percent of the proceeds will go to the Fengxian clan. Of the remaining fifty percent, thirty percent will go to the champion, ten percent to the runner-up, five percent to the third-place finisher, and the final five percent will be divided equally among fourth through tenth place.] [This Player Combat Tournament is planned and hosted by Feng Laixian. All players are enthusiastically welcome to sign up.] ... Countless players broke into fervent discussion after hearing the rules. The tournament rules were easy enough to understand at first glance. What drew everyone's attention was Rule 6: did a broadcast across myriad realms mean the fighting matches would be streamed to every world? If one made a fool of themselves, wouldn't they be losing face on a massive scale? After understanding the rules, Yu Xian could not help smiling. "Brother Ge is Brother Ge after all, way more reliable than Chi Feihong." He decisively signed up for the tournament, after which a new panel appeared before him. [Points: 0] [Wager] [Enter Battle] ... Yu Xian first tapped on the wager option. After a moment's thought, he entered: 'The winner receives 50% of the loser's experience points,' then clicked confirm. Once the test showed it was valid, he clicked to enter battle. The players around him began to thin out, evidently having been teleported to fighting arenas to compete. [Matchmaking Successful] [Opponent declined your wager] [Opponent proposed no wager] [Teleportation commencing!] Yu Xian's panel shifted, lines of text rapidly surfacing. Then, white light flashed before his eyes, and he appeared in a colossal colosseum. Virtual spectators immediately began to materialize in the surrounding stands. These spectators were not NPCs, but real viewers watching the tournament from across the myriad realms. Opposite Yu Xian, a slightly chubby player also opened his eyes. When he saw that his opponent was Yu Xian, he clearly recognized him, his expression turning as wretched as if he had accidentally swallowed a dead fly. To make matters worse, this event did not allow surrender. Even if one were to die, one had to go down swinging. [Yu Xian (0 Points) VS Ma Jiahao (0 Points), match start!] As the words announcing the match start faded, Yu Xian and Ma Jiahao immediately found they could move. "Big brother, take it easy!" Ma Jiahao had just begun to activate a skill when, in the next second, he saw Yu Xian charging forward riding a golden shield. He only had time to yell those four words before the shield slammed straight into him. Instantly, his entire body was launched into the air. He only felt that the sun in the sky was exceptionally dazzling today; upon hitting the ground, his vision went dark, and his body dissolved into white light and vanished. The spectators in the stands probably had not expected the match to end so quickly. No one cheered, nor did anyone make a fuss; everyone stared in silence at the arena. [Congratulations to contestant Yu Xian on securing a victory] [Continue participating?] A light screen appeared before Yu Xian. After a brief thought, he selected to continue. ... Novice City. Teleported back outside, Ma Jiahao gasped for breath in huge gulps. Seeing this, his friend beside him asked in shock, "So fast? You were only teleported in two minutes ago, how are you out already?" "I ran into Yu Xian," Ma Jiahao said, still shaken. His friend's face instantly shifted to sympathy. No wonder he had come out so quickly. Running into Yu Xian made total sense. ... Because Yu Xian chose to continue fighting, a circle of light appeared in the arena, instructing him to return inside the ring to wait for the match to begin. Riding his light shield back to the other end of the arena, Yu Xian dismissed the shield, stepped inside the ring of light, and quietly waited for matchmaking. After about fifteen seconds, a light screen popped up before his eyes. [Matchmaking Successful] [Opponent declined your wager] [Opponent proposed a wager: Loser must pay 1,000,000 Fortune Gold Coins to winner. Do you accept?] Yu Xian could not help offering a faint smile as he saw this, decisively accepting the wager. Wasn't this essentially free money? Taking it was a no-brainer. Once he accepted, a ring of light appeared on the opposite side, and a player manifested in an instant. The opponent opened his eyes and looked over immediately, but did not seem to recognize Yu Xian. In truth, while many people in the Zhen Realm could recognize Yu Xian, just as many did not know him. After all, most had only seen his appearance in livestreams or recorded videos rather than laying eyes on him in person. Furthermore, after he became a Mighty One, subtle changes had occurred in his features; anyone even slightly face-blind might fail to identify him. [Yu Xian (1 Point) VS Ye Wuwang (2 Points), match start!] The next instant, Yu Xian and Ye Wuwang moved simultaneously. A light shield appeared in front of Yu Xian, and he stepped onto it, flying toward Ye Wuwang at blistering speed. Ye Wuwang furrowed his brow, his hand swiftly gripping the saber at his waist. Items were prohibited in this tournament, but weapons and armor were still allowed. The moment Yu Xian's light shield entered Ye Wuwang's striking range, Ye Wuwang drew his blade in a flash, slashing toward Yu Xian. Lightning flared across the blade, illuminating the entire arena in a heartbeat. Thunder Charge Slash! Ye Wuwang's eyes gleamed with purple light, as though he could already picture his blade cleaving Yu Xian and his shield clean in two. However, when his saber collided with Yu Xian's shield, he suddenly felt a colossal force rebound along the blade. In a split second, his saber snapped. *How is that possible?!* Ye Wuwang's expression shifted dramatically. In the next breath, Yu Xian's shield slammed viciously into his body. Spitting blood, he was flung backward through the air; the moment he hit the ground, he dissolved into white light and vanished. *Brutal.* Yu Xian glanced at the slowly dissolving broken blade and muttered under his breath. On the front side of the Forward Light Shield, only Chaos-attribute attacks could take effect. This was fundamentally a Rule Branch ability rooted in the Order attribute: the front was absolutely impenetrable. Anyone wishing to harm him had no choice but to circle behind him. Ye Wuwang had tried to contest the Forward Light Shield head-on; he wouldn't crack the Forward Shield even if his Dao heart shattered first. In truth, the optimal play would have been to evade the light shield a split second before collision, launching a strike from behind before Yu Xian could turn around. That alone would have posed at least a minuscule threat to Yu Xian. Naturally, Yu Xian was never going to reveal that secret to his opponents. This meant the Forward Light Shield, at least on the first day, had a high probability of scoring first-encounter kills. Still, once everyone watched his match recordings tomorrow, some players would likely deduce the mechanics behind his skill. When that time came, things would not be quite so effortless.