Powerhouse Leaderboard

Yu Xian continued fighting his matches. Today was the easiest day to rack up points, and he had already decided to spend the entire day in the arena, fighting as many matches as possible. Fortunately, matchmaking was completely random. Having thirty-one wins did not mean he would constantly be paired with opponents on high win streaks; he was still matched against plenty of easy pickings. At one point, he even drew an opponent with a score worse than minus ten. He had to admit that those players had remarkable fortitude. To keep persevering in the tournament without giving up after losing that badly was truly something. When the clock struck nine in the evening, the matches finally ended for the day. This event ran strictly from nine in the morning until nine at night; once nine p.m. passed, no further matches could be entered. After easily dispatching his final opponent, Yu Xian was teleported off the arena and returned to Novice City. Stepping out, he happened to run into Zhang Buyao. The two exchanged a knowing smile and tacitly headed toward a restaurant together. "Salty Fish, what's your score?" Zhang Buyao asked as they walked. Yu Xian opened his event panel and smiled. "I'm at 136 right now. What about you?" "That high?! I only have 66 points," Zhang Buyao exclaimed in surprise. Her matches today had been a mix of wins and losses, and she had taken breaks in between, so she hadn't broken past a hundred. She had thought her own performance was pretty good, but Yu Xian's was absurd—one hundred and thirty-six matches, completely undefeated. She almost wondered if he had been one-shotting every opponent from start to finish. Just then, a new tab appeared on the event panel. Yu Xian tapped on it and immediately saw the words "Powerhouse Leaderboard." Beneath the header was the ranking list—not just the top ten, but endless pages recording every player's results. [Powerhouse Leaderboard] [No. 1: Shenshang Chai, Score: 222] [No. 2: Bafang Dao, Score: 188] [No. 3: Yu Xian, Score: 136] [No. 4: Brooke, Score: 133] [No. 5: Wu Yufei, Score: 130] [No. 6: Tianshang Feilong, Score: 129] …… …… Yu Xian had assumed he would most likely take first or second place, but he found himself in third. What was more, there was a noticeable gap between his score and those of the top two. Especially Shenshang Chai—that guy was genuinely formidable. Starting over from scratch seemed to have made him even fiercer. "Those two couldn't be cheating, could they?" Zhang Buyao couldn't help remarking after reading the leaderboard. Yu Xian laughed. "Cheating is unlikely. But they probably had good luck—they didn't run into any tough experts from start to finish, and their opponents were basically all cannon fodder. Plus, their matchmaking queues were likely faster." Many factors could influence the results. For instance, running into Wu Yufei had taken a considerable amount of time to resolve, which also cost Wu Yufei quite a bit of time. Matchmaking itself took time as well. Not every second had players queuing up. With bad luck, one could sit waiting without finding an opponent, sometimes having to wait until victorious players finished their matches and queued again before getting paired up. That was another major factor affecting scores. Yu Xian and Zhang Buyao arrived at the restaurant. After ordering their food and chatting for a bit, both began browsing forum threads on their own. Combat recordings of the top ten players on the leaderboard had already been compiled into threads, and some players were analyzing their abilities. Yu Xian first located an analysis thread on Shenshang Chai and tapped into it, checking the videos first. Video one. Yu Xian tapped play. Shenshang Chai and his opponent were teleported into the arena. The moment the match began, Shenshang Chai appeared before his opponent almost instantaneously, his fist already buried in the opponent's abdomen. A one-punch instant kill. Then came the second video: the exact same routine, a one-punch instant kill. Third video: the exact same pattern. Yu Xian opened one video after another. If not for the different opponents, he would have suspected he was watching the same clip on loop, because Shenshang Chai's movements barely varied at all. Match start, teleport in front of the opponent, fist already embedded in their stomach, match over. Yu Xian furrowed his brows. That punch was tough to block—far too fast. It was so fast that he might not even have time to deploy his Forward Light Shield. Besides, if Shenshang Chai's punch carried some sort of instant-death effect, even blocking it with his right fist might still result in being one-shot. He scrolled down further. On the second floor of the thread was the original poster's analysis. Heaven Official's Blessing: "I imagine most people are like me and couldn't figure out the secret behind Shenshang Chai's invincible punch. However, one thing is certain: Shenshang Chai possesses at least one teleportation skill, and one with an exceptionally fast cast time. "Therefore, I believe the way to avoid this punch is to retreat—back away faster than Shenshang Chai can teleport, or possess an identical teleportation skill. The moment he teleports over, you teleport across; the two of you pass each other by without posing a threat, thereby evading the punch." After reading Heaven Official's Blessing's theory, Yu Xian closed his eyes and simulated it. The first method was indeed viable, but his speed wasn't on par with Shenshang Chai's. Even if he retreated the moment the match started, he still wouldn't evade that punch. Probably only classes specializing in extreme speed could pull out of Shenshang Chai's attack range the instant the match began. Then Yu Xian simulated another combat approach in his mind: retreating while deploying the shield simultaneously. This time, it worked. Stepping back bought him the split second needed to cast the skill. In just that fleeting fraction of an instant, the Forward Light Shield manifested. Shenshang Chai's fist struck the Forward Light Shield, shattering his own bones. *There's a way to counter this move, but I need to keep gathering more information,* Yu Xian thought to himself. He wasn't sure whether Shenshang Chai had other trump cards. If there were other lethal moves, countering this one wouldn't help against the second. Yu Xian scrolled down. Many players were posting their thoughts and guessing Shenshang Chai's class. At that point, Yu Xian spotted a post from another player. Retracing the Path of Invincible Deer: "I was the seventy-fifth player defeated by Shenshang Chai. Let me share how it felt. The moment I was struck by Shenshang Chai, it actually wasn't an instantaneous death. Instead, multiple waves of pain erupted across my abdomen, rolling through like waves. "Strangely enough, nearly every burst of pain felt almost identical. That suggests Shenshang Chai's punch might be a multi-impact force attack, where the power of one strike bursts out in successive waves." "Multi-impact force?" Yu Xian stroked his chin as he read the post, his thoughts stirring. What if Shenshang Chai wasn't a martial artist class at all? Could it be a time-stop ability? After all, a time stop matched what appeared in the videos perfectly: the instant the match started, Shenshang Chai would activate time stop, dash up to the opponent, and unleash a furious barrage of punches. When the skill's duration ended and time resumed its flow, Shenshang Chai would simply hold a punching pose, misleading everyone into believing only a single punch had been thrown. If this guess was correct, Shenshang Chai was definitely a formidable opponent!