Chapter 63

On the stage of the Xia Kingdom's official live stream room.

"Round eleven is about to start, and our captain hasn't shown up yet," Liu Chongyuan said, "Should we go and call him?"

"Don't rush," Li Miaomiao said, "The previous round just ended, and the guest commentators need about ten minutes!"

"Actually, the previous matches were all quite exciting, with several teams being truly impressive," Yang Qingshuo said, "We might face them in the second or third round. Why isn't Brother Xu watching the matches?"

Wang Yi smiled, "The captain is confident."

"Don't worry, he'll watch the match videos after the first round is over," Li Miaomiao explained.

"The official live stream schedules a match every half hour," Heng Fang said, "The actual combat usually lasts no more than ten minutes! Pre-match interviews, guest predictions... post-match commentary, these take up most of the time. Old Xu will save time by watching the videos after the matches."

"Hmm?" Li Miaomiao saw a figure appear in the distance, and it was Xu Jingming.

"Jingming," Li Miaomiao called out immediately.

"Old Xu, you finally made it," Heng Fang said with a smile.

"You're the captain, and you left us all here," Liu Chongyuan also said.

"Don't worry, I timed it perfectly," Xu Jingming said with a smile, "I arrived ten minutes early, no problem, right?"

Whoosh.

Suddenly, a woman appeared and walked directly toward Li Miaomiao.

"Hello, Miao Miao. I'm Xia, the assistant of the Xia Kingdom's official live stream room," the woman said with a smile, "We'll invite all members of your Limu Team to the stage shortly. Here is the interview outline. The host will ask some of these questions, and you can prepare a bit. If you don't want to answer, you can let other teammates do so."

A stack of documents was handed to the team manager, Li Miaomiao.

Li Miaomiao took it and smiled, "These questions are deliberately provocative."

"Pre-match interviews need a bit of tension," Assistant Xia said with a smile, "Soon, the official live stream room will send you an invitation. When you accept it, you'll appear on stage."

All six of them nodded.

"I won't disturb you anymore," Assistant Xia then left.

"Each of you gets an interview outline," Li Miaomiao began distributing the papers, one to each person. Xu Jingming also took one and smiled when he saw it.

"Ten billion viewers are watching, so be careful," Liu Chongyuan said, a bit nervous.

While looking at the interview outline, Xu Jingming asked, "Is there anything special to note about the first ten matches?"

"Many strong players," Wang Yi said, "We're not even sure if some of them are hiding their true strength."

Xu Jingming nodded, deciding to watch the videos after the matches.

Soon, at exactly 5 PM, the Xia Kingdom's official live stream room sent an invitation.

"Mom, Dad, Grandpa, we're going to the match now," Xu Jingming said to his family.

"Once you're on stage for the interview, no matter what, don't let your momentum be overshadowed," Father Xu Hong said.

"Just be tough!" Grandpa Xu reminded.

At the same time, Wang Yi, Heng Fang, Yang Qingshuo, Liu Chongyuan, and Li Miaomiao also briefly spoke to their family and friends. Then, the six team members all accepted the live stream room's invitation.

...

The six members of the Limu Team appeared on the commentary stage.

"Please sit here, the six members of the Limu Team," the host Liu Xin warmly invited, and the six members of the Limu Team sat down in order. At this moment, the six members of the Qianfan Team also appeared and sat down in sequence.

"Sister Yi!"

"Sister Yi is here!"

"Miao Miao, wow, Miao Miao can also be on stage."

"Miao Miao is amazing, she can be on stage at the national Fire Seed Cup, even as a substitute."

Countless viewers watched, including many fans of Wang Yi and Li Miaomiao.

On the commentary stage, a slightly plump female guest smiled and said, "I'm a fan of Wang Yi and Miao Miao. I didn't expect to have the chance to interview you today. First, I want to ask Miao Miao, how does it feel to be on stage?"

"Not great," Li Miaomiao smiled, "I think if you ask me this question during the finals, I'll be happier."

"The finals?" Host Liu Xin and another male guest looked at each other.

"Great spirit!" Liu Xin said with a smile, "We must remember this. We'll ask again during the finals."

The female guest then looked at Wang Yi, "Wang Yi, we know many teams invited you, and you made your choice on the last day of registration. What made you choose Xu Jingming and his teammates?"

"Because, among all the teams that invited me," Wang Yi smiled, "my current teammates are the strongest!"

"The strongest?" The male guest smiled at Xu Jingming, "I want to ask the captain of the Limu Team, Xu Jingming, do you agree with what Wang Yi said? The teams that invited Wang Yi include the Xianzi Team led by Zhang Qing and the Jinpeng Team led by Tielian Yun, among other strong teams."

The female guest also followed up, "Li Miaomiao said she wants to be on stage during the finals. Captain, what do you think?"

Xu Jingming smiled slightly, "We're just talking tough, we're not that strong!"

The other five team members all laughed.

"Qianfan Team, do you have confidence in defeating the Limu Team?" The male guest immediately looked at the other team.

"Confidence in defeating them, no," Captain Hao Fan smiled, with a fierce glint in his eyes, "But if they want to win, they'll have to break a few of their teeth!"

The other team members were also full of fighting spirit.

From various intelligence, the gap between the two teams was still quite obvious. Because of this, the Qianfan Team was even more determined to fight, even if they all perished, they would take out two or three members of the other team.

"Viewers, the eleventh match, the Limu Team versus the Qianfan Team, is about to begin," Host Liu Xin looked at the battle space that appeared behind him, "Their map is the forest map."

...

The forest after the rain was muddy.

The five members of the Limu Team and the five members of the Qianfan Team simultaneously descended, some appearing on the ground, some in the trees, and some on the mountainside, all within a one-kilometer range.

"First, gather near Wang Yi," Xu Jingming, who was on the hillside, ran up the mountain while speaking in the team voice chat.

"According to the official rules," Heng Fang said in the team voice chat, "after each round, the winning teams will be ranked based on their performance! Besides the teams led by Liu Hai and Lei Yunfang, which are fixed at 1st and 2nd, the other teams will be re-ranked based on their performance."

"In the second round, there will be 16 teams, and the 1st will face the 16th, the 2nd will face the 15th," Heng Fang said, "In the early rounds, we need to avoid the teams led by the two seniors to have more opportunities for intense battles and improvement! If our team had one more third-stage expert, we would have a better chance against the teams led by the two seniors."

Yang Qingshuo said, "The team's combat power is calculated based on each member's performance in the matches. So even if we want to hide our strength, we can't hide too much... hiding too much might result in us being ranked 15th or 16th."

"Perform normally, and try to break through to the third stage in the intense battles," Xu Jingming said in the team voice chat, "I'll act based on the situation."

"Got it."

The team members were very serious. These top experts were almost all stuck at a bottleneck, each eager to break through and reach the third stage in combat skills. That way, breaking through in evolution techniques would be faster.

"Charge!" Hao Fan, the captain of the Qianfan Team, with two knives at his waist, charged forward fiercely.

"Yes." The four team members followed their captain, charging together. The team had no archers, just a straightforward charge.

Xu Jingming, Liu Chongyuan, Heng Fang, and Yang Qingshuo were already protecting Wang Yi.

"Hao Fan is a veteran who has reached the top eight in the World Martial Arts Competition, and he is very strong. None of the people he invited are weak," Xu Jingming said in the team voice chat, "You three will have to handle the main part."

"Leave it to us." Heng Fang, Yang Qingshuo, and Liu Chongyuan were also full of fighting spirit.

Whoosh!

An arrow suddenly shot through the forest, fast and fierce, and the two sides officially engaged.

"Whoosh." The middle-aged Hao Fan threw a stream of light, which collided with the arrow with a thud.

"His skill with hidden weapons is amazing," Xu Jingming admired in his heart. Some of the older players were relatively ordinary, but those who continued to practice after retirement had combat skills that were almost supernatural.

"Charge."

Hao Fan continued to charge forward, acting as the spearhead of the team. The four teammates followed closely behind, charging straight toward Wang Yi's position.

The forest map was only a one-kilometer range, and Hao Fan and his team had already determined the approximate location of the Limu Team. Running at a speed of a few seconds per hundred meters, they could already see Xu Jingming, Heng Fang, and the others.

"Throw!" The middle-aged Hao Fan gave the order.

The four teammates behind him simultaneously threw their throwing axes, throwing them with both hands, and in a short time, over ten axes flew toward Xu Jingming and the others. The axes were so fast that their shadows were blurred, each one exceeding 100 meters per second, and they instantly reached Xu Jingming and the others.