chapter 25: professional player

Falling Snow on Cedars

As soon as Liu Chuan went offline on the game, a message popped up from Lu Xiang’s QQ: “Master, are you still online? What do you mean by your wife calling you? Your reason for fooling Captain Xiao is too unrealistic, okay? Let’s fight again! I’ll open another arena ring!”

Liu Chuan said, “It’s better for me to say goodbye. Aren’t you embarrassed if you keep on losing? I’m afraid Captain Shao will come and scold you.”

“Captain Shao has never scolded me.” Lu Xiang said seriously: “One day, I will beat you!”

Liu Chuan smiled and said, “Beat me? Better give up. Be a good boy and stop daydreaming.”

Lu Xiang: “......”

Lu Xiang often had the urge to “expel himself or graduate from his own school”.

As a 15-year-old newcomer of the Huaxia Youth Training Camp, Lu Xiang was full of admiration and respect for Liu Chuan. Every time he saw Captain Chuan, he would hang his head nervously and obediently call him captain. Later, he went to the Bronze Sparrow Team. He started to play the main force and grew rapidly. In the second year, after winning the Rookie of the Year, the Bronze Sparrow’s Vice-Captain just retired and Shao Zehang proposed to make him the vice-captain.

In the league, Lu Xiang can be regarded as one of the captain-level great gods who are on an equal footing with Liu Chuan but because of the master-apprentice relationship, he still has great respect for Liu Chuan.

Until later…

After being mercilessly slaughtered by his master during the game over and over, Lu Xiang discovered that his master made people gnash their teeth in anger when he played the game! It’s not without reason that so many people in the league hate him. His kite-flying style of play is too annoying. He is often abused to death by puppets and what’s worse is he can’t even touch the corner of that person’s clothes! Even more hateful is that when this person wins, he will send a row of smiling faces on the [nearby] channel and say: “You let me win, you let me win* : )”

* Said politely after a game that expresses humility when you win LOL

Let you sister……

A group of people wanted to spray his face with blood.

Several secret discussion groups were debating and organizing to abuse Captain Chuan.

Liu Chuan was still so unaffected, carefree, and arrogant. His non-existent tail was cockily sticking up and he was beaming all day long. In the professional league, Liu Chuan's existence is very domineering.

The captains of the major teams really have a headache when they encounter Huaxia. In the Professional League, whenever a team encounters the Huaxia Team, the captain would be upset, suffer from insomnia, and have chaotic work and rest. If the method of stabbing* was really useful, Liu Chuan would’ve been cursed to death by the league captains long ago.

* A needle so I’m guessing it’s one of those voodoo stuff?

But he is still alive and well, and even said to his apprentice with a smile: “Better give up. Be a good boy and stop daydreaming.”

To have this kind of master is really heartbreaking.

Although to offend one’s master isn’t good, Lu Xiang really wanted to beat him to death during the game…

Liu Chuan said, “By the way Xiao Lu, I accepted another apprentice recently. You have a junior brother*.”

* Younger disciple from the same master

Xiao Lu Xiang had a simple mind and was quickly led by the change of topic by his master: “Junior brother? Master, why are you accepting apprentices again? Do you want to train successors after retirement?”

Liu Chuan said, “You think too much. It’s a friend in real life. A naturally talented fool* with the same talent as you but fights like a blind man.”

* Uses the characters for foolishly cute person LOL

Lu Xiang: “......”

Master, why are you scolding this fool in my presence ==?

Lu Xiang changed the topic and asked, “By the way Master, you’re back but why is there no movement from the alliance? The entry lists for the 10th season of the major teams have already been reported. It’s too late for you to make your comeback, what are you planning to do?”

Liu Chuan said, “I don’t plan to make a comeback now. I have to go back to school to study.”

Lu Xiang: “......”

“Let’s discuss this later.” Liu Chuan changed the subject and said, “You’re going to the Imperial Capital for a meeting tomorrow, right? Don’t take the subway. The subway in the Imperial Capital is too complicated for your IQ.”

“......” Lu Xiang wanted to explode. He sent a row of dejected expressions instead. “I’ll never take the subway in the Imperial Capital again.”

Liu Chuan smiled. “En, go to bed. Don’t be late for tomorrow.”

Lu Xiang had no choice but to send a waving goodbye expression but after two seconds, he messaged Liu Chuan again: “By the way Master, give me your mobile phone number! Did you change your phone? You didn’t return my text messages!”

Liu Chuan said, “Yeah. Recently changed it. The new number is 138xxxx, you can save it.”

Lu Xiang took out his mobile phone, saved the number, and sent a message to Liu Chuan before going back to the dormitory.

Halfway through, the mobile phone rang suddenly. Looking at the handsome face of the man appearing on the screen, the little boy couldn’t help the smile on his lips. He picked up the phone and said, “Captain Shao! Calling me so late, is there something wrong?”

Shao Zehang’s low voice echoed through his ear. “I just arrived at the Capital Airport and turned on my mobile phone to see the news from the professional players' group. Liu Chuan came here today?”

Lu Xiang said, “Yep! The arena ring number and password are all posted in the group. He probably saw it and came just to join in the fun. I also fought with him!”

Shao Zehang paused and asked, “According to your judgment, how’s his current state?”

Lu Xiang scratched his head. “Although he retired for half a year, his hand speed and reaction time is still the same as before and it’s still very difficult for me to beat him.”

Shao Zehang was silent for a moment and said, “You don’t have to worry about your master for the time being. Concentrate on preparing for the next game. Don’t run around after you arrive at the Imperial Captain tomorrow. I’ll go to the airport and pick you up, lest you get lost again.”

Happily, Lu Xiang replied: “Thank you Captain Shao!”

Shao Zehang flashed a rare smile and whispered, “Okay go to bed early. See you tomorrow.”

Lu Xiang nodded. “Okay! Good night, Captain Shao!”

The little boy went to bed in a happy mood.

On Liu Chuan’s side, another message pop-up in the lower right corner of his screen. When he saw the word “Ye”, he immediately knew it was Qin Ye, someone who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Qin Ye: What have you been doing recently?

Liu Chuan: Carrying a rookie.

Qin Ye: ?

Liu Chuan: Do you remember the one who bragged to you last time? I accepted him as an apprentice. Currently taking him in the online game.

Last time? The one who was abused many times but still got up then died again?

Qin Ye raised the corner of his mouth and asked with interest: “Oh? How’s that rookie?”

Liu Chuan said: “The progress is very fast. Why don’t you abuse him again? It’s good for him since he’s still your brain-dead fan.”

Qin Ye asked: “Does he know that I’m a man?”

Liu Chuan said: “I don’t know, although he keeps on calling you goddess.”

Qin Ye said calmly: “The moment he knows that I’m a man, he’ll definitely turn into an anti-fan.”

Liu Chuan: “......”

Qin Ye asked: “You went to the online game to bring a rookie, are you looking for new teammates to form a team?”

Liu Chuan said: “Not necessarily. Although the two people around me are very talented. The future is boundless and there’s no telling if they’re willing to play in the professional league with me.” Liu Chuan paused and added: “One of them is a Xueba. He has never played online games before. He definitely has his own arrangements. It would be best for me if he’s willing to follow but if he doesn’t want to, I can’t force it.”

It is indeed very difficult to form a team. After all, many parents want their children to find a stable job. The risk of playing in the professional league is too high and if they aren’t famous, it can be akin to wasting their youth…

For such a high-risk matter, whether Zewen and Li Xiang would be willing to accompany him or not, Liu Chuan’s heart is really unsure.

He promised Teacher Lin to be the coach of the school team and took Zewen and Li Xiang to the new district for training. In addition to cultivating high-level players for the school team, the most important reason is that he wants to take a good look at the two of them and if possible, drag the two of them to play in the professional league together.

How great would it be if these two people were willing to team up with him to make a comeback!

The so-called college league and behind-the-scenes coach is just a road for Liu Chuan. He always has one goal——the professional league!

Professional league, that’s his real stage!

However, Liu Chuan has also said before that good teammates can be met not looked for, and many things still depend on fate.

It’s too difficult to form a team. Qin Ye also felt that Liu Chuan’s goal sounded somewhat like a fantasy story.

Qin Ye couldn’t help but remind him: “There’s only one way for civil teams to enter the professional league: to form a team to win the championship and runner-up in the Nationwide City Competition. Now, the scale of these city competitions is getting bigger and bigger and the participating teams in the previous editions have been said to exceed 10,000. The competition also has a very cruel elimination system. If you’re careless, you’ll be eliminated. The risk is too great and isn’t worth it.”

Liu Chuan said: “I know. The competition system is not the biggest problem. The key is to find a few reliable teammates.”

Qin Ye said: “Why don’t you come to our Chang’an Team? The vice-captain is recruiting you.”

Liu Chuan smiled and said: “Okay, okay. Don’t worry about me. I have my own plans.”

Qin Ye has very few friends in the league and Liu Chuan is the one who has known him the longest so he will pay special attention to Liu Chuan’s comeback. However, Liu Chuan had already made up his mind not to go to any team and Qin Ye couldn’t help him any further.

Liu Chuan said: “Let’s talk later. I’ll go first, my wife is calling me.”

Qin Ye was surprised: “Do you really have a wife? When did you get married?”

Liu Chuan smiled and said: “Wife in the game. Just got married today…”

Qin Ye was speechless: “Get out of here!”

***

Liu Chuan really didn’t lie to Qin Ye, his wife in the game was indeed calling him.

He minimized the game, opened QQ, and a line of message popped up in the lower-left corner of the screen: “Are you there?”

It was sent by Wu Zewen.

Liu Chuan came to the internet cafe early, unlike Wu Zewen and Li Xiang who wanted to meet so they were a step slower. Liu Chuan was still at the wedding scene when he went online in the new district. The groom in the big red wedding dress stood alone on the red carpet. After a while, Wu Zewen and Li Xiang went online together.

After two hours, the people from Seven Star Grass who came to watch were naturally gone, and only the three of them were left standing at the wedding scene with nothing to do.

Wu Zewen sent him a message privately: “Sorry, the internet cafe got disconnected.”

Liu Chuan smiled and said: “It’s okay.”

Li Xiang said on the team channel: “Unexpectedly, you’re still at the wedding scene. What to do? Let’s go out now?”

Liu Chuan said, “Don’t go out yet. Did you see the NPC next to the host? That’s a wedding discount merchant. How much do you still have on you?”

Wu Zewen flipped through his sachet. “300 gold.”

Li Xiang said, “I also have 300 gold.”

…they are all poor pitiful people!

Fortunately, Heartbroken Grass gave Liu Chuan 520 red envelopes and those who came to watch the ceremony also gave some red envelopes. At the moment, Liu Chuan had more than 1,500 gold which was enough to buy stones and equipment.

Liu Chuan thought for a while and said, “The wedding discount store has a limited number of discounted first-class five-element stones so let’s buy them all. Five Poisons buy the wood attributes stones and Shaolin buy metal. Buy 125 each.”

Wu Zewen is a little rookie in the game so he doesn’t know what these five-element stones are.

But Li Xiang is a veteran who has played for a while and immediately understood as soon as he heard Liu Chuan’s words!

In Chinese-style games, the five elements* attribute setting is very common. Individual game skills such as Fairy Sword and Ancient sword all have five elements attributes. The eight sects of Wulin also have corresponding five elements attributes: Shaolin and Emei are both metals, Five Poison and Tangmen and wood attributes, Mingjiao is a fire attribute, Beggars are earth attributes, and Wudang and Xiaoyao are water attributes.

* Five Elements Theory is a Chinese philosophy used to describe interactions and relationships between things. The five elements — are Fire (火; huǒ), Water (水; shuǐ), Wood (木; mù), Metal or Gold (金; jīn), and Earth or Soil (土; tǔ) — are believed to be the fundamental elements of everything in the universe between which interactions occur. Here's a picture if you want to see it.

All equipment in the game can be strengthened and enhanced with the Five Elements Stone which makes it a very important prop in the game. It can’t be bought in the malls of time-charged games nor with RMB so they can only be accumulated slowly in the game.

The discount five elements stone at the wedding site is equivalent to a thank you to the guests who watched the ceremony. It is bound to the player when bought and cannot be traded.

Li Xiang quickly bought 125 and Wu Zewen obediently bought 125.

Liu Chuan then typed: “Okay, Ideal Master, you go out first. I have something to say to my wife : )”

——The groom [Immortal] invited [Ideal Master] out of the wedding scene.

Li Xiang: “......”

Classmate Li Xiang, the big lightbulb*, was invited away like this.

* Third wheel; called a lightbulb because a couple usually prefers dark intimate settings and a third wheel spoil the atmosphere and make everything too bright LOL

Li Xiang, who was depressed, almost vomited blood.

Have something to say to your wife? This is obviously an excuse!

Zewen already told you that he’s a man, and you still call him wife so smoothly! Your moral integrity is all gone, isn’t it?

In the wedding scene in the game, only the bride and groom are left.

With big red wedding clothes and candlelight, the wedding scene is particularly sweet and festive. Usually, the newlyweds would hug until they get tired… However, these two obviously aren’t like ordinary newlyweds. The two stood quietly in the place of worship and the atmosphere was a little awkward.

After a while, Liu Chuan took the initiative to break the silence: Wife, let me ask you a question.

Wu Zewen: What is it?

Liu Chuan: What do you think of the game? Is it fun?

Wu Zewen: It’s very interesting.

Liu Chuan: If you find this game interesting, would you like to spend more time and effort on it?”

Wu Zewen hesitated for a moment and did not answer.

He played online games for the first time so he felt that everything in online games was very fresh, but it seemed impossible for him to spend more time and energy on a game.

Wu Zewen has been a Xueba since he was a child. He preferred to go to the library to read books having reference materials that are as thick as a brick. Wulin changed his concept of “online games are boring” a lot and even made an exception to spend all night in the internet cafe…

What do you need more time and effort for? He is just a little rookie, not a professional player…

Liu Chuan smiled and said, “I’m not in a hurry for an answer. I’ll ask you again later. In fact, this game isn’t as simple as you think. You are still a rookie now and you still don’t understand a lot of things.”

Wu Zewen pushed his glasses and didn’t know what to say for a while.

——He must be knowledgeable and love the game very much for him to say these words?

——The Tangmen expert in front of him feels very mysterious. What’s stranger is that he uses a certain tone when speaking to younger novices without a sense of violation as if he has already experienced too many things in this game…

——He said this game isn’t that simple? How is it complex?

Xueba didn't respond for a long time, so he must have analyzed the problem seriously.

Liu Chuan couldn’t help but smile and said, “Well, it’s too early to say this now. You can make a decision later. First, practice your skills. Have you watched all the instructional videos by Su Shilun?”

Wu Zewen nodded: “I have watched it.”

Liu Chuan said: “Next, watch replay games of the Seven Star Grass Team. Su Shilun of the Seven Star Grass Team is the strongest Five Poisons in the league and your hand speed is similar to his. You can use his style of play as a reference and see how he uses his pets. After you reach a certain level, I’ll take you to play in the arena where you can cultivate your own style.”

Wu Zewen nodded seriously. “En. Thank you.”

Liu Chuan smiled and joked: “We’re already married and you’re still so polite to me?”

Wu Zewen said, “We aren’t really married.”

Wu Zewen calmly gave another one of his one-hit-one-kill messages*: “It’s only for the task.”

* Word used is to strike or attack again by a follow-up comment so I chose to TL like that.

You win!