Ch64 - Let the First Double Battle Tournament Begin!

Editor: Sahloknir

Jiang Xiao also understood what Sunken Moon and the others meant at first glance, recalling his little summoner’s angry appearance when they first met, it was estimated that Yue Ran still had not taken a shine to this rare summon. It had pretty much been despised all the way from its birth to now.

He smiled from the corner of his lips and said, “Ignore them, show us your new spirit bird.”

Per Jiang Xiao’s suggestion, Yue Ran ignored the world chat and summoned his Emerald Plume Bird.

Jiang Xiao and the others studied it.

It was still white all over, but the tips of its claws and feathers were light blue, its tail feathers were very long, and its elegance exuded a majestic and domineering aura—the leading brother had finally become tall, rich and handsome.

Its body was still snowy white, with pale emerald claw tips and plumes, long tail feathers, and a powerful and dominant aura within its elegance—the top chicken had become tall, rich, and handsome.

Blank and others looked very envious as they quickly took screenshots.

Jiang Xiao asked, “What are its skills?”

Yue Ran posted a screenshot to the party chat.

There is not much difference between the skills of the blue-feathered bird and the leading brother. Except for the increase of one level of attack, the distance of the skill of blowing with wings has changed from 2 meters to 2.5 meters, and the operation space is larger, which immediately caused a group of people in the space to howl Call.

There wasn’t much difference between top chicken and Emerald Plume Bird’s skills, except for greatly increased attack stats, and the knock-off distance from the gale created with its wings had increased from two metres to two point five metres, so there was more room for manoeuvring, which immediately caused a group of people to cheer again.

Jiang Xiao dismissed them and took his little summoner to a private voice chat room below.

At that moment, Sunken Moon and others sent the swordsman private messages, saying that they wanted to try out Dying Star’s rare summon, so he questioned, “You blacklisted them?”

Yue Ran answered, “Yes.”

What else was he going to do besides blacklisting them, celebrate the New Year?

Jiang Xiao resisted the urge to chuckle. “They want to practice against your new spirit bird in the arena.”

Yue Ran declined, “Rejected.”

Naturally, Jiang Xiao listened to him and sent individual replies.

Yue Shen and Mo Yang couldn’t help laughing, but they knew that Xiao Xing Mie was not very angry, so they didn’t go over to provoke him for the time being, only Bai Zhengyang couldn’t hold back, and honked again.

Sunken Moon and Inked Sun were laughing, since they knew about how long Dying Star’s anger would last, they decided to stop adding oil to the fire for the time being. Only Pure White Sun couldn’t bear it as he sent out another horn message.

[(Horn) Pure White Sun: I won’t take this, I was unjustly blacklisted while just being present.]

Yue Ran was not moved at all.

[(World) Dying Star: You guys probably were in this together from the start.]

[(World) Pure White Sun: No, I wasn’t with them from the start.]

[(World) Attired Guqin: I can testify that Sun God and I were together in ranked.]

Yue Ran saw this and the first thing that came to mind was the weeping video as he typed a reply without showing a single emotion on his face.

[(World) Dying Star: Oh, this anger was redirected.]

[(World) Dying Star: Because of you.]

[(World) Attired Guqin: (rofl) Fine, in order to make Sun God guilty, I have to show him why you redirected your anger.]

[(World) Dying Star: Don’t you dare!]

[(World) Attired Guqin: (smile)]

[(World) Formless Slash: Don’t argue with him, you can’t win, he doesn’t want you anymore now he has a wife.]

[(World) Dying Star: Oh.]

[(World) Pure White Sun: Holy fuck! I’m not, you guys stop talking nonsense!]

[(World) Dying Star: Sis-in-law, I’ve unblacklisted you.]

[(World) Pure White Sun: …Begging to be put back in the blacklist.]

The players were all secretly eating melon seeds, so when they saw this, they bubbled messages as they found this a bit too informative.

The more he knew that Bai Zhengyang would definitely take his anger out on his cousin, he immediately felt relieved, and he walked away from the snow mountain with Jiang Xiao, and when he saw the blue-feathered bird flying slowly behind, he took it back.

Yue Ran knew that Pure White Sun would definitely take out his anger on his older cousin, so he felt relieved and slipped away with Jiang Xiao out of the snowy mountain, watching his Emerald Plume Bird following behind and flying unhurriedly before unsummoning it.

Jiang Xiao happened to see this, and asked as if he remembered something, “How did you refine the White Phoenix in the past?”

Yue Ran tried to recall. “I forgot.”

Jiang Xiao said, “Not a single thing?”

“I remember that I refined it many times, why?”

“The game is written by a program, and there should be a certain pattern we can refer to.”

“Such as?”

Jiang Xiao recounted it and said, “For example, your summoner class’s trash-tier summoned spirit beasts.”

Yue Ran was startled.

Jiang Xiao continued, “When did your initial little white chicken change from trash-tier to a higher tier after you failed to use it as a refined material?”

Yue Ran recalled, “When it grew its first exaggerated cowlick.”

After that, the fat chicken swallowed the lion as well as a whole bunch of raptors before slowly becoming a rare type.

Jiang Xiao said “hmm”: “Because you fed a bunch of soul beasts sent by the system, this is the only soul beast that will not devour waste soul beasts. They are lower than waste soul beasts, and no soul master will care about them. But existence is reasonable.”

Jiang Xiao said, “I see. Because you fed a bunch of spirit beasts that were given to you by the system, these are the only ones that won’t devour a trash-tier summoned. They’re lower than the trash-tier spirit beasts, so no summoners would care for them, but now their existence is justified.”

After answering his question, Yue Ran also came to the same conclusion.

Indeed, the soul beasts sent by the system are all low-level soul beasts, and no soul master can use them. However, the game has been updated countless times in the past six years, but they have not been replaced or adjusted. This is obviously unreasonable, but no one noticed.

It was true that all the spirit beasts given by the system were low-level, so no summoner would use them, but the game had been updated numerous times in the past six years and they haven’t been replaced or updated, which was obviously a bit outrageous, but no one had noticed.

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Yue Ran immediately pulled him to hit a low-level soul beast, and synthesized it with ordinary materials. Seeing that it was not a waste soul beast, he replaced it with another one. After trying seven or eight times in a row, a waste soul beast finally came out, which was a small The milk cat, snow-white and snow-white, raised its head slightly, extremely delicate.

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Yue Ran answered, “No.”

Jiang Xiao said, “It just happens to be the same for me. Do you want to go out?”

Yue Ran declined, “…No!”

He had been bullied like this and that for six days, and this morning he was bullied a round again, so why would he possibly tread on dangerous ground again when he finally escaped from it?

Jiang Xiao was finally not being shameless with his voice, instead, sending a message in game.

[(Private) Formless Slash: I miss you, don’t you want to sleep in my arms?]

[(Private) Dying Star: No.]

[(Private) Formless Slash: But I want to.]

[(Private) Dying Star: No.]

[(Private) Formless Slash: Love you.]

[(Private) Dying Star: I’m going to open an egg.]

Jiang Xiao laughed and stopped his teasing. While accompanying him to do several rounds of quests, he sent a private message to Eastern Blizzard, telling him to sell him low-level spirit animals at a high price.

Seeing this, Eastern Blizzard remembered what happened last time and knew that it was probably related to the rare summon.

But the rare materials were so complex that he couldn’t figure out exactly what they were for. Being aware of his current situation, he happily accepted the order.

After that, Yue Ran went back to the days of raising a kid again.

Now Zhou Jieying was no longer in class, no one looked displeasingly at him again. As for Jiang Xiao’s other suitors…they had been turned down by Jiang Xiao for two years, and after hearing the news regarding Zhou Jieying being put in jail after he offended the couple’s families, they all became well-behaved.

Eight days passed just like that.

Thanks to the duo’s efforts, the small kitten finally grew an exaggerated cowlick.

Yue Ruan was very excited, and happily fed it the white lion that hadn’t been used for a long time, and started to catch other feline spirit beasts. After another six days, the online players saw a golden announcement again.

Yue Ran became very excited. As he joyfully fed his White Lion that had been collecting dust to the kitten and went to tame other felidae spirit beasts. After six more days, the players online were greeted with a golden system announcement again.

[Stepping on the mountains and rivers against the fury of blizzard and thunder. Congratulations to the player ‘Dying Star’ for refining the ‘Unyielding Snow Lion’!]

Holy fuck!

The whole server exploded once again.

Yue Ran read the system message from beginning to end, making sure that the ‘vault of heaven’ words didn’t appear again, before turning to the world chat, ready to calmly accept the crowd’s worship.

[(World) King of Support: Big shot!]

[(World) Crystal Water: Holy shit! It’s Star God again, begging on my knees!]

[(World) Return of Autumn: On my knees as well!]

[(World) Seven Fish Seconds: Ho.]

[(World) I am Support: I want a rare summon too Ahhhh!]

[(World)Carnation: Wait, did something weird just get mixed up in there?]

[(World) Pendant of Moon God: [screenshot] Fish God?]

[(World) Hit a Great Wall: I thought Fish God didn’t like to play alt accounts, is this truly the one and only?]

The few known gods were so famous that usually no players would use their IDs because they would be hunted down by fans.

Although Seven Fish Seconds always stayed at FBWF and most of his fans were concentrated there, he was still a two-time first runner-up so he was at least well known.

[(Horn) Seven Fish Seconds: Yes, the one and only. I got bored so I came to find my Little Moon (air kiss).]

[(World) Doughnut: Wow, my?]

[(World) Blank: Nom melon seeds.]

[(World) Inky I Love You: Hey, go back to where you belong. He is mine.]

[(World) Seven Fish Seconds: We can each get half, do you want the top half or the bottom half?]

[(World) Inky I Love You: Now that’s a question that deserves careful consideration (rubs chin).]

[(World) Buried in Quilt: Of course the lower half is the best (smirk).]

[(World) Do Not Turn Back: Hey above, a body without a top is something from a nightmare, okay! Of course the top half is also needed!]

[(World) Gossip Lover: I’d especially want to see what Moon God has to say.]

[(World) Sunken Moon: I think splitting between the top or bottom won’t be very pretty, could always split down from the middle, one left and one right.]

[(World) Pearl Milk Tea: How would that make it prettier?!]

[(World) Pure White Sun: How troublesome, just blend it and share it via weight. Makes it fairer.]

[(World) Song of Requiem: Sun God, are you trying to give Moon God away like a butcher selling meat!]

The conversation immediately went off tangent, and people joined in the discussion with great enthusiasm.

As for the system message…what? There was a system announcement?

Yue Ran: “…”

Jiang Xiao pulled Yue Ran to play in the internet cafe today. Seeing the other’s puffed up cheeks, he couldn’t resist chuckling and fished the youth into his arms.

Yue Ran’s ego wasn’t stroked enough, so he wasn’t feeling very happy.

But as a young aloof person, he remained unperturbed on the surface and nestled in Jiang Xiao’s arms for a while before wanting to go back to playing.

Before Jiang Xiao hugged enough, he tightened his arms in time, and when he saw the message box was flashing, he motioned for Yue Ran to click on it.

Jiang Xiao didn’t hug enough as he tightened his arms. When he saw an incoming message, he asked the youth to click on it. The latter obediently obeyed, grabbed the mouse and moved over to see a friend request from Seven Fish Seconds.

Jiang Xiao said, “Accept it.”

Yue Ran clicked ‘Accept’.

The next moment, a new message came through.

[(Private) Seven Fish Seconds: I heard you’re creating an esport group?]

Jiang Xiao said, “Reply to him with the truth.”

Yue Ran complained, “Do it yourself.”

Jiang Xiao kissed him on the nape. “What’s in my hands is too precious, ten thousand times more than him. I can’t afford removing my hands.”

Yue Ran didn’t say anything and continued clicking on the keyboard to send a reply.

[(Private) Formless Slash: Yes.]

[(Private) Seven Fish Seconds: As expected from my alumnus. I also intended to start an esport group. Are you lacking in funds? Then I don’t need to waste time over trivial things and just be your shareholder. I believe we can make lots of money together.]

[(Private) Formless Slash: Not short on funds.]

[(Private) Seven Fish Seconds: I have contacts on my side and can help with poaching.]

[(Private) Formless Slash: No need, I have that as well.]

Yue Ran pressed send as instructed and asked, “You don’t want him?”

Jiang Xiao said, “There is a personality issue that is not good as a team.”

Oh right, that guy was supposedly a mental case.

Yue Ran looked back slightly. “But he seems to be interested in Sunken Moon currently.”

Jiang Xiao said, “I can’t tell if it’s real or not.”

They have been classmates for three years and know each other’s temperament very well.

Yu Qimiao is moody, and when he is nice to someone, he doesn’t necessarily mean he cares about him. Similarly, when he ignores someone, he doesn’t necessarily mean he doesn’t care, so Jiang Xiao can’t say which kind of attitude he has towards Yue Chen. kind.

Seven Fish Seconds did things based on his mood. He does not necessarily care for a person when he treats them well, and he does not necessarily pay attention to someone he cares for. Making it hard for Jiang Xiao to say what the warlock’s attitude towards Sunken Moon was.

Good thing Sunken Moon wasn’t Pure White Sun, his EQ had never gone negative, and they are lacking a warlock on their team.

The competition will be held next year anyway, there is still time. As long as Sunken Moon could accept, he had no objection.

He then added, “Tell him I’ll agree if he can convince Sunken Moon.”

Yue Ran typed the reply in the private chat.

[(Private) Seven Fish Seconds: Consider it done, wait for my good news (air kiss).]

Jiang Xiao said calmly, “Tell him I have a partner, kisses are not allowed.”

Yue Ran huffed, “…Tell him that yourself.”

A faint smile appeared on Jiang Xiao’s lips as he pushed his little summoner against the sofa, taking the chance to be intimate for a moment before releasing him. He took advantage of the youth’s momentary short circuit and managed to get the other to agree on staying in a hotel with him.

Yue Ran sat back breathing messily, always felt that he was at a disadvantage, and couldn’t help but stare at him. Jiang Xiao accepted it as soon as he saw it, and hurriedly changed the subject, asking if he wanted to try to cultivate a rare species again. Yue Ran shook his head: “There is no material.”

Yue Ran’s breathing was disorderly as he sat back down, always feeling like he came out of their fight at a loss, and unwittingly glared at Jiang Xiao. Knowing when to stop, Jiang Xiao changed the subject and asked if his little summoner wanted to try to make another rare summon again. Yue Ran shook his head. “I’m out of materials.”

Jiang Xiao suggested, “Then I will spend time with you to gather them.”

Yue Ran agreed, “Then let’s start with the arena.”

Since no one sang his little lion’s praise, then he would bring about a massacre with his little lion in the arena. He refused to believe that no one would not talk about his new big cat afterward.

Jiang Xiao immediately guessed what he was thinking and stifled a smile and gave an “Okay”.

Time was running like water, and before anyone knew it, December had arrived.

Jiang Xiao’s esport group’s headquarter was decided to be set in T City. Not because it was convenient for him to spend time with Yue Ran, but because they thought it was a good city to be in after their meeting.

Yue Ran was very happy with the decision.

That meant he wouldn’t be separated from Jiang Xiao even if he decided not to play professionally in the future.

This December would be the month when the game would pull up the heavy curtain.

After a few rounds of online matches, the final sixteen would fight in-person in A City. Yue Ran and others all made it to the next level.

He took a leave of absence from the college and followed Jiang Xiao and his cousin straight to A City. Not long after he got off the plane, he saw his cousin, who had been accompanying him, walking quickly in one direction, tossing them in the back of his mind.

Yue Ran watched him walk to a baby-faced side, said something unknown, hugged the baby-faced shoulder with a smile, held back, and couldn’t help it: “Do you think he is…”

Yue Ran watched him walking to a person with a baby face, not sure what his cousin said, but he smiled brightly and gathered the baby face guy’s shoulders for a hug. He endured, endured more, until he couldn’t hold back his question anymore. “Hey, do you think that’s…”

Jiang Xiao answered, “Yes.”

Yue Ran said, “You sure?”

Jiang Xiao confirmed, “I’m sure.”

Yue Ran was mocking how his cousin was probably here to find his sister-in-law. Watching the two walk over, he turned to Pure White Sun.

Pure White Sun met his eyes and waved. “Little Star.”

Yue Ran nodded to him, exchanged a few brief pleasantries before preparing to head to their hotel.

Pure White Sun called out to them in time, “Sunken Moon and Inked Sun should be here soon, we should wait for them.”

Nobody had objected so they waited at a cafe for about half an hour, before two young men appeared in their view.

The two of them were from the same place, so they took the same flight. As livestreamers who showed their faces before, Yue Ran was able to find them with just a glance. This was also his first meeting with Inked Sun, as they greeted each other with a smile.

The group walked while talking as they took a taxi straight to the hotel.

Just as they reached the first floor lobby, an alpha from not far away got up from the couch and approached them with a big smile. “Hello.”

The group turned their heads together.

This alpha had long hair, tied with a simple rubber band, and carried a very casual fashion. He was a very handsome man with a mysterious smile at the corner of his mouth. Overall, he had an extremely eye-catching appearance.

He surveyed around and cast his eyes on Sunken Moon, his smile deepened. “Little Moon, you’re more charming in real life than you are on the livestream.”

Oh, Seven Fish Seconds.

The crowd came to the same conclusion as they looked away.

Seven Fish Seconds cried, “Hey, don’t be so cold. You’re going to make me sad.”

The group was unmoved.

This guy had been playing on the new server lately, making it inevitable for them to cross paths. They soon learned that this guy had a pretty nasty personality, and was simply a walking menace.

The fish sighed. “Little Moon, did you read the love letter I sent you last night?”

Whoosh!

The crowd twisted their heads back at once.

Sunken Moon replied with an equally deep sigh, “If by love letter you mean the message on taking me somewhere quiet tonight to admire your new backlit keyboard, then I apologise, I’m not interested.”

The group: “…”

Truly a mental case!

Seven Fish Seconds said with a smile, “Not all the keys are backlit. Those letters say certain words when combined together.”

Sunken Moon asked, “Oh, what does it say?”

Seven Fish Seconds said fondly, “You’ll know once you see it.”

Sunken Moon remained uninterested as he went to his room once he got his room key card.

But Yue Ran and Bai Zhengyang were very interested, and in the end Yue Ran was persuaded by Jiang Xiao, but Bai Zhengyang didn’t listen to Qin Xiujie’s words, and called Mo Yang and his partner by the way. The four of them guarded the corridor, and sure enough, they saw Yu Seven Seconds looking for Yue Chen with the keyboard in the middle of the night, so they pretended to be passing by, and followed him into Yue Chen’s room.

But Yue Ran and Pure White Sun wanted to know. In the end Yue Ran was coaxed away by Jiang Xiao while Qin Xiujie unsuccessfully talked Pure White Sun out of it. The monk got Inked Sun to come along to check out the keyboard. The four of them guarded the corridor, and they saw Seven Fish Seconds really did carry his keyboard to find Sunken Moon in the middle of the night. Pretending to be just passing by before following him into Sunken Moon’s room.

The next morning, Yue Ran was dragged into the hotel’s breakfast buffet by Jiang Xiao, and saw that none of them were there except for Seven Fish Seconds’s partner. After asking, the duo learned they were still sleeping, wondering what happened last night. It was a good thing that the tournament won’t start until tomorrow, so they weren’t worried.

This double battle competition would livestream all matches between the sixteen strongest teams. It would be best out of the three, a double-elimination tournament.

The first bracket would fight, leaving eight teams advancing, followed by four matches with the loser’s bracket, then it would be the final round. This event lasted three days total.

The venue was ready, and Yue Ran found his spot. Looking around at the cameras moving back and forth, it was clear that the official livestream must be full of spectators, and he instinctively glanced at Jiang Xiao beside him.

Noticing his gaze, Jiang Xiao patted his head. “Nervous?”

Yue Ran murmured, “Not nervous.”

Jiang Xiao asked, “Do you like it?”

Yue Ran answered, “I’m not sure.”

He paused slightly and asked, “If I lose us the match, would you yell at me?”

Jiang Xiao said, “It depends. If you try your best and we lose, I won’t scold you. But if we lose because of your mistake, there will be punishment.”

Yue Ran questioned, “What kind of punishment?”

Jiang Xiao seriously thought about it and an image suddenly flashed in his mind. “The punishment will be you buying an account, and you must change your name to Vault of Heavens Essence. Every mistake you make, will be the number of times you need to log on that account and declare your love to me using your other persona.”

Yue Ran: “…”

Jiang Xiao smiled, which was caught by the camera, and the livestream, which had already been lively because of his appearance, became even more insane. He paid no mind to it and said, “I’m just teasing, how could I bear to yell at you. But there would be a live audience making the stage more chaotic, I don’t know if you enjoy that kind of atmosphere.”

Yue Ran uttered an “Okay” sound.

For some reason, even if Jiang Xiao did not say anything, he seemed to be able to hear the screaming from a sea of crowd like a tsunami.

He glanced at the lights overhead while the host’s rousing voice rang in his ears, a simple opening followed by the closing words—

“This will be sixteen matches and eight teams will advance. Let’s begin the Hero’s Bound’s first ever Double Battle Tournament!”

(End of Main Story)

Author has something to say.

This is not an esport novel. I told myself the story would come to the end once after a big gathering. The extras would skip the tournament, there will be days after the tournament.

This is the first time I try writing a little sweet treat with around two hundred thousand characters. Please forgive me if I didn’t write the story well, bow~