On Thursday night, Xie Mingzhe returned to the Nirvana Club. Everyone was very happy for him when they heard that the government and the alliance had unanimously approved his application for independence for the Immortal Clan. Chi Yingying suggested that everyone go out for dinner to celebrate, and Chen Qianlin did not object.

The management, players and coaches of Nirvana Guild went to a nearby restaurant and had a happy reunion dinner. Chen Qianlin took the initiative to pay the bill as a reward for everyone who had been busy for so long.

Yu Ke asked excitedly: "Azhe, when will the official announcement be made? Are you going to announce this batch of fairy cards in advance?"

Xie Mingzhe said: "The announcement of the Immortal Clan's independence will be released in two days, but I will not announce the cards for the time being. These are all new cards prepared for the team competition, and I want to announce them all before the team competition begins."

Chen Qianlin nodded in agreement: "This is the best, it will give everyone more time to get familiar with your new batch of cards."

Since Yu Ke was eliminated from the individual competition, he has been familiarizing himself with the new cards under the arrangement of Chen Qianlin in the past few days. Most of the cards he controlled in the team competition were jokers. For this batch of newly made fairy cards, the output cards were controlled by Xie Mingzhe and assisted by Qin Xuan. It is unlikely that they will fall into Yu Ke's hands.

But as a member of Nirvana, it is also necessary to be familiar with teammates' cards, so Yu Ke practiced very seriously. At present, he has mastered the Eight Immortals series and the Thunder Goddess and Lightning Mother series. He is preparing to start practicing the couple cards and the Seven Stars of the North Fighter tomorrow.

Chen Qianlin was well aware of Yu Ke's training situation, but he was more worried about Chen Xiao.

Seeing Chen Xiao chatting with Chi Yingying with a smile, Chen Qianlin turned around and asked, "You also need to familiarize yourself with the new cards that Ah Zhe made in advance. You also have to play the individual competition. Do you have enough time?"

Meeting his brother's eyes, Chen Xiao's heart skipped a beat. He immediately put away his smile and answered seriously, "Sure, I'll find time to practice."

Xie Mingzhe was very confident in Chen Xiao and said, "Brother Chen has such a high level of understanding, he will definitely get familiar with it quickly!"

Chen Qianlin didn't say much, and changed the subject, "How are you preparing for the individual competition tomorrow night?"

Chen Xiao touched his nose: "Almost..."

Chen Qianlin said: "After dinner, come back with me early so I can take a look at your deck and tactics."

Chen Xiao was flattered and nodded quickly: "Yes."

Since Ah Zhe gave up the individual competition, Chen Qianlin didn't pay much attention to him during this period, but spent a lot of time on Yu Ke and Qin Xuan's training, as well as Ah Zhe's card data. Chen Xiao was almost completely left alone. Tactical arrangements and deck selections were all decided by Chen Xiao himself. Occasionally, he wanted to ask Chen Qianlin, but every time he went to the office to see his brother working so hard, Chen Xiao was embarrassed to disturb him.

In the group stage, Chen Xiao encountered three strong opponents, Qiao Xi, Zhen Man, and Liu Jingxu. All three of them were players who had won awards in individual competitions. Liu Jingxu was also the champion of the eighth season individual competition. In pre-match predictions, only 10% of netizens supported Chen Xiao to qualify. He was placed in such a "death group", and his hope of qualifying was indeed very slim.

However, Chen Xiao's performance in the group stage was unexpectedly tenacious. He twice won two consecutive games and turned the tables when he was behind 0:1, defeating Zhen Man 2:1 and Qiao Xi 2:1. In the end, he accumulated 2 points and entered the top 16 with the second place in the group.

The process of qualifying was thrilling, but Chen Xiao also learned a lot from it.

After three fierce group matches, he finally regained the confidence he had when he competed with Tang Muzhou five years ago.

Five years ago, he was still a young man full of vigor and vitality, dreaming that one day he would be able to stand on the stage and become an excellent professional poker player, forming a doubles team with his brother, and working hand in hand to win the doubles championship of the professional league.

At that time, he was too innocent. He played the game purely for his brother whom he admired for many years. As long as he could be with his brother, he would do anything. But now, his mood has completely changed - he likes this court and these cards. He formed the Nirvana Club and returned to the league, not for his brother Chen Qianlin, but to fulfill a dream that he did not realize when he was young.

——He wants to stand on the podium of the professional league and hold the trophy in his own hands!

This urgent desire was infinitely magnified in Chen Xiao's heart as the group stage came to an end.

A-Zhe gave up, Xiao Ke was eliminated, and Nirvana was the only one left. If he doesn't win the prize in the individual competition, Nirvana can be said to have been completely defeated in the doubles and individual events this year. Fans are eagerly looking forward to it. In the past few days, his Weibo has been full of messages of "Come on, Brother Chen". He is under great pressure, but also full of motivation.

Tomorrow is the individual competition of "16 to 8", with AB/CD/EF/GH, two groups fighting against each other. As the second place in Group B, his opponent is Zheng Feng, the first place in Group A.

Facing the experienced player Lao Zheng, he had no chance of winning. Chen Xiao had been preparing seriously in the past two days, wanting to perform at his strongest level. He didn't expect that the day before the game, Chen Qianlin actually took the initiative to say that he wanted to coach him?

Meeting his brother's calm eyes, Chen Xiao felt mixed emotions.

After the dinner, everyone returned to the club. Azhe and his friends went to the training room to familiarize themselves with the new cards, while Chen Xiao followed his brother to the meeting room alone. Once the door was closed, only the two brothers were left in the huge meeting room. Chen Xiao had something on his mind and didn't dare to look into the other's eyes. He had to turn his head and pretend to be relaxed: "Brother, how about... you take a look at the deck I picked first?"

Chen Qianlin said calmly: "Well, connect it to the projection screen and show it to me."

Chen Xiao connected his optical computer to the projection screen and enlarged the two prepared deck plans on the screen. Chen Qianlin looked through them seriously and quickly said, "Replace the Vampire Ivy. Zheng Feng's deck has strong defensive capabilities, and this healing card slows down the tempo. In addition, replace the group attack with a single attack, and bring Dead Vine, Snapdragon, and the new cards you made later, Black Parrot, Midnight Secret, and Black Lily."

Chen Xiao was quite aware. When he heard what he said, his eyes suddenly lit up: "You mean, just go for a one-shot kill?"

Chen Qianlin nodded: "Zheng Feng is the player with the best defensive ability in the entire league. If you drag it out with him, he will not give you any chances. You can only seize the critical moment to fight back and take away his losing cards, then you win."

Chen Xiao frowned and said unconfidently, "But I haven't used these new cards many times in actual combat, so I'm not particularly proficient with them."

Chen Qianlin looked at him: "I believe you can do it."

Chen Xiao was stunned.

A rare gentleness emerged in Chen Qianlin's indifferent eyes.

Just like when he was a kid, he was bullied in class, wronged by the teacher, and went home to secretly sulk. When Chen Qianlin found out, he came over and squatted beside him, gently rubbed his head, and said, "Chen Xiao, don't be sad, brother believes in you."

The warmth of that moment took root in the heart of the very young Chen Xiao, and he has never been able to forget it over the years.

Now, hearing the words "I believe you" again, Chen Xiao even felt his eyes warm and wanted to cry.

He took a deep breath to calm himself, met his brother's eyes, and said decisively and firmly: "I will try my best not to let you down."

Chen Qianlin raised his lips slightly: "Okay. Let Azhe practice with you. I think he would also be happy to see the power of your new cards."

Chen Xiao nodded vigorously: "Okay, I'll go find Azhe now!"

As he only coached Chen Xiao the day before the competition, time was indeed tight, but Chen Qianlin knew his younger brother very well - Chen Xiao was the kind of person who would break through himself after pushing himself to the limit.

I remember that he had a serious illness in junior high school and missed classes for more than a month. After returning to school, he couldn't keep up with many courses. His parents were worried that it would affect his performance in the high school entrance examination, so they suggested that he take a leave of absence to recuperate and come back next year. As a result, he went back to class despite his illness, stayed up late to study hard, and was admitted to the best school.

Chen Xiao is such a ruthless person—he is very ruthless to himself!

Otherwise, he would not have left the league due to contract issues, remained unknown, and remained silent for five full years before making a comeback.

Watching his brother's tall and straight back as he left, Chen Qianlin sighed in his heart and sent a message to Tang Muzhou: "Tomorrow Chen Xiao and Lao Zheng will have a knockout match. Do you think Chen Xiao has a chance of winning?"

Tang Muzhou smiled and said, "Master is always calm and takes the results of the competition very lightly. Why is he not calm now?"

Chen Qianlin couldn't explain why, but he always felt uneasy. Chen Xiao was involved in a contract dispute because of him and lost the best five years. He hoped that his brother could realize his dream this time. If he was eliminated in the round of 16, Chen Xiao would be very sad. He didn't want to see a sad expression on his brother's face.

Tang Muzhou quickly replied, "I think Chen Xiao has hope. He performed very well in the group stage, winning against Zhen Man and Qiao Xi. The loss to Liu Jingxu was just bad luck. He will be the strongest dark horse in the individual competition."

Chen Qianlin said: "I hope so."

The eldest disciple's words were always very objective and had a reassuring power. Chen Qianlin breathed a sigh of relief, put down the laptop and turned to the training room next door.

Chen Xiao was about to start a battle with Xie Mingzhe, and Xie Mingzhe praised him: "Brother Chen, these dark plant cards of yours are very powerful, and the output is really high. I like Black Parrot and Midnight Secret."

Yu Ke also praised: "Yes, yes, pure black flowers are super cool!"

Chen Xiao said proudly, "I found this in my brother's botanical notes. It's a rare species. The black parrot is actually a mutated black tulip. The edges of the petals have feather-like sawtooths, and it looks like a high-spirited parrot. The midnight secret is an artificially cultivated black hyacinth. Doesn't this bunch of flowers look like an enlarged version of mulberry?"

Yu Ke smiled and nodded: "Indeed! It is not friendly to people with trypophobia."

Chen Qianlin coughed lightly and said, "Okay, let's get ready for training."

Chen Xiao immediately sat up straight and said seriously: "Azhe, practice with me and get a feel for these new cards. I will bring them to the competition tomorrow."

Xie Mingzhe and Chen Xiao were making cards separately during this period. He was not very familiar with the new cards made by Brother Chen, so he was naturally happy to practice with Brother Chen.

The two started the game, and soon Yu Ke and Qin Xuan joined in. The four of them took turns to test out the new cards.

Although Chen Xiao said that he was "not very familiar with the new cards", when he actually played, everyone found that he was very familiar with his card skills, and his combos were smooth and flowing, and it was obvious that he was very familiar with them. He was just being humble in front of his brother.

These dark plant cards have powerful killing power, and everyone is full of confidence in Brother Chen in tomorrow's game.

***

The next day, Xie Mingzhe and Yu Ke got up early and voluntarily accompanied Chen Xiao in training. As the only remaining player in the Nirvana Individual Tournament, Chen Xiao was treated like a VIP.

As Chen Qianlin expected, under the circumstances of tight time and huge pressure, Chen Xiao indeed broke through himself and quickly mastered this new deck in a short period of time. He became more and more ferocious and smoother in playing.

Only when Chen Xiao was able to maintain this fierce state steadily did Chen Qianlin call a halt and lead everyone to the stadium ahead of time.

Today, there are two matches in the round of 16, the first one is Chen Xiao vs. Zheng Feng.

Xie Mingzhe saw Tang Muzhou, whom he hadn't seen for a long time, in the backstage. Tang Muzhou smiled at him and pointed to the seat next to him. Xie Mingzhe then ran over and sat next to his brother. The other players in the alliance were already used to the way they interacted with each other, so they ignored Xie Mingzhe's whispering in his brother's ear.

Little did anyone know that Xie Mingzhe told Tang Muzhou the news that would shock the alliance: "My application for independence of fairy cards has been approved. I have made a total of 43 fairy cards!"

Tang Muzhou showed a hint of surprise, but soon he was relieved and said with a smile, "Congratulations."

He was not surprised that his junior fellow apprentice had a flexible mindset in making cards and was able to make 30 fairy cards that met the application requirements in a short period of time. However, he did not expect that Xie Mingzhe actually exceeded the task - making more than 40 fairy cards!

It seems that Nirvana’s card pool is sufficient for the playoffs. I wonder what strange fairy cards my junior brother has made?

Xie Mingzhe and his senior brother smiled at each other, did not continue the topic, and turned to look at the big screen.

Chen Xiao and Zheng Feng have already stepped onto the big stage. After the commentator introduced the two players, he called up the pre-match prediction data - 20%:80%.

Wu Yue said: "Only 20% of the audience support Chen Xiao to win. Judging from past results, this data is reasonable. After all, Lao Zheng is a veteran player who has played for ten years and is the originator of the earth system. Chen Xiao debuted in the fifth season, but unfortunately he did not win a single game that season. Although he performed well after returning to the league this year, it is still difficult for him to defeat Lao Zheng."

Su Yang expressed a different opinion, saying, "Not necessarily. After Chen Xiao came back this time, he developed a dark plant fighting method. From the group stage, we can see that this player still has great potential - and don't forget the man standing behind him."

Wu Yue was unable to react for a moment: "The man standing behind him?"

Su Yang smiled and said, "Chen Qianlin! His brother and Zheng Feng have been rivals for many years. Qianlin's research on Zheng Feng is so detailed that it goes down to every hair and every pore. With Chen Qianlin helping to select the deck, Zheng Feng will definitely be targeted and won't be given a chance to survive."

Everyone: “…”

Why does it sound like there is a deep hatred?

Chen Qianlin sat in the backstage with a blank expression.

Tang Muzhou suppressed his laughter and said, "Senior Su Yang's commentary style is really getting more and more unrestrained. However, what he said makes sense. Chen Xiao and Lao Zheng were originally 40-60, but with the help of Master, it can be improved to 50-50."

Xie Mingzhe agreed: "Well, Brother Chen's deck was put together by my master. I have confidence in him!"

The competition officially began amid the enthusiastic applause of the audience.