Chen Xiao unexpectedly defeated Zheng Feng 2:1 and advanced to the quarterfinals of the individual competition.

Many people on the Internet believe that his victory over Lao Zheng was more due to luck. The key was that the random map "Mirror Forest" in the third game was a mirror image with many obstacles, which was more suitable for long-range plant card operations. Lao Zheng's earth-type stone card had high defense, but was large in size and clumsy in movement, so he seized the opportunity to kill it with one blow.

Of course, many reporters also issued press releases saying that luck is also a part of strength. If it were other players, they might not be able to beat Zheng Feng even if they encountered the Magic Mirror Forest map. Chen Xiao is indeed a completely different person after returning to the league. He can no longer be compared with the little Chen Xiao who lost every game in the fifth season. Now he is truly a famous "comeback king."

Fans also joked, "Chen has to give up a kill before playing a game. If he doesn't lose a game, he won't play anymore." "Every time he falls behind 0:1, he wins two games in a row. It's really thrilling to watch!" "No matter what, a win is a win. Looking forward to the next game!"

After the competition, Chen Xiao's number of fans soared to 50 million. The outside world's evaluation of him was mixed, but Chen Xiao didn't care. He cared more about his brother's opinion.

Back at the club, Chen Qianlin gathered everyone in the meeting room to review as usual and praised Chen Xiao's performance: "You played well in this game. Keep it up. If you maintain your current state, you can go further."

Chen Xiao smiled: "Yes, I will!"

It's been a long time since I heard my brother praise himself.

Chen Xiao was in a good mood and worked harder in the following training.

Three days later, the 16-to-8 knockout rounds were all over, and the list of the top eight was finally announced on the official website of the professional league. At the same time, the lineup for the next round of the quarter-finals was also announced - Xu Xingtu vs. Chen Xiao, Tang Muzhou vs. Pei Jingshan, Shan Lan vs. Nie Yuandao, Xu Changfeng vs. Ling Jingtang.

The opponent is Xu Xingtu, and the match will be on September 25th.

The player Xu Xingtu is quite special. He cannot make cards himself, and the god cards he uses are all designed for him by Ye Suqian, the chief card maker of the Temple of the Gods Club. This player is notoriously arrogant and difficult to get along with, but it must be admitted that his personal strength is among the top in the current professional league, and the special playing style of the god cards is also difficult to deal with.

Xie Mingzhe has been studying the characteristics of each player, including Xu Xingtu. After seeing the schedule, he took the initiative to send his analysis of Xu Xingtu to Chen Xiao and said, "Brother Chen, Xu Xingtu's God Card is somewhat similar to my Fairy Card. When we practice the lineup in the next few days, I will practice with you using the Fairy Card!"

Chen Xiao was very grateful and put his arm around Xie Mingzhe's shoulders and said, "Thank you."

Xie Mingzhe said straightforwardly: "Why are you being polite? We are teammates, and it is my duty to help you."

The two smiled at each other, without any more polite words, and turned to find Chen Qianlin to discuss the deck.

Chen Qianlin said calmly: "Xu Xingtu's God Card can float in the air. When fighting against him, you can use more long-range group attack cards and Vampire Ivy to control the field. You can also bring Black Lily to cancel his Athena's buff effect, and bring a death card to deal with Lucifer... The God Card's ultimate move is extremely powerful, but the skill cooldown time is long, you can freeze the rhythm and counterattack when his skill cools down..."

Chen Xiao listened carefully and took note of every detail his brother said.

In the next few days, he practiced fighting with Xie Mingzhe, Yu Ke and Qin Xuan every day.

The three of them controlled a large number of fairy cards, including the Eight Immortals, the Seven Star Gods, the God of Thunder and the Goddess of Lightning, to engage in a wheeled battle with Chen Xiao. Although the styles of their skill designs were very different, the fairy cards and the god cards did have a certain degree of similarity. His teammates used the fairy cards to PK with Chen Xiao, which gave him great help, allowing him to draw inferences from one instance and figure out a strategy for facing Xu Xingtu.

With Chen Qianlin's patient guidance, Chen Xiao became more and more confident as he played.

***

The quarter-finals competition officially began on September 25th.

At 19:00, Shanlan vs. Nie Yuandao. At 20:30, Chen Xiao vs. Xu Xingtu.

The official probably made such an arrangement to attract more spectators and sell tickets. After all, the popularity of Master Nie Lan and his apprentice is at the top of the league. The matches of Tang Muzhou, Ling Jingtang and others were postponed to tomorrow, so that the tickets for both matches were sold out.

There were many fans of the referee at the scene, not knowing whether to support Xiaolan or Lao Nie, so they held up banners to cheer for the master and the apprentice. Shanlan looked very relaxed, and even sat next to Nie Yuandao and talked with a smile, as if he didn't care about the result of the game at all.

But in actual combat, Shanlan fought very hard and showed no mercy to his master.

The battle between the birds in the sky and the beasts on the ground was extremely exciting, and the audience was very excited. But what was unexpected was that Shan Lan actually defeated Nie Yuandao with a slight advantage in the end, which surprised the fans. Shan Lan himself was also confused and stared blankly on the stage.

Until Nie Yuandao walked over and whispered: "You win, you are better than me."

Shan Lan came back to his senses and looked at his master's confused face: "Why didn't you dodge the last skill? You should have been able to dodge it..."

Nie Yuandao gently stroked his hair and said, "I could have dodged it three years ago, but now, my reaction is not as fast as before. The league should be dominated by you, the new generation of players."

Shan Lan understood what he meant and her eyes suddenly felt sore.

It was not easy to say too much on the stage, he could only hug his master tightly and hold back the tears in his eyes.

In fact, when Chen Xiao defeated Lao Zheng in the knockout round of 16, Shan Lan had a strange feeling. The older generation of players have accompanied the Star Card League for eleven seasons. As they get older, their reaction speed will indeed decrease year by year - this is a very cruel fact. There will be such "new and old alternation" in every competitive event.

But if it was his master, Shan Lan would find it hard to accept. In his heart, this man was always so strong, holding up the sky of judgment with one hand. How could such a man decline? How could it be possible?

Shan Lan, who had defeated his master, was not happy at all. During the interview, he answered a few questions with a forced smile and then returned to the backstage with his head down.

Nie Yuandao saw through his thoughts, hugged his shoulders and whispered: "Don't be sad, I'm not leaving right away."

Shan Lan was in a depressed mood and went straight back to the club without even watching the second game.

Fans were all very worried, not knowing what was going on with Nie Shen. However, Xie Mingzhe figured it out quickly and whispered in his senior's ear, "Is Nie Shen going to retire after this season? Lan Lan will definitely be reluctant to let him go, right?"

Tang Muzhou said helplessly: "There is nothing we can do about it. Lao Nie has been playing for eleven years. He wants to take a break."

Xie Mingzhe had mixed feelings. There is no eternal champion in competitive sports, and every player's career will come to an end one day. But he knew that even if great players like Nie Yuandao and Zheng Feng left, the players and fans of the league would always remember them.

***

Since the first match between master and apprentice was so exciting, the audience's expectations will naturally become higher in the second match. I hope Chen Xiao and Xu Xingtu can also bring us a better game.

Before the match even started, many people on the Internet were already predicting Chen Xiao's defeat: "In the doubles match, Xie Mingzhe and Yu Ke were eliminated in the quarterfinals. I think Chen Xiao's game is going to be very suspenseful!" "He was lucky to beat Lao Zheng last time. I don't believe that good luck will always follow him!" "I think Chen Xiao will only make it to the quarterfinals at best."

Before the game, Xu Xingtu's support rate was 65%, Chen Xiao's was 35%, and the only people who were optimistic about Chen Xiao were Nirvana's diehard fans and some passers-by who liked to bet on upsets. However, Xie Mingzhe, who was watching the game from the backstage, was full of confidence in Brother Chen.

In the past few days, he took out 43 fairy cards and used various decks matched by his master to fight against Chen Xiao. Brother Chen not only became familiar with his new fairy cards, but also summarized many strategies to deal with Xu Xingtu. It should be said that Brother Chen's winning rate should be over 50%.

In the first game, Xu Xingtu’s home field is on the “Temple of Light” map, where all scene cards are immune to any negative status and control.

In a map that cannot use control skills and negative effects, players can only compete in head-on combat. Chen Xiao tried his best to consume Xu Xingtu in the first round, but the direct output ability of wood-based plant cards is indeed not as good as that of gold-based cards. Xu Xingtu's luck was particularly good today, and the group attacks of Michael, Poseidon, and Loki all triggered critical hits. Chen Xiao regretfully lost a round.

Su Yang couldn't help but complain: "Is Chen Xiao really like what netizens say, that he can't play unless he loses a game? From the group stage to today's quarterfinals, he has played a total of four games, and he always loses a game first every time he starts!"

Wu Yue smiled and said, "Maybe this is called 'losing first as a sign of respect'?"

Many Nirvana fans in the live broadcast room joked: "Brother Chen always loses first to show respect, then wins two games and defeats his opponent!"

But some passers-by were gloating: "It's not that easy to counter-kill Xu Xingtu today. If he wins 2:1 again, I will eat my helmet on live broadcast." "The one who eats his helmet on live broadcast, don't leave. I will eat his brain on live broadcast!"

Obviously, Xu Xingtu played too domineeringly in the first game and was in the ascendant. Rationally, no one believed that Chen Xiao could make a comeback.

However, in the second game, Chen Xiao took out the annoying map of Nirvana Club - Granny Liu Enters the Grand View Garden.

The long-lost Granny Liu map won warm applause from the audience.

This is the map that Xie Mingzhe chose for Chen Xiao.

Having made so many fairy cards himself, Xie Mingzhe certainly knows what the fairy cards are most afraid of.

Fairy cards that can float in the air are relatively difficult to kill. For example, long-range output cards such as Lu Dongbin and Han Xiangzi can float high in the air and cast skills far away. As long-range turrets, they have strong output capabilities, but others cannot reach them, so it is particularly comfortable to fight them.

The most annoying thing about this type of output card is the frequent displacement.

The scene of Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden is a dynamic event, and all cards must follow Granny Liu.

The strongest point of Xu Xingtu's Lucifer, Micah and other god cards is their ability to output big moves at a long distance. If they keep moving with Granny Liu, the god cards will also have a headache. In the process of displacement, if they are not careful, they will be caught by Chen Xiao and pulled back to the ground. The god cards with extremely weak defense will definitely not have a good ending.

Chen Xiao and Xie Mingzhe have practiced this map many times, and the plant cards have a higher winning rate.

When Xu Xingtu saw the map, he just raised his eyebrows in surprise, and soon he smiled.

When Granny Liu first used this map, she was able to catch the opponent off guard. But after this map appeared in the first half of the year, other clubs have already studied it thoroughly. Why are you still using it? Do you really think I don't know that you can control the distance?

Xu Xingtu sneered in his heart, thinking that Chen Xiao was trying to curry favor with others.

The game started quickly, and both sides announced 5 open cards. Chen Xiao actually included Taiyi Zhenren among the open cards.

Taiyi Zhenren's "Nine Dragons Fire Cover" can seal the gods, which is considered an instant death judgment. However, most players will put the instant death card in the hidden cards, but Chen Xiao directly put it in the open cards, which is obviously to kill the key gods of Xu Xingtu in seconds.

Xu Xingtu was a little surprised, but he didn't mind, that is, the dead cards could be exchanged 1 for 1 at most, and even if the opponent forced him to exchange a magic card, he could still win 6V6.

Having won the first game so smoothly, Xu Xingtu confidently replaced the hidden card with Athena, intending to win the second game with ease.

The second game officially begins.

Xu Xingtu played very aggressively at the beginning. His magic card had a large number of group attack skills. As long as Chen Xiao did not bring a healing card, it would be difficult for the fragile plants to withstand the continuous group attack bombardment of the magic card, not to mention that Xu Xingtu also had the "light and dark" joint skills of Lucifer and Michael.

Chen Xiao started the game on the defensive passively, and in a blink of an eye his plant cards were depleted of blood. Fans were so nervous that they feared Xu Xingtu would launch another group attack and Chen Xiao's side would be wiped out.

Fortunately, Chen Xiao summoned the vampire vine at the critical moment.

Dense blood-red vines quickly covered the ground and swept towards the divine tablet floating in the air!

Vampire vines will automatically search for enemy targets within range, entangle the enemy and absorb 2% of the enemy's health per second. The absorbed health will be converted into group healing in equal proportion to the teammates within the healing range.

This card is a typical group battle blood-sucking healing card. The more cards the opponent has, the more blood it can absorb and the higher the healing amount.

At this time, Xu Xingtu had already summoned 6 cards in order to seize the rhythm. Chen Xiao released the blood-sucking vines, which sucked blood and caused the 6 cards of Xu Xingtu to collectively lose 2% of their health, which was converted into our healing amount, equivalent to a group increase of about 12%.

The health of the plant card that was on the verge of death was forcibly increased.

But it's useless, this little blood is not enough for Lucifer's ultimate move.

The black wings behind Lucifer suddenly opened, and at the same time, the white angel wings behind Michael also fluttered - light and darkness, the divine cards are linked!

This is the scene that fans of the Temple of the Gods are most looking forward to.

The combined damage of these two group attack cards is almost enough to destroy the world.

However, Chen Xiao would not sit still and wait for death. He had been studying Xu Xingtu's game videos over and over again in the past few days, observing the player's attack rhythm. The moment Lucifer spread his wings, he knew that Xu Xingtu was going to go all out, so he released Taiyi Zhenren without hesitation.

——The divine card seal!

Taiyi Zhenren's seal was aimed perfectly at Lucifer.

Logically speaking, once this seal is put in place, Lucifer will be covered and completely lose his ability to fight.

However, Xu Xingtu was very smart. Among his open cards was "Taiyi Zhenren", an instant death card targeting the gods. Of course, he had to prevent the instant death card from killing him, Lucifer or Michael, so while starting the linkage, he also summoned the hidden card Athena.

——The goddess' blessing, the golden shield can resist all fatal damage within 3 seconds!

The Nine Dragons Divine Fire Hood rose into the sky, trying to seal Lucifer, but it hit Athena's shield and had no effect at all.

Instant dead cards invalid?

Seeing this, the audience opened their eyes wide in surprise.

Su Yang quickly explained: "Instant Death Cards do have priority, but if someone activates invincibility before the instant death card is used, they can still block the instant death skill. The speed of reaction is very important - Xu Xingtu's prediction was very accurate. He summoned Athena to protect Lucifer in advance, and Chen Xiao's instant death skill was blocked."

Wu Yueyu said with regret: "The purpose of using the instant death card is to kill the opponent's Key card in one second. It's such a shame to be blocked by the opponent. It's a huge loss! It's like giving a card away for free."

Liu Chen frowned slightly: "Chen Xiao should have expected that the opponent would bring Athena, how could he make such a mistake?"

Xu Xingtu wanted to laugh out loud - Chen Xiao, ah Chen Xiao, you took out an instant death card and wanted to kill me, Lucifer, but it was blocked by Athena's shield. Your use of the instant death card is really a negative example in this league!

Taiyi Zhenren's defense was extremely weak. He failed to seal Lucifer when he appeared on the field, and was killed instead, giving away a card for nothing.

However, Lucifer and Michael used a joint skill, and a group attack skill came down, and two of Chen Xiao's cards died again.

4:7, Chen Xiao really has no chance of winning!

The fans in the live broadcast room were anxious, and the players watching the game backstage all sat up straight.

What exactly is going on? Did Chen Xiao make a mistake? Or is he really that much weaker than Star Map?

Just at this moment, a familiar sound sounded, and an old woman in plain clothes staggered out.

——Long-lost Grandma Liu.