After several attempts, Yan Qi basically adapted to this rhythm.

It wasn't difficult. After all, when the breathing icon changed, the game's background music would also have a faint breathing sound. This breathing rhythm wouldn't become chaotic due to strenuous exercise, so he only needed to familiarize himself with it a few more times, remember the breathing frequency, and turn the timing of his strikes into a kind of muscle memory.

But Yan Qi felt that, looking at this one change, it didn't seem very outstanding.

Although it was novel in its setting, the actual effect might not be good.

Adding another dimension of difficulty for the players could lead to the already somewhat lengthy battles becoming even more so, because players couldn't immediately attack after the Boss finished its moves; they also had to consider whether the Martial God was exhaling. This would obviously waste some attacking opportunities.

So, whether this was a good setting or not depended on other aspects of the changes.

Next was the explanation of the stamina and execution settings. In short, the Qi affected stamina recovery, and when there was a gap in stamina between the two sides, the combat power would become drastically different. The side with the lower stamina would be executed.

"Hmm, this is equivalent to further emphasizing the importance of Qi. The 'slow use, slow recovery' stamina replaces the 'fast use, fast recovery' stamina, which is closer to the concept in reality."

"The difficulty is further increased, but it's still the same question: the fun may not be increased."

Yan Qi continued to read.

Next were the standard responses to the three types of attacks. The enemy's attacks were divided into three sections: upper, middle, and lower. Upper attacks were dodged with a shuffle step, middle attacks were parried, and lower attacks were avoided with a jump.

Players needed to judge these three sections based on the opponent's stance.

Moreover, this response didn't require locking onto the target; as long as the corresponding button was pressed, it would be triggered immediately.

"Although the Martial God's shuffle step is shorter than the roll of the protagonist in *Turning Back is the Shore*, it's faster and more agile, equivalent to dancing on a knife's edge, which fits the Martial God's character setting."

"The enemy's attack methods have become three… the responses are more complicated. The already limited opportunities to strike are further compressed."

Originally, in the combat of *Eternal Reincarnation*, seeing the enemy raise its hand, you could simply roll away. The only thing to pay attention to was that the enemy might have fast and slow strikes, meaning two attack actions with faster and slower stances used in succession, which could make it difficult for players to grasp the timing of the roll, causing them to run right into the blade.

But now, they needed to react accordingly based on the enemy's stance. If they misjudged, the consequences would be extremely serious, which obviously increased the difficulty.

Yan Qi even began to worry a little.

He was afraid that after switching to this new combat system, he wouldn't even be able to beat the small monsters resurrected on the Yellow Springs Road.

Next was the explanation of "seeing the move and countering it," which was precise parrying.

"After locking onto the target, use the right stick to select the direction, and press the parry button at the appropriate time to perfectly parry and disrupt the opponent's Qi?"

"Hmm? Isn't this the parry move from *Devil Sword*!"

Yan Qi finally knew what that parry move that many players had tested out after dying too many times was for.

The training mode practice was gradual, first repeatedly practicing the same direction, and then gradually adding more directions of attack.

But even so, Yan Qi was still hacked into a daze, because the judgment mechanism for perfect parrying was relatively strict. If he couldn't master the rhythm of the attack, he probably wouldn't be able to achieve a perfect damage reduction effect, and it would also seriously disrupt his own Qi.

Even after his own Qi was messed up, he would be hit with an execution effect by the opponent.

He saw the Martial God opposite him, glowing red, perform a very dashing execution action, turning and sheathing his sword, leaving only a handsome back view.

"What the hell!"

"We're both Martial Gods, is this the difference between a buyer's show and a seller's show?"

"And this combat system, could a carbon-based lifeform have designed it?"

"It's one thing that parrying requires mastering the correct timing, but parrying in different directions actually requires pushing the stick to differentiate, and even the parrying motions in different directions are different..."

"The left stick needs to be used, the right stick needs to be used, the parry button needs to be used, the attack button also needs to be used, and you also have to silently remember the Qi. You can only attack when exhaling, and if the Qi is messed up, you have to find a way to create distance to calm the Qi..."

"This is simply a complete and utter makeover!"

Yan Qi threw the controller on the table, his mentality a little broken.

The combat skills he had painstakingly honed in *Turning Back is the Shore* were completely useless in *Eternal Reincarnation*!

He was in a good mood today and planned to continue making progress after the update of *Eternal Reincarnation*.

As a result, almost ten minutes had passed, and he was still adapting to the basic operations in training mode...

This feeling of going backward was really unacceptable.

It was like a student who had studied hard for several years, had almost mastered the knowledge of various courses, and was just doing practice problems every day waiting for the exam, only to suddenly discover that the exam syllabus had changed drastically, and all the things they had learned before were useless, and all the knowledge had to be learned from scratch!

Just thinking about it was despairing.

But Yan Qi couldn't skip the training mode and go straight to fighting monsters, because he knew very well that the combat mechanism in the game must have changed as well.

Either way he would be abused, either in training mode or in the normal course of the game.

Thinking about it this way, it was better to be abused in training mode, at least he didn't have to be resurrected over and over again.

After calming down, Yan Qi silently picked up the controller again and continued to familiarize himself with this new combat system.

In the original combat system of *Turning Back is the Shore*, the role of the right stick was actually not that great, it was just used to adjust the camera angle when not locked onto an enemy.

Once an enemy was locked on, the right stick was completely useless.

But in this combat system of *Eternal Reincarnation*, the right stick truly came into play after locking onto an enemy.

Yan Qi was subconsciously chanting direction words such as "upper left, upper right, lower left, lower right," and his right thumb was also pushing the right stick at the same time, inexplicably feeling like he was playing a fighting game and performing a special move.

The sound of metal clanging was endless, and Yan Qi's parrying became smoother and smoother, and his grasp of the timing became more and more accurate.

Yan Qi breathed according to the frequency of the Martial God in the game, and chanted directions to parry. Just after the opponent's series of attacks ended, he found the exhalation state and slashed out.

"Clang!"

The opponent parried this strike, but even so, they still staggered and lost their balance.

"Hmm? I hit the execution line!"

Yan Qi subconsciously pressed the attack button, and the Martial God directly performed a clean and decisive execution action, finishing off the opponent.

"That was too fast!"

In addition to the surprise, Yan Qi also felt very unexpected.

Because the opponent's health was still a lot, Yan Qi had been fighting with his sword, and had been failing. The opponent was simply an unkillable war god, leading him to seriously doubt whether there was no execution mechanism at all because this was training mode.

Now he understood that training mode also had an execution mechanism, but he just hadn't triggered it!

The frequency of perfect parries he had performed before was too low to disrupt the opponent's Qi. Instead, it messed up his own Qi, which was why the opponent seemed so awesome.

"I understand."

"This combat mechanism, in short, is either you die or I die."

"If you only use shuffle steps, jumps, and other conventional methods to evade attacks, it will take a very long time to disrupt the opponent's Qi, and the entire battle will become extremely lengthy."

"But if you frequently fight with the opponent, triggering perfect parries, you can quickly disrupt the opponent's Qi and achieve the conditions for execution."

"That is to say, the number of strikes is not important at all, but the timing of the strikes is very important."

"It's better not to strike even for a minute, but if you do, it must be at the most appropriate time."

"Interesting!"

After understanding the correct way to use this combat mechanism, Yan Qi suddenly realized the fun in it.

The original combat mechanism of *Turning Back is the Shore* can be regarded as an optimization and continuation of traditional combat mechanisms. Although there were some improvements in the feel and operational details, it still emphasized the "number of correct attacks."

Without being greedy for attacks and dodging enemy attacks, he killed the enemy with one strike at a time.

The attack power of both the enemy and ourselves was very high, and the consequences of each mistake were very serious. This required the player to restrain their impulse to be reckless and act rationally.

But even so, it still emphasized "number."

In other words, it didn't matter if the battle took a little longer, the key was not to make mistakes. Anyway, the number of strikes to kill the Boss was certain, as long as you found a way to reach that number.

But the combat mechanism of *Eternal Reincarnation* completely subverted all of this.

What it emphasized was no longer "number," but "timing."

Parrying or attacking ten times at the wrong time is not as good as parrying or attacking once at the right time.

It had become completely unrealistic to use the same method as in *Turning Back is the Shore* to grind the Boss to death, because the benefits of striking at the wrong time were extremely low, or even negative.

And these two combat mechanisms with completely different core experiences also brought players completely different combat experiences.

The combat of *Turning Back is the Shore* was more like an ordinary person, with the battle focusing on stability, cautiously dodging and moving, trying every means to avoid the opponent's attacks, and then seizing the flaws to counterattack, grinding the opponent to death little by little.

The combat of *Eternal Reincarnation* was truly like a Martial God, dancing on the edge of a knife every moment, even if the result of a failed parry was instant death, he had to parry continuously, adjust his breathing, and wait for the opportunity.

Once a suitable opportunity was found, it was a fatal blow!

This was a bit like a duel between two ancient heroes, requiring them to carefully stare at each other's moves, counter each move, find the opponent's flaws in the exchange of weapons, or force the opponent to produce flaws through powerful pressure, and then determine the victory or defeat with one blow.