“Alright, thank you for your answer.”

The Red Luan Bird smiled politely and turned to interview Haotian, “Great God Haotian, are you confident in this match?”

“Just hurry up and fight.” Haotian didn’t take the bait at all, his face seemingly written with “I'm very serious right now, please don't talk to me.”

He had never been one for words, and never liked pre-battle interviews. He felt that using preparation time to adjust his state was a basic professional quality.

Moreover, Haotian had nothing to say about Xingluo Qizi. Everyone in the professional circle knew that Xingluo Qizi retired because he had earned enough money to start a business, and then ran back after losing money. The meaning was self-evident: he wanted to lie on his laurels and use his past popularity to make another fortune.

Different paths, even half a sentence is too much.

The audience burst into laughter. The fans were very clear about Haotian's style; they just liked watching Haotian, who would never BB when he could use his hands.

The Red Luan Bird’s face stiffened slightly. As a veteran host of the professional league, she quickly suppressed her embarrassment and retreated gracefully, saying loudly, “Alright, it seems that both sides are very confident. So, thirty seconds of preparation time. After the countdown ends, the match will officially begin!”

A thirty-second countdown appeared on the big screen. The audience in the stands quieted down, holding their breath, with tens of thousands of eyes focused on the two people in the ring.

The tense atmosphere quickly spread.

Taking advantage of the countdown, several commentators began their pre-battle analysis.

“Well, both sides are Martial Artists, both level 46, evenly matched. We will be able to see a high-level Martial Artist battle. This is a contest between the old and new great gods. I feel a sense of ritual. Haotian naturally doesn’t need much introduction, countless battle records prove that he is still at his peak level. What I'm worried about is whether Xingluo Qizi can regain his competitive state after retiring for five years?”

Another commentator said, “There’s no need to worry about that. Professional players all know how to adjust their own state. Xingluo Qizi is an old hand, with more experience than Haotian. I have a premonition that this will be a dragon-tiger fight!”

Han Xiao straightened his back slightly, staring unblinkingly at the ring, where the tense atmosphere was almost overflowing from the screen. He had trained Haotian for so long, it was time to see if he was a mule or a horse.

“Three… two… one!”

Bang!!!

The moment the countdown ended, Haotian’s feet stomped on the ground, wrapped in raging flames, striding forward like a siege tank, colliding with Xingluo Qizi!

Peng! Peng! Peng!

The two Martial Artists exchanged blows, fists and feet landing on each other with muffled sounds. The audience could see the decline in their status bars, health, qi, and stamina.

The battle between experts is not like a novice player rushing up to beat someone. Even for Martial Artists, which require less skill, they still pay attention to the timing of skill releases, how to allocate qi, how to control qi to maintain attribute bonuses, qi recovery time, evasion techniques, damage and cooldown calculations, positioning, and so on.

In a battle between experts, details determine victory or defeat!

The two exchanged blows like lightning, and many small operations containing skills flashed by. Some viewers understood, some didn't have enough skill, but whether or not they understood the hidden calculations and operations of the two, they could discover a very special feeling contained in the battle of professional players.

That is one word: steady!

The speed at which the two's health and status declined was much slower than in a fight between ordinary players, meaning that the two used many subtle movements to dodge or parry a large number of the opponent's skills and attacks. This is a significant technical gap between professional players and general players.

The commentators spoke as fast as machine guns, analyzing the situation in a flurry. Commentating also requires some skill, explaining the subtle operations in great detail.

“...The situation on the field is very tense. Both sides are still probing each other, using basic attacks mixed with some small skills. You can see that their health is still maintained above 80%. Now it depends on who can seize the opportunity to launch a combo!”

There are countless combat styles for players, but combos have always been one of the popular techniques pursued by players, especially Martial Artists. If they can break the defense and gain a momentary advantage, experts can use combos to grind down most of the opponent's health, or even take them away in one go!

Just like in *Sky Island and the Maiden*, once you are hit by an air combo, you lose at least half your health, unless the enemy makes a mistake in the combo. And Haotian and Xingluo Qizi are both professional players, prepared with a dozen sets of combos they are familiar with day and night, so it is basically impossible to make mistakes. Now it depends on who creates the opportunity to launch a set first!

“Wait, Xingluo Qizi is making a move!”

The two exchanged a punch, and Xingluo Qizi suddenly adopted a bow stance, his front hoof stomping on the ground. An invisible ripple burst out, and the entire arena shook!

Airborne skill, Shockwave Stomp!

This move is an area-of-effect airborne skill, affecting the area within two meters around him, a relatively rare skill. Haotian was unprepared, his feet leaving the ground, shaken up about thirty centimeters!

"Oops, this seems to be a rare skill, very sudden, Haotian has been hit, but this height is very low, there is almost no gap for a combo… Xingluo Qizi is moving, he’s connecting!”

The shorter the distance from the ground, the more difficult the combo, but Xingluo Qizi successfully seized this gap. A set of flowing skills landed on Haotian in a flurry, flames and arcs of light flashing wildly. In an instant, it was a seven or eight hit combo, and Haotian's health dropped section by section.

The commentator shook his head, “To be able to connect a combo in such a narrow gap, as expected, the old ginger is spicier. Now it depends on how Haotian responds. Everyone knows that before the game, Black Phantom sold advanced Martial Artist knowledge, called [Qi Explosion]. The effect is to consume a lot of qi to enter a berserk-like state, providing attribute bonuses and knocking back the enemy. This move can stop the enemy's combo, but the consumption is huge. With the player's current attributes, they can basically only use it once per match. They must have all learned this move, let’s see if Haotian will use it first!”

In mid-air, with fists and feet landing on him, Haotian shrank his body into a ball, trying to minimize the damage. The decline in his health did not affect his mentality at all. He remained focused, waiting silently.

Suddenly, he seized a fleeting gap in the combo. His body stretched out like unfolded dough, and one hand pressed down on Xingluo Qizi's fist. His body rotated a full circle in mid-air with a high degree of difficulty, wanting to land behind Xingluo Qizi.

“He used [Flying Cloud Return]! Alas, although this move is an aerial escape skill, the judgment is very harsh. Agility must be at least 10 points higher than the opponent for there to be a chance of success, but their attributes are similar at the same level! If the judgment fails, he will enter a period of stiffness. If he gets hit by another combo, he will lose. Haotian is about to fal…”

The commentator suddenly stopped talking. Just as he was speaking, Haotian successfully escaped the offensive, landing gracefully behind Xingluo Qizi. An elbow strike kissed the back of the opponent’s head deeply, stunning Xingluo Qizi briefly.

Immediately afterward, Haotian grabbed Xingluo Qizi’s shoulders, lifted him up with force, and then hooked his feet. Xingluo Qizi floated horizontally, completely unprotected, with his defenses wide open. Haotian began a dazzling combo performance.

The situation reversed in an instant, and the audience erupted.

“The judgment was actually successful!” Before the commentator could recover from his shock, his eyes suddenly widened. “Haotian has begun to counterattack… How is Xingluo Qizi’s health dropping so fast?!”

Just now, Xingluo Qizi landed half a combo, and Haotian lost 25% of his health. However, Xingluo Qizi had only taken the first few moves, and his health was directly down by 40%!

Part of the reason was that Xingluo Qizi couldn't defend, but the main reason was that Haotian's damage was too high!

Xingluo Qizi's eyes were horrified. The damage popping up on the panel shocked him.

“Haotian’s strength and agility are similar to mine. There’s no reason why [Flying Cloud Return] should have passed the judgment!”

The overflowing flames illuminated Haotian’s focused expression again and again.

He was indeed the same level as Xingluo Qizi, but his skill levels far exceeded Xingluo Qizi and even all professional players. The generous experience rewarded by Han Xiao was all used by Haotian to improve his skills. This was the reason why [Flying Cloud Return] succeeded and his combo damage was so high!