Senior Brother, Why Aren't You Smiling

"We tricked Brother Shen into a one-on-one duel, but then five of us showed up... Isn't that a bit too shameless?"

Zhou Yue frowned.

"Come on, old man, you were the most eager to steal kills when we were ambushing the bots in the bushes earlier," Zhou Qiaoling immediately retorted.

At some point, the methods of these so-called righteous cultivators in the illusion realm had started to veer in a strange direction.

If we trace it back, it probably began with Lu Ze's unconventional tactics in Immortal Realm Domination...

In any case, the righteous cultivators' resistance to these less-than-righteous strategies had weakened considerably.

Under Zhong Yi's lead, the group headed toward the top lane.

Along the way, Zhong Yi noticed Li Moran continuously swinging her blade, as if testing something.

Each time the blade sliced through the air, she would abruptly change her stance, shifting her footing.

"Sister Li, what are you doing?" Zhou Qiaoling blinked and asked curiously.

"Testing... the rules of this illusion," Li Moran replied thoughtfully, gazing at the dark green broken blade in her hand.

After three rounds of bot matches, she had noticed something interesting.

In this illusion, attacks seemed to follow unique rules.

For example, attacking while moving dealt negligible damage. Only by stopping movement and striking in that instant could the full damage of an attack be unleashed.

Thus, Li Moran kept testing the sequence: move, stop, attack, move... repeating it over and over.

"Oh? This should be called... canceling the attack's backswing?" Zhong Yi's eyes lit up. As a veteran of Immortal Realm Domination, he immediately recognized the trick.

This technique was also known as "orb-walking"—using movement to cancel attack animations and improve fluidity.

After Zhong Yi's explanation, Zhou Yue laughed. "Old Zhong, you talk a big game, but when it comes to execution, you’re a total noob."

"Ha! I don’t like the sound of that... I was just getting used to the controls earlier. Just wait—I’ll show you my skills when we fight Shen Yan!" Zhong Yi protested indignantly.

"You all go ambush the river first. Let me duel Brother Shen alone... Once he’s no match for me, you can cut off his retreat!"

Following Zhong Yi’s plan, the other four circled toward the river.

Zhong Yi strode forward alone, where Shen Yan stood waiting, gripping a golden divine hammer.

"Old Zhou, watch closely—I’m about to put on a show!"

Zhong Yi cleared his throat, and the others turned their attention to him.

"Let me teach you a new lesson!"

"Attack backswing isn’t just canceled by movement..."

"Skills can do it too!"

Hearing this, Li Moran raised an eyebrow, as if struck by inspiration.

"Watch!"

Zhong Yi advanced. Shen Yan swung his small hammer, smacking Zhong Yi square on the forehead, but Zhong Yi remained unfazed.

With a swift motion, he drew a rusted sword from his waist. Just as the blade was about to descend,

Zhong Yi activated [Steel Tempest].

The slashing motion was instantly interrupted, replaced by a thrust infused with wind-based spiritual energy.

Zhong Yi yelped, "Holy crap! I missed!"

Li Moran: "..."

Mu Yawen: "Strange... Why didn’t the enemy lose a single drop of health after that combo?"

Zhou Yue: "Classic Zhong Yi—using a skill to cancel a basic attack, then whiffing the skill entirely."

Zhou Qiaoling: "Somehow, I’m not surprised at all..."

Shen Yan froze for a moment before bursting into laughter.

He slammed his divine hammer into the ground.

A surge of golden spiritual energy instantly chunked Zhong Yi’s health bar.

"Damn it! Why are you all just standing there? Get out here and beat him up!!" Zhong Yi shouted.

Only then did the four snap out of their daze and rush out from the river.

Shen Yan panicked, shouting into open comms: "You bastards! Since when does the Lingxiao Sect fight so dishonorably?!"

With that, he dove into the nearby bushes, vanishing instantly.

"Hahaha! Brother Shen, just accept your fate~~" Zhong Yi laughed and chased after him.

The moment he entered the bushes,

Five burly men stood ready, waiting for him.

"???"

Zhong Yi froze.

"Wait—"

Before he could finish,

Three of the men summoned spectral avatars behind them, roaring in unison:

"DEMACIA!!!!"

"Hey, hey...!! You—you guys from the Tianxuan Sect are too—OW! NOT THE FACE!!!"

......

......

Score: 0-3.

The Lingxiao Sect was at a severe disadvantage.

The team’s mood grew heavy.

Top lane.

"Junior Brother Mu, don’t be upset. When playing in the illusion realm, you gotta smile! No frowning!" Zhong Yi patted Mu Yawen’s shoulder reassuringly.

"I’m not like you. I don’t have that [Blade Dash] skill..." Mu Yawen sighed gloomily.

He had initially thought [Molten Colossus] would be overpowered, but it turned out to be far from tanky.

Plus, its spiritual energy consumption was insane—he ran out of mana after tossing two discs.

Zhong Yi felt the team’s morale was too low and decided to step up.

"Ho! No worries! Watch your senior brother turn this around!"

After three rounds of practice, he was finally getting used to the feel of [The Unforgiven].

Seeing the minion wave approach, Zhong Yi couldn’t resist the urge.

"Blade Dash!"

Just as his body lunged toward the minions,

Shen Yan, his lane opponent, suddenly shimmered with a golden barrier.

BAM!

Zhong Yi crashed into an invisible wall mid-dash, his momentum abruptly halted as he tumbled dizzily.

Then, the man behind Shen Yan raised a glowing greatsword and charged forward, bellowing "DEMACIA!"

Zhong Yi fled in disarray, thoroughly humiliated.

Pfft.

The sight made Mu Yawen, who had been sulking, burst into laughter.

"Hahaha... Senior Brother, why aren’t you laughing? Isn’t this hilarious?"

......

Things weren’t any better on the bottom lane.

The enemy [Arrow of Judgment], with two kills under his belt, had two extra longswords compared to Zhou Yue.

With a [Prince of Demacia] lurking in the bushes, Zhou Yue didn’t dare step forward.

And then there was his teammate—

Zhou Qiaoling stood in the backline bushes, eyes gleaming at a half-health siege minion.

His skill allowed him to devour minions or jungle monsters to restore his own health.

"Bro, I’m hungry... I mean, I’m low on health! Can I take a bite of this minion to heal?"

"You—"

Zhou Yue’s breathing hitched.

He furiously drew his bowstring, as if trying to grind sparks out of it.

Basic attacks, [Hail of Arrows]—

He unleashed everything!

But the [Frost Archer]’s damage was pitifully low.

Zhou Qiaoling dashed out of the bushes and swallowed the siege minion whole.

"You ate both siege minions! How am I supposed to 1v3 down here?!"

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