Ah?

"WTF! WTF, WTF! Where the hell is my recording button?"

Chao Bafang was beside himself with excitement!

Who was Nalan Yanran?

At the Great Fighter level, she could trade blows with Xiao Yan, the original protagonist!

She had even forced out the fusion of the Green Lotus Core Flame and the Purple Flame—the "Buddha Fury Fire Lotus"! Was Nalan Yanran someone Players could handle at this stage?

Not to mention anything else, the Dou Skills Nalan Yanran was using now were probably all Mysterious Rank!

Forget three moves—even one move was likely more than any Player could withstand.

Yet Yang Shan had agreed! Chao Bafang did not think Yang Shan was being reckless.

Instead, he thought Yang Shan was badass!

If it were him, forget a wager match—he might not even dare talk back to Nalan Yanran!

All the other Players had become spectators.

However, quite a few Players who snapped out of it, like Chao Bafang, turned on the game's built-in recording function.

Ye Suifeng said, "Boss, Yang Shan is seriously brave! I'm kind of impressed by him!"

Jin Shankao said, "Xiao Cheng! Xiao Cheng!"

"Hey, President Jin, I'm here!"

Jin Shankao said, "Get a few female streamers from one of my entertainment companies and arrange for them to enter Battle Through the Heavens! Their popularity doesn't matter, but their faces need to be distinctive! And they need curves!"

Ye Suifeng asked blankly, "Boss, what are you planning?"

Jin Shankao said, "A honey trap! Yang Shan won't even give Nalan Yanran any face, so there's an eighty or ninety percent chance he isn't interested in NPCs. Then I'll send real people after him! Yang Shan has to join our guild. Young men with guts like his are rare!"

Tang Baizhan sneered from the side. "Boss Jin, aren't you exaggerating a little? This Yang Shan is far too arrogant—even more arrogant than that playboy Wang Tianhao! Recruiting someone like that into the guild will cause trouble sooner or later!"

Jin Shankao said, "That's where our perspectives differ. Besides, Yang Shan is currently the number one Player in Battle Through the Heavens. Bringing him into the guild means gaining top-tier combat power!"

"You said currently. The launch version is the most unstable. Maybe someone can become number one through a burst of luck. After a few updates, heh."

Jin Shankao did not refute Tang Baizhan.

Online games leaned more toward long-term development and progression. While they were not like competitive games, where every update created a new god, online games still went through version changes.

Battle Through the Heavens had far too many Players.

With a little luck, anyone might rise to prominence.

Yang Shan's accomplishments in Battle Through the Heavens could even be called unprecedented, but there would surely be those who came after him! Even so, Jin Shankao would not change his mind.

As long as Yang Shan remained the number one Player in Battle Through the Heavens, he would be immensely beneficial to Hero King Manor's development.

Yang Shan and Nalan Yanran tacitly moved five zhang apart.

Ge Ye acted as the referee.

To be honest, Ge Ye was not worried in the slightest that Nalan Yanran would lose.

Although Nalan Yanran was only a five-star Fighter, her actual combat ability was already stronger than that of ordinary Great Fighters! By Ge Ye's estimate, once Nalan Yanran reached the Great Fighter realm, even as a One-Star Great Fighter, he—a Seven Star Great Fighter and deacon of the Misty Cloud Sect—would no longer be her match.

Ge Ye immediately came to a conclusion:

"What could this brat possibly use to win? This is nothing but a joke!"

Nalan Yanran held her longsword and said very seriously, "Though blades and swords have no eyes, I will hold back and not leave you crippled. After all, since you agreed to wager a match with me, you at least have courage."

Though Nalan Yanran was rather self-centered, she was not some great villain. She still admired those with courage.

Yang Shan looked relaxed.

"Then many thanks, Miss Nalan. Make your move!"

"Fine!"

Nalan Yanran did not stand on ceremony.

Though she had three chances, she had decided:

She would end the battle in one move!

And she would not even use her trump-card Dou Skills.

That was the pride expected of the Misty Cloud Sect's chief disciple.

As Ge Ye announced, "The match begins," Nalan Yanran stepped back half a pace with her right foot.

Dou Qi flooded into her sword-wielding right hand.

Azure Dou Qi transformed into Azure Wind and curled around the blade.

"I wondered what move she'd use. So it's Clear Wind Piercing Sword!"

Clear Wind Piercing Sword, the Misty Cloud Sect's inherited Mysterious Rank Low-Level Dou Skills (Purple Word Seal)!

Yang Shan also drew his Refined Frost Blade, faint arcs of lightning flickering across its surface.

However, compared to Nalan Yanran's Clear Wind Piercing Sword, Yang Shan's Thunder Cleaving Slash was weaker by more than a single level.

One was Mysterious Rank Low-Level, while the other was Yellow Rank Mid-Level. Moreover, Thunder Cleaving Slash was not a Dou Skill focused on power.

The two possessed completely different levels of momentum.

Seeing this, Nalan Yanran was actually a little disappointed.

Though the Fire Cloud Leopard had been besieged and killed by many people, Yang Shan had indeed delivered the final blow.

She had thought he was an expert, but he was only this capable.

Nalan Yanran felt that using Clear Wind Piercing Sword against Yang Shan was like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

"Take this!"

With her Dou Skill fully activated, Nalan Yanran gave a sharp cry and shot forward like the wind.

Wind Attribute cultivators already held an advantage in speed, and Nalan Yanran was one of the best among them.

In the blink of an eye, she was nearly upon Yang Shan.

Yang Shan could never catch up to that speed, even on horseback.

Nalan Yanran's longsword, wrapped in azure Dou Qi, had already thrust toward Yang Shan.

However, Nalan Yanran kept her promise.

This strike was aimed at his shoulder.

Yang Shan immediately activated the Fighter realm's hallmark, Dou Qi Gauze.

Though it consumed a great deal of Dou Qi.

This thin layer of Dou Qi Gauze was nowhere near sturdy enough before Nalan Yanran.

It only stopped her for the span of a breath before completely dispersing.

But a breath was enough!

Yang Shan did not make any move to dodge at all.

He swung his blade cleanly and decisively!

Thunder Cleaving Slash! Nalan Yanran's weapon was a typical one-handed rapier, three chi long.

Yang Shan's blade struck exactly two chi behind the tip.

The lightning Dou Qi gathered on Yang Shan's blade was clearly inferior to the Azure Wind Dou Qi on Nalan Yanran's sword.

Yet Yang Shan's lightning Dou Qi remained condensed and unscattered, while Nalan Yanran's Azure Wind Dou Qi kept dissipating!

Clang! The sound of weapons colliding rang especially clearly through the mountain forest, where hundreds of Players watched in utter silence.

The longsword flew from Nalan Yanran's hand and embedded itself in the trunk of a large tree nearby.

Yang Shan's Refined Frost Blade was already at Nalan Yanran's throat.

Just as Nalan Yanran had imagined.

The battle had indeed ended in a single move! After witnessing everything, Chao Bafang held it in for quite a while before finally managing one word:

"Ah?" (second tone)

Ye Suifeng said, "Ah?" (second tone)

Jin Shankao said, "Ah?" (all fucking second tone!)

"Have all of you forgotten how to speak? Why are you all making nothing but interjections?"

Tang Baizhan himself was starting to lose his mind.

It made no sense!

How could Nalan Yanran lose?

Fine, she had lost.

But how had she lost in one move?

Tang Baizhan could not even understand how Yang Shan had won!

If even Tang Baizhan was like this, the other Players watching were even less able to understand! The expressions on the Players' faces could roughly be divided into three types.

One was like someone seriously listening to advanced mathematics but understanding none of it.

One was like someone who had just rewarded himself and whose eyes were slightly unfocused.

The last looked as if they had seen a ghost.

In the original story, when Xiao Yan fought Nalan Yanran at the Misty Cloud Sect, he had to cough up several mouthfuls of blood!

Was Yang Shan even fiercer than Xiao Yan?

Cheat! He fucking had a cheat!

As the loser of this wager match, Nalan Yanran could only stare blankly at Yang Shan.

Her rosy lips opened several times, yet she could not utter a single word.

Afraid that Yang Shan might harm Nalan Yanran, Ge Ye was just about to act when Yang Shan had already sheathed his blade.

"Thank you for letting me win, Miss Nalan."

Yang Shan walked over to a nearby spot and picked up the third-tier forging material, Lightning-Attracting Steel, from the ground.

"If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving first!"

"Wait!"

Only then did Nalan Yanran come back to her senses.

"How did you know the flaw in Clear Wind Piercing Sword?"