A Huge Gap

The bottom lane duo from Jinling University consists of support player Chen Teng and ranged DPS player Yuan Qingsong.

Relying on his range advantage, Yuan Qingsong not only farmed minions and pushed the lane, but also kept firing arrows to harass Li Shuyi, keeping Li Shuyi and Feng Zi'ang under the tower.

Last-hitting under the tower is not easy, especially for a melee champion, especially when there are two ranged opponents constantly harassing them.

Li Shuyi's Combat Zeal had been stacked to 10, giving her an agility Suppression over her opponent. Combined with the Suppression from her Battle Specialty, she was able to farm some minions while dodging enemy attacks. However, her minion kill count was still being Suppression by her opponent, falling behind by 7 kills in just two waves of minions.

A hot-tempered DPS would have rushed in to fight head-on, but the beautiful Li stuck to her principles and played it safe. Her coordination with Feng Zi'ang wasn't exactly smooth either, and rushing in would easily result in them being counter-killed.

Yuan Qingsong shot down the last minion of the third wave with an arrow, glanced at the battle panel, and chuckled, "I don't know what Jinghai University was thinking, sending a melee DPS to fight me in the bottom lane. Isn't that just asking for death? I've already down her by 10 CS, and she's down to half health. Just whittle down her health a little more, and then, Lao Chen, you go in and get ready to tower dive for the kill."

While healing Yuan Qingsong and harassing the opponent, Chen Teng kept a close eye on the minimap and cautiously said, "Be careful, the enemy jungler hasn't made a move yet."

"Don't worry, it's only been a few minutes. The enemy jungler is probably still farming the red buff," Yuan Qingsong said. "They started with the blue buff, and after they finish the red buff, they'll probably gank the top or mid lane. They're so far away; it wouldn't be worth it for them to come over, it would be a waste of time..."

Before Yuan Qingsong could finish his sentence, he suddenly saw Li Shuyi opposite him, her white robes fluttering, rushing towards him!

Savage Charge!

"Haha, she finally couldn't hold back!" Yuan Qingsong was more delighted than surprised. "Send her back to the spring!"

Before Li Shuyi's Savage Charge, Yuan Qingsong reacted quickly, bending his knees slightly as if to use a Backward Jump to create distance. However, at the very moment he jumped, he suddenly shuddered, gripped by Fear Status, Backward Jump!

Boom!

Li Shuyi's Savage Charge landed squarely, knocking her back at short distance! At the same time, Li Shuyi wielded her dual swords, following up with Double Slash attacks and the Sanction Dagger, unleashing a frenzied barrage of attacks.

At the same time, Yuan Qingsong felt a sudden chill in his back as the Shadow Assassin appeared and stabbed him in the back, dealing double damage, though it did not trigger an instant kill.

After casting a shield on Li Shuyi, Feng Zi'ang began to cast his only offensive spell— Smite.

The next second, a group of summoned creatures emerged from the dense bushes of the riverbed.

Yuan Qingsong was jolted awake from his Fear Status, and in that brief moment of distraction, his Life Value were reduced by half! He quickly used Backward Jump to create distance.

At the same time, Chen Teng, the support, rushed over and shot out a Dazzling Light. Targets hit by the Dazzling Light skill will be briefly stunned.

However, the Shadow Assassin precisely stepped forward half a step, blocking the control effect of the Dazzling Light skill for Li Shuyi!

Outside the venue, a large screen in the auditorium was simultaneously playing a video of Bai Xiaowen's brilliant maneuver of summoning a creature to block a skill, which drew gasps of amazement!

Immediately afterwards, the Talisman Switching in Bai Xiaowen's hand on the big screen switched on and lit up, a yellow card hit Yuan Qingsong, stunning him for 2.5 seconds and freezing him in place.

Bai Xiaowen seemed to ignore Yuan Qingsong's intentions, manipulating the Rageclaw and two Skeleton Soldier to surround Chen Teng, who was trying to retreat. The Rageclaw Bite, the Skeleton Soldier slashed and hacked, and Bai Xiaowen fired in bursts, and Chen Teng's Life Value dropped rapidly.

During the 2.5-second stun, Li Shuyi had already successfully killed Yuan Qingsong, and then rushed straight at Chen Teng! With two passive abilities, Li Shuyi's output was still off the charts even without the bonus from the Demonfire Jade Pendant. In less than three seconds, she took down another person.

A notification of a double kill appeared on the big screen.

A burst of enthusiastic applause immediately rang out in the auditorium.

The commentator remarked, "Just now, Bai Xiaowen, the jungler and captain of the Jinghai University team, made such a cool move by controlling his summoned creatures to block skills! Did everyone notice how incredibly precise Bai Xiaowen's control over his summoned creatures was? This is unlike that of a typical summoner; perhaps this is a characteristic of Heroic Tier Summoner Class."

"A successful gank in the bottom lane resulted in the elimination of the Jinling University Team's bottom lane duo. Bai Xiaowen selflessly gave up the kill to DPS Li Shuyi, securing two assists for himself before leaving the lane."

"Jinling University Team reacted quickly; jungler Jiang Jin is making a move... After clearing the blue buff in the top lane, let's see what he does; will he go to the top lane to gank...?"

Inside the venue.

Jiang Yi had just secured the First Blood and was catching his breath when two more people were killed in the bottom lane.

"Jiang Jin! Go to the Purple Side's upper jungle and steal their red buff!" Jiang Yi commanded in the Team Channel.

Jiang Jin was sun-drying crabs in the river, hesitated. "What if we run into them? I might not be able to beat them."

"What's the panic? Bai Xiaowen just used two control skills to kill us, including Intimidation and Talisman Switching! His skill cooldowns are very long, even if reduced to 1/10, they're still 30 seconds to 60 seconds! You're absolutely safe during that time." Yuan Qingsong had just been double-killed, was a little embarrassed and forced an explanation.

"That's right, Bai Xiaowen's best option right now is to invade our lower jungle. He didn't get any kills, so he definitely needs to catch up in gold. You won't run into him if you go to invade our jungle!"

Jiang Jin was a little uneasy as he entered Bai Xiaowen's upper jungle area, heading straight for the most important large jungle monster— the Crimson Mark Tree Monster, which is the area of the Red Buff.

The Red Buff and Blue Buff are much more important than other jungle monsters because, in addition to providing experience and gold, they also offer a buff that lasts for up to 120 seconds!

The blue buff reduces cooldown time and accelerates Divine Might regeneration, while the red buff is more aggressive, inflicting slow and burn effects on enemies when it hits, making it a powerful tool for ganking in the early game.

Jiang Jin began to huff and puff as he attacked the "Crimson Mark Tree Monster".

Finally, with the red buff secured, Jiang Jin felt a slight sense of relief. He raised his Tactical Wristwatch, glanced at the miniature map, and said, "I'm going to gank top lane."

The top lane is a duel between two tank-type champions, with neither able to kill the other. Qiu Yan, the top laner for Jinling University Team, is a defensively strong but offensively weaker player, just like Han Xu.

Upon seeing the signal from Jiang Jin, top laner Qiu Yan became unusually excited. He deliberately revealed some ambiguous openings during positioning and trades of health, attempting to bait the enemy.

However, just as Qiu Yan was basking in the glory of becoming the Best Actor, a notification sound rang out again like a bolt from the blue:

"Our Hero Tier has been killed!"

The player who died was the jungler, Jiang Jin.

"How so?"

"What's going on? His crowd control abilities should be on cooldown!"

Others chimed in on the Team Channel.

Jiang Jin looked annoyed. "He was lying in wait for me in the bushes... I was surrounded by several summoned creatures, I couldn't escape."

Jiang Yi was a little anxious, but he didn't show it. He patiently said, "You guys develop steadily, I can carry..."

Notification: "Our Hero Tier has been killed!"

"Double kill!"

The bot lane duo from Jinling University exploded once again, spiraling upwards.

"..."

Before Jiang Yi could speak, Yuan Qingsong began to berate him. "Old Chen, why didn't you heal me!"

Chen Teng said sullenly, "Come on, it's only been a few minutes and they've already upgraded to a +4 blue longsword. Every hit is Critical Hit makes you bleed. How am I supposed to lift it up? Can't you be a little more careful with your positioning? Why are you taking their dash skills head-on?"

After Bai Xiaowen intentionally gave up two kills to Li Shuyi during his first gank, Li Shuyi cleared the minion wave and went back to base to spend 900 gold to upgrade one of her short swords into a new item— the Refined Thrust Sword (+4), instantly boosting her damage output by a significant margin.

During the duo lane matchup, Yuan Qingsong tried to use his range advantage to Suppression Li Shuyi as before, but Li Shuyi seized an opportunity, Savage Charge, and killed Yuan Qingsong in one combo. She then joined forces with Feng Zi'ang to kill Chen Teng.

In less than 5 minutes, Li Shuyi, who had secured 4 kills, had already started pushing down the blue team's bottom lane tower.

Bai Xiaowen deliberately gave up kills so that Li Shuyi could get ahead as soon as possible. This way, the bottom lane wouldn't need to help anymore, and Bai Xiaowen could crush Jiang Jin in the jungle first, and then gank the top and mid lanes.

After clearing a wave of monsters, Bai Xiaowen leveled up to level 2, and his Black Soul Stone also reached level 2, revealing Enhancement Blueprint. Bai Xiaowen spent gold coins to activate the two enhancement options: "All Skeleton Soldier Attributes +2" and "Skeleton Soldier Quantity +2," instantly spending a thousand of his accumulated gold coins.

For Bai Xiaowen, it would be better to use those gold coins to upgrade his Black Soul Stone rather than buy a general-purpose blue weapon.

Four Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier silently followed Bai Xiaowen.

Bai Xiaowen hid in the bushes by the river, observing the two players laning in the middle lane.

With a single Insight skill cast, Jiang Yi's attributes appeared before Bai Xiaowen.

[Jiang Yi (Level 4 Boss Tier) / Sealed Status]

[Race: Human Species / Human Race]

[Occupation: Exorcist]

[Attributes: Strength 13, Agility 16, Constitution 24, Spirit 33]

[Skills: Bane of Evil, Spell Formula, Word Spirit, Curse Arts, Summoning Call]

It should be noted that the Insight Talent shows Jiang Yi's complete attributes, not Jiang Yi attributes under his current level 2 sealed state.

Bai Xiaowen was interested in Jiang Yi's skills. After seeing Jiang Yi's skills, he finally understood why Jiang Yi was so confident and said he would definitely restrain himself.

The reason lies in Jiang Yi's professional skill— Bane of Evil!

[Bane of Evil: Your spells have Bane of Magic properties, dealing 25% extra damage to undead and Fiend Species creatures; ignores 25% of the target's (including but not limited to undead Fiend Species creatures) magic resistance.]

Exorcist LV4 Class Skill Enhancement Effect: [Demon Eater: Killing undead or Fiend Species creatures increases your damage by 25%; killing creatures of other races increases your damage by 10%; lasts for 20 seconds, this effect does not stack.]

Bai Xiaowen's Black Soul Stone summons undead creatures, which are already countered by Jiang Yi's class passive. And after reaching level 4, Jiang Yi gains the new Demon Eater passive, making him even more formidable.

If Bai Xiaowen had remained unaware of the truth, she might have actually been tricked.

But now...

Bai Xiaowen smiled slightly. The so-called professional restraint is not absolute in the eyes of a master.

Bai Xiaowen checked his skill bar; both of his crowd control skills were off cooldown. Jiang Yi, on the other hand, had the advantage against Liu Fei and was positioned further forward.

Liu Fei saw Bai Xiaowen crouching in the bushes and an idea struck him. He began to seduce Jiang Yi, trying to lure him over.

However, Liu Fei's actions alerted Jiang Yi. He knew very well that Bai Xiaowen was unlikely to go to the bottom lane and was currently near the river between the top and mid lanes.

In this situation, Liu Fei's seduction basically exposed Bai Xiaowen's location—the riverbank bushes!

Jiang Yi's face remained expressionless, but he was secretly hardening his resolve.

Curse Arts - Shackles!

A transparent shackle was thrown out, and Liu Fei, who had just moved forward to lure him, crashed into it and was Imprisonment. Immediately afterwards, Jiang Yi slashed with his wooden staff, and an attack Spell Formula flew out, hitting Liu Fei.

The Curse Arts - Shackles resonated and exploded. Liu Fei, who already had very little Life Value left, was hit by the combo and instantly lost all his health!

Jiang Yi coldly unleashed his final attack Spell Formula, then cast a Word Spirit Shield on himself before dashing towards his own turret. This Word Spirit Shield could negate crowd control abilities.

[You came here to ambush me, right? I'll kill your mid laner right in front of you and then escape unscathed!] That was Jiang Yi's thought.

However, Liu Fei did not die. After the final Spell Formula attack was launched, the Shadow Assassin blocked it for him.

Although Jiang Yi's passive skill increased his damage by 25%, and his Spell Formula attacks, being magic attacks, dealt an additional 50% damage to the Shadow Assassin, the Shadow Assassin Shadow Assassin at full health. He didn't die after taking the hit. Similarly, Liu Fei also survived.

Four Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier had somehow circled around behind Jiang Yi and lined up to meet him.

Shield Bash, Shield Bash!

With the first Shield Bash, Jiang Yi's Word Spirit Shield shattered.

With the second Shield Bash, Jiang Yi staggered backward.

Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier closed in, surrounding them. At the same time, Rageclaw pounced, beginning their attack.

Jiang Yi gritted his teeth and swung his wooden staff, attempting to draw Spell Formula to attack. His spells had an extra bonus against these undead creatures.

Shield Bash! Interrupt.

Bai Xiaowen fired a burst of shots, saying at the same time, "You've been so confident about countering me, you're referring to your class passive [Bane of Evil], right? Spells deal extra damage to the undead and Demon, which is indeed very effective, but you've overlooked one point."

"Your spell only counts if it is successfully cast!"

Almost every time Jiang Yi raised his hand, a Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier with a shield swung his shield, knocking him off balance.

Until his death, Jiang Yi was unable to unleash even the most basic skill.

With Jiang Yi eliminated, Jinling University Team's only advantageous lane was also gone.

The bottom lane collapsed, the jungler was ganked and severely wounded, and the top and mid lanes were frequently ganked by Bai Xiaowen, turning the advantage into an even game, and then the even game into a disadvantage...

Twenty minutes later, the death ratio was 4:22, and the economic gap had widened to over 10,000.

With 8 kills, Li Shuyi has already crafted [Redleaf Lord's Glory Sword] +7, [Refined Thrust Sword] +4, and [Demonfire Jade Pendant] +7, making her damage output absolutely explosive.

With 6 kills and 4 assists, Bai Xiaowen gradually unlocked the enhancement options for the Black Soul Stone, the Skeleton Mage appeared, and the title of "Ultimate Academic Ace" was once again worn.

The other three players also had their equipment mostly complete, and the Jinghai University team began to stick together.

The five members of the Jinling University Team were in a miserable state, with none of them having fully equipped themselves, and their levels were generally one or two levels lower than normal. They had no chance to fight and could only watch helplessly as the Jinghai University team, led by Bai Xiaowen, destroyed their crystal.