In the match.
Su Hang methodically cleared the red jungle and headed for the blue jungle. He had just brought the blue buff down to half health when a blue figure holding a girl in his arms appeared outside the blue buff pit, eyeing him hungrily.
It was none other than Han Han's Gan & Mo.
"Trying to steal my blue?"
Su Hang kept attacking, narrowing his eyes. "That depends on whether you've got what it takes."
The blue buff's health dropped into execution range. The enemy Gan & Mo fired two icicle swords, but Su Hang reacted swiftly. Without even using Smite, Jing and her mirror image both struck with basic attacks, securing the blue buff first.
Just then, their teammate Angela arrived and raised a hand to cast Chaos Cinders, driving Gan & Mo away.
Having failed to steal the blue buff, Gan & Mo left with nothing to show for it and returned to mid lane to wait for the approaching minion waves to meet.
Angela also prepared to return to the first mid-lane tower, but suddenly noticed a message in the text chat.
Exalted Emperor (Jing): Angela, leave the minion wave and go straight to top lane.
Although Angela didn't understand why, she did as instructed and skipped off toward the top clash lane.
Su Hang's instructions puzzled many viewers.
"I don't get Exalted Emperor's thinking. His Jing isn't going mid to clear the wave, so why send Angela to clash lane and leave it? Isn't that just wasting a whole wave of minions?"
"I can't figure it out! The enemy Gan & Mo spotted Exalted Emperor's Jing, so he'll definitely warn his clash laner to be careful. Exalted Emperor is obviously sending Angela to set up an ambush so they can gank the enemy clash laner together once he hits level four, but that's completely pointless!"
"Junglers ganking a side lane at level four is basic knowledge even ordinary clash-lane players know. There's no way a gank would succeed that easily."
Su Hang's Jing killed the lizard, reached level four, and unlocked her ultimate.
Instead of heading for top lane, she walked straight out of the blue jungle and stopped briefly in the middle of the area in front of the Overlord pit.
She then spun with her second skill, splitting off a mirror image. Jing headed toward the top clash lane, while the image walked in the opposite direction.
The moment the image entered the single patch of brush to the right of the Overlord pit, two icicle swords came flying from the long grass to the left of mid lane. Since it was an illusory image, Gan's long-range Twin Swords produced neither a hit sound nor any damage.
Su Hang immediately pressed the fourth skill, Shifting, swapping Jing's position with her image.
At the same time, Gan & Mo walked out of the brush to the left of mid lane.
"Have you ever experienced the feeling of shattering? You're about to."
The icy voice line suddenly rang in Gan's ears.
Su Hang's fingers flew. He opened with the first skill, then charged in with his ultimate, pushing and immobilizing Gan & Mo and instantly unfolding the Mirror Realm.
Gan & Mo was dumbfounded. He had checked the brush a second ago and found nobody, yet Jing suddenly came charging out the next? Was it haunted?
Still, he remained relatively calm. Jing's burst damage wasn't very high early on, and even if she used the Flying Thunder God Technique, she couldn't kill him in an instant.
Besides, he still had Flash. It would be enough to make his escape.
But in the next instant, a horrifying sight appeared. Inside the Mirror Realm, Jing swapped positions at extreme speed over a short distance, her body and image passing through Gan & Mo as huge burst-damage numbers popped up in rapid succession.
Gan & Mo turned pale with shock and hurriedly used Flash, but his health bar had already been emptied. He flashed straight into a relocated grave.
The battlefield kill announcement rang out.
"Jing has defeated Gan & Mo!"
"First Blood!"
The viewers in Su Hang's livestream were astounded.
"Holy shit! What the hell was that damage? Gan had two-thirds of his health and got killed instantly?"
"Holy crap, that was a health-bar evaporation technique! Did it even take three seconds to kill Gan from start to finish? What kind of evil trick was that?"
"Strangulation Technique! Damn, was that the Strangulation Technique combo that's standard for national-server Jing players?"
"That was Jing's Strangulation Technique, dealing massive burst damage in a short time, but it's my first time seeing one that smooth and fast!"
"Damn! It was like watching at double speed."
"Exalted Emperor's hand speed is terrifying! He's taken the Strangulation Technique to the pinnacle. I'm starting to believe his old account really was the number one Jing on the national server."
Meanwhile, in Zongshi's livestream.
Having witnessed the entire sequence of Liu Wei's Gan getting killed in an instant, Zongshi's mouth twitched, and he couldn't help sucking in a cold breath. Leaving that lightning-fast Strangulation Technique aside, the terrifying thinking behind the gank and ambush was simply inhuman!
"Damn his monkey!" Liu Wei fumed, both furious and aggrieved. "I clearly checked the brush in front of the dragon pit. Nobody was hiding there, so how did Exalted Emperor suddenly jump out of it?"
"Wei-ge, you can't be blamed for letting your guard down. This Exalted Emperor is too cunning. He set you up," Zongshi, who had seen through everything, said after taking a deep breath.
"What do you mean?" Liu Wei's anger had yet to subside.
"Angela left the mid wave and rotated top, most likely on Exalted Emperor's orders. The point was to send you a false signal that they were going to gank our Lu Bu. In reality, Exalted Emperor's real target was you."
With a profound look in his eyes, Zongshi said, "He was certain you'd go through the river to help clash lane and flank them. He also guessed you'd use a skill to check the brush. He cleverly used both of those things, using his mirror image to dodge your brush-checking skill before swapping positions and killing you instantly!"
After hearing Zongshi's explanation.
Liu Wei's heart trembled violently, and his eyes bulged like a bull's. He had already experienced Exalted Emperor's terrifying awareness for setting ambushes in the previous three games and thought that was the peak of his ability, only to discover it was merely the tip of the iceberg.
"Wei-ge, I take back the wild words I said at the start." That instant kill in the river had shown Zongshi just how troublesome Exalted Emperor was. "If we don't bring out our best and give it everything we've got, I'm afraid this match will end in a crushing defeat."
"Good, as long as you understand."
Liu Wei calmed down a little. If his death could make Zongshi take the match seriously, then at least it had meant something.
"Farm steadily and wait for my Luna's power spike."
"All right, Brother Zongshi."
The match reached the three-minute mark.
Su Hang keenly noticed a change in the enemy's tactics.
"Their overall playstyle has become more conservative and steady. They're grouping up to contest the middle of the map, but they aren't using their numbers advantage to initiate fights. They've strengthened their jungle defense, especially their vision around the river brush."
Su Hang immediately understood what the enemy was planning. "They're waiting for Luna's midgame power spike at six minutes."
His side had no hard crowd control like Donghuang, Zhang Liang, or Lao Fuzi to effectively counter Luna.
Once Luna had the beginnings of her build at six minutes, everyone on his side except his Jing would be prey for her slaughter.
Many high-level players in the livestream saw the predicament Su Hang's side faced. They appeared to have an advantage in kills and total gold, but Zongshi and Han Han's side avoided fighting, and their jungle and lane defenses were as solid as a fortress. There was simply no opening to exploit.
"All I can say is that Zongshi really is an authority. He adjusted his tactics in time to respond. You want to fight me? I'll hide under my tower and stay there. What can you do? Once my six-minute power spike comes, it'll be the end for you, Exalted Emperor!"
"Big-shot Exalted Emperor must have a real headache right now. He clearly has a gold advantage, but he can't catch anyone in any of the three lanes or the jungle. Without picking off the enemy, he can't get any momentum going."
"Fighting won't work, and not fighting won't work either. I'm a little curious how big-shot Exalted Emperor is going to break this deadlock."