The Overlord's health had now fallen below half.
Su Hang timed it carefully, then swiped his second skill and jumped toward the dragon pit.
Citong's Lady Sun, Gao Jianli, and Xiahou Dun froze. They had never imagined that Exalted Emperor's Diaochan would dare try to steal the dragon. It was just like the old saying: heaven had a road, but she refused to take it; hell had no gate, yet she barged right in.
Citong's Lady Sun immediately used his first skill to roll away and reposition on the flank of the dragon pit. He threw a Red Lotus Bomb, then locked his cannon crossbow onto Exalted Emperor's Diaochan and fired a roaring shot.
"It's my turn to put on a show!"
Gao Jianli activated his ultimate, Earsplitting Melody, furiously strumming his electric guitar as he passionately performed a song of parting. A circular field of sound waves instantly engulfed Exalted Emperor's Diaochan.
"A free heart soars where the wind and waves are fiercest!"
Xiahou Dun didn't sit idle either. He unlocked the second stage of his first skill and slammed down his surfboard. A great white shark burst through the waves and knocked Exalted Emperor's Diaochan into the air.
After that combination attack from the three of them, Su Hang's Diaochan seemed to have health made of paper. In just a few seconds, it dropped to half!
The viewers' hearts sank.
"We're screwed. Boss Exalted Emperor went too far showing off this time."
"Strategists, tell me: can Exalted Emperor's Diaochan still survive?"
"With how strong mid-lane Diaochan is right now, there's no way she can fight three people in the mid game. Maybe she could pull it off late game."
"Diaochan looks like she's still alive, but she's actually been gone for a while."
"I know you understand Diaochan, but you've got to respect the hero's strength at least. He threw his advantage away for nothing. I'm speechless!"
"Come on, bro, you're about to die. Are you saving your ultimate for New Year's? Why haven't you used it?"
Su Hang said nothing. He simply kept pressing his first skill, throwing out large flowers to stack the marks above Gao Jianli and Xiahou Dun.
"If Diaochan players have a common flaw, it's that they can't show off unless they're low on health." Su Hang stared at Citong, who was attacking from the flank of the dragon pit. "Then Lady Sun players' common flaw is that they repay the slightest grudge!"
Citong's Lady Sun came charging in with his cannon, using his first skill and Flash to close the distance to Su Hang's low-health Diaochan in the dragon pit. He fired a lethal enhanced basic attack!
"Now!"
Su Hang's fingers moved at incredible speed. He used his second skill to get right in Citong's Lady Sun's face, narrowly dodging the damage while instantly activating his ultimate's lotus formation, engulfing Xiahou Dun, Gao Jianli, and Lady Sun.
A shocking sight suddenly appeared.
Inside the dragon pit, the marks above Xiahou Dun and Gao Jianli suddenly exploded. Dense clusters of white true-damage numbers popped up wildly as both their health bars plunged!
But that wasn't all!
With the blue buff, Su Hang's Diaochan had an absurdly short cooldown on her second skill. He timed it to jump back and cast it after 0.3 seconds, narrowly dodging Lady Sun's follow-up shot.
"Flowers are blooming!"
The instant he opened up some distance, Su Hang decisively used his first skill and threw out a flower. The true-damage marks above Citong's Lady Sun, already at half health, reached their maximum and exploded with a boom, emptying his health bar!
Almost at the same time, Gao Jianli, behind them, couldn't withstand the damage from the chain explosions and suddenly died.
Only Xiahou Dun remained in the dragon pit, with a sliver of health. In his panic, he hurriedly used his ultimate to escape the pit.
But there was no reason to let a duck fly away once it was in his mouth.
Su Hang swiped his second skill and sent out a petal orb.
Xiahou Dun used his ultimate to move his grave.
The valley's stirring announcement rang out.
"Diaochan defeated Lady Sun!"
"Diaochan defeated Gao Jianli!"
"Diaochan defeated Xiahou Dun!"
"Double kill!"
"Triple kill!"
The team voice channel fell silent.
A moment later, excited cheers erupted!
"Holy shit! Triple kill!"
"Awesome, boss Exalted Emperor!"
"It's like a fucking dream. He fought three in the Overlord pit and took them all down!"
"Damn, that was cool as hell!"
The viewers in Su Hang's stream were thrilled.
"A cow on a plane-bullshit soaring to the heavens! Oh my god, wasn't there supposed to be only a one percent chance of pulling off the Perpetual Motion Machine? God Exalted Emperor has done it twice in a row!"
"The next Diaochan player who cries about her being weak gets a replay of this match shoved in his face. A one-versus-two double kill early game, then a one-versus-three triple kill mid game. If that isn't an overpowered monster, what is?"
"Low-ranked national Diaochan player passing through. Please don't attribute individual skill to the hero herself. It's not Diaochan who's strong, it's Exalted Emperor!"
Douyin, Citong's stream.
Citong stared in stunned silence. He had never expected Exalted Emperor to pull off the Perpetual Motion Machine a second time. After all, everyone knew there was no trick to Diaochan's explosive Perpetual Motion Machine play; it came down to luck!
Grandpa Ge's shoulders trembled as he said, "Tong, you got tricked again!"
"Tricked again?" Citong was dumbfounded. Honestly, after learning his lesson from being solo-killed by Exalted Emperor early on, he had long since changed his playstyle from reckless aggression to cautious conservatism.
Just like in that last exchange: the moment Exalted Emperor's Diaochan jumped into the dragon pit, he had immediately pulled back and maintained a safe distance.
Grandpa Ge looked at the stream, a hint of fear in his voice. "Exalted Emperor was certain he could pull off the Perpetual Motion Machine, so he was completely confident he could kill Gao Jianli and Xiahou Dun."
"All that remained was figuring out how to deal with you, the tricky one."
"Exalted Emperor saw through your instinct to repay every grudge. After charging into the dragon pit, he deliberately took the full brunt of Gao Jianli and Xiahou Dun's damage, keeping his health at the kill threshold!"
"It was all to lure you into using your first skill and Flash to kill him! Then he used Diaochan's second skill to perfection to kill you instead!"
Citong shuddered. "Psychological warfare again?"
"That's right!"
Grandpa Ge's teeth chattered. "Even if you changed your playstyle to cautious and conservative, you still couldn't go against your instinct to repay every grudge!"
"It's terrifying. In all my years as a secondary-stream commentator, I've never seen a streamer or pro player use psychological warfare to this extent!"
By now, even Citong had to admit that Exalted Emperor's Diaochan was far trickier than he had imagined!
Citong gritted his teeth. "So how can he pull off Diaochan's Perpetual Motion Machine every single time?"
"Practice!"
Maoshen, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke up.
Citong was skeptical. "Practice?"
Maoshen's eyes flickered as he said gravely, "In theory, there's only a one percent chance of pulling off Diaochan's Perpetual Motion Machine. Even a Diaochan one-trick who's accumulated thousands of matches wouldn't have a success rate above ten percent."
Citong asked in confusion, "When all's said and done, doesn't that still come down to luck?"
Maoshen changed tack. "But what if he deliberately practiced the Perpetual Motion Machine in the training camp?"
Citong shook his head. "Don't be ridiculous. If you could master it in the training camp, Diaochan's Perpetual Motion Machine would already be everywhere. It wouldn't be revered as an immortal technique."
"Even if we take ten thousand steps back and assume you could master Diaochan's Perpetual Motion Machine in the training camp, actual matches are far more complicated than the training camp."
Citong continued to argue, "To guarantee you can pull off Diaochan's Perpetual Motion Machine in an actual match, you'd have to use those cold training-camp dummies to simulate every situation you could encounter in combat."
"Practicing it once in the training camp wouldn't be enough."
"You'd have to practice ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times, ten thousand times!"
At that point, Citong suddenly froze.