Citong's eyes widened as he looked at Maoshen.
Maoshen nodded solemnly.
"Exalted Emperor practiced tens of thousands of times in the training camp, raising the chance of pulling off Diaochan's Perpetual Motion Machine from one percent to one hundred percent!"
"That's the truth!"
Citong stared blankly. In all of Honor of Kings, what player or pro would practice an impossible Immortal Technique Maneuver tens of thousands of times in the training camp?
"What's scarier than a genius is a hardworking genius!" Maoshen switched his phone to Exalted Emperor's livestream. As he looked at the delicate-featured, black-eyed young man with an indifferent expression, his gaze burned with excitement.
If before he had merely thought Exalted Emperor was exceptionally gifted and had a chance at the King Title, then after seeing that Perpetual Motion Machine Immortal Technique Maneuver, he was certain Exalted Emperor would one day become a King Title master!
He might even set his sights on the Champion Emperor title!
"He has the potential to become a Champion Emperor." The more Maoshen watched, the happier he grew. He wished he could crawl through the internet cable, stuff Exalted Emperor into a sack, and bring him back to AG!
Grandpa Ge shook his head and sighed. "Tongzi, I'm afraid you're going to lose this match."
Citong said nothing.
Against a Diaochan player who could pull off the Perpetual Motion Machine every time, he could rely on his exceptional game sense and mechanics to avoid it in advance, but his teammates couldn't.
His teammates were all at the 2,000-point level, and even the best of them only had a minor national ranking. Both their game sense and mechanics fell far short of his.
Even if he warned his teammates beforehand not to cluster together, how could they possibly stay spread out during late-game team fights?
Citong asked in a low voice, "What's my chance of winning?"
Grandpa Ge gave him a precise answer. "Ten percent."
Citong continued, "If I wanted to raise that to one hundred percent, what would I have to do?"
Grandpa Ge smiled. "Unless you can take on five people alone with Lady Sun."
"One against five?"
Citong closed his eyes and took a deep breath. As the first Farm Lane King, his skills had stagnated since he had partially retired from the KPL League. In the third Clash of Kings, he had suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of a junior, Yaodao.
He knew exactly why he had lost so badly. It wasn't because his prime had passed, but because he had lost the drive to grow stronger.
He had tried using his pursuit of Tianyun as motivation to improve. Though he had successfully transformed himself through fitness, his game skills had continued to decline.
What was the real motivation that would make him stronger?
But tonight, in this very Peak Tournament match, he found the answer.
Just as Maoshen had said of Exalted Emperor, what was scarier than a genius was a hardworking genius!
He had to find the self who had swept through the KPL, seized four championships in a single year, and possessed top-tier marksman talent yet still trained relentlessly!
"I prayed to the gods."
Citong slowly opened his eyes, his sharp edge on full display.
"The one who answered me was my 2022 self!"
The game reached eight minutes.
Su Hang's side had already seized an overwhelming advantage. After all, Su Hang's Diaochan Perpetual Motion Machine was simply too terrifying. Whenever two or more enemies clustered together, Su Heng's Diaochan would mercilessly grind them down with the Perpetual Motion Machine!
The viewers in the livestream were awestruck.
"The Immortal Technique Maneuver is terrifying indeed!"
"I finally understand the gap between me and the experts. All I'm missing is an Immortal Technique Maneuver!"
"You think an Immortal Technique Maneuver is that easy to learn? Boss Exalted Emperor is an exception. What other Diaochan player can pull off the Perpetual Motion Machine maneuver every single time like him?"
"If I could pull off Diaochan's Perpetual Motion Machine every time, reaching Legendary 100 Stars would be a piece of cake! Then pretty girls would be fighting over each other to duo queue with me and be my CP, hehe."
"Bro above, how many bottles of booze, dishes, and plates of peanuts did it take to get you this drunk? Even Zhang Laosan, the Diaochan jinchuriki, can't pull it off every time."
"But then again, Master Exalted Emperor, how do you pull off Diaochan's Perpetual Motion Machine every time? Is there a secret? Share it with us fans."
Su Hang glanced up at the chat. "I'm sure you all know how the Perpetual Motion Machine works. Search for hero guides on the Honor of Kings forums, and you'll find a whole pile of tutorial videos."
"Pulling it off in an actual match isn't particularly difficult either."
Su Hang smiled. "Just spend some time in the training camp and practice more with Han Xin and Zhuang Zhou dummies. Your chances of pulling off Diaochan's Perpetual Motion Machine in a real match will go up a lot."
A viewer hurriedly said, "Master Exalted Emperor, we're asking how you pull it off every single time in an actual match."
"To pull it off every time..." Su Hang stroked his chin and pondered. "You need talent."
The viewers groaned. Gaming talent was something you were born with; it couldn't be improved afterward.
At nine minutes, all the enemy's outer towers had fallen, and the middle lane had been pushed all the way to the high-ground tower.
Su Hang's Diaochan had a 9/0/0 record and more than 3,000 gold over the player in second place. His total gold was also more than twice that of the enemy support, Donghuang Taiyi.
"The time is ripe to finish them off in one push."
Su Hang had a habit when he played: if he could finish the enemy off in ten minutes, he would never wait until eleven.
At that moment, all five enemies disappeared from vision.
"They're probably lying in wait together in some bush on the map."
Su Hang frowned and dragged the camera across the minimap, considering the bushes where the enemy might be hiding. Based on the vision his teammates provided, he finally settled on the lone patch of brush in front of the Tyrant pit.
He sent a signal warning his teammates not to approach the dragon pit.
Su Hang preordered a famous blade and sent Diaochan alone toward the Tyrant pit.
When he was still a Flash's distance from the lone patch of brush, a dark figure with black orbs circling his body suddenly flashed out with a whoosh. It was Donghuang Taiyi, the lowest-ranked player in the match!
"Sure enough, they're hiding here."
Donghuang sank his teeth into Su Hang's Diaochan.
Xiahou Dun, Gao Jianli, and Liu Bei swarmed out of the lone patch of brush, hurling skills at Su Hang's Diaochan as if they cost nothing.
Su Hang was ready and instantly swapped to the famous blade.
Crack! The famous blade's breaking indicator lit up.
Donghuang Taiyi's crowd control ended.
"Your courage in burning your boats deserves praise."
Su Hang's Diaochan leaped with her second skill to avoid the damage. The instant she activated her ultimate, she threw out her first skill's flower, timed her second skill at 0.3 seconds, and quickly leaped backward. The true-damage marks above all four enemies' heads reached full stacks.
The immortal technique, Perpetual Motion Machine, began grinding them down!
Boom, boom, boom, boom! Explosions resounded through the sky!
White true-damage numbers erupted in a dense flurry, and pink nuclear blasts engulfed the battlefield. The four enemies' health bars were blown away, and they all died on the spot!
The battlefield announcement rang out. Su Hang's Diaochan, left with a sliver of health, claimed a quadra kill, bringing her record to 13/0/0.
In team voice chat, his teammates' excited roars were deafening!
"Nice kills, Master Exalted Emperor!"
"We have a wave in mid! We have a wave in mid!"
"Go, go, go! Brothers, get to the enemy's middle high ground, fast!"
"Holy shit, we're going to win! We're going to win!"
With no nearby jungle monsters or minion waves to restore his health, Su Hang tapped recall.
"Lady Sun is the only one left on their side."
Su Hang used three fingers to drag the camera to the enemy's middle high ground, staring at the green-clad female figure carrying a cannon crossbow.
"Four against one. It should be fine."