At the same time.
On DouNai Live.
A room titled: [Lose One Game and I’ll Lick a Fan on Stream].
Under the camera’s gaze.
A handsome young man grinned at the lens in the center of the arena and said:
“Don’t worry, folks, I’ll definitely hit Gold rank this season!”
“And no, this isn’t smurfing—if I get matched against anyone below Gold, I’ll lower my Vitality to match their tier.”
The moment he said this.
The entire chat erupted.
“Dog Tong, you really have zero shame, huh?”
“Listen to yourself, you piece of trash! You’re a First-Realm martial artist—even if you lower your stats, your experience and techniques will still let you stomp lower-tier players.”
“Smurfing is good, love to see it, keep it up!”
“Tong-ge, I’m not asking for much, just let me see your sister!”
“Tong-dog, if you lose, forget the fan—just bring your sister out for a sec…”
“Arena 186952, everyone go wreck him!”
“Just wait, Master Tong is totally gonna choke…”
“He might have a chance to flop in Silver, but in Bronze? No way… those are just scrubs who aren’t even proper martial artists.”
“Hey Tong, how about this? Call me ‘brother-in-law,’ and I’ll do you a favor by moving in with you guys.”
“Ah-Tong, I wanna suck your…”
……
As he skimmed through the chaotic barrage of comments.
The handsome young man chuckled.
The martial combat platform, Infinite Duel, had a built-in streaming system, and he was the type who thrived on attention.
The more people watched, the faster he felt his martial prowess grew.
He loved showing off in front of an audience.
“You guys really love my sister, huh…” The young man laughed. “Too bad she’s not into the spotlight… Anyway, enough talk—time to queue up!”
“Let’s see who the lucky opponent will be this time!”
With that, he fixed his gaze on the arena.
[Match found. Your opponent: CaoThief Ruined Me (Bronze), Vitality 0.5, 9 Wins 0 Losses]
Seeing the info, the young man—Master Tong—paused in surprise.
“Brothers! Nine wins, zero losses—this guy’s in his placement matches!” Master Tong grinned. “What do you think? Should I go easy and make a friend?”
He glanced at the chat.
“This matchmaking’s rigged—how does this guy even get matched against Tong?”
“That’s just how Infinite Duel works. Placement matches always pair you against someone a tier higher, just to make ranking up harder.”
“For real though, Tong, I caught this guy’s last nine matches. That Vitality stat… is insane. You might actually lose.”
“Oh please, even if he halves his Vitality again, he’d still stomp… Y’all forgetting this bastard’s a top student at Tianjing Martial University?”
“Tong, I’m begging you, just let me see your sister…”
……
“Interesting…”
Master Tong studied the young man standing across the arena.
Since this was a virtual avatar—complete with cosmetic skins—there was no way to tell what the opponent really looked like.
But judging by the Vitality stat, he was probably a high schooler.
In solo ranked arena matches, most high schoolers were stuck in Bronze, with only a few exceptionally talented ones reaching Silver.
After all, Silver rank corresponded to First-Realm martial artists with Vitality of 10.
Normally, when matched against higher-tier opponents, most fighters would lower their Vitality to at least appear fair.
Especially for a big streamer like him.
But in reality, the gap in combat experience, martial techniques, and mastery of one’s limits was like night and day.
Take himself, for example—he was already a First-Realm martial artist, nearly touching Second-Realm.
“Hey man, how do you wanna do this?”
Master Tong cut straight to the point. “Want me to lower my Vitality even more?”
The opponent hesitated, then replied:
“Up to you.”
Master Tong smirked. Seemed like the guy had already given up.
Makes sense—a Bronze player seeing his stats would probably lose all motivation to fight.
“Alright, then I won’t use any martial techniques.” Master Tong decided to show some respect while sending a message to chat: “For this match, I’ll do a little tutorial. My opponent’s probably a high school senior, and since some of my followers are students too, I’ll share some pointers as their senior.”
With that, he clenched his fist.
A spear materialized in Master Tong’s grip.
“My opponent’s a blade user, so I’ll go with a spear. My spear skills are only Tier-1 since I learned them from my sister, but they should be enough here.”
Then.
The countdown began.
3… 2… 1…
The moment “1” flashed.
‘CaoThief Ruined Me’ shot forward like a streak of light.
A chilling arc of steel sliced through the air—
—so fast that the entire chat froze in shock, too stunned to even type.
Even Master Tong was caught off guard by the speed.
“At 0.5 Vitality, the speed cap is 100 meters in 10 seconds, but hitting that limit isn’t easy…”
His expression grew serious as he explained to the stream while muttering, “That blade draw… must be a martial technique. Probably Flowing Clouds Blade Art. Wait, he’s already learned a technique at 0.5 Vitality? And mastered it this well? Kid’s a prodigy.”
He was amused.
Back when his Vitality was 0.5, he’d barely reached Tier-1 skill level.
Only when he was close to 1.0 did he grasp his first basic technique.
Let alone pushing his speed to the limit.
A martial arts prodigy like this was rare even across an entire province.
Now that he understood, he relaxed slightly.
“The opening move is flawless—chat, take notes. Flowing Clouds Blade Art is one of the hardest basic blade techniques to master. Once the first stance, ‘Flowing Water,’ locks onto you, its fluid momentum becomes relentless. So the best counter is to break it from the very first strike!”
With that, he raised his spear and thrust straight forward with a basic mid-level stance—
—aiming to disrupt the opponent’s blade momentum.
Blade techniques relied on rhythm; once that flow was broken, the follow-up strikes would weaken significantly.
And then the match would already be decided.
Yet, ‘CaoThief Ruined Me’ seemed to anticipate this. With a subtle sway, his body tilted just enough to let the spear tip graze past him.
“Huh?”
Master Tong’s pupils contracted.
This kid’s footwork… was off.
Before he could react, the blade’s momentum—flexible yet unyielding—coiled around him like water.
Bam—!
Each strike carried a layered force, soft yet packed with hidden strength.
The impacts reverberated through the spear, making Master Tong’s palms ache.
“No way… no way… this blade art’s power… how’s he hitting so hard?!”
He barely held on, relying on his higher Vitality to endure, but inwardly, he regretted his earlier boasting.
By limiting himself to Tier-1 spear skills and no techniques, he’d allowed his opponent to close the gap. And with Flowing Clouds Blade Art’s nature, creating distance now was nearly impossible.
‘Just hold out a little longer. The hardest part of Flowing Clouds is the final stance… he probably hasn’t fully mastered it yet. Once the second stance ends, he’ll loop back to the first to wear me down—that’s my chance to counter!’
He wasn’t a blade user, but he knew that among basic blade techniques, Flowing Clouds was one of the most demanding.
Especially the final move.
The relentless barrage of blade strikes, each building upon the last, weighed heavily on Master Tong's mind.
He calculated his options.
Until—
"Storm in the Dark!"
Amid the flurry of blades, it was as if all the accumulated force had been unleashed, transforming into an endless, drizzling rain of steel.
Squinting, Master Tong swung his spear wildly, barely managing to block the attack.
"Now!" he hissed under his breath.
Yet, just then—
His opponent abruptly leveled his blade, leaping high into the air like a thunderous tidal wave.
A faint mist shimmered along the edge of the sword, coalescing into a brilliant azure glow.
"Tidal Roar of Heaven and Earth!"
That damned Cao—mid-air, the man astonishingly delivered two consecutive slashes.
Each strike brighter than the last!
In an instant, the azure light solidified into a towering wave of blades, crashing down upon Master Tong’s spear with overwhelming force.
The sheer impact—more than double what he could withstand—sent his spear flying from his grip…
……
【You have died.】
Hearing the system’s cold notification, Master Tong took a deep breath.
Defeated.
In the live stream, even the barrage of comments froze in stunned silence.
"This guy… he’s strong. Too strong!" Master Tong’s mind reeled. "That was nearly a Minor Mastery-level Flowing Water Blade Technique! And he’s only at 0.5 Vitality!"
At such low Vitality, executing even a basic martial technique flawlessly was already pushing the limits of possibility.
Yet this man had wielded the Flowing Water Blade Technique with such mastery.
"Could he be some kind of Old School prodigy? Or maybe someone who awakened their martial talent naturally? No—that’s impossible. Natural awakeners never have Vitality below 1…"
He frowned.
And the strangest part?
This guy seemed to understand spears inside out.
His opening Mid-Stance Thrust had been anticipated completely.
Otherwise, dodging it wouldn’t have been so effortless.
"Where the hell did he come from?"
Ignoring the live chat’s frenzied reactions, he sank into deep thought…
"His skill isn’t bad, but he’s way too arrogant… Didn’t even use proper martial arts. Just a spear."
Wang Xian shook his head, removed his helmet, and logged off.
This online duel had given him plenty to reflect on.
In the next few days, if he could digest what he’d learned, his Flowing Water Blade Technique might just advance from Novice to Minor Mastery…
He’d be back.