Chapter 1644: The Final Choice

Translator: Nomyummi  Editor: Nomyummi

In Season 7, Sun Xiang stepped onstage for the first time and immediately received widespread attention. Even though he came from a weak team like Conquering Clouds, his performance was exceptional, breaking through the rookie wall and easily collecting the Best Rookie award.

At that time, “prodigy,””the star of hope,” all sorts of extravagant praise rained down upon him. Sun Xiang very quickly became pleased and satisfied by all this.

Amidst all of this, there was much commentary about how if Sun Xiang weren’t held back by the rest of his team, or if he had a top god-level character, then perhaps Sun Xiang would have had even better results in his first season, or even made history.

Sun Xiang deeply appreciated this kind of talk. He also felt that his abilities hadn’t reached their full potential, and that he needed a bigger space to shine.

He needed a better team, and he needed a top-notch character.

Battle God One Autumn Leaf was undoubtedly the most godly character in Glory, and Ye Qiu, called the Glory Textbook, was the top God in Glory history.

But Sun Xiang didn’t think that it was such a big deal.

He of course knew of Ye Qiu’s past glory, but by the time he’d gotten into Glory, all he saw was the performance of Ye Qiu and Excellent Era decline year by year.

So, when Excellent Era extended an olive branch to him in Season 8, Sun Xiang was overjoyed – he felt that this was a match made in heaven. He needed exactly this kind of team, this kind of character.

He came to Excellent Era, replaced Ye Qiu, accepted the Battle God One Autumn Leaf.

Sun Xiang was puffed up with pride. He felt that a new era was upon him. With this kind of top-notch team and character, he would immediately soar up into the sky.

But that season, Excellent Era was relegated.

No result was more painful than this. That season, even Conquering Clouds, who’d aspired for the playoffs while Sun Xiang was still there, hadn’t fallen to that extent after Sun Xiang left.

What had happened?

Sun Xiang, whose professional career was still only two years, would be lying if he said he hadn’t panicked.

He had a top-notch character, a championship team. How could their final result be relegation? Where had they gone wrong? Was his own skill not enough? No! Of course that couldn’t be the reason.

At that time, Sun Xiang was already beginning to doubt himself, but he was unwilling to believe it, he was unwilling to ponder this question seriously.

He was anxious to prove himself, and he had considered leaving Excellent Era sooner, but the team’s quick actions after becoming relegated ultimately convinced him to place his expectations on this team.

But then, that season, in the Challenger League finals, Excellent Era lost to Happy. He lost again.

He lost to Ye Xiu, lost to this person that he’d squeezed out of Excellent Era, the guy who’d lost everything.

Top-tier characters? Happy had none.

An incredible roster? Happy didn’t have that, either.

Just by relying on this kind of team, Ye Xiu was able to defeat Sun Xiang and Excellent Era. This wasn’t just the victory and defeat of one match, nor the victory and defeat of an entire season. This completely destroyed Sun Xiang’s sense of what had value in Glory.

With a top-tier character and strong teammates, he could soar right up into the sky.

This was what Sun Xiang had always believed.

And Happy had none of these things. And yet, Happy won.

From Best Rookie, to transferring to a top powerhouse, in the span of a short year and a half, Sun Xiang had experienced the shining peak of life that countless people would never reach. And then in the next year and a half, relegation, failure in the Challenger League, this was a blow that many, many pro players had never experienced.

Three years, in the first three years of his professional career, Sun Xiang had experienced many things. But when he looked back, he discovered that he was still so far away from the playoffs, never mind the finals stage.

Wasn’t he a prodigy? Wasn’t he brimming with talent? Wasn’t he the star of tomorrow?

Excellent Era disbanded, and Sun Xiang and One Autumn Leaf joined Samsara.

He still controlled the top character, he had even stronger teammates by his side. This was the two-consecutive-championship master of kings. Amidst the gray of his professional career, a new chance came to turn things around. In fact, it could be said that he’d reached an even higher level.

But this time, Sun Xiang would not be the arrogant and complacent person he was before. He began to attentively scrutinize himself, study how he could become better.

He did well. He swiftly integrated with the rest of Team Samsara. It wasn’t like how many commentators had warned, where there might be internal conflicts because of issues about the core position. He and Zhou Zekai, one close and one long-range, their Double One partnership ultimately took the Best Partners award for this season.

He finally fixed his attitude. And in this season’s battles, he once again met Happy, once again met Ye Xiu. And again, they met in the finals, facing off directly against each other. This battle had even given them an appropriate map – Inevitable Confrontation.

Sun Xiang wanted to win.

He wanted to defeat Happy, and wanted to defeat Ye Xiu even more.

He admitted that it was thanks to Ye Xiu and Happy that he had woken up, but this only made him want to defeat them even more. He hoped to let all of Happy, let Ye Xiu see, that he was no longer the Sun Xiang that they had defeated before.

And so he was cautious, he was prudent, he didn’t allow himself to make any mistake in this match. It was for the sake of Samsara’s victory, and at the same time it was to fiercely prove himself in front of the person who had defeated him before.

In the end, he had still ended up in such a pathetic position.

But this time, he wasn’t angry, wasn’t resentful, wasn’t like before, where he found fault in everything except himself.

Immediately, he began to evaluate himself, and he realized, perhaps he had used the wrong method.

Caution, psychological battle, these weren’t his strengths, but in order to prove himself, he still chose to use this playstyle that didn’t quite suit him.

Even though he very much hoped that he could surpass Ye Xiu in all aspects, in reality, everyone had their strengths and weaknesses. Sun Xiang’s strengths didn’t lay in these areas.

He should choose to use the playstyle that he was good at. Because, on the battlefield, his goal was to win, not to surpass! The only thing that people needed to surpass was themselves. Following his own footsteps, one step after another surpassing himself. Only then would he become stronger and stronger.

Ye Xiu, or anyone, they should not be targets to be surpassed. Rather, they should be defeated!

Shattering the Lands!

A Level 75 skill, this was Sun Xiang’s final choice. In the face of uncertainty regarding the NPCs’ attitude toward the players, he was no longer careful, he was no longer trying to think it over carefully, because those were not his strengths. He could not become one of those players who relied on their minds to fight.

He took the initiative in attacking the NPCs. Shattering the Lands sent magic energy surging through the ground, causing these obstacles in front of him to go flying into the air.

These people in my way, all of you can die!

In this instant, the imposing aura that One Autumn Leaf displayed was just like the Battle God under Ye Xiu’s hands back in the day.