LPL History

Chapter 228 Han Jie's First Glimpse of Brilliance: A Sword Riding the Wind Pierces Through the Cold Window
"Summoners around the world! Welcome to the stage of the 2014 League of Legends World Championship!"

At the center of the stage, a spotlight suddenly shone on.

Amidst thunderous cheers from the audience, the host's shouts rang out!
"Spanning five lakes and four seas, converging in a mere second, the gears that will change the world are now intertwined! From the sparks of Taipei, to the fierce winds of Singapore, to the surging waves of Busan, ultimately, only the victor can ascend to the pinnacle in Seoul and forge the steel throne!"

In the stands, sixteen battle flags burned fiercely amidst the roars of tens of thousands of people!
"Tonight, there is no way out for cowardice, only two possible outcomes!"

"To be crowned king upon the ashes of broken armor! Or to forge a legend with the sweat and blood that splatter it!"

"Let South Korea's iron curtain of operations clash head-on with China's torrent of passion! Let North America's indomitable will collide with Europe's ancient glory! Now—heroes, take up your keyblades! Carve your names with the most dazzling skills!!"

"The 2014 League of Legends World Championship has officially begun!!"

As the host finished speaking with great enthusiasm, the cheers from the audience seemed to pierce the sky.

At this moment, the NJWS team members, dressed in black uniforms, and the WE.A team members, dressed in red uniforms, are positioned on either side of the stage.

As it was the opening match, the players from both teams received "special treatment" and even had an entrance ceremony, a privilege not afforded to teams that entered the arena later.

"First of all, please allow me to introduce the team located on the right side of the stage: the legendary Korean team NJWS!"

"Save, the top laner who built an unbreakable defense with rock-solid courage!"

"Watch, a jungler who uses his wisdom to weave deadly rhythms in Summoner's Rift!"

"The best assassin mid-laner lurking in the shadows—Ggoong!"

"Zefa's unerring arrows and Corilla's Hammer of Control have forged the Frozen Throne together!"

"They rose to the world stage with a crushing victory over SKT, and tonight they are determined to continue their legend as the kings of the gauntlet!!"

Since the event was held in Taipei, the host also spoke Chinese.

The Koreans standing on the stage couldn't understand what the host was saying, but they understood the general outline of the event. They simply waved towards the audience when they heard their names called.

"And standing on the left side of the stage is the legendary dark horse from China, the WE.A team that has stirred up a youth storm!"

"Khan, a top laner who excels in both offense and defense and fights his way through the enemy ranks with a longsword!"

"The cornerstone of the team, the mid-laner who is Lulu's mainstay—Xiye!"

Upon hearing the host's introduction, Xi Ye's face darkened even more.

The Khan couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"why are you laughing?"

"I just thought of something really funny."

"You fucking..."

"Wow, bro! Don't do that! It's being broadcast live worldwide! The camera's practically in your face!"

The host's introduction continued.

"Sima the Old Thief's gaping maw, with each of Xiaoming's divine hooks, seems capable of swallowing everything in its path!"

Sima the Old Thief had a cold face.

"Who the hell wrote this host's script? How could he be so stupid?"

"And Li—Zhou Li, the absolute core and soul captain of WE.A, who led the team to a remarkable 21-game winning streak and achieved a three-level jump, advancing undefeated from the secondary league to the world stage, and is hailed as the world's number one jungler!!"

Sima the Old Thief forced a smile.

"That's quite fair."

Zhou Li was somewhat surprised: "When did I become the world's number one jungler?"

“The fist just banned you yesterday,” Xiao Ming said. “Brother Zhou, don’t you know? There’s a lot of discussion about it online right now.”

Zhou Li was genuinely unaware that he had been busy securing sponsorships these past few days and hadn't really been surfing the internet much.

"Our LPL has two world number ones, and we also have the world number one ADC, Nami! He was also crowned by Riot Games."

Mentioning Nami, Zhou Li couldn't help but ask, "How was he today?"

Everyone shook their heads; they had a match to play today and no time to pay attention to Team B's situation.

"Honestly, putting Nami and my brother Zhou together is a bit disrespectful to my brother Zhou!"

The Khan began to flatter him.

Everyone agreed.

So, under the camera's view of the global finals, NJWS Gege looked like she was facing a formidable enemy, her face serious.

Meanwhile, the members of WE.A on the other side started whispering among themselves, as if they didn't consider this the stage for the World Championship at all.

In the South Korean live broadcast room, the director switched the camera back to the commentary booth.

"Hey! WE.A's players seem so relaxed! But this is the World Championship stage! I think this attitude is a little (emphasis) disrespectful, isn't it?"

As expected of a seasoned veteran, Quan Yongjun immediately set the pace as soon as he opened his mouth.

Because of Zhou Li's previous online remarks, the Koreans' insults towards Zhou Li never stopped from the very beginning of the live broadcast.

If we say that Zhou Li's dissatisfaction with Korean fans stemmed from his brutal defeat of the Korean team in the previous two seasons, then...

So this time, in the words of the Koreans—"Xi Ba Zhou Li, you have really angered the Republic of Korea!"

Seated in the commentary room were another commentator, Kim Jae-young, and host Cho Eun-jung, who was participating as a guest commentator for the opening match.

This year marks Cho Eun-jung's first official role as a host for OGN.

Lee Hyun-kyung, another female host from ONG, did not participate in the commentary for this World Championship because she had multiple roles and the company arranged for her to focus more on StarCraft 2.

"Indeed, it feels like they have absolutely no respect for the World Championship! But I guess it's understandable, since they're just a bunch of kids who are only sixteen or seventeen years old. They probably don't really understand the concept of such an honor."

Kim Jae-young's words only added fuel to the fire.

"Eun-jung, this is your first time participating in our commentary. Which player do you like the most?"

When Jeon Yong-jun asked her this question, Zhao Enjing was taken aback.

Which contestant does she like the most?

She likes Zhou Li from WE.A the most. Can I say that?
If she actually said it out loud, she'd probably be fired from the company tomorrow.

It's important to understand that the level of anger towards Zhou Li in South Korea right now is exceptionally high.

In the live stream room, the sound of "Xi Ba" (a type of loud noise) had completely covered the screen.

In fact, Zhao Enjing did not know much about Zhou Li before.

Because she has always focused her work in China, she doesn't know much about the LPL.

I first learned about Zhou Li because of the huge wave of public opinion he caused online by saying "Everyone here is trash".

After learning that she would be participating in the commentary for the opening match of WE.A, Zhao Enjing also took the time to do her homework and learn about Zhou Li.

Logically speaking, Zhou Li did not leave a good first impression on her.

But the more she learned about it, the more she realized that she had unknowingly become a fan of Zhou Li!

This made her feel guilty. Seeing the anti-Zhou movement intensifying in China, Zhao Enjing felt that she had let down her nation.

Torn by these complex emotions, Zhao Enjing suffered from insomnia for several nights in a row, deeply immersed in self-judgment.

So much so that I had to use several layers of concealer to cover my dark circles when I arrived at the event today.

Hearing Quan Yongjun's question, Zhao Enjing had no choice but to speak:
“I really like every member of NJWS and I’m really looking forward to them putting on a great performance today! But I feel like the players from WE.A are also very strong… especially their jungler, Zhou Li, who I heard is incredibly skilled?” Zhao Enjing didn’t want to be a traitor to the nation, but she also didn’t want to tarnish her idol, so she could only express herself in this tactful way.

Upon hearing Zhao Enjing's words, Jin Zaiyong clicked his tongue.

"Oh, you mean Zhou Li? In the LPL, he's definitely one of the best players, right?"

After saying that, he changed the subject and said with a smile:

"But OMG, who was previously hailed as the strongest team in the LPL, was beaten 3-0 by our SKT! To be honest, the overall strength of the LPL right now isn't that strong, right? I think NJWS has a very high chance of winning today's match!"

Quan Yongjun nodded, clearly agreeing with Kim Jae-young's words, and said:

"So we can see that both teams are ready. Let's watch the match and see the draft picks!"

At the competition venue, both players have taken their seats.

NJWS, on the blue side, immediately banned Lulu as their first pick.

Then, a smug smile appeared on ggoong's face.

It's said that WE.A's mid laner only knows how to play Lulu. Although as a professional team, they banned Lulu because they know that Lulu has always played an important role in WE.A's tactical system, it still made ggoong secretly happy.

In fact, as a mid-lane player who specializes in assassin heroes, facing a hero like Lulu is still a real headache.

Moreover, according to ggoong, their move to eliminate Lulu has probably left Xiye on the other side dumbfounded.

After all, she's just a tool for playing Lulu.

However, what ggoong didn't know was that at this moment, in the WE.A player's seat, seeing NJWS's ban, Xiye's smile was barely contained.

Although Zhou Li had promised before the match that he wouldn't be allowed to play Lulu, Xi Ye still felt that the team was accommodating him.

But now that Lulu has been neutralized, things are different.

You should know that Xiye was once one of the two carries of WE.A in the second division league, along with Sima Laozei!

A mid-lane assassin who kills like flies in the second division!
But after joining the LPL, he could only be a support player every game.

Although we've had a winning streak, we're inevitably a bit tired.

"Wow, the first ban of the World Championship went to our Lulu juggernaut, Xiye! Wow bro, you're really famous now!"

The Khan's irritating voice rang out.

"Can you shut up, you monkey!"

Zhou Li laughed and joked:

"Since Lulu has been banned, let's play the healer instead."

WE.A then removed the Wanderer.

The power to control the economy has returned to NJWS.

watch began to speak:

"Let's twist the Nidalee's position."

Compared to Zhou Li's seemingly entertaining Lee Sin, in my opinion, Zhou Li's Nidalee is far more terrifying.

In Zhou Li's hands, this hero truly demonstrated what it means to be extremely aggressive.

Some time ago, after watching Zhou Li's Nidalee jungle video, he also practiced Nidalee diligently for a while.

As a professional jungler, he also plays Nidalee exceptionally well, consistently carrying his teammates in solo queue games.

However, Watch knew that his Leopard Woman was not even in the same league as Zhou Li's Leopard Woman.

This person's control over the field of vision, psychological warfare, and rhythm of attack are all excellent.

After NJWS banned Nidalee, WE.A went on to ban Lee Sin as well.

Lee Sin is arguably the champion with the highest jungle proficiency on Watch.

Then both sides took down Lucian and Twitch respectively.

Looking at the two men on either side, Quan Yongjun spoke:

"Oh! Today's bans on both sides are clearly targeted at specific players! On the contrary, strong meta heroes like Maokai have been left unbanned!"

Kim Jae-young nodded and analyzed:
"It's clear that both teams have done very serious research on each other before the match!! Let's take a look at NJWS's first draft picks!!"

Kim Jae-young was about to get excited, but NJSW's next move left him stunned.

With strong meta champions like Maokai, Alistar, and Zilean all outside the map, NJWS, on the first floor, instantly locked in Zed! (*)

"Wow! NJWS immediately locked Zed for ggoong! Indeed, ggoong's proficiency with this champion is extremely high, and he can confidently pick it on the first floor!"

WE.A players' bench.

Upon seeing NJWS's player selections, Khan, a Korean, was the first to stand up and express his dissatisfaction.

"Damn it! What is this bastard pretending for? He actually dared to pick Zed on the first floor! He completely disregards my brother Xiye!"

Hearing the Khan's curses, Xiao Ming asked:
"Khan, are you really not planning to go back to Korea?"

The Khan blinked: "Why go back? I'm a proud Chinese!"

Xiao Ming then asked, "What will you do when you serve in the military?"

"..."

In the Chinese live stream, the news that NJWS had been locked down on the first floor sparked a lively discussion among netizens.

[What do you mean? You're taking the hit on the first floor? Are you looking down on Xiye or my Zhou Ge?]

[All the strong heroes in this version are out there, so I locked in Zed directly, 6666, and he got the item.]

[Brother Zhou, kill this Korean!]

[What's with this Ggoong acting all high and mighty? He's just the second-in-command in Korea. I wouldn't even dare to act like that when I'm playing Gogoing.]

Zhou Li's anger subsided when he saw NJWS's selection of personnel.

That little brat is trying to show off to him.

Zhou Li hated two types of people the most in his life: those who were pretentious.

"Khan, take the big tree first."

He glanced at Xiye. The old man of time was still outside. This hero was incredibly strong in the mid lane in the current version, and it would be a real shame not to pick him.

However, the current bot lane meta favors tanky supports, making Zilean extremely weak in the bot lane; he simply can't go there.

Xi Ye clearly noticed this as well, and took the initiative to speak:

"Brother Zhou, shall we take the Time Machine?"

Hearing Xi Ye's words, Zhou Li shook his head.

If the Koreans can be so confident in locking down Zed on the first floor, why can't their LPL players?!

His mouse cursor moved towards Yasuo.

"What time do you need? Xiye, I'll give you Yasuo, play him!!"

(End of this chapter)