You actually want me to...

"No, there's no WE vision on the side. The excavator has burrowed underground. The excavator has been marked."

"Can you react yet? You've missed! You've missed!"

"Wow! The vampires have entered! The vampires are about to reap the rewards!!!"

It was a disaster. Almost the instant Vladimir entered the fray, several experienced former professional players had already mentally sealed WE's fate. Vladimir's ultimate combined with Aphelios's ultimate at the narrow entrance to the dragon pit meant at least four WE players would die in this team fight. On the surface, it might seem like Rek'Sai could keep the dragon alive, but in reality, it was already over.

The biggest difference between a strong team and a pseudo-strong team is that the former understands very well how to snowball their advantage. At this point in time, trading kills for the dragon with TES is absolutely unacceptable for WE.

One for three

Ah Shui sacrificed his life to successfully deal the full damage at the entrance of the dragon pit (meaning that after throwing out Q to scout the vision, he had time to throw out his ultimate, and was then killed because he didn't have Flash).

With this, TES secured the victory.

"Wow, Shui Zi, that was an amazing play! Your entry into the fray was absolutely explosive. By the way, next time you should consider picking Kog'Maw or something, that way you can unleash another burst of explosive damage."

"Shut up, you stinking dog. If you don't speak, no one will think you're mute."

"Tsk tsk tsk, but speaking of which, WE's dragon-taking attempt was a bit unexpected. If it weren't for their lack of experience and Knight's teleport, they would have really won this game."

"Luck, mainly it's about how fast you marked it."

That's how professional matches are; often, a single, subtle move can determine the course of the entire game, let alone something as crucial as Baron Nashor. If WE had secured Baron Nashor and at least two or three of them had escaped, their equipment advantage combined with the Baron buff would have allowed them to split push 4-1, and then seize the opportunity to engage in a team fight with a numerical advantage. Given the flexibility and aggressiveness of WE's lineup, TES simply wouldn't have been able to withstand it.

It's a real shame.

Meanwhile, in the voice chat of the WE team, who had lost the team fight, the expected disappointment and silence did not occur. Instead, words of mutual encouragement were heard.

"It's okay, you can still fight, don't worry."

"I still have the dragon buff, I'll figure out a way to get it back later."

"Keep it up, brothers, the game isn't over yet."

"I have one minute left before I can use Flash."

Words continued to flow from their mouths, and despite the setback in their decision-making, they had not given up.

Did they know they had already lost? Of course they did. They're all professional players; they couldn't possibly be unaware of this situation. For the next ten minutes, TES had a strong early game, and they had absolutely no confidence they could hold on.

Then why not give up?

Because... if they give up, they'll really have nothing left.

Having rallied from their slump, the WE team shifted from defense to offense, launching wave after wave of attacks.

Delaying is nothing more than a slow death; the attacking side has a glimmer of hope.

They've been doing this since Season 4.

This time, however, Lady Luck was not on their side.

At 29 minutes, WE's final push failed.

With this victory, TES advanced to the semifinals with a score of 3-1.

WE was eliminated in the top six.

The moment he took off his headphones, Mr. Ma's eyes were vacant as he looked at the center of the stage. Although he had anticipated it, the moment the result was announced, the sense of dissatisfaction and disappointment still lingered within him.

But that's reality. Everyone only gets one chance (there's no revival round in the Spring Split). If you miss it, it means you're not good enough. After being stunned for a long time, he managed to force a smile and said to his teammates, "What a pity. I thought we could drag it to a best-of-five series."

"Old Ma..."

"It's alright, we've already made it to the top six in just six months. Doesn't that mean that if we work a little harder, we have a chance to enter the World Championship this year? No, we absolutely can enter the World Championship, right?" Teacher Ma of this subject still had his usual cheerful smile on his face, but the crumpled corner of his clothes under his chair didn't reflect the same relief as his expression.

No one can easily accept defeat. Losing in the playoffs means that all the efforts of the past six months have gone to waste.

How could the top six be a goal they willingly accept?

Not far from the WE stand, Roland and his group watched as the crowd gradually gathered around Teacher Ma. They tacitly stopped their conversations and continued walking, standing quietly in awe.

Yes, that's what a profession is.

Unlike the easily won championships depicted on TV and in novels, esports is fraught with competition from the very beginning. This is why Roland had always scoffed at a certain TV series from his past life. Those trophies so easily lifted in the virtual world represented summers of heartbreak for many professional players.

Esports has never been a mere tool for generating traffic.

After waiting a while, until WE gradually calmed down, Teacher Ma and his group came over apologetically to complete the necessary etiquette before leaving.

Watching their lonely figures depart, Roland couldn't help but tug at Ah Shui's sleeve, drawing his attention.

"what?"

"I have something to ask you."

"explain."

"When you won the championship in S8, how did you feel?" Upon hearing this, the rest of TES also stopped and looked over, even Karsa. Although he had won many championships, he had never seen the one with the highest prestige.

"I don't feel anything."

"Huh?" X4

"Although I know you might find it strange, I really don't have any feelings about the result, or rather, you'll know when you get it."

"Damn it, you're doing Versailles again."

Seeing that this guy wasn't even bothering to fool them, Roland and the others instantly lost interest. Ah Shui wasn't angry; he just grinned mischievously and smacked the guy's butt while tidying up the keyboard, which sparked another chase and caused the others to laugh helplessly.

Metamorphosis: Chapter Fifteen: You really are a talent.

TES's victory in the match garnered widespread attention that evening.

Of course, that's all you can watch right now, because the other group's matches are tomorrow, so there's not much else to watch. Although WE made quite a few mistakes in this round, their overall performance was still excellent, earning them a lot of praise.

There are two very important reasons for this.

On one hand, V5's excellent performances set a high bar and inspired everyone. Even though the team kept losing, you could clearly feel that the players were genuinely playing seriously; they were just simply bad at the game. (By the way, V5's official Weibo account said they would give away a case of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans for every win, but the beans were almost expired before the team could give them away, and ended up having Xiao Dongbei and his teammates eat them themselves.)

On the other hand, compared to the fierce battle between RNG and EDG in the quarterfinals, their matches were far more normal. Those interested can rewatch the first round of the S10 LPL Spring Playoffs between RNG and EDG; it was a truly soul-stirring spectacle.

Of course, there were also quite a few dramatic moments in today's match.

For example, the "Blazing Fire" segment directly occupied the T0 spot in the official TOP5, and when paired with a microphone, the program's effect was absolutely explosive.

[This is hilarious! No matter how many times I watch it, this scene is just utterly ridiculous.]

[Has TES added another strategy to its arsenal: selling water, selling players, and selling dice?]

[2333, but it seems unnecessary to sell this.]

"Yes, that's true. After all, he'll deliver it himself."

Unlike the online audience who were laughing and joking, Roland and the others, back at the base, were leisurely gazing out the window after dinner. It was pouring rain outside; the weather these days is truly unpredictable. The weather app on their phones said there would be no rain, but suddenly it started raining. Luckily, they ran fast.

Just after the meal, as Roland was in high spirits and attempted to compose a lewd poem.

Suddenly, a clap of thunder echoed from the sky.

Subsequently,

A strong wind arose, a torrential downpour began, and in an instant, lightning and thunder roared.

Upon seeing this, Roland was stunned and stood frozen in place, as if he had fallen into some kind of state.

"What's wrong, boss? Are you acting like a wooden puppet?"

"How dare you! How dare you call Aban by his name? The Emperor cannot be insulted! Step back!"

"?"

"In this Dharma-ending Age, I secluded myself for 80,000 years. Have you all forgotten my name? If you want to make things difficult for the lineage I left behind, then bring out my Daoist excavator! I want the world to know that I, the Great Emperor Lanxiang, am still alive!"

Seeing Roland's relapse, White Crescent was about to say something when 369 suddenly jumped forward, straightened his hair, and said in a deliberately low voice, "You? Ha, you're nothing but a nobody. I was born in chaos, and I dare to call myself a fellow Daoist with Pan Wang. My cultivation is boundless and my creation is limitless. Could it be that you juniors have been able to call yourselves Emperors and Dao Ancestors after all these years of not walking the world? My child, remember my name, I am Ancestor Wei Long."

White crescent moon: ? ? ?

While White Crescent was still in a daze, Ah Shui sighed, pulled out a bag of spicy strips from behind the table, and sighed softly, "I didn't expect that after 80,000 years, there would still be old friends in the world. I am the Taoist of New Oriental, do you still remember me, fellow Daoist? Here... take a cigarette and think about it slowly." After saying that, Big Head took out a spicy strip and then handed over the rest.

"So it's Fellow Daoist from New Oriental. This seclusion is my attempt to achieve my tenth Nirvana Rebirth. Once I live ten lifetimes in reverse and become the strongest Mortal Immortal in history, in this era where the Immortal Emperor is unknown and the Immortal King has not appeared, I will suppress all calamities and chaos of heaven and earth with a wave of my hand!"

White Crescent Moon, Casa, Knight: ...

Are these three idiots?

With a three-day gap between the next match, the TES team has basically been spending all their time playing ranked games, aside from post-match reviews and scrims. They definitely haven't been streaming; streaming now would just be revealing their champion pool to the opposing team.

"What a pity, we promised to give Brother Ka a severe punishment."

"No way, your punishment is just inhumane! At most, the 'Dancing Fairy' punishment would make me physically die, and the 'Live Stream Twin Tails' punishment is just asking me to socially kill myself?"

"Okay, let's try another one."

"You said."

"During the offseason, I'll find you two maids to serve you for a day. You can have a good experience and then write me a review."

"There's such a good thing."

"Absolutely. One is from Tianjin and the other from Northeast China. I've arranged everything for you. No need to thank me."

"Damn! You're a real talent." Upon hearing this, Ah Shui and the others who were watching the commotion next door suddenly shivered. Just imagining the scene was incredibly absurd.

Don't ask, the answer is that they once got a video source with a Northeastern accent from Cat Emperor.

As a result... since then, they have even begun to gradually accept Sister Zhou's live streams.

"Alright, alright, let's practice some more." Only when they saw that it was almost time did everyone disperse and return to their positions to start playing ranked games.

Since it's playoff time, most teams that are supposed to be on vacation have already gone, and the remaining teams that aren't on vacation are very likely to be opponents. So it's a bit difficult to schedule scrimmages recently. Roland did consider having a bad match with T1 to mess with Faker, but White Crescent wouldn't allow it.

There's nothing we can do; T1's performance during this period has been truly poor, a significant letdown.

It can only be said that the great demon king of yesteryear has gradually grown old, and the former SKT has lost its former glory. The current T1 is nothing more than a clown resurrected from the dead. It's just a pity that the great demon king is still trapped there and unable to escape.

What can we do? We can only try to get ranked matches and see if we can run into each other.

The following day, the battle between FPX and EDG also officially began. Unlike TES, EDG did not pose a significant threat to FPX this time.

Actually, that's not quite right to say it.

The main reason was Doinb's explosive performance. In all four games, it was very obvious that Xiaotian was not in good form, and his jungle almost collapsed in the early game. However, Doinb was willing to lose lanes himself to force a gank on the top lane, allowing Gongzi to push the minion wave in and create safe space in the jungle, which led to the final miraculous turn of events.

There's nothing wrong with FPX, they're a truly amazing team.