ARML CH104

Cheng Xing felt a bit upset at first, but hearing Ye Shaoyang’s comforting words, he immediately recovered his vitality.

That’s right, top marksmen in the league get one-shot all the time. As a rookie, what’s the big deal about getting killed a few times? Besides, being assassinated by a top-tier top laner is nothing to be ashamed of!

Cheng Xing quickly adjusted his emotions and turned his head to listen earnestly to Ye Shaoyang and Chi Shuo’s conversation.

Ye Shaoyang said: “Last game, they lane-swapped to disrupt the mid-jungle synergy tempo. During late-game team fights, Xiao Xing was burst down, so our damage output wasn’t enough. We couldn’t handle Xie Weiyu, and that’s the reason Tianhuan lost.”

Chi Shuo turned to face Ye Shaoyang and said softly: “Wind Spirit is Xie Weiyu’s signature hero. There are two ways to deal with him. One is to bring heroes with hard dominating crowd control to pin him down so he can’t fly around, then quickly burst him down. Two is to pick a hero with extremely high burst damage to instantly assassinate him.”

Some crowd control (CC) couldn’t be cleansed, such as the Holy Spirit Mage’s seal, the Nightmare’s sleep, and the Seraphim’s bind. These types of CC could deal with highly mobile heroes with multiple dashes.

However, using this kind of “single-target CC” to initiate a fight on exactly the person you want is very difficult. The opponents aren’t stupid; the marksman will definitely be heavily protected. Trying to bypass the frontline to catch the marksman requires extremely strong predictive abilities.

In the first game, Chi Shuo and Ye Shaoyang were able to kill Xie Weiyu multiple times mainly because Chi Shuo’s Succubus “Attach” could chase people from a long distance, then pull Ye Shaoyang over for the kill. But the Succubus would most likely be banned again. Without this “I pull you, you pull me” combo, relying on one person to hard CC Xie Weiyu would be very difficult.

—But not entirely impossible.

Ye Shaoyang looked earnestly at Chi Shuo: “Captain Chi, how about you play a jungle core next game?”

Chi Shuo was stunned for a moment: “What do you mean?”

Ye Shaoyang said: “You play a jungle core to break through, and I’ll be your backing.”

Hearing this, Coach Lin’s heart skipped a beat—how long had it been since Tianhuan won with a jungle core composition?

If he calculated carefully, it had been almost a year.

Chi Shuo’s jungle cores had always been targeted. His jungle was frequently invaded and stripped clean. The sharp jungler who once scored a pentakill with [Bloodstained Assassin] was suppressed to the point where he couldn’t farm at all.

Later, Tianhuan gradually abandoned jungle core compositions. This season, Chi Shuo had constantly played utility roles in Group B matches, leading to many voices online questioning if his form had declined and he could no longer play jungle cores.

But Coach Lin knew very well—Chi Shuo’s form hadn’t declined; he was just making a sacrifice for the team.

Ye Shaoyang taking the initiative to suggest Chi Shuo play a jungle core left Coach Lin with mixed feelings. He patted Chi Shuo’s shoulder and said: “Play it. Pick your favorite hero next game. Win or lose, play your own style.”

In the past, they didn’t dare to pick them. As long as Chi Shuo picked a jungle core, his jungle would definitely be blown up.

But this season, he had Ye Shaoyang by his side.

He could be a utility player for Ye Shaoyang, and Ye Shaoyang could equally be his backing.

Meeting Shaoyang’s trusting gaze, Chi Shuo’s chest grew slightly warm, and he said decisively: “Okay.”

The third game quickly began.

During the BP (Ban/Pick) phase, Yueying continued to target Qin Yizhu, banning two top laners in a row. Tianhuan didn’t ban Xie Weiyu’s [Wind Spirit] or Xu Zhuo’s [Blade’s Will], nor did they ban Xu Zhuo’s [Kung Fu Master], which had performed excellently in the first game. Instead, they continued to harmlessly ban two engage supports.

The stream’s bullet screen filled with question marks.

[What’s going on? Not banning Wind Spirit?]

[Wind Spirit took MVP last game with a triple kill in a team fight, and they’re not banning it?]

[What is the coach thinking? Does he want to lose another game?]

Yueying was straightforward enough. If you don’t ban it, I dare to pick it. They directly snatched Wind Spirit with their first pick!

Tianhuan still prioritized the bottom lane. Cheng Xing picked a marksman with stronger self-preservation capabilities, [Vampire Princess], whose ultimate could lifesteal. Qu Jiang picked the support [Radiant Shield] to protect Cheng Xing.

Yueying secured the [Kung Fu Master], a top laner with strong individual combat ability, and the highly mobile, hard-to-kill marksman [Wind Spirit]. The composition Tianhuan picked was quite standard.

Many netizens couldn’t understand Tianhuan’s strategy of letting the opponent get two strong heroes in a row.

Until the second phase, where Yueying predictably banned [Succubus] and [Abyssal Lord]. Tianhuan consecutively banned [Frost Goddess] and [Ocean Goddess], two mages with annoying AoE ultimates.

Tianhuan’s 4th and 5th picks began selecting heroes.

The 4th pick locked in [Holy Spirit Mage], and the 5th pick locked in [Stealth Rogue].

The moment this hero appeared, not only did the stream’s bullet screen explode, but Fang Zhengqing, who was lazily napping on the sofa backstage, also sat up straight with energy, narrowing his eyes and saying: “Jungle core system?”

Xie Yuan laughed: “Chi Shuo picking a jungle core, he’s planning to forcefully assassinate Xie Weiyu!”

Stealth Rogue, one of the jungle core heroes.

Its advantage lay in its ability to turn invisible and catch the enemy’s squishies off guard with a flank. But the prerequisite for assassinating opponents was having good enough items; a Stealth Rogue without items was just a squishy little brother.

In previous matches against Tianhuan, this hero was frequently banned. Even if it wasn’t banned, it could be shut down by targeting the jungle so it couldn’t farm. Moreover, when it was invisible, AoE ultimates could knock it out of stealth. Once revealed, the paper-thin rogue would be gunned down in two hits.

Chi Shuo hadn’t brought out this hero for a long time; it was too easily targeted.

[Captain Chi’s jungle core has finally appeared!]

[Didn’t Chi Shuo forget this hero? He can actually still play it?]

[Laughing to death, when Captain Chi plays Stealth Rogue, he frequently feeds kills from a thousand miles away. How many waves will he feed today?]

[Feed a wave at the Red Buff, feed a wave at the Blue Buff, taking his own buffs and handing them to the enemy—a common operation.]

A group of anti-fans popped up in the stream to mock him.

In the past, when Tianhuan brought out jungle core compositions, the probability of losing was very high, and Chi Shuo’s squishy jungle cores were frequently killed. No wonder the anti-fans started being sarcastic as soon as they saw Chi Shuo pick a jungle core.

Tianhuan’s fans didn’t dare talk back, afraid of losing this game too.

The match began.

Yueying predictably ran to invade Chi Shuo’s jungle.

You picked a jungle core; if we don’t invade your jungle, wouldn’t that mean we’re not taking Chi Shuo seriously?

Top laner, jungler, mid-laner—Yueying’s trio grouped up to steal the Blue. Although Chi Shuo’s [Stealth Rogue] didn’t need mana, losing a buff in the early game meant he couldn’t reach level 6 as quickly as possible, and his tempo wouldn’t take off.

So this buff had to be defended.

Ye Shaoyang immediately went to provide support. Seeing Chi Shuo beaten down to half health, Ye Shaoyang used his W skill to cast a shield on him, helping Chi Shuo escape quickly.

Meanwhile, Qu Jiang had placed vision in the bottom river beforehand, and Chi Shuo ran over to steal the enemy’s Blue.

In this wave of Blue Buff trading, Chi Shuo didn’t lose out.

Yueying then immediately ran to steal the Red Buff. Xu Zhuo went to the top lane to clear minions, while Yueying’s mid-laner, jungler, support, and marksman grouped as four to contest the Red. Tianhuan also gathered as four to defend it.

Cheng Xing squatted in the brush firing arrows, Qu Jiang held his shield to block damage, and Ye Shaoyang cast another shield on Chi Shuo. Carrying the shield, Chi Shuo charged in, forcefully driving the opponents back with a Q-W combo!

Caster: “Holy Spirit Mage can learn the Q skill at the start to clear waves, or the W skill shield. Lieyang learned the shield at the start this game, this means he’s protecting the jungler to the bitter end.”

“Exactly, the health of the Holy Spirit Mage’s shield is proportional to his own maximum health. It seems Tianhuan isn’t playing mid-jungle synergy this game, but a jungle core system with the mid-laner acting as a utility player?”

Not long after, Ye Shaoyang was seen helping Chi Shuo secure the river crab, and Chi Shuo leeched a wave of mid lane minions.

“The mid-laner yielding economy to the jungler?”

“The jungler leeching the mid lane minion wave, they must have definitely agreed on this beforehand. This way, the mid-laner won’t be able to reach level 6 first, but the jungler can hit 6 early.”

In previous matches, Chi Shuo was often seen yielding the Blue Buff to Ye Shaoyang, and even yielding the economy from small jungle camps to the mid-laner. This game it was reversed, with Ye Shaoyang yielding a minion wave to Chi Shuo.

This also resulted in the enemy jungler only being level 4 and a half, while Chi Shuo had reached level 6 as quickly as possible.

A level 6 Stealth Rogue possessed its invisible burst ultimate.

Yueying’s mid-laner warned: “Enemy jungler is level 6, be careful!”

Xu Zhuo knew how fierce Chi Shuo’s jungle cores were and immediately warned: “Bottom lane retreat a bit, careful of getting ganked.”

Xie Weiyu instantly grew vigilant and retreated back under the tower.

Just then, an exclamation mark icon reading “invisible hero nearby” suddenly popped up above the Yueying mid-laner’s head. He instinctively flashed back toward his tower to escape. However, Chi Shuo decisively followed, and the moment he broke stealth, a burst R-W combo instantly deleted the mid-laner!

—First Blood!

This First Blood was taken completely unexpectedly.

Yueying’s mid-laner was depressed: “Grass, I saw him leave and thought he was going to gank the bottom lane.”

But Chi Shuo took two steps away and came right back.

Viewers with the omniscient perspective could see that Chi Shuo played around the enemy mid-laner’s vision range, pretending to leave, and then suddenly attacked to insta-kill the opponent. The enemy mid-laner’s “death flash” was wasted.

The most crucial thing for a jungler is macro awareness—knowing how to gank, and knowing when and where to gank.

Chi Shuo had clearly grasped this opportunity. If he went to gank the bottom lane now, Xie Weiyu would definitely be prepared. But in the mid lane, the opponent would relax their vigilance thinking he had left to gank bot.

As a result, he caught the exact moment you relaxed!

After securing the kill, Chi Shuo continued farming his jungle. When Yueying’s mid-laner revived, the first dragon happened to spawn.

A jungle core like Stealth Rogue couldn’t be allowed to snowball its economy, so it was best not to give up the early-game dragon either. Xu Zhuo said: “Prepare for a dragon team fight.”

All 5 players from both sides arrived, posturing around the dragon pit for a moment. Unable to locate Chi Shuo, Yueying didn’t dare to start the dragon directly for the time being. Xu Zhuo said: “The jungler is invisible, support, sweep for his position!”

When an enemy invisible hero was nearby, an exclamation mark icon would appear above one’s head.

Although you didn’t know exactly where the opponent was, you could estimate the approximate distance.

The enemy support took a few steps toward the bottom right, and the exclamation mark appeared above his head. Just as he was about to say the rogue was over here, Ye Shaoyang suddenly flashed over from the top of the dragon pit, casting his ultimate and locking down the backline Xie Weiyu!

The Holy Spirit Mage’s seal couldn’t be cleansed and couldn’t be escaped.

Xie Weiyu was pinned in place, unable to move. The Stealth Rogue flanked from behind with a burst combo, quickly claiming Xie Weiyu’s head! After killing Xie Weiyu, Chi Shuo immediately turned invisible and retreated.

Xu Zhuo, of course, wouldn’t just watch his marksman get deleted. You killed my marksman, I’ll kill yours! He charged over wanting to assassinate Cheng Xing, but Ye Shaoyang cast a W skill shield onto Cheng Xing.

With the shield, Cheng Xing activated his ultimate to lifesteal, recovering his health in the blink of an eye.

Xu Zhuo retreated helplessly.

Tianhuan quickly secured the dragon.

The two casters looked at each other and said: “That team fight just now, let’s look at the slow-motion replay… Captain Chi was hiding far away at the time. Lieyang flashed in to initiate and pin down the enemy marksman, and Captain Chi instantly deleted the marksman!”

“Exactly. Although they didn’t play mid-jungle synergy to gank this game, their coordination is still incredibly tacit!”

During team fights, it’s a common occurrence to CC an opponent only for your teammates to fail to follow up. In this wave, Ye Shaoyang and Chi Shuo once again demonstrated what “brainwave synchronization” meant.

Ye Shaoyang flashed to initiate, and Chi Shuo instantly deleted the opponent.

Xie Weiyu hadn’t even reacted at the time.

Both sides were clearly posturing back and forth, so how did Ye Shaoyang suddenly flash over and pin him down?

Having secured two kills and the first dragon, Chi Shuo’s economy took off.

He began roaming the entire map invisibly.

At this stage, the jungle core’s macro awareness was extremely important; he had to rapidly roam to establish an advantage.

Yueying’s jungler was currently farming the Red Buff. Seeing the exclamation mark icon appear above his head, he hurriedly said: “Chi Shuo is here at the Red Buff!”

Before his voice faded, he was forcefully killed by Chi Shuo breaking stealth.

The buff was also stolen.

Xu Zhuo frowned and said: “Surround him!”

The mid-laner and top laner closed in from the left and right, trying to pincer and forcefully kill Chi Shuo. After all, although [Stealth Rogue] had high burst, he was also very squishy. As long as they could lock him down, Xu Zhuo could claim his head in two strikes.

The viewers with the omniscient perspective immediately grew tense.

Chi Shuo was rapidly retreating, and Ye Shaoyang went forward to receive him.

The two Yueying players arrived quickly, surrounding Chi Shuo from left and right. Xu Zhuo activated his ultimate and jumped directly onto the [Stealth Rogue]’s face. The snow-white blade light instantly enveloped the squishy assassin, and the mid-laner cast CC from afar. Seeing Chi Shuo reduced to a sliver of health—

Suddenly, a faint golden light radiated from his body.

Holy Spirit Guardian!

Ye Shaoyang’s golden shield landed just in time, saving the critically injured Chi Shuo. At the same time, Ye Shaoyang countered with an ultimate, pinning down the enemy mid-laner who was hiding nearby casting skills.

Chi Shuo turned around, deleted the mid-laner with a burst combo, and then quickly retreated alongside Ye Shaoyang, who had come to receive him.

—Double Kill!

Xu Zhuo: “…………”

Grass, having someone to protect you is so great!

The most disgusting aspect of the hero [Stealth Rogue] was that once he got items, he could invisibly bypass all vision, stealthily sneak up behind you, and suddenly pop out to delete you with a combo, causing you to lose a member before a team fight even began.

If they let Chi Shuo continue snowballing, they wouldn’t be able to fight at all in the late game.

Xu Zhuo immediately made a decision: “I’ll split-push the top lane. You four force a push on the bottom lane and liberate Xiao Yu as soon as possible.”

After Yueying’s mid-laner and jungler revived, they quickly went to support the bottom lane. With 4 people attacking Cheng Xing and Qu Jiang, Cheng Xing decisively turned and ran—Brother Yang had told him that for a marksman, staying alive is the most important thing.

They gave up the bottom tower entirely.

After pushing the tower, Yueying conveniently invaded the jungle, sweeping all the resources in Chi Shuo’s lower jungle.

Meanwhile, in the top lane, Xu Zhuo was split-pushing the wave into the tower when an exclamation mark icon suddenly popped up above his head—Grass, again!

He decisively turned to retreat.

But Chi Shuo intercepted him in the direction of his retreat, broke stealth, and dropped Xu Zhuo to critical health with a burst combo.

Xu Zhuo was forced to recall to restore health.

Ye Shaoyang provided support in the top lane, and the three of them pushed down the top tower with a minion wave.

At 15 minutes into the match, the outer turrets in the top and bottom lanes for both sides had fallen. Chi Shuo, with 3 kills under his belt, had the highest economy in the match. Yueying had to deal with the [Stealth Rogue] as quickly as possible. Otherwise, a high-burst jungle core flanking invisibly could assassinate all their squishy backline members!

Xu Zhuo said: “Force a team fight at the Baron! Mage, cover the area with your ultimate to force the Stealth Rogue out!”

Yueying’s team fighting was still very fierce. Xie Weiyu’s marksman had agile positioning and had completed a three-item core build by this point. Xu Zhuo’s top laner had strong pressure-absorption and assassination capabilities. The support, mid-laner, and jungler all possessed crowd control.

Xu Zhuo actively initiated the team fight, locking onto Tianhuan’s marksman for the kill.

Having been burst down too many times last game, Cheng Xing had learned his lesson. Almost the very moment he saw Xu Zhuo shoulder his broadsword and look his way, he directly flashed to run away!

With Cheng Xing running away, the frontline team fight became a 4v5. Since Chi Shuo’s invisible location was unknown, it was effectively a 3v5.

Xu Zhuo simply said: “Kill the mid-laner!”

Although Ye Shaoyang had built some tanky items, a mage’s inherent defense certainly couldn’t compare to a fighter or tank. Unable to catch Cheng Xing, Xu Zhuo charged straight at his face to assassinate him!

Yueying’s backline mid-laner and marksman also aimed their attacks at him, and in the blink of an eye, Ye Shaoyang was at critical health.

The caster said nervously: “Lieyang is dropped to critical health. Casting a shield on himself, he can still hold on for a few seconds!”

“Wait, what is he doing?!”

Beaten down to a sliver of health, Ye Shaoyang didn’t cast a shield on himself. He suddenly reverse-flashed and cast an ultimate, accurately pinning down Xie Weiyu, who was flying over with his Gale state active!

Caster: “…My god, god-tier prediction! He could even pin that down?”

“At critical health, he didn’t run, but instead turned back to CC someone?”

Xie Weiyu really wanted to spit blood.

The Holy Spirit Mage’s seal couldn’t be cleansed. After being pinned down, he couldn’t move for 2 seconds.

What was 2 seconds enough for? Enough for his teammates to kill Ye Shaoyang, but also enough for Chi Shuo to kill him!

Chi Shuo indeed followed up immediately, deleting Xie Weiyu with a burst combo.

—[YY Old Xu (Kung Fu Master) killed Tianhuan Lieyang (Holy Spirit Mage)!]

—[Tianhuan Shuoyue (Stealth Rogue) killed YY Rain (Wind Spirit)!]

The two messages popped up almost simultaneously.

Before Ye Shaoyang died, he gave the shield to Chi Shuo.

Carrying the shield, Chi Shuo quickly flanked to assassinate Yueying’s mid-laner. The enemy mid-laner hurriedly fled, but Chi Shuo followed up with consecutive dashes, hacking the squishy mage to death with a single strike.

Turning back, he continued to kill the enemy jungler.

—Double Kill!

—Triple Kill!

A triple kill in one team fight! Yueying’s marksman, mid-laner, and jungler were all dead!

Tianhuan, on the other hand, only lost Ye Shaoyang.

With his own sacrifice, he traded for the best entry opportunity for Chi Shuo. Before dying, he gave the precious shield to Chi Shuo so Chi Shuo wouldn’t get burst down while assassinating targets.

Chi Shuo’s eyes couldn’t help but grow a bit hot. Just now, when Shaoyang was dropped to critical health, he thought Shaoyang would flash away to escape with the shield… but Shaoyang didn’t.

Ye Shaoyang reverse-flashed to pin down Xie Weiyu, then left behind a single sentence: “Leaving it to you.”

He handed the battlefield over to Chi Shuo.

He believed Chi Shuo could turn the situation around.

Tianhuan’s jungle core system had been suppressed for so long. Besides Chi Shuo’s jungle frequently being blown up, there was actually another crucial reason—being suppressed for so long and losing so much, the teammates gradually lost confidence in the jungle core system.

Even Chi Shuo himself began to waver, feeling he couldn’t perform well on jungle cores.

But today, Ye Shaoyang wanted to tell him—actually, you can do it.

As long as the teammates on the frontline withstand the pressure and create the best entry timing for you, you are still that terrifying number one assassin in the league from S6.

You are Chi Shuo, the world-class jungler who once won the individual tournament championship!

Ye Shaoyang’s simple “Leaving it to you” made Chi Shuo feel as if he was in a trance, returning to Season 6—the Season 6 where his teammates fully trusted him, even willing to trade their lives to create opportunities for him.

That was also Tianhuan’s most glorious season.

Cheng Xing survived the crucial team fight and coordinated with Chi Shuo to clean up the battlefield, rapidly slaying the Baron.

The opponents’ revive timers were too long. Tianhuan pushed onto the high ground with the Baron buff.

“Congratulations to Tianhuan for taking the third game!!”

“Tianhuan’s jungle core has finally returned. Captain Chi’s triple kill in the final team fight was truly too handsome!”

The two casters’ voices were filled with excitement.

Deafening applause resounded throughout the venue, accompanied by the crying and screaming of fans.

Chi Shuo took off his headset, proactively reached out his arms, turned around, and tightly hugged Ye Shaoyang.

At this moment, it had nothing to do with Alpha or Omega—he just wanted to hug Shaoyang tightly.

The best teammate who helped him regain his confidence in assassin jungle cores, fully trusted him, and didn’t hesitate to sacrifice himself to create opportunities for him at critical moments!