The duel arena was already set. Both players began preparing for their match.
Jiang Botao didn't use one of the generic youth camp accounts — instead, he directly logged into his own professional account, Wulang.
Zhou Yichen's character was a Battle Mage named Yiyu Xingchen ("Drifting Star of Words").
Unlike his idol's One Autumn Leaf, Zhou Yichen's Yiyu Xingchen had his own distinctive flair — calm yet radiant.
The battle began.
As soon as the countdown ended, Wulang charged straight at Yiyu Xingchen, opening with a Rippling Wave Slash to cut off his opponent's movement.
But Yiyu Xingchen didn't retreat — he advanced instead, rushing straight toward Wulang.
"Prefers close-range combat?" Jiang Botao frowned slightly.
Because this was an internal scrimmage against a trainee, Jiang subconsciously held back a bit, allowing the other side to take the offensive initiative and test how well Zhou could handle it.
Suddenly, Yiyu Xingchen performed a brilliant Z-shaped feint, narrowly dodging Wulang's Flame Wave Sword.
What! Jiang Botao's eyes widened in surprise.
Yiyu Xingchen counterattacked immediately, chaining low-level skills to create glowing Battle Marks, then smartly fired them off instead of staying locked in melee, controlling the rhythm from mid-range.
He's pulling back? Jiang couldn't quite read Zhou Yichen's intentions.
His own goal was to gauge the boy's skill, so he didn't back off either. Instead, he had Wulang rush forward again — in doing so, Jiang had actually handed the positional advantage to Zhou. Now, it was up to the boy to see if he could seize it.
At that moment, Zhou Yichen suddenly accelerated — his weapon swung faster, the timing sharper.
Wulang swung heavily, but Yiyu Xingchen struck from the side, deflecting the blow off-angle.
The momentum of Wulang's forward slash caused him to stagger slightly.
Crap. That was Jiang's first thought.
Zhou Yichen instantly capitalized — Sky Strike! Wulang was knocked into the air, followed by a quick Quadruple Stab, building up his Fighter's Will passive.
But Jiang wasn't helpless. He quickly used Rippling Wave Slash again to adjust his position midair.
A Circular Wave Sword slashed toward Yiyu Xingchen, who blocked it with his spear.
Then Wulang unleashed Lightning Wave Sword in response —
Yiyu Xingchen flipped backward, dodging in the nick of time, then leapt high and landed behind Wulang.
Jiang instantly spun Wulang around to strike back —
But Yiyu Xingchen, without even facing him fully, thrust backward with a Dragon Tooth, striking Wulang cleanly in the chest.
That hit made Jiang break out in a cold sweat.
The Dragon Tooth caused Wulang to flinch — Zhou followed up perfectly: Collapsing Dragon Strike, then Soaring Dragon!
The combo landed squarely before the stun ended.
A moment ago, Yiyu Xingchen had 56% HP while Wulang held a slight lead at 60%.
After this brutal combo, Wulang's HP plummeted — barely over 20% remained.
Still, Jiang Botao didn't give up. He got back on his feet and launched a counterattack —
Ice Wave Sword! Catching Yiyu Xingchen during the end lag of his Soaring Dragon animation.
A clean freeze.
This was Jiang's only chance.
Flame Wave Sword! followed by Gale Wave Sword! to break the ice —
Yiyu Xingchen's HP dropped sharply, from 56% down to 40%.
As Wulang pressed forward to continue the assault, Yiyu Xingchen slipped aside with nimble footwork, evading the next strike and countering with Falling Flower Palm, sending Wulang flying.
"...He's lost."
That calm voice came from none other than Zhou Zekai, who had appeared quietly beside the team manager.
"What do you think, Xiao Zhou?" the manager asked — this Xiao Zhou being Zhou Zekai, not Zhou Yichen.
"He's strong," Zhou Zekai said flatly, expression unreadable.
"And if you fought him?"
"I don't know."
"Uh…" the manager was momentarily speechless.
Back in the arena, Wulang was still airborne from the palm strike when Yiyu Xingchen leapt up again — Sky Strike! Another juggle.
This time, Wulang wasn't so lucky.
Piercing Dragon! Followed by a smooth 180-degree Staff Spin!
The finishing blow landed cleanly — Wulang was instantly defeated.
"You're really strong," Jiang said, smiling despite the loss. "I hope you can join the main roster soon. We need you."
"Thank you, Vice-captain — though honestly, you went easy on me. If you'd just stayed at range and used your wave swords, I doubt I could've won." Zhou Yichen grinned, scratching his head.
Jiang smiled warmly.
This kid's smart — I'll have to look after him in the future.
"By the way," Jiang asked, "what's with your weapon? Your damage output was insane."
He had noticed during the fight that Zhou's silver weapon seemed far stronger than a trainee's gear should be.
"Oh, that," Zhou said casually. "I put all my stat points into attack power. It's not even finished yet."
"Hand it over to the equipment department," Jiang replied. "Have them complete the optimization as soon as possible. But if you're going full attack, what about attack speed?"
"I'll work on that later — for now, pure attack is the priority."
At that moment, the manager waved him over.
"Xiao Zhou, come here. Let me introduce you — this is our team captain, Zhou Zekai, the user of Cloud Piercer."
Zhou Yichen stepped forward excitedly.
"Captain Zhou! I've heard so much about you. I'm Zhou Yichen — you can call me Xiao Zhou."
Zhou Zekai extended his hand, expression calm as ever.
"Nice to meet you. You can… uh… just call me Captain Zhou."
He spoke softly, almost sheepishly — like a gentle lamb.
And from that moment, Samsara's genius Battle Mage began his journey onto the stage of the Glory Professional Alliance.