Chapter 19: Crescent Moon Instant Kill Technique!

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With Jiang Ming’s explanation continuing for several minutes, the blind monk repeatedly appeared on the screen, only to fail in every attempt.

Though it was late at night, the viewer count in JM’s livestream room kept rising steadily.

Whether players were staying up late at internet cafes or at home, anyone eager to climb the ranks was listening intently to the commentary.

Unlike other streamers who would simply say, “This play’s a kill,” “This move’s flashy,” “The enemy messed up here,” or “Watch how I handle this,”

Jiang Ming’s livestream didn’t focus on any single champion. Instead, he meticulously broke down the gameplay and decision-making process for the audience.

Of course, he didn’t hold anything back, but these weren’t profound insights either—most ordinary players by now were well aware of many such small in-game tips accumulated over time.

Yet in the early days of esports, his theories were treated like scripture by players.

…

With vision control secured, the blind monk targeted the mid lane. Meanwhile, Jarvan caught Caitlyn in the bot lane, securing a kill. After the purple side’s mid and jungle momentum fizzled out, their bot lane also fell behind.

It wasn’t over yet. Jiang Ming, constantly evading Ming Kai’s focus, also targeted the enemy.

“Let’s go!”

At seven minutes, during a clear ward camp in the jungle, Jiang Ming, now level six, waited for Zed’s ultimate. Facing the blind monk who leapt toward the jungle camp, Jiang Ming timed the enemy’s cooldowns perfectly. Zed transformed into a shadow and lunged forward.

“Heh heh heh!”

“Foolish one, you cannot escape Zed!”

Three shurikens formed a 120-degree angle, cutting off all escape routes. Jarvan flashed in, using EQ to initiate on the blind monk, while Jiang Ming turned, cast E, and followed up with auto-attacks to finish the kill.

JM killed Clearlove!

[“Damn, is Ming really playing high-tier ranked? How does he get kills like it’s a game?”]

[“Definitely, it’s the bot lane combo of Smile and Curl versus the enemy’s Chieftain blind monk.”]

[“LOL, the enemy mid confidently picked Gragas first, but got solo killed in lane. The jungle teammates tried to help but failed, and the jungler got caught and died. The mid laner didn’t even react.”]

During Season 3, Zed—the shadow assassin whose skills had yet to be nerfed by Riot—pulling off such plays was no surprise.

Jiang Ming didn’t respond to the chat’s taunts against Gragas.

This was a person who, even with past grudges, had Red Warm Poppy offer him a way out and send gifts in his livestream, ready to reconcile. Then, turning around to “Ice Sugar Pear” someone with a shadowy trick, it was difficult to judge.

In short: don’t understand, keep your distance!

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With two kills secured, Jiang Ming returned to base and built the brutalizer, declaring himself unstoppable.

No exaggeration: in Season 3, this item was truly overpowered. At 1337 gold, it granted 25 attack damage, 15 flat armor penetration, and 10% cooldown reduction—an ideal transitional assassin item. Its upgrades, Youmuu’s Ghostblade or Black Cleaver, were perfect for Zed.

Back on the field at 7:22, Jiang Ming warded at the F4 location.

Don’t ask why he placed it there without hesitation—just know the enemy jungler was Seven Sauce.

With vision set, Ming Kai seemed to realize Zed was hard to catch and stopped wasting time mid lane. Instead, he shifted focus to top lane, where a ward sneak combined with Jarvan’s ultimate forced the enemy Zac to lose passive and flash.

“Not catching him? No big deal?”

“That little armor won’t save Gragas’s sorry life.”

Jiang Ming smiled confidently at the camera. “Alright, watch closely and learn well. I’ll show you what a full-health one-shot looks like.”

Before the viewers could react further,

Jiang Ming’s nimble fingers clicked sharply across the keyboard. The broken armor shuriken on Zed’s ninja outfit fluttered in the wind.

As the blue side’s Gragas exposed his belly to farm, three thunder-empowered shadows sliced the Summoner’s Rift ground in a trident shape—

W [Living Shadow] cast slightly off to the riverbank, R [Death Mark] saw both the original and one shadow dash forward, while the third shadow mysteriously appeared where Gragas had just flashed.

[“Shadow Art—Crescent Moon Instant Kill!”]

A youthful, slightly dramatic voiceover echoed in the viewers’ ears. While later League of Legends players might find such lines cringeworthy, at that time, it was just right for the audience who loved the game.

Didn’t it get your blood pumping?

The cold gleam of triple shadow slashes intertwined within 0.3 seconds, creating a sakura blade formation. The sound of shurikens slicing through air and shadow blades tearing flesh exploded simultaneously. Gragas’s bulky frame was pierced by three pale blue shurikens.

Just as Gragas’s ultimate barely escaped, Zed’s original form ghosted in place, shattering the airborne barrel into a cascade of spilled brew.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The crimson mark imprinted like a death countdown.

After a brief delay, it detonated above Gragas’s head!

Watching the player behind this flawless execution, Jiang Ming sheathed his blade, stepping on Gragas’s still-warm corpse as three shadows dissolved into black smoke, drifting on the blood-sweet breeze.

JM killed cool!

Solo kill!

Full-health solo kill!

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On the other side of the network, a stunned No State stared at his black-and-white screen, mouth opening and closing as if struggling to accept reality.

His full-health Gragas was just gone like that?

“Awesome!!!”

“Ahhh!”

“666!”

“Coach, I want to learn this!”

“This is what being a ninja means. This is the unpredictable Shadow Assassin. What the hell have I been running into in ranked all this time?”

“Where are those people who brag about pro players being invincible? The enemy pro mid laner just got solo killed twice.”

“Gragas is really trash, daring to go all-in at full health.”

“Gragas: ??? Do you know what you’re even saying?”

“Full-health execution, full-health execution, aren’t these numbers ridiculous?”

“Am I seeing things? How does JM’s Zed have an extra skill set compared to when I play?”

“Crescent Moon Instant Kill? Does the streamer mean three shadows?”

Facing the barrage of questions, Jiang Ming didn’t keep them waiting and explained the recent play: “Alright, class rep in chat, please sit down. The Crescent Moon Instant Kill is my exclusive secret technique. Want it? If you do, I’m not opposed to teaching you…”

It can only be said that when a person influences an era, they unconsciously become a part of it. Jiang Ming, who once felt embarrassed by all the streaming banter, now wielded it effortlessly after more than half a year.

Not opposed to teaching, huh?

The meaning was clear—send gifts now.

(Frowning, a viewer gifted the streamer a digger: “Here, take this gift, hurry up! How come you didn’t put such a cool Shadow Assassin play in your tutorial videos, JM? You’ve changed.”)

(Viewer Xiao V gifted 200 health potions: “Don’t like the digger’s sound effect, but 200 potions should be enough.”)

(…)