Netherworld Retrograde

Legends say that before Xiang Yu raised an army, a meteorite fell from the sky in Huiji County.

Later, Xiang Liang privately hired a famous weapon smith to use the metal from this rock to forge a weapon.

After nine days and nights, the smith finally crafted a massive Gold Inlaid Tiger Head Spear.

It was twelve feet and nine inches long, weighed 129 catties, with the shaft alone as thick as the mouth of a bowl.

Ordinary people needed the combined strength of two to lift the spear, but Xiang Yu's innate divine power allowed him to wield it single-handedly. Eventually, he even invented an invincible style of gunmanship.

Powerful in force, this style was straightforward without any ornate techniques.

Consisting of basic spear moves, stab, whip, circle, block, point, deflect, Flower Dance...

Coupled with Xiang Yu's divine power and strong physique,, his solid foundation.

Through various combinations and variations, it evolved into myriad techniques.

In subsequent generations, this style of gunmanship was passed down to Zhang Fei during the Three Kingdoms Period and further improved.

Since then, it has been adapted into different styles of gunmanship from generation to generation.

Thus, it also came to be known as the ancestor of gunmanship—the Single-handed Eighteen Strokes!

The weapon that Li Yelai wielded, although it was neither a long spear nor a long halberd.

But as a long weapon, he could also execute some of the Single-handed Eighteen Strokes.

Facing the Long Spear Knight's flashing charge,

Li Yelai grasped his blade single-handedly, not retreating but advancing instead, wrapping his brain around the knife!

'Boom!' The intense collision caused Li Yelai's hand to sting even more, the opponent was strong! Stronger than Li Yelai!

But Li Yelai had already figured out the opponent's abilities.

The most troublesome trait was the Knight's peculiar displacement ability, even allowing them to swing the spear from a safe distance and flash directly in front of him just before it struck, achieving a flawless attack.

To illustrate, it was like a boulder falling from the sky, which, just before hitting the ground, had the pause button pressed, retaining all its kinetic energy and speed and instantly transferring it right above the target's head.

Against such a crafty enemy, the usual tactics were ineffective.

The opponent charged up from a safe distance, executing an initial strike that would normally expose a flaw.

Then, timing it perfectly, he would Flash Body in for the attack, forcing Li Yelai to passively take the hit.

And even if Li Yelai gained an advantage, trying to pursue would simply result in the opponent flashing away to retreat.

Heavy Pupil shifting, Li Yelai quickly scanned the Long Spear Knight's body.

Adorned in heavy armor, impervious to blade or sword, one must first see through the Weakness Perception with Heavy Pupil to break the armor!

As Li Yelai contemplated this, his long blade swung continuously.

Seizing the moment when the Knight flashed back several meters, Li Yelai, with his left hand single-handedly holding the blade, sprinted at full power, shifting to grip the blade with both hands, leveraging the speed of his charge to leap forward and slash!

But the Knight vanished into a mist once more, dodging Li Yelai's strike, and reappeared behind him, thrusting his long spear towards Li Yelai's heart.

Li Yelai crouched by leveraging his body, once again holding the blade single-handedly and swiftly countered with a sideways slash!

While fending off the spear from behind, he twisted his body like pulling a turnip from a dry land.

The Long Spear Knight seized the moment to thrust the spear, clearly aiming to pierce Li Yelai mid-air.

Indeed, this move was quite dangerous; usually anyone leaping in the air is just a target, if they don't time it right, they'd get skewered by the spear.

That's why moves like a leaping slash, no matter how powerful, are rarely practical to use.

But as a Spiritual Ability User, Li Yelai performed Aerial Stepping, pushing off in midair to create even more distance.

Then, upon landing, he transitioned into a Qin Qiong's sword-on-back defense, blocking the spear's thrust.

And single-handedly twisted Flower Dance, once again using his back to face the spear but not to block it.

For when the spear hit the blade, there was hardly any resistance felt.

The spear almost brushed against the blade surface, scraping and sparking along.

It was not defense but rather using the force to make the Long Spear Knight thrust wholly and lose balance! Causing a recoil!

That was the moment Li Yelai waited for!

Deceiving the spear's thrust, he ducked and advanced in an arrow step, with both hands wielding the blade and slashing across the Knight's neck.

That was the weakness Li Yelai's Heavy Pupil had detected!

However, the Knight sensed danger and fogged instantly, causing Li Yelai's attack, which should have been successful, to miss once again.

It has to be said, this Long Spear Knight was really a skilled fighter, his gunmanship wide and sweeping, swift and lethal.

Wearing heavy armor, he hardly slowed down.

He held the upper hand in strength, and with armor-piercing ability, he also had the advantage in defense.

But he used a rigid spear, inevitably lacking many variations, otherwise, Li Yelai's defense would have been even more strenuous.

Li Yelai glanced at his mangled palm, yet his heart sparked with a thought: "Hey, I can hold out!"

At that moment, Li Yelai's combat experience started to escalate rapidly, just like those maneuvers just now.

All were learned from the phantom of Xiang Yu, from that immersive battlefield, absorbing techniques and experience. How much he could master Single-handed Eighteen Strokes was the same.

Unfortunately, facing this kind of enemy required a special approach.

Li Yelai exhaled, and the Long Spear Knight made his move again!

The clash of their weapons was frenzied, indistinguishable for a moment.

To outsiders, the two seemed caught in a deadlock.

On the other side, the Detective was quickly pondering; he already knew that both the Knights were Summoning Items. The best way to deal with a summoning item was to attack the summoner themselves!

This isn't some e-sports game; attacking the summonings doesn't mean you can't attack the summoner.

Sadly, Wang De was clearly aware of his own weaknesses.

The second Summoning Item he summoned, the Double Blade Knight, had always stood in front of him.

"Sigh... If only my ability was Illusion Eyes or Petrification Eyes," the Detective rued; he virtually had no combat skill. As a novice, plus his first Awakening ability being trace tracking, recklessly joining the fight or assaulting Wang De would likely get him counter-killed by the Knights.