The Spear’s Swift Dance and New Challenges

“What are you laughing at?”

Xiao tilted her head in confusion, observing the mischievous grin playing on Yan’s face.

“I was just thinking, it’s a good thing you can’t block this move. Otherwise, I really might have lost to you.”

“Secret of Stability!”

Before Xiao could fully grasp the meaning behind Yan’s words, the spear in his hand flew from his grasp, hurtling towards her.

“What?!”

The rapidly thrown spear sliced through the air.

Bamboozled by Yan’s intentionally profound words, Xiao found herself unable to discern the skill being used in that moment, leaving her no choice but to activate her dual swords’ blocking ability.

“Flowing Water!”

He swiftly brandished his dual swords, weaving their cold gleam into an impenetrable barrier within a five-yard radius around him.

“Clang!”

Yan’s thrown spear slammed against Xiao’s sword blades, emitting a dull thud of colliding metal.

The immense impact force caused the spear to veer off its intended trajectory, sending it bouncing away to the side.

“Flying Thunder God!”

Yan’s figure flickered, and before the spear could bounce too far astray, he instantly teleported to its side.

“This is? A Flying Dagger Assassin’s skill!”

Xiao’s eyes widened in astonishment as she finally reacted, but alas, Yan had already closed the distance to within 10 yards of her.

He had gotten close!

Though Xiao wasn’t a purely ranged class and could still hold her own in close quarters, she dared not be overconfident against Yan, immediately deciding to widen the gap.

However, she had already positioned herself at the edge of the map, leaving her no room to retreat; her only option was to move forward.

Denying Xiao any opportunity to adjust her footing, Yan thrust the spear in his hand directly at her face.

“Collapsing Spear!”

Xiao, an undeniable pro player herself, reacted with lightning speed.

“Sword Flash!”

Xiao swung her dual swords, crossing them in front of her.

Simultaneously, her figure passed through Yan’s body, moving past him in an untargetable state, causing Yan’s [Collapsing Spear] to strike empty air.

Hearing this, Xiao, still caught in the continuous crowd control, rolled her eyes helplessly.

“Having used [Sword Flash] to flicker behind Yan, Xiao swiftly turned and performed a back jump, aiming to once again create distance between them.

Yan did not turn to check on Xiao’s situation, though he could roughly guess it.

A smirk played on his lips.

Without waiting for [Collapsing Spear] to finish, he immediately interrupted his own skill, abruptly pulling the spear tip from in front of him to his left-rear.

“Rear Horse Spear!”

In that instant, Xiao and Yan’s bodies moved in parallel, displacing 20 yards simultaneously.

The spear in Yan’s hand pierced into Xiao just as she landed from her back jump.

“A feint, then!”

Xiao’s expression grew grim.

She immediately brandished her dual swords, causing her body to spin in a full circle on the spot.

“Sword Wheel Dance!”

[Sword Wheel Dance] was a Tier 3 skill for dual-sword classes, characterized by low mana consumption, low damage, and a lengthy post-skill animation (TL Note: ‘后摇僵直’ refers to the delay or cooldown after a skill animation, during which a character cannot act).

However, it possessed a potent effect: knocking back all surrounding enemy units.

“As expected, she’s troublesome.”

Yan furrowed his brow, having been knocked back 5 yards by Xiao’s [Sword Wheel Dance].

Both of them simultaneously fell into a state of rigidity.

The greatest drawback of the [Rear Horse Spear] skill was its lack of crowd control, rendering it unsuitable as an opener for a combo.

A second later, both simultaneously broke free from their rigid states, and Yan was the first to move.

“Spear Wheel Blade!”

Yan shouted, brandishing his spear to draw a circle above his head.

The ranged light blade of [Spear Wheel Blade] was about to strike Xiao.

“Sky Strike!”

Xiao unleashed a flash of sword light.

This was [Sky Strike], a Tier 2 dual-sword skill with no special effects.

Xiao likely intended to use this move to nullify Yan’s [Spear Wheel Blade], then use the copying ability of [Sword of Drizzle] to gain a free skill…

Alas…

Yan’s lips curved into a slight, knowing smile.

“You fell for it.”

He instantly interrupted his own [Spear Wheel Blade], enduring Xiao’s [Sky Strike] as he charged towards her.

“Middle-Level Spear Thrust!”

Yan held the spear level with his left hand, while his right hand gripped the shaft tightly, thrusting it violently forward.

The sharp spear tip fiercely plunged into Xiao’s body.

[Middle-Level Spear Thrust] was one of the strongest damage-dealing skills for a spearman at Tier 4.

Concurrently, it was also the most potent technique among the ‘thrusting spear’ methods in traditional spearmanship.

Thrusting spear techniques were divided into ‘upper-level,’ ‘middle-level,’ and ‘lower-level,’ with the middle-level being the essential method, often described by the saying, “Middle-level spear, king of spears, its central point is the hardest to block.”

“What?!”

Xiao couldn’t help but gape in surprise.

She couldn’t comprehend how Yan managed to halt his [Spear Wheel Blade], approach her at such incredible speed, and then unleash [Middle-Level Spear Thrust], a skill not typically known for its swift execution.

*Swish!*

As the spear tip pierced her, Xiao’s health immediately dropped by a quarter.

This was the damage dealt even after Yan had equipped the [Weakening Spear], clearly demonstrating the unreasonable power of Tier 4 skills.

“Lifting Spear!”

Instead of withdrawing the spear tip embedded in Xiao, Yan rotated it, thrusting upward to send her body flying high into the air with the [Lifting Spear] skill.

“Stabbing Spear!”

Yan rapidly pulled the spear shaft, delivering twelve consecutive thrusts!

This was even swifter than when he had dueled Nan Shi not long ago.

“Why are your spear skills being cast so quickly?”

Xiao’s voice, tinged with confusion, rang out even as she was airborne.

It seemed she understood that once caught in a combo during a 1v1 PvP match, any struggle from the other side was futile.

Instead, she calmly and placidly questioned Yan.

“Also, why were you able to cancel your [Spear Wheel Blade] earlier? Is it because of your innate skill?”

“That’s right.”

Yan nodded, yet his hands never ceased their movements.

He unleashed another [Sweep] to knock Xiao back, continuing his combo.

“My innate skill is ‘Agile Control’: All attributes and weapon effects +20%, and I can freely interrupt my own skills and basic attacks…”

“As for why my spear skills are cast so quickly, it’s because I specialized in skill casting speed within the Agility attribute.”

Yan explained, a somewhat embarrassed smile playing on his lips.

While continuously stabbing Xiao with his spear, he managed to free one hand to scratch the back of his head.

“And… I also practice spearmanship in real life, so most of these skills are quite familiar to me…”

“Hey! Yan! You scoundrel!”

Xiao suddenly realized that Yan wasn’t using skills for his combo at that moment.

Instead, he was interspersing free attacks from traditional spearmanship within his crowd control skills.

Feeling the damage, which was equivalent to basic attacks, Xiao sensed a subtle insult and cried out indignantly.

“Oh dear, my bad.”

Yan lowered his hand, chuckled softly, and once again used [Collapsing Spear] to knock Xiao into the air.

He then proceeded to unleash every single traditional spearmanship technique upon Xiao (TL Note: ‘雾’ or ‘wù’ means ‘mist’ or ‘fog’, often used in web novels to imply a humorous or exaggerated description, suggesting the extent of the techniques was so vast it felt like a blur or perhaps a slight embellishment).

Block, Seize, Thrust, Point, Collapse, Lift, Parry, Entwine…

“Don’t be angry. It’s just that I almost ran out of mana using movement skills while kiting you earlier.”

“So, I could only use free attacks to fill in and, incidentally, regenerate some mana.”

Hearing this, Xiao, still caught in the continuous crowd control, rolled her eyes helplessly.

“To think that even with an innate-level weapon, I still couldn’t beat you…”

Xiao remarked, a hint of envy in her voice.

“But don’t get too happy too soon. These two swords aren’t a good match.”

“Once I acquire another innate-level weapon that’s as handy as [Sword of Drizzle], I’ll challenge you again.”

“Just you wait!”

Xiao delivered her final defiant words, then her health bar emptied, and her petite figure gradually dissolved into points of light.

Although she tried her best to intimidate Yan, her gentle expression made her fierce words seem utterly adorable, causing Yan to chuckle involuntarily.

“Pfft, alright, I’ll be waiting for you.”

He murmured softly to the now-empty arena.

“Well, time to wait for the next challenger.”

Executing a flourish with his spear, he tucked the weapon behind him.

****

Activity Map — Waiting Area.

Xiao’s defeated body reappeared below the large screen, accompanied by a flash of blue light.

She lifted her gaze, looking at Yan, who stood in the arena having put away his spear, and clenched her fists with a hint of unwillingness.

Her suspicions confirmed, Yan was strong, incredibly strong, even significantly stronger than her.

She possessed the strength to easily achieve an unbroken winning streak on any other arena… yet Xiao could never suppress the urge in her heart to jump onto the stage and compete against Yan.

Well, now she understood one crucial thing: ‘her current self couldn’t defeat Yan.’

This realization allowed her to calm her mind and continue striving to become stronger, until the day she could finally overcome Yan.

“Xiao, it’s not your fault. That guy is just too strong.”

A tall male player appeared beside Xiao.

He had long, flowing hair, and the long-handled weapon on his back seemed somewhat out of place in this game.

Passing players couldn’t even determine his profession based on the weapon’s appearance.

If Yan had been present, he would have instantly recognized the weapon’s true identity: a renowned weapon from traditional Chinese martial arts.

“Ah, it’s you, Guan Ying.”

Xiao looked at the newcomer, nodding helplessly.

“Indeed, that guy is excessively strong. Speaking of which, just like you, he also practices traditional martial arts in real life, which significantly enhances his in-game performance.”

“Oh?”

Hearing this, Guan Ying, his interest piqued, shook the long hair by his ears and chuckled.

“Is that so? How intriguing. It seems I’ll have a lingering regret if I don’t fight him at least once.”

Guan Ying, looking eager, brandished the long-handled weapon he had taken from his back, as if he were about to leap onto the arena and challenge Yan at any moment.

“Give it up, Guan Ying. You’re no match for Yan right now.”

“Besides, your strengths truly shine in large-scale melees; a 1v1 PvP isn’t suited for you.”

Xiao shook her head, stating her conclusion.

“Moreover, time is running out for you. I lost to Yan, but I still have half an hour before I can challenge an arena again.”

“If you get entangled with Yan now, you won’t have another chance to make a mistake.”

Xiao glanced at the time.

It was nine o’clock, with only an hour remaining until the event concluded.

One of the event rules stipulated that once a player failed to challenge or defend an arena, there would be a thirty-minute cooldown.

After this half-hour, players could still choose another arena to continue challenging.

This tournament format was designed to ensure that the top five rankings were based less on luck and more on the genuine strength of the players.

“Oh… is that so…”

Guan Ying responded absentmindedly.

Xiao cast a glance at him, then sighed with a hint of helplessness.

It seemed this guy was determined to fight Yan, no matter what.

Well, she, who had been the first to jump into the arena, probably wasn’t in a position to say that.

Xiao gave a wry smile, her gaze again falling upon the large screen.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Yan’s fangirl, Tian Jiu, was uncontrollably praising Yan’s “handsome” appearance displayed on the big screen.

“Yan… is so amazing!”