"Almost..."
Lu Jingming murmured softly, a subtle anticipation flashing in his crimson eyes.
The fully realized Wang Qiu'er would completely unleash the potential of the Imperial Destined Beast and God-King bloodline, possessing the inherent potential to reach the Divine realm. With proper nurturing, achieving the position of a God-King in the future was not impossible.
His gaze shifted from the battle between Wang Qiu'er and Tang Wutong, sweeping across the combat zone involving Raiden Mei and Niu Tian.
Seeing that Raiden Mei was steadily suppressing the Azure Bull Dragon within a lightning storm domain, leveraging her absolute control over lightning, leaving Niu Tian only capable of defense without any chance to counterattack, he dismissed it from his focus. Given Mei's strength and combat intelligence, suppressing Niu Tian and preventing him from intervening in other battles was not an issue.
Finally, his attention turned to another battle several kilometers away, one he had temporarily ignored despite its extremely intense energy fluctuations.
As his vision pierced the distance, clearly discerning the beautiful woman who was fiercely suppressing the Irish Hound, Cú Chulainn, with an assault as relentless as a storm, Lu Jingming's expression became somewhat peculiar and surprised.
Although he hadn't personally participated in the battles of the God Realm, he had already instructed Herta to record all observable divine-level combat footage using special means. Observing the fighting styles and energy application of powerhouses at that level was highly beneficial for improving his own strength and understanding higher-tier power.
Therefore, he recognized her almost instantly. The agile woman whose fighting style carried a hint of soul beast wildness and who was currently dominating Cú Chulainn, was none other than the one who should be residing in the God Realm—Tang San's wife, the Soft Bone Douluo, Xiao Wu.
However, the current Xiao Wu, despite her fierce offense, did not exhibit the absolute, instantaneous lethal power of a true God.
Clearly, the old injury she sustained from Ma Hongjun in the God Realm was far from healed, severely restricting the display of her full power.
What was remarkable was her ability to descend onto the Douluo Continent so precisely after falling into the perilous spatial turbulence.
This land held immense significance for her; it was not only the starting point of her ascension to the God Realm but also where her daughter Tang Wutong resided, along with the two she regarded as younger brothers, Niu Tian and Titan.
Perhaps, it was the mysterious pull of the unbreakable bloodline bond that allowed her to cross the boundless spatial barrier and ultimately return to this land, both familiar and strange.
Xiao Wu being alive should have been a great blessing for the now near-mad Tang San, perhaps the only hope capable of pulling him back from his obsession and hatred, restoring a sliver of his sanity.
But fate, ironically, had intervened—Xiao Wu was suffering from amnesia.
For Tang San, who was dedicated to avenging his wife and had fallen into extremism, this was undoubtedly adding insult to injury, a highly unfriendly twist.
Worse still, in her confused, amnesiac state, she had happened to fall into Huo Yuhao's hands and was taken back to the Holy Spirit Church.
Yet, Huo Yuhao, who had fused with the pseudo-core of the Herrscher of Sentience, had never truly slipped out of Lu Jingming's control.
Lu Jingming was never one to be a generous benefactor, freely gifting Huo Yuhao a Herrscher core containing immense power, even a pseudo-core. There must have been an embedded contingency capable of countering or even controlling him.
"Now's the time, Gáe Bolg!"
Perhaps it was the subtle sensation caused by her blood-linked daughter, Tang Wutong, struggling in a fierce battle far away, or perhaps a mother's instinct made her uneasy, but Xiao Wu's high-speed entanglement with Cú Chulainn suddenly revealed an extremely brief, almost imperceptible moment of distraction.
And her opponent, Cú Chulainn, the battle-hardened Child of Light from Celtic mythology, possessed terrifyingly keen combat intuition.
He instinctively seized this fleeting, perhaps single opportunity.
He abruptly retreated half a step, his body coiling into the classic thrust stance like a fully drawn bow.
The crimson demonic spear, Gáe Bolg, in his hand suddenly blazed with an ominous, deep-red light. His entire aura explosively surged to an unprecedented peak.
The terrifying pressure, which originated from legend and locked onto destiny, jolted the momentarily distracted Xiao Wu back to full awareness. Her beautiful eyes were instantly filled with an unprecedented gravity.
"Puchi—!"
Accompanying the release of the Noble Phantasm's true name, the crimson spear transformed into a scarlet meteor that surpassed the limits of visual perception, seemingly piercing through the very law of causality.
To Xiao Wu's shocked and disbelieving eyes, the spear's attack process seemed to have been completely "erased." It bypassed all evasive movements and spatial distance, and the resulting outcome was—it had pierced cleanly and deeply into her heart.
Fresh blood immediately spilled from Xiao Wu's lips. She looked down in disbelief at the ominous red spear in her chest, her eyes filled with immense confusion and horror.
She had clearly utilized her divine reaction speed and agility to sidestep all projected attack trajectories and pre-emptions. Yet, why did this spear still pierce her heart as if by absolute fate, without any obstruction?
It was as if the entire "attack process" was ignored by some higher law, leaving only the unchangeable "result" of "heart pierced."
Even with her divine life essence, despite her old injuries and possessing less than one-tenth of her power, her pure physical strength and energy level far exceeded the restricted Servant Cú Chulainn.
Yet, she happened to encounter a "mechanics monster" like Cú Chulainn, who completely defied common sense.
Cú Chulainn's Noble Phantasm, Gáe Bolg, was a bug-level anti-personnel Noble Phantasm, his undeniable signature killing move.
It was not a simple physical attack but a terrifying technique that involved causality reversal—the moment the spear was released, the "effect" of the opponent's heart being pierced was forcibly predetermined. Only then was the "cause" subsequently filled in: the spear hit because the heart was pierced.
This brutal ability to reverse causality was an absolute trump card that, once successfully activated, virtually guaranteed the outcome of the battle.
Even if Cú Chulainn were struck down a moment before the spear was launched, it wouldn't change the outcome of the heart being pierced, because the "effect" was determined before the "cause."
Unless one possessed the heaven-defying luck capable of twisting and resisting such causal destiny, very few could truly evade this demonic spear that guarantees a strike to the heart.
Unfortunately, Xiao Wu was not the type of person especially favored by the Goddess of Fortune; one could even say she was rather "unlucky." If she truly possessed the immense luck to reverse destiny, she wouldn't have been severely wounded by Ma Hongjun in the God Realm, nor would she be wandering about with amnesia as she was now.
And so, filled with confusion and frustration, she was inexplicably struck, her heart thoroughly pierced by the demonic spear.
Seeing the Noble Phantasm take effect successfully, with no unforeseen accidents like being twisted by absurd luck, Cú Chulainn inwardly sighed in relief, his taut nerves slightly relaxing.
His battle with Xiao Wu had been incredibly frustrating and difficult—not due to a lack of combat experience or martial skill, but purely due to being overwhelmed by raw power disparity.
As a top-tier Servant, he was already considered a peak powerhouse in the current Douluo Continent, rarely threatened by any native Soul Master, but this excluded a God, even one in poor condition.
Despite losing her memory and her power drastically dropping, Xiao Wu's divine life essence and status far surpassed mortals. Every move carried the pressure of a God, forcing him to be constrained.
Cú Chulainn managed to maintain the stalemate purely by bitterly maneuvering with his wealth of battle experience, coupled with the fact that, having lost her memory, Xiao Wu fought entirely on instinct and residual muscle memory, failing to fully utilize the true power and authority of a God.
Even so, he had been completely suppressed and repeatedly faced peril. If he hadn't seized that split-second lapse in her concentration, he likely would have been the one to eventually fall from exhaustion.
"It's a shame, the battle process wasn't entirely satisfying... but this is the end."
Cú Chulainn said gravely, looking at Xiao Wu, whose chest was pierced by the demonic spear and whose aura was rapidly weakening. He maintained respect for his powerful opponent, but a battle was a battle.
Cú Chulainn sighed softly, his crimson eyes fixed on Xiao Wu, whose heart was skewered by the demonic spear. A sense of indescribable complexity rose in his heart.
This opponent was indeed formidable. The immense pressure of a God in battle, like an invisible mountain, forced him to remain fully focused and give his all.
Although Xiao Wu wasn't the kind of evenly matched opponent who would truly ignite his battle spirit and give him a truly satisfying fight—her combat relied more on instinct and divine status than on refined technique—clashing with her was still a worthwhile battle.
Moreover, Xiao Wu was an extremely beautiful woman, and Cú Chulainn always appreciated strong and beautiful females.
The only thing he found regrettable was that she wasn't the type he preferred—the sharp, aggressive, and highly spirited type. In her amnesiac state, she seemed somewhat ethereal, making the exchange slightly less sharp and thrilling.
He slightly exerted pressure on his wrist, preparing to pull the demonic spear from her chest to conclude the battle.
However, after applying force, the demonic spear, which should have moved at his will, remained utterly motionless, as if its shaft were clamped by immovable iron pincers.
Cú Chulainn's heart suddenly clenched, and a strong sense of foreboding washed over him.
He looked at Xiao Wu with a mixture of shock and disbelief.
He saw that Xiao Wu had, at some point, raised her left hand, her five fingers clamped tightly, relentlessly seizing the shaft of the crimson demonic spear like a lock.
What made his pupils constrict further was that Xiao Wu's beautiful eyes, which had been somewhat diffused due to her heart being pierced and her life force rapidly draining, were now suddenly refocused. They glowed with a deep, cold, azure divine light, as if containing the power of an infinite ocean.
That icy gaze pierced his soul, sending a shiver down his spine.
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