# Chapter 323: The Might of a Single Shot

This was the first time Lu Yuan had ever encountered a situation where Spatial Rift failed to completely banish an attack.

*So it really is War God-level.*

He narrowed his eyes at the grotesque flesh sphere.

The gravely wounded Battle Saints, meanwhile, noticed the green beams hanging eerily motionless in midair—then spotted Lu Yuan, who had appeared out of nowhere.

Shock gave way to elation across every face.

"That terrifying spatial ability… it must be the War God everyone's been talking about. Is that him?"

"Incredible. An attack that powerful, frozen in place just like that. A War God indeed."

"With him here, we might actually survive this."

While the crowd exchanged relieved murmurs, Tianming Sage and Dengba stood rooted in place, staring at the distant figure in blank disbelief.

They'd both heard rumors of a War God-level expert handling Aberration Sources across the Upper Layer. But never in their wildest dreams had they imagined that expert would be someone they *knew*.

Dengba took it relatively in stride. He'd only met Lu Yuan once, back in Dark Night City, and while the young man's extraordinary talent had left a lasting impression, this was merely a dramatic escalation—shocking, but not incomprehensible.

For Tianming Sage, it was different entirely. He had first learned of Lu Yuan through Yeye, then witnessed his talent firsthand during the Tianming Imperial Clan's trials, and later encountered him again on Great Qi Star. He had watched Lu Yuan grow step by step.

Yet even so, he'd never imagined Lu Yuan's power had reached such a terrifying level.

His mind went completely blank.

*Wait…*

A thought struck him. He recalled the mysterious expert who had dealt with the Aberration Corruption on Great Qi Star—that overwhelming life force, that spatial power. Combined with the light abilities he'd since heard about…

*Was that mysterious expert Lu Yuan all along?*

But something didn't add up. That person's strength, while formidable, had clearly been at the Saint level, not Divine Grade.

And yet Lu Yuan's demonstrated power was unmistakably Divine Grade…

*Could Lu Yuan's genes still be evolving?* No—that was absurd. Tianming Sage almost laughed at his own speculation.

More likely, Lu Yuan had been concealing his true strength and was already at War God level during the Great Qi Star incident. Either that, or the mysterious expert simply wasn't Lu Yuan.

But if it *was* him… then he'd already possessed War God-level power even then.

Tianming Sage drew a sharp breath, the shock settling deeper.

As his mind churned through these possibilities, Lu Yuan's voice rang out:

"Everyone, this Aberration beast is extremely powerful. Keep your distance."

The stunned Saints snapped back to reality.

"Move! Fall back—don't become a liability!"

"Go, get clear of here!"

They retreated en masse, though their gazes remained locked on Lu Yuan, curiosity burning bright. A battle between War God-level combatants was something even Battle Saints rarely witnessed.

The moment Lu Yuan intercepted the green beams, the flesh sphere had taken notice of him. It shrieked again, and the horrific psychic assault tore through his consciousness.

Even Lu Yuan's immensely powerful mind wavered for an instant.

His eyes narrowed, darkness swallowing the light in his pupils. In the next heartbeat, Shadow Divine Kingdom unfurled and engulfed the grotesque creature within its boundaries.

Terrifying shadow power churned and coalesced into one Shadow Divine Messenger after another. Each Messenger's eyes blazed with spinning rings of black and white, all fixed upon the flesh sphere.

Wheel of Fate—Misfortune.

Every Shadow Divine Messenger activated Misfortune simultaneously, layering curses upon the creature.

Lu Yuan's brow furrowed almost immediately.

Even with the Shadow Divine Messengers channeling it, the Misfortune was being resisted entirely.

This was the first time Wheel of Fate had ever failed him.

*So this is what Divine Grade means?*

And this was a Divine Grade entity already being suppressed by the divine lightning overhead.

Truly terrifying.

Rings of black and white materialized around Lu Yuan's own body as he directed Misfortune at the creature himself.

This time, a wisp of eerie gray mist appeared on the flesh sphere's surface—the unmistakable mark of the curse taking hold.

As expected, his main body channeling Wheel of Fate at full power could still affect a Divine Grade entity.

The effect was immediate. Previously, some of the divine lightning raining down on the flesh sphere had been dodged, while other bolts were neutralized by beams from its countless eyes. But now, bolts that should have been intercepted slipped past the green beams as if by some perverse coincidence, striking the creature dead-on. No matter how it twisted and lurched, the lightning found it—as though it were a magnet drawing every strike.

The pressure on the flesh sphere multiplied. It screamed incessantly.

Lu Yuan's consciousness shuddered, a flash of dizziness washing over him—and in that instant, dozens of green beams lanced toward him.

The flesh sphere was weathering the lightning head-on, launching a direct assault.

Lu Yuan steadied himself. Silver threads flickered through his eyes, and the green beams vanished the moment they neared him, only to reappear directly in front of the flesh sphere.

Spatial Rift—Spatial Transfer.

He had swapped the space before him with the space before the creature, causing every incoming beam to exit from the other side. The green beams struck the flesh sphere but inflicted no damage whatsoever—the creature simply absorbed its own energy.

Simultaneously, every Shadow Divine Messenger applied Fortune to themselves, then unleashed Scythe of Death in unison.

Grayish-white scythes materialized in the void around the flesh sphere, slashing down in waves.

But as the spectral blades descended, eerie green mist swirled across the creature's surface. Every scythe landed on the mist, eroding it layer by layer until it dissipated—yet failing to touch the creature beneath.

The Aberration power could block the reaping of death's law.

Lu Yuan's eyes narrowed further. He directed a portion of his Shadow Divine Messengers to manifest phantasmal images of Cosmic Annihilation, their auras surging dramatically. Heavy swords of condensed shadow appeared in their hands as they charged the flesh sphere for direct melee combat.

The remaining Shadow Clones continued wielding Scythe of Death to suppress the creature's Aberration power.

Meanwhile, six bronze Floating Cannons materialized around Lu Yuan's main body.

These were mechanical armaments produced through Mechanical Fabrication. Combined with Lu Yuan's evolution ability, every last one had been elevated to Divine Grade.

Phantom gears shimmered behind him as the bronze Floating Cannons merged together, forming a colossal Spirit Cannon over twenty meters long.

The Spirit Cannon hovered above his head. Mechanical gear phantoms spun in his eyes as streams of iron-gray radiance poured into the weapon.

Mechanical God—Mechanical Apotheosis.

Arcane patterns bloomed across the Spirit Cannon's metal surface. At its muzzle, Spirit Power fluctuations of staggering magnitude gathered, the raw energy coalescing into a bronze orb of concentrated destruction.

The force was so immense that Shadow Divine Kingdom itself shuddered. Spatial fractures splintered through its fabric—cracks in the very space of the Land of Origin's Upper Layer, torn open by the weapon's aura alone.

In terms of sheer destructive output, even Cosmic Body couldn't compare to the Spirit Cannon enhanced by Mechanical Apotheosis.

The flesh sphere was currently beset on all sides—the Land of Origin's will hammering it with divine lightning, Shadow Divine Messengers running Cosmic Body at full power hacking into it with shadow greatswords, and wave after wave of spectral scythes suppressing its defenses.

Even for a Divine Grade Aberration monstrosity, all it could do was hold its ground.

Vicious wounds opened across its body faster than they could heal. Its regeneration was beginning to fall behind.

Yet even so, the creature sensed the Spirit Cannon's terrifying buildup and recognized the existential threat.

Every tentacle thrashed wildly. The eyes studding each appendage swiveled in unison toward the gathering orb of destruction, and the creature unleashed shriek after piercing shriek.

Lu Yuan grunted as the psychic assault rattled his skull. His vision blurred momentarily, Spirit Power rippling across his body.

The flesh sphere didn't bother with defense. All several hundred of its eyes fired green beams at the Spirit Cannon simultaneously.

The concentrated barrage shattered space itself, inch by inch.

Silver threads blazed in Lu Yuan's eyes as he poured Spirit Power into Spatial Rift, redirecting every last beam back toward the creature. The beams couldn't harm the flesh sphere, but they neutralized its offensive.

When every beam returned to sender, the creature howled in fury. Its tentacles whipped with redoubled frenzy, and the reflected beams—as though obeying a silent command—converged into a single colossal pillar of green light. The pillar curved through the air and rocketed straight back at Lu Yuan.

His mouth twitched.

*It can do THAT?!*

It could control energy that had already been fired?

He tried to seize the pillar with Spatial Rift, but redirecting the hundreds of scattered beams had already strained him to his limits. This concentrated pillar was far beyond his ability to manipulate.

Lu Yuan sent every available Shadow Divine Messenger into the pillar's path. Cosmic Body blazing at maximum output, they swung their shadow greatswords against the oncoming devastation.

**Boom! Boom! BOOM!**

Explosions thundered in rapid succession as Shadow Divine Messengers were annihilated one after another. Lu Yuan drained Spirit Crystals and summoned replacements as fast as they fell.

Wave after wave threw themselves into the breach, and at last, the green pillar was contained.

At that same moment, the Spirit Cannon's charge reached completion. The Spirit Power fluctuations cracked space apart. Light streaked through Lu Yuan's eyes—

And the cannon fired.

**BOOM!!!**

In an instant, Shadow Divine Kingdom was ripped in half. The bronze beam pierced clean through the flesh sphere, blasting a gaping crater through its mass. Every scrap of tissue within was vaporized to dust. The beam continued unabated, screaming into the distant sky as space shattered along its entire trajectory.

Lu Yuan stared and sucked in a sharp breath.

A Divine Grade Spirit Cannon combined with Mechanical Apotheosis—the destructive power was frankly absurd.

He turned his gaze back to the flesh sphere.

Its mouth and the vast majority of its tentacles had been vaporized completely. What remained was a fraction of its former bulk—a handful of surviving tentacles and a mangled core. Impossibly, it was still alive. The tentacles twitched feebly, and its ravaged flesh squirmed in an attempt to regenerate.

Under the Land of Origin's divine lightning, every attempt at regrowth was obliterated the instant new tissue formed. Even its remaining body couldn't hold together, slowly crumbling apart.

But the process was still agonizingly slow.

Lu Yuan frowned. *The vitality on this thing is absurd.*

He began charging the Spirit Cannon once more.

This time, the creature couldn't even mount a defense. A few breaths later, the cannon finished charging, and another devastating blast tore through the air, reducing the flesh sphere's remnants to scattered fragments.

The Shadow Divine Messengers moved in, channeling the power of death. Every fragment's remaining life force was reaped in an instant.

Stripped of Aberration power to shield them, the scraps of flesh had no defense left against death's harvest.

But even after the fragments lost all vitality, the divine lightning continued to pound the area.

Only when every last trace of flesh had been vaporized did the lightning finally subside.

Lu Yuan watched the creature vanish and let out a slow breath.

The Divine Grade Aberration beast had been formidable, no question. But it had been suppressed from the start by the Land of Origin's will, and Lu Yuan's diverse arsenal allowed him to handle every situation without being countered—making the kill relatively straightforward.

If he'd possessed only Scythe of Death, or only Spatial Rift as his sole Divine Grade gene, the fight would have dragged on far longer.

In the distance, the Battle Saints had barely retreated before trying to watch the battle unfold—only for Shadow Divine Kingdom to swallow the entire battlefield, blocking their view completely.

Even Battle Saints couldn't perceive what was happening inside.

The sight of that familiar Shadow Divine Kingdom stirred a storm of emotions in Tianming Sage.

He was now almost certain that the mysterious figure on Great Qi Star had been Lu Yuan.

He'd had absolutely no idea Lu Yuan was already that powerful back then.

A pang of envy surfaced—but then a thought occurred to him. His descendant seemed to have a rather good relationship with Lu Yuan.

Things between the two appeared to be progressing quite well, didn't they?

If this continued, Lu Yuan would essentially become family.

Tianming Sage's mood brightened considerably.

He decided that once he returned, he'd give Yeye a nudge—encourage her to move things along a bit faster.

While Tianming Sage entertained these thoughts, the other Saints were anxiously discussing the battle raging within.

"What's happening in there?"

"No idea. I can't sense a thing."

"Tianming, you wield dark power, don't you? Can you sense anything?"

The question came from an Elf Battle Saint who knew him well.

Tianming Sage snapped out of his reverie and rolled his eyes. "It's a Divine Grade Combat Technique. Do I look like a god to you?"

Disappointment rippled through the crowd. The Elf Battle Saint rolled his eyes right back.

"Weak."

Tianming Sage: "???"

A cascade of question marks flooded his mind, followed by an internal sneer. *The man in there is going to be my junior eventually. Just wait until you see the looks on all your faces then!*

At that moment, Shadow Divine Kingdom began to shudder. Power of unimaginable magnitude bled through its boundaries.

Every Saint present felt ice sink into their bones, staring at the quaking domain with something approaching dread.

Dengba swallowed hard. "Wh-what kind of power *is* that? How can it be this terrifying?"

"I don't know, but his shadow domain is Divine Grade. If even a Divine Grade domain can't contain the energy fluctuations, imagine how powerful the source must be!"

"There's no taint of Aberration in these fluctuations. This is all *him*?"

The Saints exchanged glances, horror written across every face.

"How many abilities does this man *have*?"

Then came the blast.

They watched Shadow Divine Kingdom tear apart down the middle as a streak of bronze light screamed across the sky. Space shattered in its wake, exposing the roiling spatial storms beneath. Through the rift in the domain, they caught a glimpse of the flesh sphere.

A massive, perfectly round hole had been punched clean through it.

They saw it for only a heartbeat before Shadow Divine Kingdom sealed shut again.

But that single glimpse plunged every last one of them into dead silence.

This was the same monster that had critically wounded *all* of them with nothing more than two screams.

And it had just been blown apart like that?

What an absolute beast.