Edward stared at his severed arm in utter shock. In that split second, he had clearly seen all of Lu Li's movements. His physical speed and strength were completely on par with Lu Li's.
But why?
Why couldn't he dodge Lu Li's strike?!
A bizarre, boundless sense of surrealism enveloped him.
The feeling was exactly like facing Shen Wulong. It didn't feel like Lu Li had swung a blade to cut off his arm; it felt as if his arm had simply offered itself to the blade!
Why had he chosen to attack in that exact way? Why hadn't he been able to change his trajectory in time?
The severing of his arm felt like the inevitable conclusion of an absolute, unbreakable logical sequence.
Trembling. His body couldn't stop trembling. As the resurrected vessel of the Wu Clan's progenitor, Wu Hei, for the first time in five thousand years, he felt an emotion called 'fear'.
Looking at the man standing in the corridor now felt like staring directly into an abyss. That man was absolutely not a target anyone could challenge alone.
No wonder White Niko's disciples were completely helpless against him. This man was unfathomably, absurdly powerful!
"Idiot. Turn off your Guihun (Removal), do you want to bleed to death?"
A voice echoed from the other end of the corridor. A middle-aged man with messy white hair approached from behind Lu Li, looking gravely at the one-armed Edward.
"You look pathetic, Edward."
Simultaneously, from Edward's direction, a stunningly handsome man with long, pale blonde hair walked forward. He looked at Lu Li. "So this is your peak state. No wonder those gladiators were completely out of their depth."
"Huh?"
Lu Li showed absolutely no awareness of being surrounded. He tilted his head slightly, looking at the Head of the Worm, Xia Yan. "You've seen my peak?"
"What an impressively calm young man. Surrounded by the three of us, and you still have the leisure to chat?"
White Niko sneered. He wasn't a braindead, arrogant fool like Edward Wu. If he came to kill, he was naturally going to use weapons.
He was already wearing custom brass knuckles equipped with steel spikes, along with heavy steel gauntlets. This setup maximized the lethality of his Niko Style techniques while providing flawless offense and defense.
As he spoke, he launched a surprise attack from behind Lu Li, driving a brutal steel-clad punch directly toward Lu Li's skull, his eyes fixed intensely on Lu Li's limbs, ready to react to any sudden movement.
But Lu Li didn't even turn his head to look at him. He merely shifted his stance slightly and swung his right arm backward, slamming the pommel of Qiu Mo squarely against White Niko's steel fist.
Using the rebounding kinetic force from the collision, Lu Li pivoted his arm and violently twisted his waist, executing a devastating spinning back kick that slammed into White Niko's ribs. The sheer, crushing power behind the kick was so immense that even though White Niko immediately triggered [Indestructible], he was still sent skidding over ten meters across the floor before finally stopping, a deep, red indentation left on his side.
Lu Li stood back up straight, his gaze remaining fixed on the direction of Xia Yan and Edward. Xia Yan was currently injecting a syringe into the stump of Edward's severed arm, while Edward used his remaining hand to pick up the broken katana Erioh had dropped earlier.
Xia Yan tossed the empty syringe aside and drew a pair of butterfly knives, looking at Lu Li with a face full of admiration. "Are you implying this still isn't your peak?"
Lu Li completely ignored the question. He looked around the corridor, his expression turning slightly disappointed. "Shen Wulong didn't come."
"So you do know about him. Unfortunately, he's probably out eating ramen right now," Xia Yan said, dropping into a combat stance. "And you simply aren't qualified to meet him. I will end you right here—"
As Xia Yan spoke, Edward Wu and White Niko simultaneously shifted into offensive postures. They were preparing a coordinated, absolute-kill strike from three different blind angles.
But before Xia Yan could finish his sentence, an invisible, apocalyptic pressure exploded outward like a tidal wave.
"Shatter your chains, Qiu Mo."
Accompanied by the man's low chant, the purple-black blade underwent a terrifying transformation. Chains extended like vines, tightly wrapping around his right arm. Jagged, purple lightning-like veins crawled across his skin as his aura skyrocketed exponentially.
Activating both his Shikai and the Kure Clan's Removal simultaneously, Lu Li's comprehensive attributes violently spiked to a staggering 25 points!
"ATTACK TOGETHER!"
Xia Yan screamed, cold sweat instantly pouring down his forehead. He never imagined Lu Li had already mastered Removal, nor could he comprehend the bizarre, supernatural transformation of the katana.
But under the combined buffs of that demonic blade and Removal, Lu Li's physical vessel had likely reached an unprecedented, historically unmatched level of absolute strength—and on top of that, he possessed the ultimate zenith of Martial Arts!
The three Grandmasters didn't hesitate. They launched their assault simultaneously, closing in on Lu Li from three directions in perfect synchronization.
Edward thrust the broken katana directly at Lu Li's heart. Xia Yan's butterfly knives slashed toward his throat. White Niko, having fully activated [Advance] (Possessing Spirit), drove a devastating iron fist toward the back of Lu Li's skull.
Three of the absolute strongest martial artists in the world, coordinating a simultaneous assassination strike. Aside from Shen Wulong, this formation was guaranteed to instantly execute any living entity on the planet. Yet, bizarrely, Xia Yan felt absolutely zero 'certainty' of victory.
They were clearly the ones initiating the ambush. They logically held the absolute tactical advantage. But the invisible, crushing pressure radiating from the man in the center made it genuinely difficult to breathe.
The last time Xia Yan had felt this specific sensation... was the very first time he met Shen Wulong in his youth.
Could it be... this man can actually rival Shen Wulong?!
In the microscopic gaps of time, Xia Yan saw the manic, ecstatic grin on the man's face. He couldn't find a single trace of tension or panic from being surrounded. There was only pure, unadulterated euphoria.
In the next microsecond, the purple-black blade was suddenly coated in a dense, pitch-black luster. The man dropped his center of gravity to evade White Niko's incoming punch, and a bloody, crescent-shaped arc erupted.
Xia Yan had calculated tens of thousands of potential countermeasures Lu Li might employ, but he absolutely never predicted this. It was a strike of overwhelming, absolute power—devoid of any intricate finesse or complex maneuvering.
Lu Li made absolutely zero attempt to dodge Edward's incoming thrust. Instead, he unleashed a devastating upward diagonal slash. The blade seamlessly carved through flesh and bone, slicing cleanly through Edward Wu's torso, completely bifurcating him at the waist!
The sheer, catastrophic momentum of the slash didn't diminish in the slightest. The pitch-black blade immediately collided with Xia Yan's twin butterfly knives. The extreme kinetic force, amplified by the blade's absolute sharpness, cleaved through the resilient steel like a hot knife through butter, instantly shattering Xia Yan's weapons!
Continuing its unstoppable trajectory, the very tip of the blade grazed past Xia Yan's throat, drawing a few drops of glistening blood. If Xia Yan hadn't instinctively leaned backward at the absolute last microsecond, his throat would have been completely severed!
Xia Yan's heart pounded with sheer terror, yet he also felt a surge of grim relief. Because he believed Lu Li had made a fatal miscalculation. Edward might be dead, but their attack was going to succeed!
Even though Edward had been bifurcated, the broken katana in his hand didn't stop. Because his kinetic thrust had already been fully initiated, the broken blade carried immense, lethal force as it drove straight into Lu Li's chest, aimed perfectly at his heart.
CLINK—!
In the next microsecond, Xia Yan's eyes widened in absolute horror. Edward's full-power, Guihun-enhanced thrust actually failed to pierce Lu Li's skin!
Beneath Lu Li's torn shirt, his chest radiated a dark, metallic luster. He had completely tensed his muscles, perfectly combining [Armament Haki] with the Niko Style's [Indestructible].
Unable to withstand the catastrophic rebounding force, the already damaged broken katana violently shattered into dozens of jagged fragments.
The manic grin on Lu Li's face hadn't faded in the slightest, nor had his movements stopped. He smoothly swept his left hand downward, swatting several of the shattered steel fragments backward like fired bullets directly toward White Niko's eyes. The incoming shrapnel forced White Niko—who had been preparing a follow-up strike—to instinctively dodge.
Seeing this subconscious flinch, Xia Yan internally cursed White Niko for being a complete idiot. White Niko had been in the absolute most advantageous offensive position. If he had simply disregarded his own life and committed to a follow-up strike, Lu Li's current posture would have made it nearly impossible to dodge.
But White Niko prioritized his own survival, surrendering to his primal instinct to evade danger.
And by doing so, he completely threw away his only chance at victory, welcoming absolute death.
Lu Li instantly triggered [Shunpo], launching himself sideways onto the corridor wall. He took a single, explosive step horizontally across the concrete, instantaneously reversing the offensive and defensive momentum.
Qiu Mo descended in a devastating downward diagonal slash. Empowered by [Armament Haki], the blade became an indestructible, razor-sharp scythe of death. No matter how desperately White Niko pushed his [Indestructible] to its absolute limit, he was effortlessly cleaved open.
The blade sliced cleanly from White Niko's shoulder blade all the way down to his opposite waist, cleanly bifurcating him diagonally.
Upon landing, Lu Li allowed his feet to smoothly slide across the concrete, perfectly redirecting his rotational momentum and transitioning his stance from extreme rigidity to absolute fluidity. He spun around, arriving perfectly face-to-face with Xia Yan once more.
Lu Li flicked the blood from his blade (chiburi). "That loosened me up a bit. Come. Attack me. I'll make it quick."
Xia Yan's eyes were filled with profound absurdity. The three of them... they were undeniably three of the absolute strongest martial artists on the planet, second only to Shen Wulong.
Yet, when the three of them simultaneously ambushed Lu Li, a single exchange had resulted in two deaths and one critical injury.
He touched his own neck. The slight sting and the warmth of his own blood made his entire body run cold.
We can't win. Aside from Shen Wulong, there isn't a single living entity on earth capable of defeating this man. Lu Li had already reached the absolute, transcendent zenith of martial arts. Combined with a superhuman constitution and the terrifying power of Removal, he was completely invincible.
Yes. Humanity could not defeat Lu Li. But the 'Demigod' could.
With that thought, Xia Yan tightened his grip on his shattered butterfly knife hilts, dropping into a final combat stance, a serene smile spreading across his face. "Perhaps the 'Tiger's Vessel' isn't actually necessary at all... If he finds out about you, he'll be absolutely overjoyed, won't he?"
As he spoke, he lunged directly toward Lu Li. As they crossed paths, the decapitated head flying toward the ceiling still bore a smile of absolute anticipation.
Lu Li glanced down at Xia Yan's head rolling across the floor.
"I'll be waiting."
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