The Fetterbane Dragonforge had powerful regeneration on its own, let alone when combined with Undying. Han Wu’s wounds were healing rapidly, but the Holy Mother didn’t give him a break, and the second white lotus was ready just as he was on the verge of full recovery.
Another blast, and half of Han Wu’s body was gone.
“What the hell?!” Han Wu cursed.
The Holy Mother was ruthless. She wouldn’t even let him heal.
The Holy Mother, on the other hand, felt like she’d discovered something wonderful. This body of his kept healing! That meant she could keep going!
Her face was flushed with mania and excitement. Even she had to admit that she was getting carried away, but seeing him explode was just so satisfying! It was a sensation those single-punch weaklings could never give her.
Curiosity burned within her. She wanted to know how many lotus blasts Han Wu could survive.
Han Wu was about to finish regenerating when another explosion struck. His left side had just healed when his right side was blown off. The structural imbalance nearly snapped him in half. Thankfully, his metallic muscles held, and the regeneration continued.
Still, getting bombed indefinitely wasn’t sustainable. His reserves were running thin. On top of that, the slashes he launched with the Divine Authority greatsword and Peerless couldn’t even scratch the Holy Mother. The white lotus also shielded her from the Destruction Aspect’s instant kill effect.
At the critical moment, Han Wu used Divine Invocation to swap out his abilities. Divine Authority 1 was switched to Divine Authority 2, trading the offensive greatsword for the defensive Mirror Shield. The Destruction Aspect was also exchanged for the Life Aspect, boosting his regeneration.
Han Wu’s offense dropped sharply, but his endurance and recovery skyrocketed. With this new setup, he could fully regenerate his body before the Holy Mother finished condensing her next lotus.
However, there was still the matter of his depleting energy supplies. The internal energy he’d absorbed earlier through the Kunpeng Divine Art had been spent tanking those lotus blasts. He’d be worn down to nothing if he ran out completely. The problem was that there were no other martial artists around to drain except for the borderline crazy Holy Mother.
A bold idea popped into his head. There was nothing in the Martial Arts Civilization that said you couldn’t drain a Martial Grandmaster.
So, as the Holy Mother compressed her next lotus, Han Wu extended his hand and activated the Kunpeng Divine Art. The art’s absorption range extended dramatically thanks to the amplification from his enormous body.
The Holy Mother suddenly felt her internal energy draining at an alarming rate. When she focused on the flow, she realized it wasn’t just disappearing. It was being siphoned straight toward Han Wu.
“What technique is this? How can it absorb my power?” she cried out in alarm.
Han Wu cranked it up even higher. The Holy Mother’s reserves plummeted. Even her white lotus barrier couldn’t block the Kunpeng Divine Art.
Furious, she stopped wasting energy on the powerful but costly lotus blasts and switched to hammering Han Wu with her bare fists. Those steamed-bun-sized fists were weaker than the lotus explosions, but were both quicker and more energy efficient.
If Han Wu had kept his earlier form, those punches would’ve pummeled him to death, but the Mirror Shield blocked eighty percent of the force. Life Aspect and Undying together pushed his regeneration through the roof. On top of that, he was steadily siphoning her energy. This made him nearly impossible to kill.
Although the Holy Mother wasn’t taking damage, her reserves were dropping by the second. A prolonged stalemate would leave her unable to even maintain her enlarged form.
As her frenzy faded and reason returned, one thought dominated her mind. I need to run.
She couldn’t win this fight. The only way to avoid being drained dry was to flee.
Halting her assault, she bolted, but Han Wu wasn’t about to let her escape. His ten-thousand-meter frame gave him a massive speed advantage, and his long arms let him continue pulling on her energy mid-chase.
The Holy Mother could no longer sustain her enlarged form with the constant drainage, and she shrank back into her tiny body. Her short little legs only slowed her further.
Han Wu seized the moment, snatched her up, and held her tight in his fist.
“Kunpeng Divine Art, full power!”
Han Wu’s reserves swelled, easily reaching the ten-thousand-year mark. Meanwhile, the Holy Mother’s strength plummeted from Martial Grandmaster to Top-tier, then past that to First-rate. Her comprehension of martial arts mattered little without the reserves to back it up, leaving her barely stronger than a First-rate fighter.
When Han Wu opened his hand, the Holy Mother looked nothing like before. Severely depleted, her skin was wrinkled, and her already short frame had shrunk further. She looked like a little old lady who had tried to keep up with her failing beauty. If she had been a grape before, she had since devolved into a raisin.
Han Wu could’ve killed her effortlessly with a flick of his finger, but he chose not to. He wanted to use her position as the Holy Mother to set a trap for the True Martial God King.
This required the Holy Mother’s cooperation. Han Wu told her his plan, but to his surprise, she refused. She and the True Martial God King had made a pact, one she had to kill Han Wu to fulfill. Until the pact was completed, they were allies, and she wouldn’t betray him.
Han Wu thought it over and came up with a solution. If this were just a matter of fulfilling a pact, he could easily just let the Holy Mother kill him once.
Activating Divine Invocation once more, he used Avatar Creation to split an avatar from his 567 Martial Caste, and offered it up for the Holy Mother to kill.
She killed the avatar and discovered the pact with the True Martial God King was indeed fulfilled! That meant the Holy Mother no longer felt bound to her principles and was free to ally with Han Wu.
“I don’t mind working with you, but I have one condition,” she said. “I want the technique you used to drain my power!”
Han Wu’s only goal was to lure the True Martial God King in, so he readily agreed. However, when the Holy Mother learned the full details of the Kunpeng Divine Art, she hesitated.
The technique was a double-edged sword. Learning it would wipe every other technique she’d ever trained in, nor would she ever be able to learn new ones, all while having to train it completely from scratch. At the same time, not learning it meant waiting eight to ten years to recover her former strength.
The Holy Mother fell into deep thought.