Demigod Xi Nian

The next day, early morning.

As the first golden rays of sunlight touched Themyscira, the main island area buzzed with activity. The female warriors, usually engaged in drills or on duty, were fully armed and gathered with beautiful female civilians in white dresses, forming a vast crowd that moved towards a large ancient structure on the coast.

The building resembled an open-air ancient coliseum, with a vast, flat central plaza. The Amazons filled every tier of the stone steps surrounding the plaza.

"Silence! Her Majesty the Queen has arrived!"

As Antiope's command echoed, the noise in the area immediately died down.

Under the gaze of countless admiring, respectful, and affectionate eyes, Hippolyta, the supreme ruler of the Amazons, appeared on a raised platform at one side of the coliseum. Wearing the crown symbolizing her authority, she sat majestically on a golden throne.

"Her Highness the Princess has arrived!" Antiope, standing on the platform, continued to call out.

Diana appeared behind the Queen, dressed in golden royal attire. Almost all the Amazons subconsciously looked towards her head.

The Silver Coronet was gone, replaced by a vibrant floral crown worn on her dark hair.

"Her Highness actually gave her coronet to a human..."

"That's the Star-Spangled Tiara, an artifact of the Amazon royal family!"

"The Queen even agreed to it!"

"How could this happen?"

Seeing this, the Amazons in the coliseum's seating areas erupted in a clamor of discussion, their faces filled with shock and confusion.

Only a portion of the Amazons had witnessed this in the past few days; most had only heard rumors.

Now, seeing Diana wearing a floral crown instead of the coronet, they still found it difficult to accept the reality.

Diana stood beside the Queen's throne with a smile, her head held high, exuding confidence and beauty, still the strongest and most beautiful pearl of the Amazon tribe!

"Let's begin."

Queen Hippolyta spoke calmly, as if she hadn't heard the murmurs.

Antiope nodded and immediately leaped from the ten-meter-high suspended platform, announcing loudly, "The competition is about to begin. Now, please welcome the contestants!"

Tall and strong female warriors, clad in light leather armor, entered the center of the plaza from the coliseum's main gate, basking in the attention and applause of the Amazons.

Eight female warriors, the contestants, lined up on the plaza.

Antiope glanced behind them with surprise. Xi Nian wasn't there.

Changed his mind? That's good.

Antiope breathed a silent sigh of relief and looked up at Diana on the platform. She found Diana smiling, still gazing in the direction of the coliseum's entrance, her beautiful eyes shining.

"Something's wrong!" Before Antiope could lower her gaze, she heard the enthusiastic applause inside the coliseum abruptly stop.

From the Amazon Queen down to the common citizens, everyone's eyes turned towards the coliseum's main entrance.

There, a figure appeared, just making it within the entry time, inside the vast coliseum plaza.

Xi Nian, with his long silver hair, wore simple white ankle-bound trousers. He wore a conspicuous coronet on his head and carried an ancient sword with a hilt shaped like two intertwined dragons on his back.

Every Amazon recognized that sword—

It was the Sword of Hephaestus, forged by the fire god Hephaestus himself, a supreme divine weapon capable of slaying gods!

The significance of this divine sword far surpassed that of the Star-Spangled Tiara!

The former symbolized Diana's power, while the latter represented her status and honor. Yet, at this very moment, both of these exclusive divine artifacts were on a human youth!

In this competition, there wouldn't be actual combat, so his weapons would essentially be unusable.

Therefore, this represented Princess Diana behind him.

Queen Hippolyta looked at Xi Nian, who had made his final entrance, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes. She hadn't expected their first meeting to be on this occasion.

In the coliseum plaza.

Antiope scanned the contestants, including Xi Nian, and said, "Since everyone is here, the competition will..."

"Wait a moment!" Xi Nian suddenly raised his hand and asked curiously, "Can you tell me the content and rules of the competition?"

Silence immediately fell over the plaza.

The participating female warriors were dumbfounded. Not knowing the content or rules, why was he even competing?

Antiope's brow furrowed. Suppressing her temper, she raised her hand to explain, "It's very simple. Starting from this plaza, you will swim through the outer sea and land on the beach on the other side of the island. There will be horses prepared on the beach. Using your bows and arrows, you must hit three targets set up along the path."

"Finally, whoever returns to the plaza first through the coliseum's main gate and throws the spear here through the coliseum's ring will be the winner."

Fearing Xi Nian hadn't heard clearly, Antiope spoke slowly, "Do you understand? Is there anything you don't understand? I can explain it again..."

"No need, let's start quickly." Xi Nian waved his hand, appearing very casual.

Antiope could barely watch, gritting her teeth, "I announce that the competition officially begins!"

As soon as she spoke.

Except for Xi Nian, who remained standing in place, the other eight female warriors rushed out swiftly.

They climbed the tens of meters of cloud ladders set up in front of the plaza, preparing to enter the sea adjacent to the coliseum via the ladders.

Seeing Xi Nian motionless, many assumed he had forfeited.

As a female warrior was about to reach the top of the cloud ladder, Xi Nian finally prepared to set off. He adopted a slightly crouched starting stance.

The next instant.

Antiope, who was nearby, her expression changed.

She could clearly sense that Xi Nian had transformed, his gaze as sharp and calm as a deity's, and his aura had changed from harmless to a sharp, oppressive pressure carrying tangible energy!

"Divine power, how is that possible!" Antiope exclaimed.

Bang!

With divine power flowing through him, Xi Nian pushed off with his feet, leaping twenty to thirty meters into the air, landing on the empty top of the cloud ladder!

His long silver hair whipped wildly in the strong wind as Xi Nian charged forward, leaping towards the shore a hundred meters away!

Stomp!

Xi Nian landed in the shallow water of the sea, pushed off again, and the water exploded outwards as he reached the location where horses and bows were prepared.

He didn't choose to ride a horse, nor did he pick up a longbow.

After all, there was no need.

Xi Nian casually picked up three arrows and sprinted up the mountain path at a speed no slower than a horse!

He saw the first target along the way.

Xi Nian didn't stop. Instead, he threw an arrow with his bare hands. The arrow whistled through the air and, without a doubt, hit the bullseye!

A blue smoke signal, like a wolf signal, rose into the sky!

It wasn't like the first time he'd received his aunt's power. Perhaps it was the second time he'd obtained this power, or perhaps it was the result of his training over these past few days.

Furthermore, the direct medium exchange and the content of the medium allowed him to possess the power of the medium's owner more perfectly!

At this moment, Xi Nian was like a demigod since birth!

He continued to run along the mountain path, passing the remaining mountain path checkpoints with speed and stamina far exceeding that of a human!

Inside the arena.

Although they couldn't see Xi Nian's figure, everyone could clearly see three blue smoke signals representing Xi Nian rising from different island locations, almost less than ten seconds apart!

The Amazons on the field were stunned, as if witnessing a miracle.

It wasn't until a second color of smoke finally appeared in the sky.

At the same time, at the main entrance of the arena.

Kicking up a cloud of dust, the demigod-like Xi Nian charged into the plaza with afterimages!

From departure to return, it took less than a minute.

"Finally, let's finish this!" Xi Nian approached Antiope, who was still in a daze, took the not-yet-ready spear from her hand, and threw it with all his might towards the golden ring in front of him!

"Wait, the ritual isn't finished yet..." Antiope realized with alarm.

But it was too late. The spear turned into a stream of light, piercing the air!

Gurgle!

At this moment, a golden statue of a goddess rose from the center of the plaza. The spear thrown by Xi Nian hit its chest precisely and pierced through its back. The deflected spear's speed did not decrease; it chipped a corner off the metal ring, sending sparks flying, and then disappeared into the distant sky!

"Uh, did I mess something up?" Xi Nian looked at the hole in the center of the goddess statue and sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

The Queen: "..."

Diana: "..."

All the Amazons: "..."