"Too late."
The black-clad Spirit Master's expression darkened. The Spirit Hall Token at his waist gleamed coldly in the night, but he did not immediately advance. On the other side of Stone Bridge, the gray-robed elder did not retreat either. Several hundred direct knights remained trapped behind the fractured bridge deck, and both sides turned their gazes toward Lu Yuan almost simultaneously.
Lu Yuan stood between them, holding the Return-to-Ruin Spear. The line of gray text before his eyes still had not faded.
[Original outcome: failure]
Qian Renxue had already changed too much. If the Eye of Destiny still gave this result at this stage, it could only mean that the true deciding factor had yet to appear. He looked up at the Spirit Hall Spirit Masters and asked bluntly, "Whose orders?"
"The Papal Hall's."
"A direct order from the pope?"
Their leader did not answer directly. Instead, he said gravely, "The Young Lord brought the Tiandou Plan forward without authorization, violating the original deployment. Our mission is to make her halt her actions immediately and await new orders."
Lu Yuan glanced at the token at his waist and asked again, "Does the Grand Pontiff know?"
This time, no one answered. That brief silence told him enough. Lu Yuan did not press further, merely raising the Return-to-Ruin Spear slightly. "Then take those orders back."
The black-clad Spirit Master frowned. "Do you know what you're doing?"
"I do." The Return-to-Ruin Spear trembled gently in Lu Yuan's hand, icy-blue and dark-red patterns slowly lighting up along its shaft. He glanced toward the distant Imperial City, hidden in the night, his voice quiet. "She's already waited more than a decade. Tonight, she isn't waiting anymore. Anyone who wants her to stop can go in and tell her themselves. As for me,