Seeing the lightning, Cai Hua uttered the word: “Please.”

Cai Hua was wholly arrogant, not even an emperor could force him to say please.

Who was this invitation directed to?

He reached out with his right hand, grabbing a bolt of lightning.

His sword technique was completely unique. A piece of stone or a strand of bamboo could be used as a sword, but how can he produce a sword from literally thin air?

Yet without any doubts, all of heaven and earth could hear the sound of a sword.

---

Woosh!

Holding the unseen sword in his hand, Cai Hua vanished from his original spot.

---

Cai Hua was, of course, flying in the air.

He had never flown so fast in his life, even when he was fleeing from the wrath of the Emperor, or escaping once he arrived on the continent, he had never attained such speed.

The Great Dividing Range turned into nothing but iridescent light that quickly retreated backwards.

Cai Hua realised that probably, only a sword spirit could be faster than him.

This judgement came from simple deductions; he was currently riding on sword intent powered by eight nascent souls and two immortals. At this moment, the spiritual essence in his body was a mess murkier than mud.

Soon, he saw a patch of light.

It was so bright that an ordinary man would become blind by looking at it.

---

The light was not something an ordinary man could see in the first place. It was actually a massive gathering of mana.

Cai Hua stopped before the white light, floating mid-air, countless amounts of sword intent gathered in his hand.

His white robes blended with the white mana surrounding him, yet his body gave off a distinct coldness only a sword could possess, a cold spot in the sun.

Julia’s body suddenly appeared before the city. She pointed her right hand forward.

The massive quantity of mana that saturated the city condensed under her summoning. With a soft cracking down, the sea condensed into twelve grains.

The twelve grains were like condensed stars, so heavy it caused space around Julia to distort.

Cai Hua’s sword struck down!

No wind can be perceived in the sky; the air felt like frozen ice. The remaining grass outside the city was very calm, indifferent watching on.

Yet, this quiet stillness gave off a sensation far worse than Ovid or Margrethe were ever capable of.

It seemed as if the world would separate into two after the sword stuck down.

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The citizens within the city, who had originally been frightened into quivering mice, could not sense the foreboding danger. Not a single reaction could be garnered.

Only Irene, the single saint within the city outside of Julia could sense the danger, and she arched her brows a bit.

The energy exuded by the sword was completely ordinary, neither excessively clean like Ovid nor desolate like Cai Hua’s usual sword. It gave off no other sensations either, almost as if it was a completely ordinary sword commonly used by a mundane man, the epitome of simplicity.

Only someone like Irene or Julia could tell this simplicity stems from extreme complexity, borne from a weave of spiritual energy.

The sword light passed through the horizon, arriving at where Julia stood.

Pah! Pah! Pah!

The grains from condensed mana had been sliced through.

Three fingers from Julia’s right-hand snapped. The fractured surface was as smooth as marble, and tiny droplets of blood oozed out its surface.

But Julia showed no pain on her face; in contrast, a smile surfaced.

Her crimson and long hair momentarily covered her eyes as a breeze blew by.

Her red pupils started fading.

To be more accurate, the flames behind her eyes began burning.

It burned black.

Julia’s eyes turned as black as the darkest of charcoal. The eyes were the windows to the soul, but what was burning was not her soul. Rather, it was the result of her true form.

The flames within her eyes burned incessantly, warping the air and causing it to change shape.

Before she had been integrated into the world, Julia was the oldest dragon in the world. Compared to phoenixes, who were skilled in manipulating mana and flames, the greatest strength of dragon’s was their body.

Her broken fingers healed at a speed visible to the naked eye. She waved her hand to roll up into the air and took a step forward.

Anna views Julia to be one of the laziest people in the world. That judgement was certainly not wrong, as, throughout the entire conflict, Julia had only moved her hand or opened her mouth to say a single syllable.

But after that step, her aura completely changed and became overwhelming in vigour.

Instead of stepping on the empty air, it looked more like she was stepping on her vast domains. She stepped as if she was drumming, and the world served as the drum. As she stepped, the ground surrounding the city began to shake.

Julia was objectively a very beautiful woman, her figure was slender and as lovely as a rose. But Cai Hua had become incredibly serious now that she stood in front of him, even graver than when he saw her using the grains of concentrated mana.

Julia was now more than the embodiment of the sun; she was back on her throne as the ruler of dragons. Her body represented the foundation of the dragon’s dominance, namely strength.

Her position as the ruler of dragons had never been challenged, whether as the ruler of dragons or as the empress of Juliana, her absolute power is unmatched.

Cai Hua knew that although the fist coming towards him may seem harmless or even playful, it could definitely crush anything as long as it smashed it.

Even she didn’t mobilize the vast mana of the sun, nor did she use any techniques. In fact, nothing enigmatic was used at all, she was simply smashing in the most reliable and straightforward way.

Yet behind it was power. The greatest, and most absolute power.

A sword was raised silently, like light travelling through vast emptiness.

Anything will be crushed beneath Julia’s fist, how can this sword not fold?

The sword in Cai Hua’s hand buckled beneath that fist, creating the anguished sound of distorted metal.

After the mournful sound, Julia looked at the sword meeting with her fist, Julia’s beautiful face remained emotionless, giving off a peaceful and calm feeling, as though she had expected this outcome.

Cai Hua landed on a piece of levelled ground. His bun was undone; his long hair was dancing behind the white robes, making him look extremely flustered.

No matter how slender and delicate Julia’s body may look, her true form was that of a dragon; the power stored within Julia’s body over millions of years had flowed through Cai Hua’s sword like a bridge. The remnants of that power were still roaring within his body, causing his joints to crack and his body to tremble.

At this moment, Cai Hua realised he was still inferior to his contemporary, Alexander. This thought caused his eyes to turn cold, and annoyance rose within him.

He had always been a very arrogant person.

Cai Hua raised the sword in his hand.

Julia placed her hand before her.

The wind rose.

Dense dark clouds covered the sky.

---

A black wind was blowing in the darkened world. The strong gale squalled the black soil up in the sky and tossed it everywhere. It was as if the light in the world were shrouded, hiding what happens in this world from any outsiders.

The black snow mountain at the far-flung corners of the world was collapsing under the wind. The melted snow blended with the black mud and gravel, absorbing what little light remains in the world now that the skies had been covered.

The towering peaks that stood so strong were going to collapse, and the now displaced water would turn the world into an ocean. Yet at that moment, a bright figure suddenly arrived, releasing a passing warmth.

Ovid, standing from a certain point in this space, watched this fairy-like person arrive far away from him, he was perplexed yet anxious. He, however, knew exactly who this person was. The natural world can see all things under heaven, only through shrouding it in complete darkness can anything be hidden.

The bright figure instantly covered thousands of miles, stepping over the carnage undergoing beneath her. As she travelled, the speed of the melting snow mountains gradually slowed down, while the floods that had wrecked the wilderness had turned into dancing black ice.

It is easier to destroy than to create. For example, Cai Hua’s sword cannot bring a man back to life.

The mountains and rivers settled into peace once more, and at some point, the glaciers and frozen rivers had too disappeared. Aside from the wilderness remaining shrouded in darkness, it was as though nothing had changed.

The woman’s pace grew faster and faster, eventually, a single step could cover thousands of miles. Before long, she wandered to every corner of the world, and after stopping for a moment, she began striding once more.

It was unknown how long passed, but by then, the woman had left a footprint on every spot in the world. Finally, her strides ceased, and the bright figure disappeared.

From the footprints left behind, blossomed feeble, but spirited sprout.