220: Chapter 220 The old king falls, the new king rises.

Xuanshen's expression was gloomy to the extreme.

As a peak ruler renowned among the demon race, being humiliated like this by a human was something he absolutely could not accept.

Yet what Zhou Xinghe said was the truth; as long as he was still around, the demon race would never be able to breach Snowfield Dragon City.

At this moment, even Xuanshen felt his state of mind shaking.

Zhou Xinghe struck once more.

At this moment, fragments of the battlefield's laws flew everywhere, and this world showed signs of collapsing.

Xuanshen had completely lost any will to fight and could only waste time.

Zhou Xinghe's white hair fluttered, no longer possessing his former calmness, filled instead with iron-blooded battle intent.

What time, what sword intent—at this moment, they were all crushed and mashed together into a blur, completely indistinguishable.

He kicked Xuanshen's body flying, then walked to the end of time, chased to the spot where Xuanshen landed, followed up with another kick, and heavily stamped down.

Xuanshen's dragon body was revealed, struggling as he flapped his dragon wings, truly looking just like a giant crawling insect.

Zhou Xinghe grabbed the giant dragon by the throat, pressed him onto the ground, and violently dragged him out.

The black giant dragon's body crashed violently among the northern mountain ranges, instantly causing the heavens and earth to shatter and rock fragments to fill the sky.

The physical body of the Heavenly Winged Demon Dragon Clan was truly indestructible; even so, he was only heavily injured and far from reaching the level of near death.

After a brief silence,

"Hahaha!"

Xuanshen suddenly burst out laughing, his laughter somewhat ferocious, "Zhou Xinghe, you can't kill me!"

He had finally waited for it.

In his perception, Zhou Xinghe's aura was rapidly declining; that was truly reaching the end of his tether.

Zhou Xinghe spat out a mouthful of blood.

Xuanshen quickly got up, his massive dragon body spreading open, and a giant dragon claw grabbed towards Zhou Xinghe: "Hand over your life!"

On the battlefield,

time returned to normal, and everyone stared at this scene.

There had never been a time that made them feel so suffocated; that was the collapse of the pillar concerning their beliefs.

Yu Juezhi's eyes were filled with pity.

That most revered senior... had reached such a plight.

It was also at this time that

Zhou Xinghe's cloudy eyes suddenly lit up.

"Not good!" Xuanshen flew backwards like a mouse seeing a cat.

A trace of mockery flashed through Zhou Xinghe's eyes.

His body rose from the ground, standing horizontally across the firmament, and he let out a long sigh of relief.

Behind him,

layers of cyan-blue clock patterns emerged, hanging over the heavens like an ice-blue sun.

The elder surnamed Zhou knew he didn't have much time left.

Yet in his cloudy eyes, there was no fear and no regret; instead, a trace of clarity like release flashed across them.

The cyan-blue clock patterns shrank bit by bit until they condensed into a three-foot-long sword.

That long sword shone with an extremely pure cyan-blue light.

Grasping it was like grasping time itself.

"I, Zhou Xinghe, have guarded Huaxia for over two hundred years, but in the end, my strength falls short. At this final moment, I use only this sword to carve out everlasting peace for my human race."

Zhou Xinghe's voice echoed between heaven and earth.

The cyan-blue long sword, refined to the extreme, suddenly shot forth, aiming at the location where Xuanshen was.

Xuanshen's hairs stood on end; that was a threat of death.

The sword fell!

Such a "tiny" long sword pierced through time and space at an indescribable speed, crashing heavily onto Xuanshen's body.

Xuanshen's body was directly smashed into the underground veins, causing a wave of turmoil, and whether he lived or died was unknown.

Zhou Xinghe showed an expression of relief as his body scattered like starlight.

In the winter of the 3850th year of the Huaxia calendar, approaching the Spring Festival,

Huaxia lost the elder who served as its pillar; his name was Zhou Xinghe.

The flow of time seemed to slow down, as if mourning this peerless elder.

A snowflake fell on the northern battlefield, followed closely by snowflakes filling the sky.

A heavy snow fell in the north.

Countless human soldiers knelt on the ground; there was despair, reverence, grief, and hesitation...

"Can the demon race ever be completely killed?"

This was the question most closely related to everyone's beliefs deep in their hearts.

Once, they were immensely certain that one day this world would return to the way it was before the demon race's descent; at this moment, that faith collapsed.

Yu Juezhi silently watched this scene.

The iron-blooded man approaching forty had bloodshot eyes at this moment, with wisps of moisture gradually spreading.

Chen Meier covered her lips, her face streaming with tears.

...

In the sky where Zhou Xinghe had been, the last ray of light dissipated.

A cyan-blue mark emerged there—a perfectly closed annular rune, rotating counterclockwise at an infinitely slow pace.

That was... Time Authority!

The cyan-blue mark grew silent for a moment, then suddenly plummeted.

Amid everyone's puzzled gazes,

it actually headed straight towards Shen Xingchen!

Shen Xingchen's eyes revealed a trace of bewilderment as he looked at the cyan-blue annular mark suspended motionless in front of him.

"This..."

Shen Xingchen was just about to say something

when the cyan-blue annular mark abruptly drilled into the center of his brows.

At the same time, an aged voice resounded in his mind: "Brat, I'm giving the authority to you."

At this instant,

Shen Xingchen's body slowly floated into the air, and a cyan-blue beam of light shot out from his body, rushing into the clouds.

His aura also began to grow profound, developing in the direction of the elder surnamed Zhou.

Yu Juezhi looked at such a scene, feeling somewhat gratified yet somewhat disappointed.

What gratified him was that Shen Xingchen had gained Mr. Zhou's recognition, and what disappointed him was that he had once again missed out on the authority by a hair.

However, he also agreed with this result; Shen Xingchen's upper limit was higher than his.

More people looked at Shen Xingchen with gazes full of envy; that was the authority, true supreme power!

"Cough, cough, cough—"

A suppressed, low voice came from the depths of the mountain range.

The black giant dragon's wings abruptly spread open, seeming to blot out the sun and moon, stirring up a violent gale.

That was Xuanshen!

His dragon body was covered in scars, and right in the center of his abdomen, a striking cyan-blue sword mark remained, looking somewhat ferocious.

A trace of mockery appeared at the corner of Xuanshen's mouth: "Old thing, you're finally dead. As for what I'm going to do next, you truly won't be able to stop it anymore!"

The first thing he saw was the pillar of aura symbolizing the Time Authority.

Xuanshen licked the corner of his mouth: "An ant this weak is even worthy of possessing the Time Authority?"

"Everyone listen to my command, protect Shen Xingchen!" Yu Juezhi's gaze was solemn to the extreme.

This ruler-class demon had ultimately retained a shred of battle strength, and this shred of battle strength was enough to make everyone present despair.

The Time Authority was of great importance and absolutely could not be lost.

There must... there must be other means!

When Senior Zhou Xinghe left, an expression of relief flashed across the corner of his mouth, so the north after he left was definitely not a complete mess!

Xuanshen's dragon pupils carried an indifferent majesty as he grabbed towards Shen Xingchen's side: "An ant should look like an ant!"

At this critical juncture,

the Golden Ancient Tree suddenly lit up with holy light, and hundreds of millions of golden leaves fluttered in the wind.

A teasing voice came from within the ancient tree: "Oh? Is that so?"

Xuanshen was abruptly startled, retreating rapidly.

The aura inside the Golden Ancient Tree made even him feel somewhat alarmed.

On this day, Huaxia lost its most revered elder, and on this same day, Huaxia ushered in another young ruler-level figure!