221: Chapter 221 Scrophularia Retreat

An indescribable majesty burst forth from within the Golden Ancient Tree.

It was as if the tolling of a bell rang out between heaven and earth, resembling the resonance of the Great Dao, trembling through every inch of the void.

The billions of branches and leaves of the Golden Ancient Tree responded in unison, emitting a melodious celestial sound, as if welcoming the descent of a monarch.

Above the vault of heaven, the miraculous phenomenon changed once again!

Auspicious colorful rays of light covered the sky for ten thousand miles.

Red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple... countless types of auspicious auras converged into a sea, painting the entire horizon.

The entire Northern Territory was dyed brilliantly colorful by this sudden celestial phenomenon.

Like the first ray of light in the dark night, it tore through the darkness, proclaiming the arrival of a new era!

Countless soldiers looked up at the sky, the bewilderment in their eyes vanishing, replaced once again by their former firmness.

"This is the heavenly phenomenon of advancing to the King-level!"

Xuanshen finally understood why Zhou Xinghe had waited until Yu Juezhi couldn't hold on anymore before stepping in.

Because Zhou Xinghe had calculated the time long ago; the exact moment of his death was also the moment when the Authority of Destiny truly completed its fusion.

Just like that, Snowfield Dragon City exchanged an old King-level for a new one, and that new King-level was full of vigor and vitality.

Xuanshen roared, "Old thing, abominable, abominable!"

"Little crawler, do you feel quite despairing?" The magnetic middle-aged voice appeared once again.

Golden flames ignited in front of the Golden Ancient Tree, then gradually outlined a human silhouette piece by piece.

Jiang Shuo's figure abruptly appeared before everyone, his aura gradually becoming restrained. Had it not been for the celestial phenomenon just now, one would even think he was merely an ordinary middle-aged man.

Xuanshen wore an angry expression, "You humans are truly despicable!"

As a King-level wielding an authority, he had still been played like that by the old man surnamed Zhou, and he couldn't help but lose his composure, completely shedding his past grace.

Jiang Shuo laughed, "With a bunch of beasts like you, is there any need to talk about morals, etiquette, or fighting fair and square?"

Xuanshen's expression twisted hideously, "Little brat, watch your mouth!"

Jiang Shuo said coldly, "I don't have Mr. Zhou's self-cultivation. I've always held a deep-seated hatred for the Demon Race, so you can prepare to meet your death now."

"Don't push people too far!"

Xuanshen was drenched in blood all over, yet he still tried his best to maintain his aura as a Dragon King, and the exhalations from his dragon mouth radiated a scorching flame aura.

Black flames condensed around his mouth.

At this point, his foundation was injured to the core, rendering him unable to use large-scale spells; he could only rely on his King-level physical strength to unleash Dragon Breath.

"Are you even human?"

Jiang Shuo simply raised his hand, and a gigantic golden flame hand condensed into form.

Ever since absorbing the Authority of Destiny, the flames he wielded had transformed from their original crimson red to a sacred gold.

Boom——

The giant golden flame hand grabbed and shattered the black flame dragon breath, and a grand rain of fire exploded across the sky.

Xuanshen's eyes turned completely cold, and the last shred of luck in his heart was shattered.

He could confirm that the opponent had no disguise whatsoever; it was truly a complete King-level aura. The only flaw might be that he had just broken through and his foundation was unsteady.

Twisted, intertwining runes surfaced within Jiang Shuo's eyes.

Those mysterious golden runes were far more intricate and terrifying than the ones Shen Xingchen had displayed earlier.

Seeing this scene, Xuanshen could no longer care about his status and swiftly fled into the distance.

"Little brat, once my injuries recover, I will come back and fight you again!"

After his wings spread open, they were several hundred zhang wide, and his black body almost blocked out the sky.

A black and white halo suddenly emerged in Jiang Shuo's eyes, intertwining and wrapping around each other as it shot toward Xuanshen's direction.

That black and white halo ignored the rules, descending right onto Xuanshen's body and binding his form.

Xuanshen's gaze suddenly turned anxious.

He could feel the power of destiny within that black and white halo; while stripping away his good fortune, it inflicted the influence of disaster upon him.

If he were to keep tangling with a King-level wielding an authority at this moment, he truly ran the risk of perishing.

Xuanshen clenched his teeth hard.

His dragon spine protruded, and his black wings ignited with black-purple divine fire, frantically consuming his own origin.

The innate skill of the Heavenly Winged Demon Dragon Clan—Blood Sacrifice of the Self.

At this moment, Xuanshen's aura underwent a qualitative change, unexpectedly recovering to his peak state for a brief moment.

Then, he used the power of the Divine Oracle to blast away the black and white halo, suddenly flapping his wings to soar high into the air, his speed actually tearing through space.

Boom, boom, boom——

After shuttling through spatial rifts several times, Xuanshen's figure vanished.

The final scene Xuanshen left behind for the Northern Territory was that his body was still entwined with black threads.

Jiang Shuo looked into the distance with a hint of regret, "Fighting a veteran King-level right after breaking through, I'm still too inexperienced."

The combat modes of the Xiang Realm and the King-level still differed far too much.

The Xiang Realm was still about fighting with one's own potential, whereas the King-level relied more on borrowing the rules of heaven and earth and the power of authority.

The peak battlefield drew to a close.

The remaining demons began to rout.

The king they believed in had already fled; what else could mere bottom-tier demon soldiers like them do?

Human soldiers launched a pursuit during this time.

For a time, the bronze-colored human soldiers charged forward, while the black monsters gradually retreated.

This war between humans and demons, which had lasted for several days, ended with the defeat of the Demon Race, officially bringing it to a close.

After the last demon was slain, deafening cheers erupted from the human camp.

"New King!"

"New King!"

"New King!"

"..."

Jiang Shuo's reputation reached its apex at this moment.

The human soldiers gave Jiang Shuo such a title befitting his status, gazing with eyes so reverent and scorching at Jiang Shuo's back standing proudly in the void.

This was the enthronement ceremony belonging to the New King!

Jiang Shuo looked at this scene with some helplessness, still feeling that the title "New King" was a bit chuunibyou.

Yu Juezhi raised his fist high, "Recall the troops!"

"We won!"

"We have won!"

"Humanity will surely win, Huaxia will surely win..."

"..."

The cheers rose wave upon wave, spreading outward from the center of the battlefield, crashing against the cliffs and echoing between heaven and earth.

This sound swept away the aura of death, dispelling the thick bloody fog, and even the heavy snow seemed to be melted by this blazing emotion.

Jiang Shuo looked at Yu Juezhi with a smile.

Yu Juezhi rolled his eyes at him, then said, "Impressive, impressive!"

Jiang Shuo asked with a smile, "Is that your honest opinion?"

Yu Juezhi gave a thumbs-up, "Honest opinion!"

The two comrades of many years burst into hearty laughter at the same time.

At the same time.

Shen Xingchen was enveloped in a cyan-blue beam of light, and the annular rune between his brows became increasingly clear.

His aura lacked the sanctity of the Authority of Destiny, possessing instead an extremely profound feeling, just like a traveler hidden within the gaps of time.

When that cyan-blue pillar of light reached its peak, it suddenly shattered.

Shen Xingchen's figure plummeted downward, caught around the waist by Chen Meier.

The system's voice rang out right after.

{Congratulations to the host for accommodating the authority-level power—Time (100%)}

Deep in the north, within the territory of the Demon Race.

Xuanshen's body was covered in the marks of swords and blood, heavily crashing down into the heavy snow of the ice field.

His aura had decayed to the extreme.

First, he took Zhou Xinghe's successive onslaughts, and was hit squarely by his final "fatal sword strike," making him long since a spent force.

Yet he ran into a King-level human wielding the Authority of Destiny.

In the end, he even exhausted the power of his origin... Now he was in a state where his oil was exhausted and his lamp was dry.

"Old Ancestor Xuanshen, trust you have been well since we last met?"

An elegant male voice came from deep within the heavy snow.

It was an extremely youthful figure, with a handsome face and elegant demeanor.

Most eye-catching of all were his eyes... containing the sun and the moon!