“Huaxia dragon??”

The moment the giant dragon appeared, that phrase suddenly popped into Tian You’s mind. As he looked into those enormous dragon eyes, full of majesty, he felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

But compared to Tian You, the others were nowhere near as calm.

They had clearly seen it. The longsword held in the flower-tree woman’s arms had fused into the dragon’s brow. That meant this dragon had to be the artifact spirit of this Eighth-Tier War Prayer’s Soulbound Artifact. Even after so many years, even if its Qi Energy and soul had faded, it still carried the foundation of the eighth tier. It was far beyond anything they could fight as they were now.

Among them, Li Yilin had the richest experience and the most mature judgment. Enduring the dragon’s pressure, she stepped forward and said respectfully, “Senior... We only came here to investigate because we had our doubts. We mean no offense. If we’ve offended you in any way, please forgive us. We’ll leave at once...”

After speaking, Li Yilin quickly shot the others a look and slowly began backing away.

But right then, the bronze light on the dragon’s tail and four massive claws flared even more fiercely. The dragon’s pressure in the air surged to a whole new level. With monstrous killing intent in its eyes, it stared straight at Li Rui beside Li Yilin.

“No offense!? You junior approached He Si so rashly because you clearly coveted the power on her! And you still dare claim you meant no offense!?”

When it spoke the name “He Si,” boundless fury burst from its dragon eyes, as if what Li Rui had done had touched its reverse scale.

A dragon’s reverse scale—touch it, and you die!

The enraged dragon moved its massive body and shot into the air under an irresistible dragon’s might. After circling several times overhead, it came crashing down with unmatched force.

“Take formation!”

Li Rui let out a low roar. Bai Ziting, Li Yuanqian, and Zheng Biao instantly moved into position. The four of them formed up with Li Yilin in the center. Their eyes shook violently as they stared at the dragon’s shadow in the sky, so huge it nearly covered the heavens.

Even with some distance between them, the dragon’s pressure had locked onto them. They couldn’t escape. All they could do was stand there, drenched in sweat, in an atmosphere so oppressive it was hard to breathe.

Tian You stepped forward and shielded Hua Zhaoxue and Nie Wangqing behind him. He looked at the sky-covering dragon shadow with a complicated expression.

At that critical moment, four dazzling streaks of white light suddenly flashed at the stone gate.

As the white light flickered, the temperature in the air dropped sharply. Then four ice crystals, each several zhang long, shot toward the dragon from above, below, left, and right.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

“ROOOAR!!!!”

The dragon let out an even angrier cry of pain, but the impact from the ice crystals drove its body backward and down. Its enormous tail, carrying the force of the fall, smashed viciously toward Li Rui and the others.

Seeing this, Bai Ziting and Li Yuanqian both gave a sharp cry. The two of them used all their Qi Energy to instantly raise a barrier. But the gap in strength was simply too great. Even though the dragon tail carried no Qi Energy at all, its sheer falling weight shattered the barrier they had built with all their strength in an instant.

“Pfft!”

Under that crushing pressure, both Bai Ziting and Li Yuanqian spat out blood. They exchanged a quick glance, then used every last bit of strength they had to wrap Li Rui and the others in Qi Energy once more. Squeezing out that final instinct to survive at the edge of life and death, they forced the barrier to burst backward with their last breath of vitality, and only then did they escape the danger.

Once they were safe, both girls turned deathly pale. After seeing that Li Rui and the others were unharmed, the tension in their hearts loosened, and they collapsed unconscious from exhaustion.

But Li Rui and the others had no time to check their injuries.

At the stone gate, a powerful white light flashed again, so bright it forced everyone to shut their eyes. At the same time, an icy gale rushed at them, cold enough to pierce the bone. A moment later, the white light gradually faded, and a woman in a long dress stepped out, her face veiled in white gauze.

She merely stood there, yet she was like a peerless emperor looking down on all living things. With the slightest movement, all creation seemed ready to bow before her.

“You are not at fault. But since you appeared at the border of the Sacred Dance, I can only choose to kill you.”

Her voice was cold, colder than the winter wind itself. After speaking to the falling dragon, her icy snow-like eyes turned toward Tian You, Li Rui, and the others. The killing intent in those cold eyes was like two unsheathed swords.

“ROOOAR!!!!”

Right then, the dragon let out another earth-shaking roar. In the raging wind, its body rose with its head held high, stirring up a towering storm. Its eyes had now turned completely blood-red.

As the sovereign of all beasts, even if its consciousness was not a pure dragon’s will, years of influence had stained it with a dragon’s pride. And now, to be sent flying so easily by a woman of unknown origin—how could that not enrage it!?

With a furious roar, the enormous dragon charged forward. Its body looked as if it were burning with bronze demonic flames. Wherever it passed, the earth cracked apart. Violent shockwaves kicked up billowing dust. Bronze flames churned as it rushed at the veiled woman with overwhelming momentum.

The veiled woman calmly withdrew her gaze from Li Rui and the others and looked toward the dragon charging at her.

She raised one jade-like hand into a fist. Her ink-black hair flowed and swayed like a rising tide. At the instant her hand rose, surging Qi Energy moved with her exquisite figure. In the blink of an eye, her fist opened into a palm, and divine-might-like waves of Qi Energy burst from her hand to meet the dragon head-on.

Boom!!!!

At the point where the two forces collided, the immense impact of that vast Qi Energy shook the entire space. Cracks spread through the air itself like shattered glass, extending in every direction without stopping. This independent space, which had existed for who knew how many ages, began to slowly break apart under the swelling force of those two powers...

Holding Bai Ziting in his arms, Li Rui stared at the world-shaking clash of energy and completely lost himself.

Hua Zhaoxue and Nie Wangqing also looked at the stunning veiled woman with violent turmoil in their eyes.

The only calm person on the field was Tian You.

But Tian You was not drawn to the veiled woman. Instead, he looked at the dragon, which was clearly struggling. His purple eyes trembled slightly, and no one knew what he was thinking.

A trace of cold laughter appeared beneath the veiled woman’s face. Her palm shifted, and even more overwhelming Qi Energy blasted out, directly shattering the fragile balance of the deadlock.

“Roar... roar!!!”

The dragon was instantly engulfed by that vast Qi Energy. Amid its final wails, it dissolved into countless motes of bronze light and vanished.

After the dragon’s shadow completely disappeared, an ancient bronze longsword fell from the void and plunged deep into the wasteland.