As the demonic blade—composed of countless fragments and carrying both "Heaven-Cleaving" and Sovereign power—struck the black-crystal dragon, a howl of absolute agony thundered through the world!
The dragon was nearly cleaved in two at the waist. It looked at the massive gap in its abdomen with shock and disbelief. Though its vessel only carried a wisp of its consciousness, it should never have been wounded to such an extent by an ant.
"Is he a Variable!?"
The thought flashed through the dragon's mind.
"I must see what you truly are!"
Though shaken by the golden Druid warrior, the dragon did not panic. It sensed that the energy the warrior could unleash was beginning to wane; it would be difficult for the creature to repeat such a lethal strike. In other words, its bizarre power was not infinite.
This allowed the dragon to breathe a sigh of relief. While its main body could have destroyed this place with a single palm, the vessel carrying its consciousness was limited. If the vessel collapsed, its consciousness would be forced to depart.
'Kill!'
The dragon circulated the Power of Years through its abdomen, quickly restoring it to its state before the injury. Then, with the augmentation of time, its physical form lunged at the Druid warrior with unavoidable speed.
The destructive attacks shattered the warrior again and again. Even the Heaven-Cleaving Demonic Blade was not spared; its blade grew more fractured, and its rust became more mottled under the erosion of time. In the blink of an eye, the warrior and the blade were like flickering candles in a storm, on the verge of total annihilation.
The dragon's assault grew more ferocious, intent on seeing what would remain of this strange entity once it was dead.
Slowly, however, the smile on the dragon's face vanished, replaced by growing shock. Something was wrong.
"Why won't this thing die?"
It felt as if it were being toyed with. It realized that while the Druid warrior appeared shattered on the surface, it hadn't actually suffered any real damage. Its "weakening" was more like an act to bait the dragon into wasting its energy!
As the battle continued, the dragon discovered that the warrior had no physical entity. Even that mysterious imprint... its fading color and aura might just be a performance!
"How can he be this cowardly and cunning!?"
The dragon hadn't expected that after living through so many ages, its first awakening would involve having its temporal power neutralized and being tricked. It immediately dismissed the idea that this was a specialized golem; such a nuanced combat style was beyond the capabilities of an automated tool.
Another question plagued it: 'What is its source of existence? Its overall power is clearly weakening, yet it cannot be destroyed?'
Confirming that the warrior could not be killed by conventional means, the dragon stopped its assault and stood in the void, silently gazing at the fragments of the warrior. After a long while, a look of realization and shock appeared in its eyes.
"It seems to be Sovereign Dao power?"
"But a Sovereign Dao power in this state is unheard of!"
The dragon was truly shaken. Sovereign Dao Cultivators were among the most troublesome and domineering practitioners in the multiverse. Their power possessed an "immunity to all laws," making it almost impossible to counter or target. Unless one destroyed the foundation of their power, they could not be killed.
In the history of the myriad domains, several super-sovereigns had appeared, leaving brilliant marks in the annals of time. While their paths differed, their combat power was universally unrivaled.
But that was not the most terrifying part. What was truly fearsome was that when a world produced a Sovereign Dao Cultivator, the entire world usually entered a phase of unconventional, explosive growth in strength. This would, in turn, accelerate the cultivator's progress. There were even records of Sovereign Dao Cultivators slaying "Immortals"—their potential was ranked among the top ten in the heavens!
However, such cultivators had not appeared for ages. The conditions for their birth were far too harsh. If it hadn't looked specifically for it, the dragon might not have found the memory. But now, one was standing right before it.
No wonder its temporal force was neutralized by the armor! No wonder it was so difficult to destroy!
"This is troublesome."
For the first time, the dragon's eyes showed a look of frustration. It realized it couldn't solve this problem quickly. The only way it could think of to win was to slaughter the lifeforms of the Star-Sea World in massive numbers. Only by causing the people to die or lose their faith in this "Sovereign" could it find an opportunity to truly kill him.
"Why did I encounter such trouble while trying to take the key?"
The dragon's anger and gloom deepened. But soon, a cruel smile appeared on its mouth. It had forcibly linked with the memories of its demonic underlings and discovered that the other Unity-stage battlefield still held a significant number of Saint-grade demons.
As long as it pinned this man down here, preventing him from leaving the disaster battlefield, the final decisive battle would be triggered prematurely. Without the protection of their Sovereign, the Star-Sea people would never withstand its demonic legions.
Once the lifeforms were slaughtered, this Sovereign would not only lose his threat, but the Sovereign Dao power on his body could likely be traded for many good items in the Trade Domains of the Heavens.
Thinking of this, the dragon's dark mood vanished. This wasn't a trouble—it was a new treasure mountain! A portion of Sovereign Dao power was enough to make many old monsters go mad.
At the same time, as the dragon withdrew its temporal domain to save energy, Qi Ping's main body finally regained contact with the Treant Avatar.
'I can finally contact the avatar... Wait, something is wrong. This isn't the Treant Avatar anymore?'