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Unfortunately, Xi Luo and Morova had been cooperating and biding their time precisely to cut off any possibility of his escape, and they would not give him a way out. As their swords clashed, Cato's legendary bronze greatsword was effortlessly severed into two pieces. The icy sword light, cold to the extreme, pierced through effortlessly, plunging into the heart of the "Sand Emperor," instantly freezing him into an ice sculpture, which then shattered into icy dust.

"Ahhhh—don't kill me, don't kill me! I am a member of the imperial royal family, I can ransom my life with a million gold coins, please..." Seeing all his reliance annihilated, Emperor Yaxian no longer had time to regret his earlier rash actions. He could only think of every possible way to save his own life, but Morova's words dashed his hopes.

"Kill to silence!"

The same reason, the same action, the only difference being the disparity in strength that determined life and death.

"We came all the way from the southern Mainland to stop the 'Mercenary Empire' from continuing to abuse the power of the Holy Land in human civil wars. We just didn't expect the gods to guide the target right in front of us," Xi Luo said as he picked up the hilt of the "Ten Worlds Red Lotus Sword" and handed it to Morova. "From now on, you are the new Sword Saint."

Layers of radiant red light flowed from the "Red Lotus Sword," merging with Morova's flame aura and the golden-red flames of his phoenix phantom beast, gradually becoming one. This was the sign of a divine weapon recognizing its master.

However, these two youths were unaware that, at the same time, deep within a mountain range far away in the southern Mainland, a young girl clasped a golden-white double-peaked spear, allowing the boundless light power to flow into her body. This was also a sign of a divine weapon recognizing its master. Behind her, a strange semi-mechanical six-winged angel floated, the light power of the three intertwining and illuminating the entire mountainside.

Not far from the girl, a silver-haired werewolf sat quietly facing the three full moons in the sky. The tricolored moonlight slowly infused into the crescent-shaped mark on the werewolf's forehead. As the moonlight shifted, the werewolf's fur gradually receded, and its ears and tail disappeared, eventually transforming into a human form.

That night, two new Sword Saints of light and flame were born in places unknown to the world, for reasons completely unknown to people.

---

The so-called "winds rising and clouds surging" was the best description of the Xinghai Continent at the end of the 387th year of the Holy Light Era.

After a series of calamities, humans lost not only two Holy Land figures and half of the blood elf race but also two divine weapons bearing the "Holy Seals." Such a massive change had already affected the strategic balance between humans and beasts. Neither side could ignore this shift. Naturally, the humans hoped to compensate for this strategic imbalance in some way, while the orcs, of course, hoped to turn this variable into actual gains. Thus, with both sides striving, a large-scale racial war inevitably broke out.

The war began with the duel between the "Holy War Martial Emperor" Katherine and the "Supreme Dragon Saint."

On that day, Katherine had slipped past the "Dragon Saint" and infiltrated the human world to assassinate the "White Night Knight." As soon as the battle began, the Sacred Dragon Mountain immediately learned of the news. The "Dragon Saint" rode his golden dragon out of the Sacred Dragon Mountain, heading straight for the Fontainebleau territory, aiming directly at the orc army stationed at "Qingpuluo City."

Katherine had anticipated this situation and had already calculated the distance. Using the teleportation array of the Styx Tower, she barely managed to intercept the Dragon Saint in front of "Qingpuluo City." However, her original strength was already slightly weaker than the "Dragon Saint," who had been in the Holy Land for over thirty years. After traveling thousands of miles, even though her energy reserves were intact, her energy was inevitably exhausted, and her combat power naturally took a further hit. Fortunately, she had calculated before the battle that the Dragon Saint's divine weapon, "Tyrant Sword Dragon Slayer," was affected by the Dragon God's seal and required six hours of prayer to the Dragon God to be used. To seize the opportunity, the Dragon Saint had chosen to come empty-handed, finally narrowing the gap in their combat power and preventing Katherine from being completely overwhelmed.

Originally, according to Katherine and Chen Xuanfeng's estimates, the Dragon Saint, upon seeing Katherine's return, should have realized that he could not achieve a decisive victory and would at most test the waters before retreating. However, for some reason, the Dragon Saint's fighting spirit was unprecedentedly high, and he attacked with full force as soon as they met. Naturally, Katherine had no choice but to engage. The battle raged fiercely, with violent explosions reverberating through the sky. The intense fighting lasted an entire day, spanning hundreds of kilometers. "Qingpuluo City" was half-destroyed, and a dozen nearby towns were reduced to ashes. Although most of the orcs in the city had been evacuated, the battle still resulted in tens of thousands of casualties on both sides. In the end, both Katherine and the "Dragon Saint" were injured. Katherine's level nine magical beast mount, the "Golden-Eyed Lion Dragon," was slain by the Dragon Saint, while the Dragon Saint's level ten upper-tier golden dragon lost a horn and an eye. Both sides were driven to their limits, with no intention of retreating.

However, the "Ice Valkyrie," who served Fontainebleau, arrived later, forcing the Dragon Saint to retreat. After all, this former barbarian woman, though possessing strength comparable to an ordinary human Sword Saint, was not a Holy Land figure like Chen Xuanfeng. Unable to summon a domain, she was also not affected by the Holy Land's resistance to all healing magic and divine spells. Even if she suffered severe injuries, losing limbs, she could quickly recover and even benefit from ultimate divine spells like "Great Resurrection," allowing her to return from death. Therefore, even though the "Dragon Saint's" combat power far exceeded that of an ordinary human Sword Saint, he was unwilling to risk his life against such an opponent. Realizing he could not guarantee killing both, he finally withdrew from the battlefield and rode his dragon away.

Of course, this decision was made without the Dragon Saint knowing that the orcs had destroyed the "Red Glory Imperial City" and taken the divine weapon "Holy Spear Quinilon." Otherwise, his choice might have been different.

Following this battle, both Katherine and the Dragon Saint retreated into seclusion to recover. With the loss of high-level combat power on the southeastern battlefield, a large-scale war immediately broke out. The orc armies clashed with the human eastern and desert alliances in over a dozen battles, each side suffering countless losses, with victories and defeats on both sides. Meanwhile, the southwestern front, where the Orc King Samanda, the "Calamity Martial Emperor," was stationed, also saw continuous large-scale battles. With the presence of the Orc King, the orc army achieved successive victories, advancing hundreds of kilometers, nearly reaching the foot of the Saint Spirit Mountain. Fortunately, after learning of the destruction of the "Red Glory Imperial City," many blood elf mages, previously in seclusion, spontaneously gathered to support the Holy Temple. Along with the Holy Temple's own followers and armies, they barely managed to repel the orc offensive.