One person: Starting with the Snow Drinking Blade

A dark shadow fell silently from the beam of the palace dome. The shadow was as thin as a sheet of silk, and it landed without making a sound. A slender dagger slid out from his sleeve, its tip gleaming with a cold, eerie blue light, and pierced straight for King Nathan's back.

The timing was outrageously precise—it was precisely when King Nathan's spiritual energy was depleted, his attention was entirely focused on the front lines, and his rear defenses were completely vulnerable.

"Your Majesty—!" Elena's cry tore through the air, but she was in the middle of the plaza, too far away. Even at full speed, it would take her at least three breaths to get there.

The dagger tip was only two inches from King Nathan's back. King Nathan herself finally sensed the chilling killing intent, but her body was too weak to dodge, and her legs were as if nailed to the stone steps, unable to move an inch.

She closed her eyes.

clang----!

A clear and resonant clang of metal on metal echoed throughout the entire arena.

A longsword, as black as ink and heavy with ancient simplicity, appeared behind King Nathan at some unknown time. Its broad blade, with a faint, dark light flowing across its surface, steadily blocked the tip of the slender dagger. The dagger struck the spine of the sword, producing a long, piercing sound, and a series of blue sparks flew, but it did not penetrate even an inch.

"A peerless sword!" Zhang Chulan recognized the sword at a glance amidst the chaos of battle, his voice rising eight octaves.

Nie Lingfeng had somehow broken free from his entanglement with Sean and appeared behind King Nathan across the entire battlefield. His left shoulder was torn open by Sean's punch, revealing a thin layer of blood, but his right hand held the hilt of the peerless sword firmly, his wrist not even trembling.

Elijah, the owner of the dagger, was hovering in mid-air, his figure like a night owl with its wings folded, hanging on the spine of the sword. His wrist was still in a thrusting posture, and his mask-like composure finally cracked, revealing the true astonishment beneath.

"You..." He gritted his teeth and took three steps back, the dagger twirling between his fingers before disappearing into his sleeve. "How did you get here? You were clearly over there—Sean clearly held you back—"

"Sean did hold me off for three breaths." Nie Lingfeng slowly sheathed his sword and held it horizontally in front of him, the dark light of the peerless sword illuminating half of his profile. "But I counted your strides from the first time I saw you make a move. Elijah, every time you charged up a thrust, your left foot would turn inward half an inch more than your right. From the moment you crouched on the crossbeam, I knew you were going to move. As for Sean's punch—yes, I took it head-on, just to get here."

He raised his hand and pressed the wound on his left shoulder, his fingertips stained with a layer of dark red blood, but he didn't even glance at it.

Elijah remained silent for a long time. Then he gave a bitter laugh, the composure in his smile finally crumbling: "I underestimated you."

He slowly retreated, creating distance between himself and Nie Lingfeng, and the dagger slid back from his sleeve into his palm.

"However," he looked up, a strange blue light flashing deep in his pupils behind his glasses, "you think this is the end of it?"

Nie Lingfeng's brows furrowed sharply. A slight tremor suddenly came from the ground beneath his feet, followed by a muffled boom! The floor, two meters in diameter, collapsed without warning, as if an invisible giant hand had hollowed it out from below, revealing a dark, deep hole! The walls of the hole were steep and bottomless, with pieces of stone slabs falling from the edges with a soft patter, and for a long time, no echo of them hitting the bottom could be heard!

In the instant of weightlessness, Nie Lingfeng forcefully pushed off a falling boulder with his right foot, using the momentum to leap half a meter upwards. Simultaneously, he swung his peerless sword horizontally, embedding it in a crevice at the edge of the pit. The blade absorbed the force, suspending him precariously at the edge of the opening. But in that brief moment, Elijah swept past him like a black cloud, hurtling towards the swaying King Nathan!

Nie Lingfeng gripped the rock edge of the cave wall with his left hand, pulled his peerless sword from a crevice with his right, and suddenly used his waist and abdomen to flip himself up, the whole process taking less than a breath. As soon as he landed, he turned around sharply, the sword moving with him, a jet-black sword aura sweeping out straight for Elijah's back!

Elijah sensed the sharp killing intent behind him and had no choice but to turn around to block. The dagger and the peerless sword clashed once more, the sound of metal striking metal as dense as a sudden rain. The two exchanged more than a dozen blows in the blink of an eye within three steps in front of King Nathan. The light of the sword and the shadow of the dagger intertwined into an impenetrable net, and each collision created a visible ripple in the air.

With Elena's support, King Nathan slowly retreated into the depths of the hall. Her steps were unsteady, as if she were walking on cotton, with almost half of her body weight resting on Elena's shoulder, but her gaze never left the ancient tree at the far end of the hall that emitted a faint golden light.

The sacred tree.

Its trunk was so thick that it would take more than a dozen people to encircle it, its bark cracked like dragon scales, each vein shimmering with tiny golden light. Its canopy blocked out the sky, its massive branches stretching across the dome of the main hall, each leaf's veins seemingly embedded with miniature stars, their flickering light like breathing. Its roots emerged from the cracks in the floor tiles, penetrating the walls, piercing the foundation, extending into every inch of Nathan Island, supplying the island with a continuous flow of supernatural energy.

But beneath its beauty lie layers upon layers of bones, piled up for thousands of years. Deep within the roots, the soil is mixed with the ashes and lingering souls of countless sacrifices. These souls, devoured and unable to escape, whisper, entangle, and lament among the roots day and night. With each step King Nathan takes closer, those whispers become clearer.

She stopped three steps in front of the sacred tree, looked up at the starlight-filled canopy, and a tear flashed in her eye before disappearing.

She remembered the twilight when the previous King Nathan passed the throne to her. The old man's withered hand pressed against her head, his chapped lips moving: "Child, from this day forward, you are the guardian of the Divine Tree. Remember—the Divine Tree is both the foundation of Nathan Island and its curse. You will be its guardian, and also its prisoner. You possess supreme power, and you will bear endless sins. Are you... ready?"

At twenty-two, young and impetuous, she nodded in agreement without hesitation. At that time, she believed that as long as she was strong and determined enough, she could find a way to have the best of both worlds.

But now, looking at the silhouettes of white bones faintly visible in the golden light beneath the sacred tree, and listening to the low, almost inaudible wails, her heart felt as if it were being gripped and twisted by an iron hand. She regretted it. But she had no way out.

"Your Majesty..." Elena supported her, her voice hoarse, "How about... we abandon Nathan Island, take everyone away... and find a place without the Divine Tree to start over..."

"Give up?" King Nathan gave a bitter laugh, the curve of his lips more painful than tears. "How I wish I could give up. But the Divine Tree has become one with Nathan Island, one with my life. Destroy it—Nathan Island will crumble and plunge into the sea, and I will die. There are thirty thousand lives on this island; their lives are on my shoulders. How can I let them go?"

She took a deep breath, released Elena's hand, and walked step by step toward the sacred tree. Golden light cascaded down from the tree trunk, slowly enveloping her body like a heavy golden robe draped over her shoulders.

"I will protect Nathan Island. I will protect the Sacred Tree. I will protect my people." Her voice grew softer and softer, the last few words almost a whisper, "Even if... it costs me my life."

She raised her hands, pressing her palms against the rough bark of the divine tree. The golden light suddenly surged! Brighter, more intense, and more dazzling than before—the light poured from her palms into the tree trunk and then back into her body from the canopy, rushing and colliding within her meridians, illuminating her bones! Her robes billowed and fluttered in the golden light, every strand of her hair was tinged with gold, and her entire silhouette gradually blurred in the light, as if she were transforming from a flesh-and-blood human into a pure energy form.

"Your Majesty—no!" Elena lunged forward to pull her away, but was repelled by the golden light and fell onto the paving stones two steps away. Her palms were scraped, but she ignored the pain. "You'll die! Your body can't withstand this backlash!"

But King Nathan did not stop. Her chanting became ethereal and distant in the golden light, as if it no longer came from her mouth, but echoed from the depths of the divine tree, from beneath the earth, from a thousand years ago. The light grew brighter and brighter, and the entire hall began to tremble. Dust fell from the dome, and cracks spread across the ceiling like a spider web.

After exchanging a blow with Nie Lingfeng outside the hall, Elijah briefly retreated, glanced back at the expanding golden sphere of light inside, and muttered, "Madmen... they're all madmen..."

He looked at Nie Lingfeng, the tip of the blade held horizontally in front of his chest: "She's committing suicide. You should be able to tell."

Nie Lingfeng paused slightly in his sword grip, his gaze falling on the increasingly bright humanoid light within the hall, and remained silent for a moment.

Then he slowly said, "She is the queen."

"Should the king die?" Elijah's lips curled into a mocking smile.

"No." Nie Lingfeng slowly raised his sword to shoulder level, the tip aimed at Elijah's throat. His gaze, calm and resolute amidst the interplay of firelight and golden glow, said, "The Queen should take responsibility for her choices. She chose to protect, so she will protect to the end. This is not suicide, it is responsibility."

He took a step forward, and the blade of the peerless sword flowed with a dark light, echoing the golden glow deep within the hall.

"And you," his voice was as cold as the blade of a Snow Drinking Blade, "have chosen betrayal, so betray to the very end. Let's see—whose resolve is stronger."

Elijah remained silent for a long time. Then he slowly held the dagger horizontally in front of him, the smile gone from his eyes behind his glasses.

"Okay. Let's do it then."

The two faced off again. Outside the hall, a fierce battle raged; inside, golden light burned. King Nathan's chanting had reached its zenith, causing the entire sacred tree to resonate and tremble. The starlight on its canopy flickered more and more rapidly, like the heartbeat of a countdown.

The entire island of Nathan trembled. A golden pillar of light shot into the sky from the roof of the palace, dyeing the night sky a molten gold. On the sea, in the mountains, and in every corner of the island, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up at the towering pillar of light.

The scales of fate are tipping.

And the final weight is about to be placed.