The Divine Dragon Empress had manifested in her human form, making her incredibly inconspicuous.
Therefore, even after searching for a few breaths, the people of the Black Water Empire still couldn’t find any trace of her, which left them utterly baffled.
“Hmm? Where’s the Divine Dragon Empress? How come we can’t see her?”
“She couldn’t have left, could she? After all, we activated our defensive formation so quickly; there’s no way she could have gotten inside it!”
“She’s most likely found a place to hide. After all, our Black Water Empire’s grand formation isn’t so easy to deal with!”
In their view, the reason the Divine Dragon Empress had been able to break into their formation earlier was that they had been negligent and hadn’t activated the defensive array in time. That oversight had given her the opportunity to penetrate deep into their forces.
But things were different now. Their defensive formation was up; the Empress no longer had that chance.
However, even with their defenses activated, they couldn’t help but curse inwardly. The Divine Dragon Empress’s recent assault had been far too decisive, directly costing them over ten million troops. For their Black Water Empire, this was an immense loss.
That ten million strong army was a core part of their empire’s foundation. With that force gone, their overall strength had been significantly weakened. From now on, when dealing with other powers, they might not be able to be so assertive.
For this reason, their hatred for the Divine Dragon Empress knew no bounds.
“Search! Search for her now! We must find the Divine Dragon Empress and destroy her!”
“Yes, we can’t let her escape! She killed so many of our soldiers; she must pay the price!”
“If worst comes to worst, we’ll just annihilate these tens of millions of troops from the Divine Dragon Empire right now. I refuse to believe that the Divine Dragon Empress can just sit back and watch!”
“Exactly! Let’s wipe out their army!”
They had searched for a long time without finding any sign of her.
So, they decided to use the Divine Dragon Empire’s army as bait to force the Empress to show herself. They were confident she wouldn’t abandon her troops.
As they declared, the Black Water Empire’s forces once again formed their Black Water Grand Formation. It was clear they intended to use it to destroy the opposing army.
This time, as they formed the formation, they were constantly vigilant, watching for any outside interference, preparing for the Empress to strike at any moment.
But even after the Black Water Grand Formation was fully assembled, the Divine Dragon Empress still hadn’t appeared. This puzzled the Paragon Realm experts of the Black Water Empire immensely.
“Divine Dragon Empress! If you continue to cower in hiding and not show yourself, don’t blame us for what happens next!”
“I’ll count to three, and then our Black Water Empire will wipe out your Divine Dragon army!”
“One!”
As they began counting, they frantically scanned their surroundings, certain the Empress would appear to rescue her forces. They paid extremely close attention to every single movement outside their formation.
“Two!”
As the count reached two, everyone was on edge, anticipating the Empress’s sudden appearance. But their attention remained fixed outward; no one noticed that the Divine Dragon Empress had long been among their own forces, calmly watching the performance of their Paragon Realm experts.
It was only when they reached the count of three that the Divine Dragon Empress finally spoke.
“No need to search anymore. I’ve been right here all along!”
“And what’s more, I’ve prepared a little ‘gift’ for your Black Water army!”
The moment she spoke, the Paragon Realm experts immediately pinpointed her location. But to everyone’s utter astonishment, the Empress wasn’t outside the formation as they had expected; she was standing directly within their own army! This left many completely bewildered.
Some even wanted to ask how she had gotten inside their ranks without anyone noticing.
But before anyone could voice their questions, the Empress struck.
*Myriad Swords Return to One! *
In an instant, over ten thousand ethereal swords materialized within the Black Water army. Each blade was imbued with the Empress’s sword intent and carried the full force of a Paragon Realm expert’s attack. The moment they appeared, the Black Water forces knew something was terribly wrong.
“No!”
They screamed in desperation, trying to stop her from unleashing the technique. But their shouts were useless.
The next moment, the Myriad Swords were unleashed, rampaging through the tightly packed Black Water army like wild horses breaking free from their reins.
While the Black Water army’s battle formation was powerful, the individual soldiers themselves weren’t that strong. The most powerful among them were only at the Immortal Emperor Realm. Such cultivators couldn’t withstand even two of these swords.
Worse still, after releasing one wave of Myriad Swords, the Empress immediately condensed another, and then another. Before the eyes of the Black Water Empire’s Paragon Realm experts, their mighty army was being shredded by overwhelming sword intent. The power was so immense that even they dared not approach to interfere.
Although they rushed towards her location immediately, they couldn’t stop her from releasing her sword intent. Even though the full effect hadn’t yet played out, everyone could already foresee the tragic fate of their army. Once these waves of sword intent finished, their forces would likely be decimated, with perhaps less than ten percent surviving.
This realization filled the Black Water Paragon Realm experts with such rage that they ground their teeth. They wanted nothing more than to kill the Empress right then and there to vent their fury.
They quickly surrounded her, intending to capture her. But just as they were about to make their move, the Divine Dragon Empress vanished right before their eyes.
The next instant, she reappeared directly within the ranks of the Divine Dragon Empire’s army.
Everyone was stunned.
“How is this possible? How could her speed be so fast? She just vanished in the blink of an eye!”
“What kind of technique is this? Spatial laws? How did she just disappear like that?”
“This… Why can’t I detect any trace of her movement? How did she suddenly get all the way over to the Divine Dragon army? How did she do that?”
Earlier, the Black Water forces hadn’t paid much attention to the Empress’s speed. They had simply assumed she had managed to hide among their troops by reverting to her human form, catching their soldiers off guard. But now, witnessing her instantaneous translocation right in front of them… this was a completely different matter altogether.
