"Hmph. So many have arrived..." Yang Ying muttered, glancing toward the cluster of newly arrived Fourth-level entities while trading blows with Sangdewo. He inwardly acknowledged that Sangdewo's lackeys were indeed high quality—none were below Upper Fourth-level. The one leading them, Yasuwen, and another hidden figure tailing them, were both at the Peak of Fourth-level.

Even as Yang Ying spoke, his hands remained active, relentlessly sending torrents of spells toward Sangdewo, who retaliated with equal ferocity. Both men moved with lightning speed, their exchange a dazzling spectacle of clashing powers, painting the battleground with hues of cyan, crimson, green, white, purple, and gold—a kaleidoscope that spun dizzyingly before the eyes.

"Eh? Who is that? They are actually matching the Regent King blow for blow!" Yasuwen exclaimed in surprise.

"How have we never heard of someone this formidable? Where did he emerge from in that corner?" Feimude bellowed in agreement.

"You arrive just in time." Sangdewo felt his confidence surge with the arrival of his subordinates and commanded, "Watch those two—the mother and daughter—and ensure they don't flee. Pay special attention to the little princess they are holding. Yasuwen and Milum, come assist me in dealing with this formidable enemy. Resolve this quickly, lest things drag on and complications arise!"

"Yes!" the others chorused in response.

Yasuwen shuddered, his body rapidly expanding until he towered over a thousand three hundred meters tall. Runes orbiting his form solidified into a colossal greatsword, which he grasped and thrust toward Yang Ying like a pillar supporting the heavens. Simultaneously, the cloaked figure Yang Ying had detected, realizing his stealth was useless against someone who could match Sangdewo, revealed himself. He was entirely shrouded in black robes, his face hidden by a black mask, save for a pair of serpent-like, emerald-green eyes peering from the eye-slits.

Silent, he too grew to a giant stature of over thirteen hundred meters alongside Yasuwen. He stretched out his hands, and twin spheres of pitch-black flame ignited in his palms, from which sprung a pair of scythes. Wielding a scythe in each hand, he swung them in an arc toward Yang Ying.

The others formed a perimeter around the two Supremes and Bai Bai and Langton, standing guard to prevent their escape.

"Not only Yasuwen, but Milum has arrived as well," the Empress Dowager murmured after surveying the encirclement. Her gaze shifted to the revealed Black Robe, a shadow of worry crossing her face as she shielded Bai Bai. "Milum was the very culprit who forced Sophie to flee the Empire. He and Yasuwen are both Peak Fourth-level entities of ten thousand years' standing, yet both have been recruited by Sangdewo. They are now Sangdewo's most capable right and left hands. Their combined presence means Sangdewo is determined to drop all pretense today and cause trouble for us—my daughter and I."

"Regent Sangdewo, you disappoint me," Yang Ying frowned as Yasuwen and Milum charged him. "I anticipated a spirited, full-throttle battle with you. You already held the superior position, yet you still call for reinforcements. It truly spoils the mood."

"I admit you are a difficult opponent, but you have much to learn about combat," Sangdewo declared righteously. "If I invest a little more time, I can certainly defeat you, but that time might be measured in days. I don't have that much time to waste on you!"

"Is that so? Then so be it." Yang Ying shook his head.

The moment his words faded, Dao Feng struck. A dazzling bolt of lightning flashed across the void, descending from above toward Milum. The lightning enveloped Dao Feng’s blade, transforming it into a long spear of pure thunder, which he thrust at Milum!

Milum felt a warning instinct just as the crisis arrived, but it was too late to evade. The battle between Yang Ying and Sangdewo had caused massive collateral damage—the clash of their immense wills had violently churned the local space-time, severely weakening Milum's precognition. Compounding this, Dao Feng’s speed was absolute, and he had suppressed all thought prior to the strike, minimizing any tell-tale signs. Thus, the blow landed true!

Milum desperately managed to raise his twin scythes, but they could not withstand the overwhelming, prepared force of Dao Feng’s thunderous might. Both scythes shattered, their blades flying wide to either side. Not only that, the lightning spear’s momentum undiminished, it continued its trajectory, piercing straight through Milum’s chest!

Although Milum was a Fourth-level entity whose very essence was one unified whole, rendering him seemingly without vital points, such an injury was undeniably fatal.

"Argh! You cowardly sneak, take this!" Yasuwen, not far off, roared in fury and disbelief. Milum’s strength was nearly identical to his own, yet he was incapacitated in a single instant. Just who was this master capable of such a sudden strike? Furthermore, such a master was hiding on the sidelines to launch a sneak attack—an act Yasuwen had never witnessed in his tens of thousands of years of life.

Yasuwen spun his colossal greatsword and slashed toward Dao Feng, attempting to free Milum. Dao Feng released the lightning spear with his left hand and waved a sphere of lightning with his right. Thousands of electrical arcs shot from his palm, instantly transforming in the void into thousands of lightning javelins that hurtled toward Yasuwen. Simultaneously, Dao Feng used his right hand to pull the lightning spear free from Milum’s chest and plunged it back in again!

"There's another one!" Sangdewo roared in uncontrolled fury. "Abili, Dokalis, Naleevi, Feimude, quickly stand ready! My net!" He flung a massive net woven from wave-like energies, seizing the opportunity to break away from the main fray. With flickering movements, he darted toward Dao Feng.

The four named by Sangdewo responded in affirmation, abandoning the encirclement around the two Supremes and surging toward Dao Feng.

Yang Ying condensed lightning into twin crescent blades, slicing the great net into tatters with a few swift cuts, then pursued Sangdewo.

Sangdewo moved with extreme swiftness, reaching Dao Feng in a breath. He gripped a longsword forged from the power of space itself and brought it down in a slash aimed at Dao Feng’s head. Dao Feng pulled the lightning spear from Milum’s chest and raised it above his head to block.

Sangdewo’s strike landed squarely on the spear's shaft, resulting in a silent burst of dark light. The sphere of annihilation, which consumed all, immediately swelled outward from the point where the spear and sword met.

Dao Feng and Sangdewo simultaneously released their weapons. Sangdewo used the opening to snatch Milum away, tossing him toward the rapidly approaching Feimude and the others.

"Abili, use your healing arts to save Milum!" Sangdewo yelled.

"As you command, Regent King!" Abili, the imposing figure bearing six pairs of luminous wings on his back, caught Milum. He pressed both hands onto the two gaping holes in Milum's chest, channeling an intense, near-reckless surge of pure white light into Milum’s body. The two wounds began to close at an observable rate.

Dao Feng paid no mind to Milum’s fate; he conjured another lightning spear and re-engaged Sangdewo. Yang Ying arrived from behind Sangdewo, and on Sangdewo’s side, aside from Abili tending to Milum, Yasuwen with his runic greatsword, Feimude with his flame-colored hair, Dunleavy bearing a halo above his head, and Dokalis covered in bone spurs all charged forward. In total, five Peak Fourth-level entities engaged Yang Ying and Dao Feng in a massive, destructive clash.

The battle reached a temporary equilibrium, the sheer shockwaves of their engagement disturbing the space tens of thousands of kilometers wide, causing the starlight to tremble and space-time to warp chaotically. Fortunately, this was the universe. Had this contest occurred on Earth, the result would have been equivalent to continuous nuclear detonations. Even the Himalayas might be pulverized into dust within minutes. If such a battle persisted for a few hours, the entire Eurasian continent could conceivably be ripped in half!

The onlookers further away, not participating in the immediate fight, watched with rapt fascination. How long had it been since they witnessed such ferocious combat? Both sides represented the absolute apex of Galactic power. Perhaps even the war between the Empire and the Tan Star people and the Gllenwal people ten thousand years ago, or the recent campaign into the Perseus Arm, had never featured such a spectacle of warring Peak Fourth-level masters as seen today.

The other experts Sangdewo had summoned, while also Upper Fourth-level entities, were significantly weaker than the seven figures locked in the central vortex. Even Feimude, an Upper-level master just shy of reaching Peak Fourth-level, could only manage a supporting role by drawing attention. If they were to intervene directly, they might not only fail to assist but could easily be destroyed by the residual energy—a slight brush might mean severe injury, a direct hit, instant death. This was not a conflict they could safely enter.

All they could do was strive to maintain the containment circle around the two Supremes. After all, the Empress Dowager herself was a Peak Fourth-level entity, worthy of their utmost vigilance. If she were not burdened by holding a recently ascended Third-level princess, she might have already smashed through their cordon.

"My two majesties, from where did you acquire these two ultimate masters?" one of the surrounding figures asked with a note of profound regret. "I had foolishly assumed you were simply a few widows and orphans lacking powerful support. I was completely mistaken."

The Empress Dowager offered no reply. This was clearly a misunderstanding; she, too, had only just met Yang Ying and Dao Feng today. However, she harbored no intention of correcting this misapprehension.

At this moment, the battlefield shifted again. A wormhole suddenly tore open in space, and three figures, entirely enveloped in purple flame, stepped out!

"Who are those?" This thought crossed the minds of everyone on Sangdewo’s side, as well as the two Supremes. "Has the mob joining the brawl begun? Then we shall join as well!" The newcomers were the Divine Race’s Luminary Consuls. After Cass spoke these words, he extended both hands, and the other two Consuls mirrored the gesture.

Beside them, terrifying bolts of lightning power were aggregated, drawn to an absolute limit. Then, the three Consuls pushed forward!

"Not good, retreat immediately!" Sangdewo shouted. He intentionally took a blow from Yang Ying to deploy a powerful technique, blasting open a gap in the melee. Six ropes shot from his palm, wrapping around Yasuwen, Dokalis, Dunleavy, Feimude, Abili, and Milum, pulling them away from the center toward a safer distance.

Due to the rampant energy and spatial distortion within the battle zone, the method of escaping via tearing open a wormhole was nullified. They had to withdraw from the immediate conflict before contemplating a complete escape.

However, those surrounding the two Supremes were not so fortunate. The moment the three Consuls acted, they unleashed spherical lightning that diffused across the entire expanse of the starscape. The combined power of the three Luminary Consuls was unparalleled. The spherical lightning numbered in the hundreds of millions, resembling a boundless, surging ocean tide, instantly engulfing the entire containment circle!