These so-called heretics formed a crucial component of Lei Dong’s current strategy for the Bright Domain.

The history of the Bright Domain spanned an immense stretch of time, during which countless heretical organizations had emerged. Without exception, all were suppressed, eventually fading into shadow, burrowing deep, cautiously taking root and flourishing within human civilization.

All Lei Dong intended to do was light a single torch on the continent of Dawn. This flame would serve as both a signal and the starting point for a conflagration. As this fire grew hotter, more and more heretics would join this raging inferno capable of overturning the entire continent of Dawn.

The continent of Dawn was the smallest of the eight complete continents within the Bright Domain. Yet, even this smallest landmass held a total human population numbering in the billions, divided among more than a dozen nations.

Although the dual cultivation methods of Battle Qi and Magic significantly weakened humanity, making it difficult for individuals to achieve supreme mastery, the sheer scale of the population guaranteed that some would possess genius-level aptitude or stumble upon fortunate opportunities, ultimately becoming immensely powerful. Naturally, in this environment lacking ambient spiritual energy, pursuing these simplified techniques focused purely on destructive power made achieving realms like the God Transformation stage virtually impossible.

The entire Winged God race, despite being numerous among the strong races, totaled only about a million individuals. And the King of Dawn commanded the weakest contingent, his Winged God subjects numbering only around twenty to thirty thousand in total.

Some were scattered among the fortresses taken by Lei Dong for defending against foreign races, while others were spread across a dozen Sky Fortresses. The largest portion, of course, was concentrated within the King of Dawn’s primary Sky City. Being so sparsely populated, the Winged People were forced to continue suppressing humanity while simultaneously mass-breeding and utilizing powerful human experts to form armies. The Iron Blood Knights, for instance, were one such example.

According to the intelligence Lei Dong possessed, there were roughly fifty such human armies serving the Winged God race exclusively, similar in caliber to the Iron Blood Knights. These were formed by drawing the elite from the various human nations.

Furthermore, there existed two direct, core human legions. Both were armies of ten thousand, also composed entirely of humans. However, these were terrifyingly strong forces, absolutely no less formidable than Lei Dong’s Fierce Ghost Army—indeed, perhaps even superior.

It was utterly impossible for humanity, relying solely on itself, to cultivate armies of such strength. But the Winged God race could. They possessed vast stores of resources and countless rare heavenly materials and earthly treasures. Therefore, among the billions of humans on the continent, the Winged God race would select young, ignorant boys and girls—children with exceptional innate talent and immense potential.

These children were taken to the various Sky Cities to undergo the most rigorous indoctrination and training, supplied abundantly with top-tier cultivation methods, spiritual elixirs, spirit stones, and herbs. Any who proved unfit or harbored heretical thoughts were quietly executed.

Through this systematic selection process, the King of Dawn had amassed two armies whose strength was nothing short of terrifying. The lowest-ranking member in either force was a Great Battle Master or a Grand Magus, with several dozen Battle Saints and Magic Saints among them. They were expertly equipped and battle-hardened, frequently participating in wars against the Asura Domain.

Moreover, the recruitment and replacement mechanism for these two armies was fully perfected, ensuring a seamless and continuous flow of personnel turnover and replenishment.

But even these two armies were not the strongest forces on the continent of Dawn. The most powerful was the personal Guard Corps of the King of Dawn. This unit also numbered precisely ten thousand, composed exclusively of Winged God individuals. Every common soldier possessed the formidable strength of the High Golden Core stage, with no fewer than two hundred reaching the Nascent Soul level. Even Lei Dong's current Fierce Ghost Army, matched against them, would have met only one fate: total annihilation.

It was precisely this army, undefeated on the continent of Dawn, that maintained the King of Dawn’s grip on power, ensuring the absolute dominance of the Winged God race across the land.

Fortress Number Fifteen was fully under Lei Dong’s control within a mere half-day. Almost simultaneously, on the other end of the Ancient Teleportation Array, Lei Dong’s assembled forces were being transmitted over one by one. Beneath the fortress now stood a dense, countless throng of soldiers.

Lei Long, Lei Dong’s sworn sworn brother. Although Lei Dong had relied heavily on manipulation in the beginning, their relationship had genuinely evolved into true brotherhood through shared time. Despite Lei Long having already attained the God Transformation stage in cultivation, he never once displayed the airs of a peak expert in front of Lei Dong.

In the years Lei Dong spent traveling abroad, Lei Long had rendered countless invaluable services, helping him expand territory in the Great Desolation, establish cities, and consolidate factions. For all this, Lei Long had never harbored a shred of complaint.

The young man, who bore a striking seventy to eighty percent resemblance to Lei Dong, possessed far more composure and maturity than when he first clumsily took human form. Especially after suffering several setbacks and narrowly escaping death in the Nine Nether Abyss, his mind had been rapidly catalyzed toward growth.

After roaming the Great Desolation for twenty years, Lei Long was now clad in a magnificent crimson suit of armor, sourced from some unknown place, which made his imposing figure appear even taller and more robust, lending him an air of mature, steady masculinity. His steed was a peak Nascent Soul-level Terrestrial Tyrant Dragon that he had subdued. The Tyrant Dragon, naturally colossal, must have been an ancient beast, having managed to cultivate to the peak Nascent Soul stage through instinct alone.

When fully extended, the creature was roughly seventy to eighty zhang tall, resembling a moving mountain range.

Lei Dong had once seen this Terrestrial Tyrant Dragon subdued by Lei Long. His first impression had been, why does this thing look so much like the Godzilla I saw in old movies? Of course, that was a jest, because the true power of this Tyrant Dragon was not something that a mere Godzilla could compare with.

Not only was the Terrestrial Tyrant Dragon larger and more muscular than Godzilla, but as a peak Nascent Soul-level formidable beast, if a Godzilla stood before it, it would likely be swatted away with a single palm strike.

It was widely known that it was exceedingly difficult for humans to subdue mature demonic beasts, even for those possessing great strength. Even if subdued, there was always the risk that the beast might revert to its wild nature one day and turn on its master.

Only beasts that were blood-sacrificed and raised from infancy were truly safe and ideal partners. Lei Dong’s Soul-Devouring Shadow Tiger was a prime example. However, countless cunning human cultivators were not content with merely keeping one or two demonic beasts; they were obsessed with finding ways to control vast hordes of them to form immense power, even attempting to cultivate powerful demonic beast legions to serve them.

Such individuals were not universally doomed to failure. It was merely that they achieved only a small fraction of their ambition, perhaps managing to control only very small, specialized groups of beasts.

Yet, through extensive research, they discovered that demonic beasts also formed distinct circles of influence among themselves. Beasts within the same circle often shared common origins and attributes; in other words, birds of a feather flocked together. A tremendously powerful avian beast, no matter its strength, would find it difficult to command a flock of lower-ranked terrestrial beasts.

However, the closer the blood relation, the easier it was for the stronger entity to make the weaker one submit. Deference to the powerful was a common phenomenon within beast hordes, but this usually occurred within the same species or within populations sharing hereditary bloodlines. It was rare for them to submit to the strong masters of other species; at most, they would feel awe and flee.

Thus, Lei Long’s ability to subdue this Terrestrial Tyrant Dragon was entirely justified. Lei Long was, fundamentally, a pure-blooded Dragon race member. This dragon lineage had existed since the Primordial Era, ranking among the absolute apex predators of the food chain. Though slightly inferior to the pure Four Divine Beasts, they were certainly considered Sub-Divine Beasts.

In essence, Lei Long possessed the pure bloodline of an Ancestral-tier Sub-Divine Beast. Nowadays, among all the creatures of heaven and earth, the more powerful the demonic beast, the more easily it could establish some form of blood connection with those top-tier existences from the Primordial Era. For example, Lei Dong’s Soul-Devouring Shadow Tiger carried a trace of the bloodline of the White Tiger, one of the Four Divine Beasts.

The entire process unfolded as follows: the Divine Beasts, being the apex predators, were pitifully few in number. Furthermore, because their life factors were so overwhelmingly powerful, their reproductive capacity bordered on infertility, and the scarcity made finding a mate extremely difficult. Consequently, some Divine Beasts, like the White Tiger, sought to propagate their life factors and bloodline inheritance by coupling with lower-ranking tiger-type demonic beasts, spawning non-purebred tiger variants. These tiger variants would then inherit, reproduce, and hybridize generation after generation, leading to the formation of various tiger species. The White Tiger’s bloodline would gradually thin out. A great many of these vanished entirely over the long march of history, but some stubbornly survived, their modern appearances bearing almost no resemblance to the original White Tiger.

Lei Long’s Sub-Divine Beast lineage, the Flying Dragon race, shared a similar dynamic with the Terrestrial Tyrant Dragon. Of course, Lei Long did not birth the Tyrant Dragon; rather, in the Primordial Era, other pure-blooded Flying Dragons crossbred with certain other demonic beasts to form the Terrestrial Tyrant Dragon species.

Yes, they directly birthed the Terrestrial Tyrant Dragon. Despite being a hybrid, the Terrestrial Tyrant Dragon had always remained an exceptionally powerful species. Although it had also hybridized to create many other draconic races, the pure-blooded Terrestrial Tyrant Dragon lineage had been fully preserved.

As a result, when Lei Long encountered this Terrestrial Tyrant Dragon, he became wildly excited, manifesting his enormous Flying Dragon true form. Through overwhelming Dragon Might and a vigorous beating, he completely subdued the beast. Moreover, he managed to bring along a small clan of over ten dragons that were associated with it.

***(To be continued)RQ