It was clear that although the Flame Demon King appeared fierce on the surface, he still possessed a degree of sentimentality toward his own kind and was reluctant to slaughter them.

Regarding this, Lei Dong did not wish to push too hard. Instead, he patted the Demon King's shoulder and said calmly, "Since you cannot bring yourself to be ruthless, let's postpone it for now and take it slowly." It was fortunate that the Flame Demon King’s form was currently minimized; otherwise, with his true body the size of a mountain range, it would not have been easy for Lei Dong to pat his shoulder.

Seeing that Lei Dong was not pressing him excessively, the Flame Demon King felt a degree of relief and gratitude. "Boss Lei, rest assured, I will deal with those whelps properly. Besides, I am now a Deity Transformation-level fire elemental, and I can even reproduce offspring myself!"

Damn it. Lei Dong cursed internally. Although he knew that fire elemental lifeforms reproduced through fission, hearing someone who looked like a rough brute talking about his own procreation brought a wave of nausea to Lei Dong. He quickly changed the subject, saying, "Um, perhaps we should first discuss the strategic and tactical issues concerning the Holy Domain of Light."

Almost at the exact same moment.

In a place resembling a celestial paradise, a colossal castle floated high in the sky. The entire structure was a pure, sacred white, built with such intricate and complex precision that it appeared far more like a work of art than a bastion of war.

Yet, the Sky City was, in fact, the pinnacle achievement of the Winged God Race, integrating artifact refinement, architecture, fortification, and array mastery all into one. Every member of the Winged God Race, upon achieving a certain status, could command a continent and be allocated a main Sky City. The Winged God would dedicate the vast majority of their lifespan and resources to their personal Sky City.

That was the immensely powerful main Sky City of the Winged God Race. Currently, there were a total of eight Sky Cities that had reached the main city level within the entire Holy Domain of Light. These eight Sky Cities were not constructed overnight; they were gradually perfected over the long era of Winged God rule.

With each succeeding Winged God King investing in the construction and maintenance of their main Sky City, these ancient, inherited strongholds grew ever more formidable.

The main Sky City served as the symbol, the residence, and the ultimate weapon of a Winged God King. However, due to their immense size, they could not be transported via teleportation arrays and were restricted to use within the Domain of Light. Otherwise, given the lethality of the main Sky Cities, the Winged God Race would have long since expanded their conquests outward.

It could be said that if a Winged God King was determined to remain aloft in the sky, not only could Deity Transformation experts fail to breach it, but even experts of a higher echelon would find it difficult to shatter the defenses of a main Sky City.

It was at this very moment, within the main palace of the main Sky City—the structure symbolizing the supreme authority of the Winged God King—that one of the current Winged God Kings, King Dawn, stood. Tall and handsome, with a pair of pristine white wings neatly folded against his back, he resembled a noble gentleman. His expression was currently one of deep annoyance as he violently smashed a goblet of red wine onto the floor. "What in the blazes is Merck doing? I gave him so many troops, so many Light Cannons, and he couldn't even guard a minor teleportation array properly, letting it be breached?"

Two rows of Nascent Soul-level male and female Winged Gods stood in rigid silence, daring not to speak while King Dawn was enraged, fearing they might draw his ire. It was well known that King Dawn had a short temper; for anyone who provoked him, their very survival would be questionable.

Yet, they all frowned, recalling the strangeness of the incident. According to the setup of the defensive fortress, even with overwhelming enemy forces, breaching the stronghold in an extremely short time should have been nearly impossible. Why had Merck not even managed to send back a message?

If that were the case, only one possibility remained: Did the enemy deploy a large contingent of Deity Transformation experts? But that was utterly impossible; Deity Transformation experts weren't common cabbages that one could summon at will. The total number of Deity Transformation experts across the Six Domains and Nine Continents, whether emerged or hidden, would not exceed one hundred.

Furthermore, aside from the Asuras of the Asura Domain who dared to openly oppose the Winged God Race, what other race would dare to launch a direct assault on a Winged God fortress? Did they not fear a counterattack from the Winged God Race? Even the Asuras would not dare to openly march into the Holy Domain of Light, considering this was the Winged God's home turf, where the advantage of the main Sky Cities made any provocation suicidal for the Asuras.

Unfortunately, King Dawn was unaware that it was precisely because of his overly severe command style that Merck, upon discovering the fortress had been seized by a group of Nascent Soul cultivators through subterfuge, chose to conceal the intelligence rather than immediately report to King Dawn. Merck intended to rally his subordinates and retake the fortress quickly. As long as the fortress was recovered, heavy losses would be acceptable. Otherwise, if King Dawn learned of the failure, wouldn't Merck have engineered his own downfall?

It was because of this decision that Merck took the action that he would forever regret—an action that was a colossal misstep. Who could have predicted that among those seemingly unremarkable Nascent Soul experts, someone possessed a high-grade Treasure of Hidden Armies, capable of utterly destroying him in one go?

Not only was Merck's intention to reclaim the fortress utterly shattered, but the delay also cost King Dawn precious strategic time. By the time King Dawn realized the situation, everything of value within Fortress Fifteen had been completely looted. Not even some of the building materials used to construct the fortress were spared, revealing the extreme arrogance and viciousness of these unknown enemies.

"My King, Fortress Fifteen was built to intercept teleportation arrays coming from the Netherworld Ghost Domain. Could the enemy be those from the Netherworld?" a high-stage Nascent Soul Winged God asked tentatively.

"Impossible. The Netherworld Ghost Domain is the weakest of the Six Domains, possessing only four Deity Transformation experts. Aside from the Netherworld Ghost Emperor, who is a figure of some note, which of the other three Emperors would dare to challenge our King Dawn?" Another high-stage Nascent Soul Winged God shook his head in denial. "Perhaps the enemy snuck through, intending to frame the Netherworld Ghost Domain and provoke conflict between us and them." The Winged God Race certainly had grounds for their arrogance; they possessed perfect physiques—the males handsome, the females beautiful. Most importantly, they did not age; even as their lifespan neared its end, they retained the appearance of their youth.

"Nonsense. Although the Netherworld Ghost Domain is not strong, moving a large army through secretly is absolutely impossible. Do you think the Netherworld Ghost Emperor is a fool?"

Even the haughty Winged Gods maintained a degree of respect for true power, especially the Netherworld Ghost Emperor, who stood at the peak of the mid-stage Deity Transformation, just one step shy of the high stage. Within the Holy Domain of Light, only the Glorious Twin Kings could match him in stature.

Thus, even when speaking of the Netherworld Ghost Emperor behind his back, they maintained considerable deference.

"Enough, cease this meaningless bickering." King Dawn turned and sat upon his white and utterly imposing throne, coldly looking down. "The enemy has certainly not left the Dawn Continent; immediately blockade Fortress Fifteen. Dispatch envoys to negotiate with the Netherworld Ghost Emperor, and the attitude must be firm—even if it means a rupture. Hmph, although the Netherworld Ghost Emperor is powerful, his overall strength is far inferior to our Winged God Race; there is no need to be overly courteous to him. Furthermore, immediately send word to all nations on my continent, ordering them to deploy human armies to search everywhere for the enemy. Even if a single ant slips through, they must find it for me. Whoever dares to attack the Dawn Continent of my Holy Domain of Light will pay with their lives."

"Yes!"

A host of strikingly beautiful Winged Gods in magnificent armor acknowledged the order and departed. They did not ask whether they should contact the other Winged God Kings for aid; it would have been a futile query. Outsiders might perceive the Winged God Race as internally unified and harmonious, but in reality, no race was entirely monolithic. The eight Kings, each possessing their own territory, were akin to eight independent worlds. Mutual support was merely a theory. Inviting another King to send troops would certainly require paying a price.

Therefore, no Winged God King would incur such a massive cost to request reinforcements unless they were absolutely certain the enemy was beyond their capacity to handle alone. Moreover, it was a deeply shameful matter. King Dawn, being so concerned with reputation, would never publicize such a humiliating event. Regardless of King Dawn’s reaction, Lei Dong had already shifted his focus to the Sky City garrisoned near the Fassi Empire. A Sky City, naturally, was not a main Sky City, but it was still an exceptionally rare and outstanding war fortress. Although its sheer size made it impossible to store in a spatial artifact for deployment in another world, Lei Dong had acquired it not only for use within the Domain of Light but also because, if unused, dismantling it would fetch a considerable fortune. The materials used by the Winged God Race were notoriously extravagant.

Of course, Lei Dong’s larger objective was simply to deplete King Dawn’s living forces.

Theoretically, if Lei Dong attacked the capital of the Fassi Empire, and the Empire proved unable to resist, they would certainly beg the Sky City for assistance. It was illogical and too costly for the Sky City to mobilize its entire force to fight on behalf of humans. The more probable scenario was the deployment of a contingent of troops.

By eliminating a portion of those troops, the Sky City’s defenses would be weakened, making an assault significantly easier. However, the Flame Demon King had ruined Lei Dong’s plan of luring the snake out of its hole to weaken its defenses.

With Lei Dong's side visibly demonstrating the power of a Deity Transformation expert, even a fool within the Sky City would never dispatch forces to aid humans. Since their strength was already exposed, the only remaining course of action for Lei Dong was a direct assault. But the prerequisite for that was first neutralizing this formidable force among the humans.