It had vanished, much to the utter fury of the Dawn King. The force that dared assault the Sky City, after ravaging and capturing one and taking his brother Cirus hostage, had disappeared entirely from the continent of Dawn.

In its place, however, an uprising began to spread across every corner of the Dawn Continent. Heretical organizations, once thought eradicated, were re-emerging, loudly proclaiming all manner of vile scandals concerning the Winged Gods in every city and district. They exposed how the Winged Folk, a scarce and ordinary race, behaved with unwarranted arrogance, treating humans as little more than swine or dogs fit only for servitude.

Though much of the rhetoric was exaggerated, the essential facts were undeniable.

In a fit of rage, the Dawn King immediately commanded all Sky Cities to order the various nations to suppress the heresies. This time, however, the heretics were unusually numerous and extraordinarily tenacious. Unlike before, these outbreaks were backed by powerful support. The troops sent out to judge and annihilate them met with fierce resistance at every turn.

Concurrently, Yikong (Winged Sky) dramatically appeared, hoisting the banner of vengeance and liberation across the Dawn Continent, determined to overthrow the Dawn King's evil dynastic rule. Many heretical factions swiftly rallied to his cause.

A single spark can ignite the prairie.

Among the dozen or so nations of the Dawn Continent, every place was filled with all manner of rebellion and slaughter. Yet, though the Dawn King was furious, he dared not leave the main city of Dawn to lead his main army to crush the rebels and quell the fires.

It was clearly a tactic designed to lure the snake from its hole. If he committed his main forces for a decisive battle, he would be led by the nose exactly where the enemy wanted him.

But keeping the main force stationed was also a massive problem. Ever since the Sky City of Cirus was violently destroyed, the Dawn King understood that the enemy was far stronger than anticipated. If not suppressed promptly, every Sky City garrisoned in the various nations was in imminent danger of enemy attack.

Under normal circumstances, the Dawn King could have relied on his extensive network of informants spanning the entire Dawn Continent to pinpoint the enemy's hiding spot. But now, the continent was plunged into chaos. Countless heretical forces surged forth, churning the whole land into a quagmire of mud. This had rendered the Dawn King's intelligence system nearly paralyzed.

To such an extent that the Dawn King had to steel himself and seek aid from his peers—beings as lofty as the Radiant Twin Kings, whom the Dawn King usually had to look up to. He would never seek their help unless absolutely necessary.

The ones he reached out to were two smaller factions: King Blazing Star and King Flowing Moon. Both were at the initial stage of the Spirit Transformation realm; their cultivation levels were equal, their statuses similar, and their interactions close.

Setting aside King Blazing Star for a moment, merely thinking of King Flowing Moon’s breathtaking beauty and perfect aura caused the Dawn King's heart to flutter. This wasn't to say his contingent of twenty thousand Winged Folk lacked stunning beauties. But women who possessed both striking looks, refined temperament, and strength were rare. And King Flowing Moon was precisely one of them.

Of course, King Flowing Moon was not the only female Spirit Transformation King in the Bright Domain. Including the newly ascended Queen Agarna, the Winged Folk had four female Spirit Transformation Kings in total—a number not seen for a long time. Setting aside Agarna and Flowing Moon, King Judgment and King Twilight were also women. However, King Twilight was an anomaly among the Winged Folk; though a powerful female Winged One, her appearance was far too common to stir any desire. As for King Judgment, she was a powerhouse at the middle stage of the Spirit Transformation realm, having been a renowned, peerless expert long before the Dawn King even rose to prominence.

Moreover, according to "Qihang Xiao'an" (Sailing An), King Judgment had worn a silver mask her entire life, and few had ever seen her true face. Furthermore, her demeanor was excessively rigid and severe; the Dawn King felt more awe than desire toward her.

What a pity that King Flowing Moon would witness him in such a wretched state.

Even at this critical juncture, the Dawn King still did not believe his reign could be completely overthrown. Such a situation hadn't occurred in countless years. While the enemy was strong and cunning, clashing with the entire Bright Domain was akin to an egg hitting a stone. If things became dire, a single plea to either of the Radiant Twin Kings would crush the audacious invaders effortlessly.

As for those heretics who had re-emerged to stir trouble and incite chaos, the Dawn King hadn't taken them seriously either. After all, they were merely ignorant, backward, lowly human rebels. Once he could spare the time, any heretic daring to rebel would be instantly ground to dust, teaching those foolish humans the price of betraying their "gods."

Thus, regardless of the storms raging outside and the fires breaking out everywhere, the Dawn King sat motionless upon his throne in the main temple of Dawn City.

Yet, he had miscalculated one thing: the burning, surging fire of yearning for freedom hidden deep within the hearts of humans oppressed for countless years.

The inaction of Dawn City, the helplessness displayed by the Sky Cities trying to put out fires everywhere, and the presence of powerful backing all contributed to making many humans feel that the Dawn King's dynasty was already fading and rotten. They flocked to join the various heretical camps in response to the rebellion.

As the churches and temples erected across the Dawn Continent were demolished with devastating force, so too was the last sliver of reservation binding the humans of the Bright Domain. The flames spread faster than anticipated, consuming the entire Dawn Continent in a remarkably short time, and even beginning to encroach upon the other continents.

Under the rule of the Winged Folk, various resistance groups labeled as heretics had never truly vanished; they had only hidden themselves very, very deeply. Once the fire caught hold on the Dawn Continent, the other continents gradually began to ignite as well.

King Blazing Star and King Flowing Moon, who had already gathered their armies and were preparing to march to the Dawn Continent to support the Dawn King, immediately sent him a message upon seeing fires erupting in their own backyards—fires that were fierce and rapid. Instead of marching east, they turned their horses around to deal with and clear the matters on their own continents.

This news struck the Dawn King as if lightning had hit him; he was utterly stunned. Wasn't this simply watching himself walk to his death? Scattered intelligence suggested the enemy possessed two Spirit Transformation level experts. If he remained entrenched in Dawn City, he didn't fear them daring to seek death. But if he went out, fighting one against two, he might not prevail.

While the Dawn King hesitated, finally a piece of good news arrived: the enemy's main force had shown its tracks, joining a contingent of heretics to prepare an assault on a Sky City.

At this point, the Dawn King no longer dared to believe this was another feint to lure him out. If he allowed the enemy to continue unchecked, they could systematically eliminate the Sky Cities and fortresses one by one, leaving Dawn City isolated and alone.

The construction of any Sky City required an astronomical cost. If all Sky Cities and fortresses were destroyed, even if the enemy was ultimately eliminated and the rebellion stamped out, the resulting losses would be incalculable, requiring untold years to recover. Every Sky City was a massive war fortress, possessing astonishing power for both defense and offense. The greatest drawback of these huge aerial fortresses was their speed. According to intelligence estimates, if the Dawn City flew sluggishly over, the enemy would have already captured the targeted Sky City, plundered it several times over, and vanished again.

The Dawn King made a swift decision: he personally led his three strongest main forces, utilizing a large number of fast-moving Bright Airships as transport, to relieve the targeted Sky City.

His action, in itself, was not wrong. Given the immense power of his three main divisions, the Dawn King refused to believe that those heretics and mysterious enemies could defeat them in battle. His only minor concern was that the false intelligence might be deliberately leading his three main forces on a wild goose chase to divide and conquer them.

But the three main forces were under his direct command. No matter how great the losses elsewhere, the enemy would never be able to execute a strategy of division and destruction against them.

Admittedly, the Dawn Continent under the Dawn King's rule was the smallest and weakest of the eight continents of the Bright Domain. Nevertheless, it was still an entire massive continent. Relying on these immense resources, the Dawn King had established a formidable reserve of power.

The three main armies were the foundation he had built over several centuries of rule on the Dawn Continent. All his available resources had been funneled into these three divisions, especially the Guard Corps, composed purely of pure-blooded Winged Folk—the absolute elite of the elite. Not only was every soldier individually strong, but their equipment and magic treasures were top-tier.

The thundering Ghost Army might compare favorably with the two human Ace Armies, but they were clearly inferior to the Guard Corps by several degrees.

With the Dawn King coordinating from the center, the three main armies, comprising over a thousand elite Bright Airships, moved with overwhelming momentum toward their objective, seeking a decisive battle.

To be sure, if Lei Dong fought the Dawn King's main force head-on at his current full strength, a victory was not impossible. But such a pyrrhic victory, achieved at the cost of his own complete ruin, was undesirable. To clash head-on with the Dawn King's main force was a foolish venture Lei Dong had no desire to undertake.

Almost simultaneously as the Dawn King personally led his main forces out, Lei Dong, clad in black armor and enveloped in a shroud of black mist, silently materialized near Dawn City. The most peculiar sight was how the space around him was warped into streamlined curves. This was a new spell he had derived and comprehended from his newly acquired understanding of Space Laws and magical structures.

Lei Dong's comprehension and mastery of Space Laws had now reached an entirely new echelon. His gaze fixed sharply on Dawn City. Indeed, the city's defenses were formidable; even a Spirit Transformation expert would find it difficult to force entry and retreat unharmed.