The Coldblooded Dome Lord!

High above the city, Chief Adjudicator Ah Li Tian, the Military Commandant, and Yun Feng were each wrapped in water-ribbon Barriers clinging to their bodies. The Silver Dome Lord's razor-sharp feathers struck like a storm sweeping in sideways — frenzied, relentless — driving into them without pause. Their Water Control Barriers held through a single volley before crumbling, leaving fine cuts scored across their skin.

The Silver Dome Lord was cunning. It seemed intimately familiar with the steps humans took to cast magic, and every opponent it faced was a Transcendent Tier Mage — yet only Transcendent Tier magic could actually pierce its silver feather armor.

Its feathers were perfectly malleable, reshaping at will. Tens of thousands of razor edges churned around its body like a violently spinning cyclone, forming a blade Domain that encased it completely. This Domain served as a flawless defense — and it could be directed at will, launched at any target the creature chose.

Those freely-controlled silver feathers were what made the fight so desperate. Every time one of the Transcendent Tier Mages began a chant, the feathers would come in wave after relentless wave, denying them any chance to complete a Star Palace.

A Star Palace was inherently complex, requiring seven full Constellations linked in sequence. Very few people could complete one in a short span of time — at the very least, Ah Li Tian, Yun Feng, Zhu Meng, and Tang Zhong were not among them.

All four were extraordinarily powerful; high-tier spells they could cast in an instant. The problem was that no high-tier spell packed enough force to punch through the Silver Dome Lord's blade Domain. That Domain was a defensive storm wrapped around the creature's entire body, and even the most devastating magic would be shredded to nothing against it.

"What do we do?" Chief Adjudicator Ah Li Tian said, brow furrowed. "If we can't break that blade Domain, we can't even scratch it."

Transcendent Tier spells kept getting interrupted. High-tier spells were nearly useless. The Silver Dome Lord was wielding its silver Domain to perfection, standing in a position of absolute advantage.

"Can't break it? Then we break it anyway!" Councillor Zhu Meng snarled, fury blazing across his face.

Of all the Transcendent Tier Mages present, he was always the most volatile. Wielding the power of devastating lightning, he had fallen back to a safe distance under Wu Pinjing's cover — and already, five violet Constellations had materialized around him.

His assembly speed was staggering. Star Trails and Star Charts blazed across the outline of each Constellation at a breathtaking pace — a level of mastery no ordinary Transcendent Tier Mage could hope to match.

"It's looking at the ground — it's distracted! Councillor Zhu Meng, now's your chance!!" Wu Pinjing shouted.

Wu Pinjing had braced himself for another barrage of flying feathers, so it caught him off guard when the Silver Dome Lord turned its attention to the ground. Something below seemed to be enraging it.

There was no time to wonder what. Zhu Meng quickly completed the final two Constellations.

Seven Constellations. Star Motes crowded together in breathtaking density, blazing like a brilliant galaxy stretched across the heavens.

Star Trails linked the scattered points of light, drawing them into exquisite Star Charts that shone against one another in perfect symmetry on all sides, assembling into Constellations that hummed with mysterious power.

The Constellations interlocked, and a vast and glorious Star Palace erupted into being. Deep violet lightning danced across hundreds of meters around Councillor Zhu Meng. As the Star Palace blazed open and stained the sky purple from end to end, he reached into the void and drew out a lightning halberd that shook the heavens.

He hurled it with savage force. As it flew, it swelled to an immense size.

Halberd after halberd streaked through the sky, each one carving a long line of light — nine in all.

The lines converged on the Silver Dome Lord's blade Domain, forming the Lightning Ring Punishment: a cage of nine towering thunder pillars — the most powerful binding chain in existence — locking the Silver Dome Lord in place against that stretch of sky.

The Lightning Ring Punishment fell far short of the formation that had once bound the Totem Xuan Serpent, but it was more than enough to shackle the Silver Dome Lord's rampage.

Struck by lightning from every direction, the Silver Dome Lord erupted in fury. It threw its full strength against the cage, only to find that the most powerful binding magic of the Transcendent Tier Domain could not be so easily shattered.

Its body began to sink, driving the cage downward with brute force.

The entire Lightning Ring Punishment was pushed lower under the impact. When the cage had descended far enough, the Silver Dome Lord let out a piercing shriek — a sound that tore through the night sky and echoed through the ranks of the White Demon Eagle Legion.

The White Demon Eagle Legion, which had been trying to push through the poison mist, heard its Sovereign's call and surged together like a storm cloud massing overhead.

"What is it doing?" Councillor Zhu Meng asked. "Calling in that rabble — does it really think they'll break the Lightning Ring Punishment?"

The words had barely left his mouth when the White Demon Eagle Legion — packed so tightly it looked like sheets of white netting — began hurling itself madly at the cage.

The first wave to crash into the Lightning Ring Punishment numbered around a hundred White Demon Eagles — likely from a single Nest, moving with practiced discipline. The moment they touched the lightning chains threading between the halberds, their bodies disintegrated, scattering into countless droplets of blood.

As that wave perished, more White Demon Eagles threw themselves recklessly at the barrier — including some Battle-General-class creatures. Even they could no more withstand Transcendent Tier lightning than the servants who had come before them.

More and more White Demon Eagles obeyed their Sovereign's orders and flung themselves at the cage — moths to a flame. In just a few seconds, the death toll surpassed a thousand. The blood droplets dissolved into a crimson mist spreading for kilometers, a scene of unspeakable carnage.

Councillor Zhu Meng stood frozen. He could barely believe that a ruler would sacrifice its own subjects in waves just to break free of a seal faster.

Eventually, under the relentless battering, the Lightning Ring Punishment visibly began to shake — weakening bit by bit. Seeing results, the Silver Dome Lord called out all the more furiously, and even greater numbers of White Demon Eagles streamed in, shattering themselves to pieces.

Before a creature of high bloodline, lesser beings were worth nothing.

Powerful as it was, the Lightning Ring Punishment could hold the Silver Dome Lord for only so long. To avoid taking any damage, it had already sacrificed several thousand White Demon Eagles.

The coldblooded Silver Dome Lord finally wrenched itself free from the lightning shackles. It soared to even greater heights, every silver feather standing rigidly on end — and then thousands upon thousands of silver beams blazed through the black curtain of night, a dense barrage hammering toward the five Transcendent Tier Mages.

The beams carried devastating piercing force. Ordinary defenses were no barrier at all. Wu Pinjing had been shielding Councillor Zhu Meng, deploying both Enchanted Gear and defensive magic simultaneously — yet even that was not enough to stop the onslaught.

His body was riddled with wounds. The beams carried his blood as they flew on toward Zhu Meng.

A hole was blasted clean through Zhu Meng's left shoulder. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he flew toward Wu Pinjing and dragged him clear of the lethal silver beams as fast as he could.