Just as the two sides were about to make a move, a cacophony erupted in the distance.
It was a bestial uproar mingling roars, shrieks, and growls, like a stampede of ten thousand beasts that made even the edges of the starry sky tremble faintly.
Star Lord Yao Guang's gaze passed over the Southern Dipper fleet and turned toward the approaching expanse of space beyond.
"The demon race of the Twenty-Eight Mansions... they've come too."
Star Lord Tianliang frowned slightly. "The Twenty-Eight Mansions have never operated in the heart of the Main Star Domain. This time, they actually caught the scent as well..."
"It seems the secrets of this Star Domain run far deeper than we imagined."
In the distant starry sky, warships of every conceivable shape emerged from the void.
Those warships came in all manner of bizarre forms.
Some resembled enormous wolf heads, their gray-white fur drifting faintly in the starlight.
Some resembled coiled giant serpents, their scales glinting with cold, ghostly light beneath the stars.
Some resembled spread wings, their golden feathers reflecting brilliant radiance in the starlight.
Some resembled curled turtle shells, their gray-brown carapaces covered in the markings of age.
Twenty-eight warships, like a moving herd of beasts, advanced grandly toward this Star Domain.
The fierce totems at their prows gleamed savagely under the starlight, like bloodthirsty beasts that had just caught the scent of prey.
The leading warship was like a moving mountain, its prow fashioned into an enormous golden tiger head.
At its bow stood a burly tiger clansman.
Hu Lie, patriarch of the Tail Fire Tiger.
His tiger tail slowly swung behind him, each motion stirring visible shockwaves that distorted the surrounding starlight.
Belligerent flames burned in his tiger eyes, like two masses of ignited lava.
Beside him, a crimson giant serpent