On this day, as Thunder Dragon exhausted the second spirit stone, the constantly cultivated Profound Yin True Qi finally reached the peak state of the first layer of the Qi Refining stage. With a thought, sensing his good state, Thunder Dragon let the qi flow naturally downwards, circling and winding within the first acupoint for a time before advancing toward the next. Having experienced breaking through once before, Thunder Dragon was neither rushed nor anxious, guarding his spirit and slowly nourishing that acupoint.

Time trickled by, and a full three days later, Thunder Dragon once again broke through the shackles, surging straight into the second layer of the Qi Refining stage. A wave of coolness poured down from the top of his head, tracing the texture of his skin and settling deep within his bones. The feeling was one of supreme comfort, as if floating in the clouds. Wave after wave washed over him—more than a dozen times—and he didn't know how long it took before the sensation finally subsided.

When he slowly opened his eyes, though his pitch-black eyes showed considerable fatigue, they were filled with an extremely vibrant and sharp light. Thunder Dragon subtly twitched his nose, and a somewhat familiar, pungent, foul odor assaulted him, causing him to break into a cheerful laugh. Clearly, ascending to the second layer of the Qi Refining stage had subjected his entire being to another thorough washing of the marrow and cleansing of the constitution. This so-called cultivation was precisely this continuous process of tempering oneself, stepping ever closer to immortality, and evolving step by step. Yet, Thunder Dragon knew this was a path riddled with thorns and bumps; every advance required immense effort, and perhaps even a stroke of luck.

Following custom, he took a bath and ate a meal. Only then did he contact Chen Ge and Wei Hua. Before this period of seclusion, Thunder Dragon had informed them that he would be attempting to break through to the second layer of the Qi Refining stage.

Moments later, Chen and Wei arrived together, beaming and offering effusive congratulations to Thunder Dragon. Chen Ge had already succeeded in breaking through to the second layer of Qi Refining a month or two prior. As for Wei Hua, he remained at the peak of the first layer, poised to advance at any moment. After a brief reunion, the three parted ways.

Several days later, Thunder Dragon reappeared near the long-unvisited mass grave.

But this visit was completely different from that of over half a year ago. Not only had Thunder Dragon’s cultivation advanced to the second layer of Qi Refining, increasing his strength substantially, but he was also wearing a pair of Mid-grade magical artifacts: Cloud-Ascending Boots. These boots truly proved to be excellent magical equipment. When moving in them, his movements were genuinely like ascending clouds and treading on mist—ethereal and leaving no trace.

Ordinarily, given Thunder Dragon's current cultivation, his extreme speed was already comparable to a light bird or a swift horse. However, equipped with the Cloud-Ascending Boots, his speed increased by more than a full fold. It was likely that even cultivators in the fourth or fifth layer of Qi Refining might struggle to keep pace. After more than a year since his initiation and having experienced numerous events, Thunder Dragon had begun to understand that cultivation was not solely about increasing power. The most crucial thing was to survive; otherwise, no matter how high the cultivation realm, death meant the end of everything.

Running fast was naturally a huge advantage. Having witnessed the formidable power of the Ghost Soldiers, Thunder Dragon was determined to focus on summoning-type spells. With underlings holding the front line, he could linger in the rear and employ insidious tricks—the most important thing was to prevent enemies from closing the distance. At least, when he was outmatched, he would still have a chance to escape with his life. In this light, it seemed the Myriad Ghost Ancestor had bestowed him with Cloud-Ascending Boots rather than an offensive magical artifact for calculated reasons. After all, the Myriad Ghost Ancestor himself specialized in the Ghost Control Art and was extremely proficient in such matters.

Furthermore, Thunder Dragon's treasured Ghost Soldier, which had rendered several great services, was also a major asset in this current hunt for Yin Souls. When summoned from the Soul Nurturing Pagoda, the Ghost Soldier’s form had condensed considerably, appearing markedly different from before Thunder Dragon entered deep seclusion. Although this Soul Nurturing Pagoda was only an entry-level item, it could still nourish the spectral ghost and allow it to grow slowly.

After devouring several chunks of flesh and being nourished by the Soul Nurturing Pagoda for over half a year, the Ghost Soldier had now reached the intermediate level of a First-Grade Ghost Soldier. Of course, the majority of that progress was due to the devoured flesh; the nourishing effect of the entry-level Soul Nurturing Pagoda was negligible at best. Once his finances improved slightly, he absolutely had to acquire a superior Soul Nurturing Pagoda to accelerate the Ghost Soldier's growth.

Late into the night, the surroundings were filled with chilling winds and recurring ghost wails. Thunder Dragon, his feet shod in the Cloud-Ascending Boots, directed the Ghost Soldier to clear the path ahead. Initially, he scouted the periphery, capturing only two scattered Yin Souls. But now, Thunder Dragon no longer needed to return to rest after capturing every two or three spectral ghosts, as he had before.

Not to mention that he now possessed over a hundred spiritual essence units on his person. Therefore, before setting out, Thunder Dragon had exchanged for ten bottles of Qi Condensing Pills. Unlike the Minor Vitality Pills, which helped increase cultivation, the Qi Condensing Pills served only to accelerate the recovery speed of True Qi. However, the utility of carrying a large supply of these pills became evident during the process of capturing numerous Yin Souls.

Capturing a Yin Soul no longer required the use of any magical artifacts. Instead, he commanded the Ghost Soldier to strike the Yin Soul until it was half-coagulated and half-dissipated, at which point Thunder Dragon would manipulate a hand seal to forcibly draw it into the Soul Nurturing Pagoda. Once his True Qi was depleted by thirty or forty percent, he would consume a Qi Condensing Pill, and by the time he found the next Yin Soul, his True Qi would be almost entirely restored.

This created a virtuous cycle. Practically speaking, aside from the brief intervals spent locating Yin Souls, Thunder Dragon wasted almost no time in capturing them. Gradually, his boldness increased. He ventured deeper and deeper into the mass grave; the closer he got to the center, the denser the Yin Souls became. Eventually, he would occasionally encounter two at once. But even two posed little threat to Thunder Dragon. He simply let the Ghost Soldier strike them down, injuring the Yin Souls, and then easily collected them.

After a night of arduous labor, as dawn approached, his haul reached over a hundred. He returned to Myriad Ghost City to rest and inspect his catch, but regrettably, not a single Spectral Ghost was discovered. Fortunately, Thunder Dragon was prepared; he knew Spectral Ghosts were not so easily captured. Even capturing a hundred in one night yielded only a meager one percent chance of obtaining a Spectral Ghost.

Thus, over the course of about thirty days, Thunder Dragon haunted the mass grave, capturing a total Yin Soul count exceeding nearly four thousand, yet still finding no naturally occurring Spectral Ghost. However, since he possessed the Soul Devouring Pagoda, his desire to capture a Spectral Ghost directly was not overly intense. The inferior ghosts devoured by the Soul Devouring Pagoda condensed into Soul Pearls, resulting in a total of ten.

After using two Soul Pearls to nurture and create two Low-grade Spectral Ghosts, the remaining eight were all fed to the Ghost Soldier. The reason Thunder Dragon was willing to do this was that after feeding it a Soul Pearl, the Ghost Soldier seemed to enter a transformative state. Although the effect of each transformation was far less dramatic than the initial shift from an inferior ghost to a Spectral Ghost.

However, after each transformation, when illuminated by the Spectral Ghost Identification Art, the faint golden hue deep within the Ghost Soldier’s body appeared to deepen slightly. This gave Thunder Dragon immense expectation. After devouring a total of eight Soul Pearls, the intensity of that golden shade within the Ghost Soldier had grown to three or four times its initial level, resembling the Mid-grade Spectral Ghost recorded in the Ghost Control Art.

This result was the powerful driving force behind Thunder Dragon’s continuous capture of Yin Souls in the mass grave for more than a month.

In the blink of an eye, another seven or eight days passed. The Yin Souls wandering in the mass grave seemed to become increasingly scarce. Fortunately, he managed to scrape together two more Soul Pearls. After feeding these to the Ghost Soldier, it finally underwent a drastic change, trembling violently as it re-condensed into a mass. This situation persisted for three or four days before it finally unfurled its body again. But this time, the Ghost Soldier possessed noticeable differences from before. Upon using the Spectral Ghost Identification Art, he was pleasantly surprised to find that the Ghost Soldier's quality had completely reached the level of a Mid-grade Spectral Ghost.

Even though he had expected it, upon actually seeing the Ghost Soldier evolve into a Mid-grade Spectral Ghost and validating his internal conjecture, Thunder Dragon could barely contain his ecstatic joy. In the year since joining the sect, he had taken time to research many issues concerning the tiers of Spectral Ghosts. Nowhere in any record had he found an article detailing how to elevate a Spectral Ghost from Low-grade to Mid-grade.

In fact, Thunder Dragon understood that just as a human's spirit root quality could not be improved, the quality of a Spectral Ghost was similarly immutable. Otherwise, if that were the case, why hadn't the mighty Ghost Control Art become the top trend in magical arts? If Spectral Ghost quality could indeed be upgraded, one could imagine how many Ultimate-grade Spectral Ghosts, or even Heavenly Spirit Ghosts, the Yin Fiend Sect could manufacture with its power?

If every Yin Fiend Sect disciple could cultivate the Spirit Forging Art to strengthen their mental power, and be equipped with several Heavenly Spirit Ghosts—no, even just several High-grade or Ultimate-grade Spectral Ghosts—it would be enough for the Yin Fiend Sect to become the paramount sect, with a very high probability of unifying the world.

With trembling hands, he stroked the mysterious Soul Devouring Pagoda, which looked ordinary but had brought such a miracle to Thunder Dragon. Now that the Soul Pearls could elevate a Low-grade Spectral Ghost to Mid-grade, Thunder Dragon knew that his destiny had truly, thoroughly changed.