………… Wang Hui was thoroughly infuriated. "Dodge and weave, is this what you call a decisive battle?"

"Indeed, Lei intends to have a decisive battle with you..." Lei Dong leaped out from behind Li Huntian, raising his hand to unleash another Nether Ghost Claw. Simultaneously, driving the Three Ghosts and One Tiger, hundreds of vengeful spirits lunged at Wang Hui, teeth and claws bared.

Wang Hui's expression hardened; facing such a formidable display, he dared not be careless. The Tai Chi Diagram enveloped his entire body. Two sapphire-blue orbs shot out toward the vengeful spirits. At the same time, brilliant white flames erupted around him, forming more than a dozen fire dragons as thick as a child's arm, coiling and twisting as they lunged to capture the Three Ghosts and One Tiger.

Unexpectedly, before the Three Ghosts and One Tiger even touched the white flame dragons, they turned tail and fled, even faster than they had arrived. Under Lei Dong's precise control, they darted behind those afflicted by the Heart Demon. The white flame dragons were all blocked by energy light shields.

As for the sapphire-blue orbs, Lei Dong didn't need to use his imagination to know they certainly weren't some kind of restorative elixir. He split off ten Soul Insects as cannon fodder, sending them hurtling in two waves at extreme speed to commit suicide by smashing into the two orbs. The rest of the vengeful spirit horde, which had only been bluffing, feigned an attack and then rapidly retreated.

Boom! Boom!

Two thunderous explosions erupted, blue lightning interlaced with a baleful aura bursting forth in all directions. The two squads of cannon fodder Soul Insects were instantly torn to shreds. Even some of the slower retreating Soul Insects were caught up and swept into the fray of the ten-odd remaining.

Lei Sha Bullets? Lei Dong broke into a cold sweat. Lei Sha was a type of baleful aura, far more fierce than Yin Sha, but lacking its sinister venom. In the moment of explosion, the full force of these two different baleful auras surpassed that of Yin Sha Thunder.

Lei Dong secretly felt a surge of smug satisfaction. Luckily, he had already intended for the horde of vengeful spirits to merely feign an attack and retreat; they had pulled back just in time. Otherwise, under the might of these Lei Sha Bullets, more than half of his hundreds of vengeful spirits would have been killed or wounded! To sacrifice merely twenty or thirty cannon fodder to draw out and consume two of Wang Hui's Lei Sha Bullets—this was a transaction Lei Dong would never tire of making.

"Shameless..." Wang Hui's face was ashen, forcing the two words out.

"There is no shame in war, Brother Wang, you are still too green..." Lei Dong sneered triumphantly. Only when he saw the intense flames around Wang Hui gradually subside did he say, "This time, Lei truly intends to have a decisive battle with you..."

For the third time, Lei Dong began by slamming out a Nether Fire Bomb. Simultaneously, the Three Ghosts and One Tiger, along with the hundreds of vengeful spirits, rushed forward with ferocious momentum. Wang Hui had learned his lesson this time, but he was clever enough not to stand idly by. He mirrored Lei Dong, raising his hand to conjure a Tai Chi Diagram shield. He began to mimic the appearance of letting the "white light" on his body flare up, as if preparing to ignite his intense flames, while simultaneously tossing out two more objects.

Just as Lei Dong waited for his army to retreat...

Unexpectedly, when they were still ten zhang apart, the already lightning speed of the Three Ghosts and One Tiger suddenly doubled. The hundreds of vengeful spirits, large and small, showed no sign of retreat; their speed also violently increased. The distance of ten zhang closed in two or three breaths. Just as Wang Hui inwardly cursed that he was trapped, and was about to urge his body's blazing flames to surge outward, the dense Nether Ghost Qi that had been deliberately kept distant suddenly churned and surged, squeezing in on him with frightening speed. Lei Dong rapidly produced two Small Profound Vapour Spirit Restoration Pills and then desperately began to drive the Nether Great Law.

The leading Assault Ghost Guard reached him first. Blood-red light surged around its body, its ghost-eyes filled with killing intent. It raised its long saber and brought it down with a fierce chop, the speed and force carving a visible streak of cyan energy. Immediately following were the other two ghosts and the Soul-Devouring Shadow Tiger, which spat out a ball of light the size of a small tub from its mouth.

Boom, boom...

Although protected by the Tai Chi Diagram, that string of attacks made Wang Hui's blood surge violently; his internal organs felt as though they were being churned to dust by the overwhelming, tidal-wave-like impact. Before he could counterattack, the hundreds of vengeful spirits arrived. The leading ten Ghost Guards shrieked and fell upon the Tai Chi Diagram first, desperately tearing at the high-grade defensive spirit artifact with their sharp claws and teeth. The rest of the spirits followed suit. Though individually weak, their effect in devouring and tearing at the Tai Chi Diagram surpassed that of the Three Ghosts and One Tiger combined. Even if it was a high-grade spirit artifact, even if it was Wang Hui’s natal defensive artifact, at this rate, it would be utterly destroyed in less than fifty breaths.

Wang Hui’s face turned pale with shock. He drew a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the violent churning of his vital energy and the repeated shocks within his soul. The white flames around him flared outward. Just as he was about to unleash scorching tongues of fire to incinerate the vengeful spirits swarming like dense flies, the thick black ghost qi surging from all directions instantly enveloped him. The moment his flames spat out a tongue of fire, the ghost qi fearlessly countered, meeting it head-on.

The thin strands of Yin-attributed ghost qi melted and vanished upon touching the fire tongues, like snow meeting a blaze. However, simultaneously, the fire that swept over them hissed and sputtered, its white flames dimmed and extinguished. Thus, white tongues of fire constantly erupted, only to be constantly countered and repelled by the surging black ghost qi. Both sides’ power was rapidly being depleted. But the vengeful spirits, protected by the black ghost qi, were thriving, gnawing and tearing happily; only a few who failed to block the flames were burned to death.

But this did not change the overall situation. Ten Thousand Ghosts Devour the Soul was precisely this formidable. Once Wang Hui's high-grade defensive artifact was breached, the only thing awaiting him was certain death.

Ultimately, there was still a gap in their true cultivation levels. Lei Dong desperately drove the Nether Ghost Qi, not only drawing upon the ghost qi within a radius of several dozen zhang but also constantly generating and spewing it from within his own body. However, the ghost qi was consumed too quickly. No matter how Lei Dong urged it, Wang Hui’s blazing flames gradually gained the upper hand, swallowing and killing the cannon fodder spirits one by one. Yet, Wang Hui was also suffering. Having lost the initiative to Lei Dong, and seeing Lei Dong possessed of such a vast reserve of Nether Ghost Qi, by this point, he lacked the strength even to wave his Xiaoyao Fan and unleash the residual power of his cyan energy. For if he diverted his attention and strength to activate the Xiaoyao Fan, the Nether Ghost Qi would seize the opportunity to rush in and entangle his body. Moreover, how many spirits could he kill by attacking them with cyan energy? But Lei Dong's ultimate goal was not the death of the vengeful spirits; it was to completely shatter his Tai Chi Diagram. A high-grade defensive artifact, and a natal one at that—its defensive power was too formidable. If he couldn't break it first, the subsequent battle would likely be extremely difficult to win. Fortunately, before initiating the Great Law, Lei Dong had preemptively swallowed two Small Profound Vapour Spirit Restoration Pills, whose medicinal power boiled within him as he fiercely expended energy, constantly restoring and replenishing Lei Dong's strength.

With these advantages, Lei Dong, despite being two minor realms behind in cultivation, was able to clash head-on with Wang Hui's Blazing Heaven Incineration Art using the Nether Great Law, and doing so by the skin of his teeth. But Lei Dong knew he absolutely could not relax; if he failed to suppress the released blazing flames, the majority of his vengeful spirits would vanish into smoke. The spirits were the main force for breaking the diagram; too many deaths would make shattering it nearly impossible.

Since things had come to this, there was no choice but to hold fast. Fortunately, they had reached the final moment. In just a few more breaths, that high-grade defensive spirit artifact, the Tai Chi Diagram, would be utterly ruined.

Watching the once graceful, righteous-looking Tai Chi Diagram now tattered like a beggar's cloak, a flash of heartache crossed Wang Hui's eyes. This was a high-grade spirit artifact, not some cheap piece of junk bought from a roadside stall. With a furious roar, Wang Hui gave up trying to overwhelm with blazing flames and fight the Nether Ghost Qi head-on.

Instead, he retracted his flames, quickly retrieved an unknown pill, hesitated for a moment, and finally swallowed it. The moment the pill touched his lips, Wang Hui’s face turned ashen, contorted in extreme pain.

Though Lei Dong vaguely sensed something bad was about to happen, now that Wang Hui had abandoned the direct confrontation, he would not miss such an opportunity! Ignoring the extreme paleness spreading across his own face, he gritted his teeth and pulled out a small black banner intricately embroidered with a vividly rendered Flood Dragon.

This object was the exotic treasure Lei Dong had obtained from killing others—the high-grade spirit artifact, the "Black Dragon Banner." Summoning the Black Dragon once required a period of recuperation before it could be used again; Lei Dong kept it as a trump card, rarely employing it unless absolutely critical. But seeing Wang Hui ingest a strange pill at this crucial juncture, suspecting it was nothing good, he decided to activate the Black Dragon Banner.

Every high-grade spirit artifact was capable of stirring up bloody storms. Even someone like Wang Hui treated this one with such reverence, which spoke volumes about its value and function.

Lei Dong had long since refined this item. He took it out now and immediately cast the necessary hand seals, tossing it forth. The small black flag flew into the air, growing larger until it spanned several zhang in the blink of an eye.

"Oh?"

A black ink-dragon, several zhang long, burst forth from the Black Dragon Banner, teeth and claws bared, magnificent and imposing. It let out a dragon roar before soaring toward Wang Hui.

The battle had reached its most critical phase; even Dongfang Fu and Tao Tai Bingyun ceased their healing, watching the scene with wide eyes. When Lei Dong summoned the ink-black dragon, Tao Tai Bingyun’s beautiful face stiffened. The black flood dragon emerging from the banner possessed the strength of the sixth layer of the Foundation Establishment stage. What kind of treasure was that banner? Could it be a top-grade spirit artifact?

In reality, Tao Tai Bingyun was mistaken. The power of the Black Dragon within the banner was determined by the strength of its master's divine sense. If Lei Dong had a strength, it was his supreme divine sense. In his hands, the power displayed by this Black Dragon Banner was, at this moment, in no way inferior to that of some top-grade spirit artifacts.