Not only that, but by teaming up with Lei Dong, she also obtained a considerable share of the benefits. Relying on those resources allowed her to indulge in extremely luxurious cultivation methods, and she herself was fiercely determined not to fall too far behind Lei Dong in cultivation. Consequently, she had been pushing herself relentlessly in her practice for all these years.

She hadn't seen him for several years, yet at this moment, Qi Feifei felt a tiny deer repeatedly leaping within her heart. She truly hadn't expected him to come all the way to the Yin-Yang Harmony Sect to find her. Her heart was filled with both joy and a touch of apprehension.

“You are far too careless, Feifei.” Lei Dong’s figure suddenly materialized behind her: “If that were an enemy, you would already be dead.”

Qi Feifei spun around sharply to see Lei Dong standing suspended in the air not far away, his hands clasped behind his back. His black cloak obscured half of his face, revealing only the slightest hint of a smile playing on his lips. Beneath the hem of the cloak, the fabric fluttered gently in the breeze.

“Senior Brother Lei…” Qi Feifei suddenly felt an uncontrollable flutter in her heart, her cheeks flushing a faint crimson. She shot him a captivating glance with her charming eyes: “Why startle someone right after appearing? If you mean to kill me, then go ahead; Fei Fei’s life belongs to you anyway.” On second thought, ever since returning to the Yin-Yang Harmony Sect, Qi Feifei had managed to pull strings to gather quite a bit of information about Lei Dong of the Yin Sha Sect.

She couldn't know every minor detail, but she had a solid grasp of the major events. The more she inquired, the more profoundly she admired Lei Dong.

His inherent aptitude among his sect brethren was merely upper-middle tier. Yet, driven by an utterly desperate, upward surge, his cultivation speed had actually surpassed even hers. Qi Feifei considered herself perhaps a slight notch below Dongfang Fu or Tantai Bingyun in natural talent, but among the current generation of the Harmony Sect, she was undeniably top-tier. Compared to Lei Dong, however, it felt as if she had wasted these past few years of her life.

These weren't even the most important details. The two most significant pieces of information she uncovered were these: First, Senior Brother Lei had a lover within the Yin Sha Sect, and she was exceptionally formidable—none other than Ding Wanyan, one of the Yin Sha Twin Elites. Qi Feifei had already met Dongfang Fu and recognized her as an outstanding peer. As for Ding Wanyan, a woman so respected and feared by Tantai Bingyun, how could she possibly be mediocre?

This knowledge caused an inexplicable surge of insecurity in Qi Feifei, sparking a nascent desire within her to compete with Ding Wanyan. Driven by this, she cultivated with extraordinary diligence, having already reached the fifth layer of the Foundation Establishment stage—a two-layer advancement in just about five years. It was remarkable, yet measured against Lei Dong, she still fell short.

Secondly, Qi Feifei learned of the ten-year life-and-death duel agreement between Lei Dong and that detestable Huangfu Ce. After discreetly investigating who Huangfu Ce was, Qi Feifei felt a genuine pang of anxiety. However, she soon relaxed, recalling the many tactics and deep thoughts she had witnessed from Lei Dong, especially his apparent aversion to taking any action he wasn't confident about.

Because of that ten-year life-or-death pact, Qi Feifei inwardly assumed that Senior Brother Lei’s visit must be to engage in Dual Cultivation with her one more time, to enhance their cultivation strength before the decisive battle. Although coupling now might be slightly regrettable given the current circumstances of Yin-Yang harmony, the resulting effects wouldn't be drastically inferior. She felt confident she could break through to the seventh layer, and with Lei Dong currently at the sixth layer, while reaching the eighth might be too ambitious, achieving the peak of the seventh layer seemed highly probable. The only thing making Qi Feifei apprehensive was that, regardless of her sect affiliation, facing the first time with a man she deeply admired made her feel a complex mix of sweet excitement and fear.

Lei Dong had no idea that Qi Feifei’s mind was filled with such intimate thoughts. Observing the suggestive tone and flirtatious expressions in her demeanor, he couldn't help but frown slightly: “Feifei, stop using your seductive arts on me. I have serious business with you.”

“Senior Brother Lei, though Fei Fei may lack experience, I understand everything…” Qi Feifei’s eyes were veiled with allure, as she toyed with the hem of her skirt, her crimson lips barely parting: “I promise to satisfy you completely.”

Lei Dong blinked in surprise, then let out a wry, bitter chuckle and shook his head: “Where are your thoughts straying? I came because I need to ask you to purchase something for me, something I don’t want known as being from me…”

Qi Feifei felt a flush of annoyance mixed with disappointment—or perhaps relief. She shot him a fierce glare, her mood suddenly deflated: “Senior Brother Lei, what is it you want Fei Fei to buy?” “Things for killing!”

Half a month later, in the largest market town within the Yin-Yang Harmony Sect’s territory, the ultimate treasure of a prominent shop—a top-grade Spirit Shield—was purchased by Qi Feifei, one of the most outstanding young disciples of the Harmony Sect, for a staggering 1.7 million spirit stones. Another month passed, and at a major auction held in the Yin Sha Sect’s domain, a supreme-grade spirit artifact flying sword named 'Crimson Temper' was acquired by Qi Feifei for 2.15 million.

Qi Feifei traveled across various locations under different guises, diligently spending every last bit of the six million spirit stones Lei Dong had entrusted to her. Even though the money wasn't technically hers, the sheer extravagance provided her with an immense thrill. In her entire life, Qi Feifei had never enjoyed spending money so thoroughly. That was a full six million spirit stones—a sum many Golden Core Old Ancestors might struggle to produce at once.

Thunder Fiend Bombs, treasures whose power Lei Dong had personally experienced and found potent, each equivalent to the full-force strike of a cultivator at the third or fourth layer of Foundation Establishment, were bought in bulk—twenty pieces at five thousand spirit stones each. Exploding Flame Talismans, potent magical charms that only cultivators in the late stages of Foundation Establishment could barely utilize, cost thirty thousand spirit stones apiece, and Qi Feifei promptly secured five. If Lei Dong’s current strength hadn't been so far from being able to activate Golden Core level talismans, Qi Feifei might have purchased those grand, powerful enchantments as well.

Two Vaporing Spirit Recovery Pills, a higher grade than the Lesser Vaporing Spirit Recovery Pills Qi Feifei had used before. At Lei Dong’s current cultivation, one Vaporing Spirit Recovery Pill would risk bursting him apart—provided he didn't activate the Heavenly Demon Transformation. These two pills alone were valued at three hundred thousand. Such elixirs were considered extravagant and excessive even for Golden Core cultivators supplementing their power during combat. However, Lei Dong specifically requested them; the greater the internal power during the Heavenly Demon Transformation, the better.

Ten Lesser Vaporing Spirit Recovery Pills followed—thirty thousand each, totaling another three hundred thousand spirit stones thrown away. The Adamantine Indestructible Talisman was a defense-oriented charm produced by the Adamantine Temple. Its creation cost alone was rumored to be one hundred thousand spirit stones, requiring a Golden Core master talisman craftsman a month of time and depleting at least four months of their cultivation base. Foundation Establishment cultivators could use it directly. The Adamantine Temple sold them for two hundred thousand spirit stones each, and only supplied them to allied factions in limited quantities. Qi Feifei expended considerable effort and influence, spending three hundred thousand spirit stones, to procure just one for Lei Dong. Once activated, even a first-layer Golden Core cultivator would need ten heartbeats or more to breach Lei Dong’s Adamantine Indestructible Shield. While the Adamantine Temple’s combat techniques were fierce, their monks were most renowned for their defense.

The remaining million spirit stones were used to acquire a War Puppet, one that even Lei Dong greatly favored. This puppet was humanoid, its entire shell forged from highly expensive Iron Essence, equipped with a sword and shield for close-quarters combat. This automaton possessed enough strength to confront a cultivator at the tenth layer of Foundation Establishment without yielding ground, making it an exceptionally fine example among War Puppets. The only minor issue was that controlling it required a certain level of Divine Sense to bind and drive it. Normally, it demanded a cultivator at the tenth layer of Foundation Establishment to subjugate it.

Indeed, the puppets in this world were not the purely artificial intelligence robots Lei Dong had initially envisioned. He had to admit, many things in this world were wondrous and powerful, but it seemed no one had ever pursued development in the field of artificial intelligence. The reason this puppet could fight and kill, possessing its own rudimentary consciousness, was that its control core was the residual soul of a cultivator whose memories had been entirely erased, leaving only the instinct for combat.

And a puppet left only with instinct was, in a sense, a semi-living entity. And any living entity possesses a peculiar trait: an innate resistance to being commanded by something weaker than itself. Even Lei Dong’s own Bound Ghost Servants exhibited this trait. Therefore, to command a War Puppet produced by the Mechanism Sect, the operator first needed to possess superior strength to suppress the puppet's resistance.

Back then, when Wang Hui of the Carefree Path used a peak Foundation Establishment level puppet, it wasn't his own ability to control it. Rather, he used a trace of his ancestor’s Divine Soul to forcibly suppress the puppet’s resistance, allowing Wang Hui to barely use it. Consequently, when that puppet was destroyed, the accompanying sliver of Nascent Soul cultivator’s spirit was also extinguished, meaning the Nascent Soul ancestor would certainly suffer a prolonged period of recovery.

Thus, the vast majority of puppets had to be refined and subdued by the efforts of the wielder themselves. Although Lei Dong was currently only at the sixth layer of Foundation Establishment, his Divine Soul was immensely robust, bolstered by the presence of the (Di Mo Zhong, Emperor Demon Seed), a treasure rarely seen in this world. Subduing a puppet with the strength of a tenth-layer Foundation Establishment cultivator was arduous, but he ultimately managed it. However, this method of refinement differed significantly from that of a Bound Ghost Servant. Lei Dong, like that Nascent Soul cultivator, had to maintain a sliver of his own Divine Soul within the puppet from beginning to end. This necessity also explained why War Puppets generally emphasized defensive capabilities—to avoid easy destruction, which would result in the annihilation of the controlling cultivator's soul fragment.

Moreover, even the cultivators of the Mechanism Sect would not utilize an excessive variety of low-tier puppets, nor could they have too many. After all, dispersing too much of one's Divine Soul was never ideal. Nevertheless, even with this limitation, acquiring this War Puppet boosted Lei Dong’s strength significantly. In Qi Feifei's own assessment, with such an arsenal, if he managed to catch a Golden Core cultivator off guard, he could even smash them to death.