Seeing Lei Dong’s utterly ashamed expression, Ancestor Wan Gui chuckled, hands clasped behind his back. "Don't rush, my disciple. It took me quite some time to master this technique. Otherwise, why would that old ghost You Ming charge me so many spirit stones? Dong'er, you must understand that our You Ming Ghost Qi is inherently soft and yielding, yet unlike the Xuan Yin Cold Qi, it isn't like the bitter cold of winter, nor is it as sharply venomous as Yin Sha Qi. Therefore, you must first thoroughly understand the characteristics of You Ming Ghost Qi."

Lei Dong pondered deeply, yet could not arrive at any clear answer. Ancestor Wan Gui snapped his fingers, and a speck of Nether Fire began to dance restlessly on his fingertip. Simultaneously, another wisp of dark energy coiled around it. Upon contact with the You Ming Ghost Qi, the Nether Fire instantly blazed up, more than doubling in intensity, flickering wantonly upon the Elder's finger. However, as soon as that trace of dark energy was entirely consumed, the Nether Fire reverted to its original size.

Following this, Ancestor Wan Gui casually summoned a fierce Elite Ghost, commanding it to hover motionless in mid-air. He raised a hand and flicked a mass of You Ming Ghost Qi towards the specter. In an instant, the Elite Ghost behaved as if it had smelled the most delicious food in the world, greedily devouring the Ghost Qi. Just as Lei Dong had predicted, the specter's body swelled by more than double; it bared its fangs and brandished its claws, its ferocious aura surging, and the illusory talons it manifested became chillingly frosty, grotesque, and savagely cruel.

"Did you see clearly?" Ancestor Wan Gui asked. "What are your thoughts?"

Lei Dong knitted his brows. "Disciple still doesn't quite grasp it."

"It's normal that you don't understand, because your comprehension of the Great Art of You Ming is still too shallow." Ancestor Wan Gui began to explain, "The world generally believes that Ghost Qi is the energy of death, a symbol of evil. But only those who truly cultivate the Great Art of You Ming gradually come to realize the truth. The reality is precisely the opposite: Ghost Qi is Sheng Qi, the energy of life. It represents life itself. You should be very clear about the nature of Nether Fire; it is an aberrant fire fueled by the soul. But what is the soul? Is it merely what the common folk in the mundane world consider death? No, it is actually the most primordial form of life, the very origin of existence—it is pure life. What is the ultimate goal of us cultivators? It is to transcend the shackles of the physical body and attain eternal life. Transcending the flesh means that Immortals will exist in a state akin to a soul-like life form. Of course, that is still far beyond our current reach. Let's speak of a Nascent Soul stage cultivator. What is the Nascent Soul? Naturally, it is also a form of life—it is our Divine Soul fused with our purest intrinsic power, coalesced into a life form. It is us, and yet it is not entirely us. But fundamentally, it is our truest self. Naturally, your master has not yet reached that realm, and I can only conjecture based on the experience and records of our predecessors."

This was not the first time Lei Dong had listened to Ancestor Wan Gui lecture, but this time, he listened with profound absorption. He heard Ancestor Wan Gui continue eloquently, "From my conjectures, when condensing the Nascent Soul, we utilize our own power to re-condense a body for the Divine Soul—a body purely forged from the most refined power. Where does this power come from? Naturally, it originates from our Golden Core. Moreover, the entire process of Nascent Soul condensation is nurtured entirely within the Golden Core. Once the body exists, a portion of the Divine Soul can integrate with it, becoming a brand-new life. But this energy body differs from our physical body; it can merge seamlessly and completely with the Divine Soul."

"If the Nascent Soul is a form of life, then what about the Sheng Hun (Living Soul) that leaves the body after the Divine Soul departs? Is it also a life form? Dong'er, you also know that after a person dies, as long as the Divine Soul is not extinguished, it becomes a Sheng Hun that departs the body. At that time, the Sheng Hun still possesses considerable memory and the same thoughts and behaviors as when the person was alive. It is only over a long period, when memory and wisdom lack a physical body and power to sustain them, that the Sheng Hun retains only basic instincts, losing its entire self to become a wandering ghost, aimlessly drifting on the wind. If it is strong enough and encounters Ghost Qi, it will slowly strengthen, gradually evolving into a Yin Soul. This Yin Soul possesses only the instinct to devour, the instinct to strengthen itself and survive. Until it is captured by us and refined into an Elite Ghost or Ghost Servant, or perhaps it slowly grows stronger on its own to become a Wild Ghost Soldier or Wild Guard... Can we then infer that this entire sequence is still a form of life?"

Lei Dong was greatly shaken. Before his transmigration, Lei Dong carried a fixed notion from his previous world: a ghost is a ghost, representing death, and never conceived of it as a living entity. But now, it appeared this was indeed a form of life. Just as he himself had transmigrated in a purely soul state—though Lei Dong didn't know the specifics of what happened, why the transmigration occurred, or how he attached himself—his memories remained crystal clear. By this logic, he could infer that he must have been in the Sheng Hun state at the time, one that had not yet lost its memories. Since he was alive and well now, his master's theory must be correct: the various different forms of ghosts should all belong to a type of life, albeit a very primitive state of being.

"It is also for this reason that our You Ming Ghost Qi can nourish ghosts and ignite Nether Fire—it is, of course, an energy of life," Ancestor Wan Gui concluded after circling around, returning to the topic of Ghost Qi. "Furthermore, it is a combustible energy of life. If you merely condense the Ghost Qi into a mass and use it to charge forward, how can you unleash its greatest might?"

Lei Dong's eyes lit up. Indeed, combustion generates heat, and with heat comes power. Lei Dong began applying theories from his past life to the You Ming Ghost Qi. He inwardly cursed himself for being so dull, only thinking of condensing the Ghost Qi for impact, using only the Xuan Yin True Qi within his body as the driving force.

Sitting cross-legged on the ground, Lei Dong thought carefully about how to burn the You Ming Ghost Qi. With Nether Fire? But Lei Dong quickly dismissed this. If he used Nether Fire to ignite it, wouldn't it just become a variation of a Nether Fire Bomb? Moreover, Nether Fire consumes You Ming Ghost Qi to enhance his own power, not to help the Ghost Qi generate massive force. How many ways are there to make an object combust? Lei Dong began to ponder: friction? Collision? Yes, perhaps that was it. He could imagine the Ghost Qi as some kind of gas, and gas is naturally composed of molecules. Absorbing and condensing the You Ming Ghost Qi in his palm was equivalent to concentrating a vast number of molecules into a tightly packed mass of Ghost Qi. Then came the Xuan Yin True Qi. Xuan Yin True Qi was itself a type of power, also a Qi. Friction and collision between Qi and Qi. Yes, yes, it seemed to be precisely this.

Unconsciously, Lei Dong began to experiment in a state of abstraction. In his right hand, Xuan Yin True Qi ceaselessly impacted the highly condensed Ghost Qi, which was already extremely dense. It gradually began to heat up. At this moment, the Xuan Yin True Qi in his palm was constantly rotating, causing the mass of highly concentrated Ghost Qi within his palm to also spin ceaselessly. Soon, it transformed into a vortex where black and white constantly merged, collided, and spun. Under the sensing of his divine consciousness, it felt like a rotating universe, profound and filled with endless mystery. Gradually, Lei Dong felt the power in his palm growing stronger and stronger, infinitely more potent than the first time. Lei Dong almost felt a sense of being unable to control it. At this point, he raised his hand and pushed forward heavily, simultaneously executing the rotational movements of the Black Dragon Roar technique, fiercely twisting the two streams of Qi together.

Boom~

An ugly, distorted pillar of black smoke burst forth from his palm, accompanied by sharp whistles, shooting straight toward the cliff face at incredible speed.

Bang~ Violent impact and explosion occurred simultaneously. Smoke billowed, black energy shattered, and flying stones scattered everywhere. When the dust settled, Lei Dong stared wide-eyed at the crater blasted into the rock wall, somewhat disbelieving. Over two zhang wide and five to six zhang deep. This single pit lay right before him.

This level of destructive power was indeed formidable, far surpassing the pure explosive force of a Nether Fire Bomb by more than a measure. Of course, it wasn't without residual effects. Lei Dong felt an intense pain in his right palm and the meridians of his arm, clearly injured by the strain of brewing the impact during the execution of that technique.

"Good, very good, Dong'er. Although your execution is clumsy, I must admit you have grasped the initial technique of the Black Dragon Roar correctly." Ancestor Wan Gui’s eyes shone brightly, praising him repeatedly. In his heart, he felt a pang of awe; it had taken him at least a month to barely manage this move, yet this kid managed it in just a few days~ Still, Wan Gui felt rather self-satisfied; it was all thanks to his excellent teaching—breaking it down piece by piece in an accessible manner. Unlike that impatient You Ming, who shamelessly accepted spirit stones for doing so little.

Lei Dong ignored the soreness in his arm, brimming with excitement, yet he also felt a touch of regret. "Master, why did the output look like a distorted black pillar instead of a black dragon? Did I do something wrong?"

"It was supposed to be a black pillar. The power of the black pillar is the same as the black dragon's," Ancestor Wan Gui chuckled slyly. "To turn it into a black dragon, you need a lot of practice in control. The senior who created the Black Dragon Roar technique thought the black pillar looked unsightly, so he spent considerable effort crafting the dragon shape—purely for show~ Otherwise, this technique should have been named the Black Pillar Roar, how ugly that would sound."

Lei Dong was momentarily speechless. He had thought that magnificent black dragon must have some profound secret behind it, only to find out the reality was... purely for swagger~