... However, this incident greatly improved Lei Dong’s opinion of Shangguan. While the young man still carried a heavy air of a pampered young master, he proved reliable when it truly mattered. After all, Shangguan had fled to the Chaotic Sea precisely to escape Wen Xiaoxue. Now, in an effort to resolve Lei Dong’s difficult predicament, he was prepared to risk his own 'personal safety' by seeking out Wen Xiaoxue once again.

But Lei Dong understood that some things could not be forced. He patted Shangguan’s shoulder instead. “We’ll discuss this matter later. I would rather go without the so-called Heavenly Soul Great Art than see my brother suffer any grievance.”

As soon as Lei Dong uttered those words, a flicker of gratitude crossed Shangguan Hong’s face. Simultaneously, he chuckled. “I knew you would say that, Boss Lei. That’s why I already took care of the matter beforehand.” With that, Shangguan Hong retrieved a crystalline jade slip from his storage bracelet and tossed it to Lei Dong. “The true Heavenly Soul Great Art is incredibly complex; even the Ghost Reaper Sect guards its practitioners with extreme caution. This copy is what Xiaoxue painstakingly managed to recreate and simulate—the Heavenly Soul Great Art, the Ghost Taming Arts of the Ghost Reaper Sect, and all her cultivation experiences over the years. She did her best, but stealing the complete Heavenly Soul Great Art from the sect was extremely difficult.”

A complex look appeared in Lei Dong’s eyes. Clutching the jade slip, he took a deep breath. “You’ve gone through a lot, Shangguan. I trust this will elevate my ghost-taming techniques to a new level.” He began to calculate internally: obtaining the genuine Heavenly Soul Great Art was clearly impossible now. However, if he could absorb this pirated version, along with Wen Xiaoxue’s accumulated wisdom, perhaps he could attempt to forge a standard ghost-taming manual that would suffice for the time being.

“It was no hardship, really. Perhaps because I ran away last time, Wen Xiaoxue has changed a lot too. When I presented this very difficult request to her this time, she didn't use it to blackmail me into marriage. Instead, after I told her some of the things you do, she actually offered full support for me to follow you to Kangzhou and make our way there.” Shangguan’s voice held a touch of emotion as he continued, “Originally, I was fully prepared to sacrifice myself for this. But now, I am deeply grateful to her. She told me that no matter how long I venture out in the world, she will wait for me silently in Zhaozhou.”

Lei Dong mused inwardly that Wen Xiaoxue was indeed quite shrewd; having suffered one setback, she understood the nature of men. Her willingness to give so much to Shangguan Hong, adopting the posture of someone who overlooked everything and would wait patiently, was precisely the tactic that appealed to Shangguan Hong’s temperament. Look at how moved he was! Nevertheless, Lei Dong found himself developing a decent impression of Wen Xiaoxue too. Though he had never met her, he knew she was an extraordinary girl. What she did—betraying her own sect—was not something an ordinary person could achieve. It could only be done if she truly loved Shangguan Hong to an extreme degree.

Inevitably, Lei Dong spoke a few words of praise on her behalf.

Following this, Lei Dong led the entire team onward toward the Great Barren Desert. Naturally, their route bypassed all known dangerous areas. Lei Dong preferred moving slowly over constantly encountering trouble along the way. With Wen Xiaoxue’s jade slip in hand, Lei Dong spent the following period virtually confined to the cabin of the flying ship, rarely stepping out, immersing himself in the study of the pirated Heavenly Soul Great Art.

Although this version of the Heavenly Soul Great Art remained incomplete, the unreserved insights provided by Wen Xiaoxue allowed Lei Dong to become utterly engrossed. While the Heavenly Soul Great Art focused on the path of ghost taming, it differed significantly in its underlying principles. As his master, Ancestor Wan Gui, had taught, the Netherworld Great Art, though seemingly a death technique, was actually a power brimming with vitality—the most primal and fundamental life force. This was one reason why the Netherworld Great Art was so formidable. Similarly, the ghost-taming arts of the Yin Fiend Sect emphasized ‘nurturing’; after blood sacrifice, the master and ghost servant were bound by blood, prospering or suffering together. The power of the ghost object was stimulated by nourishing it with Netherworld Ghost Qi.

However, the arts of the Ghost Reaper Sect were vastly different. Although they also used blood sacrifice to refine ghost servants, the Ghost Reaper Sect adopted a far more tyrannical approach to stimulating their power. They frequently employed extremely brutal methods to provoke their ghost servants, driving their life-bound servants into a state of maniacal ferocity, including prolonged magical stimulation and the use of elixirs. Ghost servants refined this way possessed extreme viciousness but lacked spiritual intelligence.

To illustrate, Lei Dong’s own life-bound ghost servants could generally handle simple chores. Their inherent spirituality allowed them a degree of flexibility and maneuverability when executing their master’s objectives on the battlefield. This was more pronounced in higher-grade servants. It was rumored that servants refined from Ultimate Spirit Ghosts possessed considerable intelligence, capable of exchanging information with their masters. And the legendary Heavenly Spirit Ghost was almost indistinguishable from a human, treatable entirely as a cultivator of equal standing; a Heavenly Spirit Ghost could even practice magical arts.

Of course, such a thing as a Heavenly Spirit Ghost was beyond the measure of mere chance. In all of history, only a handful had ever appeared.

The Yin Fiend Sect’s arts prioritized preserving a sliver of spirituality in the ghost servant. The Ghost Reaper Sect, conversely, was willing to sacrifice that sliver of spirit to make their servants exponentially more powerful. Their servants were purely combat tools, not companions.

To be precise, in a direct confrontation between servants of the same grade, the Yin Fiend Sect’s servants would be slightly weaker. However, this held true only below the level of Ultimate Spirit Ghosts. If both sides possessed Ultimate Spirit Ghosts, the Yin Fiend Sect’s servants, benefiting from their decent spirituality, could generally match those of the Ghost Reaper Sect. But if a Heavenly Spirit Ghost was involved, the Yin Fiend Sect’s servant would have a significant advantage, given the extremely high wisdom and spirituality of a Heavenly Spirit Ghost, equivalent to, or even surpassing, an ordinary human intellect.

It had to be conceded that the methods of the Ghost Reaper Sect were not flawed. On the contrary, their approach was arguably more pragmatic. After all, Mid-grade and Upper-grade Spirit Ghosts were already rare; Ultimate Spirit Ghosts were miracles of fortune; and Heavenly Spirit Ghosts were the stuff of legend.

In summary, Lei Dong had to admit that, in the broadest sense, the Ghost Reaper Sect’s ghost-taming arts seemed somewhat superior to those of the Yin Fiend Sect. Though perhaps too focused on quick results, their methods aligned better with the world’s reality. What use was the minimal spirituality possessed by Mid or Upper-grade Spirit Ghosts? If one truly needed a servant capable of menial tasks, wouldn't it be simpler to hire one?

Yet, for Lei Dong, the Yin Fiend Sect’s arts remained preferable. At least, he was not lacking in prospects for Ultimate Spirit Ghosts. The only uncertainty was whether the heaven-defying magic item, the Soul Devouring Pagoda, could cultivate a Heavenly Spirit Ghost. Theoretically, Lei Dong harbored doubts. Such beings were supposedly born with innate spiritual seeds, anomalies of nature. The appearance of just one could potentially shift the balance of an entire continent. Therefore, Lei Dong remained skeptical about the Pagoda’s ability to produce a Heavenly Spirit Ghost.

Setting aside other differences between the two sects’ techniques, Wen Xiaoxue’s completely unreserved experience proved immensely beneficial to Lei Dong, opening a new window for him, with inspiration sparking constantly. All ghost-taming arts ultimately developed along several key vectors: Loyalty, Spirit, Ferocity, and Economy.

Loyalty represented high fidelity in the refined servant, minimizing the risk of backlash or betrayal. Spirit naturally meant cultivating the servant’s intelligence and awareness. Ferocity meant employing every means possible to make the servant more powerful than its peers. Economy meant controlling the servant using the least amount of soul power, thereby allowing the master to control more servants with the same level of spiritual sense.

While studying the Heavenly Soul Great Art series, Lei Dong did not neglect the expensive, common-grade ghost-taming manuals he had purchased. Now, though those manuals seemed riddled with mediocrity and irrationalities, modifying them—attempting to fuse the strengths of both the Yin Fiend Sect and the Ghost Reaper Sect arts—might forge an entirely new ghost-taming technique.

Lei Dong pondered and experimented ceaselessly. After a full three months, he finally managed to draft a rudimentary technique, which he named the Demon Emperor Art. Of course, in its current nascent stage, the Demon Emperor Art was miles behind the Yin Fiend Sect’s Netherworld Great Art or the Ghost Reaper Sect’s Heavenly Soul Great Art. Nevertheless, Lei Dong was extremely satisfied with this embryonic form. At least, it was already vastly superior to the purely pedestrian spells.

Although it remained a draft, this art contained years of Lei Dong’s accumulated hard work. Its current function was exceedingly simple: refining ghost servants and employing them in combat, with little that was outwardly remarkable. However, Lei Dong was confident that with continued time spent perfecting the Demon Emperor Art, it would eventually become a world-shaking supreme technique.

The fact that Lei Dong could develop a technique, even a rudimentary one, in just a few months astounded everyone present, who marvelled at his unparalleled innate comprehension. Indeed, Lei Dong’s raw cultivation aptitude might not have been top-tier, but his insight was exceptional. Furthermore, having come from his previous world—a society saturated with information—Lei Dong was accustomed to questioning everything and investigating fundamental aspects of various phenomena, such as the very nature of spell structures. This differentiated him from the majority of people in this era: he sought to analyze magic through the lens of ‘logic,’ rather than merely using it.

...RA