Lei Dong’s heart stirred slightly, sensing something unusual. He fixed his cold gaze on the Winged God-Man. “Explain yourself clearly.” With a mere flicker of his divine sense, the four Golden Core subordinates halted their assault, though they maintained their encirclement around the Winged God-Man, ready to strike him down without hesitation at the slightest sign of trouble.

The Winged God-Man’s imposing aura had completely faded. Faced with Lei Dong’s icy stare, he knew that failure to give a satisfactory answer would mean immediate obliteration. Though he was now half-man, half-specter, if he could truly disregard the termination of his life, he wouldn't have fallen to his current wretched state. He instinctively shrank his neck and spoke obediently, “Young Master, you are unaware…” “Your Demon Emperor Sect stripped my physical body and refined my spirit soul,” he confessed, “forging me into a Soul Slave. I am sealed within this altar in this desolate borderland, serving as a checkpoint guardian. This was originally intended as a reward for the sect’s most powerful young talents. Once someone from the sect managed to pass the trial without fleeing, by genuinely defeating me, I would grant them the right to choose whether to pledge allegiance. Of course, becoming a Soul Slave is the only path left for me to attain any form of ‘freedom.’ It is a pity that in the long time I have guarded this frontier checkpoint, no one capable of defeating me has yet appeared.”

The Winged God-Man’s casually delivered words sent turbulent waves crashing through Lei Dong’s heart. The Demon Emperor Sect… the Demon Emperor Sect. So, this so-called Divine Temple was actually a relic of the ancient Demon Emperor Sect. Lei Dong was momentarily speechless; this ancient sect truly seemed bound to him by an immense fate.

The Winged God-Man, however, looked puzzled. “It is just that, Young Master, as a successor of the Emperor Demon Seed, why have you come to such a remote place for trials?” In the era the Winged God-Man existed, the Demon Emperor Sect was one of the foremost sects in the world, its fame resounding far and wide. The characteristics of the Demon Emperor’s successor were naturally well-known to him.

“Hmph. That is a private matter for this Young Master,” Lei Dong’s expression hardened, his gaze chilling as he confronted him. “Now—you will obediently become my Soul Slave.” Lei Dong had never heard the term Soul Slave before. However, since this Winged God-Man was refined and sealed here by the Demon Emperor Sect, and given that ‘Soul Slave’ sounded like a method for controlling a servant, there should be no risk of backlash. Furthermore, caution was warranted at the outset.

“That is only natural.” The residual arrogance the Winged God-Man had displayed moments earlier had completely dissipated. Now, he dared not defy Lei Dong in the slightest, speaking with meticulous care: “This old slave will reveal his true form now. I beg the Young Master to proceed with the Soul Refining Art.”

As soon as his words fell, his body twisted and morphed into a semi-transparent bead, speckled black and white, which floated obediently in the air, daring not to make any independent decision.

Although Lei Dong believed seven or eight parts of the man’s words, the matter was too grave to allow any carelessness. What if the old fellow was feigning compliance, intending to trick him, only to self-detonate and take Lei Dong down with him? With a thought, he summoned the Soul Devouring Shadow Tiger and the Ghost General, while commanding the remaining two Golden Core level vengeful spirits to coalesce into a dense shield, tightly enveloping the bead.

Should the old creature, currently in bead form, self-detonate, the impact force would be largely absorbed by the tightly compressed forms of the two Golden Core vengeful spirits. Simultaneously, Lei Dong positioned the Ghost General, the Shadow Tiger, and the puppets in front of him, ready to shield their master instantly should any contingency arise. Lei Dong’s supreme-grade spirit artifact, the Undying Spirit Shield, his blood-colored cloak, and other defenses were all activated.

Caution was paramount. Only then did Lei Dong order the two vengeful spirits to bring the bead as close as possible. At a distance of three or four zhang, Lei Dong released his divine sense, directing it through a tiny pinhole left open by one of the vengeful spirits. His tangible divine sense wrapped around the bead tightly, and murmuring incantations while manipulating seals, he began the process of soul-refining it in conjunction with his consciousness.

As a Spirit Slave, the Winged God-Man, having automatically submitted, possessed no consciousness of resistance; instead, he willingly opened his soul source, allowing Lei Dong to refine him. Although the man had already been refined into a Soul Slave long ago, his essential origin power was terrifyingly immense, and his soul formidable. Lei Dong found the Soul Refining Art extremely arduous to employ.

Fortunately, Lei Dong’s own spirit soul was robust and powerful, supplemented constantly by elixirs to replenish the consumption. Even so, it took a full several hours before Lei Dong completely finished refining the Soul Slave. Now, Lei Dong felt a strange sensation regarding it: familiarity, intimacy.

This was not unusual. Lei Dong’s few supreme-grade spirit artifacts were also products of soul-refinement. Normally, they materialized within Lei Dong’s spirit soul, almost merging into one entity. Refined objects usually felt like extensions of one’s own body, a part of one’s life. Although they could be severed, doing so would incur a significant cost.

Naturally, for treasured items, the careful process—or ‘soul-refining’—was essential. Firstly, it prevented others from seizing them through various secret techniques. Secondly, only after heart-refinement could the magical artifacts and spirit tools unleash their maximum power, making manipulation smoother and more intuitive. Moreover, as the spirit soul continuously nurtured them, their might would only grow.

However, despite successfully refining it, Lei Dong still held a peculiar feeling about the bead. Was this thing one of his spirit artifacts, or a subordinate? Lei Dong used the Divine Observation Art to ‘view’ the bead silently suspended within his own spirit soul. With a mere thought, it appeared before him. He issued another command for it to transform into its Soul Slave form. Of course, his four Golden Core combat subordinates immediately surrounded it.

The bead instantly reverted to the appearance of the Winged God-Man. Now, when he looked at Lei Dong, his eyes held profound respect. He bowed in mid-air: “Soul Slave Yi Kong pays respects to the Master.”

Lei Dong let out a slight breath of relief. Even when transformed into human form, Lei Dong felt he possessed absolute control over him. However, a test was still necessary. With a thought from Lei Dong, Yi Kong, kneeling on the ground, began to tremble violently. Yet, without Lei Dong’s explicit command, he remained kneeling, not daring to move an inch.

“Ah!” Yi Kong cried out in agony as one of his wings, under Lei Dong’s mental command, was torn into fragments as if by slow dismemberment. Despite this, Yi Kong still dared not move wildly, communicating only through divine sense, desperately begging Lei Dong for mercy: “Master, I beg the Master to spare this old slave! My power is almost depleted; if this continues, I will vanish completely.”

Lei Dong merely snorted, continuing his course of action without pause. His gaze fixed on the remaining wing, and with a casual flick, he launched a Nether Fire Pellet, igniting the sole remaining appendage. The eerie, chilling green Nether Fire was an evil flame fueled by the soul; so long as the soul existed, it would burn endlessly, growing fiercer.

Initially, only a small portion of Yi Kong’s wing ignited, and the flickering Nether Fire began to burn with eager intensity. Of course, while Nether Fire could ignite all souls, it was not absolute. The quality of Lei Dong’s current Nether Fire was insufficient to ignite the spirit soul of a Nascent Soul stage cultivator—that would be wishful thinking; a mere thought from such a cultivator could extinguish it.

Furthermore, Yi Kong’s soul body was extremely solid and dense. Had he resisted, he could have extinguished the Nether Fire with a single thought. But at this moment, he remained kneeling and motionless, preferring to scream in agony rather than quell the flames. Soon, the Nether Fire roared higher, burning half of his wing to ash. Yi Kong’s countenance grew exceedingly weak. Only then did Lei Dong command him with his divine sense: “Extinguish the fire yourself.” Lei Dong knew that at Yi Kong’s current level of weakness, further burning would cause him to dissipate before long. Yi Kong acted as if granted amnesty, swiftly deploying his spiritual power to put out the Nether Fire. His expression was utterly tragic, yet he remained loyally kneeling, entirely devoid of any vengeful or resentful emotion. It was important to note that as an object of his heart-refinement, Lei Dong would immediately sense any such negative thoughts.

Lei Dong finally breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed this Soul Slave was relatively reliable. With just a thought, he could instantly shatter his body. No matter how he burned him with Nether Fire, the subordinate dared not resist. Theoretically, there were no loopholes remaining. His voice softened slightly: “You are injured. How can you restore your strength?” Internally, he marveled at the might of the ancient sects. To forge a living being into a Soul Slave was almost unimaginable; the foundation of the Yin Sha Sect could not be compared to it.

This was normal, though. The Demon Emperor Sect had reigned supreme for untold ages in antiquity. The Yin Sha Sect only emerged tens of thousands of years after the great calamity struck the ancient era; its foundation extended only a mere ten to twenty thousand years. Achieving top-tier status was a feat of the last ten millennia. The strange and esoteric things of the distant past and antiquity were beyond the comprehension of the current age.

At this moment, a flicker of gratitude appeared in Yi Kong’s expression. “Reporting to the Master, there are two ways for this old slave to recover. First, I can absorb the energy between heaven and earth, but this process is exceedingly slow. By my estimation, it would require at least three years to recover to the late Golden Core strength. To reach peak condition might take thirty years. Second, the Master can bestow power upon me; simply injecting spiritual power, that is, divine sense, directly into this old slave’s body will suffice. If the Master possesses endless divine sense, this old slave could recover quickly, perhaps even reaching peak state.”

Lei Dong narrowed his eyes, using his divine sense to gauge the truthfulness of the man’s words. It seemed acceptable; there was likely no deceit.

However, whether three years or thirty, neither timeline was acceptable to Lei Dong. Therefore, injecting his divine sense was the only remaining option to explore.

…