"Hmph, I think you're barely holding yourself together," Lei Dong muttered. To have come as far as he had, Lei Dong was certainly no simple brute. Judging by the faint aura emanating from the Heavenly Ghost Emperor now, and his appearance, those one hundred-plus Yin Sha Heavenly Thunders from before, even if they hadn't killed him, must have taken the better part of his life, leaving him far from his peak.

"Impudent junior." Since both parties had completely shed their pretenses, the Heavenly Ghost Emperor, filled with hatred for Lei Dong, let his form shimmer and vanished into the void. Black, arrow-like streaks, emerging from nowhere, shot toward Lei Dong from all directions. It was the same trick again; though still fearsome, the difference compared to when he wielded it at his zenith was like that between heaven and earth.

Lei Dong spread his wings wide, utilizing the spatial teleportation skill inherent to the Asura Wings to instantly flicker several miles away. With a slight lift of one hand, a banner dripping with eerie ghost energy, utterly bleak, materialized before him, fluttering intensely against the abyss's nether wind.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak."

With a flick of his hand seals, countless vengeful spirits and malevolent specters surged out from the mid-grade magical artifact, the Myriad Ghost Banner, swirling in a dizzying vortex around Lei Dong for several miles. Every single specter emitted a piercing, strange shriek; the convergence of tens of thousands of these entities created an awe-inspiring spectacle, akin to a boundless sea of ghosts. Those with lesser cultivation would be struck with crippling terror, losing all will to fight.

In this Nine Nether Abyss, the concentration of Nether Ghost Qi was already incredibly dense. The vengeful spirits and specters within the banner shrieked in excitement, their forms momentarily swelling and their appearances growing crueler. This conveniently saved Lei Dong the trouble of employing his Netherworld Grand Art to simulate such an environment; this place was a pure, high-quality Nether environment. Lei Dong’s art was merely an imitation of what existed naturally here.

"Showing off in front of a master craftsman."

The Heavenly Ghost Emperor, now weakened to his absolute limit, couldn't help but let out a cold snort upon seeing this. "Let me show you what a true Great Array of Vengeful Spirits looks like." With that, his ghost-mouth opened, and an equally pitch-black flag billowed in the wind. A ferocious tide of ghosts rushed toward Lei Dong like monstrous tidal waves in the ocean.

The two forces of specters collided violently. However, Lei Dong's side appeared significantly inferior in both quality and quantity compared to the Heavenly Ghost Emperor's horde. A starved camel is still larger than a horse; even severely weakened, the Heavenly Ghost Emperor remained fundamentally a Ghost Emperor. His combat power could not be underestimated. Upon the initial contact, Lei Dong's specters were rapidly extinguished, often requiring three of his to eliminate one of the Emperor's.

But Lei Dong was not overly concerned; he fought while strategically retreating. Xiao You had already received his command and was using her spatial teleportation skills to ferry reinforcements to Lei Dong.

The only element baffling Lei Dong was the whereabouts of the Netherworld Ghost Emperor. That old fellow had vanished abruptly right after exerting his full strength to initiate the Time Stasis. However, Lei Dong wasn't worried about the Netherworld Ghost Emperor turning on him. Judging by how well the Heavenly Ghost Emperor's scheme had succeeded earlier, the Netherworld Ghost Emperor seemed to place immense value on Xiao You. And Lei Dong, as the master of Xiao You's blood sacrifice, shared a vital link with her life force. If Lei Dong died, Xiao You, his ghost servant, would undoubtedly perish too.

As a naturally formed spirit body, the Heavenly Ghost Emperor enjoyed a substantial combat advantage within this Nether environment—it was his home turf.

Yet, Lei Dong had meticulously cultivated the Netherworld Grand Art since childhood, and his current research and understanding of it were far from superficial. It could be argued that this pure, natural Nether environment was just as much his home ground as anyone else's. In terms of pure techniques, Lei Dong’s most formidable move was the Black Dragon Roar—it was practically the concentration of all his Nether Ghost Qi unleashed in a single strike of undeniable power.

Normally, after unleashing this move, he required a considerable period to gather enough energy for a second casting. But here, Lei Dong had already discovered that a Black Dragon Roar fully utilizing the Ghost Qi was more than twice as powerful as when cast elsewhere, and thanks to the continuous replenishment of vast amounts of Nether Ghost Qi, he could soon execute a second one.

While falling back, Lei Dong unleashed the Black Dragon Roar. The dense Nether Ghost Qi within a radius of a few li poured into his body like a surging river. The roaring black dragon he blasted forth possessed an even more ferocious and imposing form.

The Heavenly Ghost Emperor seemed dismissive of Lei Dong’s power, treating it like child's play and casually bracing for the impact. The sheer force of the strike sent him tumbling back several dozen yards, his spirit form momentarily unstable. This, in turn, forced the Heavenly Ghost Emperor to stop underestimating Lei Dong. In his prime, he might have completely ignored an attack of this magnitude. But now, he was barely stronger than an ordinary mid-tier Ghost King, perhaps only superior in experience and understanding of martial principles. Even so, the fully weakened Heavenly Ghost Emperor was still too much for Lei Dong to handle alone. Thankfully, reinforcements, guided by Xiao You, soon arrived on the battlefield. Except for Dongfang Fu, whose face was slightly pale, indicating a drain on her vitality, Wanyan and Qi Feifei were robust, fresh additions to the fray.

At this juncture, no one showed any courtesy toward the Heavenly Ghost Emperor. They summoned their respective Ghost Generals and War Beasts—all top-tier generals paired with rare war dragons—amassing a significant force. They joined the fray not by engaging the Heavenly Ghost Emperor directly, but by slaughtering his army of vengeful spirits. Dongfang Fu’s Profound Ice Dragon was the most eye-catching: possessing noble lineage and formidable combat strength, its expulsion of Profound Ice True Qi often froze entire swaths of enemy spirits to death. Lei Dong and Wanyan's two Soul-Devouring Shadow Tigers also performed exceptionally. Although their bloodlines were a notch below the Profound Ice Dragon, the "Soul-Devouring" aspect of their name proclaimed them the bane of the Ghost race's spirit bodies. Purely feeding on spirits, the Shadow Tigers moved like wolves among sheep, charging wildly and rampaging. With a single gulp, they could ingest heaps of shrieking specters. Though the vengeful spirits possessed low intelligence, they had instincts; facing their nemesis, their fighting spirit visibly flagged.

As for the two new Ghost Generals Qi Feifei brought, they were still too weak for immediate deployment into harm's way. However, her tortoise spirit beast possessed truly exceptional defensive capabilities; roaring, it grew larger and larger until it resembled a small mountain in scale. While its offensive output was slight, it successfully drew massive amounts of enemy fire. The other Ghost Generals also made short work of the vengeful spirits, cleaving through them as easily as cutting melons and vegetables.

Almost simultaneously, including Xiao You, everyone unleashed their Myriad Ghost Banners. Lei Dong’s banner tactics found their ultimate expression at this moment. The combined number of specters summoned by the group reached well over one hundred thousand, densely packed, covering a space spanning dozens of miles. Influenced by the pure Nether Ghost Qi, each one grew formidable, moving with a freedom as natural as fish swimming in water.

This large-scale battle truly shook the heavens and the earth. Nevertheless, the Heavenly Ghost Emperor still maintained the upper hand. While the count of controllable vengeful spirits on both sides was comparable, the sheer potency of the Heavenly Ghost Emperor's spirits tipped the scales. Furthermore, the Emperor, skilled in spatial arts, did not remain idle during this crucial phase, personally attacking to ambush Lei Dong and the others' Ghost Generals and War Beasts.

Although Lei Dong, Xiao You, and the others rushed to provide support, constantly shifting their formation in unpredictable ways, they were constantly vexed by the Emperor's tactics, forcing them to fight cautiously and hesitate to deploy their full capabilities. One by one, Ghost Generals and War Beasts were wounded by the Heavenly Ghost Emperor and forced to retreat for recovery. It was only due to the Emperor's severe injuries drastically reducing his strength, preventing him from executing swift, fatal strikes, that Lei Dong’s core fighting strength remained intact.

"Bang~" Relying on his profound comprehension of spatial laws, the Heavenly Ghost Emperor’s movements were indeed unpredictable. Seizing a moment when Wanyan let her guard down, he materialized behind her and delivered a vicious punch to her back. As Wanyan spat blood, seven or eight Yin Sha Heavenly Thunders, condensed by the Yin Sha Grand Art, retaliated by slamming into the Heavenly Ghost Emperor, ensuring he also felt the sting.

"Senior Sister!"

Seeing Wanyan struck down and severely wounded, Lei Dong, whose patience had been worn thin all day, could finally restrain himself no longer. His face changed drastically as he roared. The Nether Ghost Qi in the abyss surged uncontrollably into Lei Dong's body. Simultaneously, Lei Dong's gaze gradually turned cold, yet within that coolness lurked a thread of cruelty and burning intensity.

On his brow, the perfectly formed Emperor Demon Mark slowly surfaced.

His long hair was swept backward, spilling over his shoulders, transforming his entire presence from low-key and restrained

to flamboyant and tyrannical. His facial features took on a distinct, wicked charm.

Almost instantaneously, a savage and immense aura exploded from him, forcing the surrounding legion of specters to scatter outward like wind-blown fallen leaves. That sheer presence was strikingly similar to the Netherworld Ghost Emperor after he had consumed the Demon Fruit—domineering and potent.

"Demon Emperor Transformation?"

After all, he was an old demon who had lived for two to three thousand years; the Heavenly Ghost Emperor was indeed well-traveled and knowledgeable. His expression shifted to one of utter astonishment. The Demon Emperor Transformation, as the legends told, was an exceedingly famous cultivation method in the Ancient Era, one only the Demon Emperors of the Demon Emperor Sect were supposedly qualified to practice. However, during the great chaos of the Ancient Era, the Demon Emperor Sect, with its unparalleled strength and dominance, vanished entirely. From that day on, they were never seen again.

Gradually, the sect of old was forgotten by the world. Especially after the Dark Ages following the Ancient Cataclysm, much ancient documentation was lost in the disaster, leading to the reality that very few people now remembered the Demon Emperor Sect, which had once caused every major sect to tremble with fear fifty thousand years ago.

"Old man Heavenly Ghost," Lei Dong felt the boundless power surging within him, climbing geometrically like a consuming fire. With eyes that surveyed everything condescendingly, he looked down upon the Heavenly Ghost Emperor, unable to suppress the rage born from his beloved wife being gravely injured: "I want you dead!"