It must be said that lately, Lei Dong had quite a few expenditures, and the spirit stones accumulated in the early years had been almost entirely depleted. As for the spirit stones invested in trade routes and various industries, those were necessary for operations and couldn't simply be spent carelessly. Lei Dong knew that the Heavenly Demon possessed the Twin Ultimate Ghost Kings and the Netherflame Eerie Banner, but others were unaware of this.

Given the Heavenly Demon's nature, perhaps even the Grand Elders within the sect would not know about her double Ghost King formation. Therefore, if this matter were handled correctly, there was a complete opportunity to strike it rich. When it came to winning money through duels, Lei Dong and the Myriad Ghost Ancestor had cooperated numerous times; they were well-versed in the process.

The first thing to do, naturally, was to lower everyone's expectations regarding the Heavenly Demon's victory. One had to remember that the Heavenly Demon's reputation was currently soaring; she was the idol of countless cultivators. If they proceeded without any manipulation right from the start, those hot-headed individuals would mindlessly bet on the Heavenly Demon to win.

If such a situation arose, Lei Dong would incur massive losses.

After a moment of thought, Lei Dong began transmitting his voice to the Heavenly Demon. Shortly after, the Heavenly Demon's expression gradually shifted from surprise to amusement. She had long known that her beloved favored the tactic of playing the pig to eat the tiger. But she hadn't expected that at such a critically watched moment on the world stage, he would still instigate her to do such a thing.

However, Lei Dong had his justifications, speaking eloquently. Firstly, playing the pig to eat the tiger often served to numb the opponent, leading to a surprise victory. Secondly, a dramatic reversal from the brink of defeat would further enhance her prestige.

Comprehending Lei Dong's reasoning, the Heavenly Demon summoned everyone back and instructed one of her Golden Core subordinates to pilot the flying boat straight towards the base of Star Plucking Peak.

Lei Dong, however, did not accompany them. Led by Qi Feifei, he and a few of his martial brothers continued to maintain their Foundation Establishment stage personas, slowly making their way along the path using their unhurried Light Escape technique.

After traversing seventy or eighty miles, the sky began to grow lively again, filled with all sorts of escaping lights dancing wildly.

Continuing onward for another seven or eight hundred miles, they finally arrived at the foot of Star Plucking Peak. Star Plucking Peak was a treacherous summit located near the southern end of the Yin Sha Mountain Range. Besides its height and scenery, it possessed few significant resources. Consequently, the Yin Sha Sect had not developed this area; it was rarely visited by people, crawling instead with snakes and insects.

However, after the decision was made to hold the life-and-death battle here, the hundreds of miles surrounding Star Plucking Peak had completely transformed: small peaks were leveled, and valleys were filled in.

This formed a single, massive platform, and simultaneously, thousands of courtyard residences were erected. In a mere six months, the Yin Sha Sect had shockingly transformed the area into a city of considerable scale.

This illustrated the immense and terrifying power that could erupt when a powerful sect mobilized its full resources.

Even so, the sheer number of cultivators who arrived within just half a year exceeded the Yin Sha Sect's expectations. The massive complex of buildings proved entirely insufficient. As a result, the Yin Sha Sect established rules: only Foundation Establishment cultivators were qualified for a small suite; Golden Core cultivators received a small, independent courtyard. As for Qi Refining stage cultivators, they were out of luck—they had to set up tents on the open ground in the outer perimeter to stay. No one voiced an objection to these arrangements; this world was fundamentally a place where the strong preyed upon the weak, and without strength, everything was empty talk.

Therefore, in the sky, Lei Dong could see an ocean of tents. Even in his lifetime, this was the first time Lei Dong had witnessed such a massive gathering of cultivators. He estimated that at least thirty percent of the cultivators in the entire Kang Province had converged here, totaling no less than a million people.

One must remember these were cultivators. Although Lei Dong knew that the number of lower-tier cultivators was vast, he had never anticipated they would be so numerous. Small families, rogue cultivators—the count was inexhaustible.

But thinking about it, it was normal. They said Kang Province was small, but that smallness was relative. Compared to the Earth of Lei Dong’s previous life, Kang Province was an absolute behemoth. Purely in terms of area, the entire territory occupied by Kang Province far exceeded ten times the area of Earth. Of course, due to population density, the total population of Kang Province barely reached twenty billion, far lower than Earth’s density.

In terms of spiritual roots alone, roughly one person appeared out of every ten thousand. But that was the standard for top-tier major sects. In reality, even within those ten thousand, some individuals would possess inferior spiritual roots. This group might be taken as disciples by rogue cultivators or absorbed by minor sects, thus embarking on the path of immortal cultivation. Naturally, without heaven-defying luck in this lifetime, they would essentially halt at the Qi Refining stage.

Lei Dong being chosen as a disciple by the Yin Sha Sect, although his cultivation aptitude ranked only above average among his peers, if he were placed among all cultivators, he could at worst barely make it into the upper tier. One had to consider that major sects like the Yin Sha Sect were somewhat selective when recruiting disciples. Most with inferior spiritual roots weren't even noticed, treated as if they had no roots at all.

Lei Dong hadn't known this before, but as he encountered more varied situations, he realized his own aptitude was quite decent. Even without the heaven-defying Soul Devouring Pagoda, as long as he worked hard and had a bit of luck, he could still reach the Foundation Establishment stage. Many minor sects within the Yin Sha Sect's sphere of influence would eagerly follow along whenever the Yin Sha Sect selected new disciples, picking up those the sect discarded. This contributed to the enormous number of Qi Refining stage cultivators in the world, the vast majority of whom stagnated in the early or middle stages. In the world of rogue cultivators, a high-stage Qi Refining cultivator was often considered a notable figure.

Even cultivators with low aptitude and low cultivation levels did not extinguish the desire to climb upward. On the contrary, precisely because they were long subjected to oppression from below, this group often possessed greater motivation to ascend.

Willingly spending half a year traveling to attend this grand event, setting up tents and living outside without complaint, what they sought was that slim, distant glimmer of opportunity.

In the eyes of most high-stage cultivators, these low-level rogue cultivators or members of minor families were trash, ants, and even glancing at them was a waste of time.

But for Lei Dong, it was as if he had discovered an immeasurably vast treasure trove. Because Lei Dong arrived relatively late, those colossal numbers of low-level cultivators had spontaneously formed dozens of trading markets, exchanging items they needed amongst themselves. With such a massive base of cultivators, the probability of finding what one needed was certainly much higher than usual.

Lei Dong first followed Qi Feifei down to a well-appointed private courtyard already prepared for him. Before he could even settle in, he immediately summoned a Ghost Messenger.

Moments later, a faint, hazy mist drifted into Lei Dong's courtyard.

Qi Feifei, unaware that Lei Dong had summoned someone, immediately raised an eyebrow and sharply reprimanded, "Who is it?"

"Heh heh, little sister Feifei, it's been several years since we last met, and your cultivation has risen again," a voice, low yet laced with seduction, sounded out. The thin mist twisted slightly before coalescing into a faint green silhouette. It revealed Lady Qing, whose face was concealed by a ferocious bronze mask, whose figure was voluptuous, tall, and exuded mature, enchanting charm.

"It's Sister Qing," Qi Feifei recognized the woman as one of Lei Dong's trusted generals, so she lowered her guard and greeted her courteously, "Sister Qing, it seems you haven't been idle these past few years; your cultivation has also greatly increased."

After exchanging pleasantries, Lady Qing removed her ferocious mask, revealing her mature and charming face, and knelt down with a solemn expression: "Subordinate Lady Qing pays respects to Military Lord."

Lei Dong waved a hand, and a powerful yet gentle true essence softly supported her, preventing her from kneeling. He chuckled lightly, "Sister Qing, there are no outsiders here. Given our relationship, there's no need to be so formal."

"Military Lord, propriety cannot be abandoned," Lady Qing insisted on kneeling, her face grave. "My (Hidden Dragon Army) is just beginning to be formed and organized. Everything must be strictly enforced, otherwise, reorganizing our military might later will be difficult."

Seeing that her words held merit, Lei Dong allowed her to perform the full ritual, then solemnly helped her up: "Sister Qing, you have worked hard these past few years."

Following this, Lady Qing began reporting on her activities over the years. Listening to each point, Lei Dong felt a stirring of emotion, realizing how much effort Lady Qing had invested in her work over these years.

The Hidden Dragon Army was a force Lei Dong had secretly planned and organized. It prioritized quality over quantity, preferring scarcity to excess. Every member had to be a child soldier indoctrinated and trained from a young age, subjected to extremely rigorous training. Yet, in just a few short years, Lady Qing had managed to recruit seventeen members for the army.

Do not underestimate these mere seventeen children. According to Lei Dong's requirements, their aptitude had to be comparable to Zuo Chao's level to be selected. Aptitudes of this caliber would rank as core disciples even within a sect like the Yin Sha Sect. Even without preferential resource allocation, under normal cultivation, these children had an extremely high probability of reaching the Foundation Establishment stage in the future.

With abundant resources to support them, even reaching the Golden Core Dao would not be excessively difficult. After all, the aptitude of these children was one or two notches better than Lei Dong’s own.

This Hidden Dragon Army was the core force Lei Dong envisioned for the future. Every child would be trained from youth using the specialized methods Lei Dong had learned from his previous life. This was not only beneficial for tempering their wills and bodies but also contributed somewhat to their cultivation.

Of course, for this army to truly achieve scale and strength, it would take decades, perhaps a century. Consequently, Lady Qing and the others were also responsible for establishing an outer support force. These individuals were entirely controlled via Ghost Chǒng (Gu).

Three hundred and fifteen Foundation Establishment cultivators, twenty-eight Golden Core cultivators. When Lady Qing presented this roster, the sheer numbers somewhat shocked Lei Dong.