At that moment, a firm and pure will, coupled with a formidable divine sense, manifested completely, transforming into another fundamental and pristine force within the cosmos: the Power of Will. With the Power of Will, one could command and alter the very Laws themselves. This was the true profundity of the True Word Art—using the Power of Will to obscure the secrets of the heavens and deceive the Laws, forcing them into a temporary misjudgment that the manifestation was the will of the universe itself.

The immense Power of Will held the snarling, demonic consciousness of the Demon King stationary in an instant, as if it had existed that way since the dawn of time.

Yet, after only three breaths, Lei Dong tasted the bitter fruit of the Law's backlash. A massive counterforce surged and battered his divine soul, turning it into a small boat caught in a tempest.

Even worse, that shock transferred directly from his soul to his physical body. The vital energy and blood within him churned violently, and his internal organs sustained a terrible impact**—he suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood.

"Brother."

Xiao You, who had been closely watching Lei Dong, gasped in alarm. She had no idea what was transpiring in Lei Dong's sea of consciousness, or why a contest with the Demon King's consciousness should result in him vomiting blood.

Driven by an innate need to protect Lei Dong, Xiao You swiftly placed her jade palm against his back, slowly injecting the pure Netherworld Ghost Qi from within him. In essence, Netherworld Ghost Qi was a Qi of Life, possessing a miraculous ability to foster and nurture vitality.

Utilizing her pure and vast Netherworld Ghost Qi, Xiao You tirelessly worked to smooth Lei Dong's meridians and organs. While stabilizing his injuries, she continuously nourished every inch of his body; the damaged meridians and tissues gradually healed in a marvelous manner under the influence of this potent life force.

Of course, for anyone else, such severe injuries would never recover so swiftly. Lei Dong’s Netherworld Physique had an exceptionally high compatibility with the Netherworld Ghost Qi, allowing it to exert nearly the maximum effect of the Ghost Qi's properties.

With his injuries stabilized, Lei Dong awoke, overcome by a wave of lingering fear. To merge his divine sense with his will, generating the Power of Will to command the Laws—the backlash was truly terrifying. He marveled that the Netherworld Ghost Emperor could withstand such a tremendous repercussion.

He also realized that his maneuver had been overly ambitious. The prerequisite for casting the True Word Art was that one's divine sense must reach at least the late Nascent Soul stage. His own divine sense, however, was only comparable to the mid-stage Nascent Soul.

If he had only managed to freeze the Demon King's consciousness for half a breath, the backlash would have been bearable. But holding it for a full three breaths meant the backlash from the Law's power was enough to shatter his divine soul.

However, that single move was not entirely without effect. At the very least, the consciousness of the Black-Winged Demon King had developed a sliver of fear toward Lei Dong. As the manifestation of the Black-Winged Demon King, it naturally understood the power of the universal Laws; the ability to bind it immobile, as if trapped in an endless, dark abyss, struck deep dread and caution into its core.

Fear is often the greatest assassin of a firm will. Previously, it had recoiled, shrinking into a ball under the boundless majesty radiated by the Emperor Demon Seed; now, it hesitated, held back by Lei Dong's manipulation of the Laws.

This was enough to weaken the Black-Winged Demon King's consciousness by several measures. The existence of a consciousness entity requires powerful conviction and will to sustain it. Once fears, dread, or other distracting thoughts arise, the entity's power naturally diminishes. The Black-Winged Demon King often employed various illusions when competing in others' seas of consciousness to confuse them and induce negative emotions precisely to erode their willpower.

In reality, the Black-Winged Demon King was unaware of Lei Dong’s unique nature. As the former Demon Emperor had stated, only a divine soul refined by the Laws of Time, Space, and Chaos would resonate with the Chaos Pagoda.

This specific type of divine soul, while appearing outwardly ordinary, was exceptionally robust, and its will was inherently firmer than others. Its resistance to illusionary techniques also vastly surpassed that of ordinary beings. This was the fundamental reason why the illusion and enchantment arts practiced by the Joyful Union Sect had such limited effect on Lei Dong.

Consequently, the Black-Winged Demon King's consciousness, which excelled at using illusions to weaken the will of its targets during possession attempts, found its methods remarkably ineffective against Lei Dong. Conversely, it was severely startled by Lei Dong’s half-baked Emperor Demon True Word Art, leading to a weakening of its own will.

From this, it was clear that the Black-Winged Demon King was destined to be the recipient of unfair treatment in this battle within the sea of consciousness.

Once Lei Dong’s physical injuries slightly stabilized, he regrouped his forces, and the Mysterious Mechanism counter-attacked the Black-Winged Demon King. The contention remained fierce, but for various reasons, Lei Dong gradually seized the initiative and gained the upper hand in this battle of consciousness. Various marvelous applications of consciousness were deployed by him as if they were second nature.

The Black-Winged Demon King's consciousness retreated steadily, continuously being eroded.

This perilous combat finally concluded when Lei Dong, after expending immense effort, crushed the Black-Winged Demon King’s consciousness. With the Black-Winged Demon King vanquished, the vast, pure essence of the Demon King that remained became the finest tonic for Lei Dong.

Throughout history, many had attempted to devour the essence of Demon Kings. Although countless cultivators suffered the Demon King's backlash as a result, success brought returns a hundredfold. Within that dark yet clear Demon King essence lay not only abundant energy ready for direct absorption but also the Demon King's entire life's comprehension of the world and its accumulated experience in manipulating the Laws.

At that moment, everything became spoils of war, belonging entirely to Lei Dong.

A pure-blooded demon race member was indeed a powerhouse in the universe. The purest essence left behind continuously surged through Lei Dong’s meridians, washing over every corner of his body, strengthening his meridians, physique, and even his divine soul.

As for its pure insights into the Laws, these existed as transparent filaments, slender, crystalline, and clear. Deprived of the consciousness entity’s control, these filaments of Law experience were easily captured by Lei Dong's divine sense and drawn into his soul. His powerful divine sense firmly controlled them, relentlessly attacking and absorbing.

While this might take some time, with the dissipation of the Black-Winged Demon King's consciousness, the physical manifestations of those Law experiences were now ownerless; sooner or later, Lei Dong would completely break them down and absorb them.

Once fully absorbed, Lei Dong would make those Law experiences his own. Of course, achieving one hundred percent absorption was unrealistic; considerable loss would occur during the process of impact and integration. It was estimated that Lei Dong could completely master at least thirty to forty percent.

Even so, this was an immense joy for Lei Dong. To comprehend those Laws through his own efforts would require not only formidable strength and exceptional comprehension but, more importantly, vast amounts of time for accumulation.

This Black-Winged Demon King had never recovered to its peak state. Yet, its fundamental grasp of the Laws already surpassed that of ordinary Nascent Soul cultivators. This Black-Winged Demon King, which had fallen in ancient times, was no ordinary entity.

If quantified, merely absorbing this thirty to forty percent gain would equal the equivalent of Lei Dong's solitary meditation and enlightenment over a hundred years.

Moreover, Lei Dong's greatest harvest lay elsewhere. The massive energetic essence of the Black-Winged Demon King continuously spurred the strengthening of Lei Dong's physique. Every single cell factor was breaking apart and then being reborn, becoming stronger each time.

Lei Dong suddenly gained a flash of enlightenment, beginning to grasp some of the principles behind the possession of a Demon King's essence. As is commonly known, cultivators reaching the Nascent Soul stage can condense their divine soul into a Nascent Soul. The reason a Nascent Soul is far more powerful than a mere divine soul is that the essence of the Nascent Soul has undergone a fundamental transformation.

The energy stimulated by True Essence begins to materialize, combining with the purely spiritual divine soul to undergo a qualitative change into a special existence. The Nascent Soul, possessing both energy and spiritual characteristics, becomes incredibly stable and robust. Cultivators focusing on the Nascent Soul direct their main efforts toward continuously strengthening it, channeling all surplus True Essence into energy to make the Nascent Soul sturdier.

And at critical junctures, the Nascent Soul, as the carrier of energy, will feed that energy back to the physical body, enabling it to unleash tremendous combat power.

This is one reason why Nascent Soul cultivators are vastly stronger than Golden Core cultivators.

Furthermore, the Nascent Soul has another most critical function: it serves not only as an energy vessel but also as the carrier for comprehension, memory, experience, and the primary consciousness. Once the Nascent Soul holds all of a cultivator's insights, memories, experiences, and primary consciousness, this Nascent Soul can completely survive outside the physical body, becoming an alternate form of existence for the cultivator. In a sense, this is also a sublimation of life.

Of course, a Nascent Soul existing separate from the physical body would lose the ability to exert its power and unleash potent combat strength because it lacks the physical body—a crucial, multi-functional carrier. Moreover, lacking a physical body, it cannot refine the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into True Essence. In other words, the Nascent Soul cannot cultivate independently or rapidly replenish expended energy.

Thus, theoretically, the Nascent Soul and the physical body are mutually dependent. The Nascent Soul cannot exist without the body, and the body, once separated from the Nascent Soul, immediately becomes an inanimate shell.

However, the essence of the Black-Winged Demon King appeared to be more advanced than a Nascent Soul. It contained not only the Demon King's lifelong memories, insights, experience, primary consciousness, and hard-cultivated life