…… Once the main consciousness hidden within the Nascent Soul successfully possessed the body of the host, the life essence painstakingly cultivated by that entity would become the foundational nourishment for that body's evolution. It would continually shatter the life factors, thereby urging the rebirth of those factors.

However, if the Demon King's Nascent Soul succeeded in possession, alongside promoting the rebirth of the life factors, the genetic information stored within the Nascent Soul would be injected into those regenerating life factors. This, in turn, would transform the newly born life factors into pure-blood Demon Race entities.

This was precisely why, after the fellow from the Joyful Union Sect was possessed by the Black Winged Demon King, his physical body transformed so rapidly into that of a pure-blood Demon King.

When Lei Dong devoured and absorbed the Demon King's life essence, the Demon King's consciousness had already completely perished. Naturally, there was no possibility of those reborn and strengthened life factors being converted into the Demon Race's strain.

Therefore, Lei Dong’s current act of consumption yielded only infinite benefits, with no adverse side effects whatsoever.

The life essence the Black Winged Demon King had cultivated throughout his existence proved extraordinarily effective in tempering and reinforcing Lei Dong’s flesh and spirit—its efficacy exceeded all expectations. After digesting barely three-quarters of the life essence, Lei Dong's body reached a critical bottleneck, teetering on the brink of a breakthrough.

He sat cross-legged, radiating an exceptionally powerful aura that emanated from his entire being.

The Demon King’s remaining life essence continued its ceaseless work, refining Lei Dong’s physical form and soul. Little by little, it propelled him from the impasse toward the very edge of breakthrough. Having experienced numerous breakthroughs throughout his life, Lei Dong knew instinctively that he stood at the precipice of ascension.

Now that the Demon King’s conscious entity was gone, and he was safely enveloped within the protective radius of the Netherworld Black Evil Formation, he discarded all hesitation and retrieved several elixirs to consume. These were all auxiliary medicines designed to assist in the breakthrough to the Nascent Soul stage. The primary pill among them was the "Immortal Transformation Pill," heralded as the supreme elixir for forming a Soul. This single Immortal Transformation Pill alone was enough to drive countless Golden Core cultivators into a frenzy; even parting with all their wealth might not secure one.

Although Lei Dong had never attempted to condense a Nascent Soul before, the entire procedure for achieving it was already etched into his memory, recited flawlessly. With a considerable remaining supply of the Demon King’s life essence still remodeling his body, this was the perfect opportunity to force the breakthrough, and with all the preparatory measures already in place, his chances of reaching the Nascent Soul realm were maximized.

First, he stilled his breath and calmed his spirit, ceaselessly drawing in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, shedding all distracting emotions like joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure. Following this, he immersed his main consciousness deep into his soul, akin to performing an internal visualization of his very spirit.

Because his body was undergoing step-by-step mutation and reinforcement, the luminous Golden Core within his Dantian was continuously solidifying, expanding, and swelling, emitting a mysterious golden radiance.

The Golden Core was the very source of a Golden Core cultivator's life force, the solidified form into which the vast majority of True Essence was stored, and the font of a Golden Core cultivator’s power. Now, under the direction of Lei Dong's consciousness, his Golden Core slowly began to ascend from his Dantian.

Simultaneously, the spirit residing within the Violet Palace, guided by his consciousness, detached itself from the Palace and began to sink slowly down through the meridians.

Everything proceeded with effortless grace, as if destined to happen—the Golden Core and the spirit, the two most vital components of a Golden Core cultivator, quickly converged in the Shanzhong acupoint, known as the Middle Dantian.

The first step to condensing the Nascent Soul was thus complete.

However, what followed was the most perilous and difficult stage of Nascent Soul condensation: fusing the solid, material form of the Golden Core with the purely spiritual entity of the soul. This step was fraught with extreme danger; failure here would almost certainly result in the destruction of the Core and the scattering of the Spirit, leading to certain death.

Lei Dong concentrated intently, slowly allowing the Golden Core to diffuse, transforming into dense, free-floating, refined True Essence. At the same time, this True Essence, resembling thick mist, began to merge with Lei Dong’s robust soul.

Gradually, bit by bit, the two blended until they seemed inseparable.

Suddenly, that dense True Essence ignited, perpetually and ubiquitously scorching the soul. The soul, being the very foundation of human existence, is exquisitely sensitive to harm. Intense pain instantly caused every muscle in Lei Dong’s body to tense, his face contorted in unspeakable agony.

To fundamentally alter the nature of the soul was no easy feat. It was an evolution, a quantum leap in the essence of life itself. Only through the combustion of immense True Essence could the soul be thoroughly refined, allowing it to be reborn in fire and condense into a Nascent Soul.

But this torment was equally ferocious. Cultivators whose state of mind was inadequate or whose willpower wavered easily would be overwhelmed by this boundless, agonizing suffering, resulting in failed condensation and the immediate dissipation of their spirit.

This was a trial for the soul, a forging process; but was it not also a test and tempering of the cultivator’s willpower? It was precisely because of this that any cultivator who endured such near-death experiences, who condensed their soul through fire, possessed an exceptionally tenacious will.

Fortunately, the auxiliary pills Lei Dong had taken, such as the Immortal Transformation Pill, were not for naught. Such exorbitantly priced elixirs, costing hundreds of millions of spirit stones, naturally had their inherent justification.

"Immortal Transformation"—the name itself meant assisting a person to condense their Nascent Soul and thereby ascend to immortality. The Immortal Transformation Pill dissolved within his body, its medicinal properties blending with those of the other auxiliary pills, generating a sensation of cool relief. Guided intentionally by Lei Dong, this sensation slowly flowed toward the Shanzhong acupoint.

A chilling comfort washed over him, nearly eliciting a moan. The unbearable agony caused by the soul’s constant burning receded by more than half. Simultaneously, the combined medicinal power of the Immortal Transformation Pill and others began to nourish the soul, accelerating the process of its rebirth through fire.

At the same time, the top-grade spirit stones held tightly in his hands were continuously having their spiritual energy drawn out by Lei Dong, refined into True Essence, which poured ceaselessly into the Shanzhong acupoint to support the violent consumption—it was like constantly adding fuel to the fire.

As the soul was continually purged of impurities and regenerated from its dispersed state through this burning, its fundamental nature began to shift. The initially pure, formless, and colorless spirit gradually gained substance, emitting a faint luminescence akin to that of the Golden Core.

The soul, being intangible, colorless, and incorporeal, underwent a marvelous transformation in form, color, and substance during the condensation process through the continuous burning and tempering by True Essence. Slowly, it became tangible, colored, and substantial.

The soul reborn in fire began to gradually coalesce into the appearance of a plump, tender infant. Its colorless, ethereal form grew increasingly solidified.

The entire process was protracted and excruciating. The newly condensed Nascent Soul appeared incredibly fragile, quickly being burned away into a dispersed, scattered state by the flames of the True Essence combustion. Yet, after only a brief interval, a more condensed and substantial Nascent Soul would reform and be reborn.

This cycle repeated endlessly: each time it was scattered, the re-condensed Nascent Soul, after being tempered by fire, would become one unit stronger. And Lei Dong seemed to be fighting with all his might toward the successful culmination of Nascent Soul condensation.

Lei Dong’s expression of profound suffering, along with the strange aura continually radiating from his body, naturally drew the attention of Little You and the distant Xuan Yuanzi. Little You, needless to say, was deeply concerned for Lei Dong. After tending to his injuries, she had stood guard beside him like a protector.

At this moment, she seemed unaware that Lei Dong had already devoured the life essence from the Demon King’s Nascent Soul and was currently challenging the most crucial hurdle for a cultivator. Seeing him in such agony, her heart filled with anxiety. However, the advancement from Ghost General to Ghost King was fundamentally different from that of humans. Little You was momentarily perplexed by Lei Dong’s current state. Could the battle within the sea of consciousness against the Black Winged Demon King’s consciousness truly have been this perilous?

Fortunately, Little You was intrinsically Lei Dong's inherent Ghost Servant; the two shared a degree of connection through the blood sacrifice that bound their souls and bloodlines. Although she could sense Lei Dong was in extreme pain, the aura of a superior being was undeniably growing stronger.

If this was indeed a contest against the Demon King, it meant Lei Dong was holding a certain advantage. She also understood that wars fought purely within the sea of consciousness were the most dangerous. Daring not to rashly interfere and disturb Lei Dong, she could only stand guard faithfully by his side, watching him intensely. If she perceived the slightest sign of things going awry, she resolved that no matter the cost, she would simply unleash that embarrassing innate magical art one more time. For his sake, she would not hesitate to sacrifice all the inherent Ghost Qi belonging to her Celestial Spirit Ghost.

Little You could even sense that her master seemed to be continuously growing stronger. Though his outward display was one of agony, this time felt similar to the surge of strength following the previous process of tempering his body after absorbing the Netherworld Essence. This was one reason Little You remained motionless.

Little You did not understand how humans condensed a Nascent Soul, but Xuan Yuanzi did. He was a human cultivator in the early stage of Spirit Transformation and had personally endured the pain of breaking through from the peak of the Golden Core realm to the Nascent Soul.

Upon careful observation, Xuan Yuanzi felt utterly disgusted, as if he had swallowed a fly. Bristling with anger, he muttered inwardly that this brat truly had incredible luck; he had actually defeated the Black Winged Demon King’s conscious entity within the sea of consciousness and, in turn, devoured the Demon King’s life essence.

There had been instances in the history of the Nine Provinces where individuals succeeded in consuming a Demon King’s Nascent Soul, but those individuals were invariably the cream of humanity, figures of great renown. Moreover, those predecessors who succeeded in consumption possessed cultivation levels far higher than Lei Dong’s. The weakest among them, it seemed, was at least in the early Nascent Soul stage.

What merit did this young man named Lei possess that allowed him to conquer the Demon King’s consciousness?

In that moment, Xuan Yuanzi felt profoundly unbalanced. If that Demon King’s Nascent Soul had fallen into his hands, with his own level of Spirit Origin strength, he could have easily eradicated the Demon King’s consciousness, could he not?

And Xuan Yuanzi had read about the myriad benefits of devouring a Demon King’s life essence in the sect’s ancient texts—the advantages were countless.