…… How in this day and age could one find so many Soul Transformation stage beast souls? Especially ones imbued with the Nether attribute. To use them merely as components for a formation capable of repelling a Soul Transformation master seemed like an utter waste.

Of course, under the current circumstances, it was highly unlikely for Lei Dong to dismantle the formation to attempt something like refining those beast souls. He absolutely needed the protection afforded by the Nether Black Fiend Formation. For someone of Xuan Yuanzi’s caliber, a direct assault on the Nether Black Fiend Formation would only lead to annihilation. With him and Xiao You safely nestled within, they were perfectly secure.

Still proceeding at an unhurried pace, he fed batches of low-grade ghost souls into the Nether Flame Ghost Banner. In no time, a fresh cohort of spectral entities was stationed within the banner. These specters possessed terrifying combat prowess; a few hundred were generally capable of wiping out the majority of Foundation Establishment stage cultivators with ease.

Once their numbers swelled into the thousands, many Golden Core stage cultivators would meet a tragic end. When the count reached hundreds of thousands, even an opponent boasting a few Nascent Soul masters would struggle to gain an advantage. The slight pity was that their effectiveness diminished significantly against Nascent Soul or Soul Transformation experts who had mastered spatial-type sorceries.

As Lei Dong refined the ghost souls, he simultaneously began to seriously contemplate ghost army tactics. Given his current strength, if he exerted his full power, the intensity of his spiritual sense could rival that of an average late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.

It was no exaggeration to say that Lei Dong, by purely wielding his spiritual sense, could immobilize an early-stage Golden Core cultivator. At his level, cultivators could almost manifest their spiritual sense, transforming the intangible into tangible forms to be used as weapons. For instance, condensing the spiritual sense into needles to pierce an opponent's Dantian, or directly forming a spiritual sense storm to assault their Purple Mansion and shatter their Sea of Consciousness.

However, when engaging cultivators of the same rank, employing the spiritual sense as a direct weapon was not the most optimized combat approach. After all, suffering a severe backlash that injured the soul was not a trivial matter.

Lei Dong’s spiritual sense found its greatest utility in commanding the spectral army via the Nether Flame Ghost Banner and piloting his Ghost Servants. Even for ordinary ghost cultivators who advanced to the Golden Core or Nascent Soul stages, they were already considered formidable adversaries by their peers.

And among those who specialized in ghost manipulation, Lei Dong stood out as exceptional. Others lacked the Soul Devouring Pagoda, which allowed him to create top-tier spectral ghosts limitlessly, nor did they possess a Supreme Spirit Treasure like the Nether Flame Ghost Banner, much less the abnormal spiritual sense capable of manifesting late-stage Nascent Soul intensity while only being in the early Nascent Soul stage.

Thus, no matter how one looked at it, ghost manipulation was Lei Dong’s ultimate specialization, the facet of his power that struck the hardest.

How to use his ghosts to eliminate the Soul Transformation expert Xuan Yuanzi was the current problem facing Lei Dong. Normally, let alone tens of thousands, even an army of a million specters would struggle to eliminate a Soul Transformation expert whose power was reduced to only thirty to forty percent.

After all, the Soul Transformation stage and the Nascent Soul stage were fundamentally different concepts.

In the past, Lei Dong seldom faced such predicaments; commanding his ghost army usually meant a straightforward rush, overwhelming the enemy with sheer numbers—a pure ghost sea tactic. But after repeatedly encountering Soul Transformation level powerhouses, such as the Heavenly Ghost Emperor, the Black Winged Demon King, and now this True Man Xuan Yuan, he realized the effectiveness of the ghost sea tactic was significantly diminished. Even an army in the millions might not achieve the desired result. Firstly, the opponent could employ spatial magic to directly target Lei Dong. Secondly, at the very least, they could easily slip away repeatedly using spatial sorceries.

Lei Dong suffered a great loss because of this when dealing with the Black Winged Demon King. If Tantai Bingyun hadn't appeared at the critical moment to provide aid, he might well have become a pile of yellow dust by now. No, falling into the Black Winged Demon King's hands, he probably wouldn't even have the dignity of resting beneath the soil.

In this perilous world, this was no game. Life was singular; a moment of carelessness could lead to eternal regret, with absolutely no chance for a redo.

Furthermore, the ghost sea army had one major weakness when attacking high-level cultivators: the narrow contact surface. In a headlong rush, at most only a few dozen ghosts could actually manage to strike the target simultaneously.

This level of assault was overwhelmingly effective against lower-tier cultivators, even against Golden Core experts. But against Nascent Soul cultivators, it required significant time and sacrifice to grind them down, let alone facing a Soul Transformation master.

Even if dozens of specters could strike a Soul Transformation expert at once, the resulting damage would be akin to merely scratching an itch for the powerful cultivator.

The powerful, lurking Soul Transformation grandmaster outside forced Lei Dong to meticulously ponder how to maximize the destructive potential of his limited ghost army.

Lei Dong considered his imagination lacking, but before his transmigration, he was a standard Earth 'homebody' youth. Various novels and games covered warfare extensively. If he couldn't invent something, he could certainly plagiarize.

Many novels and games dealing with large armies emphasized the necessity of troop composition and coordination. Especially real-time strategy games where commanding armies was central, they not only stressed unit synergy but also demanded high levels of mechanical skill. Masters could often micromanage individual units to such an extent that they could pivot the tide of battle at crucial moments.

This level of mechanical precision was something Lei Dong, a self-proclaimed 'clumsy-fingered' person in his previous life, deeply envied. But in this life, there were no such limitations. His early Nascent Soul body provided him with nerve reactions, speed, and strength far surpassing even the superhumans depicted in Earth's cinematic works. Lei Dong was confident that if a creature like the Hulk from an American movie swaggered before him, he could, without even using magic, crush him with sheer physical strength in one slap.

This demonstrated that Lei Dong had long since shed the category of the mechanically challenged. Moreover, controlling the ghost army was not done with a mouse, but with spiritual sense. Lei Dong's greatest asset was the sheer power of his spiritual sense.

Lei Dong temporarily halted the ghost soul refinement, sat cross-legged, and settled into deep contemplation. First, he critically reviewed his previous, flawed method of commanding the ghost army, which generally involved covering a group of specters with his spiritual sense and commanding them to attack en masse.

This 'idiot mode' of operation was as simplistic as selecting all units and sending them forward in games like StarCraft.

It was apparent, therefore, that troop organization was essential. After some thought, Lei Dong began experimenting to see if he could organize his ghost army into tactical units. He wasn't entirely certain about this, as this was reality, not a game. But trying wouldn't hurt.

The Nether Flame Ghost Banner had already been soul-refined by Lei Dong; the item had fused with his soul—or rather, his Nascent Soul now. It was intrinsically linked to his will; wherever his thought reached, the banner would execute various reactions—refining souls, expelling specters, or assisting Lei Dong in commanding the ghost army.

In pure theory, Lei Dong did not directly manipulate the specters with his spiritual sense. Instead, he linked his spiritual sense to the Nether Flame Ghost Banner, indirectly controlling the specters through the banner's unique internal array.

Thus, the specters were actually controlled by the Nether Flame Ghost Banner; they had no direct relationship with Lei Dong, nor were they his Ghost Servants. The only requirement from Lei Dong was providing the spiritual sense to bind with the Ghost Banner when deploying them, thereby suppressing the specters. The stronger the spiritual sense, the larger the spectral army he could suppress simultaneously. However, the unique feature of the Nether Flame Ghost Banner was the inclusion of a demonic dragon beast soul to assist the controller in suppression, significantly reducing the spiritual sense exertion required by the operator.

Because the materials for refining specters were varied—such as beast souls, human living souls, or even Nascent Souls and Nascent Spirits—after being forcibly refined into specters, they possessed intense malevolent energy and an innate resistance. If the spiritual sense wasn't strong enough to forcibly command a larger ghost sea, undesirable consequences could arise, such as the spectral army turning on its master.

The more powerful the specter, the stronger its malevolence and inherent defiance, requiring a vastly greater amount of spiritual sense for suppression.

Lei Dong didn't know who invented these miraculous ghost banner magical treasures capable of crafting and commanding spectral armies. The only insight he had was that historically, there was one supremely powerful Spirit Treasure of this category: the Nether King Banner.

The Nether King Banner was an extremely potent Supreme Spirit Treasure, even more powerful than Lei Dong’s current Ghost Banner. However, that item had been lost to legend for countless years—perhaps destroyed, or maybe tucked away in some forgotten corner awaiting a fated master.

Therefore, Lei Dong’s Nether Flame Ghost Banner, among similar spirit banner artifacts, could be considered top-tier, especially since it was a superior-grade Spirit Treasure that attracted cosmic law rejection and descended heavenly tribulation using the law of destruction upon its successful creation.

But the existence of the Nether King Banner and its awe-inspiring combat prowess led many to imitate it, resulting in an endless stream of similar treasures. Over time, as this art persisted to the present day, these banner-type artifacts used for commanding ghost armies evolved into a distinct system, highly favored by cultivators practicing various Nether-related sorceries.

Lei Dong was one such practitioner. He commanded the Ghost Banner, releasing exactly one hundred specters. These specters, due to the Nether Flame Ghost Banner’s special refinement process, differed slightly from ordinary cannon-fodder specters; their forms were more grotesque, and each was wreathed in a faint wisp of spectral flame. This allowed the specters to imbue their claws with this ghostly flame upon striking, granting them extraordinary power. However, these hundred specters were all standard and identical.

Having never organized his specters before, Lei Dong felt somewhat lost and resorted to a series of random attempts. For example, he first designated one as the captain or leader, then commanded all the remaining specters to follow.

But it was clearly a failure. The specters possessed very low intelligence and could not comprehend the commands conveyed through Lei Dong’s spiritual sense, nor could they grasp the concept of a 'captain.' When Lei Dong attempted to move the designated 'captain' individually, the remaining ninety-nine specters remained inert. Only when Lei Dong encompassed all one hundred specters indirectly with his spiritual sense and ordered them to move did they respond.

……RO