Though it is true that beings at the Deification stage have evolved to an almost unbelievable degree, their physical functions far surpassing those of mere mortals, life, ultimately, has its limits.

Even a powerhouse at the Deification stage could not endure the nightmare of being subjected to wave after wave of sneak attacks whenever they attempted to simply sit in meditation and rest. Xuan Yuanzi felt he was teetering on the brink of collapse, his endurance wearing increasingly thin. Several times, he was fiercely tempted to charge into that accursed Nether Black Fiend Formation, wreak havoc within, slaughter those detestable little Ghost Kings, and then depart in triumph.

But that was merely wishful thinking. Not only had his injuries not healed over this past year, but they had actually worsened slightly due to the ceaseless harassment. Spiritually, he was utterly exhausted.

However, when the fruits of Lei Dong's meticulous research finally emerged, his nightmare seemed only to have just begun.

Over a hundred Suicide Ghosts dispersed silently, each one maintaining a distance of at least ten zhang from its comrades. This sparse formation prevented a chain reaction of explosions should one be remotely destroyed, and it also guarded against high-power, area-of-effect spells that disregarded True Essence expenditure.

One li is equivalent to over one hundred zhang; ten Suicide Ghosts arrayed horizontally would span one li. The scattered formation comprised of over a hundred Suicide Ghosts was quite a spectacle.

As these Suicide Ghosts flew out from the Nether Black Fiend Formation veiled in black mist, Xuan Yuanzi immediately detected them. Yet, with a mere sweep of his divine sense, he scoffed them away dismissively. These hundred-plus entities, resembling wraiths, were weak—truly weak.

It was no wonder Xuan Yuanzi made such a judgment. Based on their auras, these Suicide Ghosts were indeed frail, equivalent only to high-stage Qi Refining cultivators, or perhaps just below that level. High-stage Qi Refining cultivators might be considered immortals in the eyes of mortals, capable of felling thousands on a mortal battlefield. But to Xuan Yuanzi, a favored son among cultivators, a Deification stage powerhouse, enemies of this rank were mere ants, things he could crush with a casual gesture. Why would he pay them much heed?

If he disregarded the cost to his True Essence, he could even annihilate all hundred-plus ghosts with a single strike. Of course, since the ghosts were widely dispersed, achieving a comprehensive kill in one go would be too costly and inefficient.

When the first row of ten Suicide Ghosts approached within a mere li of Xuan Yuanzi, he didn't even bother to lift an eyelid. He was curious to see what the young man named Lei was planning. Did he intend to merely harass him with such trashy minor spirits?

If so, Xuan Yuanzi was pleased; he could simply erect an energy shield and resume his meditation to recover his Qi.

Just then, an anomaly occurred. Those slow-drifting first-row ghosts suddenly burst forth with ferocious speed, as if injected with potent stimulants.

"Hmm?" Xuan Yuanzi's eyelids finally rose. He was somewhat surprised that these cannon-fodder ghosts, which clearly only possessed a Qi Refining level aura, could achieve such velocity. Covering the short distance of one li took only seven or eight breaths. Even an ordinary Golden Core cultivator could not generate such speed, could they?

He did not know that the maximum cruising speed of these Suicide Ghosts was only equivalent to Foundation Establishment speed; only when they erupted could they match a Golden Core level burst. However, such acceleration was short-lived, lasting at most for a flight distance of about ten li. If they could not replenish their Nether Ghost Qi, the Suicide Ghosts would be unable to sustain that burst speed.

Nevertheless, Venerable Xuan Yuan felt it hardly mattered. Even with this speed, these ghosts radiating only Qi Refining auras posed no threat to him. His spiritual sense was weary; if he had to pay attention even to such minor entities, he was certain to collapse if he persisted for another year. He would rather spend his leisure guarding against sneak attacks from those few Ghost Kings. Although under normal circumstances, he could easily dispatch a single Ghost King, a Ghost King was not an ant; they were powerful combatants. If caught off guard by a direct hit from a Ghost King, even a Deification expert would have a difficult time.

Xuan Yuanzi casually flicked out a few wisps of finger wind, bored. For a Deification stage expert, even a minuscule exertion of power translated into finger winds that were both swift and fierce, difficult for even a lower-tier Foundation Establishment cultivator to resist.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Several Suicide Ghosts, which had already closed to within a few zhang, detonated violently.

This explosion, resulting from the instantaneous release of all remaining internal energy, managed to cause a faint ripple and distortion in space itself. A ferocious shockwave surged in all directions.

With such rapid, close-range detonations, even the Deification expert Xuan Yuanzi barely managed to manifest a thin layer of protective gangqi just outside his skin. The incoming blast wave instantly shattered that thin layer of gangqi, causing a turbulent churning of blood and Qi within him.

Xuan Yuanzi's expression changed drastically. The destructive power of these ghosts' explosions was actually comparable to the full-force strike of a high-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator! It must be remembered that even though he was a Deification stage cultivator, if caught completely unprepared, a blast from a lower-stage cultivator’s powerful spell would still wound him. After all, no matter how mighty a cultivator, they were still flesh and blood. Even if their physical bodies were tempered to possess the resilience of fine iron, they could still suffer damage under the spells of lower-stage cultivators.

Of course, if Xuan Yuanzi had his defensive shields fully deployed, even if a Foundation Establishment cultivator managed to hit him, it would at most create a ripple on his shield, costing him a negligible amount of True Essence.

A Foundation Establishment cultivator was certainly an ant, but if there were ten thousand, a hundred thousand, or even several hundred thousand Foundation Establishment cultivators, even a Deification expert would dare not face them head-on. A quantitative change often creates a qualitative shift. Hundreds of thousands of cultivators, each spitting once, would be enough to overwhelm him, let alone the considerable might of the spells and spirit artifacts wielded by Foundation Establishment cultivators. Even the most resilient shield of a Deification expert could not withstand the sustained bombardment of endless spells.

What caused Xuan Yuanzi's change in demeanor was not merely the power of these few exploding ghosts, but the realization that there were nearly a hundred more. If all hundred-plus ghosts detonated around the same time, he might suffer compounding injuries if caught unaware. Even with shields active, his True Essence would be depleted fruitlessly.

With this thought, Xuan Yuanzi dared not underestimate these strange little ghosts again. His fingers flew, unleashing torrents of vital energy like a machine gun firing towards the sky. But at that moment, all hundred-plus Suicide Ghosts accelerated simultaneously, rocketing toward Xuan Yuanzi almost like cannonballs. Their instinct demanded only one thing: get as close to the enemy as possible, then self-destruct.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

What was Xuan Yuanzi’s power level? Even though the speed of those Suicide Ghosts was extreme, comparable to the burst speed of a Golden Core cultivator, in the eyes of a cultivator at his level, it was still insufficient. His divine sense, vast as an ocean, locked onto every single Suicide Ghost, unleashing over a hundred beams of finger-force in just two or three breaths. The targeted beams struck accurately from afar, detonating every Suicide Ghost. Aside from the initial few, none managed to come within half a zhang of him.

"Although I deeply resent Xuan Yuanzi, I must admit that a Deification stage expert is truly a Deification stage expert," Lei Dong mused. He believed he could also quickly destroy over a hundred rapidly flying low-level targets, but he definitely could not match Xuan Yuanzi's speed, nor could he apply his finger-force with such perfect efficiency, wasting not a shred of power.

"His finger-force and shield likely consumed about one four-hundredth of his True Essence," the Artifact Spirit analyzed, sounding as if he were standing on academic ground. "Four hundred waves of Suicide Ghosts could exhaust his power. If we factor in the consumption of pills for recovery, natural slow recovery during the battle, or the use of Heaven Spirit Stones, it becomes difficult to calculate. However, don't worry, even with his shields up, he couldn't withstand ten thousand Suicide Ghosts rushing up to explode in front of him."

"Heh heh, even ten thousand continuous Suicide Ghost explosions are difficult to endure?" Lei Dong smiled contentedly at this result. Indeed, once the advantage of the Suicide Ghosts was utilized, although their total contained power was not much greater than the Nether Ghosts, the utility they provided was immense. He had clearly witnessed the destructive power of the Suicide Ghost explosions; they were ferocious, capable of heavily wounding or outright killing an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator. It must be recalled that normally, dealing with a single Foundation Establishment cultivator required dispatching at least dozens or even a hundred Nether Ghosts. Moreover, the burst speed of the Suicide Ghosts was incredibly fast, making them difficult for at least Foundation Establishment cultivators to evade, and challenging even for Golden Core cultivators to defend against.

What the Artifact Spirit calculated was only based on attacking Xuan Yuanzi in batches of one hundred Suicide Ghosts per wave. But if there were a thousand Suicide Ghosts surrounding him, Xuan Yuanzi absolutely could not deal with them so easily. A single wave of a thousand would yield far better results than ten waves of one hundred.

But what if there was a single wave of ten thousand Suicide Ghosts, or even one hundred thousand? All Xuan Yuanzi could do would likely be to flee in panic. Yet, this battle was taking place within this arena space, which spanned at most ten li in circumference. One hundred thousand Suicide Ghosts could practically fill the entire arena space. This meant that no matter where Xuan Yuanzi teleported, he would be continuously bombarded by explosions.

"Hmph, tying his own noose," Lei Dong muttered inwardly, laughing silently. If Xuan Yuanzi had not dragged him into this space to be destroyed, how could he have fallen into such a desperate situation?

Having tested the potency of the Suicide Ghosts, Lei Dong decided to try out the design for the Big Belly Cannon Ghosts. Similarly, after successive attempts at refinement, Lei Dong had finally obtained a relatively stable method for refining the Big Belly Cannon Ghosts.

This time, he refined over a thousand Big Belly Cannon Ghosts at once. Instead of sending them to their deaths, he arranged them into a three-dimensional cannon array along the edge of the Nether Black Fiend Formation. They locked onto the shaken and unsettled Xuan Yuanzi, several li away.

Xuan Yuanzi's sensitive primordial spirit suddenly felt a stirring, as if danger were approaching. At that instant, he heard a sound like the earth itself shaking and mountains crumbling.

Simultaneously, no fewer than a thousand fireballs, each the size of a basketball, trailing long plumes of emerald flame, were launched in a saturation bombardment toward Xuan Yuanzi from a distance.