The sky blazed with a splendor reminiscent of a celestial fireworks display, as barrages of Nether-Fire Cannonballs, streaking like meteors, unleashed terrifying might.

At this sight, Xuan Yuanzi’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. His immense divine sense immediately enveloped the entire arena, only to reveal a host of grotesque monsters with strange appearances and enormous, shriveled bellies retreating listlessly toward the Netherworld Black Fiend Array.

Xuan Wuzi no longer had the luxury to consider what these things were. The coordinated volley of a thousand Nether-Fire Cannonballs possessed awe-inspiring power. Perhaps any single cannonball might have been insignificant in his eyes.

However, when clustered together, obscuring the heavens, even Xuan Yuanzi was deeply shaken by the sheer volume of cannonballs.

Where would he dare stand foolishly to endure the bombardment? Xuan Yuanzi immediately executed Spatial Teleportation, reappearing on the far side of the arena in a rather disheveled state. In less than a few breaths,

the deafening roar of explosions erupted. When a full thousand Nether-Fire Cannonballs detonated simultaneously, it sounded like an ancient behemoth roaring toward the heavens, its might limitless. Even the very space within the arena trembled violently.

Although Xuan Yuanzi had teleported away, Lei Dong laughed with delight. These Belly-Cannon Ghosts were truly remarkable troops. The Artifact Spirit had already analyzed the explosion: the power of a single Nether-Fire Cannonball was roughly only one-third that of a Suicide Ghost’s explosion. A normal low-stage Foundation Establishment demon beast struck directly would likely be severely injured, if not killed.

However, when the Nether-Fire Cannonballs fired in a coordinated volley within a certain range, the shockwaves generated by their mutual explosions would overlap, multiplying their power or creating a crushing wave. Any cultivator or demon beast unable to resist those fierce crushing waves would be torn to shreds.

Furthermore, the Nether-Fire Cannonballs sprayed diluted Nether-Flame Ghost Fire outward, a substance uniquely capable of burning souls. Even Nascent Soul or Primordial Spirit bodies would suffer damage if scorched by the Nether-Flame for an extended period.

What had just occurred was an area-of-effect saturation volley. If a thousand Nether-Flame Cannonballs exploded simultaneously within a radius of ten feet, the resulting terror might even tear space itself apart and level mountaintops.

As the Artifact Spirit spoke, a hint of fervor entered its voice: "Even a Nascent Soul stage cultivator could not instantly unleash a spell of this magnitude. Perhaps Xuan Yuanzi at his peak could achieve such force, but if he dared to do so, the True Essence within his body would likely be nearly exhausted. I never expected that lower-tier beings, when unleashed at their maximum capacity, could yield such effect? Back then, Senior Nether God devised the Heaven and Earth Array, forcefully weaving a thread of Law into the world to create the Ghost Race. I initially thought this was a relatively failed endeavor, as the conversion efficiency was too low, yielding mostly trash Yin Souls with poor growth potential. But if these pieces of trash can be utilized in your manner, perhaps the Ghost Race can finally achieve Senior Nether God's aspiration: slaughtering Immortals, vanquishing demons, and suppressing the Demon Clans. Perhaps I underestimated that Nether King who forged the Nether King Banner."

Nether God and Nether King were two formidable figures from different epochs. The former was a great powerhouse who created the Ghost Race. The latter was an outstanding figure in Netherworld-attribute cultivation, capable of utilizing trash Yin Souls, or various miscellaneous Beast Souls and Raw Souls, to create tools for human use, such as the Nether King Banner.

However, what about the other supreme treasure in his possession, the Soul-Devouring Pagoda? Its formal name was related to the Chaos Pagoda?

Who created that? Was the Chaos Pagoda connected to the Chaos Spiritual Qi? Was it the Demon Emperor?

Or perhaps the Nether King? Or the Nether God? Lei Dong could not be certain.

Yet, vaguely, he felt as if he were becoming entangled in this sequence of events. After all, he shared some slight connection with all three. The Demon Emperor had passed down the Chaos Pagoda and the Emperor-Demon Seed to him. As for the Nether King, not only was the prototype of the Myriad Ghost Banner he used designed by the Nether King, but the Nether King Body Tempering Art, which Little You transmitted to him within the Netherworld Essence Vortex in the Nine Hells Abyss, bore a name that clearly indicated its lineage from the Nether King.

Then, the other technique of the Celestial Spirit Ghost, the Nether God True Word Art, must undoubtedly stem from the creator of the Ghost Race, the Nether God.

It seemed he shared a strange fate with this group of individuals, Lei Dong mused inwardly, but no matter how much he speculated, he could not piece together a coherent thread.

For now, he would set this aside. Nothing was more important than strengthening his own power. Even the mighty Demon Emperor had fallen under the combined assault of the Three Realms Bigwigs. Lei Dong certainly did not believe he could withstand even one move from them in his current state.

The might of the Three Realms Bigwigs cast a heavy shadow over Lei Dong’s heart. Strength—only strength was the fundamental basis for his survival.

From the spectacle of the recent volley, Lei Dong had already determined the combat value of the Belly-Cannon Ghosts: their destructive power was absolute. Whether eliminating a powerful foe head-on or bombarding vast numbers of enemies across an area, they could generate immense power.

Their sole drawback was that after firing one shot, they would enter a state of lethargy, requiring replenishment of vast amounts of Netherworld Ghost Qi. Lei Dong silently executed the Netherworld Grand Art, converting the Profound Yin True Essence within his body into pure, refined Netherworld Ghost Qi to nourish and replenish the shriveled-bellied Belly-Cannon Ghosts.

The Belly-Cannon Ghosts immediately became invigorated, like cats smelling fish, greedily swallowing the Netherworld Ghost Qi. Their shrunken bellies gradually swelled, and within a short time, all thousand of them were brimming with vitality.

But Lei Dong could only manage a wry smile. The consumption rate was too severe; replenishing the Ghost Qi for just these thousand Belly-Cannon Ghosts consumed a full tenth of his Profound Yin True Essence. This was despite the fact that he was already in the early Nascent Soul stage, his Profound Yin True Essence abundant, and he possessed the rare Netherworld Physique. These Belly-Cannon Ghosts truly were not something just anyone could manage.

When designing the Belly-Cannon Ghost, Lei Dong had completely transformed this ghost into an entirely different form, one designed for extremity. Externally, the Belly-Cannon Ghost resembled an ugly, fat worm covered in a layer of dark mist, possessing an astonishingly large belly. Furthermore, Lei Dong had borrowed designs from cannon barrels of his previous life, modifying its mouth into a thick, solid barrel. Fortunately, since any ghost possessed high moldability, their forms were naturally mutable. Lei Dong had once, while fleeing, attempted to reshape several Golden Core stage fierce ghosts into the shape of paper airplanes to aid his glide. Thus, reshaping the Belly-Cannon Ghost into this configuration was not surprising.

The large belly, in particular, was a clever trick. According to the limits of the Ghost Casing, Lei Dong could, at best, refine inferior Yin Souls into ghost soldiers only slightly stronger than standard Ghost Souls. This meant their total potential strength was finite.

However, Lei Dong designed that large belly as a balloon-like storage sac, intended to hold a massive supply of Netherworld Ghost Qi. This Ghost Qi was not actually stored within the Belly-Cannon Ghost’s main body. It was equivalent to equipping it with a backpack, carrying vast amounts of Netherworld Ghost Qi for its single Nether-Fire Cannonball expenditure.

But this created a problem: the Belly-Cannon Ghosts consumed Netherworld Ghost Qi far faster than other types of troops, and they could only fire once. Lei Dong’s total Profound Yin True Essence could only fully replenish around ten thousand of these ghosts before being depleted. Moreover, battlefield situations changed in an instant, requiring Lei Dong to maintain ample True Essence to deal with any contingency. He couldn't afford to dedicate all his Netherworld Ghost Qi to the Belly-Cannon Ghosts. If he supplied them, what about the other troops? And this was only the most basic Belly-Cannon Ghost; if he managed to refine a Golden Core stage version, the amount of Ghost Qi required for replenishment would be astronomical.

A massive energy hog, truly a massive energy hog. While exhilarated by the power of the Belly-Cannon Ghosts, Lei Dong began to worry about an energy crisis. The previous Ghost Souls were much better; a meager supply of Netherworld Ghost Qi made them as ferocious as if they had been injected with adrenaline.

Of course, abandoning these powerful new troop types was out of the question for Lei Dong. This involved not only over a year of dedicated effort but also the fact that these new troops, when coordinated, far surpassed the power of the Ghost Soul Potency Pill by a factor of ten.

Abandonment was impossible. Lei Dong, the Artifact Spirit, and even Little You discussed this for several days before finalizing a solution. They had to approach it from two angles. First, they must abandon the traditional "sea of ghosts" tactic and adopt a strategy emphasizing quality over quantity. Given Lei Dong's current divine sense strength, comparable to a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, coupled with the Ghost Banner's amplification, he could field up to eight hundred thousand of the lowest-tier ghost soldiers. Such a large force covered too wide an area, and much of the troop resource often lay dormant.

Second, they needed to solve the Netherworld Ghost Qi replenishment issue. Otherwise, energy hogs like the Belly-Cannon Ghosts becoming useless after one shot was an undeniable waste of resources.

In fact, Lei Dong’s design of the Belly-Cannon Ghost’s large sac provided inspiration for Little You. Since the Belly-Cannon Ghost could carry vast amounts of Netherworld Ghost Qi, why not design a dedicated troop specifically for transporting and storing this energy?

After all, many of the Belly-Cannon Ghost’s resources had to be allocated to its thick barrel and cannon-firing functions, preventing the large sac from achieving maximum utility.

This design philosophy triggered a cascade of inspiration for Lei Dong. Didn't fighter jets from his previous life also suffer from limited fuel capacity? But they could rely on aerial refueling tankers.

Moreover, if Netherworld Ghost Qi could be stored in the Belly-Cannon Ghost's sac, why couldn't reserves be built up during peacetime? Forcing himself to generate vast amounts of Netherworld Ghost Qi suddenly during wartime was unrealistic. But through steady accumulation, a stunning reserve could be obtained. Didn't they also have storage tanks in his past life?