Even as a Supreme-level powerhouse, Pluto’s net worth must be astronomical; even plucking a single hair from him would be thicker than Lei Dong’s entire thigh. Under such immense potential benefits, even Lei Dong was almost swept away by greed. But quickly, he calmed himself, weighing the pros and cons.

Indeed, if he could become Pluto’s successor, the benefits would be inexhaustible. However, upon closer thought, the drawbacks were also numerous. At the very least, becoming the successor meant inheriting all of Pluto’s past baggage—friends, brothers, and enemies. Lei Dong had never heard of Pluto’s friends, but his enemies were infamous to him. After all, Pluto was the Supreme Being of the Three Realms, arguably the most powerful entity in the entire world.

To have the Supreme Being of the Three Realms as one's enemy was no trivial matter. With Lei Dong’s current strength, any one of the Three Supremes could easily snuff him out with a mere flick of a finger. Moreover, if they wished to deal with him, they wouldn't even need to use a finger; a mere glance would summon countless masters and powerhouses to serve their will.

Even if Lei Dong possessed a hundred or a thousand reasons to avoid conflict with the Three Supremes, such things were beyond his control. The moment his identity as Pluto’s heir was revealed, the Supreme Beings of the Three Realms might send forces to his door the very next day to eradicate any remnants. Such being a towering tree invites the wind, and this clashed completely with Lei Dong’s operational style. He preferred to amass strength secretly, adhering to the strategy of accumulating resources before claiming sovereignty.

Yet, considering the matter again, the Demon Emperor seemed to harbor deep enmity with the Three Supremes. Since Lei Dong inherited the Demon Emperor’s mantle, inherently, he was already tied to the Three Supremes. Whether one crime leads to execution or two, the result is the same death sentence. If death is inevitable, one might as well seize the opportunity to reap substantial rewards.

With this realization, Lei Dong had essentially confirmed his acceptance of the mantle and felt a sense of recognition internally. However, on his face, he adopted an expression of extreme difficulty and reluctance. “Senior, your junior is only at the Nascent Soul stage cultivation. Surely, that is not qualified to be Pluto’s successor?”

“A temporary shallowness in cultivation is not a concern,” the silver puppet flatly rejected. “When I previously checked whether you practiced the Pluto Body Tempering Art, I discovered your age is less than a hundred years. To possess Nascent Soul mid-stage cultivation at such a tender age is truly a peerless genius, even slightly surpassing the speed of the late Lord Pluto himself.”

Less than a hundred years? This statement caused the expressions of the other puppets to drastically change, and their previous arrogance vanished when they looked at Lei Dong again. Even within Xie Feng’s eyes, a brilliant light flared. She, Xie Feng, was also hailed as a peerless genius of the Phoenix Nether Clan, possessing ancient, pure, and profound bloodline, yet compared to Lei Dong, she seemed significantly outmatched.

Previously, in her interactions with Lei Dong, regardless of the outward demeanor, Xie Feng harbored a certain sense of superiority concerning status, standing, cultivation, talent, and spiritual treasures. But now, Lei Dong’s advantages were being revealed before her one by one. In terms of status, Lei Dong was the successor of the Supreme Demon Emperor. In terms of cultivation and talent, although Lei Dong was temporarily behind, with his age and the Demon Emperor’s legacy, he would catch up to Xie Feng sooner or later. As for spiritual treasures, although Xie Feng considered her Nine Heavens Phoenix Dance to be one of the most powerful spiritual treasures in the Nine Provinces of the Six Realms, it was certainly far inferior to the Chaos Supreme Treasure that Pluto himself refined with great emphasis, even if she did not yet know the treasure's full efficacy.

Cultivation and strength are the foundation of all interactions between individuals—this is not about snobbery but an extension of the primitive law of the jungle. While it is not an era of chaos now, it remains a world where the weak are prey to the strong; this is an eternal truth.

However, Lei Dong was quite dissatisfied with the silver puppet’s answer, so he dropped some of the subtlety and stated his point more directly: “What this junior means is, if I become Pluto’s successor, what responsibilities must I shoulder?”

“Responsibilities? Naturally, you must inherit Pluto’s dying wish, strengthen the Ghost Clan, and use that power to dominate the Three Realms and the Six Domains and Nine Provinces!” The silver puppet pondered for a moment. “But for now, one more condition is added: we hope you can discover the reason for Lord Pluto’s disappearance. If Lord Pluto met with any misfortune, you must avenge him.”

Lei Dong paused momentarily. This silver puppet’s main body should be a Ghost Emperor, but why didn't it understand his implication? Just as he was about to press further, Xie Feng spoke up with a cold laugh: “Your Pluto Hall seems far too self-righteous! Always talking about responsibilities and dying wishes. I’d like to ask, if inheriting Pluto’s legacy primarily involves these burdens, then I say, perhaps this successor position isn't worth taking. Who would do such thankless labor just to shoulder responsibility without any reward?” Clearly, she discerned that Lei Dong was fishing for benefits but hesitated to ask directly for fear of ruining the atmosphere. Now that her thoughts were unconsciously focused on Lei Dong, she naturally had to chime in.

Although Xie Feng’s journey had been smooth, free from major setbacks, she was, after all, one of the Four Emperors of the Nether Realm and understood basic human etiquette. Since Lei Dong wished to play the good guy, she would take on the role of the villain.

“Benefits?” The silver puppet was startled. It truly hadn't considered what benefits there were in taking on the successor role. Having slept for too long, its intellect seemed a bit dull. Furthermore, having been refined into a puppet, its sentience was surely damaged. In its perception, assuming the role of Pluto’s successor was already the greatest honor; how could it consider any material rewards?

Xie Feng decided to support Lei Dong completely, speaking directly: “You mean there aren’t even a few benefits? Who would undertake such difficult and tiresome work without any payoff?” Xie Feng muttered to herself, “In my view, since he is the successor to Pluto, this Pluto Hall naturally belongs to Lei Dong. Wouldn't Lei Dong then be able to access and command all the rare materials, elixirs, and formation guards within?”

“Impossible! This Pluto Hall belongs to Lord Pluto; the successor has no right to access or command any resources,” the silver puppet shook its head repeatedly. “Unless Young Master Lei fulfills his responsibility, discovers the whereabouts of Lord Pluto, and finally truly assumes the position of Pluto, only then will he be qualified to utilize any materials.”

Lei Dong and Xie Feng exchanged glances. Although they knew things wouldn't be simple, such stinginess was somewhat unexpected. The logic was simple: while Pluto used powerful members of the Ghost Clan to refine those puppet guards, Pluto wasn't a fool. He must have implemented measures during the refining process, such as tampering with the puppets' soul memories, loyalty levels, and implanting precepts like ‘never betray the master’ and ‘must wholeheartedly adhere to the master’s interests as the guiding principle.’

Even someone like Lei Dong, who had no experience with puppets, could deduce the necessity of such methods. For someone as astute as Pluto, how could he overlook this? This was the most basic law of puppet refinement. Otherwise, if a puppet refined at immense cost suddenly gained complete free will, it might just sell out its master on a whim one day.

Since their actions must be guided by the master's life and interests, it was impossible for them to hand over the master's wealth and life to someone else while the master’s life or death remained unconfirmed. The silver puppet inviting Lei Dong to be the successor was likely partly motivated by a desire to use Lei Dong to probe for Pluto’s whereabouts. Of course, there might also be an underlying wish to support Lei Dong as the new master if the old one was truly gone, especially since Lei Dong seemed promising and had an indirect connection to Lord Pluto.

“Very well, in that case, I must ask,” Xie Feng began to argue on Lei Dong’s behalf, widening her starlit eyes without concern for the four powerful Deity Transformation puppets opposite them. She argued logically: “Lei Dong is currently only at the mid-Nascent Soul stage. With his current cultivation, how can he help you investigate Lord Pluto’s whereabouts? Even a fool knows that any entity capable of harming or trapping Lord Pluto would certainly not be a simple figure. Who would willingly take on such thankless labor, risking exposure to the Three Supremes and subsequent eradication?” At this moment, Xie Feng seemed to act as Lei Dong’s spokesperson. Perhaps in matters of human relations, she was not as perceptive or formidable as Lei Dong, who emerged from humble beginnings, but having served as a clan leader for so long, she had participated in numerous negotiations, making her adept at securing the greatest possible benefits.

The silver puppet pondered briefly, its spiritual sense subtly probing outward. After a short while, it replied, “Since that is the case, we can offer Young Master Lei an initial batch of rare materials to help him advance his cultivation. However, due to authorization restrictions, we cannot mobilize too large a quantity.”

In fact, Lei Dong had already speculated that there must be an artificial intelligence-like core controlling everything within this Pluto Hall—managing array maintenance, summoning guards for defense, and so on. Otherwise, how would the guards know someone had invaded, and how would they deploy stronger defenses when unable to immediately subdue the intruder?

The logic was simple: the Pluto Hall possessed an entity akin to a tool spirit, temporarily exercising defensive strategies on behalf of Pluto. This was not unusual; it was common practice.

Both Xie Feng and Lei Dong breathed a collective sigh of relief. The Pluto Hall’s tool spirit, hidden in the shadows, seemed to have softened its stance. Since there was room for negotiation, things became much easier. The true fear was if the entity was utterly rigid and incapable of compromise. After all, Lei Dong had just taken the spirit of the Chaos Supreme Treasure, and moreover, the lives of one man, one phoenix, and one black serpent were held in the balance by the Pluto Hall. If the entity chose to abandon all pretense and turn hostile, no one would escape unscathed.