The moment Lei Dong uttered those words, everyone present was stunned. To demand that a Void Refinement stage expert serve him, and to ask for three hundred years at that?

The Flame Demon King, after a moment of shock, felt a wave of intense humiliation wash over him. However, instead of anger, he broke into a laugh: "Good, good. Well done, Lei, you scoundrel. To demand this King serve you for three hundred years—insolent, utterly beyond arrogance. Let me tell you, not even the Purgatory Old Demon dared to speak to me like that."

Despite his rising anger, the Flame Demon King understood the gravity of the situation. He knew this was absolutely not the place to immediately turn hostile with Lei Dong. With that thought, he took a massive step, intending to slip back through the spatial rift and flee to his homeland.

Lei Dong had long anticipated this bluff; running was indeed his best option. How could he possibly let him escape? Otherwise, his previous words would have only served to offend someone without gaining any benefit—that was entirely out of character for him.

Immediately, Lei Dong’s aura condensed. Standing with his hands clasped behind his back, his presence was one of supreme dominion. He raised a hand, and several majestic syllables escaped his lips: "I decree that space collapses."

As soon as Lei Dong’s voice faded, the spatial channel constructed by the Sage and the group of Grand Mages, who had paid with their lives, instantly buckled and disintegrated. Even if the Flame Demon King possessed the courage of a titan, he dared not flee into a collapsing spatial pathway.

With his path home blocked, a chill spread through the Flame Demon King's heart. He turned and glared fiercely at Lei Dong, as if promising, just you wait. His massive frame coiled inward, transforming into a meteorite, preparing to unleash the Meteorite Escape—flight was still the best strategy. He certainly didn't believe arguing out of pride with Lei Dong in this environment would yield any good results.

The Void Refinement Puppet, Zhenye, who had been waiting impatiently nearby, received Lei Dong’s divine sense fluctuation. His form blurred, manifesting right beside the Flame Demon King. Raising his colossal battle-halberd, he swung, knocking the coiled Flame Demon King—who resembled a mere ball—away.

The trajectory of the blow happened to point directly toward the massed army of the Protectorate Forces. Even though the soldiers of the Protectorate Forces were formidable, they scrambled to evade the assault. Yet, the Flame Demon King, crashing down like a meteorite, still managed to obliterate at least several hundred men upon impact.

An unimaginable humiliation—this was a profound disgrace for the Flame Demon King. But he keenly understood that this was absolutely not the moment for reprisal. After unleashing a burst of ferocious fire that incinerated some of the Protectorate Forces' humans, he attempted to flee once more.

"Trying to leave? Not so easily done," Lei Dong sneered. The pervasive Nether Ghost Qi condensed into a colossal, pitch-black palm, more than ten zhang long. In a flash, it seemed to materialize directly above the Flame Demon King’s head and slammed down ruthlessly.

Lei Dong’s application of the Nether Ghost Claw had long since reached the pinnacle of perfection, mastering the exquisite art. Combined with his deepening comprehension of spatial law, the attack was truly impossible to guard against, and its power was considerable. With Lei Dong’s cultivation base and Nether Physique, a single blow like this could shatter a small mountain range.

Although the Flame Demon King’s physical resilience far surpassed that of ironstone, being struck unexpectedly left him dizzy and disoriented; his momentum instantly vanished. In pain and incandescent rage, he couldn't help but roar, "You, Lei, you’ve blocked my escape repeatedly—what exactly do you want?"

"Hmph, I already stated my terms," Lei Dong replied coldly. "Serve me for three hundred years, and I will grant you freedom."

"You are dreaming in broad daylight!" The Flame Demon King roared in fury. Those human soldiers of the Protectorate Forces who hadn't managed to flee quickly enough suffered the consequences in place of Lei Dong, their charred bodies smoking in the inferno. He wanted to hurl harsh threats at Lei Dong, but found himself incapable of delivering them.

"If you are unwilling, I won't force you," Lei Dong stated calmly. Before the Flame Demon King could process any shift in his temper, Lei Dong’s voice turned cold: "Since that is the case, you are useless. I shall send you to your death now. Zhenye, Black Serpent, annihilate the Flame Demon King."

"What?" The Flame Demon King was aghast. He had never expected this young upstart, Lei Dong, to be so utterly ruthless. Refusing his offer of service meant immediate execution.

But the Flame Demon King was, after all, no weakling. With a flicker, he tore open space, instantly appearing more than ten li away. His body morphed into a blazing fireball, desperately fleeing, his fear of Lei Dong growing exponentially. That brat was more ruthless than even the Purgatory Demon King.

The Flame Demon King was unaware that Lei Dong, in his actions, always disliked procrastination. What was one thing was one thing, and what was two things was two things; his personality was distinct. For him, having already offended the Flame Demon King, if submission was refused, annihilation was the best course of action. Otherwise, if the Demon King were given the chance to return to the Purgatory Domain and rally subordinates, he would become impossible to handle later.

Besides, the Flame Demon King had delivered himself right to his door seeking death; who could he blame? Regarding enemies, Lei Dong firmly believed that dead enemies were the best enemies.

But if the Flame Demon King was fast, Lei Dong’s subordinates, Zhenye and Black Serpent, were not slow. Especially Black Serpent, whom Lei Dong had kept concealed for a long time, was already impatient. Without transforming, he pursued in his human form, enveloped in a dense shroud of Nether Ghost Qi.

Zhenye, being a puppet guard personally forged by the ancient supreme powerhouse, the Pluto King, possessed superior overall capabilities in every aspect. Flying, he resembled a shooting star, incredibly swift, and capable of continuously folding space to exponentially increase his velocity.

Yet, the fastest of all was Lei Dong himself, despite only being at the late Nascent Soul stage. He transformed into a wisp of black energy, drifting ethereal and elusive, covering several li in the blink of an eye. His speed was continuously increasing. Chasing and being chased, over a mere few hundred li, he blinked forward, arriving ahead of the Flame Demon King. His form solidified, and a cold smile touched the corner of his mouth: "Old Yan, why the great hurry?"

The Flame Demon King was horrified, cursing inwardly: How is this possible? While this realm was not as conducive to his fighting style as the Purgatory Domain, he was, nonetheless, a towering expert of the Void Refinement stage. In his mind, he could concede that Lei Dong, relying on a Void Refinement Puppet, could hold his own near the peak of the balance. He even admitted that in this environment, he, the Flame Demon King, was no match for Lei Dong and Zhenye combined.

However, Lei Dong had abandoned the puppet Zhenye to surge ahead and catch him—this utterly defied the Flame Demon King’s logic. In his view, let alone Lei Dong being a late Nascent Soul cultivator, even a peak Nascent Soul cultivator could never catch him. The gulf between the Nascent Soul level and the Void Refinement level was simply too vast.

Yet, the Flame Demon King did not know that while Lei Dong prioritized the cultivation of his divine sense above all else, speed had always been an area he pursued relentlessly and with extreme focus. In Lei Dong’s estimation, wandering outside meant inevitably encountering foes he could not defeat; if his speed wasn't high enough, such an encounter could easily spell the end of his life.

He had no second life in this world to waste. Therefore, Lei Dong’s demands on his own speed, driven by the instinct for survival, had expanded without limit. It was precisely this obsession that had repeatedly given Lei Dong opportunities to escape from desperate situations, time and again allowing him to turn peril into safety and preserve his life.

Previously, Lei Dong relied on the Asura Wings, refined from the wings of a Void Refinement stage Asura, which inherently possessed spatial law. This allowed him to move with ease among lower-tier cultivators. But as his cultivation deepened and he encountered higher levels of power, the Asura Wings could no longer keep up with the demand, leading to their complete destruction during his battle with the Evil Phoenix.

Fortunately, since the Foundation Establishment stage, Lei Dong had frequently used the Asura Wings to manifest spatial laws. Over time, this allowed him to grasp a sliver of spatial law early on. Furthermore, Xiao You, that Celestial Spirit Ghost, possessed exceptional aptitude and a profound affinity for spatial law, providing immense assistance to Lei Dong in this domain.

This enabled Lei Dong to delve ever deeper into mastering spatial law—from mere superficial knowledge to true mastery, and now, he had grasped a thread of its essence. Moreover, the hundred years Lei Dong spent in the Grotto-Heaven Blessed Land were not spent merely cultivating his power in a vacuum. Instead, he dedicated a significant portion of his focus to researching spatial law.

It was generally a bewildering and strenuous endeavor for others to deeply research spatial law, even with guidance or some spatial spirit artifacts. But Lei Dong possessed a unique advantage in this area: the Demon Emperor’s True Word Art he commanded.

Theoretically, command-law techniques like the True Word Art do not require the user to fully comprehend a specific law to execute it. Similar to how someone in Lei Dong’s past life could use a computer without understanding its internal structure and principles. However, viewed from another angle, if a person with a computer sincerely studied its principles and structure, their efficiency would far surpass someone without a computer or who had never used one.

The True Word Art operates similarly. Currently, the known True Word Art in the world is the Pluto King’s True Word Art, created by the Pluto King. Besides that, there is the Great Prophecy Art of the Winged God Clan. These are all command-law techniques. But those who master the True Word Art do not necessarily utilize it to reverse-engineer the mysteries of the law. This is like how not everyone who owns a computer develops a strong interest in learning its composition and principles.

Lei Dong, however, possessed a more expansive mindset. During those hundred years, he repeatedly utilized the True Word Art, applying it, reverse-engineering, and deeply understanding the principles of spatial law. This resulted in significant achievements in his comprehension and mastery of spatial law.

As his grasp of spatial law deepened, it was natural that he would integrate this law into his various techniques. For example, Lei Dong’s Ghost Shadow Escape. Originally a decent evasion technique, Lei Dong continuously refined it, integrating his personal insights and his understanding of spatial law. Now, Lei Dong’s Ghost Shadow Escape could be called a marvel.