Let us dispense with the narrative concerning the Holy Radiance King and the Lord of the Abyss being forced into a desperate, ignoble alliance by pressing circumstances. Focus instead on Lei Dong. After securing a large contingent of Shadow Demon captives, he allowed for a brief night's rest before beginning to consolidate his forces. Through spatial rifts, he then led his army into that extra-dimensional space saturated with Chaos Aura.

The moment Lei Dong stepped through, he felt a wave of pure Chaos Aura wash over him, invigorating his very spirit. After greedily drawing several deep breaths, he exclaimed, "What a place, what spiritual energy. The Chaos Aura here is truly abundant, incomparable to the thin energy we found at the bottom of the Stygian Valley."

Yet, despite this profusion of Chaos Aura, the land was utterly desolate. Its terrain and topography proved far more complex and inscrutable than most regions within the Abyss. The sky above was choked with a dark, obscure miasma, bearing no semblance of vitality.

"Heh, it seems this place possesses the Aura but lacks the primal Essence of Chaos," Lei Dong mused briefly before understanding the desolation. "I wonder if some ancient Great Power drained the trace amounts of Chaos Essence contained within the Aura? Or was this place inherently so?" To Lei Dong’s mind, the former was far more likely. His reasoning for suspecting an ancient power, rather than a more recent, Ancient Era entity, was simple: during the Ancient Era, Chaos Aura was already becoming scarce, a precious and valuable commodity. No Great Power would go to the trouble of extracting only the Chaos Essence while ignoring the plentiful Chaos Aura.

The era where Chaos Essence was prized above all else, and Chaos Aura treated as mere waste gas, belonged solely to the primordial age. Only in those epochs, when the cosmos teemed with Chaos Aura, was such extravagance possible.

And Chaos Essence, being the origin of all life in the cosmos, naturally meant that with only the Aura but no Essence, this alien realm lacked the fundamental spark of life.

Perhaps unaware of the earth-shattering shifts occurring in the outside world, several guards under the command of the Lord of the Abyss, masters of stealth and concealment lurking in the shadows, froze momentarily upon spotting Lei Dong and his entourage. However, the instant they sensed the suffocating, terrifying power radiating from the mysterious women accompanying him, they bolted backward in sheer terror, abandoning all pretense of stealth.

They knew perfectly well that their methods of concealment were utterly useless against powerhouses at the Soul Transformation stage. It was better to unleash full speed and flee desperately than to attempt a slow, stealthy retreat while being tracked.

These guards, possessing Nascent Soul level strength, were considered the elite of the elite among the Lord of the Abyss’s forces. But a Nascent Soul was still a Nascent Soul; unless operating in established formations or large numbers, they posed little substantial threat to Soul Transformation experts.

Among the group, perhaps due to having lain dormant too long in the Water of Separation, the Heavenly Demon possessed the keenest bloodlust. Especially last night, after Lei Dong had insisted on sharing his attentions equally, the Heavenly Demon found herself frustrated and began to unleash her pent-up wrath upon this unfortunate collection of subordinates.

Her form dissolved into a smoky miasma, shapeless and swift, darting back and forth through the void. With every flicker of her shadowy form, a piercing scream echoed. In moments, seven or eight Nascent Soul guards met their end.

The Heavenly Demon then coldly tossed the eight corpses, each bearing a distinct and gruesome death, wrapped in her demonic mist, toward Lei Dong. Her cold, alluring eyes carried a distinct look of disapproval. "Here, take this flesh and blood. Go feed it to the little tigers belonging to you and your wife."

The state of the corpses was chilling even to Lei Dong, who was accustomed to slaughter. Under the Heavenly Demon’s mournful gaze, Lei Dong shivered involuntarily, thinking, Damn it, do I deserve such resentment? It’s not like I let Wanyan keep me busy for the whole latter half of the night, is it? Besides, Wanyan rarely indulges in special games with me; how could I possibly miss out?

However, reasoning with a resentful woman was impossible. Lei Dong could only offer a conciliatory reply: "Uh, our Soul Devouring Shadow Tigers don't eat meat..."

"Hmph. If tigers don't eat meat, why call them tigers? Just call them kittens," the Heavenly Demon sneered, deeply jealous of the pair’s twin Shadow Tigers, which were fortunately male and female.

"Alright, Sister Heavenly Demon, it was my fault last night," Ding Wanyan laughed softly, her cheeks faintly flushed. "Since you wish to punish him, how about he belongs to me completely for the next three nights? You can torment him however you wish."

A cold smile immediately curled the Heavenly Demon's lips, and a sidelong glance from her phoenix eyes confirmed that Lei Dong’s philandering nature was now fully exposed.

Now it was Lei Dong’s turn to look aggrieved. He shot a harsh glare at Ding Wanyan, feeling distinctly uneasy. He wondered if he should backtrack and ask Qi Feifei if her Joyous Union Sect had any decent male cultivation techniques. Otherwise, facing a bevy of wives, especially a voracious demoness like the Heavenly Demon, he might truly be unable to withstand the constant lashing.

Of course, Qi Feifei was currently stranded on the Dawn Continent; even the sweetest water from afar couldn't quench his immediate thirst. He adopted a posture of righteous dignity. "Since all my esteemed wives have reached the Soul Transformation stage, your husband must also strive harder. Otherwise, meeting any random person might lead them to think I’m a kept man, which is quite pathetic. Therefore, recently, I must enforce abstinence. I shall take advantage of this abundant Chaos Aura here and enter secluded cultivation."

Before the Heavenly Demon could protest, Lei Dong’s form flickered, dissolving into the void as he shot through space. Lei Dong’s mastery over space was extraordinary. Although his cultivation now progressed slowly to the peak of the Nascent Soul realm, in terms of spatial law alone, he was even more skilled than the Shadow Demon King, who was renowned as the foremost expert in spatial manipulation.

Even the Heavenly Demon couldn't catch him and stomped her foot, cursing Lei Dong for his cunning escape.

...

"My Lord." Gui Ci, Lei Dong's most trusted subordinate and a spectral servant bound to him by bloodline, knelt on one knee and reported respectfully, "To date, the Chaos Aura collected by our advance team, after being refined using the formation matrix you provided, has yielded a total of three Chaos Crystals." Gui Ci, visibly excited, retrieved three crystalline, faintly golden Chaos Crystals from his personal storage space.

Perhaps due to the difference in refinement techniques, Lei Dong's Chaos Crystals far surpassed the small Chaos Crystals refined by the Lord of the Abyss, Udis, in both appearance and efficacy. Producing three in such a short time demonstrated how diligently and desperately Gui Ci and the others had worked.

Fundamentally, Lei Dong did not possess as desperate a need for this chaotic extra dimension as others did. However, his principle was that if such a valuable resource could not fall into the hands of enemies or ambitious rivals, it was better for him to take it, or share it with his reliable allies.

Since entering the Abyss Domain, Lei Dong had participated in numerous wars and acquired vast quantities of various souls through different channels. By utilizing the Chaos Soul Devouring Tower to decompose and reconstitute these souls, Lei Dong had quickly amassed eleven Chaos Crystals. This clearly illustrated the critical importance of warfare to Lei Dong.

Of course, Lei Dong had no intention of complaining about the three Chaos Crystals Gui Ci had secured first. After all, even a single Chaos Crystal was enough to enable three peak Nascent Soul experts of very high aptitude to break through to the Soul Transformation stage—a feat with prior precedent. For the second and third tiers that followed, even those with lesser aptitude could certainly each use one crystal to advance.

This demonstrated the astonishing utility of such a quantity of Chaos Crystals. In this age where global Chaos Aura was severely depleted, the function of the Chaos Soul Devouring Tower was incredibly significant... (Fastest text update at Shumi Lou)

As long as there was life, as long as there was slaughter, Lei Dong’s army could only grow stronger through conflict.

For Lei Dong at this moment, the most crucial objective was breaking through to the Soul Transformation stage. Now, possessing over ten Chaos Crystals, even if his aptitude were only mediocre or slightly below average, he possessed more than enough for his breakthrough.

"Gui Ci, this Chaos Crystal is a reward for you," Lei Dong stated solemnly, handing one crystal to Gui Ci. "This is to recognize your long-standing loyalty and diligent service. I hope you can use this crystal to successfully reach the Soul Transformation stage, achieve the Ghost Emperor rank, and become the third living Ghost Emperor among the Ghost Race."

Gui Ci was instantly thrilled. Although he had long been at the peak of the Ghost King realm, for a Ghost King born of a Supreme Spirit Ghost lineage to advance to Soul Transformation was an immensely difficult task. Historically, the number of Supreme Spirit Ghosts who managed to break that bottleneck and ascend to Ghost Emperor was exceedingly small. Moreover, this was when the world's Chaos Aura was not nearly as sparse as it is now.

Given the general resource scarcity of the current age, advancing to Ghost Emperor was nearly an impossible task for a Supreme Spirit Ghost. Yet, the impossible did not negate the dream. Which Ghost King, including Gui Ci, did not aspire to become a Ghost Emperor?

Naturally, even if Lei Dong hadn't given him the crystal, given the exceptional richness of the local Chaos Aura, Gui Ci would have had a chance to reach Ghost Emperor within a few hundred years of arduous cultivation. But without question, the Chaos Crystal was the true path of kings.

"My... My Lord, may I share this with Gui Ming?" Gui Ci asked, his voice trembling slightly with excitement.

"Gui Ming? Although he is also one of my Blood Sacrifice Ghost Servants and has considerable potential, his contributions have not yet reached the level warranting the use of a Chaos Crystal," Lei Dong replied impartially. "However, since this crystal has been bestowed upon you, you naturally have the authority to share it with whomever you wish, without requiring my consent. But, Gui Ci, I must remind you: although you hail from a Supreme Spirit Ghost background, even advancing via a Chaos Crystal, it might not be enough for both of you to use it."

"This subordinate accepts," Gui Ci affirmed.

"Gui Ming, why don't you come out and thank Brother Gui Ci."

Lei Dong transmitted the preceding conversation via mental wave to Gui Ming, then summoned him forth from the Supreme Spirit Soul Nurturing Tower.

... (To be continued) RQ