“Your sources are quite well-informed. It's a pity, though, that the 'Sanctuary' was destroyed during the Ancient War,” King Shengyao stated calmly. “The Sanctuary in our clan now is merely a replica, possessing less than thirty percent of the original’s efficacy. However, this imitation Sanctuary is designed for aiding breakthroughs; it offers little practical use in actual combat.”

The Lord of the Abyss let out a faint smile, choosing not to call him out. While the genuine Sanctuary was indeed powerful, the Lord of the Abyss was confident his own trump cards were not far behind, feeling quite prepared to face whatever came.

“The Holy Matriarch?”

Lei Dong’s small flying vessel, the Harem, was temporarily serving as his traveling palace. While drinking tea and strategizing with the Netherworld Ghost Emperor, the Purgatory Demon King—two paramount figures—and King Censure, the latter voiced his serious apprehension.

According to King Censure, that spiritual treasure known as the Sanctuary was the supreme treasure of the Winged God Clan. Rumor claimed it had been damaged near the end of the Ancient War, but in reality, the item remained intact within the clan and was now very likely in King Shengyao’s possession.

King Censure explained that the object resembled a holy temple, but the Sanctuary did not exist within the Six Domains and Nine Continents; rather, it was a portable sacred space housing the heroic spirits of Winged Gods who had fallen in battle across generations. Important clansmen facing bottlenecks in their cultivation could enter the Sanctuary to receive guidance and engage in simulated combat with these spirits. Often, after an ordeal of hellish ascetic training within, they could shatter their limits.

Of course, not every deceased Winged God earned the qualification or opportunity to be enshrined in the Sanctuary. Generally, there were only eighteen enshrined positions within. Only when one spirit dissipated would a new one be consecrated.

However, under the threat of annihilation, the Sanctuary could transform into a weapon of war, summoning the eighteen spirits to aid in battle. Although these spirits lacked physical bodies, they were immensely powerful, able to temporarily condense their soul energy into corporeal forms to exert formidable combat capabilities. Naturally, due to the finite nature of their soul energy, these spirits could only be summoned for an hour before entering a prolonged recovery period lasting several years.

The strength of these spirits varied. The weakest could match an early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, while the strongest could contend with a late-stage Nascent Soul expert. King Censure herself had once entered the Sanctuary to cultivate and temper herself under the spirits’ tutelage before breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage, laying the foundation for her ascent. At that time, the Sanctuary was controlled by King Guanghui, but there was no doubt it now belonged to King Shengyao.

“Truly worthy of one of the traditional powerhouse clans; their supreme treasure is formidable.”

Lei Dong let out a quiet sigh. Since the Sanctuary was portable, King Shengyao would certainly carry it with him. The time hadn't yet come to push him into a corner, but once King Shengyao genuinely felt cornered with no way out, summoning the spirits would be inevitable.

Eighteen spirits possessing Nascent Soul level combat strength—that was an incomparably potent spiritual treasure. Lei Dong had once thought the Netherworld Ghost Emperor’s Netherworld Black Fiend Array was incredibly strong, but compared to a treasure like the Sanctuary, he now realized they were likely incomparable.

“If that is the case,” Lei Dong queried, directing his question toward the Shadow Demon King, who stood respectfully behind Thunder Dragon, his form shifted into a dark humanoid silhouette, “does the Abyss Domain possess any similarly hidden trump cards besides the Endless Abyss, a treasure for storing troops?”

The Shadow Demon King had now fused with Thunder Dragon’s divine soul, meaning his very lifeblood was under Thunder Dragon’s complete control. He could only attempt a counter-rebellion if his own spiritual sense far surpassed Thunder Dragon’s. But if there was one thing Thunder Dragon excelled at, it was spiritual sense, which was in no way inferior to the Shadow Demon King’s. This control was more than sufficient to prevent any attempt at betrayal.

“Reporting to my Lord,” the Shadow Demon King replied respectfully, though nominally still Lei Dong’s subordinate despite the soul fusion. “Due to the frequent warfare in the Abyss Domain, many spiritual treasures are easily damaged. However, only after gaining mastery and receiving the sanction of the Totem Scepter is a successive Lord of the Abyss formally recognized. Udis, after his rebellion, must certainly possess the Totem Scepter. While this item is inferior to the Sanctuary, it is still a rare spiritual treasure. Successive Lords of the Abyss collected the souls of various fierce beasts and integrated them into the totem. These beast souls usually lie dormant within the totem, ready to be summoned to fight in times of crisis, and they include souls of Nascent Soul level fierce beasts. Naturally, the only weakness of this item is that it attacks friend and foe indiscriminately—whoever wields the scepter directs the slaughter. In terms of sheer destructive power, it might even surpass the Sanctuary.”

As expected, Lei Dong had long anticipated that the Abyss Domain would possess its own clan-guarding treasure or ultimate card. He just hadn't expected it to be a ferocious item like the Totem Scepter. If Udis were pushed into a desperate corner, he would undoubtedly use the Totem Scepter without hesitation.

However, while their trump cards were powerful, none of them could compare to Lei Dong’s own arsenal. Both the Chaos Soul Devouring Tower and the Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land far outclassed any ultimate weapons the others possessed. And when the two were combined, the resulting might was nothing short of staggering.

A year’s time—Lei Dong inwardly sneered. It was enough time for him to accomplish a great many things. Whether it was the Hidden Dragon Army or the Fierce Ghost Army, after years of reinforcement, the elite among them already included many at the late or even peak of the Nascent Soul stage. With sufficient resources, these individuals could advance to the Nascent Soul level in short order. As for resources, being situated in this Chaos Strange Space, collecting Chaos Crystals was one avenue. Furthermore, from the battles fought against the Lord of the Abyss and King Shengyao so far, he had amassed a substantial quantity of soul material. Coupled with his slight remaining reserves, he could probably scrape together twenty Chaos Crystals in the short term.

Once he had a large cohort of Nascent Soul experts, no matter how formidable the Sanctuary or the Totem Scepter, it would be to no avail.

Moreover, he had two formidable experts currently at the peak of the mid-stage Nascent Soul. They had been stuck at that bottleneck for a long time. With just a slight push, breaking through to the late-stage Nascent Soul would not be an issue. The difference between late-stage and mid-stage Nascent Soul was quite significant; the comprehensive combat power of these two would allow them to contend, without falling behind, against seven or eight early-stage Nascent Soul cultivators.

Of course, for them to advance, Chaos Crystals would be indispensable, and he would likely have to reveal his Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land. Though the Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land was heaven-defying, it still fell short compared to a peerless item like the Chaos Soul Devouring Tower.

Lei Dong at this point was no longer someone utterly defenseless. He possessed sufficient capability to deter any undue sinister intentions. Furthermore, Lei Dong selected his allies carefully; he never chose them haphazardly, usually only fully recognizing them as allies after gaining a deep understanding of their character.

Among his current cohort of allies, the ones Lei Dong valued most highly were naturally the Netherworld Ghost Emperor, the Purgatory Demon King, Evil Phoenix, and Yaksha King. As for the Demon Dragon Emperor, Elder Li, and the Netherworld Demon Venerable, they ranked slightly lower.

Evil Phoenix and Yaksha King had only just broken through to the mid-stage Nascent Soul and were currently consolidating their foundations. It would be difficult for them to advance further in the short term, even with Chaos Crystals. Forcing a breakthrough would risk unstable foundations and waste too many precious crystals.

For the other three, Lei Dong would allocate a portion of Chaos Crystals according to their cooperative agreements; whether they could advance would depend on their own efforts. However, Lei Dong believed the Demon Dragon Emperor stood a very good chance of advancing to the mid-stage Nascent Soul soon.

Additionally, Evil Phoenix’s subordinate, Profound Serpent, and Thunder Dragon, both had opportunities to break through to the mid-stage Nascent Soul. For these "insiders," Lei Dong would spare a little extra resource expenditure to help them succeed. As for the Shadow Demon King, also at the peak of the mid-stage Nascent Soul, he too could attempt a push. If he reached the late-stage Nascent Soul, his utility would likewise be extraordinary.

Beyond these, there were Wanyan and the others.

Wanyan and her group had only recently advanced to the Nascent Soul stage. To purely rely on Chaos Crystals to reach the mid-stage would require several crystals per person, which would be extremely difficult to manage. Doing so would be too wasteful for boosting overall strength. With his current resources not being overly abundant, this advancement had to be postponed, allowing them time to cultivate and stabilize on their own.

Lei Dong’s most critical task now was to select the most highly cultivated, most loyal, and bravest individuals from the Hidden Dragon Army. Utilizing Chaos Origin Essence and Chaos Crystals, he aimed to mass-produce a batch of Nascent Soul experts to serve as his true hidden foundation.

Unlike the Fierce Ghost Army, the Hidden Dragon Army was entirely composed of young children with excellent aptitude whom Lei Dong had personally collected and indoctrinated from childhood. Human aptitude, however, had immense elasticity. Each member possessed at least upper-tier aptitude, comparable to Lei Dong's current level. Among them were not a few who possessed superior or even peak innate talent.

Perhaps the individuals with the most extreme aptitude still lagged slightly behind the heaven-defying talents among Wanyan’s group, but Lei Dong was confident that by selecting the thirty most gifted from the Hidden Dragon Army and investing a portion of the Chaos Origin Essence, it would take approximately fifteen Chaos Crystals to elevate them to the early-stage Nascent Soul.

As for the Fierce Ghost Army, many were comprised of peak-grade spirit ghosts refined by Lei Dong himself, ensuring absolute loyalty. Unfortunately, while the Fierce Ghost Army possessed excellent average aptitude, selecting the very best among the peak-grade spirit ghosts—(ShuShuWu)

But peak-grade spirit ghosts had an advantage: they did not require excessive resources for sustenance in normal times, accumulating strength rapidly merely by devouring flesh and soul. Since Lei Dong required souls, devouring flesh to advance quickly was a viable path.

From the battle with King Shengyao and the others, Lei Dong had accumulated a significant amount of flesh and blood, which could somewhat enhance the combat power of the Fierce Ghost Army.