"Wanyan, you are managing things back home. How is the cultivation progressing for the Fierce Ghost Army and the (Hidden Dragon Army)?" Lei Dong asked calmly, gesturing for Wanyan to settle down with some tea.

Ding Wanyan, influenced by Lei Dong's composed demeanor, felt her heart steadying considerably. She gracefully sat beside him, brewed him a pot of spiritual tea, and chuckled lightly, "After sacrificing the sustaining power of the Celestial Spirit Stones and introducing Chaos Spiritual Energy into the Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land, it has been extremely beneficial for Golden Core stage cultivation. Moreover, we have been operating in Kang and Zhao Prefectures for so long, our resources are quite abundant, and the Hidden Dragon Army has always received exceptional treatment. As of now, among the 4,469 soldiers of the Hidden Dragon Army, over 3,800 have achieved Nascent Soul stage. The remaining six hundred or so are estimated to break through within the next six months. As for the Fierce Ghost Army, there are still over 86,000 surviving members, and among them, over 6,300 have reached the Ghost King level of the Nascent Soul stage."

"So, our Nascent Soul powerhouses now exceed ten thousand?" Hearing this figure, Lei Dong couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement. Ten thousand Nascent Souls! Though the Six Domains and Nine Continents are vast, excluding wild monsters, the total number of Nascent Soul cultivators is estimated to be just over one hundred thousand, certainly not reaching two hundred thousand.

"The total combat power at the Nascent Soul level should be over twelve thousand." Ding Wanyan hadn't realized it until she analyzed the figures, and her mood instantly stabilized. She smiled charmingly, "The five hundred White Armor Soldiers, plus many of the Ghost Servants belonging to the Hidden Dragon Army, have also reached the Nascent Soul level."

"Good, very good." Lei Dong praised them twice heartily. The combat strength under his command alone was astonishing. And he wasn't fighting alone; he had numerous allies as well. For instance, the Underworld Ghost Emperor and the Purgatory Demon King had all mobilized their elite forces. The Purgatory Demon King, Underworld Ghost Emperor, Evil Phoenix, Flame Demon King, Demon Dragon, Yaksha King, Elder Li, and Underworld Demon Venerable all had their own main forces. Although the total number was only tens of thousands, the combined combat strength at the Nascent Soul level reached around four to five thousand.

It was clear that Lei Dong's allies were proving very supportive, having committed their entire strength this time, prepared to fight desperately. After all, although the division of benefits from this venture included everyone, the final distribution—who received more and who received less—depended on the effort each contributed. Of course, the Underworld Demon Venerable seemed the most detached; he managed to scrape together only a contingent of a few dozen Nascent Souls and a thousand Golden Cores. Lei Dong brought him along purely out of consideration for the Yin Sha Sect, wanting them to share in some of the profits. Naturally, the Yaksha King's forces weren't particularly strong either; he had brought out all his trump cards—only a hundred-plus Nascent Souls and over three thousand Golden Cores. The Yaksha Clan had long been fractured, and the Yaksha King only led one tribe. If he could unify the entire Yaksha Clan, their overall strength could increase by at least seven or eight times, allowing them to become a true powerhouse.

The strongest were undoubtedly the two titans, the Purgatory Demon King and the Underworld Ghost Emperor, each boasting over a thousand Nascent Soul level forces and tens of thousands of Golden Cores in their main contingents. The only one that surprised Lei Dong somewhat was the Flame Demon King; ever since the Flame Monarch perished, this fellow had been consolidating his power and had managed to assemble a formidable force, with over five hundred Flame Elementals at the Nascent Soul level and more than ten thousand at the Golden Core level.

As for the Evil Phoenix and the Demon Dragon, both their races were sparse in population but extremely elite. This time they also fought hard, gathering seven hundred Nascent Souls each—all elites from their clans. Elder Li brought a group of loyal subordinates, numbering around several hundred, mostly high-stage Golden Cores. However, these people were actually skilled in controlling puppets. The Myriad Puppet Gate was a terrifying sect capable of refining puppets at the Soul Transformation level, so refining puppets at the Nascent Soul level was certainly not an issue. Those mere three hundred-plus individuals could command approximately five hundred Nascent Soul level puppets, demonstrating considerable combat prowess.

Furthermore, Elder Li contributed several hundred flying ships, along with ten thousand or so sect members and disciples to pilot them. There were also various cannons and consumables. While the Myriad Puppet Gate specialized most in puppets, puppets themselves represented the pinnacle of mechanical arts. Consequently, their achievements in crafting cannons and flying ships were equally astonishing.

Those formidable devices the Elder Li called 'Blazing Fire Cannons' possessed a destructive power equivalent to the full might of an early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator's strike. When hundreds of these cannons fired simultaneously, even a Soul Transformation stage expert would recoil in terror. It was evident there was a valid reason why the Myriad Puppet Gate was an uncontested hegemon in the heavily populated Great Qian Continent.

With this mobilization, Lei Dong's side reached a total Nascent Soul combat power of seventeen or eighteen thousand, and over a hundred thousand Golden Cores. Their overall strength, even if pitted against that so-called Emperor of the Dark Night head-on, would not be at a disadvantage.

Moreover, the subordinates of the Emperor of the Dark Night were already puppet troops controlled by the Heart-Devouring Demons, meaning they basically wouldn't advance unless under special circumstances. Lei Dong was fully confident that in a direct confrontation with the Emperor of the Dark Night, he could gradually gain the upper hand and ultimately completely suppress him.

"What a pity, what a pity. To control someone using the Heart-Devouring Demon requires making the opponent completely defenseless or utterly unprepared," Lei Dong sighed softly while sipping his spiritual tea. "Otherwise, having mixed in this Chaotic Void Space for so long, I have accumulated quite a few Heart-Devouring Demons, but I can't use them on those guys like the Sacred Radiance King or the Abyss Lord."

"Husband, don't be too greedy." Ding Wanyan calculated the situation and felt a solid surge of confidence from their robust reserves, laughing brightly, "If the Heart-Devouring Demon could easily control enemy soldiers, where would that leave things? The Demon Race would have already unified the universe with that method back then. Furthermore, that entity entrenched in //The fastest text update at the Fan Lou "Heh, let's drop that tiresome subject for now. What about our high-tier Soul Transformation combat strength?" Lei Dong knew using the Heart-Devouring Demon against a guarded enemy was unrealistic, so he changed the topic. After all, in high-level skirmishes of a smaller scale, it still came down to Soul Transformation experts.

"The Hidden Dragon Army is your most direct and cherished force, Husband. When selecting personnel back then, we didn't just look for youngsters, but their aptitude had to be at least Upper Grade. Those years certainly drained Kang and Zhao Prefectures, and I heard we even searched other prefectures for talent," Ding Wanyan chuckled lightly, "Now it seems, Husband, you had considerable foresight. The first batch selected to impact the Soul Transformation stage were those within the Hidden Dragon Army with the best aptitude and highest strength. After being examined by the Heart-Asking Art, their worship and loyalty to you are beyond doubt. Moreover, in just five short years within this Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land, they have successively broken through their shackles and achieved the Soul Transformation stage. What they currently lack is merely the accumulation and consolidation of power."

"All thirty have broken through?" Lei Dong asked with great surprise.

"Yes, they knew the situation they were facing and worked extremely hard, fighting desperately. Besides, we didn't just pour in a lot of Chaos Crystals; we used all the Chaos Origin refined this time," Ding Wanyan stated calmly. "Such an achievement is only natural. After all, you yourself have experienced how convenient this combination makes breakthrough attempts."

"Good. With this, our strength has greatly increased; we need fear no one." Lei Dong laughed heartily. Although the thirty Soul Transformation experts from the Hidden Dragon Army had just advanced, they were his most reliable trump cards. They had received the strictest military training since childhood, entirely different from ordinary cultivators.

In fact, if a single Soul Transformation Hidden Dragon Soldier fought a one-on-one duel against a cultivator of the same rank, they would likely lose. However, in a five-on-five scenario, the two sides would generally be evenly matched. And the larger the number of participants, the greater the power the Hidden Dragon Soldiers could unleash. This was because they not only emphasized coordinated combat and excelled at various combined attack techniques, but especially in terms of divine sense, they had mastered the art of converging it into a single force to resist enemies collectively.

If the divine senses of the thirty Soul Transformation Hidden Dragon Soldiers were woven into one thread, perhaps even that confounded Night Emperor couldn't compare to them.

"Because the profit you brought back from searching for Chaos Crystals outside was much higher than we estimated, the second batch of relatively talented Hidden Dragon Soldiers has also begun attempting the Soul Transformation promotion. However, lacking some Chaos Origin, the consumption might be greater." Ding Wanyan frowned slightly, "Husband, should we allocate a batch of Chaos Crystals to the Golden Core stage soldiers to accelerate their promotion to Nascent Soul? After all, calculating by overall power, boosting those Golden Core stage Ghost Generals would increase total combat strength more effectively. One Chaos Crystal can, at least in the short term, promote several hundred Golden Cores to the Nascent Soul stage." Wanyan was also reluctant to see those Golden Core cultivators with great potential die meaninglessly on the battlefield.

It must be known that at the current stage of warfare, the danger faced by Golden Core cultivators on the battlefield was already extremely high.

"You handle that arrangement yourself, Wanyan. I need to temporarily recall the Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land, and right now, I require elite forces to station all our Nascent Soul level combat power inside, ready to strike at any moment." Lei Dong's brow slightly eased. It seemed the Sacred Radiance King and the Abyss Lord had finished recuperating and were hatching some scheme.

In truth, as soon as Lei Dong learned that the Holy Hall was in the hands of the Sacred Radiance King, and the Abyss Lord was suspected of holding the Scepter Totem, he knew these two would never truly cooperate with him. Likely, each was plotting to stabilize the internal situation before dealing with external threats.

Once they annexed the other two factions, even if their overall strength didn't surpass the Emperor of the Dark Night, they would at least have tangible bargaining chips for negotiations. The Emperor of the Dark Night commanded an army composed entirely of Heart-Devouring Demons—a critical flaw so obvious that anyone could grasp it with a moment's thought.

"Also, notify our allies and instruct them to move the most elite portion of their powerhouses into the Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land." In Lei Dong's eyes, a strange light flickered as he gave a cold laugh, "Since they can no longer restrain themselves, and we are almost fully prepared, let us grant their wish: stabilize internally first, then deal with the outsiders."