“Lei Dong, perhaps you have grown fast and become quite powerful,” the Holy Radiance King remained unmoved by Lei Dong’s arrogant words, his expression serene, yet his eyes held a cold indifference. “But you cannot comprehend the profound depth held within races such as ours, races with such ancient origins. Once I unleash my true methods, there will be no turning back. Lei Dong, you are an intelligent man, and I am willing to set aside past grudges and share the Six Domains and Nine Continents with you, including this Chaotic Void Space.”

Lei Dong also retracted all expression, falling into deep contemplation. Could it be that this Holy Radiance King possessed other ultimate trump cards besides the Winged God Clan's ancestral treasure? However, the die had been cast; whether it was Lei Dong or the Holy Radiance King, all that remained was to exert their utmost effort and fight to the death.

At the same time, Lei Dong’s face showed a solemnity tinged with a slight respect. “King Holy Radiance, I, Lei Mou, respect you as a formidable hero of your generation. Since matters have come to this pass, further words are pointless. Why don't we see who is truly superior in combat? This Lei Mou will endeavor, as much as possible, to leave you a complete corpse.”

“Good, good.” The Holy Radiance King laughed in extreme anger. “Lei Dong, since you are so foolish…”

Whoosh-whoosh! Not waiting for him to finish, Lei Dong struck out several successive bursts of finger energy. The ink-black Netherworld Finger condensed the ghostly qi into threads, shooting out like streaks of black light, their targets the vital points of the Holy Radiance King’s body.

“Does a mere firefly dare to shine in the presence of the moon?” The Holy Radiance King, though angered by Lei Dong's preemptive sneak attack, did not think highly of the Netherworld Finger’s power. White light surged and burned around his body, forming a brilliant shield of white radiance. On the surface of this shield, faint golden, esoteric runes appeared and circulated. This technique was naturally a powerful defensive maneuver unique to the Winged God Clan: the Holy Light Shield. Those faint golden runes indicated that the Holy Radiance King had cultivated this technique to the pinnacle of perfection.

Puff-puff-puff. The formidable Netherworld Finger struck the light shield, merely causing ripples like rain hitting a mirror lake, before dissolving without a trace.

“Luminous Curse.” As the Holy Radiance King formed the hand seals, a radiance as dazzling as the sun erupted from him. Meeting Lei Dong’s Netherworld Ghost Qi, it seemed superior, devouring the shadows at incredible speed.

Not only that, but Lei Dong’s vision and divine sense were severely obstructed in that instant. His eyes were filled with blinding light, and his divine sense felt like a clay ox entering the ocean, unable to receive any feedback.

In that precise moment, a violent pressure erupted behind Lei Dong, the surging energy seeming to converge there.

With no time to turn back, Lei Dong instantly stepped forward, his figure ethereal and uncertain, phasing into a spatial rift and instantly vanishing in an escape.

“God said, space shall be solidified,” the Holy Radiance King uttered coldly.

At that moment, Lei Dong had already traversed a considerable distance within the spatial rift. However, the space around him, which had felt as gentle as water, suddenly hardened like steel under the Holy Radiance King’s spell of True Word Edict, as if his words had become law.

A wry smile touched Lei Dong’s heart. He often used the True Word technique to control others, and now he had tasted the sensation of solidified space himself.

After solidifying space to control him, the Holy Radiance King would surely follow up with a fierce offensive, aiming to blast him and the solidified space together. Lei Dong dared not delay in the slightest. Although the surrounding space was frozen, Lei Dong’s understanding of spatial laws far surpassed that of ordinary people.

Space could not only be traversed, hidden, or used to shatter enemies; it could also be used for defense. Even though his body was encased by the solidified space, Lei Dong’s divine sense was in no way locked down. He channeled it outward, using its fluctuations to trigger the Demonic Emperor’s True Word Art.

He condensed the surrounding space into a spatial barrier. The invisible, transparent space, under Lei Dong’s focus, solidified into a sheer wall, emitting a brilliant luster akin to crystal.

BOOM~

The Holy Radiance King’s killing move, the Great Light Cannon, arrived precisely on schedule and slammed heavily against the spatial barrier. The immense impact tore the crystal-like spatial barrier into fragments. Simultaneously, Lei Dong managed to break free from the spatial restraint, bursting forth with an ethereal, pale-white defensive shield enveloping him.

The Profound Yin Shield was one of the defensive techniques of the Yin Sha Sect, condensed directly by mobilizing Profound Yin True Essence. Its defensive power naturally depended on the cultivator’s realm.

But Lei Dong’s Profound Yin Shield was subtly different from the common version. Within the pale white, faint golden threads could be vaguely seen circulating. These golden threads were slivers of the Law of Indestructibility.

Unlike the Law of Annihilation, also known as Destruction, the Law of Indestructibility was the most profound and difficult law in the universe to comprehend. Even a mere trace of the Law of Indestructibility could elevate Lei Dong’s Profound Yin Shield’s defense by several tiers.

Of course, Lei Dong had no true insight into the Law of Indestructibility; the only reason he could invoke it to strengthen the Profound Yin Shield came from the Inheritance of the Xia Emperor—he knew how it worked, but not why.

However, this did not impede the power of this defensive technique, which Lei Dong termed the Indestructible Profound Yin Shield. The spatial shards capable of easily slicing through the bodies of Nascent Soul stage cultivators only managed to stir faint ripples upon striking the Indestructible Profound Yin Shield. Moreover, Lei Dong, using his early Nascent Soul cultivation level to wield this shield, saw its power dramatically surge.

The exchange between the two occurred in a flash of lightning. On the surface, Lei Dong seemed to have the disadvantage. In reality, the Holy Radiance King was utterly aghast. With his power level nearing the late Nascent Soul stage, he was confident that even an ordinary mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator would, at best, suffer severe injuries or, at worst, die under his full-power combination of inescapable attacks.

Yet, Lei Dong, with mere early Nascent Soul cultivation, had completely weathered the onslaught, appearing completely unharmed. This shocked the Holy Radiance King with how difficult Lei Dong was to deal with. At this point, he dared not view Lei Dong as a mere junior anymore; this Lei Dong exuded an indescribable, bizarre aura.

“King Holy Radiance is indeed formidable,” Lei Dong laughed from afar. “You have forced me to exert my full capabilities!” With that, he formed a hand seal, and as spatial fluctuations rippled around him, several figures slowly materialized.

The first to appear was the Nascent Soul Puppet Zhen Yao, the very entity that once earned Lei Dong recognition as a peak powerhouse. Originally only about a zhang tall, Zhen Yao shook his body and instantly swelled to dozens of zhang, gripping a battle halberd, his form the color of ancient bronze, appearing heavy and solid.

“Roar~” Lei Hu, whose appearance bore a strong resemblance to Lei Dong, roared with blazing eyes before his form distorted and expanded. In an instant, he transformed into an abyssal shadow tiger, over thirty zhang from head to tail, resembling an ancient fierce beast. After advancing to the Nascent Soul realm, beneath Lei Hu’s majestic body, a subtle aura of the ancient divine beast White Tiger, which once shook the primordial wilds, could faintly be discerned.

Two other figures appeared on Lei Dong’s left and right flanks: the diminutive Gui Ci, and the tall, slender Gui Ming.

The Holy Radiance King’s expression stiffened. He had not expected Lei Dong to have such reserves, summoning four Nascent Soul stage entities at once. Seeing the faint spiritual connection between the Nascent Soul entities and Lei Dong, the Holy Radiance King knew Lei Dong wasn't resorting to simple bullying through numbers; these were genuinely his battle pets, puppets, and ghost servants.

According to the traditions of the Six Domains and Nine Continents, puppets, battle pets, and ghost servants were all factored into an individual’s overall strength. Although neither he nor Lei Dong had openly declared they were engaging in a multi-party brawl, neither had utilized means like hidden troop caches to call for outside help up to this point.

The Holy Radiance King did not believe he needed backup to fight Lei Dong, and Lei Dong, having only recently advanced to the Nascent Soul stage, was intentionally seeking to test the limits of his own strength. Therefore, both tacitly agreed to this state of one-on-one engagement.

Both were overlords and heroes of their respective realms, especially the Holy Radiance King, whose fame was widespread. He considered everyone else insignificant, save for a few exceedingly brilliant prodigies at the peak of the mid-stage Nascent Soul realm who could barely match him.

In the current situation, the Holy Radiance King felt that whoever resorted to calling for help first would lose face. He harbored a slight admiration for Lei Dong, who, with only early Nascent Soul strength, insisted on fighting him one-on-one.

If that were the case, he, the Holy Radiance King, could not let his reputation suffer. The Holy Radiance King roared, “Lei Dong, I admit you are already one of the few supreme experts in the world, an undeniable overlord-level figure. Come, let this King fight you to the death!” With that, he flicked his body and hurled a punch directly at Lei Dong.

“Surround and kill,” commanded Lei Dong’s divine sense fluctuations. His four Nascent Soul subordinates began to use their unique abilities to besiege the Holy Radiance King. The Holy Radiance King was worthy of being renowned alongside the Netherworld Ghost Emperor; he was truly formidable.

Even under the combined assault of Zhen Yao, Lei Hu, and the other two, he still maintained a clear advantage.

But Lei Dong was no pushover either. His mastery of the Demonic Emperor’s True Word Art was not inferior to the Holy Radiance King’s; in fact, because Lei Dong’s divine sense was slightly stronger, he held a slight edge in True Word techniques, causing the Holy Radiance King significant difficulty.

However, the Holy Radiance King also unleashed a torrent of unexpected tricks. Despite five opponents attacking one, the battle was only a stalemate; neither side could decisively overpower the other. Realistically, if the fight continued this way, Lei Dong and his lower-stage subordinates would gradually lose ground due to insufficient raw power.

“I decree, space shall be solidified!” Lei Dong shouted out in unison.

The Holy Radiance King was slightly startled. Lei Dong’s True Word Art was potent enough to briefly restrain even him. He urgently flickered his body, trying to evade the spatial solidification. However, Lei Dong had only shouted the words empty of true effect. Instantly, following where the Holy Radiance King settled, Lei Dong delivered several pinpoint strikes of finger energy.

The Netherworld Finger was something the Holy Radiance King disdained; he didn't even bother dodging, relying entirely on his Holy Light Shield for defense.

But then, something the Holy Radiance King never anticipated occurred. The Netherworld Finger, which he had dismissed, erupted with immense power. With a sizzling sound, it pierced through the Holy Light Shield and blasted several holes directly into his body.