Three peerless powerhouses, having eliminated their designated targets, exchanged distant glances, each discerning a flicker of mutual defiance mingled with a grudging respect in the other's eyes. Indeed, were it not for certain unforeseen circumstances, whether it was the Glorious King, the Purgatory Demon Lord, or the Netherworld Ghost Emperor—all had long been renowned as the absolute pinnacle figures in this world.

A surge of heat flashed through the Glorious King’s mind, yet he allowed himself a slight pang of regret; alas, his own lifespan was nearing its end, otherwise, these two might have been worthy partners.

The three merely met each other's gaze, immediately sensing the competitive tension between them. Without ceremony, they extended their shadowy claws toward the remaining strongmen. Since the seven initial Divine Transformation stage experts already had assigned targets, the three Void Refinement stage powerhouses were reluctantly forced to turn their attention to the weaker Nascent Soul stage foes.

Even mid-stage Divine Transformation experts could not withstand three moves from these monstrous fellows, let alone the "feeble" Nascent Soul stage cultivators. Under the Purgatory Demon Lord’s Blazing Heaven Conflagration, countless fire serpents manifested, enveloping dozens of Nascent Souls. Under the Nine Yang True Fire, which could even dissipate Divine Transformation cultivators, the Nascent Souls, even deploying all their defensive artifacts and activating every shield, could not last more than a few breaths. Dozens of Nascent Souls, capable of dominating a region in the countryside, swiftly turned to ash. His current Blazing Heaven Conflagration no longer possessed the might it held during the Divine Transformation stage; it was several times more potent, and the flames had advanced from the Six-Extreme Yang Fire level to the Nine Yang True Fire.

The Netherworld Ghost Emperor was not to be outdone. A dense black miasma erupted from his body, instantly forming a vortex that spread in all directions. The Nascent Soul enemies were sucked into the vortex, and within moments, they were torn to shreds by the ghost energy, which had become as sharp as blades.

“Hmph!” Though the Glorious King’s longevity was limited, he refused to tarnish the illustrious prestige of the Winged Radiant God Clan. He uttered a low roar: "Holy Light Illumination.”

Suddenly, the Glorious King transformed into a sun, radiating golden, brilliant light. Beams of light turned into sharp blades, exploding outwards like meteors. As if guided by some unseen conductor, streaks of meteors, trailing long fiery tails, struck dozens of Nascent Soul enemies within several miles with flawless precision. Each Holy Light Meteor detonated upon contact, blasting the enemies to dust.

Those Nascent Soul experts who could dominate local territories were slaughtered as easily as slicing melons and chopping vegetables by these Void Refinement powerhouses, instantly reduced to useless husks. This was the true might of the Void Refinement stage, and these three were aberrations among the strongest of the strong.

Of course, despite the terrifying power of their ultimate moves, capable of instantly obliterating dozens of Nascent Souls, even cultivators as mighty as the Void Refinement stage could not unleash such techniques recklessly. In just a few breaths, these moves could deplete over half of their strength; utilizing techniques that damaged the self, they could afford perhaps only one or two uses.

Had it not been for Lei Dong’s command to annihilate the thousand-man unit in the shortest time possible, they would not have been foolish enough to mow down enemies with such costly ultimate skills. But even so, after one burst, they all felt their true essence run thin and dared not act rashly again, settling instead for methodical execution.

The three Void Refinement experts were formidable, but Lei Dong’s hundred-man Divine Transformation team was no less impressive. While they couldn't slaughter Nascent Souls quite as effortlessly as chopping vegetables, they moved like wolves among sheep, utterly unrestrained. They unleashed their most potent powers, often eradicating a Nascent Soul within a few exchanges. The remaining seven Divine Transformation experts were assigned to Wan Yan and Tian Mo for practice. Naturally, one-on-one combat was out of the question; it was usually three or four ganging up on one.

The reason was simple: Lei Dong now commanded over a hundred Divine Transformation experts. In a fair fight between Divine Transformation cultivators, a battle might drag on for quite some time. However, with several attacking one, and often mid-stage experts bullying early-stage ones, it was pure annihilation. All manner of ferocious spells and attacks rained down without restraint, leaving the early-stage Divine Transformation opponents no room to retaliate. In less than ten breaths, after just a few moves each, they were utterly destroyed.

Furthermore, the thousand-plus elite Nascent Soul high-stage and peak cultivators also displayed immense prowess, largely dealing with their enemies through overwhelming numbers, easily handling the opposition.

This level of ferocity was only employed against the Mind-Seized Demon army. Any other force would have long since suffered a collapse of morale and fled. But these individuals, their minds controlled by the Mind-Seized Demons, knew no fear of death.

This sudden raid was fought with exhilarating satisfaction—a perfect example of the strong preying on the weak. Everyone poured out their pent-up anger and frustration without reservation. Even Lei Dong could not resist joining the fray personally, leading the Ghost Spikes, Ghost Shadows, Thunder Tigers, and Town-Restrainers. They first overwhelmed a single early-stage Divine Transformation expert through sheer mass, then turned their attention to the Nascent Soul cultivators.

Lei Dong himself was a terrifyingly powerful expert, especially his Netherworld Immortal Slaying Finger, which even Divine Transformation experts could not withstand. At his current level of cultivation, a single point of this finger could instantly obliterate a Nascent Soul expert. However, potent as the Netherworld Immortal Slaying Finger was, it drained true essence drastically. After unleashing over ten successive points, easily wiping out a dozen Nascent Souls, Lei Dong felt a sudden void in his true essence.

So, he switched tactics, using the Netherworld Ghost Claw for crowd control, allowing the Thunder Tigers to assist. With the two working in tandem, the killing proceeded at an incredible speed. Just as Lei Dong was savoring the carnage and wished to kill more, there was no one left to strike. A thousand-man unit, boasting seven Divine Transformation experts, was completely wiped out in a mere two hundred breaths—not a single survivor.

Among Lei Dong’s forces, only a few dozen Nascent Soul experts sustained injuries of varying severity; none died. Achieving such a result was not entirely extraordinary, given that the three Void Refinement experts had each slain over a hundred Nascent Souls, in addition to eliminating three mid-stage Divine Transformation experts. In total, they accounted for nearly thirty percent of the enemy’s total losses.

This revealed the horror of the Void Refinement stage’s power: without corresponding power levels or an absolute numerical advantage to restrain them, the sheer destructive capability they could unleash was staggering. In truth, it was hardly surprising. When a Void Refinement expert faced Nascent Soul cultivators, it was fundamentally equivalent to a Golden Core Patriarch confronting Qi Refining novices—ants that could be crushed at will, without any right to resist.

Strength is always relative; Golden Core experts could crush Qi Refiners, and Divine Transformation experts could overwhelmingly crush Golden Cores. Naturally, while Nascent Soul experts could still scratch and claw against Divine Transformation cultivators, they had absolutely no recourse against the Void Refinement stage, short of sacrificing their lives in a human wave attack.

And the hundred-plus Divine Transformation experts, once mobilized, displayed even swifter power. In just two hundred breaths, they easily eliminated seven early-stage Divine Transformation experts and annihilated over six hundred Nascent Souls. That is to say, the three Void Refinement experts and over a hundred Divine Transformation cultivators single-handedly accounted for the deaths of nine hundred enemies. The remaining hundred fell to the rest of the Nascent Soul elites.

Of course, this result was achieved because the opposing forces were relatively equal in number. Had they faced a siege by tens of thousands of enemy troops, even Void Refinement experts would hesitate to recklessly unleash their ultimate skills to their fullest extent. More power would need to be allocated to defense or preparing for an organized retreat. Once entangled and surrounded, especially with opposing experts tying them down, even Void Refinement masters would face certain doom. No one in this world is absolutely invincible.

The role of those thousand-plus elite Nascent Soul cultivators on the battlefield was primarily to surround enemies, seal off any wildly flying Nascent Souls or nascent spirits, and collect spoils. As soon as the battle concluded, these Nascent Soul elites swept the battlefield clean almost simultaneously, leaving not even corpses behind.

After all, these were the corpses and souls of Nascent Soul and Divine Transformation experts. The flesh and blood could be consumed by the Fierce Ghost Army for evolution, while those powerful souls could be decomposed by Lei Dong into Chaos Crystals and Chaos Origin essence.

Although in the end, Lei Dong only collected ten nascent spirits and over nine hundred Nascent Souls, based on this alone, Lei Dong estimated he could decompose at least three Chaos Crystals and a few wisps of Chaos Origin essence—a massive haul.

Beyond that, the various materials found on these individuals represented a considerable bounty, not to mention the combat experience gained by everyone in the battle.

In summary, this was a glorious victory yielding immense profit.

Just as the other armies under the Emperor of Dark Night were mobilizing reinforcements, Lei Dong had already vanished without a trace, taking everyone with him. A few days later, Lei Dong struck again, ambushing the rear guard of the Emperor of Dark Night’s sweeping army. It was another lightning raid, easily annihilating another thousand-man unit, allowing them to flee when the enemy turned back to reinforce.

However, after two successful sneak attacks, the Emperor of Dark Night quickly adapted, pulling his scattered formations back tightly, like a turtle retreating into its shell. This ensured that if a flank was attacked, reinforcements could arrive within a hundred breaths.

Consequently, after repeated searching, Lei Dong could no longer find an opportunity for an ambush.

But every advantage carries a drawback. The Emperor of Dark Night’s formation was originally designed to encircle Lei Dong’s scattered forces. Now that they were turtled up, how could they conduct a sweeping net search? With a search radius of only a few dozen miles, how could such a small net capture Lei Dong’s dispersed troops?

Thus, the Emperor of Dark Night’s large-scale encirclement tactic crumbled. After setting several traps designed to lure Lei Dong into biting, only for the cunning Lei Dong to sense the danger and evade them, the Emperor of Dark Night reluctantly ordered his army to withdraw to their stronghold for recuperation.

But as soon as the Emperor of Dark Night returned to his lair, Lei Dong became active once more, brazenly scouring the land, re-establishing the Chaos Spirit Gathering Formations that had been constantly destroyed, openly harvesting resources once again…