The first to appear was Leihu, no longer the tiger incapable of aiding Leidong in battle as it once was. Appearing in its largest form, its massive body spanned dozens of zhang, its dark tiger stripes resembling divine runes imbued with the Heavenly Dao, emitting a faint, soft light. Its tiger eyes were sharp and brimming with killing intent. With every movement, it effortlessly displayed the imposing dominance of a tiger-type demonic beast—clearly not to be trifled with.

Leihu was certainly fortunate to follow Leidong; otherwise, its life would have peaked at being merely a Golden Core level tiger dominating the mountain forests.

The second to emerge was the Bronze Puppet, Zhengyu. It was a simple, clumsy puppet pieced together from the components of several Soul Transformation stage puppets. Although Zhengyu itself was only in the early Soul Transformation stage, it inherited the primordial spirit and combat experience of the ancient war giant Dana. When unleashing its full power, it could contend even with those in the mid Soul Transformation stage.

Gui Sheng and Gui Ming also appeared one after another. These two Ghost Servants, both exuding a powerful aura at the Soul Transformation level, left Yin Shibai utterly stunned, feeling quite dumbfounded. Hadn't he heard that the spiritual energy of chaos was scarce outside, making Soul Transformation experts exceedingly rare? How could two early Soul Transformation stage ghost entities suddenly appear?

As for Linghu Qianqian, her current strength was still too low, so Leidong kept her from appearing and embarrassing herself. Leidong hadn't truly taken her as a battle pet; instead, he gave her a Chaos Crystal and confined her to cultivation within his Harem Abode. Given the aptitude she had displayed, coupled with the bloodline of the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox, it wouldn't take decades for her to ascend to the Soul Transformation stage and grow her sixth tail.

Both in the present and ancient times, the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox was a relatively rare divine beast, specializing in all manner of illusions. Illusions, in certain critical moments, could often produce effects beyond imagination; used correctly, they could rival thousands of troops and horses. It was for this reason that Leidong had taken her in and provided her with the Chaos Crystal for cultivation. Otherwise, for someone who had just joined the faction, possessing no established merit, how could she immediately be gifted something as precious as a Chaos Crystal?

But regardless, the five manifestations of Soul Transformation power that Leidong had currently displayed were more than enough to intimidate Yin Shibai and that idiotic female Artifact Spirit. Perhaps these forces were insignificant during the Pluto Hall's peak.

But now, Pluto Hall was in a desperate state, barely able to muster two bronze and four silver Soul Transformation puppets. Even if their strengths were equal, Leidong still held the 'Kill and Interrogate' cards unused. Yin Shibai had witnessed clearly how Leidong had summoned millions of bizarre ghost soldiers to torment the avatars of the great powers of the Demon Spirit Realm.

If Leidong unleashed his full might, no one present could stop him. For a moment, Yin Shibai was dumbfounded, and the brainless woman behind him also fell silent.

"Ten thousand battle-damaged puppets, plus one thousand Innate Spirit Gathering Pills. I will withdraw immediately," Leidong stated his demands plainly, without uttering any overt threats.

"Gah…" the female Artifact Spirit shrieked, "You are a brigand! How could we possibly have ten thousand battle-damaged puppets here? And one thousand Innate Spirit Gathering Pills? Do you think Innate Spirit Herbs are common cabbages scattered everywhere?"

"Refusing is also an option," Leidong sneered. "I will uphold justice for Senior Pluto, clean up this branch, and erase you, an unqualified Artifact Spirit, from the control center. I believe you have already evolved life consciousness, haven't you? And according to the rules of the Artifact Spirit Realm, an Artifact Spirit that evolves life consciousness must be erased."

The female Artifact Spirit fell silent. If she hadn't evolved true life consciousness, possessing only a simple intellect, she naturally wouldn't fear death. But once an Artifact Spirit evolves into life, it accumulates the undesirable habits of life—all sorts of emotions, including the fear of death.

Merely from the Artifact Spirit's fit of rage, demanding Yin Shibai eliminate him, Leidong was certain she had evolved life. All living things fear death. And for an Artifact Spirit, evolving into life consciousness is difficult, making the fear of death even more profound.

"Ahem," Yin Shibai coughed theatrically, playing the mediator. "Young Master Lei, our Pluto Hall has rules. Miss Artifact Spirit must adhere to the will of Pluto and guard the Pluto Hall; she absolutely cannot disobey Lord Pluto's commands. Please do not make things difficult for her." Truth always resided with the stronger party. Given the superior circumstances, Yin Shibai dared only address Leidong as 'Young Master Lei' and wouldn't casually use familiar terms like 'Brother Lei.'

"Hehe, I am merely stating the facts," Leidong shrugged indifferently, then addressed the void again. "Miss Artifact Spirit, have you seen my subordinate, Zhengyu? He was originally the Artifact Spirit of an Ancient Innate Spirit Treasure, and over the long passage of time, he evolved life. If you wish, I can teach you a method to become a true living being capable of moving freely."

"What?" the female Artifact Spirit exclaimed in shock again. "How is that possible? We Artifact Spirits, even if we evolve life consciousness, are beings without souls. Unless we have an attachment, we cannot even leave our own control center."

"What my Master says is true. I was indeed the Artifact Spirit of the Fair Combat Arena, but thanks to my Master's great grace, I was granted true life," Mo Xie stated plainly. "Don't look at my current puppet form; if I wished, I could completely seize the body of an existing flesh-and-blood being. I am now truly alive."

Suddenly, a fluctuation emanated from the female Artifact Spirit, as if she were communicating with Zhengyu.

"Hmph, so you can confirm I was once an Artifact Spirit now?" After communicating with her briefly, Zhengyu coldly sneered. "But don't think about extracting the secret of truly becoming life from me. Agree to Master's terms, or we will utterly flatten your dilapidated Pluto Hall. My Master’s claim of having over a hundred Soul Transformation subordinates and ten thousand Nascent Soul retainers is no joke. In the near future, we plan to unify the Six Domains and Nine Continents."

Zhengyu benefited greatly from following Leidong, and being constrained by him, he was naturally entirely loyal to Leidong. Perhaps when the Master eventually possesses Void Refinement stage puppets, he could find a way to employ Zhengyu there too. Who, if they possessed life, wouldn't desire greater strength?

The female Artifact Spirit fell into silence. In truth, had she not developed genuine life consciousness, she would naturally have followed Pluto’s original will, preserving the Pluto Hall without deviation. But once she became truly alive, she inevitably developed self-interest. The temptation Leidong offered was immense. Furthermore, refusing the terms meant facing forceful erasure by Leidong. And it was believable that the current residual strength of Pluto Hall could not withstand Leidong.

"Fine, ten thousand battle-damaged puppets," the female Artifact Spirit finally made her choice out of helplessness after careful deliberation. "But we don't have that many Innate Spirit Gathering Pills; we only have eight hundred."

When Leidong quoted that price, he was merely making an exorbitant demand. He hadn't expected this female Artifact Spirit to accept his terms almost entirely, and inwardly, he couldn't help but be secretly delighted. Ten thousand Soul Transformation puppets! Even piecing them together haphazardly, he estimated he could assemble at least two thousand intact puppets. As for the remaining damaged parts, they wouldn't be wasted; he would hand them over to the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect for repairs, supplementing materials, and gradually making them usable.

At the same time, Leidong vaguely grasped the terrifying might of those Supremacy-level experts. Consider this: Pluto, an expert inferior to the Three Realms Supremacy, possessed at least ten thousand Soul Transformation level puppets; not to mention others.

And the Three Realms Supremacy would likely be stronger, not weaker.

Simultaneously, Leidong felt an even greater necessity to be cautious and vigilant. His current strength was still far too weak to directly confront the Three Realms Supremacy. However, with several thousand more Soul Transformation puppets, even the usual great powers of the Demon Realm might start to fear him. A single Soul Transformation expert wasn't a major figure in the Three Realms, but in large numbers, they were equally formidable.

Of course, even if Leidong obtained this batch of Soul Transformation puppets now, his strength wouldn't instantly surge. After all, these puppets would require a significant amount of time for repair and integration. Moreover, he would need to instill combat awareness into them.

Leidong had no place to find two thousand Soul Transformation beings to harvest primordial spirits, refine them, and form the control cores for the Soul Transformation puppets. In fact, for such a massive army of Soul Transformation puppets, Leidong could only rely on the Artifact Spirit for control.

Fortunately, his major in his previous life was precisely this, and in this life, he also possessed considerable expertise in this area. His perspective on many matters was so unique that it surpassed that of some artifact refiners in this world. Leidong, possessing memories from two worlds, found his greatest advantage in his approach to problems, which wasn't constrained by limited horizons. He could often devise concepts that people in this world couldn't even imagine.

For instance, the Bumblebee Leidong once played with was one such example.

Towards the female Artifact Spirit’s compliance, Leidong temporarily suppressed any thought of forceful takeover and engaged in a proper transaction. After utilizing his vast storage space to collect ten thousand battle-damaged puppets and receiving over eight hundred bottles of Innate Spirit Pills, he then revealed the method for extracting the spirit to her.

The female Artifact Spirit pondered carefully before saying, "Leidong, your method is certainly highly feasible, but we don't have primordial spirits on hand?"

She had no idea that Leidong was waiting precisely for her to say this. In fact, even in this desolate, gloomy void outside the domain, finding a single beast at the Soul Transformation stage was extremely difficult. Moreover, this little creature certainly wouldn't desire the primordial spirit of a demonic beast for possession.

As for capturing female Soul Transformation experts from other races and extracting their primordial spirits, this posed an immense difficulty for the female Artifact Spirit. Putting aside whether she could even leave, even if she found a way out, would those female Soul Transformation experts really be so easy to kill?

Leidong chuckled inwardly with subtle delight, but his face remained serious. "I happen to have a female primordial spirit on hand. However, that was a trophy I painstakingly earned through battle…"

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