Lei Dong's brow furrowed slightly. That Fairy Bibo, wasn't she the master of Tantai Bingyun? She remained in the Immortal Realm, leaving behind the vast Bibo Palace, and her overall strength seemed formidable. Could it be that there were indeed deep grudges and entanglements between Fairy Bibo and the Lord of the Underworld?

"That Bibo bitch, she is truly a heartless and unjust scoundrel of a woman! Lord Ming was so good to her, yet she constantly advised the Master not to stir up war easily, nor should he casually slaughter the powerful." Ming Ji was utterly furious: "Damn it, if we don't slaughter the strong, how can we forge the Nether Army? Without the Nether Army, how can we unify the Three Realms? To hell with her entire ancestral line! And she kept egging the Master on to build some useless tower, claiming that once successful, he would surely break through to the Supremacy, reaching Eternity. Hmph, the Master actually believed her, wasting all his time and resources on that damn tower. And for that tower, he had to venture out searching for some Chaos Origin. Now look—he was plotted against by the Immortal Realm and the Demon Realm joining forces. Right before the battle, that Bibo bitch even tricked me away from my former master, claiming she needed to conduct some research."

Although the crude language flew, Lei Dong understood the gist of Ming Ji's accusations. So, it wasn't that the Nether King Banner was weak, but that the enemy was too cunning? They sent Fairy Bibo as an infiltrator to seduce the Lord of the Underworld, ultimately leading to his downfall. Ming Ji’s words were coarse but held truth: the Nether King Banner was inherently an artifact that grew stronger with continuous battle, requiring the constant absorption of powerful souls to forge Nether Ghost Soldiers, Nether Ghost Generals, and Nether Ghost Kings to become truly mighty.

However, perhaps precisely because of this, his own chance for prominence had arrived. Otherwise, if the Lord of the Underworld had forcefully unified the Three Realms, history would not be what it is now. Whether he would even exist then would be debatable.

But there surely must have been some other hidden circumstances. Otherwise, for a peerless, extraordinarily brilliant powerhouse like the Lord of the Underworld, he wouldn't have lent out the Nether King Banner unless his affection for Fairy Bibo was truly profound. And if Fairy Bibo was truly such an unfeeling and ruthless being, how could she have ended up in such a miserable state?

Of course, history is just history. Lei Dong listened to the past, but what mattered most now. If he couldn't grow stronger, surpassing the combined might of the Three Realms Supremes, he would inevitably meet the same fate as the Lord of the Underworld and the Demon Emperor sooner or later.

Who knew that Ming Ji was still nagging incessantly, her resentment seemingly overflowing: "It's not enough that the Bibo bitch stole me away; she even used some evil methods to seal most of my abilities, constantly claiming that I was a weapon of mass destruction that couldn't have my power fully unleashed. Damn it, I say the Bibo bitch is the real ultimate destructive weapon! Otherwise, Master Ming would have long since unified the Three Realms, dominating the cosmos, perhaps even achieving true immortality, transcending reincarnation."

"Uh, you said most of your abilities were sealed?" Lei Dong's heart skipped a beat, and he couldn't help but ask.

"Uh, did I say that? Fine, fine. It’s all that Bibo bitch’s fault! Only ** percent of my current power remains. I can only forge Nether Ghost Soldiers with Nascent Soul level strength, Nether Ghost Generals with Soul Transformation level strength, and Nether Ghost Kings with Void Refinement level strength. Master, I'm actually quite formidable. If you could capture more souls of cultivators at the Integration stage, I could build you a massive army of Void Refinement level troops."

Hearing the end of that, Lei Dong’s face started to darken. So, everything Ming Ji had just claimed was just bragging! He had actually believed she possessed such capabilities and even thought the Nether King Banner's overall function might not be inferior to the Chaos Soul Devouring Pagoda.

It turned out that after all this talk, this entity was crippled. No wonder the Nether King Banner had passed through so many hands. Those who possessed the Nether Ghost Banner indeed became powerful, but not to the extent of destroying heaven and earth. It had been sealed! And she still dared to tell him to go capture masses of Integrated stage primordial spirits? To mimic her speech: Damn it, where in this world would he find so many Integration stage experts for her to capture? Even if one stood before him, could he win? If this was the extent of its power, his own Nether Flame Ghost Banner wasn't far off.

Lei Dong, his face grim, questioned her: "Then tell me, under what conditions will you no longer be disabled?"

"Master, I'm not disab— Uh, alright, alright. If you wish to break my seal, you need to grasp the Law of the Underworld," Ming Ji said with a look of dejection and helplessness. "As long as the Master uses the Law of the Underworld, you can undo my seal and liberate this servant to her complete state—the one I mentioned before. Master, once I reach my full potential, I will certainly help you slay gods who block the way and batter Buddhas who stand against us."

"The Law of the Underworld? It seems I know some of it." Lei Dong let out a slight sigh of relief. Other conditions might be difficult for him to achieve, but the Nether system was his absolute forte.

"Master, this servant begs for your affection, for your pity, for your ravaging," Ming Ji cried out with overwhelming joy, her voice filled with a hungry groan.

Lei Dong inwardly cursed. What kind of taste did the previous Lord of the Underworld possess to create such a being? Did the elder Lord of the Underworld perhaps have some peculiar fetish?

The reputation of the once-pitiable supreme Lord of the Underworld was thus brutally tarnished by Ming Ji. Although he had indeed refined Ming Ji as the artifact spirit when forging the Nether King Banner, heavens knew, at that time, Ming Ji, while intelligent and capable of memory, was far from developing true sentience. In fact, even if Ming Ji had possessed sentience back then, the Lord of the Underworld wouldn't have dared to engage in any shenanigans with his own artifact spirit—Elder Bibo was practically glued to his side constantly.

The reason Ming Ji became this way was due to Fairy Bibo sealing the majority of her power, then casting her into an undiscoverable secret realm. It wasn't until the later stages of the Ancient War that the Nether King Banner was accidentally found and used to assert dominance, but it was only enough for assertion, not outright conquest.

In the long, unending darkness and solitude, the intelligent Ming Ji gradually gained consciousness and slowly developed sentience. However, tormented by the darkness and loneliness, her mentality became severely twisted. After emerging, she wreaked havoc on successive masters.

Generation after generation of masters suffered at her hands; few who acquired the Nether King Banner met good ends; most died violently. Because Ming Ji was domineering and strong-willed, refusing to be refined by others and capable of departing at any moment, those who held the Nether King Banner for ages had to cater to her every whim, even groveling before her, as they needed her assistance. And she acted like an arrogant, tyrannical queen.

How could power and strength gained through abandoning dignity and begging truly be reliable? Over time, Ming Ji often abandoned those dogs at the most critical junctures, fleeing while allowing whomever she considered master or servant to die miserably at the hands of the enemy. As time passed, the Nether King Banner's reputation soured; it came to be called the Death-Summoning Banner.

Even so, the Nether King Banner was still coveted by those pursuing immense power.

And indeed, during the danger Lei Dong faced within his divine soul previously, she had also attempted to flee. If Tantai Bingyun hadn't used some unique immortal technique to force her into Lei Dong’s divine soul, passively refining her with his soul, it was highly likely that the Nether King Banner would have simply departed immediately after they survived the crushing force of the Void Tunnel.

After being soul-refined, her freedom to come and go was severely restricted. Forcibly leaving would certainly invite a backlash from the laws of existence, causing severe damage. Under such circumstances, if she suffered massive injury, she would be beyond saving. Hence, she endured the stifling atmosphere, held on until the end, and even egged on Lei Dong's spirit treasure to intercept danger. For her, this was natural justice. Who would have guessed she would run into Lei Dong, her nemesis? Her usually arrogant temper was beaten into submission by Lei Dong until she acted as docile as a downtrodden little wife.

But jokes aside, if using Nether Ghost Qi could remove her seal, Lei Dong was willing to try. After transforming his Chaos True Essence into exceptionally pure Nether Ghost Qi and injecting it into the Nether King Banner, he indeed "saw" a pure white seal.

When Lei Dong then used the Nether Ghost Qi to dissolve that pure white seal, the seal slowly began to show signs of loosening. Simultaneously, Ming Ji also began to tremble with excitement, her face flushing as she let out a shriek sounding akin to climax: "So good, Master, push harder, push harder! It's about to break! I... I'm almost there, almost..."

"Damn it." Lei Dong was on the verge of mental breakdown from her antics. Provoked, he couldn't help but curse out loud: "If you dare utter one more suggestive sound, I'd rather erase your sentience. An artifact spirit without sentience is still an artifact spirit."

This immediately silenced Ming Ji. She looked aggrieved and utterly submissive, like a scolded young wife.

Lei Dong originally thought dissolving the seal would be simple. Unexpectedly, no matter how he tried to dissolve it, the pure white seal only loosened slightly. Pushing harder yielded no result; the seal remained firmly in place, showing no signs of completely breaking apart.

In the end, after struggling for half a day, Lei Dong's internal Chaos True Essence was depleted by more than half, and he still couldn't completely break the seal. Sweat beaded on his forehead.

Seeing that Lei Dong couldn't seem to break through the seal, Ming Ji reverted to her stubborn state, resembling a long-suffering, starved woman whose desires were unfulfilled by her partner in the end. Her fair, enchanting face was filled with boundless resentment, her expression screaming dissatisfaction. Biting her finger, she pouted at Lei Dong and whined aggrievedly: "Servant, servant will do whatever you say. You can't just stop now, give me more strength, just a little more."

Lei Dong felt sweat run cold and was struck by the urge to simply choke her to put an end to it all.