"It's exactly as I thought!"
Zhuang Zhentian, his heart as wicked as any true demon, felt no guilt whatsoever. Instead, he was overwhelmed with the exhilarating pleasure of releasing his dark desires.
"Kehehe… HAHAHA!"
He laughed maniacally toward the sky. "It's true after all!"
This spiritual treasure can indeed make me stronger by drinking blood!
What a tremendous boon!
Just as that thought crossed his mind, he was surrounded by the furious attacks of the eighteen remaining Core Formation cultivators of Haoran Academy, enraged by the death of their fellow disciple.
However...
Zhuang Zhentian's body seemed to collapse like a phantom after enduring their continuous attacks.
In the next moment!
Zhuang Zhentian reappeared at a different spot—right in front of a female Core Formation cultivator.
"No… no! Don't!"
The female cultivator screamed in terror as she saw Zhuang Zhentian before her, his entire body surging with fierce blood-red energy, half of his figure stained with blood, his face spattered with crimson drops, his eyes gleaming with a bloodthirsty crimson glow, and a cruel smile curling at his lips.
Driven by her desperate will to survive, she launched her strongest attack!
But...
This mid-stage Core Formation cultivator stood no chance against Zhuang Zhentian, whose cultivation had reached the late Nascent Soul stage, bolstered by Ye Fan's enhancements.
Her attack was effortlessly shattered by Zhuang Zhentian's sword.
And it didn't stop there.
His sword continued its trajectory, slicing her from her left shoulder to her right waist, cutting her in half!
[Killed Haoran Academy mid-stage Core Formation cultivator Lin Wanqian, gained 53,476 evolution points]
The system's notification rang out, but Ye Fan felt no excitement.
While Zhuang Zhentian's actions accelerated Ye Fan's evolution, his methods elicited no approval from Ye Fan.
"He is nothing like Lin Li."
Ye Fan murmured to himself, "Lin Li also killed, but never indiscriminately. Every time he killed, it was with reason, or because of necessity due to his position. Zhuang Zhentian, on the other hand, this former Demon Sect leader… is different! He slaughters without reason or humanity—a true mass murderer."
"A sword master like this is too vile, violating the natural order."
"However, having such a master does indeed speed up my evolution considerably. Regardless of my personal feelings, his actions, combined with the curse effect and the infamy he's building from slaughtering innocents, will soon bring the entire cultivation world against him. He won't live long."
At present, Ye Fan, a low-grade spiritual treasure, had accumulated over 2.5 million evolution points, but he needed 6 million points to evolve.
Though 6 million was a large number, at Zhuang Zhentian's current rate of indiscriminate slaughter, Ye Fan estimated that it wouldn't take long to reach the required points.
As Ye Fan pondered this, the two Nascent Soul elders of Haoran Academy, Mr. Wang and Mr. Liu, grew enraged as they watched another disciple fall under Zhuang Zhentian's blade.
"You heartless demon!"
"We'll fight you to the death!"
The two elders summoned their spiritual treasures.
One wielded a fan-shaped treasure.
The other had a treasure in the form of a book!
Elder Liu swung his fan, unleashing a storm of wind blades!
Meanwhile, from Mr. Wang's book-shaped treasure, glowing golden characters formed a string of words that flew toward Zhuang Zhentian!
"Hahaha! What can you do to me?"
After killing two Core Formation cultivators, Zhuang Zhentian felt a surge of pure energy from the spiritual treasure in his hand. The energy flowed directly into his body, and he felt his cultivation rise steadily.
In mere moments, he realized his cultivation had increased by one percent!
Though one percent might sound small, to Zhuang Zhentian, it was an astonishing gain!
One percent was ten times more than a mere fraction of his cultivation. And at the bottleneck he had reached, it would have taken years of cultivation to make such progress.
But now, with just two swings of his sword, killing two Core Formation cultivators, he had achieved it!
"This kind of advancement... compared to cultivation, it's as easy as lifting a finger!"
Zhuang Zhentian was ecstatic!
His figure flickered and vanished again.
Elder Liu's wind blades scattered, forcing the seventeen other Core Formation cultivators to dodge and split up.
The wind blades swept across the battlefield, slicing everything in their path into fragments—nothing was spared, not even the hardest stones, which were reduced to dust.
Zhuang Zhentian reappeared behind another Core Formation cultivator of Haoran Academy.
Thud!
With a swift strike, he pierced the cultivator's body and prepared to finish him off, when—
The golden characters from Mr. Wang's book-shaped treasure suddenly materialized around Zhuang Zhentian!
"Righteous teachings suppress evil! By decree, seal!"
Mr. Wang shouted, and the golden words around Zhuang Zhentian tightened like chains!
"Tch!"
Zhuang Zhentian sneered, "Petty tricks!"
With a flick of his sword, his figure vanished once again, and Mr. Wang's sealing decree hit nothing but air.
When Zhuang Zhentian reappeared, he shook his head regretfully. "Too bad, I didn't manage to kill him…"
But before he could finish his sentence, he noticed that the cultivator he had stabbed earlier was turning blue and purple.
The man screamed in agony, frothing at the mouth, and fell lifeless to the ground!
[Killed Haoran Academy Core Formation sixth-layer elder He Daoyuan, gained 66,999 evolution points]
"This?!"
Even Zhuang Zhentian was caught off guard by the sight.
After all, Core Formation cultivators had incredibly strong life forces.
Even if their hearts were pierced, unless continuously attacked, they could still use their spiritual energy to protect their hearts and survive—though it might take years and potent medicinal pills to fully recover.
But all Zhuang Zhentian had done was stab the man in the abdomen.
Normally, such an injury wouldn't even kill a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Yet, in a matter of moments, the man had died as if poisoned!
"Could it be… this spiritual treasure has a poison effect?!"
For the first time, Zhuang Zhentian discovered one of Ye Fan's passive abilities: Poison!
With Zhuang Zhentian's cultivation at the late Nascent Soul stage, he vastly outclassed the Core Formation cultivators he faced, making them unable to resist the poisonous effects of Ye Fan's sword.
"We can't go on like this!"
Mr. Wang, the highest-ranking elder of Haoran Academy, shouted, "Everyone, form the Righteous Qi Formation! Don't let him take us down one by one!"