At this moment, Zhuang Zhentian began to tremble with excitement!
"I... I'm about to break through!"
He had been stuck at the peak of the eighth layer of the Nascent Soul stage for a long time, unable to break through the bottleneck. But after slaughtering the entire Haoran Academy, he received an immense amount of feedback energy from Ye Fan!
This energy shattered the bottleneck!
In the midst of facing Mr. Wang and Mr. Liu's attacks, Zhuang Zhentian's cultivation broke through from the eighth layer of the Nascent Soul stage to the ninth layer!
Moreover, Ye Fan's feedback hadn't stopped!
"Hahaha!"
Zhuang Zhentian laughed maniacally, "The heavens are truly helping me!"
"Who would've thought I'd benefit from this disaster!"
Although his plan to unite Zhao Kingdom under the Demon Sect had been destroyed, and even the Demon Sect itself had been obliterated, Zhuang Zhentian gained something far greater—Ye Fan, the demon sword.
"Oh, demon sword! Compared to you, the entire Demon Sect is nothing!"
He muttered to himself, his blood-red eyes fixating on the two elders ahead.
He formed a hand seal, and instantly, the two hanba and the Bone King charged forward, engaging Mr. Wang and Mr. Liu directly.
Although the hanba and the Bone King couldn't deliver fatal blows, their sheer numbers forced the two elders into a constant struggle, unable to focus on Zhuang Zhentian.
At the same time, Zhuang Zhentian began summoning more of his underlings!
"Roar!!!"
A white tiger roared as it leapt from Zhuang Zhentian's sleeve, growing larger as it faced the wind, turning into a giant beast three zhang (about 10 meters) tall!
Following closely behind the white tiger were a serpent, a golden eagle, and a green cicada, all summoned from his sleeve!
Back in the Red River Demon Sect branch, there were disciples who specialized in corpse control and beast taming, while the two chief protectors wielded weapons.
As the Demon Sect's leader, Zhuang Zhentian was well-versed in controlling both corpses and beasts, as well as proficient with magical treasures and spells!
After all, he was a demon who had lived for thousands of years!
Two hanba, each as powerful as a Nascent Soul stage cultivator, a nearly indestructible Bone King, a Nascent Soul-level White Tiger King, and the late-stage Core Formation serpent, eagle, and cicada all overwhelmed Mr. Wang and Mr. Liu, leaving them completely occupied with defending themselves.
Meanwhile, Zhuang Zhentian stood by leisurely, observing the fight.
Finally!
When Mr. Liu, surrounded by gusts of wind, pushed the Bone King back and used his fan-shaped treasure to send the serpent flying, Zhuang Zhentian found his opening and dashed behind Mr. Liu, striking with his sword!
Mr. Liu's head was severed!
[Killed Haoran Academy's Nascent Soul third-layer elder, Mr. Liu, gained 396,656 evolution points]
"Nearly four hundred thousand evolution points!"
Ye Fan looked at Mr. Wang with pity. "It seems the people of Haoran Academy, who cultivate righteous qi, are mostly upright individuals. But unfortunately... they met Zhuang Zhentian, this demon, and are destined to become my evolution points."
"Brother Liu!!!"
Mr. Wang, who was being besieged by two hanba and the White Tiger King, widened his eyes, his voice filled with grief.
With a furious swing of his ruler, he sent one of the hanba flying over a thousand meters, crashing into the rear mountain of Haoran Academy!
However, as a zombie, the hanba was incredibly resilient.
From the mountain ruins, the heavily scarred hanba fearlessly soared back into the sky, attacking once again!
Meanwhile, the other hanba and the White Tiger King intensified their onslaught, forcing Mr. Wang to activate his book-shaped treasure, surrounding himself with golden characters for defense.
Zhuang Zhentian looked curiously at Mr. Liu's headless corpse, frowning as he muttered, "Strange, why hasn't his Nascent Soul emerged?"
He had already prepared a technique to suppress Mr. Liu's escaping Nascent Soul.
To his surprise, the Nascent Soul never appeared.
Upon closer inspection, Zhuang Zhentian was shocked to discover that Mr. Liu's Nascent Soul had vanished!
"How is that possible?!"
Zhuang Zhentian was puzzled. "Could he have escaped without me noticing?"
At that moment, Ye Fan's Soul Annihilation passive skill had destroyed Mr. Liu's soul, while the Soul Devour skill had consumed his Nascent Soul, providing Ye Fan with a significant amount of energy!
[Absorbed the Nascent Soul of Haoran Academy's Nascent Soul third-layer elder, Mr. Liu, gained 237,563 energy points]
"This Soul Devour skill is truly amazing! One devour alone gave me over two hundred thirty thousand energy points!"
As Ye Fan absorbed the remaining fragments of Mr. Liu's Nascent Soul, he channeled the excess energy back to Zhuang Zhentian.
Zhuang Zhentian instantly felt a surge of pure energy flowing from the sword into his body!
This energy, along with the previous feedback, entered his body, but this time, the sensation was entirely different!
The earlier energy had been pure, requiring a conversion process to enhance Zhuang Zhentian's cultivation.
But now, this new energy felt as though it had always been part of his body, merging seamlessly without any need for conversion!
In just a few breaths, Zhuang Zhentian felt his soul strengthening significantly, and even his Nascent Soul expanded!
It was incredible!
Zhuang Zhentian had already reached the ninth layer of the Nascent Soul stage!
In theory, even if he reached the peak of the ninth layer, his power shouldn't increase any further unless he broke through to the next stage.
Yet now, this mysterious energy was directly nourishing his original soul and Nascent Soul!
Even without breaking through, his soul grew denser, and his Nascent Soul became larger and more powerful!
"This is unheard of! This growth should only occur after breaking through to the Soul Transformation stage…"
"Could it be...?"
"Impossible!"
Zhuang Zhentian gasped in shock as the realization dawned on him, "Mr. Liu's Nascent Soul didn't escape; it was devoured by this demon sword!"
"This is terrifying! To die by this sword means even the Nascent Soul is consumed!"
"But…"
"This is perfect!"
"As long as I haven't broken through to the Soul Transformation stage, I can continue killing Nascent Soul cultivators and let this demon sword devour their Nascent Souls… My own Nascent Soul will grow as if I've already reached the Soul Transformation stage!"
"With this, my breakthrough will be much easier! And once I do break through, my Nascent Soul will be so powerful that even surpassing the ancient demon lord I summoned years ago might not be impossible!"
Zhuang Zhentian's gaze toward Mr. Wang…
…became even more ravenous.
"Now... you're just more nourishment to make me stronger!"