"This is quite an excellent combat skill!" Ye Fan thought with delight. He continued to reflect, "The next evolution will require eight million evolution points..."
"The Seven Great Sects... Each sect has two to three Nascent Soul stage cultivators. One Nascent Soul cultivator alone provides hundreds of thousands of evolution points!"
"At present, there are five sects left. Each sect should give me around one million evolution points from Nascent Soul stage cultivators, maybe even more from the later-stage cultivators."
"In addition, those Core Formation stage cultivators from each sect would add hundreds of thousands more. If there are about nine Core Formation cultivators in each sect, that's another one or two million evolution points."
"If Zhuang Zhentian is ruthless enough and slaughters all five sects, I will evolve into a High-Grade Spirit Treasure!"
As Ye Fan calculated his progress, Zhuang Zhentian also sensed the change in his weapon. Shocked and ecstatic, he exclaimed, "It's evolved into a Mid-Grade Spirit Treasure?!"
He thought, "This sword is truly demonic! Using it to slaughter not only increases my cultivation but also causes it to evolve!"
Realizing that Ye Fan's sword could evolve through slaughter, Zhuang Zhentian's bloodlust intensified.
"Let's see how much stronger this Mid-Grade Spirit Treasure has become!"
With this thought, already in his Slaughter state, Zhuang Zhentian charged toward the late-stage Nascent Soul elder of the Zhengmiao Sect, who was being besieged by his four subordinates. As he surged forward, he infused even more powerful spiritual energy into the sword!
"Howl!!!"
A bone-chilling, blood-curdling scream echoed out!
Even Zhuang Zhentian himself shuddered at the sound, feeling his skin crawl.
As the scream rang out, a wave of spiritual force rippled outward, invisible to anyone below the Nascent Soul stage. The wave struck the Zhengmiao Sect elder, causing his expression to twist in terror, as though witnessing the most horrifying thing imaginable. He froze in place, paralyzed with fear.
"So that's how it works!"
Zhuang Zhentian realized what was happening and seized the moment. While the Nascent Soul elder was stunned, he swung his sword, beheading the elder in one swift motion!
[Killed Zhengmiao Sect Nascent Soul ninth-layer elder, gained 987,328 evolution points]
"Hiss!"
Ye Fan drew in a sharp breath, exhilarated. "One person alone brought me nearly a million evolution points!"
"With this, I now have over a million points! Only about seven million left before my next evolution!"
At the same time, Zhuang Zhentian felt a tremendous surge of energy and an overwhelming boost to his soul power flooding into his body.
He glanced down.
Inside the Zhengmiao Sect, chaos reigned.
Aside from a few elders who were away, every Core Formation elder, even the sect master, had been slain by Zhuang Zhentian. Not to mention, the two Nascent Soul elders had also fallen!
Seeing all this, the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment cultivators who had witnessed the carnage fell into utter panic and despair. Like ants caught in a downpour, they scattered in every direction.
Initially, Zhuang Zhentian had intended to continue the slaughter.
However, after killing nine Core Formation elders and two Nascent Soul elders, Ye Fan's feedback was so powerful that Zhuang Zhentian felt as though his body was about to burst from the immense energy.
"Hmph! Fine, I'll spare you ants this time!"
With a cold snort, Zhuang Zhentian transformed into a black-red beam of light and vanished into the distance.
Back at the Zhengmiao Sect, those who had survived finally breathed a collective sigh of relief.
...
Within the borders of Zhao Nation, in a cave several miles from the Zhengmiao Sect.
Zhuang Zhentian, now in hiding, sat down cross-legged, breathing heavily as he began to focus on refining the overwhelming energy from Ye Fan's feedback.
One day later!
Zhuang Zhentian, who had already solidified his Nascent Soul ninth-layer cultivation, finally reached the Nascent Soul great perfection stage!
As the demon leader of the sect, he was well-versed in every ancient text of the demonic sect, so unlike Lin Li, he had no worries about cultivation methods. At least, everything up to Out-of-Body stage great perfection was covered in the teachings of the demonic sect, inherited from the now-deceased demon master.
Two more days passed!
"I'm about to break through!"
Zhuang Zhentian's spirit soared, his eyes shining with a fierce light!
Within his Dantian!
The demonic baby inside, already larger than the average Nascent Soul due to Ye Fan's feedback, suddenly surged in growth, breaking through the bottleneck.
In the blink of an eye, the demonic baby grew to look exactly like Zhuang Zhentian!
And even more astonishing—
It was two to three times larger than Zhuang Zhentian himself!
At this moment, Zhuang Zhentian's Nascent Soul, having matured into a Primordial Spirit, shot out of his Dantian, leaving his body behind.
"The Out-of-Body stage!"
Zhuang Zhentian's Primordial Spirit floated out from the crown of his head and hovered before his cross-legged body, marveling at the sight. "Seeing one's physical body while the spirit is fully detached… What a miraculous sensation!"
"From the Out-of-Body stage onwards, my soul can exist outside my body for extended periods, and my lifespan will surpass ten thousand years! At this stage, my Primordial Spirit can travel up to a thousand miles! The only danger is that while the spirit is outside, if the body is destroyed, it would be a devastating blow."
"But once I break through to the Illumination stage, everything will change!"
The thought made him even more excited.
"At the Illumination stage, the Primordial Spirit will become fully corporeal, possessing the same combat strength as the physical body. Moreover, while the spirit is out, the physical body can be remotely controlled, allowing both to fight simultaneously!"
"Even the ancient demon master only reached the Out-of-Body mid-stage. As for the legendary Illumination stage, who knows what it takes to reach it?"
As Zhuang Zhentian's Primordial Spirit mused to itself, it returned to his body.
Sitting cross-legged, Zhuang Zhentian gently caressed Ye Fan's sword and muttered, "But unlike the ancient demon master, I have this demon sword!"
"I'm certain that with this sword, I can become even stronger than the demon master!"
"I've heard that across the Hul'na Grasslands lies the powerful Great Jing Dynasty! In that dynasty, there are Illumination stage experts and even Returning to Origin masters more powerful than that!"
"Zhao Nation is too small to contain a demon god like me!"
"Once I've wiped out the remaining five sects, I will sweep through the Hul'na Grasslands, slaughtering their so-called powerhouses, and march straight into the Great Jing Dynasty!"