Apart from Xu Gu and Luan Mei, no one had expected the shocking revelation that not even Xu Gu knew until this moment—except for Luan Mei herself.
Among the dozens of Core Formation cultivators who had been killed earlier, most of them had been disciples whom the present Nascent Soul elders had spent hundreds of years carefully nurturing!
"A day as a teacher, a lifetime as a father!"
In the world of cultivation, where lives spanned centuries, the bond between master and disciple was far deeper than that of mortal fathers and sons who shared a mere few decades.
Watching helplessly as all of their disciples were slaughtered before their eyes by Zhuang Zhentian…
All the Nascent Soul elders felt the weight of grief and burning rage…
They all wanted to grind Zhuang Zhentian into dust!
"Zhuang Zhentian!"
"Give me your life!"
All ten Nascent Soul elders, their eyes filled with tears of fury, unleashed a joint lethal attack on Zhuang Zhentian!
However…
Zhuang Zhentian…
At that moment, he felt an immense surge of feedback energy from Ye Fan's sword hilt, pouring into his body!
"Heh heh heh… Ha ha ha ha!"
Zhuang Zhentian showed not a hint of remorse, laughing maniacally!
Faced with the combined, wrath-filled strike from ten Nascent Soul elders, he felt no fear whatsoever!
"Back in the decisive battle between the righteous and demonic factions, the Demonic Lord—weakened after being sealed for tens of thousands of years—could still gravely wound all fourteen Nascent Soul elders from your seven sects with just a single counterattack!"
Zhuang Zhentian's voice, as eerie as a demon from the underworld, rang in the ears of the ten Nascent Soul elders:
"Now, though I'm only at the first stage of the Out-of-Body realm, I have not been sealed for thousands of years. I…"
"I am in my prime and growing stronger by the moment! Ha ha ha ha!"
"Do you really think that your feeble, child's-play attack can even touch me?"
Just as the ten Nascent Soul elders' furious strike was about to land on Zhuang Zhentian—
Whoosh!
Zhuang Zhentian activated Ye Fan's Soaring in the Sky and Like a Fish in Water skills simultaneously!
In the blink of an eye, just as the combined strike was about to hit him, Zhuang Zhentian's figure vanished!
The attack missed completely!
At the same time—
Zhuang Zhentian reappeared in another direction, as if strolling leisurely through the air.
Calmly, he said, "However... how many of my attacks can you withstand?"
As soon as he finished speaking, ten pairs of furious, tear-filled eyes turned toward Zhuang Zhentian—
Resentment!
Resentment: Unleashes the resentment of the souls devoured by the sword, forming a powerful soul shockwave that stuns and immobilizes enemies who are up to three cultivation stages lower than the swordmaster.
None of the elders present had a cultivation level higher than Zhuang Zhentian.
At that moment—
Screech—
A piercing scream echoed from Ye Fan's sword as the souls devoured within released their anguished cries!
The soul shockwave—visible to cultivators above the Nascent Soul realm—instantly spread out!
This time, not only the early and mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivators but even the late-stage elders, including Xu Gu and Ba Jian, were all momentarily stunned and immobilized by the powerful resentment attack!
At the same time!
Covered in a fierce red aura and still in the Butcher state, Zhuang Zhentian unleashed a merciless slaughter on the stunned Nascent Soul elders!
Slash—!!!
A blood-red sword arc, like a crescent moon of crimson light, swept through the air!
The arc expanded, instantly slicing through the bodies of the immobilized Nascent Soul elders!
Had this been a normal sword strike, even though the elders' bodies were destroyed, their Nascent Souls could have escaped their bodies, each displaying their abilities to flee.
Nascent Souls could flee at speeds far greater than the physical body, allowing most of them to escape and seek a chance to be reborn through body possession.
However—
With Ye Fan's Soul Extinguish and Soul Devour effects in play…
At the exact moment when the Nascent Soul elders were bisected—
Their souls were destroyed by Ye Fan's Soul Extinguish effect.
At the same time—
The remaining energy from their Nascent Souls was devoured by Ye Fan's Soul Devour skill!
[Killed Luoxian Valley's Nascent Soul Stage Elder (Level Six), Fairy Luanmei, gained 689,381 evolution points]
[Killed Xuanguan Sect's Qi Peak Elder, Nascent Soul Stage (Level Nine), Xu Gu Daoist, gained 989,828 evolution points]
[Killed Xuanguan Sect's Sword Peak Elder, Nascent Soul Stage (Level Eight), Ba Jian Daoist, gained 899,999 evolution points]
[Killed Guangwu Pavilion Master, Nascent Soul Stage (Level Eight), Spear King Pei Hu, gained 891,234 evolution points]
[Killed Baoguang Temple Elder, Nascent Soul Stage (Level Eight), Abbot Pudu, gained 845,817 evolution points]
...
At that moment, ten system notifications appeared in succession!
Ye Fan, who had been monitoring the system panel, saw that his evolution points had already exceeded the required threshold!
"Ding! Congratulations, you've reached the evolution threshold. Would you like to evolve now?"
"Yes! Evolve immediately!"
In his Butcher state, after wiping out ten Nascent Soul elders with a single sword arc, Zhuang Zhentian noticed that the Grudge Spirit Sword in his hand was undergoing a profound transformation once again!
The originally transparent sword, swirling with vengeful spirits, began to darken and take on a mysterious gray hue.
At the same time, the sword gave off a strange sensation as if it was absorbing light itself, almost as though it could swallow the very light around it!
"Ding! Congratulations, you've successfully evolved into a Supreme Spirit Treasure: Phantom Spirit Sword!"
"Ding! Congratulations, you've gained a new active skill: Phantom Sword!"
Phantom Sword: Not only can it annihilate souls and devour spirits, but it can also absorb light! When activated, the sword grants the swordmaster the ability to become invisible by absorbing light, making it extremely difficult for enemies to detect the swordmaster's exact position. The swordmaster will move like a phantom, silently eliminating enemies. This skill greatly enhances the chance of successfully ambushing and assassinating enemies with higher cultivation than the swordmaster.
"Ha ha ha! This is an excellent skill!"
Ye Fan was overjoyed. "The higher the opponent's cultivation, the more evolution points I can gain!"
"Killing low-level cultivators may only increase my blood debt and yield diminishing returns as I evolve further. It would be like chewing on a tasteless bone."
"But with this new skill, I now have the chance to ambush and kill even enemies stronger than my swordmaster!"
"With this, my evolution speed will soar, and fewer people will need to die!"