More and more energy began pouring into Lin Li's body!
Very quickly!
Lin Li, who had completely exhausted his spiritual energy to pierce the Golden Leopard King's belly, now found his spiritual energy replenishing rapidly!
And then.
With his cultivation already at the fifth level of Qi Refinement, under the continuous flow of energy being returned to him by Ye Fan, his cultivation soared higher!
Finally...
Pop!
A clear sound, only perceivable by Lin Li, echoed within him as he broke through a barrier.
"Qi Refinement... sixth level!"
Lin Li was ecstatic!
He couldn't believe it!
He had spent over ten years to reach the fourth level of Qi Refinement!
And the further one advances on the path of cultivation, the more difficult it becomes!
Breaking through from the fifth to the sixth level of Qi Refinement was as difficult as reaching the first four levels combined!
Normally, Lin Li would need another decade of training to reach the sixth level of Qi Refinement. After that, he would face the bottleneck between the mid and late stages of Qi Refinement, which could take several more years to overcome before reaching the late stage.
Then, it would take another 20 or 30 years until he was in his twilight years, around 60 or 70, before finally achieving perfection in Qi Refinement.
And even then, as an elder man, he would still need to find a way to obtain a Foundation Establishment Pill, which would grant him only a slim chance of breaking through to the Foundation Establishment realm!
For cultivators in the Qi Refinement stage, their lifespan was no different from that of mortals.
Only by reaching the Foundation Establishment realm would their lifespan extend to one or two centuries.
So, in the original timeline of his life, Lin Li's peak would likely have been reaching the perfection of Qi Refinement just before his death, and he might have never had the chance to step into Foundation Establishment.
But now!
In less than half a day!
Lin Li had gone from just entering the fourth level of Qi Refinement to breaking through to the sixth level!
In just half a day, he had achieved what would have taken him over a decade!
The speed of his cultivation progress was simply...
Too fast!
"This is amazing!"
Lin Li's breath quickened with excitement!
He could feel it!
This...
This wasn't the end!
It wasn't over!
It was...
Only just beginning!
The breakthrough from the fifth to the sixth level of Qi Refinement was already an earth-shattering change for Lin Li!
But to the Golden Leopard King, who had reached the pinnacle of Foundation Establishment, it was nothing more than a drop in the ocean!
There was still...
So much more to absorb!
At this moment.
The Golden Leopard King realized something was wrong!
Originally, this type of minor wound, only a few dozen centimeters in length, could be easily stopped with demonic energy to halt the bleeding. Then, it would only need to escape and heal naturally with its demonic energy.
But now...
The foreign object embedded in its belly was like an insatiable monster!
No matter how much demonic energy it sent to the wound, the bleeding wouldn't stop!
Meanwhile.
The demonic energy it was directing toward its wound was quickly being absorbed by the foreign object in its belly.
"Damn it!"
The Golden Leopard King was both furious and confused.
Then, it stopped trying to send demonic energy to its belly, thinking, "I'll bleed if I must! Right now, I need to conserve my demonic energy to have enough strength to escape from these two Core Formation cultivators!"
Its mind raced, plotting how to escape from the two powerful enemies.
But then...
It suddenly felt something terrifying!
Now.
It had already stopped sending demonic energy to its wound.
Yet...
Its demonic energy continued to flow toward its belly!
All of it was being absorbed by the foreign object embedded in its flesh!
At the same time, its blood was being devoured!
[Absorbed blood essence of a Foundation Establishment pinnacle Golden Leopard King, gained 6 energy points]
[Absorbed blood essence of a Foundation Establishment pinnacle Golden Leopard King, gained 6 energy points]
[Absorbed blood essence of a Foundation Establishment pinnacle Golden Leopard King, gained 6 energy points]
The system notifications came in waves, each one filling Ye Fan with uncontainable excitement!
Just like Lin Li, whose cultivation was rapidly increasing, Ye Fan also felt an exhilarating rush!
"I never expected this sword master to be so daring!"
Initially, Ye Fan had thought that once the sect elders arrived, Lin Li would hide and wait for the elders to kill the Golden Leopard King. Then, he would step forward to take credit for saving his fellow disciples.
If that had happened, Lin Li would have been safe, and with the many lives he saved, he would surely be rewarded by the Xuantian Sect, which would benefit his personal growth, reputation, and status within the sect.
But that wouldn't benefit Ye Fan in the slightest.
However.
Now.
Lin Li's boldness had genuinely shocked Ye Fan!
"Not only did this young man at the fifth level of Qi Refinement dare to entertain the insane idea of absorbing the essence of a Foundation Establishment pinnacle Golden Leopard King..."
"But he's actually putting that plan into action!"
"What courage! What decisiveness! What boldness... I like it!"
"Only a sword master like this is worthy of wielding a demonic sword like me!"
"Only a sword master like this can help me evolve quickly in a short period of time!"
"And only a sword master like this can turn crises into opportunities and rise quickly from adversity!"
Ye Fan thought, "He's incredibly lucky, though!"
Because, although Lin Li's actions were bringing immense benefits to Ye Fan, if someone else had tried to do the same, they would have surely died by now!
Lin Li's body housed two forces even Ye Fan couldn't fully comprehend!
One was the curse that countered Ye Fan's passive curse ability.
The other was the mysterious power that had been suppressed by the curse within Lin Li's body all along!
It seemed that the curse in Lin Li's body existed solely to suppress this mysterious power.
Now.
With Ye Fan's passive curse ability neutralizing Lin Li's internal curse, the mysterious power was finally awakening.
It was this mysterious power that had allowed Lin Li to survive the immense pressure from the Golden Leopard King's fall, keeping him from being crushed to death.
Not only did he survive, but he even gained strength through Ye Fan's energy feedback, rapidly advancing his cultivation!
"He truly is a man of great fortune, a chosen one!"
Ye Fan thought, "With a sword master like him, my evolution will definitely be faster than if I were stuck with someone ordinary who couldn't withstand my curse and ended up dying all the time. That would be far less ideal, leaving me without a master for long stretches."
As Ye Fan's thoughts swirled, the Golden Leopard King began to panic!
"No! This can't continue!"
The Golden Leopard King thought, "I have to find a way to get rid of this thing that's sucking away my demonic energy and blood essence!"