At last, after wreaking havoc inside the Golden Leopard King's belly...
[Congratulations! You have slain a peak Foundation Establishment Golden Leopard King. Because your host achieved a cross-realm kill, you have received a bonus reward, gaining 18,888 evolution points!]
[Absorbing the blood essence of the peak Foundation Establishment Golden Leopard King, gaining 66 energy points!]
Previously, much of the Golden Leopard King's blood essence had already been absorbed by Ye Fan, so the final kill yielded relatively less energy.
However, from the moment Ye Fan pierced the Golden Leopard King's belly, he had already absorbed over a hundred energy points!
And what's more...
Killing one regular leopard demon would only provide 500 evolution points.
But now...
With Lin Li's cross-realm kill of the Golden Leopard King, Ye Fan gained a total of 18,888 evolution points from just this one kill!
The harvest was truly plentiful!
Moreover...
After receiving the energy fed back from Ye Fan, Lin Li himself experienced immense progress!
Just moments ago, he had only broken through to the sixth level of Qi Refinement. But now, after Ye Fan absorbed all of the peak Foundation Establishment Golden Leopard King's blood essence and demonic energy, the energy he fed back filled Lin Li's spiritual power to the brim!
Lin Li's cultivation had even reached the peak of the sixth level of Qi Refinement!
He was now only a step away from breaking through to the late stage of Qi Refinement!
However, the breakthrough from the sixth to the seventh level of Qi Refinement marked a transition from the middle to late stage, and there was a bottleneck involved. This breakthrough wasn't as simple as moving from the fourth to the fifth or sixth level. A bottleneck stood in his way!
Thus, Lin Li, already at the peak of the sixth level, found himself stuck at this bottleneck. He would need to return to the sect and enter seclusion to break through.
Fortunately, the bottleneck from the middle to late stage of Qi Refinement wasn't as insurmountable as the one between Qi Refinement and Foundation Establishment, so he didn't need any external assistance to overcome it.
Additionally, with Ye Fan's curse being neutralized by his own passive curse skill, Lin Li's original excellent cultivation talent was now fully unleashed. With this, it was likely that after returning to the sect, Lin Li would soon break through to the seventh level of Qi Refinement!
"This is truly a blessing in disguise!"
Before coming to the sect's back mountain, Lin Li had been a mere newcomer who had just entered the fourth level of Qi Refinement, with an unstable foundation.
But in just half a day, he had achieved the level of cultivation that would normally take over ten years of hard training, and he had saved many of his fellow disciples, earning great rapport.
It was clear that once this ordeal was over, Lin Li's future in the sect would be a smooth one, filled with great fortune.
"All of this, I owe to this Blood-Drinking Demonic Sword!"
Clutching the sword in his hand, Lin Li thought, "A sword exists for combat and killing! A weapon itself is neither good nor evil. Although this is a Blood-Drinking Demonic Sword, whether it is good or evil, righteous or wicked, depends entirely on the wielder!"
"This sword doesn't just absorb the enemy's energy and feed it back to me. For some reason, when I hold it, my perception of spiritual energy and cultivation efficiency improves greatly!"
"And when I'm injured, my recovery is strange and extraordinary!"
"Though this Blood-Drinking Demonic Sword isn't a magic artifact, it is the most suitable weapon for me! In fact, it's better and stronger than any magic artifact!"
"At the very least..."
"If I had chosen a magic artifact from the sect's armory, I would probably still be just a new disciple at the fourth level of Qi Refinement. I wouldn't have reached the peak of the sixth level of Qi Refinement, which normally takes over ten years to achieve, nor would I have saved so many fellow disciples. Without this Blood-Drinking Demonic Sword, I might have already died at the hands of the leopard demons!"
Lin Li thought to himself, "This sword is my greatest asset for turning my life around! I must not let anyone discover its special properties!"
"When I leave the Golden Leopard King's body later, the sect elders will likely question me. I must come up with a good explanation…"
With these thoughts in mind, Lin Li swung his sword, cutting through the Golden Leopard King's body...
...
Under the shocked gazes of Elder Zou, the Daoist in the green robe, Qinglian Fairy, Luo Zhiyuan who was meditating to heal his injuries, and the other Xuantian Sect outer disciples, the Golden Leopard King thrashed about wildly, jumping and flailing until it finally collapsed heavily on the ground, motionless.
"What's going on?"
Luo Zhiyuan frowned deeply!
Compared to the other outer disciples, he, having battled the Golden Leopard King for so long, understood more than anyone how powerful the beast was!
Moreover, as a late-stage Foundation Establishment inner disciple, Luo Zhiyuan also had a better understanding of Elder Zou and Qinglian Fairy's abilities than the outer disciples.
He had witnessed all of the attacks the elders had launched against the Golden Leopard King.
What he couldn't comprehend was why the Golden Leopard King would suddenly behave so erratically, jumping around before collapsing as if dead!
"Why?"
Luo Zhiyuan was filled with confusion, and despite his injuries, he almost stopped meditating to inspect the situation.
Meanwhile, unlike Luo Zhiyuan, who had detailed knowledge, the outer disciples had no doubts. They simply believed that Elder Zou and Qinglian Fairy had used their powerful techniques to easily kill the Golden Leopard King and avenge their fallen comrades!
However, Elder Zou and Qinglian Fairy, like Luo Zhiyuan, were also full of bewilderment.
"Senior Brother, how did the Golden Leopard King just die like that?" Qinglian Fairy asked in confusion.
"I... don't know either," Elder Zou frowned. "Normally, if an outer disciple had been under the Golden Leopard King when it fell from such a height—its body is five or six meters tall and weighs several tons—the force of its fall, coupled with its momentum, would have generated an impact of tens of tons at least!"
"Even a disciple at the early stage of Foundation Establishment would suffer severe internal injuries from such a force. As for ordinary disciples, they would certainly die!"
"So how is it that, after the Golden Leopard King got up, we found no sign of a disciple's body, and yet..."
As Elder Zou muttered in confusion, a sight that left everyone present—elder and disciple alike—utterly astonished unfolded before them!