The junior brother whom Lin Li had just saved quickly followed up.
Although he could no longer use his spiritual energy for attacks, he gathered his courage, jumped into the air, and, holding his sword in reverse, plunged it into the head of the wounded, clawless leopard demon.
Puchi!
The entire sword sank into the leopard demon's skull, killing it.
Lin Li then used his strength to pry off the already dead leopard demon that had been on the back of the senior brother.
As he glanced at the corpse, he wondered to himself, "I wonder, can this magic sword absorb energy from already dead demons?"
With that thought in mind, Lin Li discreetly slid his sword across the corpse of the leopard demon, which still had a sword stuck in its head.
[Absorbed the blood of a Fourth-Grade Leopard Demon. Gained 5 Energy Points.]
"Great!"
Lin Li felt the energy being fed back into him through the magic sword and was overjoyed.
"As I suspected, even from dead prey, the magic sword can still absorb blood and return energy to me!"
"This kid is quite sharp!"
Ye Fan's soul within the sword nodded approvingly.
Although there was no visible change in the sword's appearance, Ye Fan was already somewhat satisfied with Lin Li.
Even though Lin Li missed out on earning evolution points by killing the demon directly, his ability to use the sword to extract blood from dead prey still allowed Ye Fan to gain additional energy points.
These energy points would be useful for Ye Fan later on!
"A cultivable talent!"
Ye Fan was quite pleased.
Meanwhile.
The two outer disciples of Xuantian Sect, who had been saved by Lin Li, began expressing their gratitude toward him.
"No need for thanks," Lin Li replied. "It's only right that we help each other as fellow disciples."
He glanced at the corpse of the leopard demon and noticed that its body had begun to wither. His heart tightened: earlier, no one had been paying attention, so he was free to use the magic sword to drain the demon's blood. However, now that he had attracted the attention of his fellow disciples, continuing to use the sword openly could lead to someone noticing something unusual. It seemed that in future battles, he couldn't let the sword linger in the corpses for too long, lest others suspect him of being a demonic cultivator.
Withdrawing his sword, Lin Li said, "Your back was injured by the leopard demon. Your life is in danger…"
"Junior brother, take care of this senior brother."
The junior brother, whom Lin Li had saved earlier, nodded and approached the injured senior brother, saying, "Come, I'll carry you."
"Thank you for your trouble."
…
And so it went.
Lin Li led the way, while the two disciples he had saved struggled to follow behind him.
As they continued, Lin Li killed another twelve leopard demons and saved the lives of seven more fellow disciples.
"My spiritual energy is almost full again!"
By this time, Lin Li had nine disciples following behind him, and he felt the energy feedback from all the leopard demons he had slain. After just breaking through to the fifth level of Qi Refinement, he had already reached the peak of the fifth level!
"This rate of advancement is terrifying!"
His heart burned with excitement.
At that moment.
A senior disciple at the ninth level of Qi Refinement voiced his confusion, "Junior brother, why have you stopped? Is something wrong?"
Among the disciples Lin Li had saved were not only those who had entered the sect at the same time as him and were still in the early and middle stages of Qi Refinement, but also some senior disciples in the later stages of Qi Refinement, who had found themselves in dire situations due to exhaustion from prolonged fighting.
However.
Now, all of these disciples—whether weaker or stronger than Lin Li—respected him greatly. Even those who were more advanced in cultivation treated him with admiration.
"No," Lin Li shook his head.
The blood-drinking magic sword was his greatest asset! But its blood-draining ability was highly sensitive.
Lin Li couldn't allow anyone to discover the secret of the sword, so he naturally wouldn't reveal to these fellow disciples how his cultivation was skyrocketing.
"This junior brother must be exhausted after saving so many people," the senior disciple at the ninth level of Qi Refinement mused. "It makes sense to stop and rest."
Lin Li said, "We're still within the boundary of the back mountain. More leopard demons could attack at any moment."
As soon as his words fell, the sound of thunder rang out again!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The group turned to look—
A blinding flash of light filled the sky behind them!
In the next instant, the light dissipated.
Then, with barely a breath of time passing—
Whoosh!!!
A gray figure came hurtling out of the forest behind them.
Bang!
It crashed into a massive tree, thick enough to require four people to encircle it, sending a deep, resounding thud through the air!
The tree trunk itself cracked from the impact!
At this moment.
Everyone could finally see that the figure was none other than their senior brother Luo Zhiyuan, who had been fighting the Golden Leopard King!
"Pfft!"
Luo Zhiyuan, wedged into the dented tree trunk, coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Seeing the bewildered faces of his fellow disciples, he gave a bitter smile, his expression defeated.
"Damn it… I was knocked right back to where you are. All the effort I put into stalling for time has been wasted!"
As he finished speaking, the sound of trees snapping and breaking echoed from the forest!
"Roar!!!"
A deafening beastly roar filled the air.
Simultaneously.
A towering figure, more than five meters tall, came crashing through the trees, forcefully breaking one of them, and landed heavily before the group.
Thud!
Dust flew up as it landed!
Its pale golden eyes gleamed with cold-blooded contempt as it gazed down at the disciples of Xuantian Sect.
At that moment, Lin Li's heart felt like it was in his throat!
"Sigh!"
Ye Fan's soul sighed within the sword, shaking his head.
"This Golden Leopard King is so powerful that even Luo Zhiyuan, who is at a much higher cultivation level than Lin Li, couldn't defeat it. It looks like this sword master is doomed to die here as well. What a pity!"
As Ye Fan lamented the situation, the Golden Leopard King launched an attack toward Luo Zhiyuan.
At the same time, Luo Zhiyuan, stuck in the tree, freed himself with effort and, forming a sword seal, launched a counterattack at the Golden Leopard King.
A majestic sword light, a meter long, slashed toward the beast!
But.
When it landed on the Golden Leopard King, it merely cut a few strands of its fur, barely scratching its skin.
The sight left the disciples in despair: if Senior Brother Luo Zhiyuan, at the late stage of Foundation Establishment, couldn't harm the Golden Leopard King, what chance did they have?
Lin Li, however, narrowed his eyes and carefully assessed the Golden Leopard King.
Its fur was somewhat scorched from the lightning strikes earlier, and a few shallow wounds marred its body, but it wasn't seriously injured.
In contrast, Luo Zhiyuan was clearly on his last legs and wouldn't be able to hold out much longer.
Moreover, it seemed unlikely that he could launch another attack capable of even slightly wounding the Golden Leopard King.
"No…"
Lin Li calculated in his mind: "There are too many people here. If I stay with them, we'll all die!"
"I refuse to die here, not when I've just found such an opportunity!"