Who Stole My Energy?

“Aaaargh!” Xiao Chen roared, enduring the price of heavy injuries as he finally reached Ye Fan.

Looking at the immortal treasure blade shimmering with celestial light, Xiao Chen couldn’t help but feel a surge of excitement. “Grandfather, I can finally save you...”

Hearing Xiao Chen’s quiet mutter, Ye Fan was surprised. He didn’t know what had happened to Grand Elder Xiao to cause such a drastic change in this guy. He was a completely different person from the love-struck fool he once was.

Unfortunately, you are destined to fail!

Just as Xiao Chen excitedly reached out to draw the blade—

Bang!

Without warning, Xiao Chen’s body exploded, turning into a mist of blood that sprayed all over Ye Fan.

Ye Fan: “...”

Honestly, couldn’t you be a bit more considerate? Did you have to get yourself all over me?

Following Xiao Chen’s explosion, the other cultivators on the golden mountain began to explode one after another before they could even react! Even the corpses of those who had died earlier exploded as well!

Bang! Bang!

As Xiao Chen and the others exploded, a thick blood mist filled the entire golden mountain. Massive amounts of blood flowed slowly along the array patterns on the mountain. After being refined and purified by the array, it flowed toward the center, eventually being absorbed by Ye Fan.

Ye Fan felt a surge of energy flow into his body through the layers of array patterns. In an instant, the blade body, which was already shimmering with immortal light, suddenly erupted with an even more brilliant celestial radiance. A chilling blade aura dispersed violently, stirring the surrounding air and causing the world to hum and tremble.

After absorbing the energy, Ye Fan’s rank climbed steadily before everyone’s eyes.

All of this was the work of a black-robed old man hidden in the void. He was using the fresh flesh and blood of these cultivators to nourish the immortal treasure blade. He had been refining and raising this blade here for tens of thousands of years, giving it a fill of fresh blood every ten thousand years. It was finally on the verge of advancing to an Earth-tier immortal treasure!

“Holy crap...”

“What’s going on?”

Seeing Xiao Chen and the others suddenly explode, the people below the golden mountain couldn’t help but cry out in shock! They didn’t understand why these people were dying! Many turned pale, thankful they hadn’t stepped onto the golden mountain.

The members of the Guiyi Sword Sect also looked grim. If Lu Ming hadn’t called them back, they would likely be dead on the golden mountain right now.

“The immortal treasure blade is advancing in rank!” the Tiansheng Sect Ancestor cried out in surprise and joy.

He never expected this blade to be able to upgrade its tier. Looking at the current situation, reaching the Earth tier shouldn’t be a problem. He had noticed something unusual about the golden mountain earlier, but he had thought someone was trying to sabotage things from the shadows. He hadn’t expected it to be the blade’s advancement!

If it reached the Earth tier... The Tiansheng Sect Ancestor’s hands trembled within his sleeves. Not only would it be useful on the Xuantian Continent, but it would also be more than enough after he ascended to the Immortal Realm in the future. He had to obtain this blade.

The Tianqi Ancestor and the Yunhua Ancestor were also excited, their eyes filled with greed! At the same time, they each ordered Emperor Tianqi and the others behind them to prepare to seize it. The three major forces were all ready to make their move; they were determined to get their hands on this immortal treasure blade.

While everyone stared at the advancing blade atop the mountain, Ye Fan was also desperately absorbing the energy! This was a golden opportunity to level up! If he could reach the Heaven tier in one go... he didn’t dare to imagine it.

Under everyone’s fervent gazes, Ye Fan’s strength rose all the way from mid-grade Mystic tier to high-grade, then to the peak! Seeing that Ye Fan was about to enter the Earth tier, everyone held their breath.

“Almost there... almost there...”

“Earth tier... an Earth-tier immortal treasure...”

Then, they saw the blade begin to turn gold, starting from where it was embedded in the golden mountain. The black-robed man hiding in the void was also full of anticipation. His long-term planning hadn’t been in vain!

But at that moment, Ye Fan felt something was wrong. He felt the energy flowing toward him being sucked away by a dominant force!

What was happening? Who was stealing his energy?

Ye Fan felt a surge of anxiety. This was the critical moment of his advancement! And these people—couldn’t they look around to see if someone was sabotaging things? Why were they just staring at him?

For some reason, Lu Ming’s figure automatically surfaced in his mind. Could it be that damned mortal Lu Ming causing trouble again? He felt like every time he encountered that guy, nothing good ever happened!

At this moment, Lu Ming was sitting cross-legged in a secluded spot at the foot of the golden mountain, circulating his technique to cultivate! Seeing the blood mist drifting everywhere on the mountain, he felt it was a waste. He thought that since it was going to be wasted anyway, he might as well absorb it himself.

As his technique circulated, he initially only absorbed some of the drifting blood mist. But as he continued, the vortex dantian inside him began to rotate frantically, and he actually started to absorb some of the purified energy.

Usually, a vortex phenomenon would appear above his head. But this time, perhaps because the energy had merged into the golden mountain, the vortex phenomenon appeared in the ground beneath him. Thus, no one noticed the anomaly on his end.

With Lu Ming’s absorption, most of the purified energy from the golden mountain was snatched away by him!

Consequently, under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Ye Fan’s advancement stopped halfway up the blade. Half had turned gold, while the other half remained silver.

Seeing the advancement suddenly stop, the Tiansheng Sect Ancestor and the others were stunned. “Why did it stop?”

“Exactly! How can an immortal treasure advance only halfway?”

Ye Fan couldn’t help but curse inwardly: Dammit, can’t you people stop wondering why it stopped and instead investigate who’s stealing the energy?

In the shadows, the black-robed man’s fervent gaze turned to shock. He frowned slightly. Was the energy insufficient? He wanted to use his divine sense to investigate, but it was unusable here!

“Boom!”

At that moment, the Tiansheng Sect Ancestor was the first to charge toward the summit to seize Ye Fan. Since the upgrade had stopped, he would take it for himself first. If the blood of cultivators could really upgrade the blade’s tier, he could just kill more cultivators to feed it later!

The moment the Tiansheng Sect Ancestor rushed out, the Tianqi Ancestor and the Yunhua Ancestor moved as well. Not only them, but Emperor Tianqi and the Palace Master of the Yunhua Sacred Palace also charged up. A fight broke out instantly.

The black-robed man, who had been about to take the blade, stopped when he saw the ancestors charging up. He decided to wait and see if their deaths could provide more energy to allow Ye Fan to continue his advancement.

Lu Ming felt his cultivation easily rise from the late Soul Transformation stage to the peak. The Sword Lunatic and the Great Ancestor of the Danji Sect, who were guarding him, watched in shock as Lu Ming’s cultivation level soared.

They stared at Lu Ming as if they were seeing a ghost. What kind of monster was this? How could he cultivate so fast? What did their own arduous years of cultivation even count for? To reach their current realm, they were considered the geniuses of their generation with excellent talent!

Finally, the two looked at each other. As expected of the Saint of the Qingshan Sect—he was simply incredible. There was no other way they could explain this situation.

Then, under their shocked gazes, Lu Ming’s cultivation stopped at the peak of the Soul Transformation stage. He was just a tiny bit away from entering the Unity stage!