The snake slithered around the sword and merged with it. A snake pattern appeared on the hilt of the sword. After the merging, the sword didn't become stronger. It was still the same. But it possessed another ability now. If this sword manages to touch the blood of a person, then the person whose blood was touched by the sword would be chased by it until his death, that is if Yang Zhai wanted that person to die.
He looked toward Bao Lin, but he didn't go after her, it was only a trap. Instead, he went after Sang Xie. Yang Zhai vanished from his place and appeared near him.
Sang Xie was caught off guard. When Sang Xie saw that Yang Zhai was looking at Bao Lin, he had unconsciously thought that Yang Zhai was going to go after her. But instead, Yang Zhai came after him.
When he saw that Yang Zhai was standing in front of him, his eyes widened. He tried to run, but saw that Yang Zhai had appeared behind him. It had to be said that his speed was far inferior to Yang Zhai's speed. Yang Zhai only stabbed and slashed the right leg of Sang Xie. It was cut and fell to the ground. After which, Yang Zhai left.
He tried to run from this place. He had already wasted too much time. In the battle of the experts, even a second was more than enough. But, he was being chased by another six Rank 9 cultivators again, from which Bao Lin and Sang Xie were two.
He didn't pay any heed to them and kept on flying straight. He was being attacked by the six from behind, but he kept on dodging the attacks and maintained his flying speed.
After a while, he saw that three cultivators were standing in his way. Yang Zhai came to a stop.
"Yang Zhai, why run? Why not stay and have a proper fight with us?"
"Yes, you're trying desperately to run. But you know as well, that it isn't possible. Just give up."
"You're a demon destined to die. Do you think that you can defeat all of us?"
"Even if you're strong, you can't last long in front of all of us. The higher you climb, the harder you fall. You have gone too far on the demonic path,"
The nine Rank 9 cultivators started to talk one after another. They wished for him to give up to reduce the losses.
"Then let me fall. The harder I fall, the higher I go, and the more stronger my resolve. I will climb until I reach the peak and after that, I will create another mountain myself, to climb further." Yang Zhai looked at the nine Rank 9 cultivators.
Because of the delay, he was being surrounded again. More and more cultivators were surrounding him.
Yang Zhai understood that he couldn't run from them. Even if he managed to get out of the circle, they will still chase him. And his power was also being consumed.
He was surrounded by thousands of people again. Some of them were still injured and not fully healed, while the others had already been healed.
"Do you guys know why I dropped my blood on the ground earlier?" Yang Zhai asked.
Everyone looked at each other in confusion. They didn't understand what Yang Zhai was trying to say.
"When we were fighting him earlier, he had made a cut on his palm and had dripped the blood earlier during the fight. We didn't know about his technique, so we were careful and increased our distance. But, after he dripped his blood on the ground, nothing happened. We had thought at the time that the technique he used needed time." Sang Xie explained the situation to everyone present.
When they heard him, they understood what Yang Zhai meant. So, a sound came from the crowd.
"Why?" Someone asked.
"Because the technique I used has the power to collect everyone's blood absorbed by the ground or on the surface. It can collect blood from everywhere, even the water. The only condition is that the blood needs to be in the open, and not in a body or secured by some treasure or Ka. Otherwise, my method would not be able to absorb the blood." He explained.
"So what if it manages to absorb our blood on the ground? What can you even do with it?" A woman's voice came from the group of people around him. It could be seen that the voice was mocking him.
"Did you guys really think that I am called 'The Blood Demon' for nothing? If you did, then you were greatly mistaken. I always do things after I plan carefully. If I am not sure of the outcome or the situation is desperate, I would never do something I am not sure of." Yang Zhai was not angry by the voice, he was calm. Even though he was injured, he would always remain calm and think straight. He had already learned to endure the pain.
"Think about it, I used a long-range and a powerful technique right at the start, The Hell Lightning. Why would anyone use such a powerful technique right from the start without even understanding his enemy? It will not only consume the strength, but it may also be ineffective if the party has a countermeasure. It will also alert the enemy of my strength. But I still used it." Yang Zhai continued.
Others were still unable to understand him, but they all had a bad premonition about this.
"After using a long-range technique, I used another technique to absorb the blood of you guys that was spilled on the ground. I am sure many of you got injured by The Hell Lightning. And why do I want to absorb your blood?"
"As it turns out that my sword can kill the person whose blood is touched by it. And I am also convinced that you people saw the power of my sword. So, what does it mean?" Yang Zhai said calmly.
He was telling everyone about this not because he liked to show off or had a tendency to tell about his techniques. But he told them because he wanted to strike fear into their hearts. This would greatly dampen their fighting spirit, and there then was also another reason.
When the crowd heard Yang Zhai, their eyes widened. They were scared by what Yang Zhai had told them. It turned out that he was playing with them from the beginning. They now understood the value that was placed on his title, and exactly why was he called The Blood Demon. He played with the blood, not only his, but also with the others. No wonder Yang Zhai hadn't used other techniques on them. He was preserving his strength.
"Where is his sword?" Someone shouted after seeing Yang Zhai's hands empty and not seeing his sword anywhere.
When the others heard this, they also noticed that his sword was missing. They had a bad intuition about this.
"Look, there." Someone from the crowd pointed at the ground and cried loudly¹.
Others looked in the direction he was pointing in.
They saw that a sword was hovering just a little above the ground and was absorbing blood from everywhere. The blood was coming toward it from every direction. There was also a black aura around the sword. It was turning red and black. The Red color covered seventy percent of the sword and the other thirty percent was being covered by black color.
And it was worth noticing that even though it looked like the sword was absorbing the blood, it was all flowing into the mouth of the snake pattern sword hilt. And all the blood was being converted into the sword.
This was the other reason Yang Zhai had told them about his technique. He was trying to buy himself some time. He could also let the sword absorb the blood in the air, but then he would be interrupted by the others. So, he had let the sword absorb the blood silently on the ground.
When the crowd saw the sword absorbing the blood, they were scared out of their wits.
"We are done for." A man was so scared that his eyes started to bleed. They were completely red.
Everyone looked at him and realized the severity of the situation. They had all seen the power of Yang Zhai's sword, the sword that was absorbing their blood from the ground right now.
"I knew it. I should not have come to kill Yang Zhai. They said that he would be easy to kill if we gang up on him."
"What should we do, what should we do now."
"Maybe we should run, we should run with all our might."
"He is Yang Zhai, The Blood Demon. Do you think that he would let us leave easily or peacefully?"
"Then what should we do? Should we just wait for him to kill us?"
"Do you think he will spare us if we beg?"
The crowd was going crazy. They didn't know what to do. Even the Rank 9 cultivators were killed easily by this sword and Yang Zhai, let alone them. Their fate was sealed the moment their blood was spilled on the ground.
"What are you guys panicking for? Do you call yourself the cultivators? He is just trying to make you feel fear and fall into chaos. Calm down and think straight. What you need to do is to kill him before the sword absorbs the blood." One of the Rank 9 cultivators spoke, making others realize their mistake. Because of this, everyone calmed down.
*****/*****
1- Cried loudly: Shout or scream, typically to express fear, pain, or grief.