Xu Yang didn't comment as he drew his sword and charged at them. A sudden sense of traction emanated from him, pulling everything towards him.
"Urgh.." Wang Xinyi groaned as he confronted the attack.
*Crack*
The blade of his beloved war axe started showing signs of breakage. Even the physical prowess of a 3rd Strength Training cultivator could match the current Xu Yang.
"Are you crazy? You sacrificed your blood essence in order to increase your physical strength?" yelled Wang Xinyi as he repelled Xu Yang's sword.
"You don't need to worry about that. I'll replenish myself by devouring your blood first", Xu yang replied devilishly.
As Xu Yang continued his assault, Wang Xinyi lifted up his guard to block again; when he suddenly felt something breathing down his neck.
'It can't be…' thought Wang Xinyi fearfully as he looked down.
A metre-long blade of steel had punctured the right side of his chest.
"Goodbye", Xu Yang whispered as his demonic art rapidly absorbed Wang Xinyi's blood essence through his sword.
In the span of a few seconds, Wang Xinyi's face went pale and seemed to age by at least 10 years before a light surrounded his body.
"Tsk, saved by the guardian spirit", grunted Xu Yang with disdain as Wang Xinyi was kicked out of the realm.
His blade was forcefully removed as he turned his head around to look for his next victim, while basking in Wang Xinyi's points.
Shen Wei's expression turned grim, while the lone cultivators fled the scene in disarray.
"Previously, I heard one of your informants talk about a cave. Why don't you let me in on this as well or do you want your junior brothers and sisters to suffer", threatened Xu Yang.
"Shen Li, bring the others with you and leave", Shen Wei commanded.
"Then what about you?" she asked timidly.
"I'll stay here and buy you as much time as possible", he told her.
"What! You know I can't just leave you here. He'll kill you!" she shouted worriedly.
"Didn't you see the barrier that saved that guy before expelling him from the realm? Don't worry, the guardian spirit is still watching over everyone", Shen Wei said in a reassuring tone.
After a moment, Shen Li held back her tears and turned around.
"Everyone! Let's go!" she ordered resolutely; leaving no room to argue.
In front of the altar, only two people remained.
"I think you forgot to mention something. You can't die, but that doesn't mean I can't cripple or make you suffer", Xu Yang reminded.
"That's none of your business!" he growled aggressively.
"Haha! Alright, you can struggle all you want. Even if you're from the Shen clan, the Nanshan empire is far away from here, so don't think I will show you any mercy", said Xu Yang ferociously.
Suddenly, Xu Yang's demonic eyes lit up as an invisible and intangible arrow shot out.
'Fuck! It's a spiritual attack', he noticed before his vision blurred.
This time Xu Yang showed no mercy as he rushed forward, while giving Shen Wei no chance to resist.
"Blurgh!" Shen Wei vomited blood as he was forcefully awakened from his daze.
Xu Yang's sword had thrusted through Shen Wei, shattering his dantian. His face visibly contorted in extreme agony as he bit down on his lower lip.
Withdrawing his sword, Shen Wei's crippled corpse fell to the floor as he moved into a fetal position on the floor to endure the pain of his shattered dantian.
"This heavenly treasure will be mine", Xu Yang said with a manic expression as he walked to the centre of the blood-stained altar.
The heavenly treasure that they had all been fighting for was an earth-tier interspatial ring, which had a space of 5 cubic metres. An accessory that could be used to store inanimate objects in a dimension within the ring. The ring was a silver colour with no design, but fit perfectly around Xu Yang's finger.
"Now why don't you tell me the location of the other one you found", he asked as he walked back towards Shen Wei, while dragging the tip of his blade against the ground.
"Don't think you'll get away with this! I'll take you down with me even at the cost of my life!" Shen Wei hissed.
'Hm?' Xu Yang thought, shifting his attention to Shen Wei's right arm, which grabbed a paper object from his inner pockets.
"Die!" said Shen Wei weakly as he activated the talisman.
'SHIT!' thought Xu Yang as he revolved his demonic art to the extreme to absorb Shen Wei's blood essence before shoving him away.
Nevertheless, it was too late as the talisman had already activated. Green light emitted from the talisman before it burned up and transformed into a dark-green substance. It shot towards Xu Yang as it penetrated the right side of his abdomen, causing him to yelp in pain.
Lifting up his shirt, Xu Yang saw the infected area turn black as the poison started to ferociously corrupt the rest of his
Seeing the distinct effects of the poison, Xu Yang instantly recognized it.
'Briar scorpion poison!' he realised in horror as he revolved all his energy to suppress it.