All those emotions of urgency, trepidation, and panic were washed away with an inaudible pop followed by a wave of frosty coldness that originated from somewhere deep within Hao Xuan's mind.
It caught him off guard and for just an instant he almost collapsed to the ground, barely managing to stay in a squatting position while holding onto the Ma Jiang.
His chest heaved up and down while his breathing became more and more turbulent. It felt like there was a knot within his chest that was trying to move upward but could not.
*Cough*Cough*Cough*
He coughed forcefully, punching his chest repeatedly with one hand to force whatever it was out. And after a few arduous attempts he finally succeeded, throwing up a clump of grey and dark green gelatinous materials.
Another wave of bone-chilling coldness exploded inside his body, this time starting from his chest and spreading to every other organ and body part.
Hao Xuan's aura surged as he broke through the final hurdle within the Spirit Realm and reached Spirit Realm 8th stage right then and there.
Within the inner world, another wooden gate with the letter 8 etched above it slowly came into existence, surrounding the central mind palace and taking its place in the rotation among the other seven.
But it was slightly different from the rest. Where the first six were extremely simple, the seventh had some strange swirls within the wood pattern itself all along the sides. But this eighth gateway had an actual design swelling in from somewhere within the swirls.
At first glance, it just looked like a series of knots and grooves in the wood itself but once inspected from some distance away, one would notice that altogether it was the early stage of some unknown characters.
Unfortunately, it was far from completion and the end results could not be made out. Only with the ninth gate would it become obvious and start taking shape.
Hao Xuan had been teetering on the edge of the Seventh Stage Spirit Realm for a while and for some reason, right now in the middle of battle, he was pushed over it. His eyes rolled back into the sockets for a second as a surge of intense emotions was sent his way from each of the Orcs.
It was an incomprehensible mess. He coughed a couple more times before returning to his normal self, pushing all the emotions down.
Hao Xuan stood up, allowing the cold feeling to wash over him. This was his spiritual energy that had been renewed and reinvigorated in its entirety. He felt physically stronger and his perception became significantly more acute.
He slowly stood, dispersing all that overflowing power throughout his body and sending a fair bit of it back out through the psychic connection.
Each of the Orcs received a portion of it. Their ethereal battle axes shimmered brightly for a moment, changing from mere projections of light to almost physical manifestations but at the very last moment, they reverted back.
It was like something was keeping them there and that last step would be akin to stepping over the gate of heaven itself.
Hao Xuan's mind was raging with a myriad of thoughts. The Orcs were talking, trying to communicate with him but it wasn't a language he understood. But because of their psychic connection, he was able to "feel" what they meant to a great degree.
His brow knit together as he attempted to put their feelings into words.
"This is your power?" he repeated doubtfully but they promptly nodded back to confirm it.
"Then, do you mean that you can 'steal' the power of your foes when they die and use it to strengthen yourself?"
Another nod proved he was right in thinking so.
The surge of raw spiritual energy just now came from them and was enough to push him over the edge. Suffice to say Hao Xuan was over the moon hearing that.
This was an innate ability of these Orc'en warriors, one that could not be copied by anyone else. Hao Xuan could feel there was a lot more to it than just sharing a bit of energy but right now he didn't have the liberty to discuss it further.
Hao Xuan's ears twitched as a sizzling sound reached him. He looked down, peering over the bridge to see a 7-8 meter wide eight-legged figure attached to a nearby column.
Its lower half looked like some kind of a deformed arthropod with a bloated abdomen but the upper half was that of a species of sandworm he had never before.
It had an approximately 5-meter wide opening at the top that was facing exactly where Hao Xuan was. Four fleshy flaps arched back from the sides, revealing what looked like a giant hole with serrated teeth lining the sides.
The teeth started glowing one by one as its abdomen doubled in size, drawing in air from the surroundings.
Hao Xuan could feel the temperate rising from more than 200 meters away.. He didn't need to see the end result to know it was preparing for a ranged attack.
