"Devour" Hao Xuan muttered, opening his mouth. The head of the undead creature simply popped out of existence as if it was never even there.
Hao Xuan closed his eyes and felt the rush of pure energy passing through him, cleansing him from inside out. The fatigue and weariness that had consumed his body for days were reduced by just a little, enough for him to be able to stand on his own with ease.
A notification popped up in Hao Xuan's peripheral vision.
"Blood energy restored: 4.1%"
His lips curled up into an indistinct smile. He opened his eyes and saw Amin standing in front of him.
"So...hungry..." Hao Xuan unconsciously mumbled under his breath. It was but a weak murmur but Amin was close enough to hear it. He took a step back, towards the undead horde.
Hao Xuan's smile widened seeing the fear in the boy's eyes. It felt...empowering, for some strange reason.
Hao Xuan did not really understand why Amin was so afraid of him even though he just saved his life, but he did not care enough to ask.
Instead, he looked around and quickly found what he was looking for. Another undead creature that was about to overpower a guard to his right.
The guard was a middle-aged man at the early stages of the Spirit Realm, covered in blood. There was a gash on his forehead that kept bleeding, obstructing his vision.
The undead facing him was twice the size of most of the others. It even had a row of small bony growths popping out of its abdomen, where the ribs should be.
Each of these growths was less than five centimeters in length, looking like rows of unsharpened teeth. Obviously it was mutating into something else but had not yet gone through the entire process.
Its skin was a tinge darker than most of the others and looked more like animal hide than human skin.
There were a few other undead with distinct characteristics just like this one, all at the forefront of the horde clashing directly with the poor guards.
It was absolute chaos, colored in with blood and guts. Yet Hao Xuan hadn't felt this relaxed in a long time.
He picked an undead closest to him, the one with the teeth coming out of its abdomen and made his way towards it, which was but a handful of steps. There weren't any other undead in the near vicinity to it was the easiest target to go after since he wouldn't get rushed.
The undead only noticed him when he was standing right behind the guard. He tapped the guard on the shoulder, making him look back at him with a deep frown.
"WHAT!?" he shouted with one eye closed.
"Do you mind if I have him?" Hao Xuan gestured towards the undead that was trying to bite the guards head off.
"What the hell are you talki-" the guard had just started speaking but before he could finish the sentence, Hao Xuan became impatient and just pushed him aside, throwing him some distance away.
Flabbergasted, the guard quickly jumped back on his feet.
"Oi, what the fuck are you doing?!" he asked pointing his weapon towards Hao Xuan but paused upon sensing something amiss.
"Where....did that monster go?" he looked around warily. The undead was gone.
Hao Xuan turned around and smiled at him, "Thank you, you can have the others," he said as two smaller undead came running over. The guard didn't have time to ask any other questions before he was once engaged in a life and death battle.
Hao Xuan moved towards the center of the formation and closed his eyes for a second. A new notification had appeared.
"Blood Energy Restored: 16.4%"
Hao Xuan took a deep breath and listened to the gurgling sound coming from his veins. His blood flow had become stronger, more powerful. If one listened closely they would be able to hear it without the help of any other instruments.
He could even feel the faint flow of pure spiritual energy inside his meridians. It was a little different from normal spiritual energy.
This one was a shade darker, or rather it felt darker. It was still untainted and a pure energy that could be used in any number of ways, but it was different from the energy he had absorbed naturally. Even this little amount made him feel rather full.
But this feeling of fullness only lasted for a couple of seconds before the Chaos Qi that was hiding in his meridians came rushing out like wild dogs and absorbed every little bit.
Another notification popped up.
"Minimum Blood Energy threshold required to activate supplementary nanotech abilities: 35%"
Hao Xuan nodded and opened his eyes again, examining the surroundings for the next target. But before he could decide on one, screams came from behind him.
Another two guards had died.