Chaos Steps
The moment Stasa's grip tightened around the ethereal blade Hao Xuan could feel the effect inside him. It felt like someone was holding a knife to his brain stem, ready to sever it at a moment's notice.
Ordinarily, Stasa could summon the sword spirit once every 24 hours as long as he had enough Qi but now that not only his own cultivation had been seriously affected but also his Qi, the sword spirit needed to absorb spiritual energy from the air just like Hao Xuan.
But Hao Xuan wasn't going to give them the opportunity. He already knew about what was potentially the only drawback of using that cheating spirit. Every time Stasa consumed too much Qi it would take him longer and longer to call it out.
That was also the main reason Hao Xuan had opted to draw out the fight for as long as he had. It was to expand his internal Qi reserves along with getting rid of that life-saving talisman.