Should he deploy the secret arts or not? Yu Jie hesitated, but still restrained himself in the end.
He knew that currying favor with Long Juxue was a must, but he couldnât put everything on the line either. If he found it difficult to proceed in his training in the future, then heâd be worthless in the eyes of Long Juxue as well.
Such a price wasnât worth it, no matter how he looked at the situation.
âYu Jie, you donât have to hold on in the face of extreme pain. I can give you a choice. Leave Long Juxue behind, and you may go.â Jiang Chen readjusted the formation, and was actually quite at ease.
âMy slash has already caused injury to you. The more you battle, the worse your internal injuries will become. If we keep dragging things out like this, the first one to die will be you.â
Jiang Chen attacked psychologically with every step.
The fight was in a stalemate at this moment, and they were competing with endurance.
In actuality, the Goldwing Swordbirds had also fought to an exceedingly weary state, even though they were fighting in groups.
They hadnât dared relax their guard against a spirit dao practitioner, and had brought one hundred percent of their strength to bear.
If this continued, the only advantage that the Goldwing Swordbirds had, was that they could substitute in for each other.
Whereas Yu Jie had to go at it alone from beginning to end.
However, Yu Jie was a sect disciple after all. Maybe he had all sorts of spirit medicine that would help him hold on even longer.
Yu Jie knew that Jiang Chen was making a psychological attack, but he too hesitated under the circumstances. He knew that although his attacks were wild and violent, it would also expend quite a lot of energy.
If he could break through this formation in a short period of time, he would have roughly a thirty percent chance of winning.
But if he still couldnât break it after an hour, then he would be the one in danger.
When his spirit power was consumed, the dominating presence he held, that of a spirit practitioner, would fall greatly, and his battle capabilities would also greatly decrease. With the number of Goldwing Swordbirds, they would be able to swallow him whole, and not even leave scraps of bone behind if they just attacked randomly.
Except, if he ran away with his tail between his lands after a few threatening words from a common practitioner, where would he put his dignity and pride as a sect disciple?
If word of this got out, he would become the preeminent joke amongst all the sects.
And, Xu Zhen had died on this trip. If he couldnât even leave with Long Juxue, this mission would be an undoubted failure. How would he explain himself to Master Shuiyue when he went back?
Yu Jie knew that he could neither advance nor retreat now that things had gotten this far. He could perhaps gloss things over for Xu Zhenâs death, but Master Shuiyue would never forgive him if he didnât bring Long Juxue back.
âJiang Chen, junior sister Long Juxue is a disciple personally handpicked by my Master Shuiyue. If you allow me to take her with me, then the matters of today can still be resolved.â
Yu Jie knew that he couldnât afford to continue on in this way. He knew that both sides were gambling on who could hold on longer, but he, Yu Jie was a sect disciple, the golden boy. He didnât want to make a bet with a desperado like Jiang Chen.
âI gave you a chance to leave, but you didnât want to leave. Then stay here together.â Jiang Chenâs words just now were also a test.
In reality, he knew that if he let even one of them go, he wouldâve been creating endless troubles for himself in the future.
Now that things had developed to this point, he had to eliminate evil at its roots, and not let even one of them go, whether or not that had any effect.
Except, he also knew that the Goldwing Swordbirds had expended a lot of their fighting capabilities. It was an unknown factor whether or not they could outlast Yu Jie.
Therefore, his words just now had been half truth and half falsehood. Heâd wanted to probe Yu Jieâs attitude.
Seeing Yu Jie waver internally, Jiang Chen formed a covert plan.
He gave a surreptitious command to the Goldwing Swordbirds leading the army above the Second Crossing to have a portion of the Silverwing Swordbirds swoop down and ambush Long Juxue.
When the Swordbird Army had retreated earlier, they were led by a few Goldwing Swordbirds. They hadnât joined the fight earlier, and hadnât expended much of their energy. They still had a vigorous fighting spirit.
After receiving Jiang Chenâs command, they brought several hundred Silverwing Swordbirds, and dived down upon pass like arrows loosed from a bowstring.
Their target was Long Juxue.
Long Juxue had already exhausted herself in the great fight earlier. She didnât have the protection of Xu Zhen by her side now, and had abruptly become utterly isolated.
If Long Juxue hadnât been engaged in the battle earlier and hadnât expended her resources, she wouldâve been able to hold out for a while against a few Goldwing Swordbirds, even though they wouldâve given her great trouble.
But now, she had come off the tail end of the great battle and didnât have much true qi left in her. Although she had pills recovering her true qi, it looked like sheâd only recovered forty to fifty percent.
It was impossible to hold up against the continued waves of attacks from several Goldwing Swordbirds and several hundred Silverwing Swordbirds with half of her fighting abilities.
She was in a precarious position after a few rounds. Her hair was flying wildly everywhere, and she was utterly run down. She called out, âSenior brother Yu Jie, come save me!â
How could Yu Jie not have seen the situation below?
Except, he had been entangled by the situation on his side as well. Although he hadnât been surrounded by the core of the formation, even the outer rings of the formation wouldnât permit him to leave as he pleased.
However, Long Juxueâs plea was incredibly urgent.
If he didnât save her, and Long Juxue was lost, he would absolutely be unable to explain himself when he returned to his honored master.
âConfine him!â
How would Jiang Chen let Yu Jie leave so easily at this moment? Although he couldnât kill Yu Jie, it was completely doable for him to delay him momentarily with the more and more familiar âEight Trigrams Assimilation Formationâ.
After receiving JIang Chenâs strong order, the Goldwing Swordbird army became even more fierce. The formation changed, and they clung onto Yu Jie with a death-grip.
The original four sectors of defense and four sectors of offense all turned into offense.
Eight sectors started attacking at once, increasing their power and effect by more than twofold.
If Yu Jie kept attempting to retreat, he would have to contend with countless numbers of blows.
Any of this formationâs attacks were enough to worsen Yu Jieâs injuries.
Yu Jieâs heart was torn with anxiety as he knew that if he didnât make it down there, Long Juxue would be dead without a doubt.
If he were to make it down and disengage from up here in a short amount of time, heâd have to take one or two hits. But these one or two hits would absolutely worsen his injuries.
âWhat to do?!â The fires of fury burned in Yu Jieâs heart as he roared out raspily, âJiang Chen, donât you push someone too hard. If anything happens to junior sister Long, youâll face the flames of wrath from my honored master Shuiyue.â
Jiang Chen snorted coldly. He was saying this now? This Yu Jie was seriously too childish. With the way the situation had developed, this feud would never be resolved if he didnât kill Long Juxue.
If Master Shuiyue valued Long Juxue this much, she would surely strike out on her beloved discipleâs behalf. Heâd have to face Master Shuiyueâs rage sooner or later anyways.
Jiang Chen chuckled and continued to give orders, âDelay Yu Jie, Iâll go kill Long Juxue myself.â
Jiang Chen didnât have the slightest ounce of pity towards the Long family.
If it hadnât been for him, the Jiang Han manor would have long since been bathed in blood by the Long family. This Long Juxue was even more malicious, and had a murderous heart. If he let her go like this, thereâd be no end of troubles in the future.
He raised the nameless saber and was about to dive down when his consciousness suddenly perked up. An undetectable trace of danger suddenly flashed through the part of his consciousness training the âBoulderâs Heartâ.
âWhatâs going on?â The mental strength of Boulderâs Heart was exceedingly sensitive and it generally wasnât prone to error.
Jiang Chen visibly held himself back and grasped the nameless saber in his hands, on the alert, and battle ready. HIs entire being was like a taut bow, ready to fire out sharp arrows at any time.
At that moment, countless beams of white light shone out from around Long Juxueâs body down below. Beams of silver light danced around like silvery carp, darting to and fro in the air.
Dreadful screams sounded out in the next instant.
The Silverwing Swordbirds exploded in midair, turning into clouds of bloody mist and spreading out continuously.
Several hundred Silverwing Swordbirds were annihilated almost in the span of a single breath. They blew apart one after another, and fell towards the ground.
Around a hundred Silverwing Swordbirds had been destroyed in the time it took to take a single breath.
The Goldwing Swordbirds had wanted to use their durable golden feathers to stand up to the white light that was like silvery carp, but when their feathers intersected with the white light...
Pfft pfft pfft pfft.
The Goldwing Swordbirdâs indestructible feathers were ripped apart like paper. Agonized cries rang out as these Goldwing Swordbirds were shredded to pieces by this silver-white light.
Jiang Chen was dumbfounded when he saw this scene.
When Yu Jie and Xu Zhen had attacked together earlier, they had leveraged their strong spirit power to oppress the Swordbird Army. Those killed were mostly Greenwing Swordbirds.
Several Goldwing Swordbirds had also been killed, but those that had died had been the result of solid attacks. The Goldwing Swordbirds had only died because theyâd used their bodies to protect Jiang Chen.
And this time, he hadnât even seen the person, just the dancing of the silvery-white light. Six or seven Goldwing Swordbirds, and a hundred Silverwing Swordbirds, had been annihilated within the span of a single breath.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
This level of strength was horrifying.
Long Juxue had thought she was dead without a doubt, and hadnât reckoned on this scene happening. Her panicky and frantic eyes finally recovered some semblance of calm.
She knew that even stronger reinforcements must have come from the Purple Sun Sect.
âYu Jie, whatâs the matter with you? You couldnât even handle such a simple matter?â A low voice traveled out of the air. The owner hadnât appeared, but a mysterious sense of presence caused the blood of any listeners to churn and roil when they heard his voice.
Yu Jie had been in poor shape indeed, but was overjoyed when he heard this voice â like an extremely thirsty person finding a bubbling spring.
âSenior Brother Xing Han?â
Yu Jieâs voice was both agitated and fearful.
Jiang Chenâs heart tightened as he commanded the formation to change. All the Goldwing Swordbirds immediately halted their attacks, and resumed a position of defense.
At the same time, his âBoulderâs Heartâ began warning him uncontrollably.
This unseen and only heard opponent gave Jiang Chen a powerful sense of pressure â the type of despair that occurred when one absolutely couldnât measure up to oneâs enemies.
Yu Jie ignored Jiang Chen and the others at this moment, and landed back on the ground in front of Long Juxue. His eyes stared fixedly at the empty air.
A slit seemed to be drawn in a patch of clouds in the horizon to the west. A cold beam of frigid light shot out like a shooting star, stepping onto the white clouds and riding on the shooting star, landing in front of Long Juxue.
This person was wearing clothes made of hemp, and his body was rather tall. His originally imposing appearance encompassed a few traces of faint desolation, but a heart pounding sense of depth was able to be found between his brows.
âI greet senior brother Xing Han.â Yu Jieâs previous arrogance and attitude had completely disappeared, as if this newly arrived âsenior brother Xing Hanâ occupied an even higher position in his heart than his own father.