Should he resort to the forbidden technique or not? Yu Jie hesitated, but in the end, he held back.
He knew that currying favor with Long Juxue was certainly important, but he couldn't stake everything he had on it. If using the forbidden technique meant his cultivation would never progress again, then his value in Long Juxue's eyes would be worth nothing.
No matter how you calculated it, that price wasn't worth paying.
"Yu Jie, don't force yourself. I'll give you one chance — leave Long Juxue behind and get lost!" Jiang Chen controlled the formation, making him the most relaxed one on the battlefield.
"That strike of mine already wounded you. The harder you fight now, the worse your internal injuries will become. If this drags on, you'll be the first to die."
Jiang Chen pressed on with psychological warfare, one step at a time.
At this point, the battle had reached a stalemate. It all came down to endurance.
In reality, all the Golden-Winged Sword Birds were fighting in a state of extreme exhaustion, even though they fought as a group. But facing a Spirit Realm powerhouse meant that not a single one of them could afford to slack off — each one was pushing out one hundred percent of its strength.
If this continued, the Sword Birds' only advantage was that they could rotate and take turns entering the fray.
Yu Jie, on the other hand, had to fight from start to finish without rest.
However, Yu Jie was a sect disciple. He likely had various spiritual medicines that could help him hold out longer.
Yu Jie knew full well that Jiang Chen was attacking his mind, but in a situation like this, even he wavered. He knew that his current onslaught, while fierce, consumed enormous amounts of spiritual energy.
If he could break through the formation quickly, he might have a thirty percent chance of winning.
But if he persisted for another half hour and still couldn't shatter this formation, then the one in danger would be him, Yu Jie.
Once his spiritual energy was depleted, a Spirit Realm disciple's intimidation would be greatly diminished, and his combat power would plummet. With this many Golden-Winged Sword Birds, even random attacks would be more than enough to tear him apart until not even scraps of bone remained.
Still, if he fled just because a secular martial artist threw a few threats his way, where would Yu Jie, a proud sect disciple, place his dignity?
If word got out, it would undoubtedly become the biggest joke in the entire sect world.
Moreover, on this mission, Xu Zhen was already dead. If he couldn't even bring back Long Juxue, the mission would be an undeniable failure. How could he possibly face Grandmaster Shuiyue upon his return?
Yu Jie knew that on this step, he absolutely could not retreat. Xu Zhen's death might be explained away, but if Long Juxue wasn't brought back, Grandmaster Shuiyue would never forgive him.
"Jiang Chen, Junior Sister Long Juxue was personally designated as a disciple by my master, Grandmaster Shuiyue. If you let me take her away today, there may still be room to mend this."
Yu Jie also knew he couldn't afford to keep this up. He understood that this was a gamble for both sides — a bet on who could last longer. But he, Yu Jie, was a sect disciple, a favored son of heaven. He had no desire to gamble with a secular desperado like Jiang Chen.
"I gave you a chance to leave, and you didn't take it. Then stay here together!" Jiang Chen's earlier words had actually been a probe.
In truth, he knew that if even a single person escaped today, it would lead to endless trouble down the road. The situation had developed to this point, and regardless of whether it worked, he had to pull up the roots — no one could be allowed to leave alive.
But he also understood that the Sword Birds' combat strength had been significantly depleted as well. Whether they could outlast Yu Jie if the fight dragged on was still anyone's guess.
So his earlier words were half true, half false — really just a way to test Yu Jie's resolve.
Seeing that Yu Jie's morale was cracking, Jiang Chen quietly formulated a plan.
He sent a silent mental transmission to the Golden-Winged Sword Birds leading the army at Erdou Pass, ordering them to bring a batch of Silver-Winged Sword Birds down to attack Long Juxue.
Earlier, when the Sword Bird army had retreated, several Golden-Winged Sword Birds had led the withdrawal. These particular birds hadn't participated in the siege, so their energy expenditure was minimal and their combat power remained vigorous.
Upon receiving Jiang Chen's command, they led roughly a hundred Silver-Winged Sword Birds and dove down from the top of the pass like arrows loosed from a bow.
The target: Long Juxue.
After her earlier fierce battle, Long Juxue was already stretched to her limit. Now, without Xu Zhen's protection by her side, she was completely alone.
If she hadn't already fought that previous battle and exhausted her energy, dealing with a few Golden-Winged Sword Birds would have been tense but manageable — she could have held out for a while.
But now, after the prolonged battle, her True Qi was nearly spent. Though she had taken pills to recover, she had only regained about forty to fifty percent of her strength.
At half her fighting capacity, facing the alternating bombardment of several Golden-Winged Sword Birds and a hundred-odd Silver-Winged Sword Birds was simply impossible.
After just a few exchanges, Long Juxue was in imminent danger. Her hair was disheveled, her appearance wretched, and she cried out in a panicked voice: "Senior Brother Yu Jie, come save me quickly!"
How could Yu Jie fail to see the situation unfolding below?
But he was trapped in the battlefield. Although he hadn't been encircled deep within the formation's core, even the outer perimeter wasn't a place where he could simply turn and walk away whenever he pleased.
Long Juxue's cry for help was urgent beyond measure.
If he didn't rescue her and Long Juxue perished, there would be absolutely no way to account for it to his master upon returning.
"Keep him pinned!"
At a moment like this, how could Jiang Chen possibly let Yu Jie leave easily? Even if he couldn't kill Yu Jie, keeping him tied down for a while was something this ever-more-masterful Eight Desolations Spirit-Gathering Formation could absolutely accomplish.
Receiving Jiang Chen's forceful command, the Golden-Winged Sword Bird army grew even fiercer. Their formation shifted, locking Yu Jie firmly in place.
The original formation — half defense, half offense — was now converted entirely into an all-out assault.