Zhou Yi was reeling from blow after blow, horror mounting in his heart. He knew that if this went on, his defense wouldn't last even a quarter of an hour.
Sure enough, after taking hit after hit and showering the ground with fresh blood, his injuries only stoked the ferocity of the Golden-Winged Sword Birds. Their bloodlust ignited, they attacked with even wilder, more frenzied abandon.
"Brother Tie, come help me!"
Zhou Yi was panicking. He knew he couldn't hold on much longer. If this continued, these spirit birds would shatter his defense in no time and tear him apart for food.
Tie Dazhi heard Zhou Yi's cry and his heart lurched. If the law enforcement disciples fell, he'd have a hard time explaining things when he got back. But if Zhou Yi — a genius of the Earth Spirit Realm — died in a secular kingdom, there would be no explanation that could possibly suffice.
Zhou Yi was one of Uncle Tie Can's most prized direct disciples. If Zhou Yi died, Tie Dazhi wouldn't be able to face his uncle no matter what he said.
Left with no choice, he broke off from Jiang Chen and charged toward the battle circle where Zhou Yi was trapped.
His halberd swept through the air, hammering down on three of the Golden-Winged Sword Birds.
If Jiang Chen didn't intervene and allowed Tie Dazhi and Zhou Yi to coordinate from both sides, there would genuinely be some danger.
After all, these Golden-Winged Sword Birds had only just entered Spirit Grade, and their realm was far from stable.
But at this moment, how could Jiang Chen possibly allow Tie Dazhi to execute that scheme?
With a distant flick of his long saber, the blade carried its momentum like the waters of a celestial river flowing in reverse — a torrent that chased after Tie Dazhi's back and cleaved downward.
Tie Dazhi felt as though an entire mountain were bearing down on him from behind. Forced into it, he swung his halberd and wheeled around to block.
Clang!
The saber hammered down, and Tie Dazhi staggered backward several steps.
That block had been entirely passive — he'd had no time to brace himself.
So even though his realm far surpassed Jiang Chen's, under the ferocity of that contemptuous slash, he still found himself at a disadvantage.
"Jiang Chen, you—"
Jiang Chen's face was as cold and expressionless as a frozen cliff, but his killing intent surged forth without the slightest attempt to conceal it.
At this point, how could he let Tie Dazhi spout any more nonsense?
There was only one thought in his mind: kill!
Kill first, deal with the rest later!
So what if he was a sect disciple? So what if he was a genius of the Tie clan?
If you want to kill me, you'd better be prepared to die by my hand!
Right now, Tie Dazhi was just like Long Yinye had once been — trying to grind Jiang Chen into the dirt, trying to crush him dead. Against people like that, there was only one solution: kill!
Tie Dazhi was still at the fifth level of the Spirit Realm, after all. Though Jiang Chen's saber had forced him into a sorry state, his battle formation hadn't crumbled. He swept his halberd and knocked Jiang Chen back.
But in that brief moment of hesitation, the Golden-Winged Sword Birds shifted their formation once more. In a swift contraction, they pulled Tie Dazhi into the battle array as well.
"Brother Dazhi, why did you enter the formation?" Zhou Yi cried out upon seeing Tie Dazhi, equal parts shocked and relieved.
Relieved because Tie Dazhi's presence could take a huge load off his shoulders — together, they might be able to break out of the formation.
Shocked because with Tie Dazhi now inside the formation, there was no one left on the outside to provide support.
From Zhou Yi's observation, breaking this kind of formation required coordinated action from both the inside and the outside, and only then was there any real hope of breaking free.
But there was no time to discuss that now. Zhou Yi shouted, "Brother Dazhi, these vile beasts are terribly strange. This formation is incredibly powerful — let's join forces and break through quickly. Today's defeat, we'll have to settle another time!"
Tie Dazhi's face was ashen, but he had to admit that Zhou Yi was right.
If they could escape with their lives today, that alone would be lucky.
Jiang Chen urged the Golden-Winged Sword Bird beneath him skyward. He stowed the nameless blade, and the Dayu Bow once again appeared in his hands.
Gazing down at Zhou Yi and Tie Dazhi, surrounded within the Golden-Winged Sword Birds' battle formation, Jiang Chen's killing intent surged yet again.
Once Tie Dazhi had entered the formation, the battle array deployed by the Golden-Winged Sword Birds no longer had to worry about being attacked from both sides.
Without that pincer threat, Tie Dazhi and Zhou Yi were like filling wrapped inside a dumpling — they couldn't do much of anything and could only passively take the beating.
Tie Dazhi charged several times, trying to smash his way through the formation with his berserk halberd technique, but each attempt ended in failure.
Zhou Yi had been trapped in the formation for so long that his energy was severely depleted. Seizing the moment while Tie Dazhi was making his charges, he swallowed a few Qi-recovery pills and rallied somewhat.
Yet watching Tie Dazhi throw himself at the formation again and again only to fail each time, Zhou Yi's anxiety deepened.
If this went on, things would get truly dire.
Suddenly, he looked up at the sky, and his face drained of color.
High above, Jiang Chen had already drawn the Dayu Bow to full, moonlike tension, poised and ready. He was taking aim at them, and even from a distance, the imposing aura of that bow made Zhou Yi's scalp tingle with dread.
A Zhou Yi at his peak would naturally have no fear of the Dayu Bow.
But right now, worn out to the bone and trapped inside a formation, a strike from that bow would be lethal.
"Brother Dazhi, watch out for the arrow!"
Easier said than done.
Zhou Yi's warning had barely left his lips when, almost simultaneously, an arrow loosed from on high shot downward like a meteor chasing the moon, hurtling straight at them from above.
Fortunately, Zhou Yi's shout had done at least some good.
Tie Dazhi's body instinctively twisted to the side!