"Go all out—kill him!"
Zhuiyang Old Monster led the charge, hoisting his broad greatsword high as it blazed with brilliance like the scorching sun, unleashing his most powerful strike.
"Blazing Sun Melts Gold—slay!"
As the sword came down, crimson light surged outward to a width of ten acres, cleaving toward the formation's core.
The tremendous wave of heat carried by this strike formed concentric shockwaves, as if someone had overturned an immortal's alchemy furnace—scorching flames swept downward like flying fire.
This display of power was truly a sea of fire, a towering wave.
The Golden-Winged Sword Birds' formation could fully withstand martial attacks from Primordial Realm powerhouses.
But this overwhelming wave of heat made every last Golden-Winged Sword Bird's feathers feel as though they were being singed and curled, a suffocating inferno that seemed as though it would incinerate everything in the world.
Jiang Chen was greatly alarmed upon seeing this.
"I never expected Zhuiyang Old Monster to possess such formidable strength!"
At this moment, Jiang Chen had no mind to slaughter the Purple Sun Sect's upper echelon. Instead, he poured his full effort into driving dozens of ice lotus vines, unfurling waves of frost power to block the oncoming heat with everything he had.
These ice lotuses had just absorbed Grandmaster Shuiyue's Ice Sealing Dao Talisman and were at their absolute peak.
Layer upon layer of frozen walls continuously sealed off the space around the formation.
"Hmph, trivial tricks—break for me!"
Zhuiyang Old Monster's sword momentum didn't wane. He continued to drive the wave of heat forward.
Crack, crack, crack, crack!
The ice walls released by the ice lotuses were shattered layer by layer by the surging heat.
Fortunately, the ice lotuses themselves possessed extremely powerful defensive capabilities. Dozens of ice lotuses lined up side by side, like countless tentacles, transforming into streaks of icy light in the void, sweeping through emptiness and ceaselessly slicing through the wave of heat.
The heat wave was formidable, but it wasn't enough to instantly destroy the ice lotus vines.
And Jiang Chen knew full well that the strength of this heat wave far exceeded his own. If he allowed it to strike the Golden-Winged Sword Birds' formation at full force—
Even if the formation could endure it, the Golden-Winged Sword Birds would suffer countless casualties.
Jiang Chen refused to let that happen. So he drove the ice lotuses forward, using them to clash against the wave of heat and try to split its force apart. As long as the heat wave's power was fragmented and dispersed, its impact on the formation would be dramatically reduced.
Zhuiyang Old Monster clearly hadn't expected Jiang Chen to be this troublesome. He let out a cold snort and swept his greatsword left and right, hacking continuously at the ice lotus vines.
The Ice Fire Demon Lotuses were powerful precisely because of their regenerative ability. As long as the Flame Heart Ice Marrow wasn't destroyed, the Ice Fire Demon Lotuses were essentially immortal.
Zhuiyang Old Monster slashed through twenty or thirty vines in rapid succession, only to discover that the ones he'd severed moments ago were already regrowing—an endless supply.
Before long, Zhuiyang Old Monster found himself engulfed in an ocean of vines.
Though these vines posed no real threat to him, they drastically slowed the momentum of his attacks.
Meanwhile, the Golden-Winged Sword Birds' formation had already brewed a second wave of assault.
Hundreds of Spirit Realm Golden-Winged Sword Birds, using the formation as their backbone, launched a storm of claws and bladed feathers that swept in from all directions.
Zhuiyang Old Monster was seized with fury. How could he possibly have been held up by this Jiang Chen?
He threw his head back and let out a great roar. His greatsword whirled madly as his body soared into the air once more, transforming into a streak of crimson light that burst free from the ice lotus vines' restraint.
"Break!"
Zhuiyang Old Monster struck with his sword in a seamless motion, slashing at the storm of claw-blades.
Boom!
The formation's attack was shattered in an instant by Zhuiyang Old Monster.
Zhuiyang Old Monster's gaze sharpened as it locked onto Jiang Chen. Beneath his towering rage burned an even fiercer resolve. He knew—to catch bandits, first catch their king. As long as he could reach Jiang Chen's true body and cut the boy down, that was the way to win. Why waste time tangling with these feathered beasts and monstrous vines?
If Jiang Chen died, all of this would be nothing but fleeting clouds.
Jiang Chen saw Zhuiyang Old Monster charging recklessly at extraordinary speed, having broken free from the ice lotus vines' restraint, and felt a flicker of surprise.
With a shake of his hand, he already had the small Primordial Magnetic Gold Mountain cupped in his palm.
Zhuiyang Old Monster was this overwhelming. If even the Ice Fire Demon Lotuses couldn't stop him, then sending out the Gold-Munching Mouse clan would likely be futile too.
As a last resort, he could only play his final trump card.
Though Jiang Chen had no certainty he could properly activate the Primordial Magnetic Gold Mountain, if he was willing to risk injury and pour everything into driving it—even for just a single breath—he could suppress Zhuiyang Old Monster long enough to strike the old monster down. Of that, he was confident.
However, whether activating the Primordial Magnetic Gold Mountain would succeed or fail… the odds were still fifty-fifty.