Qin Haisan glanced at Tong Linyun with relief. Without a mid Joint Aperture realm expert accompanying them, they would have had few options against this turtle demon.
Several of them could only have stepped forward to hold it off as best they could while the ships escaped first. Whether any of them died afterward would have depended entirely on their own luck.
Chen Fei's expression remained unchanged. He glanced back at the empty space behind them, though there was clearly no one there.
A short while later, Tong Linyun returned. Seeing that it could not break through her defenses, the turtle demon finally hesitated, then stopped wasting its time here.
After all, a single martial artist could hold it off. Although the other Joint Aperture realm cultivators were somewhat weaker, if they truly surrounded it and attacked, its life might be in danger.
The turtle demon had come to encircle and kill these martial artists partly because of the demon king's orders, but more because it wanted to devour their flesh and blood and grow stronger faster.
Just as demonic beasts were valuable to martial artists, martial artists were potent nourishment for demonic beasts. Devouring more of them could greatly shorten the time needed to cultivate and advance.
Thus, this encirclement was half the demon king's command and half their own willingness.
Opportunities to devour martial artists on such a vast scale would not come easily in the future.
The sea demons in the surrounding waters grew fewer and fewer. The chaotic sensation of their auras piling together dissipated, and the crushing pressure in everyone's hearts eased with it.
Everyone felt as though they had been reborn after a calamity. Not only the Aperture Refining realm cultivators, but even Qin Haisan and the others felt the same.
Chen Fei looked