The fat man let out a thunderous roar in warning.
A fierce wind was already howling toward them.
Looking down—
Shen Yi had one hand resting on his sword hilt. His figure rose like a startled sparrow taking flight, and with a single leap, he arrived in the blink of an eye.
The fat man and the thin man were both seasoned fighters.
Without prior agreement, they kicked hard off the tree trunk beneath them, arching backward and diving away like swimmers.
Clang!
Almost at the same instant, Cold Night left its sheath.
It swept horizontally.
In that instant, the blade light was like a fallen moon sinking into a river, condensing into a single line where water met sky; it was also like a flash of lightning, exploding with a thunderclap from thin air.
The massive tree trunk, thick enough to require several people to encircle it, split with a crash like tofu, its cut as smooth as paper.
The upper crown of the tree creaked and groaned, then slowly tilted over with a tremendous crash.
Shen Yi raised an eyebrow.
These two were not like those Second-Class Realm trash from before.
They had real skills!
He landed atop the tilting trunk.
Then he kicked off fiercely.
Propelled by the recoil, he accelerated once more, sword held sideways as he raced after the two men.
The fat man was greatly alarmed. Before the two had even landed, Shen Yi's sword was already slashing down. He hurriedly shouted:
"Draw your weapons!"
He swept a hand across his waist.
A pitch-black iron pestle appeared abruptly in his hand.
He raised his arm to block.
With a muffled clang—
Shen Yi's arm bulged like stone as he forcefully overwhelmed him with the momentum of his blade and crashed down.
With a bang, the fat man was struck out of the air and smashed heavily into the ground, gouging out a deep pit.
Shen Yi used a Falling Thousand-Pound Weight.
His body plummeted faster, intending to follow up with another strike and finish off the fat man.
Yet a gale suddenly rushed in from his side.
The thin man had landed steadily and immediately rushed over to support his companion.
He held two short refined-iron staffs.
His arms whirled them in wide arcs.
In an instant, layers upon layers of staff shadows pressed down upon Shen Yi.
Shen Yi stepped on the ground, urgently circulating Grass Treading Flight. He slid backward as Cold Night swept out with the motion.
His sword moved with nimble grace.
Like a swift blade of sudden rain and startled thunder, it met the thin man's eyebrow-height short staffs, which came as fast as mist.
In an instant, a rapid barrage of clashing blows erupted like torrential rain pounding duckweed, echoing through the forest.
Yet although the thin man could exchange several moves with Shen Yi—
He soon fell into a disadvantage.
Shen Yi's swordsmanship was swift as the wind and heavy as thunder. Combined with the Surging Tide Art, his inner energy surged in wave after wave, as though it would never cease.
With the explosive battle intent of the Array Breaker Art driving it further, Shen Yi's momentum rose higher and higher like an advancing tide the longer they fought.
Clang!
One of the thin man's staffs was knocked aside by Shen Yi's blade.
His other staff could no longer intercept in time!
Bang!
A black shadow flew from the deep pit, spinning as it smashed toward Shen Yi. This was a move to besiege Wei to rescue Zhao!
Shen Yi sighed softly.
He had to take this move!
When fighting multiple opponents, the greatest taboo was greedily pressing forward and trading injury for injury. If the enemy lost one man, they still had another.
But if he was injured, his fighting strength would be severely diminished.
Whether he fought or fled afterward—
He would fall into a passive position.
Shen Yi's thoughts raced. He withdrew his sword and turned to meet the swiftly flying black shadow—it was the fat man's iron pestle.
A long iron chain was attached to the end of the pestle's handle. It was like both whip and hammer, blending hardness and softness. Shen Yi raised his sword to block.
Yet the changing force within it jolted him back two steps.
The battle briefly paused.
The thin man stared at Shen Yi as he slowly retreated to widen the distance, while the fat man climbed out of the deep pit.
Shen Yi's heart stirred.
The fat man had just been slashed down from high in the air.
Other than looking somewhat dusty and disheveled—
Neither his movements nor his breathing had become the slightest bit disordered. What formidable resistance to blows.
The three men's gazes met.
One side was icy as water; the other burned with rage like fire.
If the fat man and thin man had initially still harbored thoughts of avoiding battle and retreating, Shen Yi had now beaten true fury into them.
The anger in both men surged.
They had to settle victory and defeat here.
In an instant—
The three leaped up once more and collided with a thunderous crash.
The fat man glared with the wrathful eyes of a vajra, his body like an Immovable Wisdom King. Boundless true force surged from his already burly frame.
The iron pestle in his hands shifted at times into an axe, at others into a whip, serving as the main force confronting Shen Yi head-on.
The thin man, meanwhile, was agile and swift.
The two eyebrow-height staffs in his hands spun out layers of staff shadows. Under the fat man's cover, he struck from the flanks, seeking Shen Yi's openings.
The two worked together seamlessly—one fierce and powerful, the other swift and agile, each compensating for the other, like a mountain collapse and a flood sweeping down together.
Shen Yi immediately felt the pressure multiply.
With their coordination—
They possessed enough strength to contend against ordinary Acquired Realm martial artists.
Fortunately, Shen Yi was equally experienced.
He used Cold Night to receive their attacks, Grass Treading Flight beneath his feet, his body moving like Qingfeng as he swiftly opened the distance.
Making use of his superior movement speed—
He darted near and far, constantly disrupting their positions and coordination, trying to find the gaps and flaws in their teamwork.
Shen Yi had ample patience.
The fat man's composure was not bad either.
But the thin man was somewhat more impatient by nature.
After circling around Shen Yi for some time—
The thin man gradually grew impatient. Shen Yi had clearly been driven back step by step by the two of them, fleeing through the forest in all directions.
Yet they simply could not take him down after so long.
Once again, Shen Yi knocked aside the iron pestle that came howling like a hammer with one slash. His body gave a slight "stagger," then he hurriedly retreated.
The thin man thought Shen Yi's defeat was already apparent.
Delight flashed across his face, and greed for victory made him charge rashly.
His arms spread like a roc descending, while the short staffs in his hands stabbed straight down like spears.
The fat man shouted from behind him:
"Thin man, come back! He's baiting you!"
Shen Yi gave a quiet chuckle.
This was exactly what he had been waiting for. Cold Night in his hand stilled, and an unparalleled sword momentum suddenly erupted—Sixfold Wind-Thunder Slash!
"Northward Gale!"
The thin man was stunned.
The momentum arrived before the blade; the blade had yet to arrive.
Yet he already felt a cold, fierce wind wrapping around him, making his very soul tremble with a fear called terror.
It was the fear of death approaching!
The next second—
Shen Yi spun and slashed back!
The blade light that burst forth in that instant was like sudden lightning, instantly filling the thin man's vision!
The short staffs in his hands had no time to intercept.
The blade's edge had already nearly brushed the thin man's neck.
Clang!
At the critical moment—
A black shadow thrust itself between them. The iron pestle traced a strange arc, attacking from the side—again, besieging Wei to rescue Zhao!
Shen Yi snorted coldly.
His blade turned.
It struck heavily against the iron pestle. Cut by Shen Yi's sword, the pestle instantly slipped free of the fat man's control and slammed fiercely into the thin man's chest.
It released a muffled boom like a great bell.
The thin man screamed and was instantly sent flying, crashing heavily into a giant tree in the distance.
Yet Shen Yi frowned.
With such a critical strike, combined with force penetrating his body, an ordinary person would already have died on the spot.
Yet Shen Yi still had not heard the system notification.
This opponent was far too durable!
He held his long sword at a slant and strode after him. If one slash could not kill him, then he would deliver several more. Sooner or later, he would cut off the man's head.
The fat man also rushed into the forest at that moment.
He helped up the thin man, who was coughing blood, and cried anxiously:
"Brother!"
"How are you?"
Very soon, he felt Shen Yi's almost tangible killing intent rapidly approaching.
If this continued, the two of them would surely die here!
The fat man's anger had long been beaten out of him by Shen Yi. His heart now held only one thought: how could they survive under this Baleful Intent god's hands?
"Idiot!"
"Beg for mercy."
A clear female voice, like silver bells, drifted into the fat man's ears from nowhere. He could hear the voice, but could not see its owner.
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