This was certainly a grave crisis, worthy of the warning his still-unlit heart lamp had been giving him for two and a half days.
Neither the encirclement battle outside Little Hidden Temple nor the instance set fourteen years in the past had been as difficult as this.
In the former, he had many fellow disciples, especially Hu Yan, a pillar of support who had mastered Gang Force and reached Full Aperture in Late Embryonic Breath. Jiang Che had not needed to shoulder the greatest pressure. He could roam the battlefield, choosing opponents he could kill and kill easily, with plenty of room to shine.
In the instance, he had the Golden Blossom Protective Boundary behind him and could retreat at any time.
Here, however, though he had companions, they were not strong enough. Neither Liang Ci nor Qian Ze had reached Transforming Force. Liang Ci was somewhat better; Qian Ze was simply there to make up the numbers.
Their squad could handle three to five Embryonic Breath Demon Monsters at most. Yet of these five, three had reached Transforming Force, and they had brought a vast number of ordinary monsters to surround them. This was nothing a routine patrol should have encountered.
This was a death trap meant to leave their entire squad here!
"Form up! Back to back! Do not scatter!"
Jiang Che roared. Azure light flared from his longsword as he met the first Demon Monster to pounce and cut it down, but he could not hold back the many monsters that arrived in the blink of an eye.
The desperate battle began.
The soldiers' formation was broken from the outset by the horde led by the five Embryonic Breath Demon Monsters. Amid the swarm, Jiang Che wielded his sword in the Azure Torrent style, darting back and