"Clang!"
At the critical moment, Lu Chen activated the flying sword in his hand. His body and spirit sword merged into one, becoming a streak of light that shot away, barely evading the Tiger Demon's claw.
"Bang!"
The Tiger Demon's claw struck the ground, instantly plowing three claw marks a hundred meters long through the earth. Another swath of maple trees toppled around him.
Becoming one with the sword was the strongest, fastest move available to sword cultivators who could not yet ride their swords.
"Boom!"
Lu Chen's feet had barely touched the ground when the Tiger Demon's long tail swept toward him like a great saber.
This time, however, Lu Chen did not dodge. Instead, the corners of his mouth lifted as he let the Tiger Demon's tail sweep toward him.
"Clang!"
Just as the tiger's tail was about to cut Lu Chen in half, a streak of sword light tore through the air from a hundred zhang away to the west of the maple forest, pinning the thick tail firmly to the ground.
"Roar!"
The enraged Demon Tiger opened his enormous jaws and roared toward the direction from which the flying sword had come. A swirling mass of Gang Wind shot from his mouth like a cannonball.
"Boom!"
With a thunderous crash, the blast of wind the Demon Tiger had spat out plowed a huge opening through the western side of the maple forest. Within it, a figure could faintly be seen hurtling toward the Demon Tiger, protective sword energy swirling around his body.
"So it really is you, Mo Jun!!!"
With his tail pinned to the ground, the Tiger Demon glared at the figure hurtling toward him from the west and roared in fury. Then he spat out another cannonball-like blast of Gang Wind.
"Bang!"
The Gang Wind, whirling like sharp blades, slammed into Mo Jun, checking his momentum and forcing him to stop and defend himself.
"You fiend, take a sword strike from your granddaddy!"
At that moment, Lu Chen, who had been standing motionless, suddenly erupted with power. His aura and his sword's merged once more, transforming into a streak of sword light. Accompanied by over a hundred sword shadows formed from Sword Qi, he thundered toward the Demon Tiger like a torrential downpour.
"Third Senior Brother has already mastered the Heaven-Splitting Sword Art's Sudden Rain Form?!"
Liu Zijin stared at the sight in astonishment.
"Roar!"
Even as she spoke, the Demon Tiger suddenly opened his jaws wide and let out an angry roar. His demonic power surged, turning into raging winds that gathered inside his enormous mouth before blasting out with a boom to meet the rain of swords.
"Boom!"
Amid the deafening crash, Liu Zijin discovered to her utter astonishment that the rain of swords conjured by Lu Chen's strike had been swept completely clean by the demonic wind the Demon Tiger spat out. Even Lu Chen himself was sent flying backward by the impact.
"This Demon Tiger is every bit as strong as Third Senior Brother!"
Disbelief filled Liu Zijin's face.
Beside her, Lin Buyu frowned slightly, wariness entering her eyes for the first time.
But her brow soon smoothed again, and she raised her gaze slightly toward the eastern sky.
There, in a spot no one else had noticed, a figure drifted silently down like a falling leaf.
It was Fairy Ziyan, who had remained hidden in the shadows all along.
"Die!"
Still oblivious, the Demon Tiger leaped up, intent on swallowing Lu Chen in front of him in a single gulp.
"Boom!"
When only about a zhang remained between the Demon Tiger and Lu Chen, Fairy Ziyan, whose aura had shown no fluctuations at all, suddenly erupted with waves of power shaped like blazing flames.
"Burning Gold Finger!"
At Ziyan's sharp shout, the flames formed from all her true qi suddenly converged on the finger she thrust toward the Demon Tiger.
In an instant, her finger turned red as a branding iron, and powerful ripples of spiritual energy spread outward.
"You despicable, shameless wretches!"
The Demon Tiger clearly sensed the threat above his head now, but at this point, he could do nothing except let out that furious roar.
"Bang!"
Just as the Demon Tiger's angry roar rang out, Ziyan's branding-iron-red finger struck his forehead hard.
"Boom!!!"
The instant Fairy Ziyan's finger touched the Demon Tiger's forehead, streams of pure fire essence poured out like lava flowing from a volcanic crater. In the blink of an eye, they engulfed the Demon Tiger's entire body, then exploded.
"Roar!..."
As the Demon Tiger crashed to the ground, roaring flames engulfed his entire body, and he let out one agonized howl after another.
"Mo Jun, take his head!"
Even now, Fairy Ziyan did not let down her guard. While regulating her breathing to restore her magical power, she shouted to Mo Jun, who was hurtling toward them.
"No Edge!"
At her call, Mo Jun abruptly beckoned to the sword embedded in the tiger's tail.
"Clang!"
With a metallic hum, the sword named No Edge flew into Mo Jun's hand of its own accord.
"Mountain-Cleaving Form!"
Holding No Edge and stepping on a maple leaf, Mo Jun brought his sword down toward the Tiger Demon's head with the crushing might of thunder.
"Boom!"
In an instant, Sword Qi surged through the maple forest.
Mo Jun merged with No Edge, becoming a sword shadow over ten zhang long that slashed toward the Tiger Demon's head with terrifying ferocity.
"Hahaha, you've fallen into my trap!"
But just then, the Tiger Demon, who had been howling ceaselessly in pain, suddenly raised his head from the flames and burst into wild laughter.
As his words fell, he spat a crystal-like pearl from his mouth.
"Boom!..."
In an instant, the pearl swept away every flame around the Demon Tiger. Like streams of fiery wind, they coiled around the pearl as it hurtled viciously toward Mo Jun and Fairy Ziyan.
"Bang!"
With a tremendous crash, Mo Jun's Sword Qi shattered. The fierce, fiery winds around the demonic pearl slashed dozens of wounds into his body; even his protective enchanted robe was useless!
"Boom!"
Ziyan reacted immediately. In midair, she changed her finger strike into a palm strike and struck fiercely toward the demonic pearl, using the force of her palm to stop its advance.
"Rise, north wind!"
Almost simultaneously, the Tiger Demon roared again, and the demonic pearl began releasing even fiercer Gang Wind.
"Rumble..."
In the blink of an eye, Mo Jun and Ziyan were swept into a massive tornado. Vast swaths of trees and rocks in the maple forest were sucked into it as well.
Had Liu Zijin and Lin Buyu not been so far away, they would likely have been swept inside too.
"Buyu, take Junior Sister Zi Jin back to the sect and find reinforcements. This demonic pearl can't hurt me, but it can trap me!"
Just as the two of them independently prepared to rescue Fairy Ziyan and Mo Jun, Fairy Ziyan's voice suddenly sounded in Lin Buyu's and Liu Zijin's minds.
She was clearly transmitting her voice through her divine soul.
"Let's go."
Liu Zijin still hesitated, but Lin Buyu had already made her decision. She grabbed Liu Zijin's hand and was about to leap down from the tree.
"Junior Sisters, save me!"
Just then, a cry for help suddenly came from behind them.
Turning to look, they saw Lu Chen, covered in wounds, heading toward them with the Demon Tiger pursuing him.
"Why did he lead the Tiger Demon here?"
Lin Buyu frowned.
Before you continue