The winged demonic tiger struck again, and shards of qi rained down from my crumbling barrier. Even so, I continued to etch more spirit runes on the ground in a desperate attempt to repair my formation and buy as much time as possible.
While I did so, all the other people in the group were packing up and getting ready to retreat. Even though I was futilely restoring the barrier as best as I could, I knew it was an endeavor doomed to failure. My basic formation could perhaps withstand attacks from a warrior-ranked spirit beast or even a horde of them, but it wouldn't stand up to repeated blows from a commander-ranked spirit beast.
Knowing this, I abandoned my efforts to repair my formation and instead began on a new one. A killing array that Su Yan had taught me. It wouldn't be powerful enough to slay a commander-ranked spirit beast, but at the very least it would hurt it enough to divert its sole attention toward me.
"But how did a commander-ranked spirit beast get here?" Jian Hu asked, confused. "How did it get so near to us without any of us detecting it?"
"Yes…we should have scouted it if it was lurking nearby. There is no way we wouldn't have noticed it." Xia Xing Yue was gripping her sword tightly. As we had discussed earlier, she would unleash an ice domain to try and freeze the winged demonic tiger the moment my barrier formation collapsed. Even though it would break free of the ice in short order, that maneuver would at least buy us some time to escape.
And for me to finish my killing array.
"No point thinking about it now." Xia Xing Yue sighed. "We'll have to focus on escaping for now. We'll investigate this later, but for now it is imperative that we stay alive."
"Understood…" Jian Hu suddenly trailed off and pointed outside of my disintegrating barrier, squinting in disbelief. "Huh? Isn't that Cang Mu and his group?"
I turned and glanced toward the direction Jian Hu was pointing toward. To my lack of surprise, Cang Mu and his gang were hidden in the trees some distance away, watching in horror. Si Nan clicked his tongue.
"Don't tell me…those bastards were the ones who lured the winged demonic tiger here?"
"Why the hell would they do that?!" One of the Ten Thousand Swords Academy students yelled. "That makes no sense."
"We'll interrogate him later," Xia Xing Yue replied fiercely. "But we'll have to survive against the winged demonic tiger first."
"Get ready," I warned them, especially since I could sense how close my barrier formation was to complete collapse.
And the winged demonic tiger broke through in the next strike. I could see the golden fragments of what remained of my barrier fall around me, almost like snowflakes.
Then the next moment, Xia Xing Yue made her move. She stabbed her sword into the ground and created her ice domain. In a second, the entire clearing turned into a frozen tundra. Ice crept across the huge body of the winged demonic tiger, trapping it for a second.
Only a second. Then the winged demonic tiger broke free with a furious roar, shockwaves resonating from its massive frame and almost knocking the fleeing students over.
Cursing, I completed my killing array and unleashed several beams of light toward the commander-ranked spirit beast. Seven meteors appeared to materialize out of nowhere before crashing upon the winged demonic tiger. It staggered, but managed to close its huge wings to protect itself from the brilliant lights. My killing array left scorches on those great wings and drew blood. Staggering, the winged demonic tiger bellowed vengefully as it directed its murderous gaze toward me, for I was at the center of the killing array.
Holding up a hand, I activated my killing array again to send a second volley of the devastating meteors toward the winged demonic tiger. Even though it was much stronger than me, it was clear that the killing array could still deal significant damage to it. Enough to hopefully wound it to the point where it would retreat.
However, the winged demonic tiger wasn't tolerant enough for me to bombard it one-sidedly. Lightning crackled around it and it unleashed several bolts of lightning that ripped apart my meteors and obliterated my killing array, frying the spirit runes around me.
"Ugh!"
I was blown back, my body feeling numb. To my horror, I realized I wasn't the only victim.
"Argh!"
"Whoa!"
"No!"
Even though my killing array had bought my allies some time to put a good amount of distance between them and the great spirit beast, its lightning was able to strike them from a distance, almost knocking them off their feet.
Flapping its wings once, the winged demonic tiger snarled triumphantly before unleashing a second volley of lightning bolts on my hapless allies.
"Damn it!"
In my desperation, I did the only thing I could think of. Reaching into my spiritual sea, I summoned my magic carp. Even though I knew there was a huge chance of failure, I decided to gamble everything on my partner spirit beast.
"Magic Carp! Devour the Heavens!"
My magic carp materialized in the space between me and the massive winged demonic tiger, right before the lightning bolts could reach him. He opened his mouth wide and swallowed the jagged bolts of lightning in a single breath, sucking the lethal electricity down his gullet.
For a moment, everyone watched my spirit beast, astonished. Whether it was the fleeing humans or the assaulting winged demonic tiger, it didn't matter. They were equally surprised by the momentous deed that my magic carp had just accomplished.
Unfortunately, I didn't have the luxury to be as surprised as them. I had always known that this part of my plan would work. However, it was the next aspect that worried me.
And I was right to be concerned.
My poor magic carp was swelling up, almost on the verge of implosion. The lightning that he had swallowed was far too powerful for him to contain, and the bolts were slowly ripping him apart from the inside out.
Fortunately, I had a solution in mind.
"Regurgitate all the lightning now! Let the winged demonic tiger have a taste of its own medicine!"
My magic carp gratefully threw up the bolts of lightning, directing all of them back at the winged demonic tiger. The majestic spirit beast was so taken aback by the counterattack that it didn't react in time, receiving the full blast of its murderous attack back in its face. An enormous explosion engulfed the winged demonic tiger, enveloping it in its own lethal electricity.
"Go, go, go!" I hollered at my stunned allies, waving them to move on. "Don't just stand there and watch! That won't be enough to kill the winged demonic tiger!"
"That's right." Xia Xing Yue nodded and gestured for everyone to move. She glanced at me worriedly. "Shu Cong, you too!"
"Don't worry, I'll be all right. I'll buy you guys more time." I pushed my glasses up and grinned. "Now that it's wounded, it'll be easier for me to evade. Once I'm sure you guys are gone, I'll be able to escape on my own."
Though I said that, I knew that my magic carp was out of the equation. He was crumpling to the ground, looking as if he was in pain. Swallowing the lightning earlier had been too much for him. He wouldn't be able to perform Devouring the Heavens a second time, not until he had recovered.
"Magic Carp, return!"
My spirit beast transformed into a red line of light and streaked back toward me, disappearing. I then drew my dragon sword and used Jin to close in on the injured winged demonic tiger. It was already breaking out of the smoke, bellowing furiously.
Good. I had definitely caught its attention.
For a moment, I activated my enhanced sixth sense, hoping to catch a glimpse of the weak points and fragile qi lines on my enemy. Even though it was much stronger than me, as long as I could cut through those qi lines or stab those origin points, I should be able to slay the winged demonic tiger.
Those hopes were dashed immediately when the wounded winged demonic tiger surged out of the acrid fumes and swiped at me. my instincts screamed and I diverted my trajectory, hurling myself to the side and just barely avoiding getting ripped into pieces by those deadly claws.
Damn it. Despite having Heavenly Flow and Earthly Paths to help me…no, it was precisely because of Heavenly Flow and Earthly Paths that I knew for sure. No matter what I did, I wouldn't be able to cut through those qi lines and origin points that I could perceive with my enhanced sixth sense. The violent current of qi that swirled and flowed all around the winged demonic tiger was a clear sign that I was no match for a spirit beast of such power. It was too fast, too powerful. Before I could get close enough to sink my blade into those qi lines, the winged demonic tiger would have killed me in at least a hundred and eight different ways.
There was no way I could get close to it. I had to pour all my focus into evading and evading alone. And even then, I might still not be able to completely avoid getting cut apart. In fact, if magic carp's surprise reflection technique didn't hurt it so badly, the winged demonic tiger would have successfully torn me into pieces a second earlier.
It was only because of the injuries dealt to it by reflecting its lightning back toward it that its movements had slowed and its reflexes had dulled.
Using a combination of Heavenly Flow and Earthly Paths to predict the trajectory of the winged demonic tiger's attacks and my footwork techniques to evade those strikes, I was able to weave through its series of slashes. Jumping up, I disappeared only to reappear behind it. The winged demonic tiger lashed out with a rear kick, but I was already moving, hurtling to the side. Lightning bolts crashed down upon my position, but I did my best to evade every single bolt, bouncing to the side and diving away. Rolling to my feet, I cut apart a lightning bolt before hopping to the side and watching the ground get scorched by the deadly electricity.
Despite my best efforts, I wasn't able to escape grazes and abrasions. Even without making physical contact, the slashes from those claws were somehow able to cut deeply into my skin, drawing blood. Though I somehow avoided getting hit directly by the numerous lightning bolts, I could feel my body grow numb from the lethal voltage. I had to continually pump qi throughout my body to expel the annoying electric currents that infested my system.
Heaving, I hurriedly moved through the forest, taking the damned winged demonic tiger further and further away from my fleeing allies. Using a combination of Jin, Tui and Duo, I was able to draw the winged demonic tiger in the opposite direction. I wasn't lying when I told Xia Xing Yue that my footwork techniques made me the most suitable person to distract the winged demonic tiger and still somehow escape, but it was a close-run thing. I had no doubt that if my magic carp hadn't reflected the commander-ranked spirit beast's lightning back at it, it would have caught up with me and torn me apart long ago.
Now the problem was how to shake the winged demonic tiger off my tail once I had diverted its attention away for long enough so that my allies could successfully escape. As I ran through the forest, jumping between trees and springing from branches to branches, occasionally using treetops as cover, a sinking realization came over me.
Even as injured as it currently was, the winged demonic tiger was still too fast. There was no way for me to shake it loose from my trail. At this rate, I would just maintain the same distance between us, just barely able to stay ahead of my pursuer but unable to eventually outrun it.
The only question was whether I had the stamina to outlast it or not.