A thunderous roar erupted from Jin Zhanyi's throat.

The moment he sensed the surging auras of those Xiantian experts, he understood one thing. These individuals were vastly different from the Western Paladins of his memory.

Years ago, when he delved deep into the Western world, battling formidable masters across various lands, he had never once experienced being ganged up on. Yet, looking at the present situation, these people seemed fundamentally different from the Paladins he had encountered back then.

They were openly intending to swarm him, to hack him to pieces.

In that instant, Jin Zhanyi’s years of combat experience instinctively dictated the optimal choice.

With the enemy fully poised and ready, the notion of turning back to flee was pure fantasy. Under such maximum pursuit, attempting to abruptly stop—especially with Danny and the others lurking like hungry wolves ahead—would be tantamount to courting death.

So, he made a decisive, all-or-nothing gamble. He channeled all his strength into the Dragon Spear. Since Tatamu had lured him into this encirclement, Jin Zhanyi fixed his target on Tatamu. He would use Tatamu as a shield, forcing a breakthrough right through the enemy formation.

Sensing the mad momentum that felt like the sky collapsing, Tatamu’s expression instantly shifted drastically. The tip of the spear pulsed with cold, sharp light. Even though he was sheltering behind his shield, he could clearly feel the colossal destructive power contained within the spearhead.

He had the distinct feeling that if this spear struck him, even with his shield offering protection, his fate would be grim indeed.

The sheer might displayed by this thrust evoked the same profound dread he felt when facing a Venerable.

In that moment, Tatamu finally understood why Jin Zhanyi was called the foremost figure beneath the Great Shen Venerable.

Though not yet a Venerable himself, Jin Zhanyi’s prowess among the masters of the Dingzu realm was undeniably supreme.

He gritted his teeth. Far from slowing down, Tatamu maintained his retreat speed without diminution, shouting back, "Move aside..."

His voice, compared to his initial composure, now carried a distinct note of desperate frustration. He never imagined that the trap he so carefully set would backfire so spectacularly.

Now, the experts behind him were not sources of support, but obstacles hindering his retreat. And if his speed faltered even slightly, the consequences were too terrifying to contemplate.

Although they had arrived from different locations, Mr. Tatamu commanded considerable prestige among them.

Seeing his desperate retreat, nearly everyone cleared a path. They shared the same thought: let Tatamu pass, then intercept Jin Zhanyi.

However, once they made way for Tatamu and saw what was unfolding behind him, they all froze momentarily. That split second of shock was all it took; the two figures zipped past like lightning. By the time they reacted, the prime opportunity was lost.

Jin Zhanyi’s choice defied everyone's expectations. Holding the Dragon Spear, he pressed almost flush against Tatamu’s shield, the two men momentarily merging into a single entity.

As he plunged into the enemy ranks led by Danny, Jin Zhanyi unleashed his full aura to its absolute limit, injecting into it a killing intent suggesting mutual destruction.

Tatamu had lured Jin Zhanyi into this pre-set ambush, and he certainly had no intention of achieving mutual annihilation with this doomed man.

His sole focus was to retreat as quickly as possible. But Jin Zhanyi acutely perceived this intention. He pressed his own aura onto Tatamu, making it appear as if he intended to drag him down, while in reality, he took a forward step, positioning himself mere inches from Tatamu’s shield, tracking his backward movement precisely.

Only the equally audacious Jin Zhanyi could execute such a breathtaking, reckless maneuver in that critical, hair-trigger moment.

The Western team was small, perhaps only a few dozen individuals. Though their individual power had reached an incredible degree, Jin Zhanyi and Tatamu moved too fast. Under the suffocating pressure Jin Zhanyi exuded—like the approach of Death itself—Tatamu’s retreat accelerated beyond its limits, trending ever faster.

In just a single breath, the two men had passed through the small square formation of dozens of experts, slicing through it from one end to the other like a keen blade cleaving open a path.

Jin Zhanyi had truly used Tatamu as a shield to drag himself out of a situation that should have been fatal.

A fierce, arrogant roar burst from Jin Zhanyi’s mouth. Once clear of the formation, even his legendary courage was dampened by a cold sweat.

In that flash of lightning, had his decision wavered for an instant, or had Tatamu shown an ounce more nerve, or if any of the Xiantian experts had disregarded Tatamu’s safety and managed a single thrust—his life could have ended right there.

Yet, even having narrowly escaped, he dared not linger. He spun his body around in a wide arc, fleeing like a phantom toward He Yiming.

The heart that had been lodged in He Yiming’s throat finally settled. Then, his eyebrows shot up, his eyes catching a flicker of cold fury.

Two dark shadows shot toward Jin Zhanyi, moving far faster than his own movement technique. Furthermore, these shadows were utterly silent; even under the glare of broad daylight, they instilled a phantom-like dread.

Suspended in mid-air, Jin Zhanyi’s Dragon Spear suddenly split in two, flickering momentarily in the void.

The two dark shadows dropped like venomous snakes struck precisely on their vital spots.

"Swish..."

The intensely vicious sound of air being rent finally followed. The shadows were revealed to be two long arrows, loosed by the two archer experts.

This moment's delay was all it took. The other masters, snapping back to awareness, rushed forward like the tide.

At this juncture, maintaining any formation was impossible, but the combined aura generated by so many surging Xiantian experts was overwhelming. Even an average Venerable, facing such numbers and their nearly maniacal eyes, would likely turn pale and flee without a fight.

Jin Zhanyi was no exception. He threw caution to the wind, shedding his earlier composure, and darted to He Yiming’s side like a bolt: "Go, quickly!"

But in that instant, he sensed something on He Yiming—a feeling that defied description.

This sensation made his body shudder. Even Jin Zhanyi felt an icy chill penetrate to the bone. It was as if, in that moment, He Yiming had grown impossibly tall, while Jin Zhanyi himself was shrinking at a terrifying rate.

In a flash, Jin Zhanyi remembered where he had encountered such an aura before.

A thought crossing his mind, his steps immediately halted. He came to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with He Yiming.

Two streaks of black light once more tore through space, arriving before them.

This time, however, the target was not Jin Zhanyi, but He Yiming beside him.

The two archers possessed vision of unmatched acuity. In that instant, they judged that He Yiming currently posed a far greater threat than Jin Zhanyi. Thus, their arrows converged simultaneously on He Yiming, aiming to interrupt the ultimate technique he was about to unleash.

But a brilliant light flashed, splitting in two, lightly deflecting both arrows into the air above.

The two archers had only reached the level of ordinary Xiantian realm. With Jin Zhanyi prepared, they posed no real threat.

He Yiming faced the clamoring, charging Xiantian experts, his expression utterly unchanged. He slowly raised both hands above his head, forming a mudra. When his hands reached their highest point above his crown, they paused momentarily. Then, he flipped his palms over!

Flipping the hand to cloud, flipping it back to rain...

The moment his hands turned over, a sheet of black sky abruptly materialized above everyone's heads.

When this sky first appeared, it was only the size of He Yiming's palm, but as his hand swept downward, this patch of sky expanded with unparalleled speed. By the time his hand was fully inverted, the sky had ballooned to an area spanning ten Zhang.

No one could clearly grasp how this sky was formed. By the time they registered the anomaly, this overwhelming dome of infinite pressure hung above them.

Within that ten-Zhang radius, the world plunged into premature dusk, the sun and moon blotted out, as if the end of days had arrived, chilling every heart to the absolute core.

Then, under the stupefied gaze of all onlookers, this sky began to press down entirely.

Someone let out a cry, and no one dared charge toward He Yiming and Jin Zhanyi anymore. Every nerve ending seemed to have snapped.

This unprecedented, unheard-of martial technique had terrified them utterly.

Screaming, they fled frantically in all directions, desperate to escape the ten-Zhang radius before the sky descended.

Even the legendary Qilian Twin Devils, in their prime, possessed the courage and mettle to stand against a sight like this.

But now, these dozens of Xiantian experts—including nearly ten Yixiantian masters and one Dingzu powerhouse—chose flight uniformly. Not a single one dared to proactively resist the descending sky.

Though their escape velocity was high, the speed at which the sky descended was incomparably faster.

It seemed, in the blink of an eye, the overhead expanse that had swallowed all light vanished without a trace. On the ground, a sheet of black brilliance remained.

Only then did the violent wind pressure erupt outward, accompanied by piercing sonic booms that echoed endlessly.

Ps: Only three chapters tomorrow, sigh... Sunday, time to rest.