Miao Qinghui clenched her fist hard.

Plainly, Junior Brother Tong held no expectation whatsoever of slaying the Gold-Winged Demon Emperor.

His plan was to remain behind and cover their retreat.

"Take care of yourself."

Miao Qinghui knew well that this was no moment for hesitation. Leaving only that word of parting, she used the dark pagoda once more to force the Gold-Winged Nine-Striped Tiger back from her senior sister, and called out loudly, "Scatter and flee!"

The words falling, she fled swiftly into the distance.

Tong Xinchuan steadied his breathing and activated the grand formation in an instant — phoenix-birds danced, scattering a sky full of motes of light, and with the golden threads as its boundary, the tiger-demon was enveloped entirely.

He turned his head to look, and found Perfected Master Lingxi still trembling as she worked a seal — not to attack the Gold-Winged Demon Emperor, but instinctively to knit her wounds closed.

"Why haven't you gone." Tong Xinchuan's heart turned to cold ash.

"I... if I go, what will become of you?" Perfected Master Lingxi's face was full of panic, her voice shaking.

"Get out!"

Tong Xinchuan glared at her in fury, his composure finally beginning to crack.

With the coordination the several of them were capable of, so long as Eldest Senior Sister had performed at anything like her normal level — never mind defeating this great demon emperor, they could at the very least have fought her to a standstill.

Who could have imagined that someone so overbearing back on Wutong Mountain would, out in the world, prove no different from an idiot?

Two exchanges, and she'd been gravely wounded by a demon emperor of her own realm.

What in the hell was the point of fighting now?

Startled by that sudden roar, Perfected Master Lingxi froze for a moment, then flew off into the distance in a daze, looking back as she went.

"Senior Sister, go this way!"

Perfected Master Qingfeng struck his own forehead hard, cast out a flying shuttle to guide his senior sister's path, and only then fled in the other…