Chapter 92: The Pomegranate Defuses the Crisis

Since they had made it plain that they did not care whether the hostages lived or died, I could not take advantage of their cruelty. Besides, killing some dim-witted bird-man was not my style. I shoved the curly-haired bird-man aside and charged into the flock with the Sword of Frost in hand. If we were going to fight, then so be it. One kill was one gain. With every rise and fall of the blade, heads dropped to the ground. The Sword of Frost became a reaper’s scythe, harvesting the fragile lives of the bird-men all around me.

I have to say, the Sword of Frost was truly a fine weapon. In no time at all, seven bird-men had fallen beneath it. I had thought that was the end of them, that no matter how they struggled they could not escape death, but I had underestimated the strength of the broom-haired bird-man. The instant I drove my sword through the eighth of them, the broom-haired bird-man appeared before me. A sharp talon was already buried in my chest.

“No!”

The nine-tailed fox leaped up from the ground as high as a man, then swept in with what looked like a gentle kick and sent a bird-man tumbling off the cliff. Pain tore through my chest, and I almost blacked out, but I gritted my teeth and held on. The broom-haired bird-man clearly had not expected my stamina to be so monstrous. When he yanked out his claw, surprise was written all over his face. And in the next moment, that expression would freeze there forever.

I did not know whether it was anger awakening my potential or some other reason, but I felt a burst of intense energy pour from my eyes. Then the broom-haired bird-man and the other six were frozen in place in an instant, held like statues in the exact poses they had last taken. The scene looked strangely familiar. I slapped my forehead. This was mental force. Yes, only the strong could wield mental force. Had I advanced?

The nine-tailed fox helped me to the side, putting distance between us and the bird-men. “Are you all right, Yun Fei?”

“I’m fine. Go check whether the other two are all right.” I sent the nine-tailed fox away because I had just grasped this new ability and needed to get used to it. Once more I unleashed my mental force, and the bird-men regained the use of their bound bodies. Seeing that I was still alive, the broom-haired bird-man attacked again. His talon slashed toward my throat; I tilted my head slightly and dodged it, then once again bound them with mental force. At that moment, more bird-men began descending from above, three times as many as before.

I was still staring helplessly at the bird-men pouring down from the sky when the broom-haired one moved. My throat tightened, and I knew instantly that something was wrong. He had broken free while I was distracted. His talons clamped hard around my neck. Though I did not need to breathe, I could not endure that kind of pressure. A violent surge of energy suddenly churned within me, as if it were about to burst out of my body. With a furious roar, I let it erupt. The force blasted the broom-haired bird-man and several others straight off the cliff below.

I nearly blew myself apart. Damn it all, what on earth had that energy inside me been just now? That sudden torrent of power—what was it, and where had it come from? I could not figure it out. It did not seem like demonic energy, and it was not true qi either. Yet the feeling was strangely familiar. By then, the bird-men above had all landed on the peak, so I turned my attention back to them. I put the mysterious power aside for now. Until this crisis was resolved, escape would be difficult. The bird-men had sealed off the summit completely. Even a fly would have trouble getting out, I thought. Clearly, they were determined to drag us back with them. In that case, then let us fight. At worst, we would die together.

Once again, I bound them with mental force and kicked them, one after another, over the cliff. It was a bit inhumane, perhaps, but I had no choice. These bird-men were dead set on taking us back. We had only two roads left: surrender and go with them, or resist with everything we had. I would never surrender and go along quietly. Better to die advancing than live retreating. Still, one thing puzzled me: why were they after us? And where was their leader? I had never once seen the one in command. These bird-men, bluntly speaking, were nothing more than cannon fodder. Just as I was growing more and more fierce in the killing, still more bird-men came flying down from above.

The numbers were clearly greater now—perhaps over a hundred. Bird-men kept streaming overhead, all flying toward the north. As for those who refused to leave, I would make them understand the consequences of offending me. After exchanging blows with them, I found that their style of attack relied entirely on those hooked talons. Compared with swords and blades, they were much easier to deal with. Still, I could not afford to underestimate those claws. One moment of carelessness could leave you paying dearly, and the blood on my chest was proof enough.

The bird-men were average in speed and not especially strong. If twenty or thirty came at once, the four of us could handle them with ease. But what if a hundred came together? Two hundred? By now, every bird-man who had remained above had come down. Altogether there were likely more than two hundred. I drew my revolver and fired both pistols at once. I wanted to see how these bird-men would struggle in the face of modern weapons. But when the first bullet struck one of them, I realized my mistake. The round hit the bird-man’s feathers and was actually deflected. By the time I understood that only close combat would work, it was already too late. Countless bird-men attacked me at once. Those sharp talons were about to rake across my face, and I swiftly raised my arm to shield it, bracing for the strike of a hundred claws.

But the talons never came down.

I opened my eyes. Some time had passed without my noticing, and the silver-armored man had joined the battle. It was he who had saved me from disaster; otherwise I would surely have been dead or crippled. Even now I felt a chill at the thought. With so many claws coming at once, if they did not kill you they would still flay the skin from your bones. The silver-armored man moved ceaselessly through the flock, and from time to time one bird-man or several would die beneath his hand. His appearance had prevented a massacre. Without him, we would have been done for sooner or later. Yet his arrival also brought about a new massacre of its own—one entirely one-sided. In his hands, the bird-men could not even last a single exchange.

I called for everyone to fall back to the side and lit a Red Pagoda Mountain cigarette. At that moment, Feather Realm came over and asked me for one. He had not suffered a scratch this time. Murong Xue and the nine-tailed fox were also uninjured. Only I had a gaping wound in my chest. Fortunately, my stamina was decent and I had a self-healing ability, so there was no need to worry about dying from it. With the cigarette between his lips, Feather Realm asked, “Old Li, who is that guy? He’s helped us several times already. Do you know him?”

I shook my head. That was exactly what I wanted to know. I had never seen him before. Before I had even finished one cigarette, the silver-armored man had already taken care of more than two hundred bird-men. Their shrieks before death made me realize that something else might be about to happen next. The silver-armored man glanced at me, then turned as if to leave. I hurriedly called out to him, “Thank you for saving us, hero. May I know your name?”

He rested the great blade on his shoulder and said, “My name is Lee Pomegranate.”

Lee Pomegranate? What kind of name was that? Who named themselves after a pomegranate? Before I could ask further, the bird-men above turned back once more, evidently having heard their comrades’ cries. This time their numbers were beyond imagination—likely in the thousands. A cold smile touched the silver-armored man’s lips as he stared into the sky. I knew then that a fierce battle was unavoidable.