After circling twice, the Flying Tiger finally seemed to spot the two's weakness. It swooped down straight at Li Xian.
Li Xian raised his sword and charged forward, aiming right at the Flying Tiger's vulnerable spot.
However, the Flying Tiger was incredibly nimble. It somersaulted in mid - air, evading Li Xian's sword, and then lashed out with its sharp claws towards Shen Qing.
"Forget - not!"
The distance was too short. If Shen Qing were to draw her sword now, she would surely be hit by the Flying Tiger's attack.
So, the well - coordinated pair quickly changed their tactics.
Upon receiving Shen Qing's signal, Forget - not split along the patterns on its blade, transforming into tiny ice shards. These shards scattered and flew into the Flying Tiger's eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
The Flying Tiger felt a sharp pain in its head and abruptly stopped its movement.
In no time, blood oozed out from its eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
Enraged, the Flying Tiger tilted its head back, opened its huge mouth, and let out a thunderous roar. The imposing sound made all the low - level spirit beasts within a hundred miles hide in fear.
Ignoring the pain, it lunged forward like a mad beast.
But its vision was blurred, and its hearing and sense of smell were also affected. It could only blunder around in the direction where Shen Qing was dodging.
Shen Qing easily evaded the Flying Tiger's attacks, while Forget - not constantly left tiny wounds on the beast's body.
Although the wounds were not large, they caused the Flying Tiger excruciating pain.
Realizing that it might be defeated if the situation continued, the Flying Tiger gradually calmed down.
Just as Shen Qing and Li Xian were about to finish it off, the Flying Tiger spread its wings. Its wings were incredibly large, twice the size of its body.
The wings flapped faster and faster. First, the small gravel on the ground was lifted by the wind, and then the heavier stones.
Slowly, the wind grew stronger. The scattered parts of Forget - not were blown away and couldn't get close to the Flying Tiger.
"Forget - not, come back!"
Hearing this, Forget - not reassembled into a complete sword and returned to the hilt.
"Ouch..."
A sharp pain suddenly shot across Shen Qing's face, making her cry out involuntarily.
"Wind blades are hidden in the wind. Let's take cover quickly!"
Li Xian grabbed Shen Qing and rushed behind a huge boulder. Seeing this, the Flying Tiger took off into the air. Its body spun clockwise along with its wings, forming a small tornado.
The wind from the small tornado transformed into numerous sharp wind blades that easily cut down several thick trees.
The huge boulder where Shen Qing and Li Xian were hiding was also scratched by the sharp wind blades. It was obvious that the boulder couldn't hold out much longer, and there was no other place to hide nearby.
So Shen Qing tried to see if she could take Li Xian into her space.
But the space seemed to strongly reject Li Xian. Shen Qing tried several times but failed.
It seemed that only those who had formed a contract could enter the space. Shen Qing was a bit discouraged but forced herself to stay calm.
Shen Qing had left all her defensive magical artifacts in the Beast - Taming Sect and distributed them to Hong Chaoyang and the others. The same went for Li Xian.
At this moment, a large chunk of the boulder they were hiding behind was sliced off. Li Xian pressed Shen Qing's head down and hugged her tightly in his arms.
"Li Xian, this won't work!"
Li Xian lowered his head, his voice tinged with anxiety. "We have to break through. This boulder won't last much longer."
Looking at the sword in Li Xian's hand and the nearby stream, Shen Qing suddenly had an idea.
"Li Xian, you have the water spiritual root, right?"
Li Xian nodded and understood what she meant. "You mean to use your ice?"
Nestled in Li Xian's arms, Shen Qing looked up. Her eyes sparkled with a strange light. Her cute and smart appearance made Li Xian's heart skip a beat.
"Okay... I'll do whatever you say."
Li Xian gathered his spiritual energy. The water vapor from the stream gradually concentrated around the Flying Tiger. Due to the wind, the water vapor slowly formed small water whirlpools.
Both of them were mainly sword cultivators and rarely used spells actively.
So Shen Qing wasn't sure if this would work, but at this point, she didn't care. She had to try any method.
At this moment, Li Xian's expression changed.
He could clearly feel a warm sensation in his dantian, and spiritual energy was constantly surging into it.
This was... a sign of a breakthrough!
A thunder tribulation would surely come when one broke through to the Nascent Soul stage. If he stayed here to undergo the tribulation, the thunder would definitely affect the Dark Wolf and Chu Lanqiu in the barrier. But if he left now, Shen Qing would be in danger facing the Flying Tiger alone.
So Li Xian had to suppress the circulation of spiritual energy in his body while controlling the water vapor.
Shen Qing didn't notice Li Xian's strange state. She was concentrating on trying to blend her spiritual energy into the water vapor controlled by Li Xian.
In her anxiety, beads of sweat began to form on Shen Qing's forehead.
Thankfully, their spiritual energy blended well. The thick water vapor gradually condensed into ice.
The temperature around them dropped suddenly. The Flying Tiger's spinning speed also slowed down and it seemed about to stop.
Taking this opportunity, Shen Qing recalled some spells she had read in the books in the wooden house. She formed hand seals, and it was as if a glacier had suddenly descended around her. The trees and the stream were also frozen.
The Flying Tiger stopped spinning. It puffed out white steam from its mouth, and there was a hint of fear in its eyes.
It finally realized that the two people in front of it were not as easy to deal with as it had thought.
The Flying Tiger's wings stopped flapping stiffly and it fell from the air, landing right on the frozen stream.
Its huge claws were immediately frozen to the ice.
Shen Qing exclaimed happily, "Li Xian, we did it!"
Li Xian felt as if his meridians were about to burst from the rich spiritual energy, but he still managed to reply, "Y - yes..."
Seeing that the Flying Tiger's four feet were frozen, Li Xian was just about to tell Shen Qing that he was going to break through when he met the Flying Tiger's resentful eyes.
Oh no!
Li Xian was shocked. He quickly threw himself in front of Shen Qing.
Shen Qing still had her hands in the seal - forming position. She hadn't realized what was happening yet when she heard Li Xian, who was holding her, let out a muffled groan. There was pain on his face.
"Li Xian!"
Li Xian couldn't hold on and slid to the ground. Shen Qing let go of her hands and quickly hugged Li Xian. When her hands touched his back, she felt something warm and wet. Looking down, she saw a pool of scarlet blood.
At that moment, panic and fear filled Shen Qing's chest. The string in her mind snapped.
It turned out that when the Flying Tiger found itself trapped, it took a desperate move. It spread its wings and turned its feathers into flying blades to attack Shen Qing, but Li Xian had blocked them for her.
Seeing Li Xian on the verge of death, anger blazed in Shen Qing's eyes. She grabbed Forget - not, condensed her spiritual energy into a tangible form, and it surrounded her.
"You deserve to die!"
Shen Qing flew forward with her sword and stabbed at the Flying Tiger.
However, the Flying Tiger was at the late stage of Nascent Soul cultivation. Even though it was trapped, it was still difficult to get close to it.
The only thing left in Shen Qing's eyes was the scarlet blood on her hands. She absorbed the surrounding spiritual energy recklessly and forcefully broke through the Flying Tiger's spiritual energy barrier.
When Forget - not's blade pierced into the Flying Tiger's inner core, there were also tiny cracks on Shen Qing's golden core.