Scourge Messenger

Chapter 183 Dividing the Death Penalty
Upon re-entering the Forest of Bones, the trees outside were completely bare, and the ground was covered with rotting leaves. If the Forest of Bones had previously given the impression of being eerie, now it was simply a place of decay.

After passing through the front hall and central courtyard, they arrived at the back forest surrounded by withered trees, where they could see the enormous and terrifying body of the Corpse King Longyou from afar.

But when he actually stood before it, the pharmacist could not help but be awestruck.

too big!
Roughly estimated, the Corpse King was about two zhang tall. If they approached to attack, they would have to look up to see its head. The Corpse King's hands and feet were as thick as several corpses stacked on top of each other. This is not an adjective, but a simple statement: its entire body was composed of countless corpses.

You can't tell from a distance, but once you get close, you can see that its surface is covered with dried-up corpses. But it doesn't look scary because most of the dried-up corpses have been integrated into it, like a tombstone made up of many corpses.

Yes, it's more like a tombstone than a living being.

However, this body type...

“Actually, we made very good progress the past two days,” Prajna said. “Such a huge demon king would obviously be very clumsy in its movement and attacks, and that is indeed the case. Although it has wide-range sweeping attacks and even ground-shaking attacks, they are all within our ability to dodge. Moreover, we can leave the back forest directly, and it will not chase after us.”

"Even if its injuries gradually heal, based on our experience in other third-tier secret realms, we can probably defeat it completely with just one more day of effort. Everything is as we expected. The Corpse King is being weakened by us, and the remains on its body are falling off little by little until it becomes what you see now—it was probably twice as thick before."

Although Prajna speaks of it effortlessly, the Corpse King is, after all, a third-level demon king. If it were truly that simple, the third-level secret realm wouldn't have become such a difficult obstacle that caused heavy losses to the army and made everyone tremble at the mere mention of it.

It's just that Prajna, Beiyou, and Xuexiang are the top experts among the third-level messengers. Each of them can lead a team to attack the third-level secret realm on their own in the military town. When the three of them attacked the Corpse King together, they did not care about the consumption of spirit jade, which is why they could do it so effortlessly.

"But after a certain threshold was crossed, the Corpse King began to use its killing move." A look of sadness appeared on Prajna's face: "For the next three days, we only studied one thing - how to counter the Corpse King's killing move."

It is common knowledge that the Demon King has a killer move. Even Zheng Shan, who is in the first level of the secret realm, has a move called Moon Ring Slash. How much more so the Corpse King in the third level of the secret realm?
Hearing this, even the Pharmacist Yuan couldn't help but become serious. A killing move that could leave the three great protectors helpless must be either bizarre and unpredictable or have unimaginable power.

“No amount of talking can compare to seeing it for yourself,” Xue Xiang suddenly said. “You all stay here, I’ll come over and show you. Prajna.”

Upon hearing this, Prajna handed his rare Zen staff to Xue Xiang, who took it but did not intend to use it; instead, he carried it on his back.

As he spoke, Xue Xiang transformed into a blur and stepped into the back forest. The moment he crossed the dividing line, the head of the Corpse King Longyou emitted eerie blue-green flames. Although it was called a head, it was also composed of countless withered skulls, but one could vaguely make out the face of a middle-aged man.

"Fu Xiang... Fu Xiang!" the Corpse King roared, stretching out his massive hand, billowing with black mist, to grab at Xue Xiang. Compared to the Corpse King's hand, Xue Xiang was nothing more than a cockroach crawling on the ground!

But cockroaches are masters of escape, and Blood Prime arrived at the Corpse King's feet almost instantly, his hands like razors relentlessly trimming the Corpse King's toes. The Corpse King roared angrily, but no matter how he turned, he couldn't hit him. Before long, his legs were covered in countless wounds, from which flowed a filthy liquid. Judging from Blood Prime's furrowed brows, this liquid was clearly not the fragrant nectar of immortality.

Suddenly, the Corpse King raised his head and roared, "Prime Minister Fu, today I, Long You, will rid the martial world of a great scourge! Accept my Dragon Subduing Seal!"

Although it was called the Dragon Subduing Seal, the Corpse King's right hand condensed into a turbid and deep black mist. Thunder rumbled in the sky, and streaks of deep black lightning coiled around his palm. Like the finishing touch on a painting, a ferocious and terrifying black dragon lightning truly appeared in the black mist!

It roared and unleashed the Dragon-Slaying Seal upon the Blood Mirror. One can imagine that once it landed, it would be a devastating force that would cause the heavens and the earth to shatter. A third-level messenger would absolutely be unable to withstand it!

However, what happened next left the pharmacist in disbelief.

Because the Corpse King's speed is too slow. Not to mention Blood Element, a messenger skilled in movement and elusiveness, even she could easily escape the Dragon Subduing Seal's cover.

Before the Dragon Subduing Seal descended, Blood Element had already returned to their side.

Boom! The entire manor shook, the ground cracked from the Corpse King's blow, and the dust kicked up was four or five feet high. A storm carrying sand and dust swept through the back forest. Yaoshi Yuan squinted and suddenly felt that there was really no need to take a bath - he was already filthy again.

While this move is indeed difficult to resist, it wouldn't be enough to stop the three guardians, would it? The pharmacist alone came up with many solutions, and even the Blood Path demonstrated one of them—luring it out and then avoiding it, before going back in to continue beating it up.

However, even though there was no one inside, the Corpse King's roar did not stop at all, and its attacks became even more ferocious!
Boom!Boom!Boom!Boom!
No one could see what was happening inside. All they heard were a dozen or so earth-shaking thuds and felt the ground churning beneath their feet. The intense earthquake forced everyone to crouch down, and even standing up required immense courage!

Once the dust settled, the Corpse King had returned to its tombstone-like silence. However, the earth around it, which had been turned over a dozen times, told everyone that a disaster had just occurred that could easily crush a third-tier messenger. "...It's recovered?" The Pharmacist had sharp eyes; she saw that the Corpse King's injuries inflicted by the Blood Phase had now completely healed.

Prajna nodded: "That's right, so if we go in and attack it again, it will use this killing move again."

"I've never heard of a third-level demon king having such strength."

"In fact, the other third-tier demon kings don't have that either. For example, the Wind Wolf King of the Wolf Den, although it also has a deadly wind blade attack, that's all," Prajna said. "Most demon kings' killing moves are instantaneous, unlike the Corpse King which has a continuous follow-up. The Corpse King's transformation is probably Si Wuxie's arrangement. Did you see the golden light above its head?"

The pharmacist nodded. After the Corpse King awoke, a dazzling golden wound appeared on its head. However, compared to the Corpse King's enormous body, this golden wound was truly insignificant.

"Based on our tests over the past few days, as long as someone present is equipped with a Buddhist relic, the Corpse King will definitely activate the Dragon Subduing Seal."

"What if no one can provide it?" the pharmacist asked.

"The Corpse King will skip the Dragon Subduing Seal and slam the ground directly, giving you no time to react." Blood Element seemed to remember something, his face extremely ugly: "Believe me, you definitely don't want to experience what that feels like, and even escaping is a luxury."

“Therefore, the Dragon Subduing Seal must appear, and dodging will cause the ground slam,” after a brief moment of thought, the Pharmacist quickly saw the crux of the problem: “Have you tried sending someone to take the hit?”

Let alone a dangerous place like the Shu Road Mountains, even when a military town attacks a secret realm, they will draw lots to decide who will die when unavoidable casualties occur. If they don't have high requirements for the sacrifices, they might even hire someone from outside to take their place. Anyway, there are plenty of people, and a little bit of resources leaked from the secret realm is enough for an ordinary family to enjoy.

To conquer the secret realm, the messenger can place many things on the altar, with human lives being the least significant price to pay.

“I tried, but it didn’t work,” Prajna said. “Even after he died, the Corpse King continued to pound the ground. The only saving grace is that my staff wasn’t completely damaged.”

Prajna's indifference is reflected in the details. Unlike the demonic and bloodthirsty Bei You, he is just an ordinary messenger of the demonic path. He values ​​the Zen staff far more than the people he has found.

It cannot be without the Dragon Subduing Seal; otherwise, it will directly slam the ground.
You can't dodge, or you'll be pounding the ground.
It's no use catching it; the Corpse King will still pound the ground.

No wonder the three guardians were at a loss and ultimately had no choice but to share Si Wuxie's legacy with them. Even the well-informed Medicine Master Yuan was at a loss as to how to overcome this predicament.

“The little girl hasn’t uttered a sound since just now,” Xue Xiang raised an eyebrow and mocked, “Too scared to speak? Go find your good sister to hug you, and whatever you do, don’t cry. I hate it when children cry.”

“I’m different. I really enjoy watching older men cry,” Bunny Girl said bluntly. “Could you perform eating bitter melon while crying later? It would definitely be unbelievably ugly.”

“Benefactor Rabbit, judging from your words, do you already have a good plan?” Prajna asked.

"Isn't this simple? Uncles, you spent three days and still couldn't figure it out?" The bunny girl looked incredulous: "Without a Buddhist token, you can't dodge it, you can't catch it, so there's obviously only one answer—just catch the Dragon Subduing Seal."

"How can you catch that?" Xue Xiang thought she was completely insane: "Do you think the Dragon Subduing Seal is an attack that one person can catch?"

"Hey? Uncle, you're so great! You noticed the key point right away." The bunny girl's tone was like coaxing a three-year-old child. Then she said to the others, "Of course, one person can't withstand it, so we need to stand together and share the damage."

Off-screen, Yan Qing was slurping noodles, a breakfast that Niu Xianke had just bought from the bamboo noodle shop. The noodles were chewy and the soup was delicious.

Yes, Yan Qing hadn't even read their lengthy analysis; he'd just switched to Niu Xianke's account to buy breakfast. Back when the Dragon Subduing Seal was activated, he saw a golden cross-shaped focus indicator appear above the Blood Element's head and immediately realized it was one of the most familiar game mechanics in MMORPGs:

Divide the death penalty.

(End of this chapter)