Scourge Messenger

Chapter 205 The Defeat of the Winter Hunt
What is Dongshou Zhenren saying?
The Pharmacist almost thought he had misheard. A fourth-level Winter Hunting True Man was arguing with a fifth-level Dragon Locking Bodhisattva? What's the difference between this and a kitten trying to provoke a tiger?
When Qi Shenwu, Zhou Taizu, and Liang Taizu pacified the world with their sixth-level cultivation, single-handedly mending the Central Plains after three hundred years of chaos, all the powerful clans submitted. Now, Suolong Bodhisattva has a fifth-level cultivation. Even if he is not as powerful as the founding emperor, he is still not comparable to someone with only a fourth-level cultivation, right?
But Master Dongshou wasn't just talking. He took a series of steps in the air, changed positions seven times, and fired twenty-one arrows in quick succession. Each arrow exploded into dozens of scattered arrows the moment it was fired, and in the blink of an eye, a rain of arrows fell all over the sky, even obscuring the sun.

Although Master Dongshou mainly targeted Yaoshiyue and the two girls, the entire mountain stronghold was also within his range. Hundreds and thousands of arrows fell like countless thunderbolts, and Yaoshiyue, who was in the middle of it, felt as if the whole world was collapsing.

When she came to her senses, the mountain had been flattened by the rain of arrows, and half of the entire Shu Road Mountain had been destroyed. Countless rocks and boulders were falling down with a crash, and a chain reaction of landslides was taking place below!

A single strike can alter the terrain, a single strike can destroy mountains; such power is akin to the end of the world!
Without Yaoshi Yue, they would have been crushed to dust by the rain of arrows on their own, leaving not even a trace!
The pharmacist suddenly remembered a sentence his father had once said: "A nation is a nation that builds its foundation, but building a foundation is not the same as building a nation."

Yes, facing a nation that can be defeated by one person, an army formed by one person, and a force that can unleash a barrage of arrows, even a hundred thousand or a million soldiers are nothing more than weeds that can be wiped out at will. The only purpose of a nation's existence is to serve the foundation building!

Master Suolong lost his footing and used two golden locks to insert into the rock wall to secure himself. The young girl and her companion fell down with him, dangling below him like prey bound by spider silk.

"Pharmacist Yue, I was still somewhat wary of you even though you've reached the fourth stage of cultivation. But now that you've reached the fifth stage, instead of quickly refining your Water and Fire techniques, you dare to try and steal Si Wuxie's inheritance from me? Hand them over, and I'll let you go. Otherwise, you'll all stay here!"

Master Dongshou's tone was excited, like a hunter discovering a wounded beast, his hunting desire soaring to unprecedented heights. It seemed Master Dongshou wasn't joking; he genuinely wanted to teach Yaoshi Yue a lesson, even hoping to take advantage of her weakened state at the fifth stage of cultivation to completely eliminate the last Foundation Establishment cultivator of the Yaoshi family!

"How is this possible..." Yaoshi Yuan's face was full of disbelief: "Why was Suolong Bodhisattva suppressed by Dongshou Zhenren? She was clearly the stronger fifth-rank cultivator!"

“What’s so strange about that?” A familiar voice sounded beside her: “Isn’t your sister the best example? She could fight a third-tier opponent when she was only a second-tier opponent, and she could fight a fake Foundation Establishment opponent when she was a third-tier opponent.”

The pharmacist turned around and found that Bei You was also bound by golden locks. However, unlike the others who were bound by their bodies, Bei You's legs were bound, and he was hanging upside down in mid-air. He still had wounds on his face from the wind of annihilation, and blood was still flowing from the corners of his eyes. He looked extremely disheveled.

Compared to him, Yaoshi suddenly felt that their situation wasn't so bad, at least they weren't being hung upside down.

"The battle of messengers is, in the final analysis, a battle of tokens," Bei You said calmly. "Therefore, no matter how strong the Helan family and Prajna are, they cannot defeat the Star Rain Heroine who possesses the Bingzi Pepper Forest and the Hand of Melting a Hundred Forms. The same applies to Foundation Establishment messengers; without powerful tokens, even the most profound supernatural powers are nothing but illusions."

Even though he was bound by the Foundation Establishment messenger and could only watch helplessly as the Foundation Establishment battle raged above, and no matter who won or lost, he was just a fish to be slaughtered, Bei You's tone was so confident, as if he really knew a lot about the Foundation Establishment situation.

The pharmacist did not think he was just talking nonsense. After all, Bei You had taken away Si Wuxie's "Detailed Explanation of the Foundation Establishment" in the central courtyard, and might have glimpsed the tip of the iceberg of the Foundation Establishment Messenger world from it.

At this moment, she saw Bunny Girl turn her head to the side. Although her face was still pale and weak, her sister seemed to be out of danger and was listening to their conversation. It seemed that she also had things she didn't understand.

"Could the token of the Dragon-Locking Bodhisattva be inferior to that of the Winter-Hunting Immortal?" Yaoshi Yuan asked doubtfully. "But the Yaoshi family's ancestor was the sixth-level Foundation Establishment cultivator, Zhou Taizu, and for a long time, the family had two Foundation Establishment cultivators. Moreover, the Dragon-Locking Bodhisattva is already at the fifth level..."

Bei You shook his head: "If Master Suolong were still at the fourth level of perfection, Master Dongshou would probably turn around and leave without saying a word; but it is precisely because Master Suolong is at the fifth level that Master Dongshou feels that he has the victory in his grasp."

When the opponent reaches the fourth level of enlightenment, I am meek and submissive, but when the opponent reaches the fifth level, I strike hard? Although this statement sounds hard to understand, considering Dongshou Zhenren's behavior and Beiyou's previous words, Yaoshiyuan quickly thought of a possibility: "Could it be that advancing to the fifth level will result in losing the token?"

"To be precise, in order to refine the second divine power, the fourth stage of Foundation Establishment requires refining one's two most powerful tokens," Bei You said. "The refining process is also the process of mastering them. The so-called fourth stage of perfection is actually the complete refinement of the two tokens, to the point of being as easy to use as one's own limbs. This is the most powerful weapon of the Foundation Establishment messenger. If an unrefined token is rare, then a fully refined token is equivalent to a legend."

"Master Dongshou claims to have reached the fourth level of perfection, so he must have two fully refined tokens in his possession. Theoretically, he could reach the fifth level now."

"But he dares not," Bei Yourui said, his comments on the lofty Foundation Establishment cultivators still unreserved, even though he was still hanging upside down: "Although there are other reasons, the most important one is that the price of cultivating the second divine power is to completely lose his sacrificial token, which is equivalent to cutting off his own arms!"

"It's reasonable for Master Dongshou to be so confident of victory. Back then, Emperor Taizu of Zhou defeated a fifth-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator with only a fourth-stage one. The fifth stage of Foundation Establishment is the weakest stage, and their strength is far inferior to that of a fourth-stage cultivator at the peak of their cultivation!"

To attain supernatural powers, one must refine sacred objects!
The Pharmacist never expected that the path after Foundation Establishment would be so miraculous. No wonder the Winter Hunting Master was so confident. The combat system of most messengers is built around the core token. The token of Foundation Establishment messengers must be the core token. The Dragon Locking Bodhisattva who lost two tokens is just like her who lost the Mingwang Armor. Her cultivation level increased, but her combat power plummeted!
Of course, there is another approach, which is to refine some inferior tokens to avoid a drop in combat power after the fifth revolution, but if you think about it, you will know that this approach is putting the cart before the horse.

The strength of one's supernatural abilities is undoubtedly closely related to the refining of their tokens. Refining a weaker token will naturally result in a weaker supernatural ability, offering no benefit to one's strength and potentially preventing them from even reaching the fifth stage of cultivation. After all, everyone else is refining their strongest tokens; if you have such a significant weakness, wouldn't other Foundation Establishment messengers harbor ill intentions if you slip up in a battle? Even for safety's sake, fourth-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators will refine their strongest tokens, but this will correspondingly increase the risk at the fifth stage.

The path to enlightenment is fraught with hardship, and upon reflection, it seems the safest course is to remain stagnant, like the Winter Hunt Master, who obediently stayed at the fourth stage of cultivation, thus maintaining his peak condition. The Pharmacist herself was in the same predicament; if she hadn't sought Foundation Establishment and had instead obediently sought refuge with other countries, how could she have ended up in such a predicament?
But the fate of the weak is helplessness. The pharmacist looked at the bunny girl beside him, sniffed softly, and whispered, "I want to reach the Foundation Establishment stage." "I believe you," the bunny girl said softly, "Sister, you can definitely reach the Foundation Establishment stage."

Therefore, there won't be a next time. The pharmacist thought to himself, "Once I reach the Foundation Establishment stage, no one will be able to bully you anymore... There won't be a next time!"

“I think you’d better pray that the old lady up there can win,” Bei You said slowly. “Otherwise, even if you ascend to heaven, it won’t help.”

As soon as Bei You finished speaking, the golden chains binding him swung violently, throwing him against the cliff face and slamming him into the rocks. Yao Shiyuan stared in disbelief, vaguely realizing what was happening.

"Little brother, it's been decades, and you still only have this many tricks up your sleeve," Master Suolong laughed. "If you can't come up with anything new, then Auntie will spank you."

"On what grounds? Just because of this tattered chain of yours?" Master Dongshou sneered, "If I'm not mistaken, your current chain isn't even considered rare, is it? Its speed and strength are far inferior to the fourth-rank legendary Dragon Locking Chain that Emperor Zhou Taizu gave you, and its powers are completely devoid of any divine abilities."

"Even if you have a second supernatural power, so what? My Hunting Impermanence has been reforged five times in the last hundred years, combining three pairs of Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiends. Without the Dragon-Locking Chains, how can you compete with me? I'll say it one last time: hand them over and I'll let you go, otherwise... don't blame Helan for being ruthless!"

Faced with Dongshou Zhenren's provocation, Yaoshi Yue was not angry at all, but just shrugged helplessly: "You, you, you've always been so impatient. I've never seen such an impatient hunter as you. It seems that I can only teach you a lesson on behalf of Baoping Zhenren today."

"Stubborn fool!" Master Dongshou laughed angrily. "You can't even protect yourself, yet you dare to spout empty threats? If you really had any skills, why waste your spiritual energy to defend against the rain of annihilation arrows? Even if your second supernatural power is good at defense, your spiritual energy is almost depleted by now, isn't it?! Even if you replenish your spiritual energy now, you can't possibly outlast me... unless you let go of those two burdens!"

"So you're waiting for me to run out of spiritual energy? Then little brother, do you know what your aunt is waiting for?"

"Ok?"

"Auntie is waiting for you to finish this painting."

Yakushi Yue smiled and pulled out a traditional Chinese ink painting from thin air with her right hand. The ink seemed to be imprinted on an invisible canvas and floated in mid-air!

Winter Hunting Master's eyes narrowed. The moment he saw the painting, goosebumps rose all over his body, as if he had encountered a natural enemy. Even his [Drawing the Dungeon] supernatural power was frantically issuing warnings! He did notice that Medicine Master Yue's right hand had been moving, but he thought she was manipulating the chains, so he ignored it... Only now did he realize that she was hiding a calligraphy brush in her palm.

A calligraphy brush that never runs dry!

But he can't escape!

The ink painting flew towards Master Dongshou, rapidly expanding along the way. Eventually, Master Dongshou completely merged with the figure in the painting. The figure in the painting was bound by six chains, so Master Dongshou was also entangled by six golden chains that appeared out of nowhere!

Break! Break! Break!
Master Dongshou roared inwardly. His [Drawing the Dungeon] was not only a divine power to imprison people, but it could also create a dungeon for himself to resist all external attacks! But he immediately realized that all his struggles were in vain, and his face showed a look of horror: "Your [Locking Dragon Well] can actually suppress my [Drawing the Dungeon]?! This is definitely not something an ordinary token can do. It can only be that you have reforged water and fire... it is the legacy of Pharmacist Changqiu! But her token could not possibly be suitable for you, unless she originally forged it on your behalf!"

"You got it right," Yakushi Yue said cheerfully, "but you still deserve a beating."

She stretched out her left hand toward Master Dongshou, and instantly countless golden chains appeared, binding and engulfing him. After all, they covered him at the speed of a landslide and a tsunami. In just a few breaths, a huge coffin made of golden chains appeared in the air, with Master Dongshou in the very center of the coffin.

"Lock, dragon."

As Yaoshi Yue clenched her left fist, the golden coffin instantly sank inward and contracted. Thousands of chains rubbed together, making a rattling sound. All the chains tightened at this moment, and the sonic boom was as loud as 108,000 firecrackers. The howling wind spread in all directions, and even the ancient beech trees in the distance bent over.

Let alone a human, even a dragon would be squeezed into a bloody pulp inside!
(End of this chapter)