Scourge Messenger

Chapter 226 Barrier Token
The bell tolled loudly and deafeningly, but it could not at all conceal Li Long's smug and arrogant laughter!

"You have thirty breaths to escape. The nearest garrison troops will arrive in thirty breaths. Then you can tell Shenji Gangnu what you have to say! You petty thieves from a family of thieves, how dare you steal from the Chang'an Military Prefecture!"

He couldn't help but feel smug, because the value of the guards was bestowed upon them by the bandits; in times of peace, the guards were no different from flowerpots. In the past, although the commanders of the Chang'an Military Prefecture were all responsible for guarding the dungeon secret realm, due to decades of unchanging tranquility, they had no opportunity to make any contributions; at most, they would receive an extra subsidy.

So Li Long's first reaction upon discovering them was one of delight; he finally had a chance to prove himself and impress Master Suolong. Even a small reward from a Foundation Establishment cultivator was incredibly beneficial to someone at the third stage of cultivation... Wasn't that exactly what happened to the Duke of Jin recently?

Upon seeing their thief masks, Li Long felt even more certain that fate had finally smiled upon him. If he could capture these thieves, he could directly enter the Divine Marquis's Mansion, and perhaps even find a way to obtain the Foundation Establishment Pill!
The battle at the Divine Marquis's Mansion ten years ago cemented Ying Le's unparalleled fame, while Li Long could only look up to her as a humiliating stepping stone to the fourth stage of Foundation Establishment—a humiliation he would never forget. Now, finally encountering the opportunity to establish his foundation, he must consider whether this is the only chance he has in his life.

Li Long recalled that alluring and beautiful figure, stomped his head into the mud, and his fighting spirit, which had gradually died down over the past ten years, was instantly rekindled. But the excitement did not cloud his judgment; he calmly pressured the thieves: "The military headquarters is definitely under martial law now, sealing off both inside and outside. All sentries will attack any suspicious persons... You can't escape!"

The thieves' eyes darted around, but their expressions remained unchanged.

Even during the planning stage, Yan Qing and his team had to consider one possibility: what if they were discovered?
There is clearly only one solution to this problem:
Kill all witnesses.

A successful infiltration is considered successful if the infiltrator is not discovered by anyone, or if any discoverer dies before an alarm is raised.

This was not difficult for them. Not to mention Ying Rushi and Yaoshiyuan, even Shang Xinlei was a seasoned demon slayer. For them, humans were far easier to kill than demons. Moreover, given the laxity of the Chang'an Military Prefecture and the fact that they were located within Chang'an City, most of the soldiers probably wouldn't activate their defensive barriers, and their spiritual energy might even be at zero for a long time.

Yan Qing learned from chatting with Shang Xinlei that unlike game characters who can permanently preserve their spiritual power, ordinary angels' spiritual power will gradually dissipate with any activity. The more spiritual power they have, the faster it dissipates. Sleeping is the worst time for this, just like water leaking out easily after drinking a lot.

Taking a fully-powered first-tier messenger as an example, 20% to 30% of their spiritual power will dissipate during a normal day of activity and sleep.

Let alone ordinary messengers, even noble families would only accumulate spiritual energy when necessary; maintaining spiritual energy at other times would be an unnecessary expense. Although the military government would provide spirit jade subsidies to the soldiers on duty, wouldn't it be possible to save money if they didn't use spirit jade? Even if something really happened to the Chang'an military government, would it just happen to them? Most people would definitely harbor wishful thinking.

But Li Long is definitely not one of them.

As someone who knows the secrets of the realm and its guardian, he must always maintain a state of full spiritual power. Coupled with the combat strength of a third-stage messenger, only a Foundation Establishment cultivator could kill him instantly!
The original plan was to sneak in while Li Long was having sex with the girl, but now that the plan has been changed, Li Long is destined to be alone in his room tonight. Yan Qing and the others naturally have no choice but to change their plan as well – to fight a righteous four-on-one battle, instantly destroy Li Long's defensive barrier and kill him!
But both the original plan and the new plan have a problem: what if Li Long discovers it or they are unable to kill Li Long?

You should know that Li Long has an alarm bell in all his rooms, even in the bathroom. No matter where he is, the alarm bell can be rung within three seconds!
Even the alarm bells would be superfluous. The Hundred Refinement Institute is right next to the commander's courtyard, and outside the institute are fortified bunkers under constant guard. Any slight disturbance he makes will attract the attention of the guards. If thousands of guards then block the secret realm, unless Yan Qing and his group have someone who can establish their foundation and fight against a thousand men, they'll be worn down and killed.

Although they were fully aware of Li Long's danger, a problem is a problem precisely because it is unsolvable. However, no plan is without risk, and everyone was initially prepared to take a gamble, but Ying Rushi ultimately indicated that she had a way to handle the problem.

Seeing the thieves charging forward recklessly, seemingly unafraid of alerting the guards, Li Long frowned slightly and subconsciously retreated to the edge of the wall. After all, when fighting against overwhelming odds, the most important thing is to fight swiftly and avoid getting surrounded.

But for some reason, he suddenly stopped and shouted, taking the initiative to meet the thieves' combined attack!
When Li Long does make a move, he immediately displays his ultimate skill—

Rising Dragon!

His killing intent condensed into a dragon-shaped force, which he unleashed from below, but the resulting airflow swept across the entire room! He took a step forward, his foot sinking deep into the floor tiles, his entire body radiating a golden glow, causing the room lights to dim, as if a great Buddha were performing martial arts, his radiance dazzling!
Before the Rising Dragon Slash could even be unleashed, Yan Qing felt immense pressure, as insignificant as a child before a hundred-ton king. No one wanted to face Li Long's ultimate technique head-on; everyone immediately dodged, leaving only Ying Rushi and Shang Xinlei on the flanks with a chance to attack Li Long!
boom!
The dragon-shaped force instantly shattered the roof beams and tiles into dust. Nothing could remain after the full force of the third-level messenger's attack. A huge hole appeared in the ceiling, and the outline of a dragon's head could be vaguely seen in the hole, with edges as clean as if it had been cut off by a sharp blade.

Yan Qing gasped in shock. [Rising Dragon] was clearly blunt damage, yet it had the effect of cutting damage! It was like slapping an ice cream with a spoon; although it was blunt damage, the ice cream's edges remained perfectly clean… Clearly, in the face of [Rising Dragon], most substances in the world were as soft as ice cream! This move definitely had the effect of lowering the enemy's defense!

Unlike Yan Qing, who was taking a break to relax, the female thieves were already at work. They attacked relentlessly like a swirling lantern, and even though Li Long was a seasoned warrior, he was hit several times in the very first exchange, causing ripples to appear on his defensive barrier. "There are no sentry arrows outside, and no fireworks in the night sky." Li Long's face was extremely grim. "You couldn't have eliminated them all... It's a barrier! You used a barrier token to prevent any movement from spreading out! But tokens with the power to create barriers are extremely rare. There have only been two in the Central Plains: a rare bracelet passed down from the Jie family and a rare ring brought back by Ying Le from the Northern Territory. Just who are you people?"

The barrier tokens that Li Long mentioned were once famous in the Central Plains, and had stirred up bloodshed during the Three Kingdoms wars. They were among the few strategic tokens that could change the course of the battlefield! However, this was his understanding as a mortal. With his limited perspective, he naturally could not know that Foundation Establishment Messengers also had various means to create barrier effects.

Although Li Long was clearly at a disadvantage and filled with doubt and uncertainty, Ying Rushi immediately sensed something was wrong: "He's stalling for time... He's already notified the dungeon! You must hurry, or things will get complicated!"

Li Long had clearly intended to break through the wall and escape, which was exactly what the thieves wanted to see. Although the barrier was similar to a defensive barrier, possessing health and capable of being broken, Ying Rushi could at least hold Li Long off for two or three minutes before exhausting her spirit jade—this was assuming Li Long didn't care about his own safety at all… If Li Long prioritized survival, she could even buy him five to ten minutes, enough time for the other thieves to enter the dungeon and loot it!

But Li Long did not run away; instead, he took the initiative to meet them in battle. This was by no means the tactical skill expected of a third-level military officer, especially since he simply did not have the ability to fight four opponents at once.

Now that he was caught in the crossfire, he didn't try to break out or escape, nor did he continue to threaten and pressure them with words. Instead, he took the initiative to express his shock and fear, just like a young virgin telling the bandits, "I'm easy to bully," "I won't run away," and "Sir, come quick!"

Unless Li Long was deliberately courting death, his purpose in doing this could only be to stall them... There must be some kind of security measures here that the thieves are unaware of, and Li Long was quite certain that they would be successfully triggered even inside the barrier, which is why he put himself in the situation to buy time!

Yan Qing and the others rushed towards the bookshelf in the room without hesitation. The wall next to the bookshelf was right by the door, and there was probably some kind of mechanism there. However, they had observed for three days but had not found it, nor did they need to—the pharmacist was willing to wear steel boots and kick the wall through with one kick!

Before the medicine master's wish, which possessed nearly a hundred vital energies, a one-foot-thick brick wall was not much harder than tofu!
"How dare you—" Li Long roared, his eyes bloodshot, trying to stop Yao Shiyuan and the others. He once again gathered dragon-shaped energy in his right hand, about to unleash the Rising Dragon!

But the clear, melodious sword cry that rang out from the side at that moment instantly made his scalp tingle and his whole body tremble with fear!
Gui Cang Secret Sword - Seven-Day Refinement - Elevenfold Enhancement!
Sword Drawing Technique - 1.5x Boost!
The secret sword, honed over seven days, was unleashed with a poetic grace, like the trail of a bird in flight, stunning the room. Li Long could only turn and counter with a rising dragon strike, his dragon-shaped energy biting into the arc of sword light, the surging shockwave shattering all the porcelain and glass in the room!
Even so, Li Long's defensive barrier was largely breached. This was only thanks to his defensive artifact being a third-tier rare treasure, and the fact that he used the Rising Dragon Sword to parry the attack, demonstrating the sword's ferocity. An ordinary third-tier sword would likely have killed him instantly!

The Jie family's Gui Cang Secret Sword is just that unreasonable. It's clearly only a second-tier token, yet it can even kill a third-tier messenger!

“I’m sorry,” Ying Rushi said, standing in front of the hole in the wall, “I can’t let you get past my sword circle, that’s my job.”

"The barrier token only works when the messenger is present," Li Long said coldly. "In other words, you are the holder of the barrier token, and with this Gui Cang Secret Sword... are you a member of the Jie family? Jie Yuanshao? Or Jie Zhenluo?"

“No,” he denied his own guess first: “Your sword style is the single-handed swordsmanship of Qi State… You are Ying Le’s person! The conch ring on your finger is Ying Le’s!”

“Indeed,” Ying Rushi readily admitted, because the conch ring was given to her by Ying Le herself, and she was not afraid of being exposed at all. “I never expected that the Rising Dragon Hand would be so knowledgeable.”

Li Long suddenly fell silent, then a slow, sinister grin spread across his face, filled with resentment and rage. A dark purple aura emanated from him, his surging killing intent clearly visible, his hand guards practically igniting.

“This scar on my face,” he said with a snarling voice, pointing to a hideous, centipede-like mark on his face, “was left by Ying Le at the Divine Marquis’s Mansion!”

"Is that so? But His Majesty clearly spared your life, yet you show no gratitude and hold a grudge. This is truly disrespectful." Ying Ru pushed open the hilt with her thumb, slowly drawing an ancient longsword, its sharp edge revealing its domineering aura. "It seems I must give you a lesson more profound than any scar..."

A mad smile curled at the corners of her lips: "How about death?"

(End of this chapter)