Scourge Messenger

Chapter 363 [Epitaph]

"Third-tier Beast - Owl Bear!"
"Third-stage monster - Scorpion King!"
Yan Qing activated two puppet cards almost instantly, simultaneously summoning "Qiongqi" to quickly take over the line. Amidst the deafening roar of thunder and fire, the owl-bear was the first to fall within just a few rounds!
"Retreat!" Yan Qing picked up Murong Hui and ran, with Ying Ru guarding them from the side, and the puppets covering their retreat!

The ability to kill the Owl Bear so quickly demonstrates a destructive power far exceeding that of a third-tier messenger, and even making it a top performer among fourth-tier messengers. This is absolutely not a force that a Hundred Guards can withstand. Even Yan Qing experienced excruciating pain and muscle tearing due to the "Netherworld Connection," and now the Hundred Guards are wielding this power comparable to the Foundation Establishment stage of Qi and Blood; they definitely won't last long before collapsing!
There's no need to fight him... and Yan Qing doesn't have the means to fight him! His puppets are all tanky meat shields with high health, and they have no crowd control abilities. The speed of the Hundred Guards is as fast as lightning. Even if Qiongqi has nearly 600,000 attack power, as long as he can't touch him, it's all in vain!
Conversely, the Hundred Guards could freely attack and traverse the battlefield, easily eliminating all the puppets. The puppets' weaknesses were exposed at this moment; facing a messenger with true Foundation Establishment strength, they were nothing more than helpless targets.

So the only options are to escape, run, and retreat!
"Hui!" Ying Rushi cried out, her eyes red as she ran, "Hui, wake up!"

She gripped the hilt of the Yitian Sword tightly, waiting for Murong Hui to wake up so she could shove it into her hand. However, the injuries and blood loss caused Murong Hui to quickly fall into a coma. Even though the Yitian Sword's [Overbearing Power] could heal all injuries, the messenger had to activate it on his own initiative. But how could the messenger activate his power while unconscious? This was a dead end.

Faced with the sudden chaos, Yan Qing remained calm and collected, counting his cards: he still had two puppet cards, Bingzi Jiaolin had already been used, and Epitaph could be used but couldn't be played... Back in the "Tongyou World", Yan Qing had wanted to put Baibao Jinwei into the ethereal coffin, but the other party simply wouldn't make contact with him.

Epitaph: Requires contact with the target to activate!
This shouldn't have been a problem, since supernatural powers can be activated in conjunction with tokens, but unfortunately, Yan Qing doesn't have a token that allows him to make long-distance contact with the target!

If Yan Qing had known beforehand that he could obtain the [Epitaph], he would have prepared a long-range token in advance, or at the very least, left behind the Bingzi Pepper Grove so that Murong Hui could protect herself with the Yitian Sword. However, 'if only I had known' is wrong. Now, his only long-range killing technique, the Overturning Heaven Blade Aura, has cooled down. If he wants to activate the [Epitaph], he can only risk close-range contact with this armored Foundation Establishment creature!
Or they could simply flee the Demon Gathering Land, since the monster would likely die on its own anyway. But putting aside whether they could escape, could Murong Hui hold out that long?
The vitality of the third-level messenger is indeed astonishing, but she is losing a lot of blood every second. By the time Yan Qing escapes, she will have bled to death.

Suddenly, a chill ran down Yan Qing's back.

Using puppets to block the Imperial Guards is a brilliant plan, but will the enemy just obediently waste time with puppets? The world isn't so kind as to let everything go your way.

A ghostly figure, wreathed in crimson flames, darted through the puppets. A flash of cold light arrived first, followed by a spear thrust out like a dragon! It was too fast and too close; Yan Qing had no time to summon the puppets!
Only Ying Rushi, who had been watching him closely, could catch up in time.

The Heaven-Slaying Sword couldn't stop the Blood Flame Spear; the spearhead slid down, and the defensive barrier cracked like paper. Under the pull of the [Heart-to-Heart Lock], Yan Qing's defensive barrier also shattered!

The spear pierced through the abdomen with undiminished power, continuing its thrust towards Yan Qing! This spear carried the blood and flames of three hundred Hundred Guards, a bloodlust that could not be satisfied by a single Prince of Lanling!

boom!
The shockwave sent Bai Bao, the guard, flying backward. As he retreated, he gripped his spear tightly, drawing out large swaths of blood and flesh. A tremendous heartbeat resounded in Ying Ru Shi's chest, like a sudden, deafening death knell. The piercing wound healed instantly, revealing her slender, fair waist. Even the remaining bloodstains on it shone like dazzling rubies.

With the emergence of the Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber, the domineering spirit rises!

Before the puppet could attack, the Imperial Guard had already vanished in a blur, crashing into another house. Yan Qing realized that while this guy could change the direction of his attacks in the blink of an eye, he couldn't stop moving at high speed, nor could he dodge or shift within a small area. He had to exert all his strength and hold nothing back to unleash speed comparable to a lightning bolt or meteor, as if he were launching himself as an arrow every time!
As Hyakubo Konoe emerged from the ruins, the demon mask on his face suddenly cracked open, falling to the ground with a crisp sound. Beneath the mask was a face quite similar to Ying Rushi's, with a delicate yet alluring beauty. However, the veins in his throat were bulging, and blood was flowing from his seven orifices. 'A candle flickering in the wind' was not even an accurate description of his condition; 'a lamp burning out' would be a more accurate description.

Ying Ru was slightly taken aback, but this did not delay her and Yan Qing's strategic retreat. She asked from afar, "Uncle Su?"

She quickly introduced him to Yan Qing: "He is Ying Le's younger brother, Ying Su."

"It's been many years," Ying Su said with a slight twitch of his lips, as if greeting a long-lost relative or child: "So, you've grown up."

“Sorry, there’s no time for reminiscing. My time is running out,” he gripped his spear tightly, the spear glowing with blood-red flames as if burning his own life force. “Go to hell.”

Ying Su let out a deafening roar, smashing countless houses and shuttling back and forth to kill the "Poisonous Scorpion King". Even though Yan Qing summoned a new puppet in time, he had already found an opportunity to fight and thrust out his scorching spear again!
With a deafening roar, the spear pierced Ying Rushi's chest, but couldn't even break the skin. Ying Rushi slit Ying Su's throat with her sword. Her casual strike was naturally insufficient to break through the defensive barrier, but speed is reciprocal. She only needed to place the sword in the right position, and Ying Su would naturally thrust his throat against it.

If it weren't for the [Heavenly Body] blocking the tip of the Blood Flame Spear, they would have perished together by now. Ying Su pierced through her body, and she cut off Ying Su's head!

"You'll die," Ying Ru said, looking at him. Her freshly slit throat wound hadn't stopped bleeding; instead, a torrent of blood was gushing out like a fountain, something far from normal for a third-tier messenger. Ying Su appeared outwardly unharmed, but her internal organs and blood vessels were nearly depleted.

"I know."

When Ying Su saw that Ying Le had sent 120 men, he had a vague premonition that this was probably the end for him.

Three hundred protectors is a critical point. Just as more than twenty people unlock [United Hearts - Mass], more than one hundred people unlock [United Hearts - One], and more than three hundred people unlock [United Hearts - Return to One]. [One] only temporarily draws on a portion of the Qi and blood of other protectors to temporarily maintain a foundation-building state, while [Return to One] goes a step further, sacrificing three hundred protectors as the price to temporarily stack the Qi, blood, spirit, and even agility of everyone!
Even more ingenious is that [Reunion] can be activated when all the Hyakubu Guards are wiped out, restoring the commander's injuries at the fastest speed. In other words, when commanding 300 Hyakubu, the commander can activate [Reunion] even if the entire army is wiped out. This is the last trump card, so don't miss it.

However, activating [One] would cause Ying Su's muscles to tear and bones to shatter. The theoretical value of [Return to One] is ten or even a hundred times that of the former. The price paid is something Ying Su cannot even imagine.

His head felt like it was being pierced by a thousand needles, his bones were being crushed, and even breathing felt like drinking molten lava. Ying Su had no doubt that if he closed his eyes, he would simply die from the pain. No wonder his sister created [Return to One] ten years ago, but only now has she granted him permission to use it.

Compared to this pain, death is as pleasant as a gentle breeze. No one can endure this pain to continue fighting... except me.

Your will is my destiny.

“She is my emperor, and I am her subject,” Ying Su said in a poetic voice. “I cheer for her and I die for her on the battlefield.”

boom!
Yan Qing and Ying Ru desperately shuttled between houses, with the puppet bringing up the rear. One house after another collapsed behind them, as if they were escaping a landslide or tsunami. This was less a man-made disaster and more a catastrophe that would track them down!
"Yan Qing." Ying Ru suddenly called out. Although her tone was calm, she blurted out Yan Qing's real name, which showed how uneasy she was.

“I know,” Yan Qing replied, “I know!”

Ying Rushi's [Overbearing] time is about to end. Even though Overbearing reduces damage, she just took several attacks from Ying Su and only managed to block them thanks to [Heavenly Overbearing Body]. When the time runs out, all the damage will erupt instantly! Even if [Heavenly Overbearing Body] doesn't kill her, it will definitely leave her severely injured or even on the verge of death!
They no longer have any means of instant recovery, and Yan Qing alone will not be able to escape with two wounded soldiers. Some will survive, but not everyone will.

Ying Ru grabbed Yan Qing's arm. She didn't speak; she had promised Yan Qing she would never betray him again. She could only stare intently at Yan Qing, a pleading look in her eyes.

You've gained supernatural powers and won the Foundation Establishment Pill; now all you need to do is be ruthless.

"I won't leave you." Yan Qing gave her a stern look. "Don't even think about doing anything foolish."

Separating and escaping from the beginning was the best strategy. The longer it went on, the closer Ying Su would be to death. Separating and escaping would consume his life as much as possible. The only cost was that those targeted by Ying Su would most likely die.

The Imperial Guards had entered the Demon Gathering Land specifically to hunt down Ying Rushi, and if they split up, Ying Su would definitely keep an eye on her. But before the damage from the [Heavenly Body] was calculated, how far could she run? She was just betting that Ying Le still wanted to capture her. Now that Ying Su was alone, if he wanted to offer her to Ying Le, he would inevitably take her away from the Demon Gathering Land, and there was absolutely no possibility that he would continue to hunt down Yan Qing and Murong Hui.

However, this time Ying Ru didn't dare to say it in front of him, and at least they had made some initial progress... Yan Qing's mind suddenly wandered. He was always like this; the more urgent the situation, the more easily his mind would wander. Since things were already so tense, he might as well think of something fun to relax his nerves.

Moreover, he's not in dire straits yet; he still has one last trump card:

epitaph!
If it can't be used to imprison enemies, it can be used to rescue allies! The supernatural healing time lasts for a full 30 minutes, which can restore anyone to their original state. More importantly, Ying Su certainly can't last 30 minutes in this state!

The problem is that Yan Qing can only use the [Epitaph] once.

After reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, this restriction naturally disappears. However, before that, each use of [Epitaph] depletes his entire health and leaves him in a state of temporary weakness, requiring at least a day before he can use it again. Mortals must pay a price for using supernatural powers.

But, to whom should an epitaph be used?
This is not just a treatment; it is tantamount to entrusting all hope of life to someone else, because the two who remain still have to face Ying Su's threat. Only those who are on the "Epitaph" can safely survive this ordeal.

Is it about protecting others, or... being a little selfish?
Yan Qing had no time to hesitate, because Ying Rushi's "domineering" phase was over. The instant Ying Rushi coughed up blood, Yan Qing made his decision. He reached out and hugged Ying Rushi, releasing the barely breathing Murong Hui from his arms.

At the same time, [Epitaph] was invoked against Murong Hui!
Murong Hui's body vanished into nothingness and landed on the ground, a serene smile still on her face, as if she were having a sweet dream. She was left behind, and when Ying Ru recovered from her weakness and looked over, Murong Hui's illusory figure was already far away.

"Leave the hope of life to Murong Hui," Yan Qing gazed ahead, his breath weakening instantly, but his sharply defined brows held a soaring confidence: "I will live and die with you!"

(End of this chapter)