Scourge Messenger

Chapter 399 Killing with a single glance!
The City That Never Sleeps, May 10th, light rain.

The entire city was placed under martial law three days ago, and no one except the military was allowed to enter or leave.

From high-ranking officials and wealthy families to ordinary people, everyone stayed at home, and the city was so quiet that it seemed that only the sound of armor clashing and horses' hooves pounding on the blue bricks could be heard.

No one in Qi is a fool. Ying Le's ten-year reign had already artificially exterminated the dull, clueless, and skeptical species. The three great rulers of Qi, who had been in seclusion for nearly a century, appeared in the City of Never Sleeping. Their guards slaughtered the surrounding counties like madmen. Even the beggars in the City of Never Sleeping knew that the world was about to change.

But what can you do even if you know? They've never tried to hide it; they've openly and honestly locked down the city, turning a major city with a million inhabitants into their prison.

What do you want?
What can you do?
Some might wonder why Ying Le, being so wicked, doesn't leave Nightless City. Because other places aren't much better. Even when Ying Le is wicked, he only targets powerful families. In Nightless City, commoners are at least protected by countless gods and Buddhas, but outside, even a thug, a rogue, or a lowly soldier can take away a commoner's money and life.

But the peace that is given away so easily can also be taken away just as easily.

Suddenly, a foul wind and a bloody aura began to blow over the City of Never Sleeps. The residents of Never Sleeps looked up and saw streaks of bloody aura floating in the sky, the air thick with the smell of rust. Many realized something was wrong and covered their mouths and noses with damp towels, trying to block the bloody wind and aura from penetrating. But how could mortals withstand the great formation that four Foundation Establishment cultivators had spent four days and four nights setting up?
A surge of blood energy swept through the city. Children fell silent, the elderly breathed their last, men collapsed, and women were paralyzed. Even messengers could not withstand it. They felt it most deeply, clearly sensing their bodies growing colder inch by inch, as if the blood energy was taking away their life force as it passed through them.

Ying Le stood on the altar in the palace, from where she could overlook the entire city over the palace walls. She could clearly see the blood energy gathering here, and the combination of [The Heart of All], [The Killing Array of Billions of Living Beings], and her [Thousand Blood Feather Flow Dao Foundation] formed an unprecedented killing move, turning the entire area around Nightless City into her slaughterhouse.

She watched the blood mist sweep over the people, watched them struggle to escape their houses, watched them fall like straw in the yard. Then their corpses would generate new blood mist, more and more, denser and denser, until it turned everyone into her sustenance.

Each courtyard is a stage, and each stage is where different stories of joy and sorrow unfold.

On some stages, adult sons place their elderly mothers in a car, refusing to abandon their loved ones even when they are too weak to do so. When he collapses to the ground, the mother, already barely breathing, uses her last bit of strength to press herself against her son, trying to prevent the blood from consuming her.

On some stages, mothers hold their young children, softly humming lullabies, their eyes closed peacefully under the protection of maternal love. The husbands and fathers in the family are nowhere to be seen; perhaps they are kept outside the city gates, long since becoming part of their very being.

What surprised Ying Le most were the stages set up by those wealthy families. She had assumed that everyone in a powerful family was driven by greed and would abandon each other in the face of disaster. But instead, she saw the master, acting as a messenger, lighting a fire to try and ward off the bloodlust; she saw masters and servants relying on each other; and she saw the principal wife and concubines holding hands tightly. This family was notorious for its constant quarrels, with wives and concubines hostile to each other for the master's favor. Now it seemed they had already accepted each other as family.

Ying Le loved watching plays and had even supported several opera troupes, but none of them had moved her as much as the current "Never-Sleeping City." Actors practice countless times to move the audience, but they only need a single tear to do so.

She raised her hand, and her light gauze robe slid down her skin, revealing her porcelain-white arms. Trailing her pale white skirt, she stood barefoot on the altar, dancing and singing:

"The cold pestle pounds the night, and tears stain my lonely pillow."

"The lamp wick flickers and dims, how can I send this letter?"

"The sorrow of parting is always unspoken, like the candle flame turning into tears, and the silk quilt remaining cold."

"The water clock drips slowly, recalling those years, when spring mountains were painted with eyebrows, and laughter and chatter faded away."

"I gaze at the endless horizon, but none of the thousand sails are the one I seek; I lean against the railing in the setting sun."

"I wait for you to return when my hair turns white; the moon shines alone on the old railing across ten thousand miles of the world."

This is a poem about a wife missing her husband. Ying Le, dressed in plain white, seems like a widow, singing a lament of despair. A tear slides down her cheek, but a self-deprecating smile curls at the corner of her mouth.

She knew she didn't deserve it, and even felt a little disgusted, but she couldn't help but envy them. At least they had people to miss and people to protect, but what did she have?

She personally killed most of her relatives and friends, and her only brother also fell in the Demon Gathering Land for her path. Her last remaining family members may be coming to kill her.

The song soared into the air, melting into the pattering rain. Ying Le's last vestige of warmth seemed to have vanished as well, washed away by the rain.

"His Majesty."

An elderly general with white hair entered through the altar; he was none other than Duan Xiaoxian, one of the three great generals of Qi. "This old minister is ready, but is it really necessary to begin today? If we wait a few more days..."

"Now that everything is ready, why hesitate?" Ying Le turned his head expressionlessly. "This is the time, this is the place."

Two days prior was Ying Le's birthday, the Long Birthday Festival, and seven days after that was Emperor Shenwu's birthday, the Long Spring Festival. But Ying Le wouldn't change her plans to cater to the holidays. Everyone should give way to her whim.

"As you command." Duan Xiaoxian knelt down and said, "This old minister wishes Your Majesty... that your wish may be fulfilled."

"Thank you, this is the most sincere blessing I've heard in all these years." Ying Le looked up at the sky: "Then..."

"It's noon."

Ying Le opened her arms as if to embrace the whole world. A huge, budding white lotus appeared beneath her feet, and in an instant, the entire altar was covered by the white lotus, enveloping Ying Le as well.

At this moment, the blood energy filled the sky like swallows returning to their nests. Nourished by the blood energy, the white lotus gradually bloomed and turned red. When the extremely beautiful blood lotus fully bloomed, the empress inside the lotus was also dressed in an imperial robe stained red with the blood of all living beings.

Ying Le raised her head, and with each breath she exhaled blood. The sky in her eyes seemed to fall upon her, and her whole body felt light and she could fly freely to any place. She felt that she was now omnipotent!

Just a moment ago, her Dao foundation was raised from the weakest initial stage to the fourth stage of perfection in an instant. After fusing with two water and fire tokens, she will be able to step into the fifth stage!

Offering sacrifices to countless living beings and slaughtering millions of gods and demons—this is the wonder of the Thousand Blood Feather Flow Dao Foundation. Boundless slaughter is the ladder to her ascension to immortality!
At the same time, Ying Le's perception was raised to the extreme as she reached the Great Perfection of Dao Foundation. With the spread of the eight hundred guards, Ying Le's perception spread to the entire city of Nevernight. Now, the situation of the whole city is as clear as the lines on the palm of her hand. No matter what happens, she can't escape her gaze!

Ying Le suddenly opened her eyes and looked at the Taiji Gate of the Imperial Palace. A genuine surprise appeared on her usually indifferent and world-weary face, like a young girl receiving her favorite gift on her birthday.

"I knew you'd come." Ying Le laughed happily, tears streaming down her face. "This is my last performance, how could you not come? Besides you, who else is qualified to act opposite me? In these ten years, you've been all I have left, and I'm all you have left. Come on, let's put a perfect end to this inescapable, tragic fate of ours!"

……

...

Four figures suddenly appeared in the rain in front of Tai Chi Gate.

Wearing the white fox, Ying Ru seemed to sense something and looked up at the towering altar in the distance, but all she could see was a barrier made of glass, reflecting a scarlet light under the gray-white rain curtain.

“Ying Le should be inside.” Although she used a speculative sentence, her tone was very certain. She turned her head and glanced at Xuanwu Street behind her. Although it was raining today, this street was always bustling, and it should have been crowded with people at noon. But now… she could only see a few people lying on the side of the road, not knowing whether they were dead or alive.

The overwhelming aura of blood, the near-death silence of the Never-Sleeping City, the people lying on the roadside, and the indiscriminate killing by the Hundred Guards these past few days—although she didn't want to think about it, terrifying thoughts kept popping into her mind uncontrollably.

“Let’s go,” Yan Qing said, wearing a dog-head mask. “Whatever Ying Le is planning, we will stop everything she’s involved in.”

Whether it's tyranny or life!

The pharmacist walked to the Taiji Gate, casually swung the Dragon and Snake Seven Kills, and the first blow deformed the towering and heavy palace gate. The second blow completely pierced through the palace gate and sent it flying!

The gilded steel palace gate crashed onto the blue bricks of the palace path, its momentum carrying it along a path until it was brought to a stop by a pair of iron boots. Soldiers stood from the ground to the walls of the palace path, and the one who had stopped the gate was a third-rank commander. His vital energy was so vigorous that even rainwater would evaporate quickly upon touching him; he was shrouded in mist, like a celestial being!
This strange phenomenon only occurs when hundreds of Qi and blood circulate. This is definitely a messenger who has absorbed the Heavenly Gang and reached the Great Perfection of the Third Revolution!

"Dogs, wolves, foxes, and snakes? You bunch of scoundrels dare to break into the palace! Who gave you the courage? A family of thieves?" The third-rank commander sneered, "I was just looking for a way to present merit to the Grand General and the Emperor!"

"Remember this, it was I, Hou Guhe, who captured you!"

"I will remember you, Hou Guhe." Yan Qing's attitude was excellent. "A third-stage Great Perfection messenger is just right for a preliminary test..."

"My capacity."

Yan Qing's dog-head mask has been modified; the area above the bridge of his nose has been cut off, making it almost like a dog's mouth mask. While it looks more handsome than before, this is mainly to avoid obscuring Yan Qing's forehead, or more precisely, to avoid obscuring his "Double Bright Eyes"!
The fiery pattern on his forehead and the light shining in his eyes made him seem like a god watching over mortals!

[Fire in the Pupil]!
The flames ignited the eyes of the third-rank commander. Just as Hou Guhe was enduring the pain and trying to do something, his entire body was suddenly burned to white ash by the candle tears. From his armor to his tokens, from his bones to his flesh, not even a trace of his remains remained!
With just one strike, without even direct contact, the Third Stage Great Perfection cultivator was completely annihilated without even a chance to resist!
(End of this chapter)