Scourge Messenger

Chapter 414 Slaying Two Foundation Establishment Stage Individuals (Third Update, Seeking Monthly Tickets)
In the third second, a motionless clone appeared next to Duan Xiaoxian, and like him, it had no defensive barrier!

A dreamlike state!
A perfect combination: [Horse in a Gap] prevents movement, [Fire in a Stone] breaks the barrier, and [Body in a Dream] doubles the damage taken!
Blood vessels burst from Yan Qing's pupils. He didn't even bother to absorb Qian Zhen's power at this moment. He gripped the Bingzi Pepper Forest tightly with both hands and swung it with all his might. Every strike would hit Duan Xiaoxian and Meng Zhongshen, and every strike would unleash a dazzling array of sword flames!
Hulü Guang also went mad. He let out a beast-like growl, and with each breath, his dark blue armor heated up to a scorching crimson, steam gushing from every crevice, as if molten lava was flowing inside. He slammed his twin swords down heavily, instantly depleting more than four thousand of Yan Qing's defensive barrier. The kinetic energy, like the collapse of the sky, almost crushed Yan Qing's spine.

Hulü Guang is going all out! This is probably his divine power, capable of unleashing an explosive attack in an instant, but the cost is probably unbearable even for someone at the Foundation Establishment stage, otherwise he wouldn't have waited until this moment.

However, Hulü Guang no longer cared. Although they still didn't know what Yan Qing was doing, they all felt that their lives were hanging by a thread, as if their death was imminent!

Fortunately, Yan Qing was able to reliably dodge the two greatswords, forcing Huli Guang to use only a rapier. If this move had been launched with the two greatswords, Yan Qing would not have been able to withstand it and would have had to manifest his Dao Foundation to take the damage.

In the fourth second, Duan Xiaoxian, covered in blood, activated his defensive barrier again! He actually had two defensive tokens. The first one had shattered and entered cooldown, so he immediately activated the second token. Even though the second one was only a fourth-tier rare item, it was enough to block Yan Qing's attack!
He stopped defending himself and instead stood in front of the dream body to block Yan Qing's attacks. He had realized that the life or death of the dream body was of paramount importance to him!
Fifth second.

Yan Qing slashed Meng Zhongshen's neck with his last knife, then didn't turn back. All the muscles in his body relaxed, and a long white mist escaped from his mask, his whole body radiating heat.

In those five seconds, he even forgot to breathe in order to keep his offensive rhythm from being disrupted.

In his dream, his body vanished like a bubble. Duan Xiaoxian swayed slightly and looked up at the gloomy sky.

His thoughts drifted back a hundred years, to the same desolate rainy day, to the same dead end. He was hiding in a dilapidated temple to avoid the rain and eating dried meat. He was tired, hungry, and cold, and his heart was filled with fear and unease. Suddenly, he heard his uncle laughing loudly.

"General, we've suffered a defeat, our troops have scattered, and now we're all alone. Why are you so happy?" he said irritably.

My uncle, who was a dashing young man back then, laughed and said, "I survived. Isn't that something to be happy about? As long as you survive, there is hope. Xiaoxian, do you believe that one day I will rise above others, end the chaos, and conquer a vast land?"

"Whatever you say goes," he muttered. "I just want to go home, inherit the family business, marry a few wives, have a bunch of kids, and never fight alongside you again."

"That won't do." Uncle patted the boy's head: "You are the great general I have my eye on, how can you be a rich man? You have to help protect my vast empire!"

"Stop taking pictures, you'll only get shorter." The boy shook off his uncle's hand, listened to the mournful howling of the rain outside, and gnawed on the cold jerky, but he felt at ease and full of hope for the future.

Duan Xiaoxian slammed his spear heavily onto the ground, his body exploding into countless sprays of blood. A solid cloud of iron, the very foundation of his Dao, appeared on his body, but it collapsed the next second.

As long as people live, the city stands; when people die, the city falls.

However, even as his pupils lost their light, this old general, riddled with wounds, did not fall. He stood before the altar until his death, keeping his promise from a hundred years ago.

With two clangs, Hulü Guang's two swords fell to the ground. He sat cross-legged on the ground, took off his heavy helmet, and underneath was a pretty but ferocious face. A centipede-like scar ran from his forehead to the corner of his mouth. He was bleeding from all seven orifices, and his final outburst had burned away his life.

He slowly lowered his head, breathless, and his whole body suddenly turned to dust and collapsed. His armor thudded to the ground, the crisp sound of steel echoing across the open space, just like his life, clean and decisive.

Until the very end, Yan Qing still didn't know whether Hulü Guang was male or female, why he had a scar on his face despite being a Foundation Establishment cultivator, or even that he had ever heard him speak. Their deaths were inevitable. Even though Duan Xiaoxian activated his backup defensive artifact at the last minute, Yan Qing had already struck him twice. He had to manifest his Dao Foundation to avoid having his neck severed by Yan Qing. His dream body was actually attacked by Yan Qing for three seconds, taking over five thousand damage. As soon as the dream body finished its attack, it shattered his Dao Foundation and destroyed his Dao body.

Needless to say, Hulü Guang not only shared Duan Xiaoxian's injuries, but also suffered an additional 25% of his current health as damage due to Duan Xiaoxian's death.

【Life and Death Together】+【Dream Body】, although it is just the simplest combination, it is so effective that it makes people's scalp tingle. No one can protect the dream body, and no one can escape the life and death together.

Yan Qing's heart stirred as he noticed the changes in his Dao Foundation. The four phases of his inner landscape had become noticeably more lush, and two skeletons were hanging from the withered and flourishing giant tree, one of which was particularly enormous.

His foundation has been upgraded.

Yan Qing was not surprised; this battle satisfied his second Dao Foundation cultivation restriction.
"Second Forbidden Technique of Dao Foundation: Reincarnation: Messenger of the True Mode of Slaughter".

In a game, this would be a bit troublesome, but in this world, there are no messengers outside of the real-world mode. After killing Duan Xiaoxian and Huli Guang, two fourth-stage Grand Perfection cultivators, Yan Qing estimated that he had probably leveled up two or three times.

After Yan Qing recovered his spiritual energy, he suddenly realized that Gu Jing, the last of the three great lords of Qi, was missing. He walked to the edge of the altar and saw a phantom figure fleeing.

Escape? [Epitaph] Significantly reduced movement speed, how far can he run? As long as the Glazed Barrier remains intact, Yan Qing will not let him go—

The sound of shattering glass rang out beside him. Yan Qing turned his head and saw the glass barrier cracking inch by inch, vanishing in no time. His lips twitched as he glanced at the illusory figure leaving the palace, a hint of amusement creeping into his mind.

Aside from Duan Xiaoxian and Hulü Guang, two die-hards, he assumed Hou Gujing would also remain unyielding to the death. He hadn't expected Hou Gujing to voluntarily unleash the [Mountains and Rivers Remain] divine power… But it's not impossible. If Yan Qing had gone to great lengths to subdue those two, Hou Gujing might have persisted to the end. However, he killed Duan Xiaoxian and Hulü Guang too easily; even if Hou Gujing is loyal, he wouldn't fight a battle where certain death is inevitable.

Yan Qing stepped onto the altar and saw no one. He only saw flames that had not yet been extinguished around the altar, and a blooming blood lotus in the center, containing a pool of blood.

As mentioned before, as long as one shares the Four Phases of the Dao Foundation of Natural Disasters, an inner vision connection will be established with Yan Qing, and Yan Qing can sense that Ying Rushi is in the Blood Pool.

He walked towards the Blood Lotus, and just as he was about to take five steps closer, his vision suddenly changed, and he realized he had turned a corner. He turned around and leaped towards the Blood Lotus, but the moment he jumped, his vision changed again, and his jump direction was skewed. Unwilling to accept this, he activated his "Cloud-Stepping Boots" for a double jump, but he still veered off course and landed outside the Blood Lotus.

Yan Qing landed on the ground, staring intently at the blooming blood lotus. Although he had heard of it for a long time, this was the first time he had personally experienced its power, and it truly lived up to its reputation.

【Pillow on the Red Dust】!
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(End of this chapter)