Scourge Messenger

Chapter 73 Bingzi Jiaolin (Fifth Update)

"So, you're going to be my enemy?"

Yan Qing stared at the screen and left a final ultimatum.

"Nonsense."

"Please resolve this as soon as possible; I can't listen to this anymore."

"Jiang Shi, I originally thought you could become a pillar of the business... For the sake of Xin Lei, I will make your departure easier."

Seeing that none of the enemies on the screen had surrendered, Yan Qing twisted his neck, let out a long breath, gently rubbed the joystick with his thumb, and entered a state of concentration, an excited smile unconsciously appearing on his face.

Shang Yue was the first to launch an attack!
With a flick of his finger, the water on the ground transformed into six sharp arrows that shot towards Jiang Shi. The water jug ​​in his hand was clearly a waterway token; no wonder he looked so weak and listless—he was a waterway messenger specializing in cultivating the soul!
Even if Yan Qing dodged, the water arrows continued to follow like a persistent leech, circling and regrouping. Although they weren't a huge threat, Yan Qing still had other enemies. Any other messenger facing this situation would either deal with Shang Yue first or rely on defensive tokens to withstand the water arrows, but Yan Qing clearly couldn't do either.

He had to deal with other enemies while dodging Shang Yue's water arrows—which was almost impossible, because the trajectory of the water arrows was unpredictable and relied entirely on the control of the soul. Normal people cannot see in all directions, so how could they possibly deal with the attacks of water arrows and other people at the same time?

So, can Yan Qing do it?
can!
Only he could do it!
From a third-person perspective, Yan Qing had complete insight into the timing of the water arrow attacks. He dodged Jie Zilong's rapid spear thrusts and Chen Linchuan's charged greatsword slash; his target was singular—

'Fire Blade' Zhou Ye!
Zhou Ye's face showed disdain and anger. He was disdainful because 'Jiang Shi' dared to confront him, and angry because 'Jiang Shi' dared to confront him first! He neither dodged nor avoided, and directly countered 'Jiang Shi's' double moon ring slash with a flame slash!

Although Yan Qing dodged, the flames dealt area-of-effect damage over a certain period of time, meaning even if she dodged, she would still take the damage. 'Jiang Shi' immediately received a burn debuff on her health bar. Her defensive token, the Foolish Old Man's Jade Pendant, didn't last long, quickly triggering five times in succession and entering a gloomy state. Although it was a rare first-tier token, it wasn't quite enough in a third-tier battle.

This is why he chose to switch to the Wanderer Courier instead of the Blade Courier—the Blade Courier's blurriness cannot avoid large-area continuous damage, and once injured, its class characteristic 'Invincible Blade' will be invalidated, making it a blank class.

Since he foresaw that he would be fighting so many third-tier messengers, Yan Qing naturally wanted to change his profession to maximize 'Jiang Shi's' combat power.

In this jungle, the wandering messenger is undoubtedly the only right choice!

The Wandering Messenger already grants 20 base HP, and with its golden trait 'Woodland Kin' granting +50 to all attributes, 'Jiang Shi' now has nearly 100 HP. Chen Linchuan, Zhou Ye, and their group of third-tier messengers probably only have half of her HP!
Even with the burns, thanks to Jiang Shi's resistance and recovery speed, plus Yan Qing constantly giving her blood-replenishing pills off-screen, she was able to barely withstand it!

Unlike food, consuming pills involves no conscious action; it's an instant consumption. Since this isn't a hardcore game like Monster Hunter or Souls-like games, interrupting even the act of consuming pills would be incredibly frustrating for players.

Before long, Jiang Shi's upper garments had been burned away, leaving only her undergarments binding her chest. However, in several rounds of combat, the Moon Ring Slash had struck Zhou Ye eight times, each strike dealing an additional 40 points of damage, bringing the total damage of a single Moon Ring Slash to a full 360 points!
Unfortunately, Lu Wangji's death made them realize the threat of true damage. Yan Qing tried to cut Zhou Ye's neck several times, but Zhou Ye blocked it with his hands. It seems that the tactic of relying on true damage to inflict 'partial damage' is no longer feasible—at least not against real people.

Even so, it was enough to shock everyone.

"He missed on the first shot?"

"Young Master Shang, why is your rapids having no effect at all!"

"Has your greatsword only managed to hit me once?"

"I knew your Jie family merchants were still protecting her! You weren't going all out at all!"

"Bullshit! You were the one who secretly instigated her assassination attempt on Lu Wangji!"

Not only were they unable to break through, but they also had very few successful attacks. This situation made them frustrated and even started blaming each other, trying to attribute the failure to someone slacking off, otherwise they couldn't explain why someone with far weaker stats on paper was beating them so badly.

"Enough!" Zhou Ye roared, "Can't you all see? This madman is a once-in-a-millennium fighting champion! Go all out, or we'll all lose face! Don't worry about hurting each other, we all have defensive tokens, and hers has already been burned to pieces by me!"

Yan Qing thought to himself, "This is bad!" Sure enough, the intensity of the attacks suddenly increased, making dodging no longer enough to dodge all the attacks. Yan Qing had to use his weapon to block. However, blocking would reduce the durability of his token, and the White Iron Straight Blade was only a first-tier token, so it couldn't block too many attacks!

Just then, Yan Qing saw Zhou Ye take out a spirit jade from his storage ring. He immediately changed the direction of his Moon Ring Slash and aimed it at Zhou Ye's wrist!
Although Zhou Ye's protective mirror blocked the Moon Ring Slash, the true damage still took effect, shattering the spirit jade he had pulled out. Zhou Ye's expression changed, and he stopped fighting Yan Qing head-on, instead hiding behind the others. However, Yan Qing relentlessly pursued him, determined to shatter his spirit jade even if it meant getting injured!
"How come her spiritual energy hasn't run out yet?" Chen Linchuan couldn't help but ask, "I didn't even see her absorb the spirit jade!"

"Even if she mainly cultivates the divine soul, using so many tokens should have exhausted her spiritual power..." Jie Zilong was also filled with disbelief: "What exactly happened to her?"

Has it finally been discovered?
Yan Qing had long noticed that everyone in this world (including himself) had to use spirit jade to replenish their spiritual power, but game characters were different. In the game, spirit jade was like a blue potion that could be consumed with a single click. As long as Yan Qing pressed a shortcut key, his personal inventory would consume spirit jade to quickly replenish his game character's spiritual power.

The difference between these two is as significant as the difference between "having a medicine-drinking animation" and "instantly drinking medicine." Because of this difference, Yan Qing can use a tactic that wouldn't normally appear in the game "The Messenger"—catching the opponent's medicine-drinking timing!
As long as Yan Qing keeps shattering Zhou Ye's spiritual jade and preventing him from replenishing his spiritual power, he will be unable to maintain the defense of the Heart-Protecting Mirror!

But his opponent was ultimately human, not a mindless monster. After several attempts, Zhou Ye took the spirit jade out and put it in another pocket to absorb. Even though Yan Qing could use his true injury to tear open the pocket, he couldn't pierce Zhou Ye's palm and shatter the spirit jade.

Two points of true damage is far too weak.

Boom!
Under the combined blockade of Shang Yue and Jie Zilong, Yan Qing had nowhere to escape and could only block Chen Linchuan's greatsword strike head-on. The white iron straight sword finally couldn't withstand the blow and shattered. 'Jiang Shi' was also cut by the greatsword and had a terrible wound, almost severing half of his shoulder.

Seeing Jiang Shi silently discard her broken sword, don a new straight blade, and continue fighting, as if her shoulder injury had no effect on her, the crowd, who had been jubilant at finally managing to wound Jiang Shi, couldn't help but turn pale at the sight, even showing signs of... fear.

They themselves found it unbelievable that as third-level messengers from noble families, they would actually fear a little girl who had no foundation, no backing, and was even poor in terms of the tokens they possessed.

"It's even more demonic than a demon itself," Chen Linchuan murmured.

The crowd remained silent, their attacks growing increasingly fierce. Their spiritual energy was consumed recklessly, and the resulting ripples of spiritual energy stirred up gusts of wind throughout the camp. *Boom!*
The second straight iron sword also broke, meaning that Yan Qing's previously stacked Moon Ring Slash layers had been interrupted. Re-stacking it would not only be time-consuming, but under their relentless bombardment, the straight iron sword would likely break before it could even be stacked up.

But Zhou Ye and his team were unaware of this.

They could only see that Jiang Shi's spiritual power was like a bottomless pit, and that Jiang Shi's tokens were inexhaustible. However, their spiritual power was not unlimited either; they only had a few thousand spirit jades on them, and no one would carry tens of thousands of spirit jades with them.

Once they run out of spirit jade...

It felt as if a venomous snake was licking the back of their necks; fear and murderous intent seeped into their very being through their pores. They had never encountered such a bizarre enemy, nor had they ever witnessed such terrifying talent. All they knew was that they did not want to meet this person a second time.

If before it was for profit, revenge, or for their families, now they want to kill Jiang Shi for their own benefit.

This world cannot tolerate such a terrifying outcast!

"You bunch of brats!" Zhou Ye roared, "How long are you going to hide?!"

Qun Yushu had already retreated to the soldiers' side, and said with a wry smile, "Elder Zhou, you know my token, I can't find an opportunity to cooperate with you..."

"Then we'll cooperate with you! If you can't catch her, don't blame us for being impolite!" Zhou Ye shouted, "Let's all attack together, don't give her a chance to dodge!"

Qun Yushu sighed and raised his hand: "Shenji Battalion, prepare, aim—"

At the same time, Zhou Ye, Jie Zilong, and Chen Linchuan blocked all of Jiang Shi's escape routes, while Shang Yue's water arrows sealed off all gaps, ensuring that Jiang Shi had nowhere to escape!
"Shoot!"

In an instant, thirty-six divine crossbows fired simultaneously. But with a snap of Qun Yushu's fingers, all the crossbow bolts froze in mid-air, as if the gods had stopped their time. However, the bolts still retained their kinetic energy, with extremely fast movement and absolute stillness coexisting. If an ordinary person were to carefully observe the state of the crossbow bolts, they would probably soon feel dizzy and nauseous.

"disease!"

Qun Yushu pointed, and the crossbow bolts immediately adjusted their positions, all shifting to a spot where they could hit 'Jiang Shi'. No wonder he said he couldn't coordinate with Zhou Ye and the others. It would be fine against other enemies, but against a messenger like 'Jiang Shi' who was like a dancer on the battlefield, his attack, which required a second or two to prepare, was far too easy to dodge.

Conversely, if he has ample preparation time, his burst damage is unmatched even by a third-tier messenger.

Thirty-six divine crossbow bolts can shatter even a third-tier defensive artifact instantly!

"middle!"

It's finally over.

Zhou Ye, Jie Zilong, Chen Linchuan, and Shang Yue all breathed a sigh of relief.

At this moment, they felt a pang of regret, even Zhou Ye and Chen Linchuan were no exception. Let alone seeing him, they had never read about anyone similar to 'Jiang Shi' in books. Even the Martial Emperor who once dominated the Central Plains, or the Thorn Daoist who questioned the world with his sword, were merely people with outstanding talent in their youth and many fortuitous encounters, which were still within their comprehension.

But their world is not big enough to accommodate such a 'person'—the one who can fight four messengers with just evasion, possesses almost limitless spiritual power, is fearless of death and acts recklessly.

They didn't even want to know Jiang Shi's secrets, because any one of them could bring their family to its peak—or its demise. They were already one of the seven great families of Liang Kingdom; there was no need for them to take risks.

Just die like this, Jiang Shi.

Bury your enigmatic past, your abilities, and your dignity forever beneath this meadow.

There's no other way.

With a sigh emanating simultaneously from both inside and outside the screen, the encirclement of Zhou Ye, Jie Zilong, and Chen Linchuan was instantly broken. A shockwave pushed them all away, and the thirty-six crossbow bolts stopped seven steps away from Jiang Shi.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Along with the previously discarded white iron straight sword, all four white iron straight swords on the ground shattered, and the orange light from their blades all converged on the long sword that 'Jiang Shi' held high. Only then did everyone realize that what 'Jiang Shi' was holding was no longer an ordinary straight sword, but an exquisite and magnificent orange-red long sword carved with dragons and phoenixes.

Inscriptions are engraved on both sides of the blade. On the left is inscribed "All conditioned phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows," and on the right is inscribed "Thus should you contemplate them, like dew and lightning."

Of everyone present, no one knew about this sword. After all, as the personal sword of Emperor Taizu of Zhou, even in the Zhou Kingdom, very few people had ever seen this famous sword up close.

Aside from Shang Xinlei.

Jiang Shi stood still, brandishing her longsword. Although Zhou Ye and the others didn't know what she was doing, they immediately dodged. Suddenly, her sword extended a thirty-meter-long blade of light, striking like a scythe reaping crops from dozens of paces away, severely wounding all the Shenji Battalion soldiers with a single blow!
Screams immediately echoed throughout the camp. The Shenji Battalion soldiers had no defensive tokens and could not possibly block such a brilliant blade of light!
"What... what kind of token is this?" Jie Yuanshao murmured, "I have never seen such a powerful token before."

This is the first time I've seen this, Shang Xinlei thought. Although I knew it was powerful, I didn't expect it to be this powerful.

Bingzi pepper forest!

(End of this chapter)