Chapter 72: Bingzi Pepper Forest
"So, are you all choosing to be my enemies?"
Yan Qing stared at the screen, leaving behind a final ultimatum.
"Madness."
"End this quickly. I can't bear to listen any longer."
"Jiang Ten, I originally thought you could be the pillar of the Shang Family... for Xinlei's sake, I’ll let you go peacefully."
Seeing that not a single enemy on the screen surrendered, Yan Qing twisted his neck, exhaled deeply, and gently rubbed the joystick of the handheld console. His entire being entered a state of focus, and a smile of excitement unconsciously spread across his face.
The first to attack was Shang Yue!
He raised his hand and pointed—immediately, the water stains on the ground turned into six sharp arrows shooting toward 'Jiang Ten'. The water pipe in his hand was evidently a Water Path Token. No wonder he looked drained of vitality—it turned out he was a Water Path Messenger specializing in the soul!
Even though Yan Qing dodged, the water arrows curved mid-air like festering bones, continuing to pursue. Even if shattered, they instantly reassembled. While not a highly lethal threat on their own, Yan Qing still had other enemies to worry about. Any other Messenger facing this situation would either try to take out Shang Yue first or rely on a Defensive Token to tank the damage. But Yan Qing clearly couldn't do either.
He had to both fend off other enemies and evade Shang Yue’s water arrows—an almost impossible task. The water arrows followed erratic paths controlled by the soul, and a normal person couldn't possibly perceive in all directions simultaneously. How could one handle both the arrows and the assaults from others?
Could Yan Qing manage it?
Yes!
Only he could!
From the third-person perspective, Yan Qing completely grasped the timing of the water arrow assaults. Jie Zilong’s spear thrusts and Chen Linchuan’s greatsword charged strikes were all flawlessly dodged by him. His focus was fixed on one target—
‘Flame Blade’ Zhou Ye!
Zhou Ye's face showed both disdain and irritation—disdain that ‘Jiang Ten’ dared confront him, irritation that she dared to confront him first! Without dodging, he countered her two consecutive Moonring Slashes with a Flame Slash!
Although Yan Qing avoided it, the flame inflicted lingering area damage. Even with evasion, he still suffered burns. A burn debuff immediately appeared on ‘Jiang Ten’s’ health bar. The Guardian Jade Pendant as a Defensive Token didn’t hold for long and quickly entered a dim state after triggering five times. Although a First-Stage Rare Token, it was insufficient in a Third-Stage level battle.
This was precisely why he had chosen to change classes to Wandering Messenger instead of Blade Messenger—Blade Messenger’s Blur couldn’t dodge wide-range persistent damage. Once injured, its class trait ‘Flawless Blade’ would be nullified, reducing it to a blank-slate class.
Given the upcoming battles against so many Third-Stage Messengers, Yan Qing naturally had to choose the class that could maximize ‘Jiang Ten’s’ combat strength.
And in this forest, Wandering Messenger was undeniably the only correct choice!
Wandering Messenger added 20 base points to Vital Energy and Blood and, combined with its golden trait ‘Woodland Kin’ granting +50 to all attributes, ‘Jiang Ten’s’ vitality had now reached nearly 100. By contrast, Chen Linchuan, Zhou Ye, and the other Third-Stage Messengers probably had only half that!
Despite being burned, relying on ‘Jiang Ten’s’ resistance and recovery speed, and with Yan Qing outside the screen continuously feeding her Healing Pills, she could barely endure!
Unlike food, taking pills had no consumption animation and was effectively instantaneous. After all, this wasn’t Monster Hunter or a Soulslike hardcore game. If even taking a potion could be interrupted, the resulting player frustration would be too much.
Before long, the outer garments on ‘Jiang Ten’ had been burned away, leaving only her undergarments and chest bindings. But in several exchanges, Moonring Slash had already struck Zhou Ye eight times. Each strike stacked an additional 40 damage. Now a single Moonring Slash dealt 360 damage!
Unfortunately, Lu Wangji’s death had made them wary of the threat of True Damage. Yan Qing tried several times to slash Zhou Ye’s neck, but Zhou Ye blocked with his hand each time. Clearly, the tactic of stacking True Damage to trigger ‘Body Part Injury’ wouldn’t work—at least, not against human opponents.
Even so, it was enough to leave the crowd shocked.
"Not even one spear hit?"
"Young Master Shang, your Water Torrent did nothing at all!"
"Did your greatsword land even one hit?"
"I knew it! You from the Jie Family and Shang Family are still shielding her! You’re not fighting at full strength!"
"Nonsense! She assassinated Lu Wangji just now—you’re the one fueling the conflict from the shadows!"
After prolonged failure, with even hits being rare, frustration mounted. They began blaming each other, trying to shift the blame by accusing others of slacking off. Otherwise, how could someone statistically weaker be beating them so soundly?
"Enough!" Zhou Ye shouted. "Can’t you see? This lunatic is a once-in-a-millennium battle genius! Go all out, or we’ll be utterly humiliated! Don’t worry about friendly fire—we all have Defensive Tokens, and hers has already been burned to pieces!"
Yan Qing knew trouble was coming. Sure enough, the intensity of the onslaught suddenly ramped up, and evasion alone was no longer enough. He had to start using his weapon to block. But blocking reduced the Token’s durability. The White Iron Straight Blade was a First-Stage Token—it couldn’t take many hits!
At that moment, Yan Qing saw Zhou Ye take out a Spirit Jade from his Storage Ring. He immediately redirected the Moonring Slash toward Zhou Ye’s wrist!
Although Zhou Ye’s Heartguard Mirror blocked the Moonring Slash, the True Damage still applied, shattering the Spirit Jade in his hand. Zhou Ye’s expression changed, and instead of dueling directly with Yan Qing, he ducked behind others. But Yan Qing pursued relentlessly—even if injured, he would destroy Zhou Ye’s Spirit Jade!
"How is her Spirit Energy not depleted yet?" Chen Linchuan couldn’t help but ask, "I didn’t even see her absorb any Spirit Jade!"
"Even if she specializes in the soul, after using so many Tokens, she should have run out of Spirit Energy..." Jie Zilong was also filled with disbelief. "What on earth is going on with her?"
Had they finally noticed?
Yan Qing had long observed that in this world, everyone—including himself—had to take out Spirit Jade to replenish Spirit Energy. But game characters were different. In the game, Spirit Jade functioned like a blue potion that could be consumed instantly with a single press. As long as Yan Qing pressed the hotkey, the Personal Storage would consume Spirit Jade and rapidly restore the game character’s Spirit Energy.
The difference was vast—comparable to ‘having a potion animation’ versus ‘instant consumption’. Because of this subtle distinction, Yan Qing could employ tactics that would never appear in The Messenger—like interrupting the opponent’s potion timing!
As long as Yan Qing kept shattering Zhou Ye’s Spirit Jade and prevented him from replenishing Spirit Energy, Zhou Ye would no longer be able to maintain the defense of his Heartguard Mirror!
But after all, his opponent was human—not some mindless monster. After several failed attempts, Zhou Ye began placing the Spirit Jade into another pocket to absorb it. Even if Yan Qing could use True Damage to slash open the pocket, he couldn’t cut through Zhou Ye’s palm to destroy the Spirit Jade inside.
Two points of True Damage—far too weak.
Bang!
Under the joint blockade from Shang Yue and Jie Zilong, Yan Qing had no route of escape and was forced to block Chen Linchuan’s greatsword head-on. The White Iron Straight Blade finally shattered with a deafening crack, and ‘Jiang Ten’ was struck by the greatsword, leaving a horrifying wound—nearly severing half her shoulder.
Seeing ‘Jiang Ten’ wordlessly discard the broken blade and draw a new straight blade to continue fighting, as though the shoulder wound had no effect on her, the crowd—who had just been invigorated by finally injuring ‘Jiang Ten’—now looked grim, even… fearful.
They themselves found it unbelievable. As Third-Stage Messengers, as nobles of great clans, they were actually afraid of a young girl with no foundation, no backing, and even poor Token setup.
"She’s more demon than demon," Chen Linchuan muttered.
No one spoke. The assault intensified further, Spirit Energy was burned like it cost nothing, and the outburst of Spirit ripples stirred waves of gales throughout the camp.
Bang!
The second White Iron Straight Blade also broke. This meant the stack count of Moonring Slash that Yan Qing had been building was now interrupted. Rebuilding the stacks would cost both time and effort, and under their violent bombardment, the White Iron Straight Blade would likely break again before the stacks could accumulate.
But Zhou Ye and the others didn’t know this.
All they could see was that ‘Jiang Ten’s’ Spirit Energy seemed bottomless, her Tokens seemingly endless. But their Spirit Energy was not infinite either. They only carried a few thousand Spirit Jade—not one of them had tens of thousands.
Once they ran out of Spirit Jade...
It was as though a venomous viper licked the back of their necks—fear and killing intent seeped through their pores and into every inch of their bodies. They had never faced such an eerie opponent, never witnessed such terrifying talent. All they knew was—they never wanted to meet this person again.
If they had previously fought for gain, for revenge, for their families, now—they wanted to kill Jiang Ten for their own sake.
This world could not tolerate such a terrifying anomaly!
"Qun brat!" Zhou Ye shouted. "How long do you plan to keep hiding!"
At this point, Qun Yushu had already retreated to the soldiers’ side and replied with a bitter smile, "Elder Zhou, you know my Token—I couldn’t find the right opportunity to sync with you all..."
"Then we’ll sync with you! If you miss, don’t blame us for showing no mercy!" Zhou Ye roared. "We go in together! Don’t give her a chance to dodge!"
Qun Yushu sighed and raised his hand. "Divine Mechanism Camp, prepare—aim—"
At the same time, Zhou Ye, Jie Zilong, and Chen Linchuan blocked all escape routes for ‘Jiang Ten’, and Shang Yue’s water arrows sealed all gaps, ensuring there was no way out!
"Fire!"
In an instant, thirty-six Divine Crossbows were released simultaneously. But with a snap of Qun Yushu’s fingers, every bolt froze in mid-air—as if the gods had halted time. Yet the bolts still retained their launching force; the coexistence of extreme speed and absolute stillness would make any normal person dizzy and nauseated if they observed too closely.
"Strike!"
With a single point from Qun Yushu, all bolts instantly adjusted their trajectory, redirecting toward ‘Jiang Ten’s’ location. No wonder he said he couldn’t sync with Zhou Ye and the others—against other opponents it might be possible, but against a Messenger like ‘Jiang Ten’, a dancer of the battlefield, his tactic which needed one or two seconds of setup was far too easy to evade.
But conversely, when given adequate preparation time, the explosive power he unleashed was something even Third-Stage Messengers could not match.
Thirty-six Divine Crossbow bolts—enough to instantly shatter even Third-Stage Defensive Tokens!
"Hit!"
It was finally coming to an end.
Zhou Ye, Jie Zilong, Chen Linchuan, and Shang Yue all exhaled in relief.
At this point, they even felt a pang of regret. Zhou Ye and Chen Linchuan were no exceptions. Let alone meeting someone like her—they hadn’t even read about a person like ‘Jiang Ten’ in books. Not even the Martial Emperor who once unified the Central Plains, or the Thorn Taoist who challenged the world with his sword—those legends had extraordinary talent in youth and many fortuitous encounters, but they still fell within the realm of comprehension.
But to face four Messengers through evasion alone, wield near-infinite Spirit Energy, act recklessly without fear of death... their world was not yet vast enough to contain such a ‘person’.
They didn’t even want to know Jiang Ten’s secret, because any one of her secrets could cause a clan to rise—or be destroyed. They were already among the Seven Great Clans of Great Liang; there was no need to take such a risk.
Just die here, Jiang Ten.
Take your mysterious past, your abilities, and your dignity, and be buried forever beneath this grassland.
“No other choice.”
As a sigh echoed both outside and inside the screen, the encirclement of Zhou Ye, Jie Zilong, and Chen Linchuan was instantly shattered. A shockwave blasted all of them away, and the thirty-six crossbow bolts also stopped seven steps short of ‘Jiang Ten’.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Along with the previously discarded White Iron Straight Blades, all four lay shattered on the ground. The orange light once inside their blades now converged into the long blade raised high in ‘Jiang Ten’s’ hand. It was only then that the crowd realized—what she held was no longer an ordinary straight blade, but a lavish and exquisite long blade, adorned with carved dragons and phoenixes, glowing in a brilliant orange-red hue.
Inscriptions were etched on both sides of the blade. On the left: “All conditioned dharmas are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows.” On the right: “Like dew, like lightning—thus should you contemplate them.”
Among everyone present, no one recognized this blade. After all, it had been the saber of the Founding Emperor of Zhou, and even within the Zhou Kingdom, only a few had ever admired this famed weapon up close.
Except for Shang Xinlei.
‘Jiang Ten’ stood in place and swung the long blade. Though Zhou Ye and the others didn’t understand what she was doing, they immediately dodged. In that moment, her long blade extended into a thirty-meter blade light, slicing across dozens of steps like a sickle harvesting crops—one strike severely injuring all the soldiers of the Divine Mechanism Camp!
Screams instantly echoed through the camp. The Divine Mechanism Camp soldiers, lacking Defensive Tokens, could never block such a dazzling blade light!
“What... what kind of Token is that?” Jie Yuanshao murmured. “I’ve never seen a Token this powerful.”
It’s my first time too, thought Shang Xinlei. She had always known it was formidable, but never imagined it would be this formidable.
Bingzi Pepper Forest!