Calamity Messenger

Chapter 388 - 319: Prelude

The iced red tea gurgled down my throat, even spilling a little from the corners of my mouth, as if a parched land longed for sweet rain.

In a small shop within the Demon Gathering Land, Ying Rushi squeezed the red tea bottle flat, exhaling deeply as if reborn. Bags of snacks surrounded her. Having not had a proper meal for several days, she was already starving, so the first thing she did upon reaching the Demon Gathering Land was to fill her belly.

Here, it’s basically safe, Ying Rushi thought.

Foundation Establishment Zhenren couldn’t enter the Demon Gathering Land, so Ying Rushi could recuperate here for five days, and after five days, she could find any exit. Even if Ying Le wanted to block the entrance, she could at most block one place, and all other exits could at most be watched by the Baibao Guards. However, with her Shadow Spider Boots and abilities, while she couldn’t defeat the Baibao Guards, escaping their blockade would be easy.

Of course, there was still a possibility that Ying Le would send people into the Demon Gathering Land to deal with her, possibly even sending the Baibao Guards inside, but the likelihood was low.

The Baibao Guards became the strongest by leveraging their numbers. Once their numbers dwindled to dozens or even fewer, their strength lessened, as their thorny counterattacks would be troublesome, but their destructive power and distribution ability would be greatly reduced.

After being pursued for so many days, Ying Rushi had already gradually eliminated dozens of Baibao Guards. The Baibao Guard squads posed no threat to her; Ying Le might be mad, but she wasn’t foolish. If she truly wanted to dispatch Baibao Guards, she’d definitely send dozens to a hundred men.

But with more numbers, hiding their presence would be impossible, especially with the Demon Gathering Land’s complex urban terrain. Ying Rushi certainly wouldn’t be foolish enough to clash directly with a large squad of Baibao Guards. With a step of her Shadow Spider Boots, she’d be off, as there were plenty of places to hide.

Thus, no matter how Ying Le attacked, it would all be within Ying Rushi’s capacity to handle.

She hugged the Heaven-Swaying Sword, her whole body relaxing, lazily leaning against the snack shelves. Her eyelids growing heavy. She’d had little sleep the past two days; firstly, because Ying Le was on her tail, she had to keep moving, as once Ying Le discovered the exact location of her return to the Thief’s House, she’d be blocked at her exit; secondly, she was afraid of sleeping.

She had a mysterious premonition that each time she dreamed, she would get a little further from herself... and a little closer to Ying Le.

During these days, in her spare moments, Ying Rushi had been thinking about Ying Le, but not about her cruelty, her tyranny, or her military achievements; she thought about the earlier Ying Le, the one she never met, existing only in memories.

A once-pampered princess in her childhood, who once had a lover she liked as emotions first budded; a young girl deemed a Foundation Establishment prodigy who rivaled Zhou Kingdom’s Li Long and Liang Kingdom’s Realm Giant Deer at an early age... but then it became ’Li Long and Realm Giant Deer were once on a par with Ying Le.’

How spirited, how domineering, just from others’ brief mentions, Ying Rushi could imagine the unrivaled grace of young Ying Le.

Ying Rushi considered herself also a prodigy of the Qi Kingdom’s younger generation. Among peers, only a few like Murong Hui surpassed her temporarily due to having more resources, but in terms of talent, Ying Rushi humbly believed no one her age could overtake her.

Yet compared to the Ying Le from a decade ago, Ying Rushi could only feel she paled in comparison.

But a young girl would inevitably grow up, build her Foundation to become a True Man, ascend the throne to become an Emperor.

The girl who liked to tease cats, loved luxurious robes, and possibly dreamed of becoming a bride and raising children, transformed into the tyrant on the throne, the dark cloud overshadowing the Qi Kingdom.

Is it that cruel people grow up, or do grown-ups all become cruel?

Ying Rushi could only feel sorrow.

When very young, Ying Rushi vaguely remembered having an aunt very close to her, helping her bathe, sleeping with her, comforting her when she cried from wetting the bed or getting scolded by her parents... but then the aunt vanished.

The aunt was gone.

She couldn’t allow herself to also become lost.

Therefore, while she was still clear-headed, she must draw a decisive close to her life. Clear enough for final judgment and leave a trace of glory for the Ying Family’s royal legacy.

Wave-like vibrations came from the ground, waking Ying Rushi instantly as she clasped the Heaven-Swaying Sword tightly. Such uniform footsteps, nearly synchronized movement speed, were unmistakably the Baibao Guards!

And the speed... was unbelievably fast!

Adjacent houses collapsed as Ying Rushi fled, leaving the Baibao Guards less than a hundred steps behind! All maintained full-speed sprinting postures, their heavy Black Steel Armor seemingly weightless, with or without warhorses, unimpeded in speed, they were battle chariots, iron cavalry. With warhorses, they’re the world’s top cavalry, without, the top infantry; moving mountains or damming rivers ahead!

Shadow Spider Boots!

Ying Rushi kicked off, transforming into a flash darting in the opposite direction. Even if battle was inevitable, she had to fragment their force and tackle them one by one. Aside from that fool ’Yan,’ no one faced the Baibao Guards head-on!

But behind, a uniform sound of arrows breaking through the air arose from the Baibao Guards. Over a hundred arrows formed a rain covering Ying Rushi’s path!

Ying Rushi’s heart sank.

Exactly how many Baibao Guards did Ying Le send in, given such an arrow count? A hundred? Two hundred? Regardless, once they outnumbered a hundred, each Guard achieved third-transformation level lethality; each arrow in this shower equated a third-transformation attack!

The region under arrow rain felt like the sky and earth collapsing!

Even Ying Rushi dared not breach it.

As she adjusted to bypass the arrow rain, the gap between her and the Guards narrowed to within fifty steps. Yet Ying Rushi remained unfazed; despite the arrows barring her forward path, she could leap onto rooftops to delay. Without horses and in such an urban maze, how could the Baibao Guards match her agility?

But at that moment, the leading Baibao Guards pointed in unison, and when Ying Rushi stepped down, she found herself stepping into a mire, with the Shadow Spider Boots unable to exert power!

Lowering her gaze, Ying Rushi saw the ground around her had all turned to sludge—effort only sunk her further, like a swamp!

And the arrow rain adjusted course, targeting the bogged-down Ying Rushi!

While breaching the arrow rain was impossible, reducing her hit area, Ying Rushi could deflect arrows with the Heaven-Swaying Sword. But in this brief moment, the Guards closed in within ten paces, with the leading vanguard leaping, brandishing a great halberd down on her like thunder smashing through an army!

Without hesitation, Ying Rushi rolled in the mire to dodge, remaining calm even now. While the muck hindered her, its effect on the heavier-laden Baibao Guards was far greater! Unable to dodge the halberd, a glint flashed in her eyes, the Heaven-Swaying Sword deflecting the strike into the muck. Then she launched off the halberd staff with her Shadow Spider Boots, vanishing over a wall!

A gray light descended; the wall instantaneously transformed into more sludge, plunging Ying Rushi back into the mire, even to her calves from excessive force. Yet she finally spotted the culprit amid the Guards, one unmasked, left eye hollow, right eye indifferent: the bearded General Yang Feng.

Yang Family had an ancestral token from the East Sea, the Earth Spirit Gloves, bestowing the power to turn stone to mud!

...

...

Yan Qing climbed the high ridge; a perfect vantage point overlooking the eastern section of the Demon Gathering Land. Murong Hui stood above, fierce winds tousling her temples, her gaze unflinching as she watched the distant battle, face expressionless.

"Weirdo," she said.

Yan Qing hesitated before asking, "Are you calling me?"

"You haven’t told me your name, so I just chose a random title," Murong Hui replied, fiddling with a ring before handing a scroll to Yan Qing. "This is a map of the Demon Gathering Land, it’s yours."