Calamity Messenger

Chapter 338 - 274: One Man Against an Army

Boom!

Black clouds covered the sky, lightning and thunder roared, and the world was suddenly engulfed by a raging storm.

When man unleashes killing intent, heaven responds sympathetically. This isn’t just a legend; a massive outburst of spiritual power can indeed cause celestial anomalies, much like a calm lake disturbed by countless stones leading to chaotic ripples transforming into a turbulent wave, muddying the waters.

"Squad Seven, advance."

"Squad Eight, fill the position."

"Camp Three, turn right."

’Yan Shiyi’ stepped onto the increasingly muddy ground, trapped like his current predicament, deep in the mire. The Baibao Guards shuttled back and forth around him, their long spears raining down like droplets, suppressing ’Yan Shiyi’ to the point of breathlessness.

Yan Qing rubbed his sweaty palms on the handle, his eyes darting back and forth. Even though his third-person perspective allowed him to capture all directions of the attack, his nerves remained taut, unable to relax for a moment.

Overconfident.

Recently, after defeating over ten thousand troops, achieving seven victories in seven battles amidst heavy encirclement, and being unrivaled over two hundred miles of warfare, Yan Qing couldn’t help but regard the Baibao Army with some contempt.

It’s not that the Baibao Army is weak; just from the name ’Baibao’ you can see that each soldier is the top one in a hundred brave warriors, even if they are not First-Turn Messengers, they are at least level six or seven messengers of a higher diploma level. Besides, the Three Central Plains Kingdoms have faced each other for a century, always keeping their armaments ready, so how could the Qi Kingdom’s Baibao acquire fame without substance?

Yet compared to the local muggles, Yan Qing’s smurf account was way too overpowered.

His spiritual power was nearly infinite, with over a million Spiritual Jades ready for replenishment;

No need for rest, infinite stamina, the smurf account only needed food to add buffs;

Coupled with items like "Golden Fish Goggles," "Ranger Rain Boots," "Hand of Melting Hundred Forms," "Mountain Heart-Protecting Mirror," "Yaksha Mask," the numerical advantage completely lost significance before Yan Qing. The army might seem numerous, but the number of people able to deal with the smurf account at the same time was fixed; ordinary Baibao couldn’t even break through the defense of the Mountain Heart-Protecting Mirror combined with the Yaksha Mask.

Moreover, the army was disorganized, the front not knowing the back, the back not knowing the front, as long as the smurf kept moving, they would fall into chaos on their own, like a bloated elephant being toppled by a teasing mouse. Not to mention, after the smurf killed the generals and commanders, the army soon fell into self-collapse due to low morale.

Breakthrough, nighttime raids, decapitation strikes, ambushes, fire attacks, retreat fights, feigned attacks on the east and real attacks on the west... Yan Qing used all his skills over these six days, significantly advancing his tactical level, making full use of the knowledge he learned from "Romance of the Three Kingdoms Series," "Heroes of Might and Magic 3," and "Warcraft" in this one-man war against a nation, leading him to feel a bit lofty later on. A country turned out to be nothing much, even without reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, he could defeat a national-level force with just a smurf account!

Without Foundation Establishment, who in this world can compete with me?

Now, he finally encountered a worthy opponent.

More than six long spears charged with the momentum of a cavalry charge stabbed simultaneously, blocking all escape routes for ’Yan Shiyi,’ the spear tips flickering with black thunder, powerful enough to break the outer barrier of the Mountain Heart-Protecting Mirror, causing damage the smurf account could not withstand!

As the long spear grazed his shoulder, ’Yan Shiyi’ seemed to withstand a tremendous impact, his body spinning like a top, his form becoming slender, slipping through the cracks in the spear formation like a willow leaf, leaping into the air!

Secret Technique: Willow Leaf Drifting.

This is a remarkably rare footwork secret technique, not acquired through Yan Qing’s victories but purchased through Pharmacist’s Wish’s Zhou Kingdom treasures.

"Willow Leaf Drifting (Level 1): Can only be activated in the instant of being hit. Consumes 10+1% life, enters a spinning evasion state, shrinking your hit area by 67%, and greatly extending the judgement time for ’Perfect Evasion’ for 5 seconds. If a melee attack is performed in the spinning evasion state, attack damage is increased by 120% and immediately exit spinning evasion state. Cooldown: 10 seconds. If activated again during cooldown, life consumed +3, cumulative with no upper limit."

"Evaluation: Go with the flow, vanish with the wind, move with your heart, float with ease."

Yan Qing was astonished when he first saw this secret technique; it undoubtedly pushed evasion to the extreme. It should be noted that ordinary messengers lack invincible frames for evasion, meaning they must take hits head-on against inevitable attacks. The strength of Willow Leaf Drifting lies in reducing the hit area, allowing it to easily evade attacks that normally cannot.

Strengthening evasion is impressive enough, yet it can also strengthen attacks.

Balancing evasion and enhancement is already outrageous, not to mention the skill’s low cost.

Three advantages aside, the most crucial part is that the Zhou Kingdom actually sold this secret technique surprisingly cheaply! This wasn’t a discounted price thanks to Duke Jin’s Pharmacist’s Wish; it was genuinely affordable, with only a hundred thousand Spiritual Jades needed to obtain it, even though the whole Zhou Kingdom had only three copies of Willow Leaf Drifting, said to be a legacy from Zhou Taizu.

Yan Qing initially couldn’t comprehend, but after feeding this secret technique to ’Yan Shiyi,’ he suddenly realized—activating Willow Leaf Drifting requires spinning three circles per second, and sustained for five seconds, totaling fifteen spins.

Spinning for a smurf account poses no issue at all, given this is merely a third-person perspective role-playing game. Even if the smurf spins like a wild top, it doesn’t hinder movement and attack, thanks to Yan Qing being the true mechanician.

However, the problem is, local muggles activate this secret technique in first-person and experience the spinning firsthand!

No wonder this secret technique was unappreciated, even though the Third-Turn Messenger had some resistance to the dizziness induced by spinning, how could they observe the battlefield while doing so?

Narrowing the hit area in such conditions is meaningless; they might spin themselves right into the arms of their enemies, turning evasion into a comical embrace, amusing enemies rather than evading them.

The designer of this secret technique probably is a fan of "Attack on Titan," designing it so overpowered. If Yan Qing guessed right, it likely originates from a Fourth-Turn Secret Realm, and secret techniques also have levels; Willow Leaf Drifting is undoubtedly a T0 grade secret technique.

Indeed, the Survey Corps spinning while fighting is truly spectacular, cool in games but problematic in reality.

Yan Qing recalled the profession [Heavy Rain Messenger], which even Demonic Messengers feared, sharing a similar trait to Willow Leaf Drifting—normal in games but a torment to normal people.

Yet Yan Qing had no complaints about this; he wouldn’t use this secret technique but could acquire it from Zhou Kingdom at a low price.

Brothers, we’ve found another bargain!

Taking advantage of the spinning evasion’s momentum, ’Yan Shiyi’ issued a sword attack, the blade shrouded in black mist like a splashing night, but with stars burning brightly within!

This was the Asura Artifact forged by ’Yan Shiyi’ after slaying hundreds, the "Flame Pattern Seven Stars Annihilation!"