"Three-Turned Beast: Owl Bear"!

"Third-Turned Demon King Scorpion"!

Yan Qing almost instantly activated two puppet cards, simultaneously summoning "Qiongqi" to quickly hold the line. Thunder and fire shook the earth, but after only a few rounds, the Owl Bear was the first to perish!

"Retreat!" Yan Qing picked up Murong Hui and started to run, with Ying Rushi guarding beside him, the puppets covering their retreat!

Such swift elimination of the Owl Bear demonstrates power far exceeding that of a Third-Turn Messenger, making it a formidable force even among the Four-Turn elites. This is definitely a level of power the Baibao Guards are unable to endure; even Yan Qing is in excruciating pain, with his muscles tearing due to the "Tongyou World". Now that the Baibao Guards are wielding this power comparable to Qi Blood Foundation Establishment, they won’t last much longer before collapsing!

There’s no need to engage in combat with them... plus, Yan Qing lacks the means to fight them! His puppets are all tanky with high health, without any means to control the battlefield. The Baibao Guards move with lightning speed, and even though Qiongqi has nearly six hundred thousand attack power, if it can’t touch them, it’s all in vain!

Conversely, the Baibao Guards can attack and traverse the battlefield freely, effortlessly dealing with all puppets. The puppets’ weaknesses are now fully exposed, against a messenger with real Foundation Establishment power, they’re merely sitting ducks with no capacity to retaliate.

So there’s no choice but to flee, to run, to retreat!

"Hui!" Ying Rushi called out, eyes red while sprinting: "Hui, wake up quickly!"

She gripped the Heaven-Swaying Sword hilt tightly, ready to pass it to Murong Hui as soon as he awakened, but the injury and blood loss quickly rendered Murong Hui unconscious. Even though the Heaven-Swaying Sword’s [Tyranny] can heal any wound, it still requires the messenger to actively trigger it, but how can an unconscious messenger activate the powers? This is a deadlock.

Faced with the sudden chaos, Yan Qing was not flustered at all, calmly counting his hand cards: there are still two puppet cards left, Bingzi Pepper Forest already used, Tombstone Inscription can be used but can’t be triggered... Back in the "Tongyou World", Yan Qing wanted to trap the Baibao Guards in the Illusion Coffin, but alas, the other party won’t engage at all.

Tombstone Inscription requires contact with the target to activate!

This wouldn’t have been a problem, as divine techniques can originally be triggered with tokens, but unfortunately, Yan Qing has no token to contact the target from afar!

If Yan Qing had known he was going to get [Tombstone Inscription], he would have prepared a remote token in advance; at worst, he would have kept Bingzi Pepper Forest for Murong Hui to use the Heaven-Swaying Sword for protection. Alas, hindsight is useless; now his only long-range attack option, Heaven-Covering Blade Aura, is cooling down. If he wants to trigger [Tombstone Inscription], he can only take the risk of close contact with this armored Foundation Establishment creature!

Or perhaps just make a run for it out of the Demon Gathering Land, considering this creature might collapse on its own regardless. But not mentioning whether they can escape, can Murong Hui hold on that long?

Indeed, the vitality of a Third-Turn Messenger is astonishing, but right now, she’s losing a great amount of blood every second, and by the time Yan Qing escapes, her blood might have run dry.

Suddenly, a chill pierced through Yan Qing’s back.

Using puppets to block the Baibao Guards is a well-calculated plan, but will the enemy just obediently waste time with the puppets? The world isn’t gentle enough for everything to go as you wish.

A ghostly shadow with rising blood flames passed through the puppets, with a glint of cold light arriving first, followed by a spear strike like a dragon! It was too fast, too close for Yan Qing to summon the puppets!

Only Ying Rushi, who had been watching him, managed to react in time.

The Heaven-Swaying Sword couldn’t block the Blood Flame Long Spear, the spearhead slid down, tearing the defense barrier like paper, fragmented under the pull of the [Unity Lock], and Yan Qing’s defense barrier shattered as well!

The spear pierced through the abdomen, its power unmitigated, continuing to stab at Yan Qing! This spear was infused with the blood flames of three hundred Baibao, a bloodlust far beyond what a simple Prince of Lanling could satisfy!

Boom!

The impact blast knocked the Baibao Guard out, who held on to the spear, pulling out a large chunk of flesh. Ying Rushi’s chest thumped like a sudden funeral bell, the pierced wound immediately healed, revealing a slender fair waist, even the remaining blood on it was as dazzling as rubies.

Heaven-Swaying emerges, [Tyranny] activates!

Before the puppet attacked, the Baibao Guard transformed into a shadow and left, crashing into another building. Yan Qing could see that this guy has the ability to change attack directions in a flash, but couldn’t stop during high-speed movement, nor could he perform small-range dodges; he had to go all out without reservation to explode with speed akin to lightning meteors, almost launching himself like an arrow each time!

The Baibao Guard emerged from the ruins, the Evil Ghost Mask on his face suddenly cracking inch by inch, breaking in half and falling to the ground with a crisp sound. Beneath the mask was a face quite similar to Ying Rushi’s, with a touch of femininity beneath its sinister appearance, but spreading blue veins on the throat, bleeding from seven orifices, "candle in the wind" hardly describes his state; it’s more accurately "oil runs dry, lamp is dead".

Ying Rushi was slightly taken aback, but wasted no time in continuing the strategic shift with Yan Qing, she asked from afar: "Uncle Su?"

She quickly introduced to Yan Qing: "He’s Ying Le’s younger brother, Ying Su."

"Haven’t seen you in years," Ying Su’s lip twitched slightly, like greeting a child relative after a long absence: "Rushi, you’ve grown up."

"Sorry, no time for catching up, my time is short," he tightened his grip on the spear, which glowed with blood flames, as if burning his Qi Blood: "Please, die."

Ying Su let out a deafening roar, collapsed countless houses, and shuttled back and forth slaying the "Scorpion King", even if Yan Qing timely summoned new puppets, he had already found an opening, once more thrusting out the scorching spear!

A horrendous blast followed, the spear hitting Ying Rushi’s chest, but not even breaking the skin. Ying Rushi slashed Ying Su’s throat with a sword, but her casual strike wouldn’t pierce the defense barrier; however, speed works both ways, she only needed to place the sword correctly for Ying Su’s throat to naturally collide with it.

If it weren’t for the [Heaven-Overturning Tyrant Body] blocking the Blood Flame Spear’s head, they would have already perished together, Ying Su piercing her body, she cutting off Ying Su’s head!

"You will die." Ying Rushi nodded, stating it, she had just slashed his throat, yet the wound showed no sign of stopping bleeding; instead, a fountain-like gush of fresh blood impatiently pumped out to escape, which is definitely not normal for a Third-Turn Messenger. Ying Su’s exterior appeared unscathed, but inside, his blood vessels and organs were nearly exhausted.

"I know."

From the moment he saw the one hundred and twenty people sent by Ying Le, Ying Su had a vague premonition that this was likely his end.

Three hundred Baibao is a critical point, just like unlocking [Crowd Mind: Many] at over twenty people, [Crowd Mind: One] at over a hundred, and [Crowd Mind: Unification] at over three hundred.

[One] is only a temporary borrowing of a portion of other Baibao’s Qi Blood to create a Fake Foundation Establishment, while [Unification] goes a step further by sacrificing three hundred Baibao as the price to temporarily stack everyone’s Qi Blood, spirit, and even agility!

Even more ingenious, [Unification] can be triggered when all Baibao Guards are annihilated, rapidly healing the commander’s injuries. This means that when commanding three hundred Baibao, the commander can completely initiate [Unification] after the entire army is wiped out. This is the final trump card, better to use it than not.

However, activating [One] would cause Ying Su’s muscles to tear and bones to shatter, and the theoretical numbers of [Unification] are tenfold or even a hundredfold of the former, a price Ying Su could not even imagine.

His head felt like it was being endlessly pierced by needles, his entire skeleton crushed repeatedly, and even breathing felt like drinking molten lava. Ying Su had no doubt that if he closed his eyes, he would die from the pain. No wonder his sister had created [Unification] ten years ago but only now granted him permission to use it.

Compared to this pain, death seemed as pleasant as a gentle breeze; no one could endure this pain and continue fighting... except for me.

Your will is my destiny.

"She is my Emperor, I am her subject," Ying Su said in a poetic tone, "I cheer for her, and also die for her on the battlefield."

Boom!

Yan Qing and Ying Rushi desperately darted between the houses, with puppets covering their retreat. Houses behind them collapsed one after another, as if fleeing from an avalanche or tsunami—a disaster that seemed almost animate!

"Yan Qing." Ying Rushi suddenly shouted. Though her tone was calm, she blurted out Yan Qing’s real name, revealing the extent of her inner turmoil.

"I know," Yan Qing replied, "I know!"

Ying Rushi’s [Overbearing] time was about to end. Even though it could reduce damage, she had just withstood several attacks from Ying Su, blocked only by [Heaven-Overturning Tyrant Body]. When the time ended, all injuries would erupt at once! Even if [Heaven-Overturning Tyrant Body] wouldn’t end her life, it would surely leave her gravely injured or near death!

They had no way to instantly recover, and by then Yan Qing alone could not carry two injured people to safety. Some would survive, but not everyone would.

Ying Rushi grabbed Yan Qing’s arm without speaking. She had promised never to betray him again, and could only stare at Yan Qing with a hint of plea in her eyes.

You have gained Divine Techniques and earned the Foundation Establishment Pill; now you just need to pay a little cruelty.

"I won’t leave you," Yan Qing said sternly, giving her a sharp glance. "Don’t even think about doing anything foolish."

Escaping separately was the best strategy from the start; the longer Ying Su was left alone, the closer to death he would be. Running separately would consume his life as much as possible, but the one targeted by Ying Su would most likely die.

The Baibao Guards were here to hunt Ying Rushi, and if they split up, Ying Su would obviously target her. But how far could she run after the [Heaven-Overturning Tyrant Body] injuries settled? She was gambling on Ying Le still wanting to capture her; with only Ying Su left, if he planned to offer her to Ying Le, he would have to take her out of the Demon Gathering Land, making it impossible to keep chasing Yan Qing and Murong Hui.

However, this time Ying Rushi dared not say it in front of him, finally getting some preliminary results... Yan Qing’s mind suddenly wandered. He was always like this: the more urgent the situation, the more he drifted off. Since it was tense already, he might as well think of something happy to ease his nerves.

Moreover, it wasn’t a dead-end yet, as he still had one last card to play:

Tombstone Inscription!

If it couldn’t be used to imprison the enemy, it could at least rescue an ally! With a full 30 minutes of Divine Techniques Healing, anyone could recover fully, and more importantly, Ying Su’s current state surely couldn’t last 30 minutes!

But the issue was, Yan Qing could use [Tombstone Inscription] only once.

Once he was at Foundation Establishment, the limitation would naturally disappear, but before that, each use would deplete all his blood and put him in a temporarily weakened state, requiring at least a day before he could use it again. Mortals using Divine Techniques must pay the price.

But who should he use [Tombstone Inscription] on?

It’s not just a healing session but also laying all hope for survival, for those left still must face Ying Su’s threat; only the person under [Tombstone Inscription] could safely get through this catastrophe.

Should he protect others, or... be a bit selfish?

Yan Qing had no time to hesitate, as Ying Rushi’s [Overbearing] time had run out. In the instant Ying Rushi coughed blood, Yan Qing had already made a decision: he reached out and embraced Ying Rushi, releasing the barely-breathing Murong Hui from his hold.

At the same time, he activated [Tombstone Inscription] on Murong Hui!

Murong Hui’s body turned illusory as it fell to the ground, a serene smile on her face, as if dreaming a sweet dream. She was left behind; when Ying Rushi recovered from her weakness and looked back, Murong Hui’s ethereal figure was already far away.

"Leave the hope of living to Murong Hui," Yan Qing looked forward, his breath instantly weakening, but his sharply defined brows filled with soaring confidence: "I live and die with you!"