Messenger of Calamity

Chapter 106: Tiger’s Roar in Jiangnan

Shang Xuanwen felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

He recognized it—this was the Secret Technique: Circulation.

Circulation allowed the Messenger to forcibly cancel all currently launched attacks. However, like an arrow released without a target, the sudden halt would cause the Messenger to suffer the full brunt of their own attack. A Messenger proficient in Circulation could cleverly redirect the resulting recoil, launching a sudden strike from another direction. Still, regardless of the method, the Messenger would be injured, and the ‘derivative attack’ would inevitably be weaker than the ‘original attack’.

Medicine Master Wen had used Circulation to forcibly alter the direction of her attack. But due to the presence of the Ming Wang Armor, the damage she would have taken from Circulation was fully transferred into her next strike. First, she had amplified her attack through the Spinning Lamp, then she doubled that through the linkage of Circulation and the Ming Wang Armor, and finally tricked Shang Xuanwen into acting first—now it was too late for him to change tactics and defend!

But Shang Xuanwen’s horror didn’t end there… To wield two Secret Techniques meant she had likely undergone the Third Job Change. From the start, Medicine Master Wen had concealed her strength, even intentionally suppressing her Vital Energy and Blood—only now did she bare her fangs!

Clang!

The shaft of the Refined Steel Spear was forged from steel exclusive to the Secret Realm—immensely sturdy and solid—yet it snapped under Medicine Master Wen’s full-force strike!

Of the sevenfold mirror surfaces that manifested over Shang Xuanwen’s body, five shattered in an instant. He didn’t resist the terrifying impact, instead choosing to go with the force and be flung backward. During his flight, the surface of the Heartguard Mirror visibly began to regenerate—he was stalling for time to restore the mirror’s protection.

But Ying Ru Shi wouldn’t let him escape. If she wasted the opportunity Medicine Master Wen had painstakingly created, she’d probably be hunted all the way from Chang'an to Buye Tian.

When Medicine Master Wen had activated the Spinning Lamp, Ying Ru Shi had already released the Brave General Sword and slowly drawn the longsword at her waist. Two characters were inscribed on the blade—Hidden Vault.

Indeed, Ying Ru Shi’s hidden killing move was one of the exclusive Tokens of the Jie Family—Hidden Blade of the Return Vault. It might have been sold by the Jie Family, or perhaps seized from a Jie disciple; either way, this sword was stored in the Qi Kingdom’s treasury, and when Ying Ru Shi learned of the chance to assassinate Shang Xuanwen, she exchanged for it.

The authority of the Hidden Blade of the Return Vault lay in its draw ritual—the more elaborate and prolonged the process, the more terrifying the resulting damage. Jie Yuanshao could raise its power to thirteen-and-a-half-fold by taking two breaths to draw it. So how long had Ying Ru Shi prepared?

Three days—a total of forty hours.

Though she merely carried it through meals and baths, such a prolonged draw period had enhanced the sword’s lethality ninefold. Moreover, Ying Ru Shi had chosen the Hidden Blade of the Return Vault precisely because it resonated with her mastered Secret Technique.

The moment the sword tip left its sheath, just as Shang Xuanwen was blasted away by Medicine Master Wen, Ying Ru Shi swung her sword. Though she stood three or four paces from Shang Xuanwen, she didn’t take a single step forward, instead slashing from afar—a radiant blade light, captivating and deadly.

It wasn’t a blade she wielded, but a moon—casting a merciless slash through gentle moonlight.

Secret Technique: Sword-Drawing Technique.

Any bladed weapon could trigger it.

When a sword remained sheathed for five seconds, it could be activated, consuming 10 points plus 15% of maximum health, boosting the draw strike to 1.5 times its normal damage. If the theoretical damage was below 300, it would be raised to 300; if it exceeded 300, for every additional 100 points, the sword light would extend by 1 meter, up to a maximum of 10 meters.

The Hidden Blade of the Return Vault, prepared over three days and further empowered by the Sword-Drawing Technique—this strike from Ying Ru Shi, like Medicine Master Wen’s double-enhanced Dragon Tail Sweep, approached the limits of a Third-Stage Messenger!

Shang Xuanwen recognized it too. Yet he still fought for a sliver of life—perhaps due to his pride as Prime Minister of Great Liang, or the final gaze of the Rat Monk. Midair and unbalanced, he still forced himself to use the Secret Technique: Adhesive Sword. His Wave-Splitting Sword, though merely a Third-Stage Rare Token, bore the trait of slicing through all Spirit Energy—it could strike even Ying Ru Shi’s sword light.

The sword light deflected slightly at the edge—but still struck his body, completely shattering the final mirror layer of the Heartguard Mirror. The residual force cut into his left abdomen, severed his belt, and the Heaven-Reliant Sword flew out.

He crashed to the ground. Without the Heartguard Mirror’s defense, without protection from the Main City, Shang Xuanwen realized—falling hurt. Wounds chilled his whole body, as if his strength was fleeing with his blood… So many years removed from life-and-death combat.

Footsteps of thieves echoed like death’s urging, but Shang Xuanwen did not give up. He gripped the Wave-Splitting Sword tightly. If he couldn’t protect the Shang Family Head’s life, then he’d at least uphold the dignity of the Prime Minister of Great Liang. At death’s door, Shang Xuanwen finally admitted—he regretted it.

Lingxian, Yunrong, Xiaoxiao… I was not a good husband.

Yue’er, Qia’er, Tian’er, Xin Hao, Xinlei, Xinyao… I was not a good father.

Su Pei… You’ve suffered all these years.

And Rat Monk… You saved me countless times. I never repaid you—not once. Always thinking to suppress you first, then grant you a future. In the end, I couldn’t even honor your sacrifice. I only died slightly later than you—and without your pain.

Prime Minister of Great Liang, Shang Family Head—I once thought myself so mighty, dictating all from that seat. But now, in the end, I see—I’m nothing more than a regret-filled, ordinary man.

In a daze, he vaguely heard a tiger’s roar.

How absurd. There were no tigers in Jiangnan City.

“Awoo!——”

“What!?”

Shang Xuanwen’s eyes flew open, just in time to see a tiger-girl leaping from a wall, crashing into Medicine Master Wen and knocking her aside. As Ying Ru Shi thrust her sword at Shang Xuanwen, the latter forced his battered body to stand, covering his wound and weakly swinging Adhesive Sword—barely deflecting the Brave General Sword.

“Found him! Over here!” the tiger-girl shouted. Someone in the distance responded, their voices joining the search.

Medicine Master Wen, shocked and furious, could never have expected the duck she had in the pot to fly away. She charged with killing intent, demanding, “Who are you!”

“Listen closely! I’m Qian Gongyu of the Baiyun Qian Clan—waaah!” Upon clashing, Qian Gongyu was immediately knocked flying. Her Defensive Token shattered—she couldn’t even withstand a single strike. Panic and fear filled her voice, her earlier bravado utterly vanished: “So strong!”

Shang Xuanwen, struggling against Ying Ru Shi, called out immediately, “Don’t fight them head-on—stall for time until the others arrive!”

“Mhm mhm mhm—no head-on fighting, no head-on fighting… aaaaah!”

Though Qian Gongyu was chased around by Medicine Master Wen, she still mustered the courage to delay her. In terms of strength, Medicine Master Wen far outclassed her. But with her weapon reduced to a broken spear, and Qian Gongyu’s tiger form so agile—Medicine Master Wen had never actually killed a tiger before, and found herself unexpectedly entangled.

Shang Xuanwen stole a glance and saw that Qian Gongyu barely dodged the spear with each attack—always by a hair’s breadth. Though he knew it wasn’t the time, he couldn’t help but ask amid battle, “Why did you come to save me?”

“Eh? Me?”

Perched under the eaves, the tiger-girl blinked, as if Shang Xuanwen had asked something very strange.

“Because you’re Xinlei’s father.”