Chapter 52 The Death Messenger Plays with Taotie DouluoJust as Dai Youheng was cultivating, deep within a secluded valley in the Mingdou Mountain Range, the mountains that had seemed eerie yet tranquil yesterday were now shattered by continuous violent explosions and earth-shattering tremors.Thick black smoke mixed with an ominous dark green poisonous mist surged out from cracks and openings in the valley, and the pungent smell of sulfur and a foul stench permeated the air."Boom, boom, boom—!"Violent explosions erupted one after another, rocks flew everywhere, and the entire valley seemed to be wailing.Not long ago, the confident Shrek Supervision Team, after obtaining intelligence provided by White Tiger Duke Dai Hao, headed straight for this cave, which was marked as the lair of the Evil Soul Master "Death Messenger."The main team members, led by Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng, charged in first, with the reserve team following closely behind.They had originally thought that with so many masters, and with Xuan Zi secretly protecting them, dealing with a mere Death Messenger, an Evil Soul Master of the Spirit King level, would be a piece of cake.No one had expected that the "Death Messenger," who seemed to be only of Spirit King level and should have been easily dealt with, would be so insidious and cunning.In addition to corpse explosions, he had already planted a large number of triggered spirit tool elemental bombs at the cave entrance and within the passages! These bombs not only had astonishing explosive power, but more maliciously, they were filled with specially refined highly toxic substances. Once detonated, the poisonous mist instantly spread, making it impossible to defend against!The proud Shrek main team members stepped into a death trap as soon as they entered.The violent explosions and dense poisonous mist instantly engulfed the vanguard."Careful, it's an ambush!""Poison, it's highly toxic! Retreat quickly!""Ugh ah—!"Exclamations, explosions, and screams instantly erupted in a cacophony.Although Xuan Zi was following in the shadows, the incident happened too suddenly, and the explosions and poisonous mist covered an extremely wide area. Despite his immense cultivation, he couldn't protect everyone instantly.By the time Xuan Zi roared and rushed into the cave, forcibly dispersing some of the poisonous mist and suppressing the explosions with his incomparably powerful spirit power, the scene before him was already a mess.To protect Ling Luochen beside him, Yao Haoxuan had used his body to forcefully block the largest explosion impact, sacrificing himself on the spot, his body incomplete.Chen Zifeng's right arm was blown off, bleeding profusely, his face as pale as paper.Gongyang Mo's left leg was missing below the knee, and he lay in a pool of blood, groaning in pain.Xixi and Dai Yueheng inhaled a large amount of poisonous mist; their faces turned blue and black, their spirit power circulation was sluggish, indicating severe poisoning and a critical condition. Dai Yueheng's tiger palm, in particular, was blasted to a bloody mess, almost losing half a hand.Ling Luochen and Ma Xiaotao were slightly better, but both also sustained injuries, and their auras were chaotic. It would be impossible for them to recover their combat strength without at least half a month of careful recuperation.In contrast, the other members of the reserve team, because they were behind the main team and further from the center of the explosion, and with the main team members acting as a buffer, no one was seriously injured except for being startled and slightly affected.Except for Dai Huabin.He was already eager to prove himself due to his conflict with Huo Yuhao and others, wanting to perform in front of his father. This mission made him even more desperate for achievement, almost rushing in right behind the main team. His position was much further forward than all the other reserve team members.His Spirit Elder level cultivation was like paper in the face of a trap of this magnitude. Not only did he fail to help, but he became a complete burden.While under attack himself, Dai Yueheng also had to divert his attention to protect his reckless younger brother, which led to a gap in his own defenses. This resulted in him suffering far more severe injuries and deeper poisoning than in the original story, and his hand was completely crippled.As for Dai Huabin himself, because he rushed too far forward, in the chaotic moment of the explosion, he was directly entangled by a pitch-black chain shot from the shadows, which violently dragged his ankle towards the depths of the cave!"Brother, save me!" Dai Huabin's terrified scream was drowned out by the explosions.He took Huo Yuhao's original place, captured by the eerie Death Messenger, becoming a hostage!By the time Xuan Zi furiously cleared the main explosion area, tracking the evil aura deep into the cave and killing the strange Death Messenger, the sight he saw made him frown deeply.Dai Huabin was thrown onto an evil altar, barely breathing. The Death Messenger had clearly tried to sacrifice him at the last moment to gain power or to perish together.Although Xuan Zi intervened in time and the ritual was not fully completed, Dai Huabin had already suffered severe damage.His mental force was almost completely drained by the evil ritual, severely damaged, and his perception became extremely weak.More seriously, the origin of his spirit power was also irreversibly eroded, his level plummeting from thirty-seven to thirty-one. If not for his existing three spirit rings somewhat locking in some spirit power, he probably wouldn't even have retained his Spirit Elder realm, falling directly back to Spirit Grandmaster.The path of future cultivation was already fraught with thorns, and whether he could recover was unknown; it seemed his path was cut off.Looking at the injured scattered on the ground and the sacrificed Yao Haoxuan, Huo Yuhao's heart was filled with grief for his seniors and anger towards the Evil Soul Master.But when his gaze swept over Dai Huabin, lying on a stretcher, pale-faced and with extremely weak spirit power fluctuations, a chilling, almost uncontrollable sense of satisfaction quietly arose deep within him.He recalled Dai Hao's cold remarks from the military camp yesterday about "deception in war" and "justice must be fought for with strength," and then remembered Dai Huabin's smug agreement and disdain for Dai Youheng."Deception in war...""Lack of strength, no one else to blame...""A concubine's son cannot achieve greatness..."These words seemed to still echo in his ears.Huo Yuhao slowly clenched his fists, looking at the unconscious Dai Huabin, and thought coldly in his heart, "How the tables have turned, Dai Huabin. On a real battlefield, it seems your strength and luck are not enough to win the 'justice' you desire. Your father was right, it truly is no one else's fault."The wind in the valley blew, carrying the smell of gunpowder and blood, and also a hint of fate's ironic chill.The Shrek Supervision Team's first mission ended at a heavy cost, and a pall hung over everyone's hearts. And Dai Huabin's pride and future seemed to have shattered along with that explosion and evil ritual, deep within the gloomy caves of the Mingdou Mountain Range, even implicating his elder brother, Dai Yueheng.Xuan Zi stood numbly amidst the chaos, no longer able to hold his chicken leg.He looked at everything before him:Yao Haoxuan's incomplete, hastily collected corpse, covered with a white cloth; beneath it was once a vibrant life.Chen Zifeng's severed arm was roughly bandaged, blood still seeping out, his face pale, biting his lip to suppress his cries of pain.Gongyang Mo's lower body, missing his calf, was empty. His eyes stared blankly at the sky, as if unable to accept the reality.Xixi and Dai Yueheng sat cross-legged, expelling the poison with all their might, but the blue-black aura on their faces remained dense, and their auras were weak and dispirited.Ma Xiaotao and Ling Luochen supported each other; their injuries were slightly lighter, but seeing the tragic state of their companions, their faces were also filled with grief and lingering fear.The children of the reserve team stood by, each with pale faces, still shaken. Huo Yuhao's fists were clenched, Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao had tears in their eyes, and He Caitou silently bowed his head.And Dai Huabin lay unconscious on a stretcher nearby, his spirit power fluctuations extremely weak, his mental force even more scattered and unstable, his future uncertain. Zhu Lu was tending to him with a worried expression."Again... it's like this again," Xuan Zi's heart was filled with grief and indignation. This was not the first time he had led a team into trouble, and this time it was especially severe. How was he going to explain to the academy, and how to explain to the families of these children?
