Chapter 470: Chapter 396: Celestial Calamity Four Phases Dao Foundation
The gray mist of Youyun spread over more than half of the Thief Hall, even when Yan Qing intentionally retracted it. If he allowed the gray mist to expand freely, it might not cover half a city like the Rabbit Heroine did during her Foundation Establishment, but it would probably fill the entire Thief’s House.
As he absorbed and exhaled spiritual qi, the flowers, grass, trees on the gray mist of Youyun began to flow as well. The Skull Other Shore Flower stained half of the Yin-Yang Fish’s white side red, the decayed violets filled the black side, the life-and-death great tree stood in the black of the white, and the ghostly blue roses bloomed in the white of the black.
These four vastly different yet poisonously beautiful sceneries achieved perfect unity through the Tai Chi Yin-Yang Fish, forming a complete and eerie harmony, like a mysterious artistic conception of great terror between life and death!
Yan Qing felt a sense of enlightenment in his heart, realizing that this was his Dao Foundation, his path, his life’s fire, his soul’s origin—
[Celestial Calamity Four Phases Dao Foundation]!
Moreover, unlike what Yan Qing had previously understood, the manifestations of the Youyun Four Phases from the Dao Foundation not only helped him block damage but also served as a field spell that could cover most environments. Within the Youyun Four Phases, his divine authority could be maximized, with the casting distance and range consistent with those of the Youyun Four Phases.
Yan Qing casually glanced at a corner of the Youyun. The "Palm Thunder Bead" in his hand flickered, and lightning exploded where he looked!
Clearly, a divine authority that required a close-range attack could now be achieved just by gazing, without any effort, and without consuming spiritual essence or talisman durability. It’s only natural; if you casually point your finger, would it consume anything?
This was an operation never seen before in the game, nor would any player use it this way. Without the great crisis of life and death, no one would manifest the Dao Foundation. However, just as the game’s settings combined the Dao Foundation and the Messenger into one, since the Dao Foundation equals the Messenger, naturally, the realm affected by the Dao Foundation extends the Messenger’s will!
He probably wouldn’t manifest the Dao Foundation in practical combat to gain a terrain advantage, but this revealed tip of the iceberg undoubtedly made Yan Qing wary — as the Messenger’s power grew stronger and more forces were mastered, the intelligence presented by the game system was undoubtedly lacking, as the game had to consider balance and playability. Even though the setting granted the Messenger great authority, only a small portion could be displayed.
Suppose the game character had an absolute performance advantage over local natives from levels 1 to 39, but after the Foundation Establishment Stage, both sides were likely evenly matched. The game’s character’s performance would be offset by the Foundation Establishment Zhenren’s skills, and as the level of power increased, the advantage of the Foundation Establishment Zhenren would only grow.
The difference between the two was like the modern mode and classic mode in "Street Fighter VI": low-level players might choose the modern mode to achieve better performance, but high-level players already had top-notch performance and could perform operations in classic mode that couldn’t be replicated in modern mode, with a higher ceiling than modern mode, much like the Foundation Establishment Zhenren who could research various uses of divine techniques.
With a thought, Yan Qing retracted the Youyun Four Phases into his body, and the Thief’s House instantly transformed from a decadent haunted realm back into a cozy little house. Pharmacist’s Wish, Shang Xinlei, and Ying Rushi, who were just forced back by the Youyun, still stared blankly at him, no one daring to approach.
They were not strangers to the Foundation Establishment; even Shang Xinlei had once been unintentionally struck by Layman Yu Li from Liang Kingdom, but no Foundation Establishment could exert such overwhelming pressure like Yan Qing.
Even though they understood Yan Qing would have no malice toward them, they couldn’t suppress the fear the instincts of life generated, as if what stood before them wasn’t a person but a catastrophe that could engulf them!
The scent of fear.
The substantial increase in qi blood, divine soul, and agility not only brought changes in numbers but also granted Yan Qing all kinds of unbelievable abilities.
He could clearly feel all the bones in his body. The extraordinary qi blood made his bones indestructible, while extraordinary agility allowed him to freely adjust his bones, muscles, and tendons that could move like flowing water. Now, with his physical body alone, he was a far more terrifying weapon than a Third-Turn talisman token!
The most marvelous part was the perception under the joint action of extraordinary qi blood and extraordinary divine soul. His vision, hearing, smell, touch, and taste—all senses were enhanced beyond imagination. An ordinary person would surely have their mind burned out by such an enormous amount of information, but the moment Yan Qing received this massive information, the Foundation Establishment Divine Soul had already processed it.
This wasn’t even a divine technique; it simply was an enhancement of calculation power, like how early games couldn’t even create shadows, but the new generation of games all had ray tracing.
He could clearly smell their fear.
Pharmacist’s Wish’s fear had a bitter coffee taste, with a hint of malice. She was inherently averse to any force above her, no matter who it was; Shang Xinlei’s fear was like matcha-flavored cotton candy. She was a bit scared but also a bit expectant; Ying Rushi’s fear resembled strong bitter tea. She worried Yan Qing would become someone unrecognizable to her.
In that moment, Yan Qing finally understood why most Foundation Establishment Zhenren didn’t have partners and understood why it’s never heard of a Foundation Establishment Zhenren having a harem.
Wolves and sheep could coexist friendly, cats and mice could become friends. These stories became fairy tale classics precisely because they couldn’t happen.
He gestured for everyone to come over. With his left hand, he took out Qian Zhen, quickly replenishing his spiritual essence, while extending his right hand, gently pointing at Ying Rushi’s forehead under their intense gazes.
Ying Rushi instantly entered an illusory state, dazed as she looked at her own hands.
[Tombstone Inscription]!
Yan Qing pointed at Pharmacist’s Wish next, leading her into an illusory state. Pharmacist’s Wish even took out Dragon and Snake Seven Kills, intending to test her changes in the illusory state.
Lastly was Shang Xinlei, who obediently lifted her hair to reveal her forehead. However, Yan Qing’s extended finger suddenly turned and pinched Shang Xinlei’s nose.
"You—" Shang Xinlei puffed up her cheeks, wanting to punch him, but her fist passed through his body as she had already entered the illusory state. Yet, the next second, Yan Qing waved his hand, and he also entered the illusory state, as if four phantoms roamed the Thief Hall.
Of course, Yan Qing wasn’t showing off his ability to use divine techniques but was testing his spiritual essence consumption. After Foundation Establishment, [Tombstone Inscription] had no restrictions on use, but as a profound mysterious divine technique, its consumption of spiritual essence was naturally much greater than that of domain divine techniques.
It only consumed five spiritual essence for him to apply [Tombstone Inscription] on them, while using it on himself expended sixty-three spiritual essence. Clearly, the more powerful the target, the greater the cost of [Tombstone Inscription]. Against a Seventh-Turned Immortal Monarch, even if the other party didn’t resist and allowed himself to cast [Tombstone Inscription], Yan Qing might exhaust all his spiritual essence without necessarily imprisoning them in the Illusory Coffin.
Perhaps due to the Foundation Establishment, Yan Qing now had a deeper grasp of [Tombstone Inscription]; now, besides terminating it prematurely, he could also delete some of the profound elements of [Tombstone Inscription], such as trapping only the enemy without providing a healing effect, or contrariwise, offering only healing to teammates without confining them in the Illusory Coffin.
As he willed, controlling the trajectory with his heart!
Yan Qing raised his head, seeing them moving slowly. Although [Tombstone Inscription] wouldn’t slow them down, the illusory form greatly reduced their movement speed since moving felt peculiar, as if their legs were stepping into a mire.
Shang Xinlei’s and Pharmacist’s Wish’s figures overlapped as she curiously asked, "If we cancel the divine technique now, what would happen to us?"
"As long as you have a defensive barrier, you’d bounce off each other at the moment of termination, like colliding. The greater the overlap, the greater the impact would be, potentially even breaking the defensive barrier," Yan Qing explained, not needing to test it. He had an intuitive sense of almost all the effects of [Tombstone Inscription].
"What if we don’t have a defensive barrier?" Shang Xinlei asked.
"Then your bodies would collide," Yan Qing glanced at Shang Xinlei, "I suppose you’d have it rougher."
At first, Shang Xinlei thought Yan Qing was implying her qi blood wasn’t as strong as Pharmacist’s Wish since she followed a main agility path, but when Yan Qing glanced at her milk-candy school, her lungs almost exploded with anger—wasn’t her body the perfect balance, neither too much nor too little? How could a fat girl like Black Wolf compare? Dragging through the next Secret Realm was such a chore!
You tasteless pervert!
At this moment, Yan Qing snapped his fingers, and everyone instantly exited the illusory state.
"I’ve decided to complete the fourth task," Yan Qing said seriously. "Even encountering the worst scenario, with Ying Le and the three great heavens of Qi Kingdom all gathering, I can still use [Tombstone Inscription] to trap all three for two hours, facing at most only one Foundation Establishment at a time!"
This was the terror of [Tombstone Inscription]. As long as the target wasn’t so powerful that Yan Qing couldn’t turn them illusive or possessed talismans with a high priority of invincibility to dispel, he would effectively not exist on the battlefield! Moreover, there was no cooling-down period for divine techniques, unlike talismans with durability constraints. As long as there was enough spiritual essence, they could be used freely!
From the first year of "The Messenger’s" launch to the fifth year before Yan Qing’s crossing, continuously held by hundreds of thousands of players as one of the top ten profound mysterious techniques, [Tombstone Inscription] was overwhelmingly powerful! Regardless of version changes or official balance adjustments, it was truly the strongest single-target control!
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