In the game "Messengers," setting aside those above Foundation Establishment, Yan Qing noticed something just from observing first- to third-rank messengers: defense was more important than offense.
The first relic of the vast majority of messengers was a Defensive Token. A messenger without one was no more than a superhuman mortal—a bubble that could be pierced with ease no matter how formidable they were. Only with a Defensive Token could a messenger become "nonhuman" in the true sense, beyond the reach of most dangers in the mortal world.
As levels increased, the strength of Offensive Tokens also struggled to keep up with the growth of Defensive Tokens. Take the Rare Longsword-tier second-rank relic Heart Protecting Mirror, widely equipped by Liang messengers: it could defend against up to 2,800 points of damage. Meanwhile, the core relic Soul Severing Spear, most relied upon by the veteran third-rank He Lanque, could deal only ten times his base attack at maximum burst—a mere 700 points of damage.
In other words, even if He Lanque could reach a combo of Sixty-Four Spears, he would still need at least four strikes to completely break through the defenses of any third-rank Liang messenger. And that was assuming the Liang third-rank did not replenish the Heart Protecting Mirror's barrier.
Thus, battles between most messengers ultimately became contests of spiritual power. The reason Yaoshi Yuan and Bunny Heroine had been able to take down He Lanque was certainly because Yaoshi Yuan's instant burst was high enough, but the more important reason was that He Lanque wielded two weapons.
He had no time to absorb spirit jades and recover his spiritual power, so he had to calculate his expenditure carefully. If he conserved too much by mistake, Yaoshi Yuan would simply pour damage into him and blow him apart.
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