Scourge Messenger

Chapter 130 Foundation Building Legacy
"To rob spirit jade, one should naturally target landlords, merchants, and bureaucrats who have prosperous businesses but lack the protection of messengers. They are like the shrimp dumplings we just saw, with thin skins and big fillings."

Shang Xinlei scooped up a big mouthful of ice cream and put it in her mouth, making Yan Qing's teeth tingle: "Therefore, a strange phenomenon has appeared in Liang Kingdom: the further away the emperor is from a place, the less oppression and exploitation the common people suffer. Those who dare to act recklessly without the protection of messengers are either beheaded by passing demonic messengers, or a quasi-messenger will suddenly appear in the fields and kill their entire family."

Yan Qing said, "Then why not just hire messengers and guards?"

Shang Xinlei laughed: "Even the weakest first-level messenger, who only has one token, can earn at least six hundred spirit jades a year by participating in the simplest first-level secret realm conquest in the military town. The big landowners in ordinary villages who own mountains and fields may not even earn six hundred spirit jades a year. How can they hire messengers? At most, they can hire some strong men."

Is the gap between the rich and the poor really that big?
Yan Qing was somewhat surprised, but upon closer reflection, she found it quite reasonable: this world is not lacking in conventional resources.

The total output of an ordinary village in a year may not even be comparable to the daily output of a first-level secret realm. Who else can the landlords and gentry sell their goods to besides the poor people around them? The towns surrounding the military town have a surplus of resources.

In terms of productivity, a single envoy from a secret realm can produce the equivalent of a hundred farmers. Compared to the envoy, landlords and gentry are the real poor.

"Although there are scum who also attack ordinary people, there are also quite a few people in the demonic path who only target the rich and powerful. After all, ordinary people are not worth squeezing. Therefore, the public has a pretty good impression of them, and there are quite a few demonic people who are called knights-errant, heroes, or righteous thieves." Shang Xinlei pointed to himself: "When I was a feathered serpent picking up things in Chang'an, the residents of Chang'an also gave me the title of righteous thief."

"That sounds pretty good," Yan Qing commented objectively. "Although they are not good people, these thugs who operate outside the law can serve as a deterrent to the court officials."

“The premise is that the number of people is not large,” Shang Xinlei said. “When the number of people in the demonic path increases, it’s a different story. After they have taken the easy targets, whether they like it or not, they have to deal with the villages and towns near the military town. For them, running out of spirit jade is equivalent to death.”

"But which of the wealthy families in the military town is not related to the messengers? The military town doesn't even need to show its face. It only needs to provide a quota for a military soldier, and everyone will spontaneously search for traces of the demonic path. Many messengers will even volunteer to arrest them. The demonic path covets the spirit jade, while they covet the demonic path's tokens."

"Faced with a sudden escalation of the conflict, the demonic path either dies, surrenders, or grows stronger and becomes a demonic giant. But no matter the outcome, they will inevitably go on a killing spree. No one can remain rational and compassionate in the face of life and death. Many years ago, a demonic calamity broke out in Taihu. At first, dozens of demonic cultivators attacked the area around the Taihu military town. Later, it gradually escalated to hundreds of demonic cultivators killing indiscriminately around the military town. Even the military town commander was lured into a trap and murdered. My father had to draw messengers from other military towns to suppress the turmoil. The population around Taihu decreased by nearly 80%."

"Eighty percent?" Yan Qing was a little incredulous.

“That’s why they’re called the Demonic Path.” Shang Xinlei said with a gloomy expression. “There was a time when Demonic Path thieves roamed around the vicinity of Jiangnan City and committed atrocities in many places. I had already changed jobs at that time, so I thought about whether I could track down the murderers. But when I got to the crime scene, I couldn’t accept it anymore… Everyone was dead. The Demonic Path thieves probably wanted to save spirit jade, so they only used their fists throughout. The victims either had their heads smashed or their chests caved in. They didn’t even spare the children… Moreover, the Demonic Path thieves were in a hurry. They didn’t even plunder the spirit jade in the manor. They didn’t kill people to rob them, or even for fun. They just killed people.”

"This is not an isolated case. It seems that once they kill to a certain extent, they will completely degenerate and become as crazy as the demons in the secret realm."

Yan Qing's lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but he didn't. Shang Xinlei noticed his thoughts and asked, "Are you trying to ask them why they don't join the imperial court and insist on joining the demonic path?"

"Ah."

“Because many members of the demonic path come from military towns, ordinary people aren’t qualified to become demons. They might have been suppressed, or they might be greedy; in any case, they can’t accept having to endure years of hardship to become true messengers, so they simply steal the tokens and spirit jade from the military towns and run away… The so-called demonic path is a group of people who can never rise above the established order. They are like floods, storms, blizzards, and avalanches—disasters that inevitably occur when there are too many people.” Shang Xinlei paused: “This is what my father told me before.”

It's a structural contradiction.

Yan Qing understood immediately. Messenger resources were limited, while there were too many reserve messengers. As a result, the demonic path, which was willing to take risks, would inevitably proliferate. This was unsolvable, even if the whole society was fair and just. Moreover, the ruling class of the three kingdoms in the Central Plains had monopolized the channels of advancement. It would be strange if there weren't many demonic paths.

But why did he fall into demonic ways and act like he's gone mad?
"If you're going to send people into dangerous places, make sure they're strong and ruthless enough. It's best to have a large number of them so they can support each other. Otherwise, even petty thieves can wear down your men." Shang Xinlei warned, "The demonic path is full of madmen. Even a third-rank messenger could be ambushed and killed by a group of people in such a place."

She paused for a moment, then said, "Do you really need the third-tier secret realm? If you're not in a hurry, you can wait until I reach the third tier. Then I can apply to participate in the third-tier secret realm raid. You and Jiang Shi can come in with me. Jiang Shi will be my guard, and you will be my servant."

There wasn't any real urgency; there was no imminent crisis. Yan Qing's question was more of a precautionary measure. Jiang Shiye couldn't keep grinding through the Zhen Sanshan Secret Realm forever, and besides, Jiang Shiye's beauty was attracting more and more suitors. It seemed that breaking out of the military camp wasn't far off, so he needed to find a new place for his alt accounts.

More importantly, the alt accounts only need to complete daily tasks, and they have nothing else to do but create a new account to explore other places.

"I can't play the role of a servant, but you would be more suitable to be my maid." Yan Qing asked, "Which of the five dangerous demonic realms would you recommend?"

"Dream on." Shang Xinlei stuck out her tongue and made a face, saying, "I don't know much about dangerous places either, but if I had to say which dangerous place is the most valuable, it would undoubtedly be Shudao Mountain, because it is said to contain the legacy of Si Wuxie, who is a foundational cultivator of the demonic path."

"Foundation Establishment legacy?" Yan Qing was skeptical. "Even if it existed, wouldn't it have been taken by someone else long ago? Besides, it's Foundation Establishment legacy; other Foundation Establishment messengers would definitely be willing to make the trip." "It really exists," Shang Xinlei said, "because Si Wuxie hid his legacy in a place that even Foundation Establishment messengers find difficult to access—"

"Fourth-stage Secret Realm".

……

...

As Yan Qing closed the door, she could still hear Shang Xinlei's farewell voice.

As he removed the bandages, he checked and turned on the game console. He opened the notification bar and found that the Woodland event had already been closed, and there were no new events.

Rat Monk was still on his way to Xuanwu Lake, while Jiang Shi and Ye Si were taking a midday nap. These alts were like grown-up pets, no longer needing much of his care—although he didn't really take care of them much, mostly sending them through fire and water.

In the corner of the room were four keepsakes that glowed with blue light, and a pair of broken Foundation Establishment gloves.

Although he didn't know what these tokens were, fortunately there was Shang Xinlei, the traitor who sided with the enemy. She had already found out the background of these tokens that morning. It was this bait that made Yan Qing accept the invitation. He wasn't just greedy.

These four blue-glowing artifacts are 'Water-Treading Boots', 'Soul-Refining Armor', and a pair of 'Steel Leggings'. The steel leggings, needless to say, have the same effect as the steel belt Yan Qing currently wears, permanently enhancing his blood and agility through prolonged wear. However, the steel belt that was previously revealed was of ordinary quality, while these steel leggings are of rare quality.

The increased rarity also manifested in its effects: after putting on these leg guards, Yan Qing felt as if his feet were welded to the ground. If he could still exercise normally while wearing the steel belt, then after equipping the leg guards, it would take him some time to get used to even taking care of himself.

The water-walking boots have two functions: gliding quickly on water and gliding quickly on land, the latter requiring spiritual energy. Yan Qing tried it out and glided across the entire room in almost a breath. It was fun, but it would take a lot of time to learn how to use it. For him, who couldn't perfectly dodge attacks in reality, it was exactly the kind of mobility token he needed most.

As for the Soul Refining Armor, it was unexpectedly a token for cultivating the divine soul.

Yan Qing put on the Soul Refining Armor, which seemed like a living, breathing entity, automatically conforming to his body shape. He held a string of jade beads in each hand and then channeled spiritual energy into the Soul Refining Armor.

One hundred spiritual power... two hundred spiritual power... five hundred spiritual power... one thousand spiritual power... three thousand spiritual power...

As Yan Qing channeled more and more spiritual energy, he felt his soul becoming increasingly 'solid,' as if it were being pumped with blood. After channeling 10,000 units of spiritual energy, the blue light of the Soul Refining Armor completely dimmed and became unusable, and Yan Qing felt the sensation of his soul being pumped with blood gradually fade away.

This is the effect of the Soul Refining Armor: it can strengthen the soul. Each use costs 10,000 spirit jades and can only be used once a day. As for the strengthening effect... it should be very effective for ordinary people, but it seems to be only so-so for Yan Qing, a first-stage messenger. It is estimated to only increase by about 0.3. This is because his soul is a weak point to begin with. After his second job advancement, which will further increase his soul, the effect of the Soul Refining Armor will inevitably be even lower.

Moreover, it can only be used once a day, and even players with money can't afford to wait that long.

No wonder it's been gathering dust in the secret vault. It consumes so much and has such low effect. You know, in reality, a third-level messenger might not even earn 10,000 spirit jades a day. How could they be so wasteful? If Yan Qing didn't have the ability to harvest rich people from all over the world through the trading board, he wouldn't even be qualified to use it.

However, in the past two days, the price of sword technique manuals has gradually dropped to eight or nine thousand per book. As time goes on, this part of the income will definitely decrease further.

After sorting through the spoils, Yan Qing looked at his most valuable, but also most useless, possession from this theft: the broken Hand of the Hundred Phases of Melting.

This was once a powerful weapon used by Emperor Taizu of Liang in his conquests. Its illustrious history surpassed even that of the Bingzi Jiaolin Sword and the Yitian Sword, so much so that even after being damaged, it remained one of the most precious treasures of the royal family. It yearned to once again become the sword of a king, but unfortunately, it fell into the hands of thieves.

Yan Qing switched to Jiang Shi's alternate account and found Gai Louxian, purchasing an item that greatly surprised the latter: refined gold furnace liquid.

(End of this chapter)