Scourge Messenger

Chapter 174 Gardenia Field

The ancestral home of the Helan family, a field of gardenias.

It was the peak blooming season for gardenias, and their fragrance was so strong that even Helan Shangyue, sitting in the carriage, could smell it—a fragrance so intense it was almost vulgar. He parted the curtains and looked out at the gardenias swaying in the wind across the hillsides, barely suppressing the urge to sneeze.

As soon as the flower growers saw the Helan banner on the carriage, they knelt down on both sides of the road. There are nearly a thousand flower growers who take care of this field, including more than a dozen messengers who are equipped with planting tokens and serve as the flower growers' supervisors. It is thanks to their meticulous care that this flower field can bloom in profusion all year round, regardless of the four seasons.

As the carriage approached the entrance to the fortress, the mechanism inside the gate immediately began to turn and rise. The steward, who had been waiting for some time, stepped forward to help Helan Shangle down from the carriage.

"How has the ancestor been feeling lately?"

"As always, but I ate a little less for lunch."

"Not to your liking?" Helan Shangle's heart tightened.

"The cooks have changed the menu a lot, but they're all dishes that our ancestors used to like," the butler said in a low voice. "There have been times like this in previous years, sometimes lasting a month, sometimes a season. It's just an occasional change."

Helan Shangle pondered for a moment, "How about this, stop the spirit jade mining in the morning and evening and see if that improves the situation. If it still doesn't improve, then just stop the spirit jade mining completely. The ancestor's health is the most important thing; everything else can be put aside for now."

"Yes, I'll send someone to stop it right away," the butler said. "Shall we still follow the usual procedure and have him bathe and change first?"

“No need, this is an emergency.” Helan Shangle took two steps and then stopped: “No need for a bath, just change your clothes.”

The steward had made preparations in advance, and the clothes prepared for Helan Shangle had been placed in the flower cabinet and fumigated for a long time. As soon as Helan Shangle put them on, he felt the fragrance of flowers constantly rushing into his nose. However, he was a third-level messenger after all, and he suppressed all kinds of discomfort by slightly circulating his qi and blood.

Four strong servants were already waiting outside the gate. Helan Shangle went over and sat in the sedan chair, and the servants carried the sedan chair through the bunker.

It wasn't that Helan Shangle was too lazy to walk, but the fortress was built against the mountain, and it took quite a climb to get to the entrance of the secret realm. Although the weather was still relatively cool, he would inevitably sweat a bit if he walked, and the smell of sweat mixed with the fragrance of flowers would be particularly noticeable, so he tried to avoid it as much as possible.

After passing through three gates, Helan Shangle arrived at the barbican, which was guarded by dozens of crossbowmen at all times. In the center of the barbican was a temple, and a light green vortex appeared at the temple entrance.

This is the fourth-level secret realm under the control of the Helan family, the Mountain Temple.

Helan Shangle took a deep breath and stepped into the secret realm on foot.

Upon entering the secret realm, the scenery changes dramatically. The heavily guarded bunkers disappear, replaced by a dense forest that blocks out the sky. It is said that this is what the Gardenia Wilderness outside looked like a hundred years ago. This place was never suitable for human habitation, as it was too far from water sources and had complex and rugged mountain roads. It took the Helan family nearly a hundred years to transform this place into a paradise.

From the outside, the secret realm appears to be a temple, but inside it has been completely transformed into a vast and exquisite village. Yes, exquisite. Although most of the houses are made of locally sourced wood, each one is crafted with ingenuity, simple yet elegant. Even the furniture is both practical and beautiful, without any rough edges.

To achieve this effect, approximately eight hundred carpenters are on standby in the bunker. Each time the secret realm resets, they will rebuild the temple to its current appearance within five days. These craftsmen have been employed by the Helan family for decades.

"Uncle!"

"Uncle!"

"Uncle!"

Upon seeing someone enter, the village children immediately swarmed around, chattering excitedly. Helan Shangle was prepared, and the snacks in her pocket were quickly divided up by them. Watching them noisily chase each other, Helan Shangle's recent frustration due to the political changes dissipated considerably, and she felt a few years younger.

The children of the Helan family, aged five to twelve, are forcibly sent to live in a mountain temple. There, they are taught knowledge, guided in martial arts, and shaped by various teachers. They can only return home for one month a year, and it cannot be during festivals like the Mid-Autumn Festival or New Year's Day, when families are supposed to reunite. They cannot leave half of their family at once, and they cannot bring servants to serve them. They even have to wash their own clothes...

Although the rules are so numerous as to be almost harsh on these children, almost no one would refuse to send their child in; even relatives of the Helan family would proactively send their children in. Everyone could see the benefits of this environment for the children: a group of children living together from childhood for seven years would most likely become close friends, a reliable network of connections.

Moreover, the Helan family's educational approach was quite good; compared to the other six pillar states, the Helan family's dissolute behavior was only at a mid-to-lower level. Even if noble families weren't afraid of their descendants committing evil, who would want their well-behaved and upright children to run rampant with wrongdoing?
Even with the reasons mentioned above, it's still difficult for most parents to accept having their children away from them for seven years. The reason they are willing to do so is because they have a greater expectation—that their children will receive the favor of their ancestors.

As Helan Shangyue walked through the village, he felt as if he were deeply inhaling spiritual energy with every breath. This was not an illusion, but a characteristic common to fourth-level secret realms: the spiritual energy was so dense that it could be directly absorbed. He could probably fully restore his spiritual power by meditating here for about an hour.

But is it beneficial for children to be in such a spiritually rich environment? I don't know, but I can only say that I haven't found any disadvantages.

The village has two roads: one leads to a temple deeper inside, and the other leads to a spirit spring. The spring water is sweet and clear, needless to say, but more importantly, beneath the spring lies a spirit jade mine. Every month, the Helan family earns nearly 300,000 spirit jades in profit, even after distributing dividends to other families.

When the Helan family first conquered this secret realm, the Foundation Establishment True Person of the Treasure Bottle invited Foundation Establishment True Persons from other families to assist them. At that time, he casually granted the other families a share of the spirit jade mine. Even though the Helan family conquered the secret realm on its own later, the spirit jade continued to be distributed to other families.

Ultimately, the Foundation Establishment cultivators didn't take the spirit jade mine seriously at all; it was just a gift.

Who would give a gift and then take it back?

However, the Helan family will receive tens of thousands more spirit jades in the future, since the Bashui Pharmacist family is gone, and there is one less family to share in the profits.

The steward's notice had arrived, and the miners all went home ahead of time. When they saw Helan Shangle from afar, they instinctively wanted to kneel down, but the mine foreman immediately kicked their buttocks, which startled them. They only dared to put their hands together and nod their heads to express goodwill.

Their gratitude was genuine. Mining here was a job that all mortals in the vicinity flocked to. The Helan family would not shortchange them on food and lodging, and many believed that staying in the secret realm for a long time would make it easier to become a messenger.

Helan Shangle breathed a sigh of relief. It didn't matter what happened outside, but this was a place where the ancestor could see. The only person here worthy of kneeling and worshipping was the ancestor, and even he, as the head of the Helan family, could not overstep that level.

Upon arriving at the temple gate, a handsome and imposing servant opened the door for him. Although the interior still retained the temple structure, it had been extensively renovated and expanded by the Helan family's craftsmen, resembling a palace. There wasn't a single male servant inside; all the servants, including the cook, were young women in their late teens or early twenties, the oldest not even twenty-six. Anyone with slightly less-than-perfect skin was disqualified from serving him there.

When they saw Helan Shangle arrive, they hid behind the door and whispered among themselves, making quite a scene. Helan Shangle kept his eyes straight ahead and respectfully presented his visiting card, saying, "This unworthy descendant, Helan Shangle, requests an audience with our ancestor."

The reason why there are beautiful young girls everywhere here is not because our ancestor was a lustful fiend; rather, it's because everyone in the Helan family wished he were.

Although the descendants of Foundation Establishment Messengers may not necessarily possess extraordinary talents, the Helan family simply desires someone who can speak on behalf of their ancestor. Children from outside and young women from within all aspire to this goal; as long as someone becomes the ancestor's disciple or concubine, the Helan family's relationship with the ancestor will become closer, allowing them to request the ancestor to intervene and speak on their behalf.

A single glance from a Foundation Establishment messenger can propel an ordinary person to great heights. Even if most efforts are in vain, the Helan family is willing to exert every effort for even a one-in-a-thousand chance.

Unfortunately, perhaps due to the nature of Foundation Establishment Messengers, the vast majority of them will not have offspring after Foundation Establishment, and they will have relatively few partners. Apart from Qi Shenwu and Empress Lou, who both achieved Foundation Establishment and had six daughters, Helan Shangle has never seen a second case.

At this moment, the door opened, and a maid said, "Master Dongshou is receiving you in the Buddhist hall."

Helan Shangle took off his straw sandals and walked slowly on the wooden floor. Before entering the Buddhist hall, the maids had already brought him a copper basin filled with water. Even though Helan Shangle had already washed himself, he still washed his hands and rinsed his mouth here.

To pay homage to the immortal, one must first perform a hand-washing ritual.

The maids opened the doors from both sides. Helan Shangle lowered his head and stared at the ground, his heart pounding. Even though he was an old man over sixty, the head of the Helan family, and the Duke of Wu, Helan Shangle, one of the Six Pillars of State, he would still be extremely nervous every time he came to this place.

He took a deep breath: "This unworthy descendant, Helan Shangle, pays respects to the True Man of Winter Hunting!"

"Come in."

A gentle voice echoed from the Buddhist hall, neither young nor old, reminiscent of a hunter in his prime. Helan Shangyue followed closely into the hall, kneeling before an empty prayer cushion. "Grandpa, how have you been lately?"

"It's the same as always, neither good nor bad, it's just another year of flowers blooming and withering, so hold your head high."

Most people would imagine a gaunt old man, exuding a sinister aura, to be addressed as "Grandpa" by the over-sixty-year-old Helan Shangle. But when Helan Shangle looked up, he saw a young man with white hair and a childlike appearance.

He wasn't particularly handsome. He wore a dark black haori, his hair was casually tied in a bun with a wooden hairpin, and he sat cross-legged on a futon with his hands clasped together as if in a meditation mudra. Beside him was a white porcelain vase with a gardenia flower inside.

He looked like an ordinary Taoist priest, but his calm, lake-like eyes seemed to hold the power of wind and thunder. When Helan Shangle looked into his eyes, they would sting and he would subconsciously look down at the ground.

Before them stood Helan Shou, the only Foundation Establishment cultivator of the Helan family.

He had witnessed the grandeur of Emperor Taizu of Zhou in his youth. Before the passing of the previous Foundation Establishment True Man Helan Ping, he successfully established his foundation, perfectly inheriting the foundation-building legacy of the Helan family, which has allowed the Helan family's power to continue to this day.

(End of this chapter)