Scourge Messenger

Chapter 254 Luck?

"Gentlemen, may your military fortunes prosper," Jie Huangchao said calmly. "No need to see Julu off."

"Respectfully bidding farewell to General Chongtian!"

Led by Jie Julu, all the messengers bowed respectfully to see Jie Huangchao off, their eyes filled with reverence and fervor, as if they wanted their foreheads to touch the ground.

Sun Chaozong trembled, gripping the Rat Monk's arm tightly, so excited he seemed about to kneel down: "Monk, did you see that? Did you see that! The tattoo of General Chongtian, it's fucking awesome! Old Sun wants one too!"

The rat monk was being shaken back and forth: "Do you know what that move you just used was?"

"Huh? How would I know? Old Sun is just a nobody, I only got in here thanks to you." Sun Chaozong patted the Rat Monk on the shoulder: "Damn it, I can brag about this experience for the rest of my life, I can even tell my grandson when I'm old, 'Old Sun has seen the world!'"

"Then you must remember to tell your grandson that General Chongtian's move just now was called 'Instant Hell Transformation'."

The Rat Monk and Sun Chaozong turned around and saw that it was the Boundary Giant Deer. They immediately bowed and greeted him, "Boundary Commander!"

"We're all just soldiers killing Han Chinese, no need for such formalities," Jie Julu laughed. "So, how was it? Quite a haul, wasn't it?"

"Hehe, it's all thanks to the Grand Commander's patronage." Sun Chaozong's mouth was practically splitting into a grin. "To witness General Chongtian display his divine might, I'd be happy even if it meant advancing to the third rank and living to a hundred."

"Get the hell out of here!" Jie Julu kicked Sun Chaozong's butt. Sun Chaozong, quick-witted as ever, left, giving Jie Julu and Rat Monk space. At this point, the others either left or dived into the lake to search for treasure chests—yes, all the treasure chests in this secret realm were in the lake.

"Rat... I'll call you Monk, just like Sun Wukong did," the Giant Deer asked. "What are your thoughts?"

"The power of Foundation Establishment is unfathomable, beyond the comprehension of gods and demons," said the Rat Monk. "In the secret realm of Lake Heart Island, even a second-stage cultivator cannot make a single step."

"Good that you understand." Jie Julu nodded with satisfaction. He had let Rat Monk in this time so that Rat Monk would know that the military town was not targeting him. It's quite a headache. Not to mention second-tier messengers, even third-tier messengers would not like to attack third-tier secret realms. It's too tiring and too dangerous. Only Rat Monk, with his second-tier strength, would apply to join a third-tier secret realm team.

"But monk, have you ever considered why Foundation Establishment Messengers, who can easily conquer the Third Stage Secret Realm, rarely do so?"

The Rat Monk said, "It's nothing more than the fact that Foundation Establishment doesn't require the resources for the third stage of transformation, and that it's not worth the effort for Foundation Establishment."

Jie Julu's gaze towards the Rat Monk clearly changed. "You hit the nail on the head. It seems that not only is your martial arts talent exceptional, but your intelligence is also far beyond that of an ordinary person... It's a pity that you are a close friend of Duke Xuanwen, otherwise the Jie family would definitely have recruited you as a guest minister."

He paused, then continued, "Everything in the Third Stage Secret Realm is meaningless to Foundation Establishment, even spirit jade. When the messenger reaches the Fourth Stage Foundation Establishment, and their spiritual power is refined and transformed into essence, spirit jade becomes completely worthless to Foundation Establishment. Only true spirit jade produced in the Fourth Stage Secret Realm can replenish their spiritual essence."

Yan Qing blinked, thinking to herself, "This isn't right, is it?"
After the messenger establishes his foundation, his spiritual power transforms into spiritual essence. Although it takes 100,000 spirit jades to replenish one unit of spiritual essence, and it is not as quick as replenishing with true jade, it is still a way to restore mana. Foundation establishment in this world is so luxurious that it does not require spirit jade at all.
However, Yan Qing quickly realized the reason: in the game, replenishing spiritual energy only requires pressing a key, and the consumption of spiritual jade is very fast when not in combat. But in this world, replenishing spiritual energy for Foundation Establishment requires absorbing a thousand portions of 100 jade!

If one absorbs one Hundred Jade per second, it would take 16 minutes to recover one unit of spiritual energy. Based on the average of 100 units of spiritual energy for a fourth-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, it would probably take several hours for a fourth-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator to replenish their spiritual energy!
Given the extremely low efficiency, it's only natural that they would completely abandon the use of spirit jade for extended battery life.

Jie Julu continued, "It's also because the third-stage secret realm is meaningless to Foundation Establishment cultivators. It's completely a waste for Foundation Establishment cultivators to expend spiritual energy to conquer the third-stage secret realm. The gains from the Lake Heart Island secret realm, converted into spiritual jade, are about three million. Even the more resource-rich great secret realm would only yield a maximum of seven million. The spiritual energy that General Chongtian just expended, calculated in spiritual jade, far exceeds ten million."

Yan Qing felt something was off. Although it could be calculated that way, it wasn't actually like that in the game.

The reason is simple: the fourth-level secret realm only produces True Spirit Jade, and the seventh-level realm only produces Immortal Spirit Jade. The currencies of low-level, mid-level, and high-level players are independent of each other; the amount of currency produced will be the same as the number of players at the same level.

Therefore, although advanced players have high-value currencies, they are often difficult to exchange for in lower-level currencies because lower-level players simply cannot afford to exchange so many low-level currencies for advanced currencies.

Trading between players at different levels often involves bartering, which is one of the reasons why the tax rate in the Treasure Pavilion is so outrageous. The Spirit Jade currency in "The Messenger" is mostly used as mana, at most to anchor the price of items within the same level, and cannot be used to measure the value of items in other levels.

But in this world, it's different. The number of low-level messengers far exceeds that of high-level messengers. In addition, after so many years of cultivation, the spirit jade has also inflated to an unbelievable degree. They can really pull out tens of millions of spirit jade!
These thoughts flashed through Yan Qing's mind, and the Rat Monk asked, "If that's the case, why would General Chongtian waste millions to open up the third level of the secret realm?"

"For the sake of luck."

"Luck?" Both the Rat Monk and Yan Qing were puzzled.

"Different supernatural powers require different kinds of luck to nurture them." The Great Deer of the Realm looked at the golden chrysanthemum on the Rat Monk's shoulder: "However, most Foundation Establishment cultivators can only accumulate their own luck. In the vast Central Plains, as far as I know, there are only two Foundation Establishment cultivators who can entrust mortals to do it for them. General Soaring Sky is one of them."

"The more battles you fight while you are wielding the Golden Armor, the more fortune you can gather for the Great General."

Yan Qing understood. No wonder the Giant Deer of the Realm had specially introduced so many secrets of Foundation Establishment. It turned out that he was worried that the Rat Monk did not understand the importance of this matter.

Rat Monk: "Does the Grand Commander hope that this humble monk will conquer as many secret realms as possible during this time?"

Jie Julu nodded: "During these seven days, I hope you can lead the other second-tier messengers, who also bear the [Golden Armor], to continuously conquer 'Stone Sinking Creek'. With your strength and the protection of the [Golden Armor], once a day is just enough for your health, twice a day is not a problem, but if you can do it three or even four times a day, the Jie family will reward you handsomely." Although he didn't know what the so-called 'luck' was, there was no reason to refuse such a good thing. Originally, Yan Qing was the type of player who hated repetitive work the most, but unfortunately, the game environment in this world was too harsh. There was even a limit to the number of times you could run a secret realm. It was rare to have such a good opportunity to farm, and Yan Qing felt that his liver finally had a purpose.

"This humble monk will obey."

"Then I'll have to trouble you, monk."

Jie Julu also breathed a sigh of relief. Although there were many second-tier messengers in Xuanwu Lake Military Town, there were very few as elite and hardworking as Rat Monk. Messengers are also human, and continuous high-intensity battles would be too much for them to bear. Only a captain with Rat Monk's innate perseverance and strong heart could bear most of the pressure and make it possible to go to the secret realm multiple times a day.

"If you need anything, just let me know, and I'll do my best to meet your needs."

"Commander-in-Chief, what exactly is destiny?"

Jie Julu smiled and said, "Luck is mysterious and profound. I am just a third-stage cultivator. Even with the personal instruction of my ancestor, I can only see things through the fog. I only know that the Heaven and Earth Society remembers every word and deed of a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Appropriate behavior will increase luck, while the opposite will reduce luck. When luck reaches a certain level, one will be favored by Heaven and Earth and may even be able to avoid misfortune and seek good fortune. I don't understand much more."

Yan Qing scratched his head. There were many mechanisms in the game that matched the previous description, such as milestones and the red name system, but what did this "seeking good fortune and avoiding misfortune" mean? The one that best matched this description in his memory was big data push, such as only seeing black and white stockings maids and nurses when watching videos. Did "The Messenger" have a similar mechanism?
Moreover, they can delegate tasks to mortals… Yan Qing rubbed his chin, unable to figure it out, and asked another question out of curiosity: “Grand Commander, you just said that there are only two Foundation Establishment cultivators in the Central Plains who can delegate tasks to mortals. Besides General Chongtian, who is the other Foundation Establishment cultivator?”

The Giant Deer of the Realm's eyes flickered, and after a moment of silence, it said, "The other one is just the ancestor's guess, without any evidence. However, Foundation Establishment messengers have always lived in seclusion in secret realms and rarely venture into the mortal world except for matters of destiny. Therefore, conversely, if a Foundation Establishment person lives in the mortal world for a long time, they are probably busy with matters of destiny."

Yan Qing blinked, and a name immediately came to mind.

……

...

Qi State, the City That Never Sleeps, the Imperial Palace.

"Official from Lecheng County has arrived!"

When Ying stepped into the main hall, she was surprised to find it somewhat crowded.

The hall was filled with ministers, and at a glance, she could see that they were all key figures in the Qi Kingdom and pillars of the state. As for the sycophantic officials who were in charge of seeking pleasure, she could not see a single one. She couldn't help but feel excited—could it be that His Majesty had finally come to his senses and wanted to be close to virtuous ministers and keep away from sycophants?

"So it is." Ying Le leaned lazily against the throne, and when he saw Ying Ru Shi enter, he happily waved and patted her snow-white thigh under her skirt: "Come here, come here, sit with me."

Ying Rushi was startled and quickly declined, saying, "How could your humble servant be so disrespectful?"

Ying Le insisted, so Ying Ru Shi could only walk onto the Sumeru pedestal and stand beside her; sitting on her lap was something she absolutely dared not do. Ying Le was somewhat disappointed, but didn't force her. Instead, she pointed below and asked, "Ru Shi, what kind of people do you think they are?"

Ying Rushi carefully examined the high-ranking officials in the court, then cupped his hands and said, "They are all virtuous and capable ministers of Qi, conveying Your Majesty's decrees and authority to the vast land."

"Is that so?" Ying Le laughed: "I can't see through their hearts, and I'm not sure if they are loyal and virtuous."

"Your Majesty's majesty is known throughout the land, with no one in the four directions daring to submit and no foreign country daring to defy you. How could there be any rebellious ministers in the court?"

"I only know that those who are not of my kind will surely have different hearts. A thousand-mile dike can be destroyed by an ant hole."

Ying Rushi was taken aback. She examined the court officials again, and an unbelievable thought popped into her mind. A chill ran down her spine like a snake's tongue. Although sunlight was streaming in from all directions, the palace appeared eerily dark to Ying Rushi.

"Grand Tutor Yuan".

"Your subject is here." Grand Tutor Yuan Shizhou stepped forward to reply. Although he was over forty years old, his handsome appearance remained undiminished, and his refined temperament made him a model of a civil official.

"According to historical records, two unified dynasties once existed in the Central Plains: the Divine Might Zhou Dynasty ten thousand years ago and the Flourishing Martial Xuan Dynasty a thousand years ago. The Zhou Dynasty is ancient, its history is like a myth, and it is difficult to distinguish between truth and falsehood, but the Xuan Dynasty is close at hand, and almost all of your family genealogies can be traced back to the Xuan Dynasty period."

"The Great Xuan Dynasty experienced two periods of turmoil, but was fortunate to be restored by Emperor Guangwu and restored by Emperor Zhaolie, lasting for more than two thousand years. If it had not collapsed in one day, it would probably still be the legitimate dynasty of the Central Plains today."

Ying Le leaned lazily against the throne, squinting at the ministers below:

"Grand Tutor Yuan, I have heard that you are well-versed in the classics and history and have a deep understanding of historical texts. Tell me, how did Emperor Guangwu and Emperor Zhaolie manage to restore the dynasty?"

(End of this chapter)