Scourge Messenger

Chapter 268 The Secret Realm of Tombstone Mountain

Although Yan Qing did not know the exact location of the entrance to the secret realm, it was not difficult to find, because the entrance to the secret realm must be the most heavily guarded place in each military town, followed by the token warehouse. Even if Yan Qing went to the wrong place, he would not lose anything.

After half an hour, Yan Qing finally found a gap to pass through the double-blocked bunker and saw the entrance to the secret realm in the center of the bunker's open space in the distance.

"Deep in the Tombstone Hill"

Background: The Holy Maiden of the Butian Sect was a naturally born Dao Foundation True Person, hailed as the most promising explorer of the Immortal Path among the Eight Demonic Sects in the past century. However, due to her volatile temper, she lived in seclusion deep within an ancient tomb for many years until Fu Xiang, a follower of the Buddhist sect, accidentally stumbled upon it. Fu Xiang, unaware of the Holy Maiden's origins, mistook her for a simple-minded, mute girl and took her on adventures. Later, her true identity was revealed, and with the righteous and demonic paths diverging, Fu Xiang returned the Holy Maiden to the Eight Demonic Sects. The Holy Maiden searched for him many times, but Fu Xiang, having been exposed as a descendant of the Blood Demon Sect, went into hiding. She could only continue her arduous cultivation, hoping one day she could protect Fu Xiang. However, due to internal strife within the Eight Demonic Sects, a great demonic war erupted at Tombstone Mountain. When Fu Xiang arrived, the Holy Maiden had already died deep within Tombstone Mountain, her Dao Foundation's immense power usurped. Fu Xiang took the Holy Maiden's body, but the call of 'Fu Xiang' still echoes from the depths of Tombstone Mountain from time to time…

Challenge Level: 21~35

「Number of challengers: up to 20 people」

Objective: Kill 'Echo of the Saintess'

"Oh no!" Yan Qing thought to herself. "This isn't a second-stage secret realm at all; it's clearly a near-third-stage perfect secret realm. If only a second-stage messenger went in, it would be a second-stage realm, but Ye Si is already a third-stage one, so going in will turn it into a third-stage secret realm!"
Yan Qing still has a chance in the second-tier secret realm, but in the third-tier secret realm, he can only rely on three parts hard work and seven parts fate. The remaining 140 points depend on whether the demon king of the secret realm will give him face.

However, before that, Yan Qing had to find a way to enter the secret realm, because the entrance to the secret realm was in the center of an open space. The surrounding area was very spacious, with thirty-six braziers illuminating the entrance and eighteen guards with overlapping views and no blind spots.

This is an almost insurmountable obstacle; an ordinary messenger here would surely alert the guards.

But 'Night Four' is a very rare exception.

After consuming the "Arcane Mastery Book - Spider Walk", Ye Si surpassed Jiang Shi to reach the third job advancement faster. However, the job he got was one gold and two blue, with the gold job being his old friend "Blade Messenger" - you should know that at least one gold job will appear when you reach the third job advancement, so Ye Si's job was just a guaranteed drop.

However, Yan Qing did not choose "Blade Messenger". Since he had already fed the Spider Walker, a skill that pollutes the job pool, it was like going to a junior college after taking the college entrance exam. No matter what, he could never catch up with the power players. Rather than choosing "Blade Messenger" to upgrade his skills, he might as well choose a utility job and stick to it. Wouldn't that be more open-ended?

Now is the time for Night Four to put their expertise to use.

He activated the gliding effect of the "Ronin's Rain Boots," carrying "Yan Shiyi" on his back as he charged towards the entrance of the secret realm. In the midst of their high-speed movement, their figures vanished into thin air!
This is the characteristic of Night Four's third job advancement, "Swift Messenger." Although it does not provide any bonus to combat power, its effect is even comparable to a rare and precious item!
"The Messenger of Gods"

"Attribute bonus: Health +15, Spirit +15, Agility +10"

"Swift as a Horse (Blue Trait): Your movement speed will never be lower than 290, and the duration of any negative status effect that reduces your movement speed will be reduced by 50%."

"Phantom Dash (Blue Trait): When your movement speed exceeds 450, you will temporarily enter the Phantom Realm. In this state, you cannot attack and cannot be observed, and your evasion rate is increased to 50%."

Even with eighteen guards watching, Ye Si still managed to lead Yan Shiyi into the secret realm. If you looked closely, you could still vaguely see some dark afterimages. However, it was late at night and everyone's attention was not very strong. Even if they saw them, they would just blink and they would disappear. Their first reaction would be that they had seen it wrong.

Unexpectedly, the secret realm was not in darkness, but rather in the dim light of day. They found themselves in a mountain path, the mountain covered with lush trees, but all of them seemed to be covered in white spider webs, layer upon layer, looking like white marble tombstones.

No wonder it's called Tombstone Mountain and Tombstone Forest; it truly lives up to its name.

Here, Ye Si no longer needed to carry Yan Shiyi. The two arrived at a large open space in the front forest. The open space was also covered with white spider webs. They did not see any demons, but as soon as Ye Si stepped into the area, the spider webs on the open space began to churn and bulge. Then, one after another, dried corpses covered with spider webs crawled out of the soil.

"Demon Sect Heretic Corpse Demon"

There were eight ghouls right off the bat. After all, it's a dungeon with a 20-player limit, so the number couldn't be that small.

After a brief exchange of blows, Yan Qing confirmed that this was the combat power of a level 30 demon. However, its strengths and weaknesses were enormous: the corpse demons had high single-hit attack power, capable of shattering the outermost layer of the Mountain Heart Mirror's defense in one strike, but their attack speed and movement speed were very average, almost like a college student who had just woken up at 8 a.m. Yan Qing could easily use his positioning to ensure that he could only deal with one corpse demon at a time.

No wonder this secret realm is spawned by Baibao three times a day. The slow-moving ghouls are undoubtedly the easiest type of monster for the locals to deal with. Putting aside the powerful crossbows, the oil alone is enough to give the ghouls a hard time. Moreover, these spider webs look quite easy to ignite.

Without hesitation, Ye Si equipped the Fire-Controlling Bracelet and used it to ignite the fire paper in Bingzi Jiaolin. He then slashed into the spider web with his sword, and sure enough, it ignited. Soon, the entire open space was ablaze, and the spider web was quite durable, burning for a full five minutes. The ghouls suffered continuous burn damage and were completely wiped out by Yan Qing before the flames went out.

It looks simple, and it's actually not that difficult. The only difficulty with the fire attack tactic is that the player will also suffer burning damage. However, the thief Yan Qing has plenty of money and mana, so he is not afraid of attrition warfare.

To Yan Qing's surprise, the monsters didn't drop any loot, not even a single spirit jade! However, once he found the treasure chest under the tombstone tree, he immediately realized that this dungeon was probably the most local-friendly secret realm—most of the rewards from the secret realm were gathered in the treasure chest.

The treasure chest was overflowing with Spirit Jade Blood-Replenishing Pills, along with other foods like 'Roast Chicken', 'Cured Meat', and 'Minced Meat Rice', making Yan Qing deeply aware of the developers' malice... Oh well, I'll save those for my alt account to replenish my health.

Even after only clearing the first forest, a second-tier messenger mask dropped from the treasure chest:
"Yaksha noodles"

"Rank: Second-tier Rare"

"Equipment requirements: 10 points of health, 15 points of spirit"

"Effect - Yaksha Protection: The moment you are attacked, summon a Yaksha to help you withstand the damage. Each point of spirit power can absorb 30 points of damage. Each trigger consumes a minimum of 1 point of spirit power and a maximum of 10 points of spirit power. This item can be activated simultaneously with other defensive tokens."

"Effect - Yaksha Possession: By continuously wearing the Yaksha mask, your spiritual power will gradually increase, sharp claws will grow from your hands, and your attacks may be redirected to other targets."

"Comment: In order to live a better life, sometimes people become unrecognizable."

The defensive effect of the Yaksha Mask is unsatisfactory. Compared with the Heart-Protecting Mirror, which has a high total defensive barrier, it can only withstand a maximum of 300 points of damage at a time. In other words, if a single attack exceeds 300 points, damage will definitely be inflicted. No matter how much spiritual power one has, it cannot withstand the damage. The margin for error is too low. If given a choice, the messenger would definitely choose the larger defensive token.

But the beauty of the Yaksha Mask is that it doesn't need to be your main defensive item; it can be a secondary item! While the Bodhisattva Pendant only increases defense and damage reduction, like flirting, the Yaksha Mask genuinely stacks with other defensive items. It might not be the main defensive item, but it's perfect as a secondary item. What more could you ask for? Equip it immediately!
Upon arriving at Zhonglin and triggering the resurrection of demons, Yan Qing's eyes lit up.

Five "Demon Sect Heretic Corpse Demons" and one "Demon Sect Elder Corpse Demon" are elite monsters!
The ground was still covered in cobwebs. After setting the area ablaze, 'Night Four' first dealt with the five demonic heretical corpse demons, then turned and ran, deliberately dragging the elder corpse demon outside the fire. Yan Qing had given 'Night Four' a peculiar command: stand still, automatically replenish spiritual energy to repair the defensive barrier, and obediently endure the elder corpse demon's beating!

He returned to the character interface and chose to log in as 'Yan Shiyi'.

'Yan Shiyi' was still near the entrance to the secret realm and did not follow 'Ye Si' deeper. By the time he arrived at Zhonglin, 'Ye Si' had already been scratched more than twenty times by the Elder Corpse Demon.

The Elder Corpse Demon was a third-tier elite demon, with a strength of around level 35. A single normal attack could deal at least several hundred points of damage. In just a short while, 'Night Four' had consumed several hundred to several thousand points of spiritual power, as if a faucet had been turned on.

However, this consumption of spirit jade was now negligible for Yan Qing. 'Yan Eleven' gripped the Seven Steps of Buddhist Recitation, approached the Elder Corpse Demon, and slashed down with his sword.

The Elder Ghoul's health bar dropped a little, and more importantly, its karma bar was depleted!
Sure enough, Buddhist relics can also liberate the corpse demons in this secret realm!

As 'Yan Shiyi' vigorously slashed, the karma bar slowly decreased, and a system notification popped up quickly:
"You have mastered the Basic Swordsmanship, and your current level is 1."

"Your HP increases by 0.1"

"Your spirit level has increased by 0.5."

"Your dexterity increases by 1."

"You reached level 2!"

"You have mastered the Basic Swordsmanship, and your current level is 2."

"You've realized..."

When the Elder Corpse Demon's karma bar had only 13% left, 'Yan Shiyi's' basic swordsmanship leveled up to 10, and he automatically changed his class to the hidden class Martial Arts Messenger!
That's right, 'Yan Shiyi' is a level 1 alt account, and Yan Qing hardly gave him any talent points. His stat allocation is also extremely strange at 505, with 5 points in health and 5 points in dexterity, and not a single point in comprehension. He can be considered an idiot, and he and Ye Si are in the same boat.

The reason for this arrangement was naturally to suppress the leveling speed of 'Yan Shiyi', but unfortunately, she still accidentally leveled up and changed jobs during the battle.

As the karma bar and health bar were emptied one after the other, the Elder Corpse Demon turned to ashes and vanished. Finally, the message that Yan Qing had been waiting for popped up in the game:
"You have freed a criminal from the deepest abyss."

"In this battle, you successfully freed a criminal with a challenge level greater than 20. Your overall contribution was 67%, exceeding the 50% doubling threshold but not reaching the 75% champion threshold."

"You have absorbed 4 points of karmic force from natural disasters!"

"You have mastered the Advanced Sword Technique, and your current level is 3."

"Your HP increases by 0.5"

"Your spirit level has increased by 0.5."

"Your dexterity increases by 1."

"You reached level 12!"

4 points of karmic retribution for natural disasters!
In just a short while, the karmic power gained by 'Yan Shiyi' was comparable to what 'Bunny Girl' gained from defeating three bosses!

His karmic burden of natural disasters has now risen to 15 points.

This is why Yan Qing suppressed 'Yan Shiyi's' level. The greater the level difference between the enemy and ourselves, the more karmic rewards we receive!

If it weren't for 'Night Four' taking the beating and setting fire to the spiderweb field, taking away 33% of the contribution, 'Feast Eleven' could have earned even more calamity karma!
Yan Qing looked at the spot where the Elder Corpse Demon had disappeared and thought to himself that he had suffered a huge loss this time. Due to the dungeon's mechanics, the monsters in this dungeon did not drop loot, and even if the elite monsters were defeated, there would be no big loot drops.

The treasure chest after Zhonglin rewards not only with Yaksha Noodles but also with Yaksha Spears, though they're only at the third-tier normal level. I'll give them to the Pharmacist tomorrow so he can use them to farm rapeseed flowers.

Upon arriving at the back forest, a huge spider nest appeared in the open space. Inside the nest was a crystal-clear cocoon, through which the beautiful figure of a young girl could be vaguely seen.

However, unlike before, 'Night Four' climbed onto the tombstone to watch the battle, while Yan Qing focused entirely on controlling 'Yan Eleven'.

That's right, what Yan Qing is going to do next is to cross 20 levels and, with only a first-level cultivation, take on the Demon King of the third-level secret realm alone!

The pilot's strength is enough to erase the difference in strength between the machines!
As 'Yan Shiyi' stepped into the arena, the spider nest began to tremble, and the girl inside the cocoon softly called out a name: "Fu Xiang... Fu Xiang..."

The spider nest shattered with a deafening roar, and the cocoon burst open completely, but it was empty inside. There was no one there at all, only wispy white mist rising from within, weaving the surrounding spider silk into the shape of a young girl. As the white mist merged into the spider silk, the Spider Silk Girl let out a sob, thus beginning the BOSS battle!

"Spider Silk Corpse - Echo of the Saintess!"
'Yan Shiyi' struck with his sword, triggering the karma bar!

The Spider Woman launched an area-of-effect attack, sweeping across a wide area with her white silk, and the outermost layer of 'Yan Shiyi's Mountain Heart-Protecting Mirror shattered!

Very good, Yan Qing has fully grasped the data on both sides; now comes the real battle—

Run away!

(End of this chapter)