Scourge Messenger

Chapter 270 Declaring War on Ying Le!
The game then popped up a message:

"You have freed a criminal from the deepest abyss."

"In this battle, you successfully freed a criminal with a challenge level greater than 30. Your overall contribution is 100%, reaching the perfect score!"

"You have absorbed 12 points of karmic force from natural disasters!"

"You have triggered a natural disaster milestone!"

"Calamity: You currently have 27 points of Calamity Karma, which unlocks the secondary milestones [Calamity], [Sigh], and [Enlightenment]. Accumulating more Calamity Karma will unlock secondary milestones."

Calamity: All your attacks can deal true damage equal to the amount of Calamity Karma, currently 27 points.

Sigh: Any damage you take is reduced by an amount equal to your Cataclysmic Karma value (after all damage reductions are taken into account), currently reduced by 27 points.

Enlightenment: Your comprehension has increased by an amount equivalent to your karmic debt from natural disasters, currently by 27 points.

"You have mastered the Advanced Sword Technique, and your current level is 10."

"You have mastered the Secret Technique: Floating Boat, currently at level 3."

"You reached level 23!"

"Congratulations on reaching level 23. Would you like to change jobs immediately?"

Although she had a premonition that she would make a fortune this time, Yan Qing was still stunned by this huge gain.

With his Calamity Karma exceeding 20 points, Yan Qing triggered the third Calamity milestone, [Awakening], which surprisingly increased his Comprehension! He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but Yan Qing felt a slight itch on his scalp, as if his brain was about to grow.

The importance of comprehension is beyond doubt. Old alt accounts like 'Night Four' and 'Jiang Ten' have come at a good time. With 27 points of comprehension, they can comprehend secret techniques and level up to level 39 on their own.

The increase in true damage should not be ignored. If 11 points of true damage is roughly equivalent to a fruit knife, then 27 points of true damage is already considered a large cleaver. Now, even if Yan Qing just swings Bingzi Jiaolin wildly and slashes around, he can kill a bunch of third-tier messengers.

Besides these, "Spider Silk Corpse Spirit: Echo of the Saintess" also became a huge hit!
"Earthly Fiend - Peach Wood for Disaster Relief!"
"The Book of Secret Techniques"!
"Sever the precepts!"
Needless to say, the "Secret Techniques Study Book" is also one of the few Earthly Fiends that can directly point to a perfect Dao foundation, and its effects are quite practical:
"Peach wood for warding off disasters"

Rank: Earthly Fiend

"Absorption: Absorbing the Peach Wood for Disaster Relief increases your Divine Soul by 50 points and grants you the Disaster Relief Aura. Each time you activate a token effect that costs more than 5 points of Spiritual Power, there is a chance to trigger the Disaster Relief Aura, removing any negative status effects from friendly units within a 15-meter radius. If there are no negative status effects, it increases their movement speed by 10%. The more Spiritual Power consumed, the higher the probability of triggering the Disaster Relief Aura. It becomes ineffective after Foundation Establishment."

However, compared to the Earthly Fiends, the third-tier rare treasure "Extinction Order" is more meaningful to Yan Qing:

"Extinction of the Precepts"

"Rank: Third-tier Rare"

Equipment requirement: 25 points of Divine Soul

"Equipment effect: -5 HP"

"Equipment effect: Increases all damage taken by 15%"

"Effect: Command of Destruction: All damage you deal will be additionally inflicted with blast damage. The blast radius is related to the damage value, and the blast damage is 20% of the main damage, with a minimum of 10 points and a maximum of 100 points. The blast damage will be amplified by all effects." At first glance, this relic seems unremarkable, at most increasing blast radius damage by 20%. It is indeed excellent, but equipping the Ring of Destruction actually has two rather serious negative status effects, and the clash between them doesn't seem particularly strong.

But what makes this thing so powerful is that 'all damage dealt will be additionally affected by an explosion,' rather than the attack itself being affected by an explosion. The latter can only explode once per strike, while the former will explode as many times as Yan Qing's strike hits!
Moreover, the explosion is an area-of-effect damage and can be enhanced by natural disaster karma. If there are many enemies and they are concentrated, Yan Qing's slash will be a spectacular fireworks display!

The "Destroy Ring" is undoubtedly an extreme area-of-effect weapon. Only when paired with the right token in the right situation can its full potential be realized.

Actually, the most suitable "Destroy Ring" is not Bingzi Jiaolin, but Yaoshiyuan's Dragon-Snake Seven Kills! Think about it, Dragon-Snake Seven Kills activates the 'Dragon-Snake' area shock, first causing group damage, and then generating aftershock damage based on the number of enemies. If Yaoshiyuan wears "Destroy Ring", each of the above damages will be additionally affected by an explosive damage. Even if it is all 10 points of damage, it is enough to create a qualitative chain reaction.

Even in a one-on-one fight, "Destroy Ring" has a theoretical damage increase of 20%, making it an amazing tool for killing, arson, massacring cities, and exterminating clans!

Yan Qing recalled his gains from the Corpse Forest and found that apart from the Jade Talisman of Creation, none of the other spoils could compare to the "Destroying Ring." The potential of this thing was too outrageous.

However, even if the "Annihilation Ring" is outrageous, it only applies to mortals. But if you get the "Annihilation Ring" by the time you reach the third job advancement, you won't be able to enjoy it for long before you have to reach the Foundation Establishment stage. It's no wonder that the official would put such a powerful weapon in the reward pool of the third job advancement dungeon. It's similar to how Yan Qing designed the Thief's House dungeon to specifically reward low-level legendary tokens...

Yan Qing's heart stirred, and he suddenly noticed a detail he hadn't noticed before: the 'Blood Sacrifice' attribute of Dragon Snake Seven Kills allows the token and the messenger to advance together, and can even break through the Foundation Establishment limit to advance to the sixth level. Theoretically, this should not appear in the rewards of the Thieves' House.

Did the official design not follow his original plan exactly?
After quickly sorting through his spoils, Yan Qing realized that he had spent less than three hours that night, yet his gains were more than the entire Shu Road Mountain trek. The whole process seemed simple, almost like bullying a dim-witted AI; he hacked and slashed until the Demon King was dead, without the Demon King being able to put up a fight.

But if you look closely, there were actually many instances of relying on luck in between:
If the Spider Woman has ranged attacks, Night Four will be knocked down even if she is suspended in the air, and will be unable to control the aggro.

If it weren't for the Mountain Heart-Protecting Mirror, the Bodhisattva Pendant, and the Yaksha Mask that had just been obtained, which maxed out her defense, 'Yan Shiyi' might have accidentally died.

If Yan Qing hadn't been keenly aware that the Spider Silk Woman could mechanically read instructions and that there were loopholes to exploit, he would probably still be playing a life-or-death race against the Steel Death Sentence.
In the end, when the Spider Silk Maiden's karma reached zero and she entered a berserk state, if Yan Qing hadn't possessed the Bingzi Pepper Forest, a token capable of instantaneous burst damage, he probably wouldn't have been able to stop her from going berserk. If it were the Heaven-Slaying Sword or the Dragon-Snake Seven Kills, they would probably be dumbfounded in this time-limited DPS test round.

It may seem effortless, but in reality, every step requires all your strength.

However, that's how the game "The Messenger" works. As long as you find the right method, you can defeat the BOSS in a funny yet efficient way. It's not uncommon for players to be 30 levels higher than the BOSS. True gaming masters can defeat a BOSS at the Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment with their mortal bodies.

It was within Yan Qing's expectations that 'Yan Shiyi' would reach level 23. Even if the player didn't change jobs, their level would continue to rise; the official wouldn't allow players to keep their level low and continuously receive the bonus from the "small horse fighting a big cart" event. However, Yan Qing didn't plan to let 'Yan Shiyi' unlock other secret realms; for now, the higher 'Yan Shiyi''s level, the better.

The time limit for the secret realm has expired.

Next, it's the messenger's time.

Having cleared everything from the Tombstone Forest Secret Realm, Yan Qing's suppressed emotions began to stir slightly as he approached the entrance to the Tombstone Military Town.

Cracking the secret realm was merely a trigger, or rather, a provocation.

By destroying Qi's wealthiest military town, Yan Qing wanted to send a message to the outside world—

In the State of Qi, not everyone would tolerate the perverse actions of a Foundation Establishment True Person.

If you do something wrong, you have to pay the price.

Humanity suffers from natural disasters; war is declared against Ying Le!

(End of this chapter)