Scourge Messenger

Chapter 293 The Land of Gathering Demons
Two days later, at the Guiding of Demons camp.

The Guiding of Demons camp is at least two hundred miles away from the nearest town, and the route is filled with mountains and swamps. In addition, the Guiding of Demons camp is not located near any major trade routes, so it has always been sparsely populated.

But now the Demon Gathering Camp is brightly lit, filled with laughter and chatter. Dishes of food are served one after another on the long table, and jars of fine wine from Kaifeng are poured out one after another. The aroma of wine and meat spreads like firelight across the entire mountainside. Inside the tents, people clink glasses and chatter. Young people look at their favorite girls with flushed faces, while the old people reach a consensus with forced smiles. There are also several streets lined with various goods, making it resemble a small market.

Outside the camp, countless wild beasts, their green glow gleaming, drooled in the darkness, but could only linger outside the fence and walls.

The annual opening of the Demon Gathering Grounds is not only a time for treasure hunting, but also a gathering for the powerful clans of the North. At this time, the Demon Gathering Camp has nearly five hundred people, including more than forty powerful clans. Although they are all just governors and generals, they wield considerable power. As the middle-level military merit class that directly faces the lower-level garrisons and commoners, each of them can be considered a hundred-mile marquis, a local emperor who can command tens of thousands of people.

However, unlike Liang Kingdom's outstanding hydrological network and trade relations, Qi Kingdom, due to its vast territory and abundant resources, did not have such close exchanges between powerful clans. Activities like the [Gathering Demon Land], which have no barriers and fixed times, were almost their only opportunity to expand their network and consolidate relationships throughout the year. Some families even arrived at the camp half a month in advance, bringing many special products from the secret realm for trade.

Trade, marriage alliances, cooperation, negotiations... the most matters of the powerful clans of the North are resolved on days in the Guiding Lands, which has even given rise to a proverb: "Let's wait until the Guiding Lands to discuss anything."

Such a grand gathering naturally required a strong security force. The sentries in the watchtower gazed listlessly at the jungle, their eyes and eyebrows pale yet sharp. These sentries were all members of the Duan family's elite guards, possessing the token 'Eagle Eyebrow,' and with a little archery training, they could hit a copper coin a thousand paces away in open terrain.

Although he had slept during the day, the sentry was so bored at night that his eyelids were drooping and he was getting sleepy. Just as he was blinking, he suddenly caught sight of something.

A dark figure darted through the jungle.

Was it a wild animal? A bear or a tiger? I hope it's a deer; carnivorous meat doesn't taste good, and they don't get their fur anyway.

The shadowy figure reappeared, and this time the sentry finally snapped out of his daze. He could clearly see that the figure wasn't running at all; it was more like it was floating by!
Buddhism flourished in the Zhou and Liang states, but in the Qi state, due to a momentary whim of Emperor Ying Le, a decree to suppress Buddhism was issued, resulting in the massacre of hundreds of thousands of monks. To this day, you can't see any bald heads on the streets; even ordinary people with thinning hair have to wear hats, otherwise, they would die in vain if their heads were cut off by the Baibao. But precisely because there was no Buddhism, the people of Qi became even more obsessed with all sorts of supernatural and ghostly beliefs.

Upon seeing the dark figure drifting through the jungle, the sentry immediately thought of various legends about 'Mountain Witch,' 'Forest Demon,' and 'Eight-Foot Giant,' and his hair stood on end. He stared intently, trying to discern the figure's movement, but no matter how he looked at it, it seemed to be floating, without any exertion, and incredibly fast. In no time, it approached the Demon Gathering Camp and looked like it was about to rush in!

Just as the sentry's legs trembled as he prepared to raise the alarm, he noticed the dark figure turn a direction and disappear. He rubbed his eyes and suddenly heard a rustling in the bushes, which startled him so much that his legs almost gave way and he nearly knelt down. Then he saw a leopard leap out of the jungle and charge towards the camp.

With a whoosh, the arrow pierced the leopard's eye, pinning it to the ground. From another sentry post came a sneer: "Er Gou, a leopard scared the crap out of you?"

"Eat shit!" the sentry cursed instinctively, then looked at the leopard's corpse and was momentarily confused—could the dark figure he had just seen have been a leopard?
……

… Seeing that Ye Si had finally arrived at the fog-shrouded ruins on the screen, Yan Qing breathed a sigh of relief, crossed his arms and bent his fingers to relax them, feeling that his thumbs were cramping a bit.

After two days, Yan Qing finally arrived at the event location in the Demon Gathering Land, but a small accident occurred on the way—Ye Si's horse was killed.

With little time left before the next mission, Yan Qing had to complete this event before the third mission, so he rode at full speed. To keep the horse energetic, Yan Qing fed it blood-replenishing pills like beans, which resulted in the horse having extremely high blood energy, making it incredibly attractive to wild beasts.

Yesterday, Yan Qing read some original fanfiction about Yuanshi Daozun and the Demonic Sect Demoness. He got itchy and played some games to calm down. Then he saw that Ye Si's horse had its neck bitten off by a tiger. As for the tiger, it was naturally killed by Ye Si with one punch. But the horse was dead, and wild horses couldn't possibly spawn in the wilderness. What could Yan Qing do?
The only option is the [Ronin's Rain Boots].

In fact, the [Wanderer's Rain Boots] are faster than a horse, but they consume ten spirit jades for every hundred meters, which is basically throwing money at the problem. However, Yan Qing is now considered a super-rich mortal and doesn't care about this expense. Unfortunately, when using the [Wanderer's Rain Boots] in auto-play mode, it's easy to crash into the forest in this kind of terrain, so Yan Qing has to manually control it.

So he did nothing all day but focus on the road and keep moving, his thumb constantly pressing the shortcut key for the "Ronin's Rain Boots". And it wasn't actually that boring, considering the complex road conditions and the occasional wild animal he encountered. This reminded Yan Qing of the game "Euro Truck Simulator," which he had long admired. It turned out that simply driving and enjoying the scenery could be quite interesting.

My hands are getting a little sore from pressing so many buttons.

Unlike the [Wandering Woods], the [Gathering Demons Land] has no fixed entrance; anyone can participate directly by entering the mist-shrouded ruins. Therefore, Yan Qing first sent Ye Si to find a secluded and safe location, and then activated [Immortal Journey]!
Twenty-five seconds later, Yan Qing had left the warm Thief's House and arrived outside the Demon Gathering Land.

He leaned on Ye Si's shoulder, took a deep breath; the mountain air was so fresh, and a little cool. It wasn't that the air at the Thieves' Den was bad; if he had to describe it, the air at the Thieves' Den was like plain water, while the air in the mountains was like ice-cold mineral water.

"Wow, you're so dirty." Yan Qing glanced at Ye Si and found that he was covered in filth. It seemed that he had slid through a swamp on the way and gotten covered in mud. He hadn't encountered any rivers along the way and hadn't even had a chance to take a bath.

He turned and looked around, picked two leaves from the tree, wiped Ye Si's face and hair, licked his little finger, straightened Ye Si's messy eyebrows, and patted Ye Si's shoulder: "Look up, don't embarrass yourself."

With a thought, he returned to the thieves' house in the next second.

In this way, Yan Qing successfully set the teleportation coordinates of his Thieves' Home outside the Gathering Demon Land. The reason for not waiting for Ye Si to enter the Gathering Demon Land before teleporting is that the Gathering Demon Land, an activity scene that forcibly limits the time players stay, will most likely restrict teleportation. Not to mention [Immortal Travel], even [Return Token] might not be able to activate.

Secondly... Yan Qingcai wouldn't rashly enter!
Although I'm mentally prepared to go in myself, I'll definitely send a small account in to scout ahead first!

Night 4, let's set off!
(End of this chapter)