Scourge Messenger

Chapter 294 "Resurrection"

Ye Si trudged through the mist, walking along a shallow stream. As he walked, dark red lotus flowers appeared in the stream, flowing forward as if this path led all the way to the underworld.

Yan Qing recalled Xi Zifeng and Gai Louxian's description of the Demon Gathering Land.

A gigantic, ceaseless wheel crushes the corpses of all living beings; demonic dragons soar and roar through the air, spewing flames and hunting the heavens and earth; and seemingly ordinary flat ground becomes a deadly trap—stepping on it will send you flying into the sky and crashing down to your death… Of course, the most terrifying thing is the thousands of demons within, ranging from first to third rank, from human to beast, omnipresent and all-encompassing, even rumored to include Foundation Establishment demons surpassing the third rank. Even if they don't attack proactively, their mere existence is enough to prove the perilous nature of this secret realm.

It seems that unlike the more entertainment-focused dungeons like [Wandering Woodland], [Gathering Lands] should be a bit more challenging.

It felt like they hadn't gone very far, but Ye Si seemed to have left the mortal world behind and arrived at a mysterious, secluded place. As the mist gradually dissipated, Yan Qing's heart began to pound with tension. After all, this was where he would be staying for the next five days. He hoped there would be a beautiful villa there, preferably filled with novels and comics, and it would be even better if he could go fishing.

As the mist dissipated, Ye Si appeared before a large gate. The four gates of the Demon Gathering Land were called the 'Mouths of Demons' by Gai Louxian, and indeed they were. The door frames were covered with countless sharp teeth, and the noses on the thresholds spewed out bursts of yin energy. The huge eyes on the noses stared at Ye Si, like a demon waiting to devour its prey.

From the outside, it appears to be an undisguised ruin, but inside the [Gathering of Demons] is a huge cavern where a demonic dragon wreathed in flames roars overhead, illuminating the entire space like a dark red sun. In the distance, there is a massive, spinning wheel of white bones, and the other buildings, just as Yan Qing had heard, are characterized by their bizarre and grotesque style.

But Yan Qing's expression turned strange.

Why does the dragon fly in a Z-shaped trajectory and sometimes even circle around?

The rotating cage in the distance looks a bit like a carousel.
And that enormous white skeletal wheel that has been described in such vivid detail by countless people... Isn't that a Ferris wheel?!

Although Yan Qing had long known that the locals' descriptions of the secret realm often differed greatly from reality, he did not expect the error to be so large, almost comparable to the relationship between Kaspersky and Pakistan!

This isn't the Guiding Lands, it's a Guiding Lands-themed amusement park! It looks almost like the Gold Butterfly Park in Final Fantasy XIV. The rewards are secondary; this rift itself is an amusement park!

Although it looks a bit grotesque and evil, with skeletons and monsters everywhere, Yan Qing was young once too, and he knows that this dark and profound style is exactly what the young people who like to sing "The Lone Warrior" like.

If Yan Qing were a middle school student, he would definitely want to ride the Ferris wheel with the white bone wheels, looking down at the living beings on the ground who are like garbage; ride on the back of the demonic dragon to experience the roller coaster, and drive the demonic dragon to destroy everything; and finally sit in the cage of the carousel, imagining that he has been wronged and imprisoned, and when yin and yang are reversed, he will stain the blue sky with his demonic blood!
As expected of a 6+ rated game, "The Messenger" is even eyeing the junior high school market!
As soon as Ye Si stepped through the gate, Yan Qing saw an announcement pop up in the lower left corner of the chat channel:
"Blood Demon Sect Announcement: Trial participants entering the Demon Gathering Grounds must wear the Flesh and Blood Prison Bracelet."

At the same time this announcement appeared, the withered tree beside the gate glowed with a bloody light. Hanging from the withered tree were strips of dried meat of unknown origin, like tongues. Yan Qing remembered that Xi Zifeng had mentioned that this was the 'Tongue-Entwined Tree,' and that it was absolutely forbidden to touch it, for once touched, one would be entangled by the tongues and would never be able to get rid of them unless one left the secret realm.

Blood and Flesh Prison Bracelet?
Ye Si strode forward and touched the dried flesh. The dried flesh immediately coiled around Ye Si's right wrist like a snake. At that moment, three options popped up on the screen: "Please select your flesh mutation—"

"Ascension of Flesh and Blood: Designate one of your own Flesh and Blood Golems and make it ascend. This can only be used once per game."

"Resurrection: Designate an allied flesh puppet. It will die immediately upon entering battle, and then be resurrected in full condition. Can be used once per day."

"Perfect Copy: Select an allied flesh golem and create an exact copy of it. This can only be used once globally."

Note: After selecting Aberration, all characters on the same account will receive the same Aberration, but the number of uses will be calculated separately.

Note: You must select Aberration to obtain the Flesh Golem; otherwise, Aberration will be omitted by default.

Yan Qing blinked, vaguely guessing the truth.

Clearly, just like in [Wandering Woods], only real players can activate the event content in [Gathering Lands].

If you're not a player, even if you wear the Flesh Prison Bracelet, you won't have the option to choose one of the three Flesh Aberrations; you'll only be able to assume there's no aberration.

The problem is, Yan Qing has no idea how to play the [Gathering Demon Land], nor does he know which of the three aberrations is better or how to choose. In his previous life, he could easily find plenty of guides by simply opening Bilibili or searching on forums, but now... the local Muggles' exploration of this secret realm is far less advanced than his!
There's no point in delaying, because you have to choose an aberration to officially start playing. Yan Qing can only rely on his own analytical skills as a single-player Brahman to judge the merits of the three aberrations.

"Flesh Ascension" and "Perfect Replication" are both aberrations that can only be used once globally, indicating their extremely powerful effects, capable of sealing the victory in a single strike. Although the nature of Flesh Golems is unknown, there must be many types of Flesh Golems. Therefore, these two aberrations can only be maximized when used on the most critical Flesh Golems.

How could Yan Qing know which flesh puppets were the most crucial?

Even though Yan Qing was very confident in himself and thought he could understand how to play the game after a few days and identify the most crucial flesh puppet, it meant that these two aberrations would be useless in the early stages, essentially making them blanks.

If there were other players competing, then the final battle would take place in the very late game. However, he was the only player in the entire [Gathering Land], so he was destined to be the sole victor. He didn't need the late game at all; what he needed was to quickly develop his combat power in the early game, raise his score as much as possible, and ensure that he could safely obtain the Foundation Establishment Pill!
Although "resurrection" seems strange, killing the puppet first and then reviving it seems like nothing was gained in the process, Yan Qing vaguely guessed the mechanism that the flesh puppet might have and was very certain that this was the distortion that could boost combat power in the early stages.

You're the one, "resurrected from the dead"!
(End of this chapter)