Scourge Messenger

Chapter 317 The First Time Will Be a Little Painful
Yan Qing dreamt that he was sinking into the deep sea, and a giant octopus stuffed its tentacles into his mouth, just like in some magical girl doujinshi. The saliva dripping from its mouthparts landed on his pants, making them wet... Wait, how could there be a wet feeling in the sea? It felt as strange as a fish feeling like it was drowning.

Yan Qing opened her eyes and found herself being hugged. Her pants were a little wet, and her nose was stuffed with something round. She subconsciously inhaled it, and then her whole body went numb.

"Mu! Rong! Hui!"

"Huh?" Murong Hui rubbed her eyes, instinctively straightening her toes: "Have you had breakfast?"

"If I sleep with you again, I'll be a dog!" Yan Qing kicked her away in a fit of rage, rubbing his nose: "You've hurt my nose."

Murong Hui waved her hand casually: "Oh dear, it will hurt a little the first time."

Yan Qing: ? ? ? You son of a bitch...

It's one thing that you'd pull him into your sleep and make half his body numb, but why the hell did you end up completely turned upside down? And to make matters worse, why were you drooling? And to make matters worse, why were your toes so precisely stuck in his nostrils? What's even more infuriating is that Yan Qing didn't even notice until he woke up. Does the Shadow Dance Messenger have some kind of stealthy assassination ability?
Murong Hui yawned as she went to wash up, while Yan Qing went to the kitchen to see what was available. After all, Murong Hui had cooked the late-night snack the night before, so it was his turn for breakfast. Although that was what he said, Yan Qing didn't intend to go to great lengths. Since there was bread and milk, he would just make do with that and maybe fry an egg and some bacon at most.

Looking at the crystal-clear egg and the lava-patterned bacon in her hand, Yan Qing wondered if these ingredients were all graded? If it were a messenger with chef traits or crafting abilities, they should be able to make buff-enhancing supplies, but in Yan Qing's hands, she could only make two relatively filling sandwiches.

No wonder the local messengers still come to the Demon Gathering Land, a secret realm with little profit. Just packing up these ingredients, books, and other resources and sending them out is a considerable fortune. Even if they don't help the messengers' strength, the pursuit of pleasure is always the main theme of human nature. Even the most diligent seeker of the Dao that Yan Qing has ever met, Yao Shiyuan, has a fondness for fine wine. Those ascetic cultivators who wholeheartedly pursue power and immortality can only be seen in novels.

After preparing two breakfasts, Yan Qing placed them on the kitchen counter and called out, "Hey, come and eat!"

"Coming!"

Murong Hui was combing her hair in front of the full-length mirror in the living room. Hearing Yan Qing's voice, she responded, took out a ribbon, held it in her lips, and gathered her waist-length hair into a ponytail, revealing her long, slender, caramel-colored nape. She then used the ribbon to tie the ponytail in a crisscross pattern. Because her hair was very long, she didn't tie it quickly, and it took her quite a while to create a high ponytail that resembled a sharp, razor-sharp weasel's tail. Only at this moment did she possess a touch of the air of a noblewoman. Yan Qing didn't urge her, standing quietly by the kitchen counter watching, his mood as leisurely as the white clouds in the sky.

She walked over barefoot, picked up a sandwich and started eating, her eyes lighting up: "This way of eating is pretty good, simple and delicious, I want to eat this for breakfast tomorrow!"

“If you’re in charge of lunch and dinner,” Yan Qing said, sipping warm milk, “I’d like to discuss today’s itinerary with you.”

"You're pretty lazy, exchanging one meal for two of mine," Murong Hui snorted twice. "Where do you want to go today?"

“I’m also undecided and need your opinion,” Yan Qing said. “As you can see, I can summon two puppets, so our first option is to kill the powerful third-level demon and turn it into my puppet.”

Murong Hui pondered for a moment and said, "Third-level demons often come in groups, with at least four demons per group. You, me, and two dragon servants are equivalent to four third-level combatants. Although the chances of winning are high, the fight will definitely not be easy."

Yan Qing tapped the kitchen counter lightly and nodded: "The second option is for us to collect more dragon servant puppets. You know the characteristics of dragon servants; the more dragon servants I summon, the higher the attributes of my dragon servant puppets will be, therefore—"

"If we can collect enough Dragon Servants in a day, we can strengthen them to the third or even fourth rank!" Murong Hui immediately followed Yan Qing's line of thought: "Moreover, Dragon Servants are only second-rank demons. We have almost no risk in dealing with second-rank demons. We will be more confident in fighting third-rank demons after the Dragon Servants become stronger!"

Yan Qing nodded. Actually, there were many steps involved. For example, when there was a Dragon Servant in the Puppet Slot, the new Dragon Servant Puppet Card obtained would be directly merged into the Ascension Progress. Therefore, the old Dragon Servant had to be discarded before obtaining the new one.

And there's the most crucial point: Are there really that many dragon servants in the Guiding Lands?
In a game, the Dragon Servant summoning strategy would be difficult to implement due to the sheer number of players. Even with a respawn mechanism, the monsters would be quickly divided up, making it extremely difficult to precisely gather a large number of Dragon Servant characters. The developers likely wouldn't encourage such a 'foolish' approach either. For example, Yan Qing's "Resurrection" mutation and the resurrection effect of the "Yellow Springs Remnant" transformation card offer various ways to repeatedly summon puppets in the Demon Gathering Land. Cleverly utilizing these mechanisms is the right approach. However, currently, the Demon Gathering Land only has Yan Qing as a player, plus Ye Si's alt account stuck in storage. No one will compete with Yan Qing for this treasure trove of monsters. Puppet characters like Dragon Servant, with their low entry barrier and high potential, are perfect for them to invest significant time and resources in developing!
Yan Qing only planned to stay here for five days. His goal for the second day was to acquire two puppets with combat power close to the fourth rank, so that he would be qualified to search for core puppet tokens of the third or even fourth rank level tomorrow.

With the plan set, the two quickly got dressed and were about to leave when Murong Hui suddenly remembered something: "Today is the fifth day."

"Hmm?" Yan Qing was tying the shoelaces of her Lingbo boots.

“Although the Demon Gathering Grounds force everyone to stay for five days, you can actually leave on the fifth day. I only arrived on the second day, so I can’t leave today, but I can go to my friends in the Demon Gathering Grounds to send a message out and ask the families in the camp to send people in to protect me.” Murong Hui jumped in front of Yan Qing and said, “They would definitely be happy to do the Murong family a favor.”

Yan Qing put on her boots, stood up, and patted them down before asking, "Are you leaving?"

Murong Hui thought for a moment and shook her head: "I'm not leaving. Anyway, there's only one day left. Besides, the assassin's accomplices might be in the camp. If they know I'm safe and sound, they might send more assassins to kill me. It's safer to stay with you."

Should I feel deeply honored?

"Good to know. You've been entrusted with the safety of the next Foundation Establishment cultivator of the Murong family." Murong Hui patted Yan Qing's shoulder with an air of seriousness, but a second later she asked with a grin, "When you heard I was leaving, were you reluctant to let me go? Were you a little disappointed? Were you—"

"Yes," Yan Qing said. "You're so beautiful and capable, of course I don't want you to leave."

Murong Hui's eyes widened, and she pointed at Yan Qing, speechless for a long time. A faint blush crept onto her caramel-colored face, and she stammered, "What, what are you doing? You weren't this sweet-talking yesterday! Did I mistake you for someone else? Are you actually the spoiled young master type? Shameless! You actually lied to me! I misjudged you! I won't introduce Little Fox to you again!"

Yan Qing's lips twitched: "We just met yesterday and we're not that close. Do you think everyone is as outgoing as you?"

"But you were really rude to me yesterday!"

"My attitude towards you became much more normal after that, okay? At first, I thought you were just a pretty vase, but I didn't expect you to be so helpful. Otherwise, do you think I would have offered to have the dragon guard protect you?"

Murong Hui blinked, covered her face with her hands, her expression a mixture of smugness and shyness: "Oh dear, I'm not as stunningly beautiful as you described~"

Yan Qing's lips twitched. "I said such a long thing, and all you heard was 'pretty vase'? And you even upgraded the adjective... Haji Hui, you rascal..."

Murong Hui walked ahead and led the way, her hands behind her back as she swayed like a cat. She looked up at the sky and sighed, "Alas, although I know my charm is growing stronger, this time it's just too easy. It took me a year to become a close confidante, and now I only need one night to make my best friend my devoted follower... Life is so lonely... What are you doing!"

Yan Qing kicked her in the butt and said irritably, "Stop showing off and lead the way properly."

He almost regretted praising Murong Hui so bluntly. This cheeky cat was truly overjoyed at the slightest hint of kindness. However, considering that their connection was only for a few days in the Demon Gathering Land, Yan Qing felt there was no need to hide anything. Besides... he also understood why Ying Rushi, this sentimental girl who always talked about the fate of the world, had Murong Hui as her only friend.

Being with Murong Hui might be annoying and noisy, but it's never boring.

(End of this chapter)