Scourge Messenger

Chapter 380 The Concept of Dao Foundation
"This is a typical lower-level foundation of the Dao," Yan Qing thought to himself.

He remembered that the key difference between the perfect, superior, intermediate, and inferior Dao foundations in this game was not the strength of the Dao foundation's supernatural powers, nor the functionality of the Dao foundation's inner world, but the degree of trouble in maintaining the Dao foundation's restrictions!

After reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, the player's level no longer exists; instead, the Dao Foundation level is used instead.

If levels 1-39 are the process of mortals honing their skills, then levels 40-69 are the journey of messengers strengthening their foundation. Only when the foundation is extremely strong can one be qualified to seek ascension to immortality, which signifies the tribulation.

Previously, players leveled up their skills to increase their character level. Now, how do players upgrade their Dao Foundation? The answer is Dao Foundation Restriction.

Following the prohibitions of the Dao Foundation will strengthen and enhance the Dao Foundation; conversely, violating them will weaken it.

If a player continues to go against the Dao Foundation restriction, not only will their level not increase, but their Dao Foundation status will also continuously weaken. Once the Dao Foundation status reaches 0%, it will cause the Dao Foundation to collapse, causing the player to drop back to level 39!
Some might think, "Isn't this a way to farm Dao Foundations?" It's said that during the first year of "The Messenger's" operation, many players did use this mechanism to repeatedly build their Dao Foundations. After all, back then, no one knew which Dao Foundations were good. But later, everyone summarized a list of perfect Dao Foundations and the corresponding combinations of Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiends. Only people with nothing better to do would want to try falling to build a Dao Foundation.

The reason Yan Qing was able to recognize it as a lower-level Dao Foundation at a glance was because it had too many and too complicated restrictions, making it too easy to step on a landmine!

He recalled reading a debate thread where a player suggested that the better the Dao Foundation, the more restrictions should be placed on it, and the higher the Dao Foundation level, the more restrictions should be placed on it. This would restrain the behavior of high-level players, give weaker players a chance to defeat them, and better align with the concepts of "harmony between heaven and man" and "refining the void and uniting with the Dao." It would also encourage strong players to play the role of true "Foundation Building Immortal Cultivators," resulting in a better game atmosphere.

Then the thread was filled with tens of thousands of comments, and the supporters won an overwhelming victory in the poll. But when everyone tallied the results, they found that those who agreed were mostly casual players or light players around level 40, while all the advanced players opposed it.

The reason is simple: although you are right, although this design would be more dramatic, and although it would enhance the fantasy atmosphere of the game, this is a game that serves our needs!
This lousy game is already troublesome enough, and now it restricts player behavior. Let whoever wants to play it play! I spent so much time and effort to finally reach the Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment, and you won't let me have fun, and you even want to restrict me?

Grand Canal Sang, I'm entrusting the planning of the horse to you!
The authorities ignored these clamoring voices and instead weakened the restrictions on Dao Foundation cultivation year after year. Now, a perfect Dao Foundation only has one 'negative restriction', a superior Dao Foundation has a maximum of three, a mid-level Dao Foundation has a maximum of six, and only an inferior Dao Foundation has one 'negative restriction' attached to each of its 'positive restrictions'.

Therefore, the biggest advantage of a perfect Dao Foundation is that you can play without any worries, while an inferior Dao Foundation requires you to spend a lot of time on role-playing.

The Dragon Blood Thrush Dao Foundation is a typical lower-level Dao Foundation, possessing twenty positive and negative prohibitions, detailed enough to be used as a character card in a tabletop role-playing game.

Logically, a lower-level Dao Foundation has more restrictions, which means it has more ways to level up. If a player plays according to these restrictions and puts in so much effort, the leveling speed should be faster. However, as anyone who has read "A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality" knows, although the four spiritual roots require more effort, their cultivation speed is still not as fast as that of the heavenly spiritual roots.

The inferior Dao Foundation is the Four Spiritual Roots, while the perfect Dao Foundation is the Heavenly Spiritual Root. Because there are fewer restrictions, the experience bonus for each restriction in the perfect Dao Foundation is much greater. By leveling up aggressively, you can reach the sixth reincarnation in as little as a month.

As for the fortune mentioned by Master Suolong... Rabbit Girl took out a pot of wine and gulped it down in one go, then took out a piece of 'Teriyaki Crispy Chicken' and ate it with gusto. She then saw an "↑" symbol appear on her "Dao Foundation Status", but the value did not change. It seems that it only caused an increase after the decimal point.

At the same time, crimson clouds rose around the Bunny Girl, a seven-colored halo appeared behind her head, and a red dot between her brows glowed with blood-red light. This was an unusual phenomenon indicating the increase of Dao Foundation experience, reminding the player that they had done the right thing and could continue.

Seeing this, Master Suolong's eyes widened. He rudely pointed his Great Wilderness Imprisoning Heaven Finger at the Rabbit Girl and stammered, "You, you—"

"You actually built a legendary first-grade Dao foundation!?"

Yan Qing was completely baffled by her.

Although I don't know what a first-grade Dao Foundation is, I suppose it's a local evaluation of a Dao Foundation. But why is Master Suolong so envious and jealous?
"Little brat... no, fellow Daoist." Master Suolong composed himself, looking at the bunny girl with a complex expression. He touched his ring and took out a deep blue longsword: "Since you have a first-grade Dao foundation, reaching the fifth or sixth stage should be a piece of cake for you. Auntie has offended you a lot in the past, so consider this 'Horizontal Autumn Sword' as my apology."

Yan Qing was dumbfounded.

No, you were so arrogant when Bunny Girl was all-powerful, how did you suddenly fall from the 'Auntie Realm' to the 'Fellow Daoist Realm'? Although he realized that this would expose his lack of knowledge, Yan Qing still couldn't help but let Bunny Girl ask:
"Why would you say that this heroine has built a first-grade Dao foundation?"

"The most prominent characteristic of a first-grade Dao Foundation is the ability to accumulate fortune through everyday trifles." Master Suolong gave the bunny girl a strange look: "Didn't your elders tell you about the division of Dao Foundations? He was even willing to give you Foundation Establishment Pills and send you to negotiate with me, yet he didn't mention these things?"

Both the bunny girl and the pharmacist shook their heads.

“Since ancient times, the Dao Foundation has been divided into nine grades, with the ninth grade being the lowest and the first grade being the most prestigious. However, most Foundation Establishment cultivators are between the fourth and sixth grades, with fewer between the seventh and ninth grades, and even fewer between the first and third grades,” said Master Suolong. “The factor that determines the grade of the Dao Foundation is the ease with which the Dao Foundation condenses its fortune.”

"A first-grade Dao foundation can be formed by sitting, lying down, walking, and all aspects of life, including clothing, food, shelter, and transportation; a sixth-grade Dao foundation can only be formed by killing demons and plundering resources." Master Suolong sighed: "I am only a seventh-grade Dao foundation. The ways to form my fortune are very limited. It took me decades to reach the fifth stage."

"It is said that Emperor Taizu of Liang, Shao Taibai, was a first-grade Dao Foundation cultivator. He completed five transformations in seven years and six transformations in ten years. Otherwise, he would not have been able to stand out when Emperor Taizu of Zhou and Emperor Shenwu were vying for supremacy and forcibly occupy the fertile land of Jiangnan." Master Suolong looked at the Rabbit Girl with envy: "With your aptitude, you may be able to complete the sixth transformation in fifteen years."

The pharmacist tried his best not to show his emotions, but his lowered gaze couldn't hide his regret. He hadn't expected his sister's foundation to be so outstanding, but it was a pity it would fall tomorrow... He would definitely find a Foundation Establishment Pill for his sister in the future, so as not to waste such talent.

Only Yan Qing's lips twitched upon hearing this.

He could tell perfectly well that the locals' opinion of Daoji was completely opposite to the evaluation in the game!

Gamers pursue a more restrictive and perfect foundation, focusing on fighting and killing, since there are plenty of monsters in the game, and they don't want to be bound by rules and regulations; but the locals are different. Even if they are Foundation Establishment cultivators, they may only be able to enter two or three Foundation Establishment secret realms in their lifetime. Fighting monsters is too troublesome and dangerous for them. They cannot grind dungeons like gamers to level up, nor can they exchange resources with others through the Treasure Pavilion.

Instead, they prohibit more inferior Dao foundations, because one can strengthen one's Dao foundation through daily trivial matters and reach the fifth or sixth stage in a 'very short' time, which they consider the best Dao foundation!

As for the restrictions on negative practices, they were simply not worth mentioning. They had suffered countless hardships since childhood to hone their skills, and now a few more restrictions would allow them to steadily strengthen their foundation without having to suffer. Who would have any objections?
This is probably a rare example where the official design actually becomes more user-friendly in reality—the official team probably didn't expect that someone would just do mundane daily tasks to strengthen their foundation. The benefits they set for these daily tasks should not be high. If it can give 0.5% every day (0.5% more experience per day is already very little), it would be 1825% in a year, 9125% in five years, and if you fight some monsters in between, it would be enough to level up ten times!

A five-year cycle is an incomprehensible speed for game players, but for Foundation Establishment cultivators with lifespans exceeding a hundred years, they fear that their foundation may be unstable—even with normal cultivation, they might not be able to complete a five-year cycle!
Even the smallest thing can become profitable when measured in years by locals.

As for why the inferior Dao Foundation is called the 'legendary first-grade Dao Foundation' here, Yan Qing understood after a little thought:

Anyone who has absorbed the three rounds of Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend messengers will inevitably have a mid-level Dao Foundation, which is what they call the fourth to sixth rank. If they absorb all the Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiends, they may even have a high-level Dao Foundation. Only those who directly establish their foundation without absorbing the Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiends will be able to condense a low-level Dao Foundation.

However, as mentioned before, the success rate of a third-level messenger who forcibly establishes their foundation without absorbing the Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiends is less than 10%. If there are a hundred third-level messengers aspiring to establish their foundation, ninety of them will pursue Foundation Establishment Pills and the Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiends. Of the remaining ten who disregard these factors and force their way through, at most only one will succeed. In this way, a lower-grade foundation naturally becomes an extremely rare first-grade foundation.

The bunny girl accepted the "Horizontal Autumn Sword" and discovered it was actually a rare fourth-tier token. Yan Qing was speechless; even with his immense supernatural powers, he couldn't subdue his aunt, yet his lower-level Dao Foundation cultivation had made her practically beg for his attention.

"But isn't this strengthening the foundation of your cultivation?" the bunny girl asked. "Why did you say it's gathering fortune?"

"The foundation of one's Dao is closely linked to one's fortune." Master Suolong did not intend to explain in detail: "You will understand when you have accumulated enough fortune, fellow Daoist."

"Aunt Yue, I still prefer your defiant look from just now."

"Then let's go, kid." Master Suolong turned and stepped into the vortex gate of the secret realm.

Watching the bunny girl and the pharmacist on the screen enter the secret realm, Yan Qing suddenly realized something:
He gave Shang Xinlei, the pharmacist, a perfect development path for his Dao foundation. Doesn't that cut off the shortcut for everyone to level up while eating and drinking?
(End of this chapter)