Scourge Messenger

Chapter 419 The Thieves' House Advances
Two Foundation Establishment Pills!
Moreover, it's a rare Foundation Building Pill with special effects that can directly boost attributes, making Yan Qing quite envious.

His legendary Foundation Establishment Pill only guarantees 100% Foundation Establishment, without any other special benefits!
Every extra point of attribute gained before Foundation Establishment will yield several times the benefit in the future. Although most perfect Foundation Establishments have ways to increase attributes (the Four Phases of Heavenly Calamity Foundation Establishment is a very rare exception), the increase is either low, like the Life and Death Profound Dao Foundation Establishment which only increases by 0.5 points per day, or the requirements are not low, like the Overturned Waters and All Living Beings Foundation Establishment which requires killing a demon king of a level no lower than oneself to increase attributes.

If they take the Foundation Establishment Pill and gain an extra 20 attribute points, the boost rate for fourth-tier professions is 2.5 times, turning 20 points into 50 points. This is equivalent to the Life and Death Profound Dao Foundation Establishment cultivator dying for 100 days, and the Overturning Waters and Living Beings Dao Foundation Establishment cultivator killing 50 fourth-tier demon kings to catch up with this attribute gain!
It really is true that you have to lay the foundation first and then work, and then enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Needless to say, the Guild Creation Token is far inferior to the Immortal-level Guild Creation Token that Yan Qing obtained before, as it only grants a random team skill. However, there have only been a few dozen guilds in this world throughout history, so the Guild Creation Token should be quite valuable.

What attracted Yan Qing's attention the most was the gathering of stones.

Designate a specific instance and invite all eligible couriers to team up and run it!

Damn, after being in this world for so long, I've finally assembled a full team to raid a Greater Rift? And the Group Finder even thoughtfully fixed the team mode as "Unbreakable Alliance," one of the four advanced team modes. All teammate damage is turned off, and before the team is wiped out, any courier who takes excessive damage will only fall to the ground near death and receive the "Unbreakable" protection, meaning they will never die!

Not to mention that everyone will go straight home after the battle, leaving immediately afterward without any worries about any follow-up trouble. Even the steady and reliable Yan Qing couldn't help but be tempted by the summoning stone. If he wanted to quickly increase his Calamity Karma, the best way would be to personally go down into the secret realm, use the Four Phases of Calamity to assist his teammates in dealing damage, and bear the karma of destroying the secret realm alone!

Although the collection of the Hexagonal Stone was of great significance, the most important reward for Yan Qing was actually the last one: the Brilliant Pen!

"The following are all the rewards for this mission: Foundation Building Pill, True Martial Foundation Building Pill, Guild Establishment Token, Recruitment Stone, and Magic Brush."

"Now it's auction time. You can use your Thief Points to bid on items. Because this mission is rated 'Beyond Capacity,' your minimum bid has been permanently increased to 30 points, and each bid must be at least 5 points higher. Thieves who have already bid on items will have priority in the next round of bidding."

"The first item is the Foundation Building Pill for Mountains and Rivers. Thieves, please make your bids."

Minimum bid 30 points!?

The thieves looked at each other in bewilderment; it turned out that the real punishment for the thieves' family was here.

The lowest bid for the last mission was only 15 points, but now it's increased to 30 points, and it's a permanent increase. The next mission will definitely start at 35 points. Even if the thieves don't bid against each other, some of them probably won't be able to afford the lowest bid for the reward!

This setting wasn't Yan Qing's original design. At the time, he hadn't played "The Messenger" and only designed the game content for Thieves' Home from levels 1 to 39. As for the content above Foundation Establishment, he neither knew nor was qualified to do so—as an intern designer, he was already quite good at designing dungeons for the beginner stage.

However, he understood why the developers designed it this way. It was simple: even if the four thieves initially clashed and didn't know each other, they would inevitably become a well-rounded team after multiple missions. The Pharmacist and her friends were the best example; despite being from different countries and geographically distant, they had become reliable teammates who could entrust their lives to each other. Friendships in games are only easier to build.

At this stage, bidding becomes meaningless, and the thieves, in order to avoid conflict, will inevitably discuss and divide all the rewards.

Raising the minimum bid in the auction is intended to force thieves to roll up their sleeves.

If the first phase of the Thieves' Den was the 'adjustment period,' then the second phase is the 'advanced period.' From now on, they can no longer be satisfied with just completing tasks; they must complete them perfectly to earn enough points, otherwise they won't be able to redeem any rewards.

They botched the fourth mission, which sped up the process. If they still can't deliver a satisfactory result for the Thieves' House on the next mission, they'll most likely miss out on the reward.

However, with their current points, they can still redeem all the rewards.

“I’ll bid 30 points,” Ying said. “Yan Qing, you don’t need to place a bid.”

“That’s right, the three of us have enough thief points. You can save yours for the next mission,” Shang Xinlei said.

Yan Qing had no objections; the rewards would be shared by everyone anyway, so it didn't matter who bid. After the auction ended, everyone's Thief Points were as follows: Yan Qing 30 points, Yao Shi Yuan 4 points, Shang Xin Lei 5 points, and Ying Ru Shi 1 point. Even after the auction was over, no one relaxed; instead, they became increasingly anxious.

"This time, they stole Ying Le's things." Shang Xinlei rested her chin on her hands: "There shouldn't be many Foundation Establishment cultivators in the Central Plains stronger than Ying Le, right?"

Ying Rushi shook his head, disagreeing with Shang Xinlei's opinion: "The Purple Tribulation True Man of Qi, the Dragon-Locking True Man of Zhou, and the Sky-Soaring General of Liang... are all senior Foundation Establishment cultivators who made a name for themselves a hundred years ago. Their strength is no less than Ying Le's. Although other Foundation Establishment cultivators are not well-known, it is only because they have been cultivating in seclusion for a hundred years and have had few conflicts. No one knows how far they have gone."

"The Thieves' Den rewarded us with two Foundation Establishment Pills. It would be a lie to say that it wasn't for me and Red Serpent. In other words, the Thieves' Den's next mission will definitely require all of us to reach Foundation Establishment." Pharmacist Yuan said quietly, "Does the Central Plains really have any characters that require four Foundation Establishment cultivators to deal with? The four of us together could launch a war to destroy a nation."

Everyone knew that this mission was a very rare occurrence, as Foundation Establishment cultivators rarely gathered together. Even the Thieves' Clan probably didn't expect that they would need to fight against Ying Le, the three Heavenly Kings of Qi, and Yan Fei Li, a total of five Foundation Establishment cultivators.

If it weren't for Yan Qing's epitaph, this mission would have been impossible to complete.

Next, they all established their foundations. If the difficulty of the mission was to match their strength, it would mean that the mission target would need to be guarded by at least four Foundation Establishment messengers. If there were fewer or weaker people, they wouldn't need to steal; they could just rob them directly, which would be no challenge at all.

The Thieves' House isn't a charity; they're not going to give them a task that's easy to complete.

In a game, any player guild's headquarters could easily match the difficulty of a Thief's Den's quest. However, in the Central Plains, Yan Qing and his group had never seen a force with multiple Foundation Establishment cultivators clustered together. The reason was simply that Foundation Establishment cultivators were too few. So few that a Foundation Establishment cultivator could monopolize an entire secret realm, pocketing all the profits, so why would they need to cooperate with others?

Unless they are a loving couple, given the importance of their cultivation path and the scarcity of resources, every Foundation Establishment cultivator will inevitably want more. Over time, disputes are bound to arise, so it's better for each to remain peaceful.

The voice of the Thieves' House rang out again, but this time it was much more serious than before:
"Given the disastrous success of this mission and the destruction of the objective, you can no longer conceal your crimes, but they will also remain unknown. The Divine Marquis's Mansion, due to insufficient strength, has removed your bounty and handed over the evidence of your crimes to the True Martial Dojo at Tianzhu Peak. The Six Ding Six Jia are currently investigating your whereabouts."

After a brief pause, the voice from the Thieves' House softened:

"Congratulations on completing multiple theft missions. Thanks to your continued activity, the Thieves' House has accumulated enough Thief Points to complete a promotion."

The following changes have occurred at the Thieves' House:

"First, the thief's room has become more comfortable."

"Second, the Thieves Museum is now open. You can put the loot you get during your missions into it to draw various rewards."

"Third, the thief missions will be closely related to your experiences. The next mission will be issued in thirty days, and sixty days in advance. If you do not encounter a worthy target to steal from during this period, no new thief missions will be issued, and everyone will be temporarily expelled from the Thieves' House. If you still do not encounter a suitable target by one hundred days, you will be permanently and completely expelled from the Thieves' House, and your Thieves' House will be fixed in a certain location in the present world, where the rewards you have obtained in the past are hidden."

As soon as the Thieves' House finished speaking, the hall rumbled as if an earthquake had struck, and it took almost ten seconds for the rumble to subside. When everyone looked closely, they found that the Thieves' House had changed dramatically: the Thieves' Hall was no longer in the style of a hidden cave, and the ceiling had become a completely transparent glass skylight. They could clearly see the blazing sun outside, but it wasn't hot at all; they only felt that the light source was everywhere.

Different decorations appeared at the entrances to their rooms. Yao Shiyuan's door became a heavy iron door, with a black and green wolf head banner hanging beside it; Ying Rushi's door became a mahogany door, with a white and blue fox banner hanging beside it; Shang Xinlei's door was the most extravagant, with gold as its base and jade as its emerald, clearly the style of the door they had seen in the secret vault of the imperial palace in Jiangnan City, with a reddish-gold ouroboros banner hanging beside it; Yan Qing's door remained the same, with a yellow dog head banner hanging beside it.

But the biggest change was the appearance of a new room. The room had no door, and a couplet hung on both sides of the room. The left side read, "Do not worry about having no friends on the road ahead," and the right side read, "Who in the world does not know you?" The horizontal inscription above read, "Stealing from all living beings."

Your "not recognizing your superior" sounds like a derogatory term...

At the same time, a piece of parchment rose from the stone table, spinning in mid-air. The title was "Thief's Notes," and it contained four lines of text: Bingzi Jiaolin, Yitian, Qizhen Tie, and Liuli Mengzhu. The name Liuli Mengzhu was crossed out, indicating it had not been obtained. The fifth line already had a number, but it was not yet filled in.

(End of this chapter)