Scourge Messenger

Chapter 431 Liangshan Bo

Seventeen days later, outside Zhouguo Pass, in the 800-li water town.

"Liangshan Marsh, spanning eight hundred li, was once a paradise on earth."

“When government troops invaded my home, they cut off my way to survival and demolished my house.”

"Haji."

"They have no father, no ruler, and no laws; they beat anyone they see without mercy."

"Fortunately, the two kings called for justice and rescued the heroes of Liangshan."

"Clang, clang—"

Blood Prime Minister said sullenly, "If you sing again, I'll crush your balls, and I'll do it over four days."

The demon messenger, who had been singing, awkwardly put down his curved-neck pipa. "Your Majesties, we couldn't help but sing to praise you because we were grateful for your saving our lives."

The group of over twenty people, all messengers of the demonic path, gathered in this mountain forest. Each of them was a leader who could hold a high position in Liangshanbo. Due to the smooth waterways and frequent trade in Liangshanbo, their quality of life far exceeded that of their counterparts in other forbidden demonic areas. They could drink fine wine and enjoy beautiful women every day, living a carefree and happy life.

Now they had nothing left. Their faces were covered in soot and filled with fear; they dared not even light a fire, forced to gnaw on cold jerky and naan bread. The demonic cultivators rested, watching the two leaders at the front of the group. The survival of this group now depended entirely on their leaders' next decisions. Although the two leaders had successfully led them out of the government army's encirclement, if their ideas didn't receive the support of the majority, this crumbling group would immediately scatter like birds and beasts.

Bei You stood on the hillside, gazing at Liangshan Marsh in the distance, sketching and drawing with charcoal in a notebook. Xue Xiang walked up to him and said irritably, "Stop looking. Do you want to wait until they leave before you go back?"

Xue Xiang felt that they were extremely unlucky. They had arrived at Liangshan Marsh a month ago and spent more than ten days figuring out the alliances and strategies. They had finally managed to fight and kill the original three leaders of Liangshan Marsh, namely the White-Faced Scholar, the Leopard Head, and the Standing Yama. They had only been in their positions for a few days when the Zhou Kingdom's government troops came to attack.

Moreover, it was a joint operation by three military prefectures, with over three thousand soldiers completely surrounding Liangshan Marsh. They only managed to escape after a great deal of effort. Even if the government troops withdraw soon, it's estimated that Liangshan Marsh won't be able to recover for several years.

Besides the demonic messengers providing military support, a forbidden demonic land would require at least several thousand ordinary people to provide services. Otherwise, what would be the difference between the demonic messengers living in the wilderness? The forbidden demonic land is essentially a town for the demonic messengers.

Blood Prime Minister only wanted to reap the rewards, and had no interest in building a stronghold from scratch. He found the idea of ​​slowly building a home with a group of people disgusting. He believed that being down-to-earth was what the righteous path should do, while the demonic path should be about plundering and conquering.

"I just find it strange." Bei You looked at the notebook in his hand: "Attacking Liangshan Marsh doesn't require so many troops at all. Sending just one military government would be enough to drive us away. Moreover, although the Zhou State military government isn't completely rotten, they're basically only interested in profit. These bandit suppression missions are rarely lucrative. Logically, they should just go through the motions at most. But look at them, they're all very well-equipped, and they even pay attention to military discipline, not disturbing the people or setting fires. It's really unbelievable..."

"Spit it out." Xue Xiang waved his hand, as if to shoo away an annoying fly: "I'm not in the mood to listen to your pedantry."

“This bandit suppression is probably a whim of the powerful officials in the court,” Bei You said. “We are unlucky this time. However, the person who can mobilize three military prefectures and make their commanders sincerely fawn over them… I’m afraid even the emperor doesn’t have that kind of power, does he?”

Xue Xiang's lips twitched, and two figures, one large and one small, appeared in his mind.

"is her?"

“Besides her, I can’t think of anyone else who would go to such lengths to target the forbidden area of ​​the demonic path. Liangshanbo isn’t the first victim; the Happy Forest on the Zhou-Qi border also seems to have been wiped out.” Bei You said quietly, “Of course, it could also not be her, but them.”

"I don't want to stay in this wretched place, Zhou, for even a day longer," Xue Xiang said. "Where to? Qi or Liang?"

Bei You shook his head, turned to the demonic messengers and said, "Gentlemen, would you rather be unknown figures for the rest of your lives, or become famous throughout the world?"

The demon messengers were taken aback, and the singer cautiously asked, "Master Beiyou, we are all rough men, why don't you explain it more clearly?"

"I and Xue Xiang Hui are leaving the Central Plains to seek opportunities for Foundation Establishment in Western Xia. It is said that Western Xia is still under the shadow of the Dragon Poetry War, and chaos is the ladder for the ascension of the demonic path." Bei You said calmly, "If you are willing to follow, I and Xue Xiang Hui will protect you."

"They call it protection, but they're really just using us as cannon fodder." A young swordsman stood up, meeting Bei You's gaze without fear. "Even if you get the Foundation Establishment opportunity, you'll definitely split it among yourselves. Do you think we'll get a chance?"

"I suppose so." Bei You sat on the rock: "But if you're willing to be my cannon fodder, when you die by the roadside, I'll collect your bodies, take your tokens, take your inheritance, and spend your spirit jade for pleasure."

"What do you mean?" Even the young swordsman was confused now. Didn't Bei You want to recruit them? But now it sounded like he wanted to make enemies.

"Even those on the righteous path who attempt Foundation Establishment face a near-death experience. Do you really think you can easily obtain Foundation Establishment opportunities by following the demonic path?" Bei You unscrewed his wine pouch, took a sip, and said calmly, "I won't make any promises to you. If you die, I will advance over your corpses, but if I die, you can also step over my corpses to reach higher places. In any case, following the demonic path is a gamble with your life, so why not gamble bigger?"

"Would you rather join me in seizing the opportunity in Western Xia, gambling on a chance to become famous throughout the world, or stay in the Central Plains and remain an unknown nobody for the rest of your life?" Bei You tossed the wine pouch to the young swordsman. "If only one of us survives in the end, and only one of us can reach the Foundation Establishment stage, I'll bet that I'll be the ultimate winner. Think about it, even the life of a worthless person like you can become my Foundation Establishment resources, isn't that great?"

"Fantastic!" The young swordsman downed his wine, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and tossed the wine pouch to someone else. "To have the opportunity to devour you big shots is truly fantastic! Cheers to such a brilliant idea!" "Pfft, bottoms up!"

"I've never slept with a Western Xia woman before, I've been wanting to try it for a long time!"

"Oh wow wow, we're going to Western Xia!"

The demon messengers shook off their earlier dejection and cheered up to discuss the next leg of their journey. The wine pouch from the Northern Journey was passed around until it was finished by the last person.

That's how Bei You is. Usually, he's lazy and speaks with the reserved air of a poor craftsman, but when he's at his wit's end, he suddenly becomes inexplicably passionate, and even his sharp and cruel words can be captivating. That's how Xue Xiang was tricked into coming to Liangshan Marsh, simply because of his words, "If you and I get soaked in the rain, how can they still have umbrellas?"

Just as the Demon Messenger was brimming with confidence, two four-horse carriages arrived at the secret inner courtyard of Liangshan stronghold. Just as Bei Youxue had expected, two beautiful girls, one tall and one short, stepped out of the carriages. The younger one had a domineering air with a large braid, while the older one had long, wine-red hair and a heroic demeanor. Who else could they be but the Bunny Girl Heroine and the Pharmacist Yuan?
But besides them, this wretched place of Liangshanbo also welcomed another distinguished guest. If the demonic messenger knew, he would surely wish his parents had four legs to run faster.

A girl with antlers, dressed in a white robe, stepped out of the carriage. Underneath, she wore only a simple bodice and shorts, revealing large expanses of her snow-white skin. However, no one in the courtyard dared to look up. From the head maid down to the servants, everyone kept their heads down, as any gaze would be a great disrespect to the Bodhisattva.

"Everyone, get out," said Master Suolong. "No one may enter without my verbal order."

Defense lines were quickly erected outside the inner courtyard. Even more suspiciously, Master Suolong sealed off the area with golden chains, blocking all outside vision. She looked at the carriage carrying the Pharmacist Yuan: "Come out."

The soft clinking of earrings came from inside the carriage first. A hand with distinct knuckles pushed open the curtain, and a long-haired man with bandages wrapped around half his face stepped out. He wore a magnificent robe adorned with black bird and gold patterns, a long sword inlaid with gold and jade at his waist, and orange-red flame patterns on his forehead.

This was her uncle's sword, yet in this person's hands it shone with dazzling brilliance, even accomplishing something her uncle had never done before... slaying two Foundation Establishment cultivators in a single battle!

Thief leader, owner of the Treasure Pavilion, successor of the natural disaster, Yellow Dog.

This wasn't the first time Suolong Zhenren had met him, but he still couldn't suppress the flutter in his heart.

She had seen many Foundation Establishment cultivators, and the impressions they gave were completely different. The Pharmacist was like a chilling wind, carrying a strong smell of blood; the previous Bunny Girl was a fledgling dragon, but now she had inexplicably turned into nothingness.

But no one else was as memorable as the yellow dog. The first time she saw him, she felt a chill run down her spine, as if she were looking at a large, multicolored spider covered in fine pink hairs, so cute that she couldn't help but want to touch it.

The first thought that came to Master Suolong's mind was to get away from this man. His charm could not be described by 'awe' or 'like or dislike', but was a forbidden temptation, a chaos between immortals and demons, an error that the world could not tolerate!

"Blocking light and sound... It's unimaginable how far you, Master Locking Dragon, will be able to deduce this restrictive divine power after your sixth transformation." Yan Qing looked up at the golden chains in the sky and sighed, "I wonder when we will be able to reach your level of cultivation."

"It's just a trivial skill born of necessity," said Master Suolong. "None of you are geniuses who stop at the fourth level. After the fifth and sixth levels, the three supernatural abilities can be combined in countless ways, so there's no need to ponder a single supernatural ability like this old woman."

"But Master Suolong, aren't you also at the fifth level?" Yan Qing laughed. "Will we see your second divine ability today?"

"If there's a chance," Master Suolong looked at the vortex at the entrance to the secret realm, "should we go straight in, or..."

"Wait a mininute."

Yan Qing returned to the Thieves' House, turned on the game console, logged into the Bunny Girl account, and checked the information about the Liangshan Marsh Secret Realm:
"Liangshan Marsh"

Background: Li Jun, nicknamed "Mixed-River Dragon," has gathered bandits and established himself at Liangshan Marsh, robbing merchants. He is extremely cunning, and despite repeated pursuits by the Divine Marquis's Mansion, he remains elusive. If the Mixed-River Dragon can be killed, the Divine Marquis's Mansion will offer a substantial reward.

Challenge Level: 40~49

「Number of challengers: up to 8 people」

Objective: Kill 'Li Jun, the River Dragon'

Yan Qing touched his ear and pulled out the fourth-tier token, the Magic Brush—he had previously wondered how to equip this token, but he hadn't expected it to be inserted into his ear—he infused it with spiritual energy and wrote in the void:

What attributes could counter Li Jun, the "River Dragon" of Liangshan Marsh?

There were nineteen characters in total, including punctuation, consuming nineteen units of spiritual energy. Soon, the magic pen guided Yan Qing's arm, writing the answer in the air:

"poison"

(End of this chapter)