Scourge Messenger

Chapter 444 The Path to Immortality

The two pieces of information about the secret realm kept changing, as if a bug had occurred and the system had crashed.

There wasn't much time left for Tiger Vanguard to observe; the adults, their faces dark, herded the children into the secret realm. The moment they passed through the vortex gate, magnificent light flooded the children's vision from all directions. The floor was a carpet hand-stitched from silk and gold thread, with a velvety feel underfoot. The ceiling was a full ten stories high, and the dome seemed as distant as the starry sky.

A low, persistent hum formed the background sound of the space—a mixture of thousands of roulette wheels spinning, dice bouncing, and chips clattering, interspersed with distant cheers or sighs.

Beautiful women in splendid dresses moved back and forth between different facilities, the air filled with golden desire and exuding a decadent fragrance. The children, like beggars who had stumbled into a fairy banquet, were led by the adults to a huge observation deck, their hearts filled with either unease or excitement.

The observation deck is located in the center of the hall, below which is a vast miniature landscape model. The model depicts mountains, rivers, volcanoes, glacial lakes, urban forests, and a network of roads connecting all the landscapes on the model, but all roads lead to the same destination:
[Foundation Building Pill]!
Upon closer inspection, they discovered three miniature figures in the sand table. Judging from their weapons, they were a swordsman, a gunman, and an archer. They were in a dilapidated temple, surrounded by the corpses of bandits, suggesting a fierce battle had just taken place.

There is a betting platform in front of the observation deck, and the name of the facility is written on the betting platform: Ascension Road.

There are currently six betting options available: [Life], [Death], [Foundation Building], [Death 1], [Death 2], and [Mutual Kill]. Each option has different odds, with [Foundation Building] having the lowest odds. There are also many other betting options, such as [Thirty Steps] and [Forty Steps], but these are grayed out and cannot be bet on at this time.

After the betting was completed, the dealer at the betting table pressed a mechanism, and the six-sided die floating above the sand table began to spin. This time, it rolled a "one".

A huge cheer erupted from the crowd, and then everyone saw three little figures teleport to an adjacent square. This square was a forest hut, from which an old man carrying a medicine bag emerged. The three little figures spoke to the old man, who gave them three pills and handed a book to an archer.

"They killed the bandits first, then arrived at the cabin in the woods. They successfully triggered a hidden event, obtaining not only a pill that could instantly restore all their stamina and spiritual energy, but also an old alchemist who handed over a beginner's manual on alchemy to thank them for ridding the people of a scourge," the croupier exclaimed. "So, will they continue or stop here? Let's wait and see!"

Even the children understood now; these three little people were incredibly lucky to win the grand prize, it sounded like a fantastical adventure from a martial arts tale. They wanted to watch more, but the adults herded them in front of a middle-aged man.

"Master Qianji and Master Tianqin request that these children be placed on the path to ascension for future use."

"Tianqin only knows how to do pointless things," Master Qianji said calmly.

No one dared to respond to this. Master Qianji was ranked second on the Earth Ranking, and Master Tianqin was ranked fourth on the Heaven Ranking. They were both top figures in the Blissful Immortal Palace, the left and right arms of the Blissful Immortal Lord. If an ordinary person were to even slightly touch their conflict, they would be crushed to pieces.

Master Qianji waved his hand, signaling them to step back. He glanced at the children and calmly said, "Come with me."

Including Tiger Vanguard, all the children's expressions became expressionless, and they followed Master Qianji downstairs to a rest room with silent and orderly steps. The rest room had an entire transparent wall, outside of which was a sand table of the Ascension Path. There were more than a dozen people in the room, and their expressions varied when they saw Master Qianji leading a group of children in.

"Wei Qiu, you're in charge of explaining the path to immortality to them and giving them some weapons."

"Understood, Master Qianji," a young man in a black robe with gold trim said respectfully. "Detailed or brief?"

"Anyway, Celestial Bird Master isn't in a hurry to let them go on stage."

After Master Qianji left, the children seemed to wake from a dream, collapsing to the ground, gasping for breath. Tiger Vanguard quickly caught Mi Mian and Shen Qiuqiu, preventing them from falling to the ground.

Mi Mian grabbed Hu Xianfeng's hand and said in terror, "Just now, just now I couldn't control my body! I could only watch my body move, I couldn't do anything!"

"A divine power of immortals!" Shen Qiuqiu hugged her arms tightly, trembling all over: "I... I thought I was going to die."

Wei Qiu clapped his hands twice and said loudly, "Are you hungry? There's food here, help yourself. If there's anything you really want to eat but it's not available here, just tell the cook, and he'll try his best to make it!"

"Wow!"

Only then did the children notice the several food tables in the room, laden with food: cakes dripping with honey, steaming roast suckling pig ribs, freshly slaughtered lobsters and abalone, and even a chef specializing in pastries and buns. The fear instilled in them by the Thousand Machine True Man quickly faded, or perhaps it was precisely because they were so terrified that they were even hungrier.

Chen Xunxian, who was the bolder one, went over and took a plate of roast goose rice. When he found that no one was blaming them, the other children rushed over and frantically bought food around the food counter. Bai Zhou was the most enthusiastic, taking a whole plate of roast suckling pig and hiding in a corner to eat it.

Tiger Vanguard didn't stand out and ate some along with the crowd. After everyone sat down to eat, Wei Qiu said with a smile, "Master Qianji instructed me to introduce the path to immortality to you. You can listen while you eat, after all, this game isn't complicated."

"The Path to Immortality is a large map. As players, you can move by rolling dice. A one moves you one space, a two moves you two spaces. Each space will trigger different events; some require you to defeat enemies, some involve unexpected encounters, and some are simply rewards..."

“I understand, it’s all about promotion!” Rong Hai shouted.

“Well, it’s not a very complicated game. You’ve probably played similar ones before,” Wei Qiu said. “The difference with the Path to Immortality is that the rewards you get are real.”

"If you obtain a legendary token on the path to immortality, you can get the legendary token; if you obtain the Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend Mastery Manual on the path to immortality, you can use it on the spot; if you can reach the end of the path to immortality, you can get the grand prize—the Foundation Establishment Pill!"

The children stopped chewing and looked at Wei Qiu, then at the sand table outside, their eyes filled with longing.

“The Blissful Immortal Palace has stood for eight hundred years, and the Foundation Establishment Pills rewarded by the Ascension Path are countless. At this moment, there are at least three True Persons in the Immortal Palace who are lucky enough to be on the Ascension Path. Only by opening the Ascension Path can one be fortunate enough to reach the fourth stage of Foundation Establishment.” Wei Qiu said, “The Ascension Path is both an adventure and an opportunity.”

"I want to participate in the Ascension Path!" Rong Hai immediately stood up and said, and his underlings quickly stood up to express their support as well.

"Don't worry, you've all been personally selected and will all participate in the Ascension Path." Wei Qiu waved his hand, gesturing for them to sit down. "There are two ways to participate in the Ascension Path: solo and team..."

A commotion arose outside. Wei Qiu turned his head and said, "Oh, the last round of Ascension Road is over."

The children looked over and saw three little figures lying in the desert on the sand table. Monsters that looked like earthworms were turning over and over in the soil, and finally they ate the little figures. Only mottled bloodstains remained in the sand table.

"Chen Shiqi, Yao Xuan, it's your turn next," Wei Qiu said.

A male swordsman and a female swordswoman stood up in the room. "We're ready."

"May you ascend to immortality on your journey," Wei Qiu said, cupping his hands in greeting.

"May you ascend to immortality!" The others in the room also stood up and said.

"Thank you for your kind words!" The swordsman finished his wine and smashed the bowl on the ground. "May we meet again on the road, for we are no longer ordinary people!"

The swordsman and the knight-errant walked towards the transparent wall. As if stepping into a painting, they disappeared after entering the wall. Suddenly, two tiny figures appeared in the sandbox village behind the wall. Upon closer inspection, the children realized that these two figures looked remarkably similar to the swordsman and knight-errant they had just seen.

The children stared wide-eyed as a terrible thought crossed their minds.

"Where did they go?" Chen Xunxian stammered.

"They've entered the Path to Ascension," Wei Qiu said calmly.

(End of this chapter)