Scourge Messenger

Chapter 457 Once the deal is done, it's done.
Bloodline supernatural powers?
How could someone with only a single cultivation level kill a thunder eagle?

And he looks to be around ten years old?

"What is this child's name? Where is he from?"

"Tiger Vanguard. A man from Liang Kingdom, originally intending to study on Golden Eagle Island, but was snatched away by Heavenly Bird." The Blissful Immortal Lord said, "In terms of combat talent, no one I have ever seen can surpass him. Including you, Hua Yue."

"Then I'll really have to wait and see," Hua Yue said with a smile.

"Such talent is unheard of. Blissful Immortal Lord, are you not interested in taking him under your wing?" the Lin family elder asked. "Why bother with the path to immortality? Although the path to immortality is not difficult, it is still quite risky for mortals."

“Who wouldn’t love a young talent?” The Blissful Immortal Lord smiled faintly. “I once invited him with a seat as a true disciple, but this child, though young, is incredibly righteous. At the time, Tianqin brought a whole ship full of people, so he preferred to give up the seat as a true disciple and help everyone on the ship complete the path to immortality.”

It's common knowledge that the Blissful Immortal Lord selects his true disciples through the Ascension Path. Therefore, not only does Blissful Island itself require its affiliated forces to offer young boys and girls as tribute, but many Foundation Establishment guests heading to the Blissful Immortal Palace also conveniently purchase a batch of children to take with them—like buying a bunch of lottery tickets to claim a prize at the Blissful Immortal Palace. After all, it's just a negligible sum for Foundation Establishment cultivators. No one finds this strange. Not to mention the Lin, Qin, and Li families, the Imperial Flow Court itself has an even more radical selection system. Before Foundation Establishment, children up to the third stage of cultivation are not considered true 'talents'.

"Why not go with the flow, let his companion go, and accept his gratitude?" said the Qin family elder.

“That would be too boring. Since he has a pure heart, why not repay his kindness?” The Blissful Immortal Lord laughed. “I will bestow upon him the Blissful Dao Beacon and invite him to challenge the most difficult route on the path to immortality. If he can win, I will grant him all his needs and grant him a seat as a true disciple. If he can reach the end, he will also receive the rare Foundation Establishment Pill that I just refined.”

"There aren't many betting games that qualify us to place bets, so this is perfect as entertainment."

The immortal lords exchanged a knowing glance, their eyes flashing with an inscrutable probing.

With bloodline supernatural powers and innate fighting skills, and being valued so highly by the Blissful Immortal Lord, how could this possibly be a Central Plains child that Heavenly Bird just randomly picked? It's likely that Heavenly Bird True Person has fallen into a trap, bringing this hot potato onto the path of ascension, leaving the Blissful Immortal Palace in a difficult position now.

Whose work is this? Why are they so willing to spend so much, even including descendants with supernatural bloodlines as pawns?
"How do we gamble?" Hua Yue asked.

The Blissful Immortal Lord raised his right hand, and the betting platform rose from the lotus heart. "We won't bet on those random things. He has to walk fifty steps to escape the path to immortality, so we'll bet on three outcomes: [death], [life], and [foundation building]."

"Immortal Lord!" one of the guests exclaimed, "Can we also participate in this betting game?"

"Of course, sharing joy is worse than enjoying it alone. How can we have a good time without gambling?" The Blissful Immortal Lord waved his hands, and betting tables rose up from all directions of the Never-Ending Banquet. He would personally act as the dealer for this gambling game: "Place your bets now! Place your bets now!"

He looked at the assembled immortals and pointed to the betting platform: "Everyone, please place your bets."

"A ten-year-old child embarking on the path to immortality—I would definitely think it's a fantasy if it were anyone else, but since the Blissful Immortal Lord so highly recommends it, I'll bet on [life]."

"me too."

"I know a little about how dangerous the prison route is. It would be lucky if I could walk fifty steps, let alone reach the end. I'm also under pressure."

All three immortal lords have bet on "life," only Hua Yue has not placed her bet yet.

"What's the stake?" Hua Yue's face, flushed with wine from drinking, was stubble-covered. His voice was tinged with alcohol. "I won't bet anything too small."

"Let's bet on the share of the cooking furnace." The Blissful Immortal Lord leaned forward, his tone enigmatic: "If you win, what's wrong with me, Blissful Immortal, becoming your Imperial Flow Court's alchemist?"

“There’s no need to be so modest,” Huayue said with a smile. “As long as you’re willing to cooperate, the Imperial Court has always been loyal and righteous to its allies.”

Conversely, if you're unwilling to cooperate, don't blame me for being ruthless, right...? The Blissful Immortal Lord sneered inwardly, spreading his hands and saying, "Please place your bet!"

Hua Yue glanced at the betting table and placed the golden cup in the [Foundation Building] area.

"I'm betting that he can make it to the end and obtain the Foundation Establishment Pill."

The Blissful Immortal Lord frowned slightly, his gaze towards Hua Yue filled with doubt and uncertainty. Although the Blissful Immortal Palace was renowned in the East Sea for its fairness and impartiality, it was already a well-known fact that he could control the secret realm to a certain extent after he voluntarily merged the blessed land into the secret realm, and the path to immortality was naturally under his control.

Although he couldn't directly summon a fourth-tier demon king to Tiger Vanguard's face, nor could he control the dice rolls on the Ascension Path, the Blissful Immortal Lord had room to maneuver once Tiger Vanguard triggered a random event. It could be said that the Blissful Immortal Lord could either kill Tiger Vanguard or ensure his passage through the Ascension Path, but ensuring his passage was definitely more difficult, because some stages were beyond his control and might spawn a fourth-tier demon king; whereas, if Tiger Vanguard triggered a random event even once, the Blissful Immortal Lord had a way to kill him.

No matter how you look at it, betting on "death" has a better chance of winning, or at least "life." But Hua Yue actually bet on "Foundation Building"? Isn't he afraid that I'll collude with Tiger Vanguard and have him quit the Ascension Path immediately after taking fifty steps?
Even assuming that "Life" inherently includes "Foundation Building," the difference lies in the payout ratio. If you bet on "Foundation Building" from the start, the payout ratio can reach 1 to 100... But in this bet between Blissful Paradise and them, there is only "loss" and "win," so betting on "Foundation Building" and betting on "Life" makes no difference!
Could Tiger Vanguard really be a pawn of the Imperial Court? Does this brat still have untapped potential, which is why Huayue is so confident he can break through the Ascension Path? Is this a warning shot at me?
“Zhou Wuchou.” Hua Yue tilted her head, the wind chimes on her bamboo hat swaying slightly. “It’s your turn to place your bet.”

The Blissful Immortal Lord took a deep breath and placed the golden cup in the area marked "death".

Now that things have come to this, the only option is to meet force with force and water with water!

"Place your order now, and you're done."

……

...

In the sand table, the shackles on Tiger Vanguard suddenly broke, signifying the official start of the path to immortality.

In a corner where the banquet was still in full swing, Bai Zhou and the others were also watching the live broadcast of the Ascension Path. Yes, they were also at this birthday banquet. Not only them, but there were also many mortals at the banquet, most of whom were residents of Bliss Island. This time, the birthday celebration of the Bliss Immortal Lord was a grand occasion for all, and even ordinary people could come in to eat and absorb some of the immortal energy.

"Oh dear, how come only one fool is on the road to immortality, and in prison at that?"

"This is a birthday celebration. People deliberately chose such a difficult start to celebrate the immortal lord's birthday."

"Let's open the warden's treasure chest first; maybe we can get some good tokens."

The elderly men and women looked up at the scroll with great interest. There was also a live broadcast of the Ascension Path on Paradise Island. Although these ordinary people were not qualified to participate in the Ascension Path gambling, everyone was familiar with the mechanism of the Ascension Path. After all, the Ascension Path was their entertainment program in their spare time.

Mi Mian and Shen Qiuqiu stared intently at the scroll, as did the other children, except for Bai Zhou, who continued eating his meal without a care in the world. When Tiger Vanguard seized the opportunity when the patrols were staggered, he successfully broke through the prison door and quickly moved out, and everyone couldn't help but clench their fists and cheer.

The most troublesome thing about starting in prison is that once a battle is triggered, it is easy to attract the siege of all thirty-plus guards in the prison, all of whom are third-tier combatants.

If it were an elite eight-man team, they could just force their way out. But Tiger Vanguard only has one person, so the kids watched Ascension Road all day yesterday and came up with the best starting strategy: avoid the guards, run to the right corridor, kill the two guards who are resting, and then wait in the corridor to lure and kill the other guards little by little.

As he passed by the other cells, Tiger Vanguard suddenly stopped, drew his sword, slashed open the cell door, and took a set of chainmail that was displayed inside the cell.

"Wow, this kid is lucky. He got the rarest Xuanji Armor right away."

"A mystery set?" Mi Mian asked the old man next to her curiously, "What is a mystery set?"

"The Mysterious Set is a set of tokens that only appears on the Path to Immortality. It includes a headscarf, chainmail, gloves, and boots. Each piece is a rare and precious token. It is said that if you collect all four pieces, their power is equivalent to four legendary tokens." The old man got excited when he talked about this: "Therefore, some people say that as long as you collect the Mysterious Set, you will definitely be able to pass the Path to Immortality."

As they spoke, Tiger Vanguard had already stormed into the right corridor and killed two guards. The commotion attracted the attention of the other guards, who all gathered in the corridor. Tiger Vanguard immediately moved the straw and other debris in the corridor to the outside of the door, then set it on fire and stood guard at the door.

The guards rushed through the sea of ​​fire to attack him, but due to the terrain, only one guard could fight Tiger Vanguard at a time. Tiger Vanguard didn't need to kill him; as long as he stalled for time, the guards would soon be burned to death by the flames.

It's a very simple terrain kill, something the kids learned from watching "The Road to Immortality" yesterday. One team used this trick to break through the prison. The difficulty of this strategy is that someone has to fight the guard at the door, and the guard's attack power is ridiculously high. So that team took turns going up to tank the damage. But Tiger Vanguard doesn't need to go through all that trouble—he can hold off the guard just by dodging.

When Tiger Vanguard walked out of prison, almost all of his tokens had been updated. The prison start was really tough, but it was also really rich, especially since Tiger Vanguard was all alone and all the profits went to him.

Tiger Vanguard then ventures into various locations, including a secluded mountain village, an ancient battlefield, and a beast's cave. Each area is teeming with enemies, as these routes are only accessible to teams of eight or more, resulting in a significant number of hordes of monsters. However, Tiger Vanguard's solo challenge isn't without its advantages. He can easily find terrain to utilize, allowing him to take down enemies one by one by employing terrain tactics that would otherwise require a direct confrontation with an eight-person team.

The bigger the waves, the more valuable the fish. The prison route is so dangerous, the reward slots inside are naturally exceptionally generous. When Tiger Vanguard reaches the eighteenth step and triggers the reward slot, he encounters a Drunken Sword Immortal. Under the Immortal's tutelage, he directly advances to mastery of swordsmanship and comprehends the secret technique, Sword Control, instantly achieving a third-stage advancement!

Ordinary levels could no longer stop Tiger Vanguard. Tiger Vanguard was like a battle puppet that never made a mistake. In seven or eight battles in a row, there were more than twenty enemies in each battle, and each enemy was at the third rank. In just half an hour, Tiger Vanguard had killed more than a hundred enemies. He had changed weapons several times. When one weapon ran out of durability, he would switch to another. His clothes, including his tiger skin hat, were stained blood red, as if he were a cub that had crawled out of a pool of blood!
Before long, the banquet gradually quieted down. No one drank or made merry. Everyone looked up at the painting in the sky and watched the young man chant and walk slowly, like a chariot or an iron cavalry. His twin swords stirred up a blazing whirlwind, and he cut down all the enemies with fluid movements. He rushed to the next battlefield without stopping, and then killed and cut down again!
Highly efficient brutality, swift and ruthless decisiveness, and exhilarating carnage!
This was truly a performance, a killing performance that was almost an art form!
(End of this chapter)