Calamity Messenger

Chapter 206 - 162: Karmic Power

The confusion surrounding Yan Qing for many days suddenly cleared up.

Upon hearing that Si Wuxie left his legacy in the Fourth-Turn Secret Realm, Yan Qing wondered if it was a bit too risky.

He could understand Si Wuxie’s reasoning; if the legacy were left outside, any test would be meaningless. Other messengers could simply burrow through mountains and earth to directly seize the legacy. Moreover, as Si Wuxie was famed as a great figure in Demon Dao, his enemies are likely numerous, stretching from Shu Dao Mountain all the way to Chang’an City.

To prevent his legacy from being taken by his enemies, and considering that the Secret Realm is unaffected by external natural disasters and human calamities, Si Wuxie’s choice of the Fourth-Turn Secret Realm as the location for his legacy was reasonable.

But the problem is, how could Si Wuxie ensure his legacy wouldn’t be reset by the Secret Realm?

Once the Secret Realm resets, everything inside reverts to its original state. This characteristic allows the Secret Realm Military Town to have nearly inexhaustible resources. At the same time, it means any changes made to the Secret Realm can only take effect once. Strategizing at the Stone Sinking Creek of Xuanwu Lake Military Town takes three hours, with two hours spent by engineers repeating construction tasks hundreds of times.

The Secret Realm will reset when there is no one inside; this is an undeniable golden rule.

If Si Wuxie’s legacy can exist for nearly a century, only one situation is possible: the Secret Realm has never reset, and someone has always been inside.

"I cannot deny your hypothesis, Wolf Demon," Prajna said. "After all, no one has ever reached the deepest parts of the Corpse Bone Forest. Perhaps Si Wuxie really is inside, waiting for us. However, what we believe to be more likely is that Si Wuxie left a spirit beast inside the Secret Realm."

A spirit beast?

Yan Qing didn’t have much impression of this term, but Pharmacist’s Wish quickly resolved his confusion: "It is indeed possible, because even a Foundation Establishment Messenger hasn’t heard of Refusing Grain and Eating Mist. Si Wuxie was active at the beginning of the establishment of the Three Kingdoms, keeping pace with Liang Taizu, Qi Shenwu, and Zhou Taizu. Even if he didn’t die back then, he should have died of old age by now. However, spirit beasts converted from demons don’t have concerns about lifespan or diet and can indeed reside in the Secret Realm for a hundred years without change."

"What do you mean by a spirit beast?" the Rabbit Heroine asked.

"It’s a demon tamed with the aid of a Foundation Establishment Messenger’s talisman," Pharmacist’s Wish explained: "Beyond Foundation Establishment, talismans exhibit more and more inscrutable powers, including the power to alter a demon’s mind, making them obey the messenger. Any demon converted in this way is called a spirit beast."

"Most spirit beasts are at the Third Transformation level, with rare Fourth-Turn spirit beasts. It’s said that the Qi Kingdom has a Fourth-Turn spirit beast passed down by Emperor Divine Martial, but who knows if that’s true."

Of course, there are only Third-Turn spirit beasts, Fourth-Turn ones would certainly not be controllable for so long!

Yan Qing understood immediately; isn’t this the ’confusion’ or ’domination’ effect, which temporarily converts enemies into neutral units or allies during battle?

These kinds of effects are typically time-limited, except when overpowering weaker opponents— to demonstrate that leveling up in games isn’t to ’fight small lobsters at level one and fight Bawang Sunset Lobsters at level ninety-nine.’ The official provides more powerful mechanisms for advanced players while allowing these mechanics to grant nearly abnormal enhancements when higher levels confront lower ones.

Foundation Establishment Messengers have exaggerated combat suppression over levels below Third Transformation. For instance, powers triggered by chance might become certain triggers, time-limited effects might become limitless, any skills with a value range are maximized.

The key is not the numbers, but the mechanics; after all, what fun is a single blow causing 99999 damage? But if you push-palm, sending a small monster flying into a wall embedded within, and apply a slowing effect, making the boss afraid to move as if it’s scared of an accident, that’s when the player realizes their levels weren’t gained in vain.

The more useless a power is, the more it gets enhanced. The trend in "Messenger" of old pros mentoring newbies persists for this reason, as helping new players through lower-level instances is especially fun. Many particularly enjoy this type of ’out-of-level challenge,’ even discussing how to best ’blast fish’ on forums.

’Confusion’ and ’domination,’ such useless effects, apparently receive massive enhancements, ineffective against elite monsters and bosses, affecting only small fry—what’s the point of that? No player is troubled by small fry, solidifying permanent duration enhancement.

Initially hearing about spirit beasts, Yan Qing speculated if it wasn’t part of the summoned beast system. After all, summoned beasts in "Messenger" are quite strong, but accessible only after Foundation Establishment. He didn’t expect they were talking about converting low-level demons into pet babies.

In "Messenger," there’s no pet stream of capturing monsters as babies, because there’s an unpassable issue: If you can defeat the monster, why have it as a pet? Assuming capturing monster babies and raising them from small... the summoned beast flow is a perfect upgrade substitute. Summoned beasts bind to talismans, die, and can be summoned again, and are meticulously designed by the official to be stylish and cute.

Yan Qing never expected that a pet stream rarely seen in the game would be worked into existence by this world’s people, or rather, what was just for fun in the game translated to unique significance in reality.

"Foundation Establishment Messengers having spirit beasts isn’t surprising. Many Foundation Establishment Messengers send spirit beasts to assist their families in conquering Third-Turn Secret Realms, effectively adding a Third-Turn combat power to the family," Beiyou said. "Only, most spirit beasts break free upon the messenger’s death. Who knows how Si Wuxie managed to keep a spirit beast obedient all this time."