The King of Black Fog

His gaze shifted, and Li Changzhou was already in a flying pounce, seizing her hastily thrust right hand and placing her Female Emerald Bee Sword against her neck.

A faint fragrance filled the air as beads of sweat slid down her snow-white cheeks.

"Your sweaty face is mightier than your sword," Li Changzhou said with a laugh as he stepped back, dodging her attack.

"But you—my lord," her voice was ethereal as the sounds of heaven, though laden with a murderous intent, "are my glory, are the shield around me, lift up my head."

Clad in golden armor and a red cape billowing, Yang Qinglan was like a Valkyrie in armor.

"Holy Light Shield."

This wasn't over yet.

"The Lord says, ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession."

"Holy Domain" unfolded.

"Come on, not that!" Li Changzhou quickly went to pick up his own sword.

Without his ranged weapon, if he was controlled again by the combined move of "Thorns" and "Attract And Repel," and came close to Yang Qinglan boosted by Evangelical Skill, the outcome was hard to say.

He couldn't use his rule-breaking strength and all his skills either.

After the morning training, Yang Qinglan put away her Golden Holy Armor, her eyes slightly glazed, her flushed cheeks sticky with sweat entangling her black hair.

Li Changzhou wondered if she still had 10 points of Charm—she had replaced "Divine Sense" with "Charming."

"You're this powerful?" she asked, puzzled.

In her eyes, Li Changzhou was certainly the strongest of the three, but to fight on par with her without using skills and rule-breaking attributes, that seemed a bit too strong.

"Do you know when I am strongest in the game?" Li Changzhou countered.

"Hmm?" Yang Qinglan gathered her long hair, elegantly securing it with the Emerald Bee Sword.

Li Changzhou admired her and replied, "When I solo with Qian Xia, that is, in a one-on-one duel, I'm always at my most active, excited mentally, highly focused, with every move flowing smoothly, aiming for a flawless and gorgeous victory, and sometimes, I playfully crush her in the process."

"Exactly!" the victim Li Qianxia nodded vehemently, "That's how vile a person he is! But I didn't expect him to be so ruthless and merciless even in a one-on-one with you, Qing Lan!"

"Wrong," Li Changzhou disagreed, "I'm not only merciless, but also perform above my level."

Li Qianxia: "..."

That's it, the Li Family is definitely going to die out.

Yang Qinglan chuckled, "Let's continue tomorrow, I'm going to take a shower."

"Me too!" Li Qianxia followed, having worked up a sweat from her morning training as well.

The two entered the wooden hut and directly used "Call the Wind and Rain."

Yang Qinglan could now control the strength of the wind so that the skill only caused rain.

As for the low temperature... she had a constant temperature skill.

Li Changzhou could only sadly jump into the big lake, frolicking with the silver fish, while also taking the opportunity to practice "Thunder Book" a bit more.

Breakfast consisted of a variety of 'unnamed' dishes concocted in the little Jade Cauldron.

Combinations of different vegetables, even adding branches, wild grass, milk, silver fish, and blood pearls made from Li Changzhou's blood.

The finished products were all health supplements.

Only the 'unnamed' infused with blood pearls qualified as an elixir, with healing effects slightly better than blood pearls alone.

Li Changzhou, Li Qianxia, and Golden Crown, two people and one snake, devoured various 'unnamed' dishes that "even pigs wouldn't eat."

Yang Qinglan, while cooking (doing alchemy), simultaneously recorded the researched recipes (elixir recipes) in her notebook; she seemed to really enjoy this activity.

It's nice, just like at a do-it-yourself barbecue, there's always someone who prefers grilling over eating.

Leaving the World of Honey, stepping out of the courtyard, they took the bus to school, swiping Dungeon Tickets, eager to seize the unmatched time, swiftly reaping experience and game coins.

However, until the bus reached its stop...

[Insufficient number of players matched, please try again later, or add additional rules to enter lower-tier instances]

Is this what they mean by "the ways of Heaven, taking from the have and giving to the have-nots"?

Demanding human rights, advocating "the ways of man, taking from the have-nots to supply the haves"!

Li Changzhou didn't consider adding extra conditions, as that would measure luck rather than strength.

For example, what good would it do to be unmatched if the bus broke down last time?

After the morning's lessons, they had pan-fried dumplings and tripe soup from the cafeteria lady for lunch, and Li Changzhou grabbed a bottle of banana milk when leaving the cafeteria.

In the evening, they tried swiping their bus tickets again, but still received a prompt to either try again later or add extra rules to enter lower-tier instances.

Where were those geniuses with maxed-out stats?

◇

These people have all been banned from entering the game by the state and organizations.

Accompanied by [Global Notification: Player 'Main' continues to be unmatched in 'Arena 23', please unite players], the matter of the little Martial Saint slowly spread.

Laughter and excitement to watch the fun filled the air, as some locals and foreigners took turns posting on the forums.

[Why is the little Martial Saint called that? Because there's 'Main' above him]

[Little Martial Saint: Wait a minute] (For some reason, the lyrics for "Wait a minute" below are posted, each line tagging the Little Martial Saint)

[From the little Martial Saint's defeat, see the decline of Xia Country] (It mentions Xia Country's propaganda "The Little Martial Saint single-handedly defeated three players who have broken through limits" and suggests it's false, then moves on to topics like Xia Country's elites being nothing special and the impending doom of Xia Country)

In the capital of Xia Country, inside a certain villa, Little Martial Saint browsed the posts with an expressionless face.

"Don't take it to heart, the game said it too, 'Main' is just unmatched at this stage, once we break through our limits, we'll have plenty of opportunities to defeat him," Door Plate consoled.

"The Medicinal Materials Bureau has developed drugs that increase attributes, and our quotas have arrived," Arman said as she lay on the sofa, plucking grapes from a bunch and eating them straight.

To cultivate camaraderie among teammates, Door Plate, Arman and Little Martial Saint lived in the same villa.

The villa served as their training base, surrounded by other national team experts, frequently sparring and practicing together.

Food, drinks, and necessities were all provided by the state.

The logistics team analyzed their data, provided them with tactics, combo ideas, and the database selected the best skill combinations for them; they lavished the team with a massive amount of Game Coin, serving them at any cost.

Little Martial Saint pulled up a virtual keyboard and began typing rapidly on the forum.

Door Plate shook his head secretly; Little Martial Saint still cared too much about external opinions.

"Going to have a flame war?!" Arman quickly took out her phone, opened the forums, ready to watch the spectacle.

Little Martial Saint was a star player promoted by the country; his forum posts were golden.

Soon, his post appeared at the top of the forum.

[Little Martial Saint: An upfront response to the rumors of my loss to 'Main']

The forum's frenzied refreshing of posts paused for a moment due to the appearance of this golden post.

Everyone clicked in.

The officials limited who could reply; only those who had joined the Special Warfare Bureau could respond to this thread.

1st Floor: The rumors are true (Little Martial Saint)

2nd Floor: But I'm the only player who survived a fight with 'Main' (Little Martial Saint)

3rd Floor: Come talk smack when any of you can do that (Little Martial Saint)

4th Floor: .... (Arman)

5th Floor: Holy shit, somehow I find this very reasonable! (Wei Shao)

6th Floor: Now that you mention it, Little Martial Saint really is awesome, 'Main' is acknowledged by the game as being unmatched, and if 'Little Martial Saint' can survive fleeing from him, wouldn't that make him almost as good? (Combat Specialization)

7th Floor: Almost unmatched Little Martial Saint! (Hilarious~)

8th Floor: Almost unmatched Little Martial Saint! (Hilarious~) (Future Emperor)

9th Floor: Almost unmatched Little Martial Saint! (Hilarious~) (Shattered Dragon Roar)

10th Floor: You guys, when you copy and paste, don't include the hilarious emoji! (Hilarious~) (Free and Easy Extreme Intent)

11th Floor: I'm stating it here, if there's another player who can escape from 'Main', for the rest of my life I'll call myself 'Little Martial Saint' (Little Martial Saint)

12th Floor: @Arman @Door Plate

13th Floor: @Arman @Door Plate

In the villa, the atmosphere turned a bit awkward; Arman sneakily put down her phone and pretended to eat grapes seriously.

◇

While the online mood was jovial, Li Changzhou and his two companions were practically turning their hair white with worry. Where are the people? The players? The national team? Match already!

In this situation, Li Changzhou received a call from Yafeiluna from Italy.

"Lord Dark Mist, I have something to report to you."

"Speak."

"The Church, wanting to subdue the Mafia, leaked some information to me, and there is one thing I think is essential to report to you: The herbs used to become a player can be synthesized into drugs that increase attributes."

"I am already aware."

"Truly worthy of you!" Yafeiluna offered flattery, "May I ask if you're interested in these herbs? Additionally, two other Mafia members have at great cost secretly collected some, planning to present them to the Church."

"Sicily?"

"Yes."

"I'll be there tomorrow!"