The King of Black Fog

Li Changzhou raised his right hand, and a jade light surged from afar, falling into his hand.

After breaking through the limit and acquiring "Ability," "One Device Through" also gained a new effect, becoming even more closely bound with his weapon—summoning the Emerald Bee Sword back to his hand was one demonstration of this intimacy.

"Hold on," the Chun Emperor floated in the air, her figure shrouded in mist, "there should be no reason for us to continue fighting."

Li Changzhou did not respond.

"Do Black Card and White Card battles need a reason?" Yang Qinglan said.

"Unlike the Black Card, we White Cards do whatever we want; you can set the conditions," the Chun Emperor said, slightly furrowing her brows as she looked down at her legs, her slender and fair right calf bent from a kick.

"Princess Chun, how about you hand over your Identity Card, and we'll let you go," Li Qianxia said with a smile.

Yang Qinglan softly chanted, "But you—my lord, are my glory, are the shield around me, you make me lift up my head."

The Golden Holy Armor became even more dazzling and divine, enhanced by the "Holy Light Shield."

The Chun Emperor raised her head, flashing a seductive smile, "Turning back with one smile makes all other beauties pale."

Li Changzhou was slightly distracted by her smile, and the Chun Emperor avoided the Black Death God, landing further away, while also evading the "Thorns" Yang Qinglan casually threw out.

"You really enjoy sneak attacks," the Chun Emperor playfully complained.

"Listen carefully," she continued, "my goal isn't the mission. Otherwise, with my beauty, whether by inciting the Song Clan to attack the Li Clan or vice versa, it would be effortless."

"With your beauty?" Li Changzhou laughed.

The Chun Emperor stared at him for a while, then burst into laughter again, "Li Changzhou, do you know what my Charm level is?"

"How do you know my Charm level is 9?" Li Changzhou asked curiously.

"...Hmph!" The Chun Emperor huffed discontentedly, like a cute girlfriend stamping her foot and acting coquettishly, "Do you know what my Instinct is?"

"Just a moment." Li Changzhou planted the Emerald Bee Sword into the ground and pulled out the "Heavy Machine Gun."

Ratatatatatatatatatata!

Gun smoke filled the air, flames shot up, and the pungent smell of gunpowder lingered for a full minute.

Amidst the gunfire, Yang Qinglan softly recited with her delicate lips, "He who sheds blood and is deceitful is abhorred by the Lord, he who speaks lies, you shall utterly destroy."

Princess Chun was unscathed, while the wall and street behind her had been plowed into a tunnel by the barrage of bullets.

"It seems she's truly immune to thermal weapons, and for quite a long time," Li Changzhou reported to Yang Qinglan as he stowed away the "Heavy Machine Gun" and pulled out the Emerald Bee Sword.

"Not 'quite a long time,' but 'forever.'" The Chun Emperor said, "In this era, any player with a brain would first pick immunity to thermal weapons."

"What is your Instinct?" Yang Qinglan asked.

"'Favored Concubine,'" the Chun Emperor smiled inscrutably, "S rank."

Li Qianxia immediately signaled with her eyes to her brother—I want it!

Li Changzhou looked at Yang Qinglan—do you want it?

Yang Qinglan laughed for a moment.

The Chun Emperor looked back and forth at the three of them, seeing no fear, hesitation, or even a flicker of doubt in their eyes.

This was S rank.

Let alone an S rank, the Czar Princess's A rank Instinct "Telekinesis" would easily wipe out the three of Li Changzhou if she kept her distance—without teleporting or hiding in the honey pot world.

"One minor Skill in 'Favored Concubine,'" the Chun Emperor remained wary inside, though her face showed continued arrogance, "As long as my Charm is higher than someone's, if I wish it, they will definitely fall in love with me; you tell me—can I not persuade the Song Clan or Li Clan?"

"What is Visualization?" Yang Qinglan asked again.

"'Riding the Clouds,' Flying..." The Chun Emperor's expression changed, her seductive eyes darting electrifying glances at Yang Qinglan, "What did you just mutter secretly?"

Her regal poise was both frightening and admirable.

Yang Qinglan smiled faintly without responding, sans "Favored Concubine," yet still irresistibly beautiful with her natural divine grace.

She glanced towards the direction of Pear Garden's main gate, already hearing the sound of military vehicles; a large force was approaching.

Looking once again at Princess Chun's previously injured right leg, it seemed to have healed without her noticing.

From the start of the battle, it had only been two to three minutes. Since Li Bichang's death, Song City had entered a high state of alert, and there was no time left.

"How shall we cooperate?" Yang Qinglan asked.

"Change the location." Facing them, the Chun Emperor slowly backed towards the night sky until she was far enough away before turning to fly off.

"It seems poison is useless on her too," Li Changzhou said.

The King Cobra slithered over, biting each of them once. From the onset of being blown away, the King Cobra had been secretly releasing colorless and odorless poison at his command.

"If you think to withstand thermal weapons, naturally you'd think to resist poison," Yang Qinglan said, swallowing a low-level Blood Pearl, the snake bite on her wrist quickly healing.

Li Qianxia, currently being bitten by the King Cobra, looked at her in surprise, "Did you know my brother ordered Golden Crown to release poison?"

She knew nothing.

"I didn't know, but I could guess. Do you think it's normal for your brother to stand still when seeing a beautiful woman?"

"Hey..."

Packing up the King Cobra, the three of them mounted butterflies. Relying on Little Radish's skill to sniff out scents, they pursued the Chun Emperor—Little Radish hadn't been poisoned and had run at the first sign of danger.

The butterflies fluttered slowly, but they were not in a hurry; they needed time to think, and moving slowly had its advantages as they wouldn't be noticed.

"Can that woman's Instinct truly make everyone with lesser Charm fall in love with her?" Li Qianxia worriedly said.

She certainly did not want to fall in love with a woman—judging by her estimation, the Chun Emperor's Charm was at 9.

"Facing 'Confession,' you must speak the truth, but not all truths can be trusted, for example, saying you like Li Changzhou the most, that statement is also true," Yang Qinglan said.

"Sigh." Li Qianxia sighed, "Is this what Second Stage players are like? Too dangerous, even S rank shows up."

Li Changzhou said, "Our mission is the highest level, encountering her is not surprising, we'll just have to kill her later."

"I want her Instinct!"

"Qian Xia," Yang Qinglan spoke as delicately as possible, "your Charm is 8, and mine is 9."

"Mm—" Li Qianxia let out a huffy breath.

"I think this skill isn't anything special," Li Changzhou said indifferently.

Yang Qinglan and Li Qianxia exchanged glances and laughed together.

"Laughing at what?" Li Changzhou frowned and asked.

"Told you so!" Li Qianxia said proudly.

"I had guessed as much," Yang Qinglan smiled.

...Huh?

"I told Qing Lan," Li Qianxia explained, "that once you knew the 'Favored Concubine' skill could charm people, you definitely wouldn't give it to either of us."

"When did you say that? How come I didn't know about that?"

"It's a girl thing, a stinky man like you wouldn't understand."

"..."

Little Radish sniffed and muttered, "It smells quite nice, actually."

"Let me smell too." Li Qianxia leaned over as well.

"Mm—" This time it was a positive sound, she even nodded her head.

"Be serious," Li Changzhou pushed her away. "Think about how to deal with her."

"I can't do it," Li Qianxia responded very quickly without thinking.

Yang Qinglan pondered and said, "We actually have an advantage facing her, but we lack a key way to secure a victory."

"Visualization," Li Changzhou said. "That woman said, Master Huang's 'Thunder Map' actually has no combat skill."

The Chun Emperor turned the clouds into silk. Not only could it be used to ride the clouds and defend, but it could even block hallucinations, much more sophisticated than the 'Thunder Map's brute force in 'hearing thunder in a silent place'.

Simply put, it's like someone having mana, but still using it to enhance the physical body, while another person uses mana to cast spells.

It's like using a Nokia to crack walnuts versus using it to go online.

"Why would Master Huang deceive us?" Li Qianxia wondered.

"Maybe he wasn't deceiving us, he doesn't look like someone who could easily lie to all the players," Li Changzhou said.

After a brief thought, he said, "I guess he must have known the Visualization Map has a combat skill, but his sect didn't teach him, so he figured out a move by himself and thought that was the combat skill."

Li Qianxia nodded after hearing this, feeling that it was a possibility.

Who knows, maybe when all the players eventually find out the truth about the 'Thunder Map's combat skill, Master Huang will be so ashamed he might move to the Moon?

Instead, it might be said he concocted a false combat skill to scam money, which seems a bit more dignified and crafty.

"By the way, should we swap skills? Qing Lan, you learn 'Wooden Man Technique,' and Brother, you learn 'Tornado Transformation'?" Li Qianxia asked.

"Controlling wooden men requires a lot of energy, and I need to constantly monitor the battlefield," Yang Qinglan had already thought it through during the day and rejected her suggestion.

"I don't need it either," Li Changzhou said. "What would I do as a tornado?"

Right now, aside from some practical yet fancy skills, like Blood Pearl and Teleportation, only the Visualization Map interested him.

As the 'Physical Enhancement' description said, he was full of confidence in his own body, preferring physical combat due to his personality, likes, and even values.

"Are we still going?" Little Radish's voice was full of reluctance.

The butterfly slowed down suddenly, almost there.

Li Qianxia's eyes brightened, "Brother, how about giving 'Wooden Man Technique' to Little Radish? Let her support us from a safe place?"

"I don't mind, but can she handle it?" Li Changzhou expressed doubt.

The black mist that conferred skills also had side effects, either complete submission to Li Changzhou like Yafeiluna and others, or complete trust in him like Yang Qinglan and Li Qianxia.

Given Little Radish's aversion to danger, she was absolutely unwilling to face the black mist.

"Easy!" Li Qianxia snapped her fingers.

She picked up Little Radish, placed her between her crossed legs, and pointed at Li Changzhou, telling her, "Call him 'Daddy.'"

"???" Li Changzhou almost fell off the butterfly, "There's a... butterfly use for that!"

"Hmm~"

"I wasn't talking to you."

Li Qianxia ignored him and continued telling Little Radish, "Call him 'Daddy.'"

"Daddy?" Little Radish looked puzzled.

Li Changzhou: "..."

"Is it safe now?" Li Qianxia asked Little Radish.

Little Radish shook her head in even more confusion.

Li Qianxia then pointed at Yang Qinglan, who was watching the drama, and said to Little Radish, "Call her 'Mommy.'"

"Mommy."

Yang Qinglan: "..."

"Wow!" Little Radish's eyes suddenly lit up, "So safe, so very safe, as safe as being on a train! What's happening, Qian Xia?"

"It's a secret," Li Qianxia smirked mischievously.

Li Changzhou's body swayed slightly, and Yang Qinglan, blushing with annoyance, glanced at him.

"Cough!" He held his fist against his lips and coughed lightly.

Yang Qinglan looked away, the night breeze suddenly felt much cooler—it was because her face had heated up.

Little Radish, oblivious to any danger, handed over her Identity Card and only felt slightly nauseous as she accepted 'Wooden Man Technique.'