The King of Black Fog

The thickness of the snow was getting thinner and thinner, and before dusk, eight people arrived at the edge of the snowy plain.

"Captain! If we keep going forward, it's the edge of the Abyss!" the old man shouted.

And at that moment, the Snow Leopard slowed down until it completely stopped, no matter how Li Changzhou drove it, it refused to step out of the snowy plain.

"Snow Leopards can only survive in the snow," the old man said, leading the horse out of the dark sphere beside Li Changzhou, "Captain, kill it, its teeth can be ground into weapons, its fur is very valuable, excellent for warmth, even though the taste of its raw meat is somewhat lacking, it can also keep you warm."

"Kill it." Li Changzhou said.

The old man turned his face away and shouted, "Tali, Andy, Stone Fist, you three take action!"

As Tali's dagger pierced into the Snow Leopard's body, the white snow beneath the Snow Leopard came alive, eagerly drinking the fresh blood.

"The weather is getting colder." Li Changzhou looked in the direction of the Abyss.

Yang Qinglan silently nodded.

In front, there was neither wind nor snow, yet the temperature was terrifyingly low.

Here, even the wind must go far and wide, snow falls into a deep sleep on the Earth, nothing in the world can move.

After dealing with the Snow Leopard, the eight people led their horses forward—the horses, like the Snow Leopards, refused to move forward no matter how they were driven, so they had to dismount and pull hard.

Sometimes the reins even tore the horse's flesh.

The blood would freeze as soon as it left the body, embedding in the horse like a blood diamond.

Everyone got a piece of the Snow Leopard's skin, enough to make a bloody cloak.

With this, everyone's body temperature finally returned to that of early this morning, although they were freezing all over, wishing it were colder to freeze solid, they could still endure.

Additionally, they occasionally fed the horses a mouthful of Snow Leopard blood, which might be the main reason the horses were willing to continue walking.

"Grandpa, if... there were no Snow Leopards... what should we do?" The cold made Tali's speech intermittent.

"Endure it." the old man replied.

"But... it's so hard to bear...."

"Hard to bear doesn't mean you can't endure it, I've done it all my life."

"This is survival, little Tali." Yeet laughed, his laughter tinged with an unavoidable fear of the cold.

"There's no other way." Bai Zi said.

Tali seemed to feel even colder, she shrank her neck, subconsciously looking back towards the Shadow Team Captain.

"Captain, do you find it hard to endure?"

Li Changzhou, walking alongside Yang Qinglan, said, "Learn to enjoy, adversity is the best fun for adventurers, once in unbearable heat I fought with others, teammates were so weak they could only wet clothes with urine to cover their faces for cooling; also chased enemies in a town ablaze with raging fire; even been swallowed by a giant deep-sea fish, running inside its intestines."

Li Changzhou wasn't worried about revealing his information.

The Shadow Team couldn't possibly know all of his deeds.

The original Shadow Team Captain whom he replaced, according to the rules of identity replacement in value games, would have similar experiences, like going through great hardships to gain 'Great Power'.

Indeed, no one doubted him, only admiration.

"Only someone like the Captain could perhaps wield 'Great Power'." the old man's tone was somewhat bleak.

As a warrior who had endured all his life, he undoubtedly had a period of crazy pursuit of 'Great Power', but 'Great Power' did not choose him.

"Captain..." Andy's voice trembled with cold, "tell us about your past experiences!"

"Yes indeed, with stories—" Tali made a swallowing motion out of coldness, "we'll forget the cold."

"You guys are freezing just talking, and want me to tell stories." Li Changzhou laughed and cursed.

"Talk more, and we won't feel cold!" Andy restored his previous mischievous grin.

"Alright," Li Changzhou said, "Let me tell you."

"Great!"

"Oh ho!"

Li Changzhou raised his head for a moment to glance at the sky frozen like ice and thought, "With such cold weather, I'll tell the story about that adventure in the Desert."

"Is there 'Great Power'?" Stone Fist asked curiously.

"Yes, and there's a beast that can enlarge and shrink, small as a strand of hair, big enough to be like a house, but the most dangerous is still humans..."

Even the old man perked up his ears.

Only Yang Qinglan walked beside him in silence, looking like a stunning female corpse driven by Li Changzhou.

By the time Li Changzhou finished narrating the revised Desert journey, the eight had reached the edge of the Abyss.

Dusk stained everything, the world was gilded, the sky seemed to be burning, making Tali, immersed in the Captain's adventure tales, unable to help but imagine that perhaps that scorching Desert was of such color.

At the edge of the Abyss, there was a 'No Cold Zone', magically maintaining a temperature of 0 degrees Celsius.

Life thronged here, humans, beasts, plants, wishing they could flood the area like seawater.

But life daring to linger here for too long could never leave.

"Why? Is it cursed?" Tali asked.

The old man shook his head, saying, "Those who survive in the 'No Cold Zone' for a certain period, including beasts, lose the desire to ever leave, without exception, but whether this is a curse, no one knows."

"Could it also be 'Great Power'!" Andy said excitedly.

"Anyone with such thoughts stays here for life." the old man sneered, "Young man, I know what you're thinking, don't be delusional, there were those who tried to leave before they were bound by the 'No Cold Zone', planning to return later to continue searching, but when they returned next time, they never left."

"Can't go a second time? But haven't you gone several times, old man?" Stone Fist asked puzzled.