Charm Queen (1)

"So? Is Ka-ul keeping you happy?"

"Hmm, it must be pretty shocking that the one time you don't attend a banquet, your husband and a fellow partner come back with a Fiancee, right?"

"Oh, how's the sex life—"

Oh, my god!" Yuehua finally snapped, making Jun'er and Lana grin. Oscar and Xie Xan walked behind, unwilling to associate with their partners who continued to crudely tease Yuehua after the news of her apparent engagement with Ja Sun was brought to them. Of course, the politics behind it was cleared up by Bibi Dong but it didn't stop the duo from teasing and Yuehua to feel embarrassed.

"Sister Dong, I still feel I should have remained back in the Fortress to keep up with the logistics," Yuehua glanced at Bibi Dong, begging with her eyes only for her to calmly shake her head in refusal.

"We discussed this before," Bibi Dong sighed and looked at everyone in the carriage. Her team.

"Aside from the joint hunt established with Ning Fengzhi during the banquet, I want to finally break through and I cannot do that alone. Out of all of us, Ah Yin is resistant to my poison, Ka-ul can absorb it at an appropriate amount for self-growth, and you can completely remove it from existence. Thus, facing a Death Spider Emperor, you three will be of a great help."

The arrangement, from the beginning, was a lot more complicated, however.

Hu Lana had finally absorbed her immortal herb— The Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum and had reached peak rank 60 with quite a bit of energy to spare that would be used during the breakthrough.

Jun'er was at the same bottleneck.

Aside from these two and Bibi Dong, others needed a break from their desk jobs to keep their bodies well-trained and the benefits of politics were already showing. Previously, the group would have to be cautious regarding the security of the fortress if all of them left together but now, the task could be outsourced to Ja Sun's in-laws. Of course, the Clear Sky Clan will gain a few things on the sly but that was something they had to deal with.

Hu Lana and Xie Xan, too, finally settled to have their baby be taken care of by one of Ja Sun's trusted subordinates. After encountering Poseidon, Ja Sun's death astral combatant had to recover so he couldn't just create an autonomous clone.

Seeing Bibi Dong speak up, others quietened down. In fact, for Hu Lana, teasing someone else was just her way of keeping herself distracted from worrying over Xie Yue. It was selfish but she never admitted herself to be otherwise in the first place.

Yuehua sighed softly, pouting a little. Her aggrieved expression made Erlong a bit confused, "Didn't you say that it sucks to be alone? Why are you so pouty now?"

"I never said that!" Yuehua hissed.

"Yeah, you did," Erlong scoffed.

"You got nothing to say?"

The carriage was divided into many seats this time around and at the back sat the three men. Seeing others make a fuss, Oscar glanced at Ja Sun alongside Xie Xan.

"Hmm?" Ja Sun blinked, uncharacteristically yawning and rubbing his eyes tiredly. His week has been quite busy. From constantly goading Poseidon to talk to developing various projects to their peak only to scrap it and start from the beginning with a fresh mindset... really dulled his mind. And even with a divine fortitude, the things Ja Sun played with certainly surpassed the thresholds of mortality so his exhaustion was a natural.

"Why does that even matter?" Ja Sun shrugged, mumbling, "All I'm getting from in the night is from Ah Yin and sometimes, Dong, so that's what only matters."

Bibi Dong blushed, glaring at Ja Sun while unaffected, Ah Yin continued to rest her head against his shoulder and kept her eyes closed.

"Ooooh~!" Hu Lana cooed, again finding a reason to hum and haw, "What kind of things are you getting, hmm?"

"Certainly not unwanted pregnancy," Ja Sun remarked, finally silencing Hu Lana as she scowled and stuck her tongue out. Xie Xan, meanwhile, snorted, "It was a surprise... not unwanted."

"Yeah, yeah..."

"Anyway," Bibi Dong rolled her eyes, "First, we will find spirit rings for the two of you. Matching with Ning Fengzhi was done for this reason, too. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda is said to have a sense of treasure and finding things of affinity. We'll see if you two can breakthrough in the given week or not. Once the hunt concludes, we will start with setting a trap for the Death Spider Emperor and begin preparations for my breakthrough."

Saying this, Bibi Dong looked at Ja Sun and nodded. Shrugging, Ja Sun began performing Mental Acupuncture on Bibi Dong and Tang Yuehua alike.

After learning the existence of Spirit Souls from Ja Sun and their requirements only being enough mental energy, Bibi Dong, of course, was interested to have her last three spirit rings form from the spirit soul of the 100000-year-old Death Spider Emperor. This will also remove the hassle of constantly hunting for her spirit rings until she starts acquiring rings for her second martial soul.

Thus, Bibi Dong wanted her mental energy trained, and even if Ja Sun didn't give out the technique, he certainly wasn't denying its effects to anyone who did ask him. Bibi Dong and Yuehua turned silent, beads of sweat rolling off their heads as Ja Sun stabbed into their mental sea and continued to increase the magnitude of their mental energy.

The hunt, of course, would take place in the largest, uncontrolled region of the continent— The Star Dou Great Forest.

---

The carriage didn't bring the group directly to the forest. It wasn't supposed to, in the first place. Instead, it brought them to a nearby town that was appointed to be the meeting location with Ning Fengzhi. Once they did, under Bibi Dong's severe threats, especially to the hair on Hu Lana's head should she speak out of turn in front of others, they all departed. This time around Ning Fengzhi wasn't accompanied by his Titled Douluo level elder.

At least, on the surface.

Ja Sun had already noticed the fluctuations in space that seemed to hide a lanky and pale individual with a towering figure. The Bone Douluo, Ja Sun recognized.

Ning Fengzhi had a team of ten spirit masters including his fiancee and with the nine from the Giant's Fortress, a total of 19 spirit masters finally took to the Star Dou Great Forest.

Along the way, Ning Fengzhi gave it a shot once again— subtly trying to attract any of Bibi Dong's members but seeing that the reversal in the form of Bibi Dong revealing a few enticing conditions to his men almost made him groan in depression and this caused him to stop his attempts. However, there was one thing everyone from the Giant's Fortress noted soon enough.

Ning Fengzhi and his team seemed to have a destination in their mind already.

Observing the subtle change with the situation being more apparent, Ning Fengzhi didn't continue to hide and spoke with a relaxed smile, "We have had our scouts tail a few rare spirit beasts that wouldn't usually leave their respective inner rings within the forest. One of them is our first target— the Jewel Panther."

"Oh, what age is it?" Bibi Dong questioned. Jewel Panther certainly is a rare spirit beast with a prominent jewel on its forehead. The color of this jewel itself defines the attribute of the panther so this is a species of spirit beasts that could copulate with other beasts and somehow bring other qualities into their own pool of bloodline.

"A panther with earthen attribute. The jewel has three sides so probably a 3000-year-old panther," Ning Fengzhi replied. Everyone except Yuehua was above the level of Spirit Ancestor so the hunt of the panther was done purely out of monetary reasons. The jewel on the head of the panther is sought out by many merchant clans and the younger the spirit beast, the better, for the jewel has more cuts and sides as the spirit beast grows.

They continued on their journey. The overall strength of the group was so great that any stray spirit master hunting in the surroundings retreated tactfully so as to not accidentally offend the group.

It was also during this walk that Ja Sun realized that aside from precious items, markets, and political events, Ning Fengzhi had nothing else to talk about. His whole life has been utilized to understand these three topics and Ning Fengzhi personally never had a great adventure of his own so the fact that the youth was still so grounded after being raised in such a manner did manage to surprise a few from the group of nine.

"If you don't mind me asking, Brother Ka-ul," Ning Fengzhi gestured, "I could sense the aura of heaven and earthly treasure on all of you except Sister Tang. Could it be that the rumors of your team having ingested a few treasures be actually true?"

Ja Sun blinked and inquired, "You want me to be honest?"

"That would certainly be ideal."

"Hmm... then yes, I do mind you asking me about this," Ja Sun muttered. This was a minor shame in his life where he let his significant other squander her share of immortal herbs on the group. He may have personally shared it, too... but at a price no matter large or small. Ah Yin, on the other hand, just gifted these priceless talent-increasing immortal herbs...

But he could understand her thoughts. If they can control the Blessed Land, they can, in theory, create as many immortal herbs as possible.

"Pfft," Erlong finally couldn't hold it, causing Ning Fengzhi's fiancee, Lin Min, to glare in her direction while Ning Fengzhi nodded with a relaxed smile still, "That's fine."

"Now, if you don't mind me asking," Ja Sun pulled this time, "The top three clans have had a firm position since the beginning. Although, back then, Blue Dragons and your clan were considered to be a tie for the second position itself... glad that now there are no confusing aspects left for the moment. It certainly isn't only because of your martial souls, right?

All the clans, at least, the top clans, have special techniques researched over years. For instance, the Clear Sky Clan and their Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer. So, what kind of techniques can actually be used with a Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda?"

Ning Fengzhi grew quiet for a moment. Instead of answering, he questioned, "Brother Ka-ul, forgive me if I am acting on unverified information but you seem to have used a technique similar to one of the core hammer arts of the Clear Sky Clan, the Nine Absolutes, to be precise. It certainly makes me a bit worried to reveal the workings of my Clan's techniques."

"All of these are just rumors," Ja Sun shrugged, lying through his teeth, "Just because a technique shares some similarities doesn't mean they are the same."

"So, your technique is not close to Nine Absolutes?"

"Exactly," Ja Sun nodded, "My technique is far superior to be limited to just hammers."

"Braggart," Lin Min scoffed.

"Loser," Liu Erlong returned, clearly provoked by the dirty look from before. The two glared at each other again causing Ja Sun to shrug, "Anyway, as you are, I, too, cannot help my curiosity. It's alright if you don't answer my questions."

Ja Sun revealed a calm look.

'Cause once I'm done with the White Tigers, your clan is next.'

He thought internally.

As he stated. It wasn't personal, but a professional act— The Art of Bandit.

The group soon found the Jewel Panther and disposed of it quickly. Since this was a joint hunt, after this particular spirit beast, Bibi Dong got the right to direct the group as a whole and they began searching for spirit beasts for Hu Lana and Jun'er.

Of the nine members, seven already had reached the ranks of Spirit Emperor or higher, one of them was close to the rank while Yuehua would now take some time reaching rank 40, however, her situation was still better than many average spirit masters. The fact that everyone was under the age of 30 and still had a chance to make significant progress really made their group stand out compared to Ning Fengzhi's group who had Spirit Emperors well above the age of 50!

Of Ning Fengzhi's team, only Lin Min was of superior talent and fortune.

But the fact that Hu Lana and Jun'er were looking for spirit rings of the age above 20000 years made Lin Min shocked.

Jun'er's attribute was darkness and Hu Lana's was charm so of the two, finding suitable spirit beasts for the latter was harder. But Ning Fengzhi proposed a piece of information, for an appropriate price, that would work for Hu Lana.

"A charm queen?" Bibi Dong frowned.

"Yes. Though, I admit that it is only 13000-years-old, but when it comes to mental attacks, illusions, or charm-related skills, a charm queen is a spirit beast formed by the world for this purpose itself."

A charm queen is similar to Fantasy Beast or a Nightmare beast in nature. The world and the natural arrays around them create such spirit beasts over time, however, compared to the two, Charm Queen is sought after more because of its dust.

Ja Sun knew of the description of the beast and a bit more. Charm Queen has a special status which made him consider a few things that needed to be discussed with Lana alone.

Once Bibi Dong discussed it with Lana who agreed naturally, Ja Sun finally caught called her out alone, surprisingly making the group not the least bit interested in what the perverted duo might be upto. Xie Xan would have been worrying way back, when he started going out with Lana but by now he knew who to trust and whom to not trust...

And he trusted Ja Sun enough to not trust him at all... but then still letting him nanny their little boy. So, needless to say, it was complicated.

---

"Oho~ Could it be you want advice? I knew it! Alright, listen, when you try to do the three of them together you have to tell me the next day because I just am too curious! I mean, when you're having fun with Ah Yin, what do the other two—"

"Who... I mean? Who's the third?" Ja Sun tilted his head, leaning against the tree.

"Yuehua."

"I'm not sleeping with her."

"When you finally do."

"Wouldn't it better to just wait for a few years and see if I luckily enter into another relationship and then explain every detail altogether?" Ja Sun questioned, making Hu Lana flinch.

"I mean... sure? No, first tell me, did Sister Dong really break her promise?" She grinned, causing Ja Sun to scoff and then pout, "Nah... she didn't. I don't mind it though. It's hot."

"Lucky dog..."

"You mean, lucky lion—"

"Bitch, your martial soul barely looks like a lion... more like a wolf or a dog. So, I'm going with the dog."

"Tch... it'll look like a lion soon enough," He rolled his eyes and then spoke up, "Listen, if you're serious about the Charm Queen... you should know a few things."

"What's up?"

"First, Charm Queen is one of the few spirit beasts with the same evolution after crossing the mark of 100000 years. Generally, spirit beasts of mixed nature tend to have their unique evolutionary processes but not Charm Queen and a few others which have better parentage. A charm queen, once crossing the threshold, becomes a spirit beast known as Charm Mistress... I don't know why it turns from queen to mistress..."

"Maybe it's because a queen is serving an entire nation but a mistress only serves an individual?" Hu Lana blinked, her mind simply never ascending from the gutter. Just like Ja Sun, the only difference being that his gutter could now be considered divine.

"Probably," Ja Sun shrugged, "Now, a Charm Mistress has a special ability. A domain which creates a world of perfect illusion that affects physical, spiritual, and mental senses altogether—"

"Why are you even telling me this? It's not like I can find the 100000-year-old variant and absorb its spirit ring..." Hu Lana grew silent.

Exactly, why would Ja Sun tell her something if he didn't have an idea. Mostly, a dangerous and reckless one, but knowing that she won't ever have the heart of committing anything reckless under the 50-kilometer proximity of her son, Hu Lana decided to hear Ja Sun out.

"What's the plan?"

"It's not exactly a plan but I can't have you revealing this information to others including Xie Xan and even Qian Daoliu."

"Heh, what about Yin and Dong?" Lana smirked.

"Oh, they already know," Ja Sun shrugged, making Hu Lana feel a little impressed.

However, hearing Ja Sun's following words, Hu Lana's eyes were left wide in shock and excitement. Of course, she also agreed to Ja Sun's terms and conditions, one of them being the price of this information and his subsequent help in achieving all of this as discreetly as possible which happened to be a few rare materials she had gathered over the years.

It was clear to Lana just how massive of a discount Ja Sun had provided and if what he said was the truth then even five times the amount would have been good enough of a deal.

The sun soon set and with the hunt for the next day already decided to be Hu Lana's Charm Queen, everyone began setting the tent and soon rested in their private spots. The day was divided between travel and hunt so nothing notable was really achieved but it should be enough for now. Of course, this time, much to Bibi Dong's relief, a few quirky members of her group displayed a more mature behavior but that in itself made her feel warm and comforted. After all, their group was trusting enough to act playfully against each other without offending each other.

This was certainly an achievement worth celebrating over.

Of course...

Bibi Dong still didn't let her members out of one large tent for themselves.

"Come on... we promise we won't do anything!" Hu Lana, groaned, causing Bibi Dong to stare at her, "Then cultivate here itself."

Of course, Bibi Dong wouldn't admit that keeping everyone in the same tent was also to restrict Ah Yin and Ja Sun to get it down regardless of the situation and pull her into the charade... which she might be enticed to, at the assumed moment.

***

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