Chapter 474

In the chaotic situation, the suspicious Demon Star Lan, although also having doubts, wondered how the usually polite and refined Basil could suddenly become so active.

But now the secret treasure related to Zhen Shen is right before our eyes, with all schools contending, the situation urgent, indeed there's no time for him to think much; he can only hurriedly use secret arts to start summoning people.

Then, on the west side of the temple, the Deep Forest expert who had been constantly restraining the second commander suddenly turned into a streak of escaping light, falling onto the platform like a meteor.

Although he likewise used a concealing-type device to blur his appearance, from his attire it was obvious he was a magic master, with several kinds of elemental spirits that only highly cultivated beings can condense active around him.

Moreover, upon seeing such a church bigwig as Demon Star Lan, he did not bow down, but merely asked in a low, feigned voice.

"Old sir, has the matter finally come to the last step?"

Demon Star Lan, seeing this, did not get angry but instead slightly bowed.

"Well, things have come to this; these should be all the trump cards of that demon dragon leader."

Then he pointed at the stone wall on the mountain peak, his gaze like a torch.

"Now all those qualified to compete have already ascended the platform, Prince Consort; it's time for the winner to take all!"

Since even the strongest and calmest Deep Forest person has made the resolve to act, this contest over the divine status naturally entered the heated stage from the very beginning.

Among them, Basil, who set off first, was undoubtedly the fastest, and he struck first, a black vine shooting out from his sleeve, actually managing to seize that black shadow that for some reason had suddenly slowed its teleport by half a beat.

But now Ji Ming's persona is that of a madman pursuing godhood, brain-addled, the kind who would rather snatch living people to refine pills and roll them into pellets for ascension.

So he immediately broke free of the vine, while continuing to teleport with clanging sounds, he shouted curses.

"You madman, dare to block my path to godhood! Once I become the new generation's Purple Lightning God, I will surely have your whole family struck dead!"

Having said that, the black shadow turned the darkness in his hand into a great chopping blade three meters long, flashing three times and swinging at Basil's head.

However, although he raised it high, he lightly lowered it, his left hand trembling as he let out a muffled groan, somewhat exaggeratedly covering his chest.

"Cough cough..."

Fearful that the drama lacked tension, Ji Ming also flung some human blood used for alchemy experiments onto the ground, then shouted in surprise and anger.

"You! The thorns on your vine are poisonous! Who exactly are you?"

Basil, hearing this, naturally turned pale, not daring to delay, he hurriedly let out an even sharper, stern shout to interrupt his words.

"Silence! What am I to you, and what are you to me? Everyone need not hold back; follow me to slay this villain!"

Then he summoned his subordinates to rush and follow him in a covert kill, this being of great importance, absolutely not allowing this person to reveal the truth!

The facts proved he had "succeeded"; the Deep Forest envoys, a bunch of madmen comparable to the Blood Cross, needed no words—under their desperate encirclement and interception, the black shadow that just moments ago could toy with the demon dragon like a dog now had nothing to do but constantly dodge, with no time to utter even a word.

But correspondingly he also "failed"; although as a research-type flower, Basil is erudite and well-read, mastering countless theoretical knowledge, yet indeed he had no means to directly counter this mysterious expert's methods, only able to play a supporting control role, buying time.

Of course, all of the above is merely a show for others; in fact it's just Ji Ming and Basil showing off their acting skills, occupying the imperial throne before the stone wall, passively watching the situation change.

Although the deception cannot last forever, letting Demon Star Lan and the Prince Consort dispel their doubts about Basil's sudden prominence, while feigning friendly fire to kill a batch of sneak attackers who thought they could pluck the peach, is still no problem.

After all, as we've said before, the Deep Forest envoys are all a bunch of lunatics, with not a single normal person among them; doing some abnormal actions is only natural, right?

But no matter how you say it, Basil is outwardly also a member of the Deep Forest interest community, so seeing that his side could not break through after a prolonged attack, the Prince Consort once again turned into a streak of escaping light, under the cover of Demon Star Lan, landing on the upper section of the long stairs.

Moreover, if Elinor is a magic artillery turret, then the Prince Consort is a magic fortress; the elemental spirits beside him not only accelerate magic construction, but can also act as a deputy to cast spells in his stead.

So it can only be said that he truly lives up to being the contemporary strongest soft-rice king of the Yangyue World; this kid, with a raise of his hand, throws out four or three-circle spells as if they were free, pelting Ji Ming, pure aim lacking enough quantity to make up for it.

Logically, being besieged by a large gang of fearless lackeys led by two top experts, one level sixty and one level seventy, the Shadow God's Chosen, even with a hundred methods, should have been defeated at this point.

But Ji Ming actually was not poisoned at all; throughout he was merely acting with Basil, so it was barely, with difficulty, fortunately… he managed to dodge all successive waves of the Prince Consort's magic splashes.

The lethal empty guns kept coming one after another; whoever they hit would get heated up, but the Prince Consort still didn't know who this person was, so he almost couldn't even muster a curse.

A cold snort, and all he could manage was a sentence devoid of any lethality, even tinged with a tsundere-like venting of frustration.

"You thief, you run really fast; if you've got the guts, come fight!"

But according to the information previously provided by Basil, Ji Ming is all too clear about just how much this self-important guy actually weighs.

Prince Consort, Prince Consort, basically it's just the princess's man.

Moreover, the game system uses this somewhat archaic Chinese term as the translation for the corresponding ancient continental common language term.

This is because in the Yangyue World, not every princess's consort can be called a 'Prince Consort'.

Like the Changge Marquis, who legitimately inherits family rights through his status as the eldest legitimate son, and possesses absolute noble standing and means.

He certainly cannot be called a 'Prince Consort' when marrying the princess, for a lord is a lord; the Hui Guang Kingdom's four borders, ninety-seven districts, bearing the family's honor of hundreds of years on his shoulders, needs no other title.

Only those male nobles who cannot inherit family power and wish to cling to the princess for an iron rice bowl will receive this title, which, although roughly equivalent to eating soft rice, is still a more pleasant noble designation than having no rank at all.

In other words, this thing is actually used to give the royal family face, just like the ancient Huaxia emperors would symbolically grant a title to the fathers of favored 'humble-origin' concubines, so as not to have a humble-origin father-in-law.

Correspondingly, those female nobles who likewise cannot inherit a family title, upon attaching themselves to a prince, will also receive the noble designation of Prince's consort.

But speaking of which, the successive Sun Kings plagued by dragon disease have, in their lifetimes, not much else—just the most numerous messed-up offspring.

Thus there are countless Prince Consorts and Prince's consorts, too many to count; simply using this term one really has no idea which little rascal is being referred to.

But, the lions of the neighboring Shen Lin Wang Guo, although they have not few offspring, only a handful are qualified to hold a title.

Therefore, only one person can simultaneously meet the requirements of being a Prince Consort, level seventy, located near the capital of the Hui Guang Kingdom, and alive.

——The long princess's entrepreneurial partner, Deep Forest diplomat, arcane master, Weide Lan·Hei Xing.

As for his background story, it's relatively simple: the eldest legitimate son inheriting the system is, in the Yangyue World as well, the foundation for maintaining the operation of the aristocratic system.

So, as a bastard son born of a concubine of the Hei Xing lord, as long as the eldest legitimate son isn't an idiot, Wei Shao ye, even if he chopped off his head, could not climb up.

But those who are capable have always been ambitious, so after clearly knowing his own potential, Wei Shao ye began his own Dragon Field enlightenment.

The result of his enlightenment was that he embarked on leaving home to study, heading to the Royal Capital, relying on his looks and ability to specially fish for rich ladies like Aunt Zhang's adventurous path.

And after stumbling along, clenching his teeth and climbing hard through the network of relationships, he finally seized the opportunity to meet the Deep Forest long princess who had just received her title.

As everyone knows, talking about money hurts feelings, talking about feelings hurts power, so Ke Li Si Ting's set of emotional theories actually originates from the Deep Forest aristocratic circle's everything-looks-at-power bringing forth distorted thinking.

Therefore the long princess also does not believe in the naive fantasy of 'I like you, you like me'; instead, as a firm supporter of 'I need you, you need me', she gave Wei Shao ye a chance to try.

After going back and forth like this, they found that each could indeed meet the other's needs, so they privately exchanged frank opinions and then teamed up to work together.

Thus the long princess gained a steadfast ally on her road to power, while becoming the Prince Consort's Wei Gong zi—returning home, let alone seeing his elder brother, even seeing his father he could strut about proudly.

There's no way around it; now I am the future queen's man!

But as a magic researcher, staying long in the Deep Forest Royal Capital is surely hard to achieve anything, so he, who greatly desired progress, came to Qixia City as an envoy.

He says he's very interested in Radiant Light culture, wants to consult the Radiant Light magic masters on the subtleties of arcane arts and exchange magical formation techniques, but actually...

Now it seems he's indeed not honest—when the lord's house is on fire, he doesn't think to help put out the fire, but instead wants to seize the opportunity to grab some valuables; truly, he lives up to being the lion's son-in-law.

So Ji Ming didn't spare him any face either; taking advantage of his dodging and weaving, all kinds of panicked counterattacks were aimed at his face.

Although this kind of attack isn't even worthy of being called a basic attack, it certainly can't do anything to a level seventy-five mage, but it's still no problem to make him lose face.

However, this Prince Consort may not be the strongest in strength among those present, but his skill in cultivating qi absolutely ranks among the top three.

Clearly he had suffered several losses at Ji Ming's hands, ending up quite embarrassed, yet he did not fly into a helpless rage.

On the contrary, even the slightest anger he had deep inside vanished completely, he became ever calmer, constantly seeking opportunities to try to regain his standing.

"Tsk, looks like a guy who becomes scary when he gets serious."

No wonder Radiant Light gets bullied by Deep Forest—any random soft‑rice eater has such ability, indeed not ordinary.

And as a reward for the Prince Consort's earnest combat, he finally, relying on a few wood‑level emissaries, risked his life and succeeded in striking his magic onto that black shadow's body, ending the shadow's endless side‑to‑side hopping.

Thus, Ji Ming began the final act of the new script—a courteous exit.

"Ugh, what kind of magic is this? Terrifying—it actually can counter my magic!"

He first pretended to be a fragile little thing with high agility and low vitality, then the Prince Consort unleashed a fierce Dragon Flame Wave from the shadow's form, blasting him out.

Of course, what was blasted out certainly wasn't Ji Ming's true body, but rather a suspicious‑looking little bald head that does nothing good all year, pure black everywhere except the facial features, looking very Lovecraftian.

"Th… this is what?"

The Prince Consort surely doesn't know what this dark, unsavory thing is, but the conscientious Bailixiang has already perfectly begun his narration work.

"By the heavens, I recognize this attire! Sir, he is the God's Chosen Adam Smith of the Shadow Church!"

Fearing the Prince Consort might dwell on it, Bailixiang beat his chest and stamped his feet, directly helping Ji Ming make his position clear.

"Damn it, I should have guessed it was you earlier! Wanting to ruin our affairs—this isn't the first or second time!"

"Huh?"

Ji Ming also cooperatively let out a cry of surprise, hurriedly explaining.

"No! I'm not Adam Smith at all—look, my big hand is clearly visible, you've mistaken the person!"

"Stop quibbling! With all these dignitaries present, you can't escape—I swear I'll kill you!"

With this pair of acting emperors pretending to be strangers and singing opposite tunes, the Prince Consort, lacking any information or advisors, even if his IQ were high, would now be left in the dark.

Moreover, as an envoy who constantly watches every stir in Radiant Light, he surely knows the Shadow Church exists.

Thinking of how this thing had previously caused a stir in the southern part of Radiant Light, he subconsciously believed the persona Ji Ming had stuck on him.

—"What? So you're actually a member of the Shadow Church!"

"No, I'm not!"

Then he tossed out another unconvincing self‑proof—evidence solid, a hundred mouths unable to refute—and the very person himself, the Shadow Church's God's Chosen Adam Smith, turned into a black shadow and slipped away without looking back.

At this moment, the carnage‑wreaking Moxinglan had also come up beside the two, after using a stomp that shook off bloodstains clinging to his pant leg, he narrowed his eyes at the receding black shadow.

"Bold thief, you sure run fast—so this person is……

No longer needing Bailixiang to coax him along, the eager‑to‑perform Prince Consort spoke with decisive certainty.

"He is the God's Chosen Adam Smith of the Shadow Church! Old sir, these Radiant Light folks really are a bunch of good‑for‑nothings, letting such a being loiter near the royal capital!"

Moxinglan remained silent, after all, aren't the three of them also proof that the Radiant Light people are useless? We've taken the benefits, so let's not shout about it.

But no matter what, the false objective fact that "Shadow cultists nearly ruined our Deep Forest's big affair!" has been thoroughly planted by Ji Ming in their hearts.

Therefore, at this very moment, in a corner of the wasteland, the Wendigo busy summoning troops suddenly sneezed.

Amid the doubtful gazes of the surrounding undead, he rubbed his nonexistent nose for a while before suddenly realizing.

"No way, I'm a skeletal‑type anomaly—I don't even have a respiratory system, how could I sneeze at a market?"