Thousands of tribal warriors were rapidly turning into white bones. Some of them died under the black ant sea, some under the undead army controlled by Ye Chui, and others from the Blood Scorpion Tribe fled desperately for their lives.
The Blood Scorpion Tribe was the most ferocious among the three major tribes in the secret realm. They revered strength and were inherently barbaric, never submitting in the face of death. But under the assault of the black ants and undead, their mental defences were easily shattered, and they scattered in flight.
However, only a minority could truly escape the pursuit of the black ants and undead.
The remaining spirit summoner priest, upon seeing Green knock out the other spirit summoner priest with a single brick and that priest’s body soon devoured by the ant sea, immediately wanted to flee this place. But Jacob’s guardian spirit, the Blue Knight Konstantine, blocked his path. After a few clashes, he died under the Blue Knight’s twisting spear.
By now, Ye Chui had discovered that the tribal warriors who died under the black ants brought him no points at all, but those who died under the undead could help him accumulate points, since the undead were summoned by him.
The ant queen itself could not move; it was being dragged by countless ants attempting to leave. Anyone who approached them would suffer being devoured by myriad ants, so Ye Chui wisely ignored them. He quickly gathered his companions to his side, preparing to leave under the cover of the undead.
The tenth prince was not here, but judging by the scale of this place, it should be an important outpost of the Blood Scorpion Tribe. Taking it down meant this wave was not a loss; no, it was pure profit. Ye Chui looked at the over thirty thousand points that had appeared out of nowhere on his magic guide book, his mouth nearly unable to close in a grin…
But just as they were about to leave, Ye Chui suddenly heard a woman’s cry for help.
From the tone, it was clear the voice’s owner came from the outside world.
“Mr. Ye Chui, please save me, please…”
Following the sound, Ye Chui saw that in a stone hut built from piled stones by the lake, a group of raggedly dressed people were imprisoned. These were slaves captured by the Blood Scorpion Tribe. There were several similar stone huts, but most had already been swallowed by the ant sea. Fortunately, these people were locked in a more remote spot, temporarily spared from disaster.
Ye Chui’s eyes turned, thinking of something, and he quickly arrived at the stone hut. With an explosion magic, he blasted open the stone hut, releasing those ragged slave prisoners. He discovered the woman who had just cried for help was a woman in her thirties. She was someone Ye Chui was quite familiar with.
The mother of the eleventh prince, who had been walking ahead of Ye Chui and the others when entering the Crown Battlefield!
The eleventh prince was eight years old this year. His mother was merely a commoner with no backing, which was why the eleventh prince was called the commoner prince. At the time of entering the Crown Battlefield, Ye Chui had seen the eighth prince in a worried and fearful state, clutching his mother’s hand tightly. His mother, as one of the guards, had accompanied him into the battlefield. The other six guards also appeared dejected.
Ye Chui had not expected to encounter the eleventh prince’s mother here. She must have been captured by the Blood Scorpion Tribe. Ye Chui glanced into the prison cell a few times but did not see the eleventh prince’s figure.
Had the eleventh prince already been killed?
“Mr. Ye Chui…” Seeing Ye Chui act, the woman looked at him with a face full of shock and fear. Within the Crown Battlefield, guards of different princes were all enemies. She seemed uncertain whether Ye Chui would ruthlessly kill her.
“Where is the eleventh prince?” Ye Chui asked.
“He, he was taken away. They said they were taking him to see the tenth prince…” The woman hurriedly explained. She had originally been a beautiful woman, but now she looked utterly dishevelled. She must have suffered greatly these past days. She took a few steps closer and pleaded with Ye Chui, “Mr. Ye Chui, we are willing to surrender on behalf of the eleventh prince, to acknowledge the thirteenth prince as the heir to the throne. Please… please help me save my son.”
Ye Chui did not rashly agree. He scanned the other slave prisoners with faces full of fear again. From their attire, it was easy to discern that most of them were sand people, and there was another person dressed in armour from the outside world: a short man with a grey beard, cowering like a frightened mouse, now looking at Ye Chui with eyes full of terror.
“Where are your guards?” Ye Chui continued to ask the woman.
“They were all killed by the Blood Scorpion Tribe, except for him.” The woman hurriedly replied, glancing at the grey beard. “He is a mercenary I recruited outside.”
While other princes hired experts or guards supported by their families, the eleventh prince could only afford cheap mercenaries.
Ye Chui nodded and then looked at the other sand people. Although their identities as sand people could be easily recognised, they were clearly utterly different from those of the Blood Scorpion Tribe. Ye Chui asked, “Where are you from?”
“We are from the Green Bay Tribe…” A bald sand person answered tremblingly. They looked at Ye Chui with eyes like he was a god. The thousands of Blood Scorpion Tribe warriors had been almost completely slaughtered. Oh god, could this be the legendary hero warrior?
The Green Bay Tribe, one of the three major tribes. Ye Chui had heard about this tribe from Karen, although that Karen had later betrayed them. But most of what he said should be true. Green Bay was not as brutal as Blood Scorpion; they preferred a peaceful life. The spirit god they worshipped was called the water spirit god, one that brought green and life.
Ye Chui quickly made a decision and said to those Green Bay Tribe prisoner slaves, “Follow me. I will take you out!”
To win victory in the Crown War, allying with the tribal forces here was essential. Although Green Bay might not be as powerful as Blood Scorpion, their peaceful way of life made Ye Chui choose them as his first option.
Rescuing these people could help him make connections.
The oasis where the Blood Scorpion Tribe was stationed had already turned into an ant sea hell. Endless ants were clustering around their queen, crawling towards the black mountain. All living things in this oasis were doomed to be devoured, and even most of the trees and plants suffered, as if ravaged by a locust plague. Ye Chui actually had the intention to capture the ant queen in his grasp; that way, he would possess a powerful weapon capable of annihilating an entire tribe in one go. But looking at the ant queen surrounded by the ant swarm, after some thought, he had to abandon the idea.
He had the undead protect the group as they swiftly rushed out of the oasis. After advancing another few li, the undead began to gradually dissipate.
The undead could only exist in the place of their death, near their bones. Now that they were some distance from the black mountain, the undead could only dissipate. Ye Chui confirmed they were some distance from the ant nest and simply stopped the Necromantic Prelude, letting everyone halt to rest.
He was truly exhausted now. Using a BGM like the Necromantic Prelude consumed no small amount of his magic power.
Although the magic power consumed came from the magic guide book’s storage, it would also affect the magic mentor himself to a certain extent.
His magic guide book’s remaining magic power storage was now only 23%, but he had not deactivated the magic guide book.
Those rescued prisoner slaves were all weary and fatigued. A group of them had been locked in the stone hut, and many had not eaten for days. Ye Chui simply had Jacob start preparing food. Their food reserves were plentiful. The aroma quickly spread, and fruit wine and clear water were taken out by Ye Chui. After initial hesitation, these people soon devoured the food ravenously.
Even the eleventh prince’s mother was no exception. As an imperial consort, if anyone saw her in this state, it would surely shock them to their core. But in such circumstances, no one would care. Green utilised his specialty to interrogate those Green Bay Tribe captives. Debbie, Raisa, and Ye Chui sat beside that mother.
At this moment, the grey beard, who had been sitting with those captives, suddenly stood up from the ground. He still held a piece of roasted meat in his hand, eating with grease dripping from his mouth. No one noticed his unusual movement. He slowly approached Ye Chui and drew a knife from his bosom. This knife was something he had picked up from the ground when leaving the Green Bay Tribe earlier.
He suddenly moved.
“Watch out!”
The eleventh prince’s mother, who was gnawing on a piece of meat, happened to be sitting opposite Ye Chui and saw the grey beard’s movement. She shouted loudly and hurriedly jumped up from the ground, blocking in front of Ye Chui.
The grey beard’s knife thus stabbed into her body.
This scene was completely unexpected. Guni hurriedly leaped up and flung the grey beard to the ground, pressing her greatsword against his neck.
Debbie, with a face full of disbelief, said, “We just saved you, and you still try to ambush us!?”
“For the glory of the church!” The grey beard spat blood from his mouth and shouted loudly. When Guni had flung him to the ground just now, it had already caused him internal injuries.
“The church?” Debbie was stunned and looked at Ye Chui.
“It seems this is a church member who disguised himself as a mercenary and infiltrated the eleventh prince’s side.” He supported the severely injured eleventh prince’s mother.
“I, I did not know he was from the church…” The eleventh prince’s mother said with a face ashen as death, hurriedly. Raisa had already taken out the holy book, preparing to cast the healing holy word.
The eleventh prince was the commoner prince, without backing or support from great families. So when participating in the Crown Battlefield, the eleventh prince’s mother could only recruit those cheap mercenaries to fight for her. The church’s believer had entered the eleventh prince’s guards as a mercenary. His original purpose was unknown, but just now, he seemed to judge that he could seize the chance to kill Ye Chui, so he acted…
However, how could Ye Chui have no defences prepared after saving them?
He had been using the magic guide book’s map to observe their malice all along. These rescued people appeared as white dots on the map, but the grey beard, when he left the oasis, the white dot began to flicker red constantly, until now it had fully turned into a red dot.
He harboured hostility towards Ye Chui.
Ye Chui had not deactivated the magic guide book precisely to see what he intended to do. He had long prepared his defences.
But Ye Chui had not expected the eleventh prince’s mother to step forward and block the knife for him.
The overcast sky suddenly drifted with a dark cloud.
Shilos sensed something and hurriedly pulled Guni aside.
The grey beard immediately jumped up from the ground, preparing to flee.
However, with a rumble, a thunderbolt as thick as a person’s waist descended from the sky, accurately striking the grey beard’s body.
Under the might of this thunderbolt, the grey beard instantly turned into a pile of charred remains!
“This is…” Debbie widened her eyes.
“Secret realm heavenly punishment!” Ye Chui replied. One of the rules in the secret realm was that guards belonging to the same prince could not turn blades against each other; otherwise, they would invoke the secret realm’s heavenly punishment. And just now, the grey beard had attempted to kill Ye Chui but was blocked by the eleventh prince’s mother, which equated to him harming the eleventh prince’s mother, thus invoking the punishment.
The power of the secret realm’s heavenly punishment was extremely strong. Ye Chui sensed that even they would find it hard to resist such a rule-based attack!
However… looking at that pile of still-smoking charred remains, it felt utterly satisfying.
Ye Chui looked at the eleventh prince’s mother who had collapsed against him.
“Her heart is injured. My healing holy word cannot revive her.” Raisa said, with some sweat on her forehead.
“Do not, waste your magic power…” Hearing Raisa’s words, the eleventh prince’s mother said weakly. She fumbled and took out a small ring from her bosom. That ring was very strange; in the centre of the ring was a trembling needle, like a bizarre compass. She said to Ye Chui, “Please, save my son… This thing is called the magic seal ring. Through the needle’s direction, you can find my son…”
Ye Chui heard the eleventh prince’s mother’s plea. He originally did not want to agree; who knew if the eleventh prince was dead or alive now. But upon seeing her produce this peculiar magic creation, Ye Chui’s eyes immediately lit up.
The eleventh prince was now being taken to the tenth prince’s side. With this magic seal ring, could he not then locate the tenth prince’s position?
