Ye Chui unleashed the same power he had used in his battle against the snake-haired Yuren back then. The difference was that previously, such an attack came from the hero spirit he summoned, whereas now it emanated from Ye Chui’s own fist.
Everyone stared in stunned silence at Ye Chui’s current appearance. His body was covered in dense, intricate tattoos, not forming any specific image, just lines and dots that exuded an unimaginably cool aura. When Ye Chui threw his punch, some of those tattoo lines lit up, as if he were channelling his power through them.
He descended from the sky, his fist slamming into the Tenth Prince, now frozen into a block of ice.
As his fist made contact with the ice encasing the Tenth Prince, time seemed to pause for a moment. First came utter silence, then the ice mountain began to crack. The ground shook, fierce winds radiating from Ye Chui’s fist in all directions. Turtle-shell-like fissures spread outward, swallowing trees whole into the cracks.
This held the power of one-fifth of Saitama-sensei’s serious punch.
Posli and the others swayed unsteadily from the quaking earth, nearly toppling over. Grey skies flashed with lightning bolts, as if the secret realm itself reacted instinctively to this immense force.
Whether from the Green Bay Tribe or the Blood Scorpion Tribe, they had lived in this secret realm for over a millennium, accustomed to battles and slaughter among themselves. Yet Ye Chui had now broadened their horizons. First that terrifying giant dragon, now this unfathomably devastating punch from Ye Chui. Some let out instinctive cries of alarm. Earthquakes were not unknown in the secret realm, but this tremor struck everyone from both tribes with a doomsday dread.
After landing his punch, Ye Chui floated lightly back to the ground beside them.
“Aaah!” The ice mountain shattered completely. Freed from his bonds, the Tenth Prince, enveloped in tattered spirit body, sprang up with an enraged shout, charging fist-first towards Ye Chui and Posli.
Ye Chui’s punch had failed to kill the Tenth Prince?
Seeing the Tenth Prince rush in, Posli hurriedly raised her massive magic guide book as a shield, frantically flipping through its pages for a potent spell. The book could serve as a barrier; as a holy artefact, this hulking tome was impervious to ordinary attacks.
Ye Chui, however, remained utterly calm. He held his [Divine Guard Suit] form, allowing the Tenth Prince to close in.
The distance was mere metres; the Tenth Prince appeared before Ye Chui in a blink. His spirit-wrapped fist hurtled towards Ye Chui, then halted abruptly mid-air. The fist trembled faintly, as if straining desperately to advance just inches more. Inches that would let it touch Ye Chui. Yet his body stiffened like hardened cement, immobile.
The One Punch Hero Spirit’s fist: only by personally delivering such a blow could Ye Chui truly feel its might. When summoned to this fantasy world, the One Punch Hero Spirit was no longer the anime’s Saitama-sensei; it had been adapted to this realm’s rules. Though unable to unleash its full power freely, even one-fifth tapped into rule-level force.
Saitama-sensei’s power rule: “One punch instant kill.”
Anyone struck squarely would be instantly slain, unless strong enough to counter the rule or evade via some means. In his fight with snake-haired Yuren, the first punch had killed her outright, but she fused fully with the direct gaze magic eye via Posli’s artefacts, resurrecting as a human-demon hybrid, effectively dying once already.
The Tenth Prince lacked the strength to evade rule-level annihilation. He might have dodged, but the dual [Ice Queen’s Ice Storms] left him frozen and helpless. Ye Chui’s fist had landed solidly within him.
The Tenth Prince’s face began to twitch. His spirit-enclosed eyes rapidly turned blood-red, a trickle of blood streaming from the corner. His mouth moved, as if whispering something. Ye Chui guessed perhaps a plea for mercy? But Saitama-sensei’s fist force had fully invaded his body. His breakout from the ice to attack Ye Chui was mere deathbed defiance.
Now, the embedded fist force rampaged within, seeking to burst out. The Tenth Prince’s immobility stemmed from exerting all his strength against this overwhelming power. Ye Chui stood calmly, knowing the Tenth Prince was doomed.
“Have you not realised yet? You are already dead.” Ye Chui said the line with mischievous glee, extending a finger to flick the Tenth Prince’s spirit-armoured fist lightly. Pop.
Like a dam breached by an ant hole. From nearby, Posli, Debbie, and the others clearly heard a “crash” of shattering matter. They watched as the Tenth Prince, along with the ferocious spirit god’s armour, crumbled into scattered debris.
Ye Chui tilted his head slightly upward. The tattoos on his body faded slowly. Though [Divine Guard Suit] was potent, Ye Chui found it point-draining; used for less than a minute, it had cost five thousand points! Fortunately, the Tenth Prince’s death rewarded five thousand points. He looked nonchalant, glancing at Posli, practically inviting applause.
Alas, Posli’s face was etched with frustration and hurt, the expression of a phase archmage’s pride deeply wounded…
Ye Chui and Posli had defeated the Tenth Prince with unmatched ease, but the war was not over. The spirit-summoning priests and Blood Scorpion warriors still charged relentlessly, clashing with Green Bay Tribe fighters, Jacob, Green, the Fifth Prince, and others. The Green Bay Tribe’s strength paled far against the Blood Scorpion’s; even with Green’s and Jacob’s aid, the situation remained dire.
Long Bao was immensely powerful, yet to avoid harming innocents, it held back.
The Tenth Prince’s gruesome death quelled the chaos utterly. A Blood Scorpion warrior roared, dropping his curved blade to flee. He had likely been terrified from the start, now breaking entirely, desperate to escape this nightmare. But then, with a puff, a blade tip pierced his chest. He collapsed limply.
The attacker was a Blood Scorpion Tribe spirit-summoning priest: a bald-headed old man with a massive beard, as if compensating for his scalp by growing all his hair on his chin. He raised his wooden staff high, shouting, “We have long prepared to sacrifice ourselves to the ferocious spirit god! We fear nothing, the ferocious spirit god is supreme, the ferocious spirit god…”
His words cut off abruptly. His face contorted in agony. Not just him; other tribe warriors showed similar torment, bodies convulsing involuntarily. Bursts of blood mist rose unbidden from them, and with it, their bodies withered into husks, as if their blood had instantly vaporised and been drawn out.
Countless crimson mists coalesced rapidly into a massive lump redder than blood. The lump writhed, slowly shaping into a scorpion: blood scorpion!
“Mr Ye Chui…” An elder from the Green Bay Tribe approached Ye Chui in shock. This elder was one of their spirit-summoning priests; he knew what transpired. “The ferocious spirit god has blood-sacrificed all Blood Scorpion Tribe warriors here to restore its vitality!”
“It can do that?” Ye Chui said, surprised.
The floating blood scorpion was evidently the ferocious spirit god’s true form. Ye Chui’s strike had slain the Tenth Prince but only wounded the god, not destroying it. His fist rule was instant kill, fully borne by the Tenth Prince, allowing the god to evade the rule-touching blow. Now, absorbing the tribe’s flesh and blood, it regenerated, a cunning and brutally ruthless tactic.
“This resembles evil spirit priests: dark believers sacrifice to evil spirits for faith sustenance, and self-blood sacrifice boosts the spirit’s power.” Posli continued, her face urgent. “A spiritualised ferocious spirit god is likely immune to ordinary attacks…” She flipped through her magic guide book ceaselessly, seeking anti-spirit spells.
Ye Chui pondered too. Against such an evil spirit, holy magic would suit best. Raisa had reached his side; her voice could likely counter this foul entity. Debbie resummoned the Valkyrie Jiji. Ye Chui mulled creating a new spell swiftly or unlocking one with massive destructive force.
Yet then, a white beam of light suddenly erupted from nearby, piercing the blood scorpion’s body instantly!
This grievously wounded it, eliciting piercing shrieks.
Ye Chui and the others looked shocked. Who struck? They turned towards the beam’s origin and saw a white-haired youth with his hand raised skyward. His face was expressionless, but his eyes held cold killing intent.
Where did this white-haired youth come from?
“Lance?” Ming Yi cried out. Lance was the Twelfth Prince’s name. The three-year-old child now stood beside the white-clad youth, looking up curiously.
Thus Ye Chui understood: the white-clad youth was the Twelfth Prince’s guardian spirit. He had heard of it before: a white-haired youth showing no special traits, dismissed by Ming Yi as useless. Yet who knew he could gravely injure the blood scorpion!?
Truly, white-haired youths were all hidden experts…
The white-haired youth clearly possessed innate abilities against spirit entities like the blood scorpion!
Ming Yi, holding the Twelfth Prince, stared at the youth in astonishment.
As phase inheritor, Posli knew far more. She recalled something, eyes widening hugely. “Could he be the Star Empire’s spirit child?”
“What is a spirit child?” Ye Chui asked hastily.
Posli explained: “A spirit child is a rare phenomenon, once in a century. Born with immense lethality against any spirit body, they have white hair from birth, no other combat prowess, and extremely short lifespans. I have only read of them in the magic guild’s tomes!”
The sky’s blood scorpion unleashed a hoarse, thunderous roar of fury. Its shattered body rapidly reformed.
The white-haired youth fired another white beam skyward, but this time the blood scorpion dodged swiftly. It hissed: “I remember your faces! I swear to tear you apart, sacrifice your flesh and souls to me! I swear!!!”
With these words, the sky’s blood scorpion burst with a bang, dissolving into red mist and vanishing.
“It is gone!” Ye Chui said, stunned.
Posli grasped it first: “Soul altar! Damn it, I did not expect it to have one. Somewhere in the secret realm, it built its soul altar. It just activated it, teleporting itself there!”
“We must eliminate it.” Ye Chui said gravely. He wanted no such entity bearing a grudge.
“Do you know where its soul altar is?” Posli countered. “The Blood Scorpion Tribe’s main camp is unknown, even to the Green Bay Tribe likely. We cannot find them…”
“Who says so?” Ye Chui thought of something, hurriedly beckoning Green over. Green paused, then recalled, producing the magic seal ring obtained earlier from the Eleventh Prince’s mother.
“Magic seal ring?” Posli said, astonished. She clearly recognised it.
“Earlier, the Blood Scorpion Tribe abducted the Eleventh Prince. I suspect they took him to their main camp; he should still be imprisoned there. The magic seal ring can transport us right to it!” Ye Chui said swiftly. He had not realised this item’s utility!
He still felt lingering obligation to the Eleventh Prince’s mother’s dying entrustment. Now he could fulfil it, and perhaps gain the Eleventh Prince’s loyalty. The Blood Scorpion camp might hold other princes too, netting Ye Chui a windfall of points!
