Stranger Danger

A man wearing an imperial crown and a dragon robe and standing on a blue dragon appeared behind Su Bancheng.

The man’s divine grace seemed as deep as the sea, and his power as unfathomable as the abyss itself. He slowly raised his hand and threw a punch.

Buzz!

At that moment, clouds scattered, winds disappeared, flowers fell, grass withered. The world turned cold like autumn as death filled heaven and earth.

The punch possessed an intent as deep and forlorn as the wind of deep autumn, and a force that seemed to symbolize the death of all things. Hence, it was named the “Autumn Killer”.

“Autumn Killer” was one of the four styles of the “Qing Emperor Longevity Punch”. It was also the signature martial art of the Qing Emperor of Chu.

Legend has it that the Qing Emperor had accidentally stumbled upon the Qing Emperor’s inheritance, one of the five Heavenly Emperors of ancient times. He was able to learn two ultimate martial arts from it. One of them was named the “Qing Emperor Longevity Scripture”, a body-tempering martial art, and the other the “Qing Emperor Longevity Punch”, an offensive martial art.

As the Qing Emperor’s chief disciple, Su Bancheng naturally learned both martial arts. Of the two, the “Qing Emperor Longevity Punch” boasted four styles named “Spring Birth”, “Summer Scorch”, “Autumn Killer”, and “Winter Death”.

All four styles had their own unique capabilities, but “Autumn Killer” was the best at damaging one’s mind and destroying one’s consciousness.

The reason Su Bancheng used “Autumn Killer” was simple. He sensed that his opponent’s vigor was vast and thick like the ground, but his mind was weak and dim like a candle flame.

Clearly, his opponent was a body-tempering warrior who focused on honing the body but not the mind. The best way to deal with such a lopsided warrior was to strike them at their weakness and end them in one hit.

Although “Autumn Killer” wasn’t the most potent style of the four, it was the most suitable considering the situation.

Brute force wasn’t the only factor that came into play in a battle. Intelligence was a major factor as well.

Since he was a child, his father had taught him that killing someone via brute force was like trying to swim against a current, time wasting and exhausting. However, killing someone via skill and intelligence was like Pao Ding butchering a cow[1]. As a warrior, he was trained to dissect his opponents skillfully and intelligently like Pao Ding with his cows. He was taught that relying on brute force would be the death of him one day.

Over time, Su Bancheng gained a keen insight for his opponent’s weakness. He also preferred to kill his opponent in one strike using the most suitable technique and the smallest amount of energy.

It was also why he never failed to kill his opponent should he choose to kill someone, and why he came to earn the famous moniker, “One Puncher[2]”.

All conflicts could be resolved in one punch. Hence, the One Puncher.

He was confident that his opponent could not withstand his punch. Even if he miraculously survived, he would not be able to fight against him anymore.

As expected, blood jetted out of the man’s orifices as soon as “Autumn Killer” hit him. His eyes were dim by the time he got close.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

“Another one to the tally.”

Su Bancheng sneered when he saw this. He thought the young man to be an absolute fool to dare to fight against him when he was so weak.

However, Su Bancheng blanched at the next moment. It was because his opponent had neither experienced a mental death nor was flung back by his punch when their fists met. On the contrary, he was the one who felt an unstoppable force invading his body and causing a series of pops and cracks.

It was the sound of bones shifting out of place and breaking.

It was the sound of his bones shifting out of place and breaking.

His!

He could not believe it. He refused to believe it. And yet, reality cared not for his beliefs or his delusions of grandeur.

To be fair, he wasn’t one of those Truemen with a powerful mind but a pitifully frail body. In fact, he was a body-tempering Grandmaster.

The Qing Emperor had become a Sage through his physical body, and the “Qing Emperor Longevity Scripture” was easily one of the world’s top body-tempering martial arts. He was also following in his master’s path and intending to become a Sage via his physical body.

“You—!”

Su Bancheng realized that things weren’t going the way he thought it would. He tried to jump away, but there was no way he could be faster than Ye Qing’s fingers.

Ye Qing easily grabbed his wrist and pulled, causing Su Bancheng to fall toward him uncontrollably. At the same time, he stepped forward and swung his shoulder into Su Bancheng’s chest.

Crack!

Su Bancheng’s chest caved in like paper, and every bone snapped or popped like twigs. The silhouette behind his back was dispelled as well.

Su Bancheng wasn’t just going to give up and die, of course. Viciousness overtook him as he clenched his left fist and threw a punch at Ye Qing’s head.

The punch resembled a descending sun. It threatened to paint the sky and the earth red.

“Qing Emperor Longevity Punch: Summer Scorch”

“Summer Scorch” was the best style of the four at breaking and burning a body. It was also the most deadly.

He didn’t think that the punch could kill his opponent, of course. He was simply hoping to push Ye Qing back and buy himself a moment.

One moment was all he needed to turn the tables against his opponent.

Ye Qing did not dodge, however. In fact, he leaned forward to catch Su Bancheng’s punch.

Is he stupid, insane, or suicidal?! The incredulous thought flashed through Su Bancheng’s mind when he realized what his opponent was doing. Of course, it didn’t stop him adding a little more speed and force to his punch.

When fist met head, Su Bancheng finally realized that his opponent was neither stupid nor insane, much less suicidal. His head was actually harder than his fist.

His punch was like the crashing sun, and yet it hit his opponent’s forehead about as well as an egg crashing against a rock. Not only was his opponent’s forehead completely fine, his arm had snapped like a twig.

Was the difference between a body-tempering warrior and a greater body-tempering warrior really so huge?

“Tsk tsk, now you know who’s the fool in this scenario.”

Ye Qing smirked as he shook slightly and caused dark yellow light to circulate throughout his body. He abruptly injected more force into the shoulder pressed up against Su Bancheng’s chest, and it was like a god crashing into a mountain.

BOOM!

Su Bancheng’s whole body exploded like a sack of water. Blood, gore and bones spilled everywhere.

While Su Bancheng exploded, Ye Qing reached out and pulled a pendant into his hand. It was none other than Su Bancheng’s Nature’s Shell.

Unfortunately, he did not manage to open the Nature’s Shell and retrieve the Earthly Sovereign Bell before the chunks of flesh on the ground started wriggling unnaturally.

“He’s still alive?” Ye Qing muttered with a frown. He did not hesitate to step forward to finish the job.

At the beginning, he wasn’t going to kill Su Bancheng. After all, he had just fought Nether Kṣitigarbha and suffered huge mental damage. Not only did his plan to pit Chu Wangsun and the North Duke against each other fail due to variables beyond their control, he was much weaker than usual because of his injuries. At this point, one could say that his and Feng Qingyou’s plan to assassinate Chu Wangsun had more or less ended in resounding failure.

That was why he wasn’t planning on attacking Su Bancheng. He was going to retrieve the Earthly Sovereign Bell and just walk away. There was always another chance.

However, Su Bancheng got greedy. Knowing that there was no way he could retrieve the Earthly Sovereign Bell without a fight, Ye Qing decided that he might as well kill the guy. Su Bancheng was one of Chu Wangsun’s friends anyway. Killing him would be removing one of the scholar’s helpers.

Before Ye Qing could react, the flesh and blood seeped into the ground and disappeared in the blink of an eye. The earth shook ominously for a moment before vines burst out like dragons or serpents and attacked Ye Qing from all sides.

Ye Qing lowered his foot and shattered it in one stomp. Entire chunks of ice flew up and crashed into the vines.

The chunks of ice severed countless vines, but even more vines pierced through the chunks of ice and struck Ye Qing. Or at least, they tried to. Dark yellow light manifested around Ye Qing and shattered the vines before they could find purchase.

1. Basically means an expert butcher will butcher a cow much easier than a musclebrain even if the expert butcher has way less strength. ☜

2. Oh, he is so going to regret this. ☜