Qin Shi Lei initially hesitated to annihilate the Demon Sect experts, fearing that any survivors would retaliate and harm his family. He had thus abandoned the idea of destroying the sect.
Unexpectedly, even after forming an alliance, they still plotted to sow discord between him and the Righteous Alliance.
Furthermore, they had injured An Qian and the others.
Keeping the Demon Sect around was a constant hidden danger. It would be better to find a way to resolve them completely.
After obtaining the information he needed, Qin Shi Lei waved his right hand and a sword stroke sliced towards the neck of the Demon Sect elder.
"Ah!"
In the final moment before his life ended, the old man finally awoke, only to let out a half-hearted scream before Qin Shi Lei severed his head with a single sword strike.
His eyes were wide open, appearing to have died with grievances.
Qin Shi Lei then located and killed the other two Platinum experts who had already fled dozens of kilometers away.
After collecting their spatial rings, he returned to the City Lord's mansion outside.
His appearance had now transformed into that of the old man from before.
He pushed open the large door and declared, "Someone, go inform Zhu Li and the others that this venerable one needs to hold a meeting."
The Golden experts had no idea their elder had been replaced and respectfully obeyed the command, hurrying out.
There were still six Platinum experts of the Demon Sect in Changzhou City, currently indulging in pleasures or attending to various matters in different parts of the city.
With Qin Shi Lei's order, these Demon Sect disciples quickly relayed his command.
In less than a moment, Platinum experts from the Demon Sect hurried back.
Qin Shi Lei, not seeing a single Platinum expert, swiftly opened his Grotto-Heaven and received them into it.
He then entered and, working with his phantom clone, quickly dispatched them.
In less than half an hour, all six Demon Sect experts had been summoned back and, without exception, met their end.
Qin Shi Lei once again released the young woman he had confined within his spatial dimension.
"Now take me to your spatial secret realm."
"Yes!"
The young woman rose and flew out of the city.
Qin Shi Lei followed her, and before long, they arrived before a large mountain.
"This is the entrance to our secret realm," the young woman said, pointing to a cliff face ahead.
Qin Shi Lei threw the young woman into his Grotto-Heaven again, allocating a sealed small space to keep her confined.
He then took out the disk and infused it with his vital energy to activate it.
The disk immediately shot out a white light that struck the cliff face ahead. The area in front of him rippled like the surface of water, and then a spatial entrance about three meters in size was revealed.
Qin Shi Lei lunged forward and flew inside.
He felt a wave of dizziness before finding himself in a new space.
Where he stood was also within a large mountain. As far as he could see, there was a lush forest, and at the edge of the forest stood a small city.
Qin Shi Lei picked up the disk again, infused it with his vital energy, and closed the spatial exit.
Then, with a flash of his body, he entered his Grotto-Heaven again and chose to begin integrating this spatial secret realm.
Not long after he disappeared, an old man with a handlebar mustache arrived.
"Strange, I clearly sensed the spatial fluctuations of the secret realm opening, but why is no one here?"
The old man pondered, then took out a disk and opened the spatial exit.
He turned and instructed a subordinate who had just caught up to pass through the exit and investigate outside.
After a short while, the subordinate returned, "Reporting to Elder Hu, there are no abnormalities outside."
Elder Hu furrowed his brow and thought, "You few remain here and observe for another half a day to see if there are any anomalies."
After instructing his subordinates, he closed the spatial exit again.
They were completely unaware of Qin Shi Lei hidden within his Grotto-Heaven, nor could they detect that the Grotto-Heaven was slowly integrating this space.
This spatial secret realm was roughly three hundred li in circumference.
Qin Shi Lei estimated that it would take five days to integrate this space.
During these five days, Qin Shi Lei could remain in the Spirit Gathering Array, controlling his Grotto-Heaven, while the cultivation technique within his body would run automatically, not hindering his cultivation progress at all.
One day later, far away in Tianzhao Kingdom, Huangfu Feng felt a sense of unease when he could not contact the elders stationed in Changzhou City.
He looked up and instructed the middle-aged man in front of him, "Elder Lei, take a few people back to Changzhou City to see what is happening."
"As you command!"
Elder Lei turned and left the assembly hall.
An hour later, he was already seated in the City Lord's mansion in Changzhou City.
"Tell me everything that happened in the City Lord's mansion yesterday, in detail."
A thin middle-aged man replied, "Elder Qian stayed in the hall as usual yesterday, comprehending martial arts. Around noon, he suddenly ordered us to summon the hall masters, stating that he needed to hold a meeting.
In less than half an hour, all the hall masters were summoned.
Then, in the evening, when we knocked on the door to ask if dinner should be prepared, there was no response. I thought the elder was still discussing important matters and did not disturb them further.
Until this morning, when there was still no response, I dared to open the door, only to find that the elder and eight hall masters were all missing."
Elder Lei furrowed his brow and asked, "Did you hear any unusual sounds during that time?"
The middle-aged man shook his head, "There were no sounds of fighting, nor any calls for help."
Elder Lei searched the entire City Lord's mansion thoroughly, inside and out, but found no useful clues.
"This is damn strange, how could nine Platinum experts vanish so silently?"
Elder Lei cursed under his breath.
He took out a long-distance communication talisman and reported the situation to Huangfu Feng.
He then rose and flew towards the City of Hope.
After investigating, he discovered that King Qin An and his three wives were in closed-door cultivation.
Elder Lei pondered, then returned to the spatial secret realm, but found no anomalies.
With no other options, he returned to Tianzhao Kingdom.
"Sect Master, I beg your pardon, but I was unable to ascertain the reason for Elder Qian's disappearance," Elder Lei reported with his fists clasped.
"Sect Master, do you think King Qin An secretly killed Elder Qian and the others?" someone speculated.
"Impossible."
Huangfu Feng shook his head. "Although King Qin An is immensely powerful, it is absolutely impossible for him to have killed Elder Qian and the others so silently."
Another person speculated, "Then could it be the work of the Righteous Alliance or the Buddhist sect?"
Huangfu Feng shook his head again. "Their strength is comparable to ours, and they would not have the ability to make Elder Qian and the others disappear simultaneously."
Elder Lei suddenly said mysteriously, "Sect Master, do you think it could be a clone of some powerful deity that killed Elder Qian and the others?"
Upon hearing this, everyone's expression changed.
They had also heard from survivors within their jurisdiction that Shiva's clone had appeared in India, and there were legends of deity clones descending in various parts of Blue Star.
If indeed a deity had targeted the Demon Sect.
It would indeed be possible for them to kill Elder Qian and the others silently.
But why did they specifically target Elder Qian and the others?
And after killing Elder Qian and the others, why were there no further actions?
After much discussion, there was still little clarity. Huangfu Feng could only instruct his subordinates to be extremely cautious.