Not long after the middle-aged man left Hope City, his two subordinates found him.
"Everything dealt with cleanly?"
"Not a trace left."
"Then let's head to Burdan and spread the word of King Qin An's wealth to the Buddhist sect."
The three of them transformed into a streak of rainbow light and flew rapidly north.
Space Secret Realm.
Today was the fifth day since Jin Jiuzi awoke.
After losing sight of Qin Shilei, he had been searching for a way to leave the space secret realm, but to no avail.
Trapped in the small space, Jin Jiuzi was going mad, destroying his surroundings like a wild beast out of control.
Suddenly, he felt a tremor in his heart, as if something bad was about to happen.
Immediately, the earth shook, and space and time fused.
Qin Shilei appeared abruptly before Jin Jiuzi.
"Damn human, you won't escape this time!"
Jin Jiuzi's face lit up with joy, and he lunged at Qin Shilei.
"Heh heh."
Qin Shilei chuckled, "It should be you who's about to die."
With a light tap of his left hand, "Spatial Shift!"
The surroundings shifted, and the two of them suddenly found themselves on the summit of a great mountain.
Jin Jiuzi's face was filled with surprise and uncertainty, but he dared not act rashly.
"Levitate!"
Qin Shilei uttered two more words.
He and Jin Jiuzi were once again suspended in mid-air.
Heaven Shattering Sword!
Jin Jiuzi desperately tried to fly towards the ground.
But no matter how he flew, the distance between him and the ground did not shorten at all.
"What exactly did you do?"
Jin Jiuzi was completely panicked and shouted at Qin Shilei. At the same time, he waved his hands repeatedly, summoning countless meteorites the size of millstones to bombard Qin Shilei, who was charging up his attack.
However, it was as if Qin Shilei had an invisible barrier above his head. As soon as the powerful meteorites flew within ten meters of him, they automatically fell to either side.
A massive sword shadow took form once more.
With an unstoppable might, it slashed down at Jin Jiuzi.
"I am immortal, you absolutely cannot kill me."
Jin Jiuzi seemed to be declaring to Qin Shilei, or perhaps trying to encourage himself.
Yet, the earth-elemental armor that clung to his body cracked like tofu under the onslaught of the Heaven Shattering Sword.
Jin Jiuzi was once again cut in half by the sword.
The halved Jin Jiuzi, as if devoid of gravity, continued to hang in mid-air.
Devouring Thunder!
Furious heavenly thunderbolts rained down.
Jin Jiuzi's corpse was rapidly consumed.
As his last piece of flesh was annihilated, a golden treasure chest appeared in mid-air.
"Phew!"
Qin Shilei let out a sigh of relief. "This troublesome fellow is finally dead."
He paused, then with a casual gesture, an eight-headed, snake-like phantom, half a meter in size, appeared in his palm.
"Release me, or you will be forever trapped and die in this space secret realm."
The soul phantom of the Eight-Headed Serpent struggled desperately.
"Heh heh." Qin Shilei chuckled. "I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you."
With that, he snapped his fingers.
A spatial exit suddenly appeared before the Eight-Headed Serpent.
"Impossible, this is impossible."
The Eight-Headed Serpent muttered in disbelief.
Qin Shilei, however, had no intention of explaining.
With a thought, a bolt of lightning rose from his palm, crackling as it pierced into the soul phantom of the Eight-Headed Serpent.
"Ah!"
Accompanied by the Eight-Headed Serpent's pained screeches, its form became increasingly faint, and then completely vanished into the air.
After fully integrating the entire space secret realm into his Dongtian Fudi, Qin Shilei became something of a deity within it.
With a mere thought, he could isolate Jin Jiuzi away from that space secret realm, suspend him in mid-air, and completely kill him.
It was precisely because he had completely integrated the space secret realm that he could easily locate the soul body of the Eight-Headed Serpent, which was lurking in the shadows.
As for opening the exit to the space secret realm, that was as easy as pie.
With a light step, Qin Shilei returned to Blue Star.
He glanced back at the Demon Sect disciples hiding in the distance, then flew back towards Hope City.
King Qin An's Mansion.
An Qian hugged Qin Shilei tightly.
"You scoundrel, disappearing for so long without a word. Didn't you know we were worried about you?"
"It was my fault. The situation was rather urgent, and I didn't have time to tell you."
At this moment, Zhang Xiaoli, Kong Qingshu, and the others, having learned of Qin Shilei's return, rushed back to the mansion from outside.
After expressing their longing for each other, they began to recount the events that had transpired during their separation.
"The people from the Righteous Qi Alliance appeared ahead of schedule?"
Qin Shilei frowned and asked, "Did they harm you?"
An Qian said with some confusion, "Strangely enough, although they defeated us, they didn't resort to any more brutal methods."
Zhang Xiaoli added, "Although that middle-aged man snatched some of our mutated corn, he didn't take any of our more valuable equipment or items."
Kong Qingshu speculated, "Do you think he might have been hesitant to completely break ties with us, perhaps due to some apprehension about your strength, Shi Lei?"
Qin Shilei was also puzzled by their accounts but had no clear idea.
He said nonchalantly, "Didn't that person say he'd appear again in ten days? We'll capture him then, and it'll be clear."
However, in his heart, he harbored worries about An Qian and the others' safety.
Their strength was among the top survivors. They could barely handle ordinary Platinum Rank One or Two mutated beasts or humans.
But in both the Righteous Qi Alliance and the Demon Sect, Platinum Rank experts were common.
If those high-ranking Platinum individuals harbored ill intentions, An Qian and the others could be in grave danger.
Qin Shilei pondered, but could not come up with an excellent countermeasure.
His only recourse was to constantly refresh attributes on the three women, hoping to brush out some excellent attributes to increase their strength.
Through continuous refreshing, they each managed to acquire an orange attribute.
The strength of the three women also increased severalfold as a result.
With their combined efforts, even if they encountered that middle-aged man again, they would have a fighting chance.
Qin Shilei then took out the two golden treasure chests he had recently obtained. "An Qian, it's time for you to show off your skills again."
An Qian's eyes lit up. She took the treasure chests, closed her eyes and prayed for a moment, then quickly opened one of the golden treasure chests.
Immediately, two beams of light, one orange and one purple, emanated from the chest.
Battle Boundary (Purple): Pulls enemies into an alternate dimension boundary, where combat continues until only one person remains before they can exit.
Sword Talisman (Orange): Allows one to seal a specific sword technique into this jade talisman. Once activated, it will unleash a sword move with greatly amplified power.
Although the Battle Boundary was not particularly outstanding, it was still a very practical item. Qin Shilei put it away for now.
As for the Sword Talisman, Qin Shilei immediately thought of the Heaven Shattering Sword.
If he could seal the Heaven Shattering Sword into the Sword Talisman, even if that middle-aged man reappeared, An Qian and the others could easily kill him with it.