Aftermath

"By the way, clean up the battlefield; I shouldn't need to teach you how to do that."

The voice reached Qin Shi's Sea of Consciousness directly through the master-servant contract.

Qin Shi felt a shiver in his heart. Although he felt reluctant, the power of the contract left him unable to muster the slightest thought of resistance, leaving him with no choice but to obey: "Yes, Master."

He looked at the few trusted Disciples who were cleaning up the battlefield, their faces still showing a hint of excitement; they were also his followers.

Excluding the three who had already died, four remained.

These people were all his confidants; they knew many of his secrets and were direct participants in this massacre.

For absolute safety, they had to disappear.

A trace of weariness appeared on Qin Shi's face as he beckoned to the few confidants:

"Come over here, tally up the spoils and see if there are any important clues."

The few confidants suspected nothing and gathered around.

Just as they lowered their heads to check the Storage Pouches scattered on the ground, a surge of murderous intent erupted in Qin Shi's eyes!

"Puchi!" "Crack!"

Without any warning, the long spear in Qin Shi's hand struck like a viper emerging from its hole, instantly piercing the hearts of the two confidants closest to him.

At the same time, his other hand, imbued with violent spiritual power, slammed fiercely onto the crown of another confidant's head!

"Senior Brother Qin, you...!"

"Why..."

The three trusted Disciples had no time to react; with faces still full of shock and disbelief, they died instantly!

To their deaths, they did not understand why the Senior Brother who had been fighting alongside them just moments ago would turn his blade against them.

The last confidant was a bit further away; seeing this, he was terrified to the point of Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering, turning around to flee.

"Want to leave? Too late!" Qin Shi snorted coldly. His movement technique was like lightning as he instantly caught up, his long spear carving a cold, desolate arc.

"No—!" The confidant only had time to let out a short, miserable scream before his head flew off.

In the blink of an eye, the four Nascent Soul confidants who had followed him on this mission had all become cold corpses.

Qin Shi watched the corpses on the ground expressionlessly and quickly staged the scene.

He deliberately placed the Magical Artifacts of one or two Guanghan Immortal Palace Disciples into the hands of his confidants' corpses, creating the illusion that they had fought each other to the death.

He then unleashed a few low-power Talismans to detonate, destroying traces and covering up the signs of his own involvement.

After doing all this, he carefully inspected it once more. After confirming everything was correct, he reported to Chen Yuan through the contract: "Master, the hidden dangers have been eliminated."

"Very good. Return to Chen Gong and continue playing your role as a Kunxu Holy Land Prodigy. If there are new instructions, I will contact you."

Chen Yuan replied indifferently.

"Yes." Qin Shi took a deep breath, suppressing the complex emotions in his heart, turned, and flew toward the rendezvous point agreed upon with Chen Gong. His figure soon disappeared into the dense forest.

On the other side, the severely injured Liu Ning burned her essence blood all the way, fleeing desperately until she confirmed there were no more pursuers behind her, only then did she collapse from exhaustion at the bottom of a hidden valley.

She leaned against a cold rock, gasping for breath. The wound on her arm was deep enough to see the bone, blood constantly seeping out, and the spiritual power within her was nearly exhausted.

But the physical pain was not even one ten-thousandth of the sorrow and hatred in her heart.

The scene of her fellow Disciples' tragic deaths, especially the actions of that traitorous Disciple before dying, and Qin Shi's merciless slaughter, played repeatedly in her mind like a nightmare.

"Kunxu Holy Land... Qin Shi...!" She gritted her teeth, every word soaked with blood and tears.

She gripped the memory stone tightly.

"I must live... I must bring the truth out! Senior Sister Bai, Senior Sister Yun... and so many other fellow Disciples, they cannot die in vain!"

A strong desire to survive and the belief in revenge sustained her. She struggled to take out a Medicinal Pill to heal her wounds and began to circulate her energy to regulate her breathing.

She was now the only hope for the Guanghan Immortal Palace in this Secret Realm; she absolutely could not fall.

Several days later,

News that the remaining forces of the Guanghan Immortal Palace had been massacred by a team led by Qin Shi of the Kunxu Holy Land quietly spread throughout the Secret Realm.

Although the truth was murky because almost everyone involved was dead, the Kunxu Holy Land was undoubtedly, completely pinned down. No one doubted the previous speculations anymore; the deaths of Bai Ruoxi and the others were all blamed on the Kunxu Holy Land.

Except for the missing Liu Ning, the only survivor, Qin Shi, had long stood up to voice his denial, vehemently denying the matter, but the more he denied it, the more suspicious others became.

The Disciples of the Nine Heavens Sword Pavilion and Xuantian Sect breathed a sigh of relief; at least the main spearhead was no longer pointed at them.

No one believed the Kunxu Holy Land even if they tried to throw more mud.

But the atmosphere within the Secret Realm became even more eerie and tense; the major forces were wary of each other, and trust had dropped to freezing point.

Chen Gong and the others from the Kunxu Holy Land were under immense pressure.

Inside the Immortal Cave,

Qin Shi knelt on the ground, detailing the situation of that night to Chen Gong, who sat at the head of the room with a gloomy face.

"Senior Brother Chen Gong, the facts are just as I said. One of my followers was ambushed by people from the Guanghan Immortal Palace, who lured him into a trap, which is why I led the rest of my confidants to rescue him."

Chen Gong struck out with a palm, a dark red palm print accompanied by the sound of breaking air, slamming into Qin Shi's chest.

"Boom!"

Qin Shi was instantly sent flying backward, crashing into the wall behind him, causing the entire Immortal Cave to tremble violently.

He landed on the ground, spitting out a large mouthful of blood.

"Why didn't you report to me first!" Chen Gong asked with cold eyes.

At this moment, he had already taken out a long sword, covered the distance in a few steps to Qin Shi's side, and then placed the sword against Qin Shi's neck. "Do you know that because of your arbitrary actions, the outside world believes that the remaining forces of the Guanghan Immortal Palace were all killed by my Kunxu Holy Land?

Do you know that the outside world is saying that it was I who instructed you to massacre the other forces of the Kunxu Holy Land?

Do you know that if a Sect war breaks out, you will be the sinner of the entire Kunxu Holy Land."

Feeling the stinging pain at his neck, Qin Shi spoke with difficulty due to his weakness: "Replying to Senior Brother Chen Gong, it is my fault; I should not have acted on my own."

In the current situation, the only option was to respectfully admit his mistake; anything else would be sophistry and would easily expose him.

"Senior Brother Chen Gong, things have reached this point; killing Qin Shi is useless. After we leave the Secret Realm, drag Qin Shi out and make him take the blame." One of the Personal Disciples said without any reservation.

"Are you all a bunch of idiots? Who would believe it? Who would believe that the whole thing was done by Qin Shi? They will only point their spears at me! At me!"

Chen Gong took a deep breath. The brains of this group of people were truly making him laugh from stupidity.

He withdrew his long sword and did not kill Qin Shi. In the whole affair, Qin Shi was nothing more than a chess piece.

It was not hard to guess that the chess player had deliberately lured Qin Shi's followers into the territory of the Guanghan Immortal Palace, which caused Qin Shi to be careless for a moment, leading to the series of events that followed.

The person playing the game from behind was too terrifying, playing with the entire Kunxu Holy Land and all the major forces in the entire Heavenly Treasure Secret Realm in the palm of their hand.

First, they silently blamed the death of Bai Ruoxi on their Kunxu Holy Land, calculating him into it.

Later, they schemed against Qin Shi, confirming the conflict between their Kunxu Holy Land and the Guanghan Immortal Palace. After leaving the Secret Realm, a Sect war would inevitably break out, unless they could find the person playing the game.