617: speculation

Shortly after Chen De left, at the location where Xu Lan had previously emitted fluctuations...

Multiple incomparably powerful auras descended one after another; there were five in total.

"Where is the Yuanxu Sect?"

"Did some accident happen here?"

The five figures looked at the scene before them and fell into a collective silence.

How much time had passed since Xu Lan sent the distress signal? The Yuanxu Sect had simply evaporated.

Who exactly was the one who acted?

If the opponent had the ability to easily wipe out the Yuanxu Sect, they could naturally wipe them out just as easily.

For a moment, the moods of the five sect masters present grew heavy.

Who could have been the one to strike?

With such strength, a single name surfaced in all of their minds.

Xie Feng!

A powerhouse who had already achieved Slaying Three Corpses; an ordinary Immortal Law Realm Ninth Transformation peak cultivator would only be killed instantly before him.

In the entire Sacred Ring Domain, only he had the ability to make the Yuanxu Sect evaporate so quickly and cleanly.

The five sect masters looked at each other, seeing the worry in each other's eyes.

They had originally thought that after Xie Feng became the Alliance Leader, he would be satisfied and slowly nibble away at the rest.

They hadn't expected that that day was merely to lower their guard so he could eliminate them one by one in secret.

The more they thought about it, the more they felt Xie Feng was the most likely culprit.

The reason was simple: Xie Feng was a Quasi-Saint level powerhouse. If he were to come, he would definitely arrive much earlier than them.

Besides Xie Feng, there were still three sects that hadn't arrived. Given their distance, they should have arrived by now. Could they have also met with foul play?

It was feared that only six of the Ten Sects of the Sacred Ring remained.

As they thought of this, the five of them suddenly noticed a figure standing ahead.

He held a sharp sword that was already unsheathed, gazing forward with a calm expression.

Seeing this person, the hearts of the five sect masters trembled, and they all made reactive movements.

Their respective Spirit Treasures were summoned: a spear, a hammer, an axe, a pagoda, and a mirror.

They held them all in their hands, ready but not yet striking, staring intently at Xie Feng and watching his next move.

As long as Xie Feng didn't take the initiative to attack, truth be told, they didn't want to fight either.

Otherwise, with the skills of the five of them, they truly might not be a match for the current Xie Feng.

So if Xie Feng didn't act, they were willing to continue maintaining a facade of civility.

Furthermore, it couldn't be confirmed yet that he was the one who did it; he was just the most suspicious. There was no need to make things so tense right away.

One of them, holding the pagoda, said, "Alliance Leader Xie, the Yuanxu Sect has suddenly vanished. I wonder if you have discovered anything?"

Xie Feng turned his head to glance at him, while also sweeping his gaze over the other four.

As his gaze swept past, the five of them immediately looked as if they were facing a great enemy.

Seeing them like this, Xie Feng immediately knew they had misunderstood something.

However, he did not offer any explanation. Any words would be pale and weak, far less persuasive than facts.

They were all old foxes; how could they possibly believe words coming out of someone else's mouth?

And from the current perspective, he was indeed the one in the Sacred Ring Domain with the most ability and the highest probability.

After thinking for a moment, he spoke, "You all go back first. I will handle the matters here myself."

"Handle it yourself?"

Seeing that Xie Feng gave them no explanation, they didn't believe he didn't know what they were thinking.

However, being allowed to leave now was indeed a good thing.

But if that were the case, their speculation seemed to have developed an error.

Could it be that he was waiting to strike them down one by one as they left?

Given the gap in strength between the two sides, there seemed to be absolutely no need for that; the result would be the same if he acted now.

So the five of them only hesitated slightly before nodding. "In that case, we shall trouble the Alliance Leader."

"Go."

Xie Feng replied and stopped paying attention to them.

Being at the Quasi-Saint level, he had arrived much earlier than these fellows.

He was almost on Chen De's heels; Chen De had just left when he arrived.

It was just that he was busy traveling, and Chen De was cautious enough with strong concealment abilities, plus they were moving in the same direction, so they hadn't crossed paths.

After arriving here and seeing the empty starry sky, it seemed identical to the situation at Luohong Hall.

Xie Feng instantly thought that Xu Lan had likely also run into problems with Slaying Three Corpses.

He went mad and destroyed his own sect.

As for the distress signal, although only the sect masters of the ten alliance sects possessed it...

It wasn't impossible for them to hand over the corresponding means to the elders below before going into seclusion.

However, this was almost a last resort.

After all, everyone knew exactly what kind of character the people of the ten sects had and how they had risen to power.

Unfortunately, even if he successfully sent it out, it wouldn't change any outcome.

Just like Luohong Hall, once the strike was made, the entire sect vanished in an instant.

Next, he began to search, checking to see if Xu Lan's figure was nearby.

For example, after Yu Qianhong had succumbed to inner demons, she had chosen to stay at the original location of her sect.

Then he had gone to check and was discovered; the two sides had a great battle, and she seemed to have recovered a bit of her sanity, as she was no longer there now.

At the thought of Yu Qianhong, a trace of chilling killing intent surfaced in Xie Feng's eyes.

Either she never showed her face for the rest of her life, or he would surely kill her!

Unfortunately, he didn't find Xu Lan's figure in the end; he might have gone somewhere else.

There were pros and cons; it could be considered avoiding a fierce battle.

Otherwise, if they were to fight again, it would be absolutely impossible for him to hold back; he would only go for a certain kill!

Afterward, he planned to visit the other seven sects. On the way to several of them, he encountered the five sect masters and didn't continue there.

Ultimately, he only reached two sects. He had his good corpse with him, so he could go to one location each.

These two sects were Dou Yuan Hall, led by Hall Master Xuan Ni, and Guixin Hall, led by Hall Master Xu You.

Although he didn't investigate specifically, since they hadn't made any moves at this time, there was no doubt they were also attempting Slaying Three Corpses.

It couldn't be helped; Xie Feng had shone brilliantly at the assembly and admitted he had achieved Slaying Three Corpses, which was too great a shock for the other sect masters.

Although the remaining five sect masters hadn't done so yet, they definitely had the intention; they just hadn't made up their minds yet.

Xie Feng had also anticipated the reaction of the other nine sects after he revealed his Slaying Three Corpses.

This process was fraught with danger; he himself had nearly failed and succumbed to inner demons.

So he had long been mentally prepared for the possibility that some of the other nine sect masters would fail.

He just hadn't expected that the first two would both have problems.

As for how these two would turn out, truth be told, Xie Feng wasn't certain either.

In Xie Feng's original calculations, Xu Lan's success rate was the highest.

The reason was none other than that yuanxu plate, which had a balancing effect and made it the hardest to succumb to inner demons.

Perhaps it was this Xu Lan who, at the very end, used the power of the yuanxu plate to maintain a shred of clarity and seek help from the nine sects—primarily me.

Unfortunately, he couldn't hold out in the end and struck to destroy the Yuanxu Sect.