In his line of sight, the Elder guarding him was still standing, but his head had already fallen to the ground.
Blood Princess’s previous move had actually been a classic misdirection. Both she and Ye Xuan knew that if they wanted to kill, they had to take out the strongest first. Her Divine Power of Instant Movement played a massive role. At the exact moment she slashed her blade, she flashed right next to the Elder.
The Elder was completely unprepared. His head was cleanly severed by the Earth-grade weapon. After all, this Elder didn’t possess a cultivation base as powerful as Jing Zhiyuan’s.
Having killed the Elder, Blood Princess turned her gaze toward Sun Hang. Now, it was his turn.
Sun Hang’s mind went completely blank. Stumbling backward, he stammered, "Heroine, please spare me! I know the Gongsun Family was destroyed and your heart is filled with hatred. But I didn’t kill anyone from the Gongsun Family, I swear! Besides, Ye Xuan might not even be dead. I know you were secretly sent by the Gongsun Family to protect him, but I never saw his corpse... Even though his body might have been blown to bits... Ah, what I mean is, it’s entirely possible he’s still alive!"
Sun Hang was so terrified that he was becoming incoherent. Blood Princess ignored his pleas for mercy. With an icy expression, she approached him step by step like a lofty queen.
Just as Blood Princess prepared to strike Sun Hang down, Ye Xuan’s voice rang out.
"My Lord, she must be the one who killed the Sun Family members inside!"
Ye Xuan’s words left Blood Princess utterly bewildered. She wondered, "What kind of play is Master acting out?"
Amidst her confusion, Ye Xuan’s telepathic voice transmitted into her mind. "Blood Princess, spit blood."
"Spit blood?"
Although puzzled, Blood Princess covertly struck herself. Yin Hong blood sprayed from her mouth. Her blood was freezing cold.
"Run!" Ye Xuan’s telepathic transmission echoed once more.
Blood Princess quickly fled into the distance, vanishing from sight within a few breaths.
"She ran! She ran away! I get it now. She’s at the end of her rope and must be heavily injured. Her earlier attack aggravated her wounds," Sun Hang suddenly realized. Saying this, he stood up, let out a heavy sigh of relief, and looked at Ye Xuan.
He wondered where he had seen this full-bearded man before. He couldn’t shake the feeling that the man was somewhat familiar. "Have I seen you somewhere before?"
Ye Xuan replied in a gruff voice, "My Lord, we saw each other yesterday at the inn."
"Oh, that seems right. You just said she killed members of the Sun Family? What does that mean?"
Feigning honesty, Ye Xuan explained, "My Lord, earlier you asked me what was inside the cave. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to answer, but I was completely stunned at the time. When I went in, the only things inside were the corpses of the Sun Family Lords."
"Huh? Corpses?"
"Yes, corpses."
At that moment, Sun Hang desperately wanted to go in and check, but he was afraid the blood-haired woman would return to kill him. He said, "It’s not safe to stay here for long. Let’s go somewhere else to talk."
Sun Hang picked up the Elder’s Qiankun Bag and walked for several miles before finally asking, "What exactly is the situation inside?"
"I don’t know either. All I know is that six Sun Family Lords died in there."
"So you didn’t answer me earlier because you didn’t know how to explain?"
"Exactly, My Lord. If I had told you that the Sun Family Lords were dead, you would have definitely thought I was the killer, or that I had taken some great treasures. I wouldn’t have been able to clear my name. Thank goodness that woman appeared. She must be the murderer who killed the Sun Family Lords."
"I understand."
"My Lord, may I leave now?"
Sun Hang pondered for a moment before asking another question. "Why did you come to the deepest part of the area?"
"My Lord, I came here following my family’s elders. Originally, we wanted to hunt high-level Beasts, but almost all the Beasts in those areas had been slaughtered by the great Lords of the Sun Family. Thinking there wouldn’t be much danger, I wandered off on my own to see if I could stumble upon some good fortune."
"So you were just looking for a lucky break."
"Yes, My Lord. Since there’s nothing else going on here, may I be on my way?"
"Go. This deepest region isn’t a place you should be. I need to leave as well." With that said, Sun Hang quickly departed.
He didn’t linger in the inner zone but instead headed straight toward the outer periphery. He had to report what had happened here to Sun Zhenwu. To think that a remnant of the Gongsun Family had actually hidden inside the Secret Realm! She was definitely hiding here to assassinate members of the Sun Family. She knew that the two-star Secret Realm was about to open and that the Sun Family’s younger generation would undoubtedly enter. When that time came, she could go on a killing spree.
At this thought, his forehead broke out in a cold sweat. That was too close. If killing the Elder hadn’t aggravated her injuries, his head would have surely been chopped off by that woman, and absolutely no one could have saved him this time.
Sun Hang didn’t dare stick around any longer, making sure to head to the densely populated outer areas as much as possible. At the same time, he crushed a piece of Twin Jade. The moment this Twin Jade shattered, Sun Zhenwu would know that he had an emergency on his hands and would definitely lead his men into the Secret Realm.
In truth, even without Sun Hang crushing the Twin Jade, Sun Zhenwu was already preparing to enter the Secret Realm. Just a moment ago, someone had come to report that the Life and Death Jade of his fifth grandson, Sun Cong, had shattered.
This left him utterly astonished. He had given Sun Cong six of the most powerful Celestial Secret Divine Crossbows. He wondered if they had encountered a Level Five, Rank Nine Beast. But Sun Cong had explicitly promised not to venture into the deepest areas. He was only supposed to go as far as the zones where the Level Five 7th Layer Beasts lived. So how had he died?
After looking into it further, he found out that Sun Cong wasn’t the only one who had died. The Life and Death Jades of five others, including Sun He and Sun Mie, had also shattered. These five were in the same team as Sun Cong. Yet they were all dead. Something wasn’t right about this.
What shocked Sun Zhenwu the most, however, was that Sun Yun’s Childbirth Jade had also shattered. Sun Yun was at the 1st Layer of the Earth Spirit Realm. To think that someone with such a cultivation base had actually perished! Could it be that they had stumbled upon some perilous zone within the Secret Realm?
Sun Zhenwu mobilized a force of tens of thousands of soldiers and called upon several formidable Honored Guest Elders. Among these Elders, the most powerful was at the 4th Layer of the Earth Spirit Realm.
Meanwhile, inside the Secret Realm.
After Sun Hang had gone far away and Ye Xuan confirmed there was no one around, he sent a telepathic transmission calling Blood Princess back.
"Master, why did you suddenly make me spit blood and leave?" Blood Princess’s perplexed voice echoed in his mind.
Ye Xuan explained, "Because Sun Hang didn’t recognize me, and he didn’t even realize you only attacked to save me. Therefore, not killing him and sparing his life was the best approach."
Ye Xuan’s decision to spare Sun Hang was absolutely not out of misplaced mercy; keeping Sun Hang alive was simply the most advantageous move for him. This way, the blame for killing the Sun Family members would rest entirely on Blood Princess’s shoulders. That was far better than killing Sun Hang, which would have left the Sun Family to blindly guess which Fierce Beast was the culprit and sent the entire Secret Realm into a state of paranoia. Furthermore, this outcome wouldn’t interfere with his continued hunting of Beasts. However, he had to pick up his pace now.
"Blood Princess, I won’t recall you for the next two days. Go and hunt Beasts in my stead. The number of Rank Eight, or even Rank Nine, Level Five Beasts is definitely extremely sparse. If you see one, kill it immediately!"
"Huh? I have to do the hunting?"
"Yes. You can hunt Beasts much faster than I can. You should have about two days or so. Just kill as many as you possibly can."
Ye Xuan knew that if the experts from the Sun Family came inside, it would become much harder for Blood Princess to hunt Beasts. Although Instant Movement was an incredible Divine Power, Blood Princess couldn’t spam it indefinitely. Even with her treasure-like Body Refining, it was impossible. With time running short, the only way to hunt a massive amount of Level Five Beasts quickly was for Blood Princess to take action herself.