When Zhou Cheng's spirit left his body and emerged outside it, it took only a moment for him to feel it grow cold, as though an ordinary man had fallen into an ice cellar.
A spirit in the Out-of-Body Realm was extremely fragile. A gust of wind could easily scatter it.
Once a spirit was scattered, the soul was lost forever.
Feeling the chill, Zhou Cheng quickly formed a hand seal and silently recited the Primordial Boundless Scripture's incantation, guiding his spirit back to his Life Palace.
Even after his spirit returned to his Life Palace, he still felt cold. It took a little while before he recovered.
That was because Zhou Cheng had been taking Marrow-Cleansing Pills and Nine-Orifice Golden Pills these past few days, which had strengthened his spirit. If another Out-of-Body Realm expert's spirit emerged and felt the cold, it might take a day or two to recover.
It was like an ordinary person catching cold. If they were in poor health, not only might they fail to recover in a day or two, but their illness could grow worse and worse.
Once his spirit had recovered, Zhou Cheng left the room and continued tracking down the other Peach God Sect experts in the Object Manipulation Realm.
Now, every Peach God Sect expert in the Object Manipulation Realm he took out meant one less enemy on the Demonic Cult's side.
After taking out two more early-stage Object Manipulation Realm experts from the Peach God Sect, Zhou Cheng finally left.
Afterward, Zhou Cheng began picking off Demonic Cult disciples who were alone.
He generally chose those at Qi Refining Level Seven through Qi Refining Level Ten, killing them with a single stroke without making a sound.
Zhou Cheng moved extremely fast. After taking one out, he immediately locked onto another target.
Before the Demonic Cult noticed anything amiss, he would take out as many as he could.
Even though Zhou Cheng had already sped up, the Demonic Cult still noticed something was wrong after he had taken out more than twenty of their disciples.
At once, alarm bells rang throughout the Demonic Cult headquarters.
"What's going on?" Hearing the bells, Prince of Southern Ming charged out of the secret chamber.
After hearing Evil Blade Right Envoy report that more than twenty Demonic Cult disciples had gone missing, Prince of Southern Ming was stunned.
The experts from the three great sects and the Da Feng Imperial Family weren't due to arrive until tomorrow afternoon. Could another group of experts have infiltrated the Demonic Cult headquarters?
"Have you found them?" Prince of Southern Ming asked Evil Blade.
Evil Blade shook his head. "No. We're still searching."
"And the strange thing is, those missing disciples seem to have vanished into thin air."
Evil Blade voiced the doubt weighing on him.
"Vanished into thin air?" Prince of Southern Ming furrowed his brow.
Just then, the two of them saw Yan Chengkun leading Peach God Sect experts toward them in a furious huff, reporting that seven Peach God Sect experts had also gone missing.
Prince of Southern Ming and Evil Blade were both startled.
"Seal every exit."
"If you find the intruder, kill without mercy!"
Prince of Southern Ming's voice was icy.
What infuriated Prince of Southern Ming and the others was that after searching for half an hour, they had not only failed to find the intruder, but another dozen Demonic Cult disciples had gone missing.
"Leader, we've searched the rest of the headquarters. There are only two places left," Evil Blade told Prince of Southern Ming.
Prince of Southern Ming understood what Evil Blade meant. Only his cultivation chamber and the Demonic Cult Treasury remained unsearched.
Only Prince of Southern Ming could open the Demonic Cult Treasury, so no one dared approach it without his order.
Prince of Southern Ming thought for a moment, then led Evil Blade and the others toward the Demonic Cult Treasury.
But when he reached the treasury's gate and saw the gaping hole hacked through it, he froze, unable to believe his eyes. Then he charged forward in a frenzy.
At the hole, Prince of Southern Ming leaned in and peered inside. Seeing the empty space within, he suddenly let out a heart-rending roar, like a wounded lion gone mad.
Evil Blade, Demon Dragon General, and the others were startled by Prince of Southern Ming's anguished roar. They hurried over, but when they saw the empty treasury, they were dumbstruck too.
Prince of Southern Ming suddenly opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of blood.
It was no wonder Prince of Southern Ming was so furious he vomited blood.
Even a small gang had monthly expenses of several hundred taels, let alone a great cult like the Demonic Cult. Now that the treasury was completely empty, were he and the Demonic Cult's disciples supposed to live on the northwest wind?
Prince of Southern Ming didn't even wipe the blood from his mouth. He turned and fixed a murderous glare on Evil Blade, Demon Dragon General, and the others. "Search! Turn this entire valley upside down and find him!"
"I'll grind his bones to dust!"
"I'll skin him alive!"
"I'll cut his flesh off, piece by piece!"
Prince of Southern Ming roared again and again.
Evil Blade, Demon Dragon General, and the others trembled as they answered, then scattered and began searching frantically.
Yet no matter how hard the Demonic Cult and Peach God Sect searched, they never found anyone suspicious.
And the Demonic Cult's disciples kept disappearing.
The Demonic Cult disciples were gripped by panic.
In the end, the Demonic Cult disciples started moving in groups of dozens, no longer daring to go anywhere alone.
Seeing that he could no longer make a move, Zhou Cheng left the valley.
After leaving the valley, Zhou Cheng drew a map of it and gave it to Lin Ru to pass to his master, Xing Yao. He also told Lin Ru that if Prince of Southern Ming fled, he would leave marks along the way.
After Lin Ru left with the map, Zhou Cheng didn't sit idle. He and Qin Meng went to the secret passage the Demonic Cult planned to use to escape and took out the Three Great Ghost Crones guarding it.
He had Qin Meng and the Five Phoenix Divine Beasts bombard the entrance to the secret passage, sealing it completely.
A cornered dog would leap over a wall. He was going to throw Prince of Southern Ming into utter disarray.
Hearing the deafening crash, Prince of Southern Ming led Demonic Cult experts over. When he saw the Three Great Ghost Crones' corpses and the sealed entrance to the secret passage, his face twisted with rage, his green eyes icy and sinister.
"Leader, the other side is likely made up of experts from the three great sects or the Imperial Family. They must have already seen through our plan," Evil Blade stammered.
Prince of Southern Ming's expression darkened.
He understood what Evil Blade meant: he wanted to persuade him to lead everyone out of the Blackwater Mountain Range.
But thinking of all the painstaking preparations he had made going to waste, and of the empty treasury, he couldn't suppress the fury in his heart.
Besides, the secret passage was blocked, and large numbers of Da Feng troops were guarding every exit around the Blackwater Mountain Range. How could they escape?
"Can we still clear the secret passage?" Prince of Southern Ming asked Evil Blade in a low voice.
Evil Blade looked at the blocked entrance and shook his head. "It'll be difficult. It'll probably take a whole day to dig through again."
A whole day!
By then, the experts from the three great sects and the Da Feng Imperial Family would have already arrived.
Hearing that it would take a whole day to clear the passage, murderous intent surged in Prince of Southern Ming's heart. He swept his gaze over those around him. "I don't care who you are. If you oppose my Demonic Cult and I find out who you are, I'll wipe out your entire clan!"
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