If the city lord actually showed up, none of them would be a match.
Yet, they were still arguing about who would get credit for killing the lord’s only son.
"A mere great leader-level devil? We at Artifact Refining Valley have dealt with them before," Chayan Zeng scoffed, looking down on the Nine Cauldron Sect’s fear of devils.
The Nine Cauldron Sect cultivator noticed his disdain but didn’t bother arguing.
If he wanted to claim the credit, so be it.
Meanwhile, a thousand miles away, in Night Sorrow City.
"Report to the City Lord: In recent days, we successfully hunted down over sixty human cultivators, more than thirty of whom were disciples of various major sects. None of them knew anything about the secret realm."
"Only thirty?" The Night Sorrow City Lord’s face darkened with displeasure.
Since he couldn’t leave the city and rush to the Double Cavern Secret Realm, the Night Sorrow City Lord had ordered his men to start mercilessly hunting down human cultivators, especially those from the sects involved in the secret realm.
His loyal follower, Darolon, quickly stepped forward to explain, "City Lord, our actions have been noticed by the human forces. They’ve begun gathering their disciples back into the city."
The Night Sorrow City Lord didn’t care about killing a few human cultivators and asked, "What did they say?"
Darolon replied, "They said the secret realm cannot be opened."
Upon hearing this, the Night Sorrow City Lord erupted in anger, "Nonsense! My son died in the secret realm—why can’t they open it?"
"City Lord, please calm down. The spatial structure of the Double Cavern Secret Realm is very unstable. It’s not the right time to open it. If we force it open, the passage might become unstable, and the humans won’t just sit by and watch. We already agreed with them that each side could only send in fifty people."
Darolon explained again, even though the City Lord already knew this.
But in his current rage, he wasn’t thinking rationally.
For the City Lord, Aarzostes wasn’t just his only son.
The stronger a devil’s power, the harder it is for them to have children.
Aarzostes was also the beloved child his late wife left to him.
He was cherished beyond measure since birth.
Suddenly losing him in a mere secret realm was something he couldn’t accept.
"City Lord, angering the top human cultivators could have serious consequences. You must hold back," Darolon urged.
The Night Sorrow City Lord’s expression turned dark, "I want to know who killed Aarzostes. If we can’t send more people in, then get someone out!’’
Darolon hesitated for a moment.
It wasn’t impossible, just troublesome.
But seeing the City Lord’s unrelenting anger, Darolon sighed and said, ’’I’ll do my best.’’
As Darolon left the hall, a group of devils waiting outside immediately approached him.
’’Sir Darolon, what did the City Lord say?’’
Darolon relayed the City Lord’s orders.
’’This won’t be easy,’’ one of the devils replied with a troubled expression.
’’It has to be done, easy or not. We have half a month left. I can’t keep the City Lord calm for that long, so we have to try.’’
After saying that, Darolon set off for the Double Cavern Secret Realm.
With his incredible speed, it didn’t take long for him to reach the entrance.
The devils were surprised to see him.
Everyone knew that Darolon was the Night Sorrow City Lord’s trusted aide and very powerful, even stronger than most of them.
After he explained why he was there, most devils, except those from Night Sorrow City, looked uneasy.
A few devils mentioned that reopening the passage would consume a lot of energy and might anger the human cultivators.
Darolon had anticipated this and promised them some rewards.
As for angering the human cultivators, he explained that opening a small passage to send a few messages wouldn’t break their agreement with the humans.
The devils finally agreed.
The humans quickly learned of the devils’ actions but, after confirming that the devils were only sending messages, they didn’t interfere.
Inside the Double Cavern Secret Realm, a small vortex suddenly appeared in the air, and a beam of light shot out, speeding off into the distance.
On a high slope, Kenny Lin suddenly looked up, ’’What was that?’’
’’I don’t know, but it looks like some kind of message,’’ Amalia replied, having seen it too.
’’Do you think the devils are calling for reinforcements?’’
Amalia suddenly looked behind Kenny Lin. ’’I’m not sure if the devils are, but it looks like Renshu Chang and Vincent Tan are.’’
Kenny Lin turned around and saw a distress signal from the Green Lotus Sect shoot up into the sky, exploding into a brilliant firework.
Renshu Chang’s group had eight people.
For such a large team to send a distress signal, there was only one explanation: they were being ambushed by multiple forces working together.
Amalia and Kenny Lin immediately flew towards the direction of the distress signal.
As they neared their destination, the sound of fierce fighting reached their ears.
Bursting out of the tall, dense forest, they were immediately confronted by a Devil who seemed to have been waiting for them with a sneer on its face.
"A late-stage Golden Core and a mid-stage Golden Core? So, this is the rescue team you called for?" A Devil standing on a large boulder mocked them with a scornful expression as it noticed the two arriving.
Kenny Lin had just reached the late-stage Golden Core, and Amalia had broken through to the mid-stage as well.
However, in a secret realm where there were more than ten late-stage and even peak-stage cultivators, mid-stage was still considered weak, so it wasn’t surprising the Devils looked down on them.
Unlike the Devils’ disdain, the disciples of the Green Lotus Sect were overjoyed to see them, especially Vincent Tan, who acted as if he had just seen his parents.
"Junior Master Uncle, you finally came! These people have been bullying us, you have to avenge us!" Vincent Tan whined, immediately complaining to them.