Gazing up at the Gate of the Nether King in a trance, Chen Hao lowered his head and then stepped forward, slowly reaching out to touch the icy surface of the gate.

"Yuqiao, I'm here!" Chen Hao closed his eyes and softly spoke, feeling the presence of Ye Yuqiao's Yin Soul.

Unknowingly, Zhao Chong had already arrived behind Chen Hao, saying, "I will take you up to see what you want to see."

Having said that, Zhao Chong grabbed the collar of Chen Hao's shirt and lifted him up at high speed, ascending until quite some time had passed before stopping.

When the whooshing, biting wind by his ears slowed, Chen Hao opened his eyes, and what he saw on the Gate of the Nether King was a carving of Ye Yuqiao.

"This is Yuqiao!" Chen Hao exclaimed.

"Hmm," Zhao Chong nodded, "This is the seal her Yin Soul transformed into. Below her seal are the seals formed by the Yin Souls of the three generations of Nether Kings before her. Her family is cursed; every generation of the Nether King meets the same fate!"

Chen Hao then looked down and said, "Yuqiao has told me about this, but I don't think it's a curse."

"It is a curse!" Zhao Chong countered coldly, "You surely do not yet know what's inside the Gate of the Nether King?"

Chen Hao hummed, saying, "Aren't there three Primordial Demons of the Underworld inside?"

"Not only three Primordial Demons of the Underworld!" Zhao Chong shook his head slightly, "Actually, it's not difficult for you to find out what's inside, you just have to activate your Nether Vision Technique in your left eye."

"Right!" A spark of enlightenment flashed across Chen Hao's left eye, and at this moment, his heart was filled with curiosity and excitement.

Straightaway, Chen Hao activated the Nether Vision Technique with his left eye.

Usually, the Nether Vision took only two seconds to penetrate through anything, but it took a full thirty seconds to penetrate the Gate of the Nether King.

Chen Hao almost believed he could not see through the Gate of the Nether King and almost gave up,

When the vision finally penetrated the gate, what first came into view was not the three massive Primordial Demons of the Underworld Chen Hao had envisioned, but a corridor paved with bluestone, vast and magnificent, resembling a large square.

Chen Hao would never have imagined that on the other side of the Gate of the Nether King, it was raining, and the sunlight was faintly visible behind the dark clouds in the sky, as if it were another world altogether.

At the end of the corridor was a huge palace. However, most of the palace was broken and unrecognizable, with almost nothing left but ruins.

"There's actually a palace inside!" Chen Hao exclaimed.

Zhao Chong's eyebrows furrowed, although he knew what was inside the Gate of the Nether King, he had only heard it from his elders and had never seen it with his own eyes. Now, hearing what Chen Hao said, for him, it was a confirmation of his elders' words.

After a pause, Zhao Chong said, "This palace was once the residence of the Hell King. The so-called three Primordial Demons of the Underworld were in fact the Hell King's mounts and flying steeds. One could run tens of thousands of miles on the ground in a single day, known as the Tao; one could dive to the ends of the deep sea, known as the Jiao; the other could soar through the heavens and travel between the realms of yin and yang, known as Yu. Seventy thousand years ago, humanity in the mortal world was on the brink of annihilation, all because Yu suddenly became enraged and caused a massive tsunami in the South Sea."

Chen Hao was shocked and sighed, "That's terrifying! Just them getting angry nearly wiped out humankind, no wonder every generation of Nether King would rather sacrifice their own Yin Soul than let them escape."

"That's only one of the reasons!" Zhao Chong said, "Even as formidable as the three Primordial Demons of the Underworld are, they couldn't stand against the combined forces of the Nether King and the Eight Great Clans. What the generations of Nether Kings truly feared were the Hell King inside and his several princes."

"Hmm?" Chen Hao was puzzled before murmuring thoughtfully, "If even the mounts are so powerful, the strength of the Hell King must be particularly terrifying!"

"Before the Ancestor of the Nether King dominated the Underworld, Hell and the Underworld were not interconnected. Later, when the Hell King's five princes had all grown up, he thought of conquering the Underworld. Hence, the Hell King ordered a passage to be opened between the first level of Hell and the Underworld, leading his five princes and an army of two hundred thousand undead from Hell into the Underworld. However, you might guess half of the outcome, right?"

Chen Hao nodded without hesitation, saying, "The Great Ancestor of the Nether King came from the mysterious ancient city and defeated the Hell King and his undead army, taking control of the Underworld."

"Indeed, you've guessed half of it right!" Zhao Chong shook his head, "In fact, the Great Ancestor of the Nether King was the third prince of the Hell King!"

"Ah!" Chen Hao was astonished.

After a pause, Zhao Chong told Chen Hao: At that time, each of the five princes led an army of forty thousand undead from Hell to conquer the Underworld. After years of expansion, among the five armies, the eldest prince and the third prince were the most powerful, truly equal in strength.

Later, when the undead armies of Hell were about to unify the Underworld, the Hell King suddenly fell ill. Upon hearing this news, the five princes returned to Hell to visit the Hell King.

While the five princes were all gathered in the Hell King's palace, a gate suddenly rose from the ground, and waves of Purgatory Fire burst forth from between the door panels, instantly destroying the Hell King's palace. Immediately, there was chaos inside the Hell King's palace, and many of the palace's maidens and guards were burnt to ashes by the Purgatory Fire that fell from the sky at any moment.

When the eldest prince, the second prince, and the fourth prince each arrived at the gate on their mounts from the Hell King, they realized that an army had already surrounded the outside, led by four generals who were close followers of the third prince and later became the clan leaders of the four great families.

Seeing this, the three princes were furious and immediately returned to the Hell King's palace to find the third prince. Initially, the third prince and the fifth prince had gone to visit the ailing Hell King, but when the three princes arrived at the Hell King's chamber, they found that he had died in his bed, and the whereabouts of the third and fifth princes were unknown.

At that moment, a wave of Purgatory Fire, like an enormous tidal surge, poured in from the door that had suddenly appeared, and the door closed immediately after. Aside from the three mounts of the Hell King that were born from the Purgatory Fire, everyone present, including the three princes, perished at the Gate of the Nether King.

This very door was now the Gate of the Nether King!

Not long after, the third prince ascended the throne to become the Ancestor of the Nether King, and those generals who had followed the other princes led their soldiers and fled to the remote areas of the Netherworld.

Having usurped the throne in such a vile manner, the first thing the Ancestor of the Nether King did after his coronation was to rewrite history, sealing all records and rumors about the Hell King.

After listening to Zhao Chong's explanation, Chen Hao's mind was filled with doubts. He remembered a different story from the one Lin Mo's father, Lin Huashan, had told him when he encountered him within the Demon-Sealing Scroll.

"Which one is the truth?" Chen Hao was baffled. It seemed that the only way to find out was to go back and ask Ye Yuqiao. If what Zhao Chong had said was true, it meant that Lin Mo had deceived him or kept something hidden from him.

With this thought, Chen Hao suddenly felt a chill in his heart, sensing as if he had unknowingly fallen into a web of mysteries or perhaps, a dreadful conspiracy. Apart from Ye Yuqiao, it seemed that he couldn't trust anyone else.

As Chen Hao was deep in thought, a sensation of weightlessness suddenly invaded his consciousness.

In an instant, Zhao Chong brought Chen Hao back to the Purgatory Fire Pool from the high heavens.

"You don't believe what I said?" Zhao Chong asked, frowning.

Chen Hao nodded and then shook his head, saying, "That's not important. What matters is why you are telling me about the matters of the Hell King's palace."

"Now that we're here, there's no harm in telling you. You would have found out sooner or later anyway," Zhao Chong explained. After a pause, he continued the earlier topic, "Even though the Hell King and the three princes died inside, as long as the Gate of the Nether King opens, the Yin Qi Spiritual Power from the Eighteen Levels of Hell will revive their Yin Souls. Hence, every Nether King would go to great lengths to seal the Gate of the Nether King."

"That's not right!" Chen Hao suddenly noticed something amiss, "I've only heard that eighteen thousand years ago, the Ancestor of the Nether King used his own Yin Soul to seal the Gate of the Nether King and imprisoned the Ghost King within it. It wasn't until eighteen years ago that the Ghost King escaped and then Yuqiao sealed the Gate of the Nether King with her Yin Soul. What then were the reasons for the Second Generation Nether King and the Third Generation Nether King to use their Yin Souls to seal the Gate of the Nether King?"

"Eighteen years ago, it was the second time the Ghost King had escaped from the Gate of the Nether King!"

"The second time!" Chen Hao was stunned, taking a long while before regaining his composure to ask, "When did the Ghost King first escape from the Gate of the Nether King, and what happened afterward?"

After glancing at Chen Hao, Zhao Chong walked over to the Purgatory Fire Pool and said coldly, "You can ask Her Majesty about this. It's also an opportunity to verify the truth of my words. That's not why I brought you here."

"Then for what reason?"

"To unseal the Blade Soul of the Nether King's World-Slaying Blade with Purgatory Fire!"

"Ah?" Chen Hao was taken aback, a look of confusion on his face, "What do you mean by that?"

"The Nether King's World-Slaying Blade in your hand is sealed and cannot unleash its full power! Therefore, you need to use the Purgatory Fire to burn away the seal. However,"

"However, what?"

"Once the Blade Soul is unsealed, it might become uncontrollable and could even devour your soul."

"Hmph!" Chen Hao's mouth curled into a smirk, "I'm not afraid. Regardless of whether I conquer it or it devours my soul, the outcome will be the same; I will merge with it!"

Zhao Chong turned to look at Chen Hao, somewhat shocked, and couldn't help but admire Ye Yuqiao's choice. With this determination, the Nether King's World-Slaying Blade would surely be at Chen Hao's command one day.

"Then you should submerge the blade in there for now, and I'll go find your two companions," Zhao Chong said.

"How long should it soak?"

"Four hours!" Zhao Chong replied impatiently. "Don't drop the blade in there, and make sure you don't fall in either. Otherwise, I won't be able to explain to Her Majesty!"

With that, Zhao Chong disappeared.

Chen Hao then took out two hand blades of the Ancestor of the Nether King from his pocket and fused them into one...

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