The sky was beginning to lighten.

The allied forces of the Zhao and Zhou families, setting out from the Huiyin Mountains, were half a day's journey from the Dayang Mountains; and the warriors of the Crow Tribe led by King Shuanglin and King Wumeng, along with the Ghost King Battalion, were roughly the same distance away.

After ascertaining that the Zhao and Zhou allied forces attacking them numbered fifty thousand soldiers, the more than thirty thousand soldiers of King's Battalion surrounding the Dayang Mountains and Falling Shade Mountain slightly retreated, falling back to the edge of the southern lands of the Dayyang Mountains.

Everyone was acutely aware that the real battle was about to erupt.

Perhaps, the outcome of this battle would determine the final result of the ongoing war.

At this moment, in the northern part of the vast plains to the north, King Wumeng and King Shuanglin were leading at the very front of the troops.

The rising morning sun in the east was gradually revealing the landscape ahead of them.

In front of them was the shadowy forest.

After passing through the black forest, they would cross the North Ice River to reach the Dayang Mountains.

The two Dharma Kings were no strangers to this shadowy forest; around two months ago, King Wanfa died within its confines, at the hands of their most hated enemy, Chen Hao—right when the morale of their Ghost King Battalion was at its highest.

They had once believed that Chen Hao had perished in the forest at that time as well.

However, Chen Hao had not.

"Do you think we will encounter Chen Hao this time?" King Wumeng asked King Shuanglin.

"We should!" King Shuanglin's eyes glinted viciously at the mere mention of Chen Hao's name.

With a sigh, King Wumeng added, "I hope we can really finish him off this time. Aside from Chen Hao, their ranks include Zhao Chong, Niu Tou and Ma Mian, as well as the clan leaders of the four major families. Most importantly, they have two mysterious women who have inherited the Netherworld Azure Bird's bloodline. Each one is hard to deal with."

"Indeed!" King Shuanglin, always proud and lofty, had to admit this fact, "But soon, the Dark Law King and King Qingyu will arrive. With the four of us Dharma Kings present, we should not lose to them."

King Wumeng frowned tightly, inwardly disagreeing with King Shuanglin's view. On paper, Zhao Chong and the Dark Law King were evenly matched, King Shuanglin could barely contend with Chen Hao, while he and King Qingyu were only equal to the other Dharma Kings. They had no way to deal with the woman who had inherited the Netherworld Azure Bird's bloodline.

Their only advantage was the roughly eighty thousand strong force comprising thirty thousand Crow Tribe warriors, ten thousand soldiers from the Ghost King Battalion's Bing Company, and more than thirty thousand soldiers from the King's Battalion.

If the Ghost King could join the fight, their chances of victory would be overwhelming. However, the Ghost King would not do so; he needed to stay in Netherworld City to direct the battle, stabilize the morale of his troops, and more importantly, to guard against a surprise attack from Qian Feng's forces in Wind Shelter Valley.

A bright ray of morning light shone on King Wumeng's face, illuminating the somber and despondent expression upon it.

..

..

In the eastern part of the Netherworld, at the river mouth where the vast Hong River flows into the ocean and meets the Endless Sea, there is a mountain known as Broken Mountain. This grand mountain was split into two peaks, legend has it, by the Glacial Prince of the Polar Ice Land with his icy axe, hence its name.

Between the two peaks of Broken Mountain, a heavenly rope bridge spans the gap, with turbulent river waters flowing beneath. Upstream of this river lies the North Ice River originating from the Polar Ice Land—if Broken Mountain had not been cleaved into two, the waters of the North Ice River would have been blocked and flowed directly into the Endless Sea to the east.

Due to the treacherous terrain and proximity to the Endless Sea, the vicinity of Broken Mountain was always barren of inhabitants.

However, a secretive military camp recruited by the Zhou Family over the past half a year was situated on one of the peaks.

This covert camp housed twenty thousand soldiers; two months ago, ten thousand had been dispatched to the shadowy forest to support the people of Zhao and Zhou families, along with Niu Tou and Ma Mian, who were fleeing from Netherworld City.

However, these ten thousand soldiers had hardly reached the Black Forest before they were ordered to retreat back to Duanshan. Thus, to this day, they have remained an unnoticed, secret force.

Today, after receiving a message from Zhou Ke sent from Huiyin Mountains, all twenty thousand soldiers immediately got dressed and set out for the Dayang Mountains. To the people of the major clans, these twenty thousand soldiers were their mysterious force, the key to their victory.

With them, including nearly ten thousand soldiers garrisoned by King Wumeng on the Falling Shade Mountain, the allied forces of the five clans would be able to match the strength of the Ghost King's forces, vastly increasing their chances of victory.

It was less than half a day's journey from Duanshan to the Dayang Mountains, and their task was to be fast, to arrive at the Dayang Mountains as quickly as possible, before being discovered by the Ghost King's men, in order to achieve the element of surprise.

The leader of these twenty thousand soldiers was none other than Zhou Ke's trusted general, Meng Xuanwu.

Before setting out, he had one troublesome matter to handle: that was how to settle Lin Huashan, whom Zhou Ke had entrusted to his care two months earlier.

In the end, as it was inconvenient to bring Lin Huashan into battle, Meng Xuanwu had to leave a few soldiers behind to guard and take care of her.

In a secluded hut on the mountain, Lin Huashan stood at the window, watching the departure of the twenty thousand soldiers.

Outside the hut, four soldiers stood guard over her day and night. Although she had not suffered any hardships these two months, the days in this prison-like place were driving her insane.

Most critically, since there were guards everywhere around her, high and low, she was completely unable to make any contact with Qian Feng, who was inside Wind Shelter Valley.

Finally, with Zhou Ke and all his soldiers gone on their campaign, leaving only a few ordinary soldiers to guard her, she saw her chance.

She took out a butterfly from her bosom, whispered to it about her imprisonment on Duanshan and Zhou Ke's departure with twenty thousand soldiers, and then she set the butterfly free.

"Qian Feng, quickly send someone to rescue me; I need to find Chen Hao," Lin Huashan muttered to herself with clenched fists, desperately longing to see Chen Hao.

..

..

At this very moment, on the Huiyin Mountains.

Chen Hao was jolted awake from his dream again.

He had that dream once more, where Ye Yuqiao was surrounded by raging flames, crying and calling out to him for help.

"Chen Hao, save me!" The plea from Ye Yuqiao in his dream still echoed in his mind.

Therefore, he immediately sent a secret message to Ye Yuqiao in the Dayang Mountains, "Yuqiao, Yuqiao, are you alright?"

"Chen Hao, I'm fine. What's up? Are you awake?" Ye Yuqiao replied after a while.

"Good to hear you're okay," sighed Chen Hao in relief. "I'm awake. I was just scared awake by a nightmare where you were surrounded by a ball of fire."

Upon hearing this, Ye Yuqiao's expression darkened, and she felt uneasy inside.

"Chen Hao, it's just a dream."

"No!" Chen Hao countered, "I've had the same dream for three consecutive days. It must be a sign, just like the time I dreamt about Ye Fei's wedding."

..

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