The next morning, in the Netherworld.

In the Dayang Mountains, a terrifying silence prevailed!

After an entire night of fierce fighting, the allied forces of the five families and the Ghost King Battalion did not determine a victor; instead, they each headed north back to Falling Shade Mountain and retreated south to Sunset Pass.

In this most intense war in the history of the Netherworld, the allied forces of the five families suffered nearly thirty thousand casualties—a grave loss. Although their deaths and injuries were only two-thirds that of the allied forces, the Ghost King Battalion lost King Shuanglin, a formidable warrior.

It was Ye Yuqiao who ambushed King Shuanglin; when King Shuanglin was engaged in combat with Zhou Family Clan Leader Zhou Ke, she poured the blood of the Netherworld Azure Bird onto King Shuanglin, instantly igniting his entire body. After resisting with all his spiritual power for a while, King Shuanglin was eventually penetrated by the hottest flames in the Netherworld through his flesh and burnt to ashes.

Besides King Shuanglin, King Qingyu and King Wumeng were also scalded while trying to save him.

Of the four Dharma Kings, only the Dark Law King, who was in a tie with Zhao Chong, remained unharmed. Seeing King Shuanglin dead and King Qingyu and King Wumeng injured, the Dark Law King found it hard to accept reality momentarily and thought of retreating, even though they had the upper hand in the situation.

He was well aware that if he also fell, no matter how great the temporary advantage, the soldiers' morale and confidence would instantly collapse.

Thus, before long, the Dark Law King ordered a retreat.

Since they were at a clear disadvantage in numbers at that time, the allied forces of the five families did not pursue them but instead returned to Falling Shade Mountain after cleaning up the dead and wounded.

Neither side won in the first direct confrontation between the two large armies; both were losers.

When Ye Yuqiao and the clan leaders of the five families returned to the peak of the Huiyin Mountains, it was dawn.

Seeing that most of the soldiers on the mountain looked disheartened and demoralized, Ye Yuqiao felt a bitter taste in her heart and was helpless.

"It's a good thing Nether King killed King Shuanglin, otherwise we would have lost even more miserably!" Zhou Ke said in a low tone.

"I bet they're thinking the same thing," said Zheng Yang. "They must be grateful that they killed so many of our soldiers, otherwise, the loss of King Shuanglin would have been a heavy blow to them."

"No one won!" Zhao Chong said coldly. "Otherwise, there wouldn't be a situation where both sides retreated."

At this point, several people entered the tent and sat down. Despite the exhaustion of body and mind after the great battle, they had to agree on the next steps.

Once seated, Wang Yun said with an expression of pessimism, "We lost thirty thousand troops this time, while the Ghost King's side only lost twenty thousand. As a result, the gap in our troop strength has now widened to twenty thousand."

"We still have twenty thousand troops on the Huiyin Mountains!" Zhou Ke interjected.

"The Ghost King also has one hundred thousand soldiers in the King's Battalion, twenty thousand fortress guards, and sixty thousand in the main force!" Wang Yun emphasized loudly. "If it weren't for the seventy thousand soldiers of the Qian Li families restraining their troops in Wind Shelter Valley, they could deploy half of their forces. We wouldn't stand a chance against them."

"Why don't you think about it the other way around? If it weren't for our five families' allied forces, the Ghost King Battalion would have already flattened Wind Shelter Valley," Zhou Ke countered.

"Don't forget what kind of place Wind Shelter Valley is. Qian Feng managed to defeat thirty thousand Ghost King soldiers with just a few thousand soldiers. I fear that without more than three times the soldiers, the Ghost King wouldn't be able to break through Wind Shelter Valley!" Wang Yun grew more agitated as he spoke.

Zhou Ke scoffed and asked, "If that's the case, shouldn't Clan Leader Wang seek shelter with Qian Feng and Li Zuole sooner rather than later?"

"You!" Wang Yun, provoked, turned red in the face with rage.

"Enough!" Ye Yuqiao abruptly stood up, slamming the table and raging with royal ire.

After glaring at each other, Wang Yun and Zhou Ke turned their heads away, and their quarrel finally ended.

At that moment, a soldier rushed in, knelt on one knee in front of Zhao Chong, holding a letter in his hand.

"Clan Leader Zhao, something terrible has happened. An urgent message was sent here from Huiyin Mountains via a Wujibird, saying there has been an incident on Huiyin Mountains!" the soldier said.

At these words, everyone in the tent showed a look of alarm. It was already a time of great anxiety, and no one wanted to hear any more bad news.

"What happened?" Ye Yuqiao asked urgently, suddenly having a bad premonition.

"Last night, King Nanlin and the Ning army ambushed Huiyin Mountains, and afterwards, Chen Hao went missing," the soldier replied. "Now that the Ning army has left, we have over two thousand soldiers dead and over four thousand wounded. Niu Tou and Ma Mian are dispatching people to search thoroughly for Chen Hao's whereabouts."

"What!" Ye Yuqiao was frantic, her eyes sparking with blazing fire. She closed her eyes, feeling towards the Nether King's Heart and anxiously sent secret messages to Chen Hao, "Chen Hao, Chen Hao, can you hear me? If you do, please respond to me quickly."

Meanwhile, the five Dharma Kings began to discuss the Ning army's surprise attack on Huiyin Mountains and Chen Hao's disappearance, but Yuqiao wasn't listening to any of it. At that moment, her heart was only filled with thoughts of Chen Hao.

After waiting for a while, Yuqiao did not receive any response from Chen Hao, nor did she feel the Nether King's Heart.

Without another word, she flew out of the tent, transforming into a firebird and sped towards Huiyin Mountains at the greatest speed.

"Chen Hao, where did you go!"

Seeing Ye Yuqiao leave suddenly without any explanation, the five Clan Leaders in the tent were surprised. It was not until Ye Yuqiao disappeared in the western sky that Wu Kun said, "What's with the Nether King?"

"She's gone!" Zhao Chong frowned slightly, knowing that Ye Yuqiao was in a rush to go back and find Chen Hao. However, her sudden departure was rather improper, after such a devastating battle, it could have many detrimental negative effects on the morale of their forces.

"Gone where?" Wang Yun asked in shock.

"Couldn't she have gone back to look for Chen Hao?" Zheng Yang said incredulously, "It seems that the relationship between the Nether King and this young Chen Hao is not ordinary."

"You can't just say anything!" Wu Kun said sternly, "How could the Nether King fancy an ordinary person from the mortal world!"

Zheng Yang immediately realized his slip of the tongue and hurriedly said, "I, Zheng Yang, was just speaking mindlessly. I hope the Clan Leaders won't take it to heart, and just forget what I just said."

Aside from Zhao Chong, the other three Clan Leaders nodded. In their eyes, as the Nether King, Ye Yuqiao couldn't possibly fall for Chen Hao and shouldn't fall for him — that would be a forbidden love.

If that were the case, as leaders of great families, they would not allow such a thing to happen.

...

...

At this very moment, in the Dust Realm, Chen Hao suddenly sneezed.

"Could this sneeze be because Yuqiao is thinking of me? She must know about my disappearance by now," Chen Hao murmured to himself. "She must be particularly worried. I need to get back quickly."

He was walking through a forest, waiting for a group of people.

"Here I am, come and catch me!"

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