In truth, according to the memories of that Eighth Level Sovereign God, to be precise, Huang Lao was forced to flee to the First Void.
Back then, the Sovereign Gods of the Great Netherworld blocked all retreat routes, leaving Huang Shang with no choice but to use a Teleportation Altar to go to the First Void. Who knew how many Sovereign Gods of the Great Netherworld were waiting at the other end of that altar?
"It's also possible Huang Lao has already fallen into the hands of those bastards from the Great Netherworld. No matter what, I will go find Huang Lao.
If anything happens to Huang Lao, then I will personally avenge him," Ye Yunfei said, his voice icy, speaking through gritted teeth.
Ever since the Tianxuan Continent, Huang Shang had been by Ye Yunfei's side, journeying together until now. One could say he witnessed Ye Yunfei's growth firsthand. To Ye Yunfei, he was both a friend and something akin to family.
"This is a Chaos God-Grade Artifact. Can't let it go to waste."
With a flash, Ye Yunfei arrived before a Black Coffin.
This Black Coffin was originally the artifact of that mage. During the previous battle, Ye Yunfei had already shattered the mage's Soul Power imprint inside the coffin with a single sword strike, so now this Black Coffin was ownerless.
Ye Yunfei sat cross-legged before the coffin, released his own Soul Power energy, and began refining the Black Coffin.
Since this coffin was a Chaos God-Grade Artifact, it would generally be very difficult for a Sovereign God to refine. Only exceptionally powerful Sovereign Gods, or those using profound secret arts, could manage to refine it and wield it forcibly.
That mage had utilized a high-level secret technique to imprint his Soul Power signature onto the coffin, which allowed him to barely use it.
Ye Yunfei was different. His level of Soul Power energy was far superior to that mage's; one could say Ye Yunfei's Soul Power energy had already reached the Chaos God-level.
Moreover, after devouring the Soul Bodies of so many Great Netherworld Sovereign Gods, Ye Yunfei was already quite familiar with the artifacts of the Great Netherworld.
After several attempts, Ye Yunfei finally succeeded in imprinting his own Soul Power signature onto the Black Coffin.
"One more Chaos God-Grade Artifact," Ye Yunfei said softly as he gazed at the Black Coffin before him.
"There's another one."
Ye Yunfei's gaze shifted into the distance where a severed section of a green iron chain lay.
He raised a hand in summoning.
Whoosh...
Five or six severed sections of green iron chains soared into the air, dragged forcibly from different directions until they all floated before Ye Yunfei.
These chains were originally a single piece, chopped into several sections by Ye Yunfei during the battle.
"This green chain is also a Chaos God-Grade Artifact. A bit of a shame. I shouldn't have destroyed it earlier," Ye Yunfei remarked, looking at the green chains.
"Master, even though this chain is a Chaos God-Grade Artifact, it's too disgusting. It's good that you destroyed it," Hu Miao chimed in.
"The material of this chain is rare and extremely hard. It should be useful for artifact forging in the future," Ye Yunfei said after sensing the green chains. He then collected all the severed sections of the green chains.
"Not bad. This Netherworld has quite a few treasures hidden within."
A flash of golden light, and the Golden-Horned Dragon Silkworm had returned to Ye Yunfei's side, grinning broadly, clearly having had a fruitful harvest.
"What did you find in this Netherworld?
Take it out, let everyone see. Don't think about keeping it all to yourself," Hu Miao said, eyeing the Golden-Horned Dragon Silkworm.
"Alright, I knew you'd ask," the Golden-Horned Dragon Silkworm said with reluctance as he produced over a dozen spatial rings.
Not long after, Ye Yunfei left this Netherworld, now reduced to ruins.
The ghosts and lost souls who had escaped from the Netherworld wandered aimlessly throughout the Fourth Void.
Since the Netherworld had existed for an extremely long time, it had accumulated a vast number of such souls.
Such a massive number of souls roaming about soon caused a minor stir.
However, shortly after, a group of mysterious beings appeared and began guiding these souls towards a certain direction.
Finally, it was discovered that these souls entered a Samsara Passageway.
Thus, a piece of news began circulating within the Fourth Void: the Samsara Passageways of the Reincarnation Sect were once again operating normally, accepting lost souls to undergo reincarnation.
Soon after, Ye Yunfei returned to the headquarters of the Hunyuan Sect.
"Young Master Ye, the wars in the First, Second, and Third Voids are escalating. Therefore, another portion of our forces from the Fourth Void headquarters has been redeployed to provide support.
Elder Dongfang has personally led a team to support the Second Void," one of several Hunyuan Sect higher-ups said as they welcomed Ye Yunfei the moment he stepped into the headquarters.
Ye Yunfei sensed his surroundings and confirmed that Elder Dongfang was indeed no longer at the headquarters. Along with Elder Dongfang, several other powerful higher-ups were also absent.
"It seems the war between the Hunyuan Sect and the Guardian Faction in those three Voids is truly intensifying," Hun Lao remarked.
"Indeed. I should find a time to go support them as well, because this war between the two major powers affects me greatly.
If the Hunyuan Sect wins, it would greatly benefit me.
If the Guardian Faction wins, losing such a powerful ally like the Hunyuan Sect, I will undoubtedly become the next primary target for the Guardian Faction.
Therefore, I must continue participating in this war to ensure the Hunyuan Sect achieves final victory," Ye Yunfei replied with a nod.
"There's another situation, Young Master Ye. According to reports, personnel from the Guardian Faction have begun returning to the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Voids.
Particularly in the Eighth and Seventh Voids, it's said the Guardian Faction has already dispatched two large armies with the intent to retake control of those Voids.
Moreover, aside from the war between our Hunyuan Sect and the Guardian Faction, the conflict between the two ancient major powers, the Great Netherworld and the Reincarnation Sect, has also grown increasingly intense recently.
In several Voids, it has already escalated into open warfare," another higher-up added.
"Has there also been fighting between the Great Netherworld and the Reincarnation Sect in the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Voids?" Ye Yunfei asked with a slight frown.
"Yes, according to intelligence gathered by our Hunyuan Sect scouts, in those Voids, clashes between forces of the Great Netherworld and the Reincarnation Sect occur periodically, and their frequency is increasing," the higher-up confirmed with a nod.
"If that's the case, then I need to return and take a look," Ye Yunfei thought to himself after a moment's consideration.
"And what about the situation in this Fourth Void?" Ye Yunfei then asked.
"Our Fourth Void remains calm for now. The Guardian Faction's forces have still not returned to the Fourth Void.
As for the Great Netherworld and the Reincarnation Sect, the frequency of their clashes here has also decreased recently. At the very least, there have been none in the past few days," another higher-up answered.
Ye Yunfei had just wiped out the Netherworld recently, so naturally, there wouldn't be any clashes between them and the Reincarnation Sect these past few days.
Next, Ye Yunfei bid farewell to these Hunyuan Sect higher-ups, left the headquarters, and soon after teleported back to the Fifth Void.
Now, the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Voids were interconnected, essentially forming a single contiguous space.
In fact, the Fourth Void was also linked with these four, allowing free travel between the five Voids.
Upon entering the Fifth Void and traveling within it, Ye Yunfei immediately learned of various recent events in this Void.
This was because Ye Yunfei had numerous Clones in this Void. These Clones were all created by him using the Soul Purification Art, which completely purified their original Soul Bodies before he imprinted his own Soul Power signature onto them, transforming them into Clones.
These Clones could act independently, cultivate independently, and had separate identities, making it nearly impossible for others to detect their true nature.
Currently, Ye Yunfei had placed many of his own Clones within the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and even the Third Voids.
These Clones were constantly monitoring the situations within their respective Voids. Therefore, as soon as Ye Yunfei entered any of these Voids and connected with his Clones there, he would immediately gain an understanding of the various developments that had occurred recently.
Sure enough, in the Fifth Void, the Great Netherworld and the Reincarnation Sect had been involved in numerous intense conflicts recently. The cause of these conflicts was almost always the Reincarnation Sect's Samsara Passageways being suddenly ambushed by the Great Netherworld, leading to battles between the two sides.
Since the Great Netherworld came prepared for every ambush, they held the upper hand in each clash. Several Samsara Passageways had already been utterly destroyed.
It could be said that within this Fifth Void, the Reincarnation Sect had suffered considerable losses lately. Not only had they lost several passageways, but many of their members had also been killed or wounded.
"I suspect there should be a Netherworld or a branch outpost of the Great Netherworld somewhere in this Fifth Void as well," Hun Lao suddenly commented.
"Yes, there is a Netherworld in the Fourth Void. It wouldn't be strange for there to be one in the Fifth Void," Ye Yunfei nodded. He then decided not to contact the Hunyuan Sect or the Allied Army. Instead, he began investigating secretly within the Fifth Void himself.
Firstly, Ye Yunfei instructed his Clones to investigate exactly how many Samsara Passageways existed in the Fifth Void. Subsequently, several Clones were placed to covertly monitor each passageway.
Simultaneously, Ye Yunfei himself searched for traces of Great Netherworld or Netherworld personnel.
Ye Yunfei knew that Great Netherworld and Netherworld personnel generally operated with extreme secrecy and low profiles, appearing very mysterious. They only surfaced during an operation, giving an impression of appearing and disappearing without a trace.
Moreover, branch outposts of the Netherworld or the Great Netherworld were undoubtedly extremely well-hidden, generally unknown to outsiders. Therefore, finding their personnel was quite difficult.