By the River of Forgetfulness, in the Netherworld Underworld.
After a night of tender passion and dual cultivation, the rear garden deep within the Hall of Reincarnation seemed exceptionally tranquil.
Faint Netherworld spiritual energy intertwined in midair, forming one indistinct green lotus of the Great Dao after another.
Ye Xuan and Houtu slowly emerged from the rear garden side by side.
At this moment, Houtu had shed the lofty, compassionate majesty of an Earthly Saint that she usually carried. An unmelting tenderness now lingered between her brows and in her eyes.
She wore a simple, elegant pale-yellow gown, her long hair cascading like a waterfall and lifting gently in the breeze.
They walked shoulder to shoulder, neither hurried nor slow. Their sleeves occasionally overlapped in the breeze, and every gesture between them carried an air of intimacy and warmth.
Ye Xuan's expression was mild. Sensing the Quasi-Saint Dao Fruit within him growing ever more complete after the union of yin and yang, his heart was utterly serene.
He turned toward Houtu at his side, about to say something, when a clamor of footsteps sounded from the corridor ahead.
"Big Brother, the training procedures for the Underworld's yin soldiers need revising again. Those vicious ghosts formed from dead Demon Race members are far too unruly. Just yesterday, they tried to cause trouble in the Eighteen Layers of Hell."
"Hmph, if they cause trouble, beat them! Once they enter my Zhu Rong's territory, do they still think they're Demon Gods of the Heavenly Court? Throw them into the sea of fire and roast them for a few hundred years—they'll naturally behave themselves."
Amid the rough and hearty conversation, Di Jiang, Zhu Rong, Gong Gong, and several other Ancestral Wu strode into the inner hall.
They had come to discuss the operational details