Yes, defeated.
Even Alba hadn't expected to fall so quickly.
He had imagined many possibilities—being worn down and killed by tens of thousands of undead, or being surrounded and killed by enemy experts. The one thing he hadn't imagined was being routed head-on in mere moments.
In his view, that was completely unreasonable.
He was a peak expert of the Demon Plane. Even fighting in another plane, where he'd face some suppression, he was still comparable to a quasi-divine expert of the Douluo Continent.
Even against a peak quasi-divine, he could hold his own—taking him down wouldn't be easy.
And in Alba's eyes, a normal plane's peak expert was roughly at that level. Even Huo Yuhao, who controlled a quasi-divine undead, though his aura was strong, ultimately hadn't reached the divine level.
So earlier, though he'd been panicked by the undead army's siege, the fear had been more about the overwhelming military force far beyond his own.
He genuinely hadn't thought Huo Yuhao and the others could easily take him.
But the facts proved him wrong—spectacularly wrong.
The two before him weren't experts on his level at all. In their brief exchange, the auras they'd momentarily revealed touched upon far more terrifying realms.
That was—
"Divine level?"
Alba, lying in a pool of blood with who knew how many broken bones, widened his eyes and asked in a hoarse voice, "Are you... deities?!"
That was the only explanation he could think of. Only that realm, which he'd been striving for, could defeat him so effortlessly.
Hearing this, Huo Yuhao said flatly, "If you think so, then it is."
He and Snow Empress naturally hadn't used true divine-level power just now—otherwise, Alba would have been reduced to ashes. But to take him down quickly, they had indeed used power beyond the typical peak quasi-divine level.
Snow Empress had used some of her divine consciousness power when freezing Alba, while he had simply drawn on plane power to enhance himself, ending the fight in an instant.
Otherwise, capturing a quasi-divine alive would have been somewhat troublesome.
Alba gave a bitter smile at this.
Though Huo Yuhao's answer was vague, he hadn't denied it. Clearly, even if they weren't deities, they were beings comparable to deities.
And that explained why Ye Hui had been able to break free of his control. If a divine-level expert had intervened, breaking his control wouldn't have been difficult.
He truly hadn't expected that an invasion would encounter such terrifying opposition. Facing two deities, escape was impossible—death was his only end.
Just as he was resigning himself to his fate, Huo Yuhao glanced at him and suddenly spoke. "Submit to me, and you may live."
Submit?
Hearing those words, Alba instinctively wanted to refuse.
He was a Demon Lord, a quasi-divine expert. How could he bow to anyone? But the words caught in his throat.
The other was a deity.
Having lived for so many years, he knew better than anyone the weight of those two words.
All these years, he'd been fighting tooth and nail to conquer other planes, wasn't that exactly for that realm? For the sake of living, submitting to a divine-level expert truly wasn't shameful.
But he was Alba. A Demon Lord who ruled a realm, a king who commanded a hundred thousand demon troops. In the Demon Plane, his name could stop children's crying, his rage could burn thousands of miles of fertile land. To have reached this level, he no longer feared death that much.
He struggled to stand, to prove he still had some backbone. But with both Huo Yuhao and Snow Empress suppressing him, he couldn't even get up.
"I..." He could only open his mouth, his voice hoarse. "I refuse. Kill me."
Huo Yuhao looked at him with some surprise.
"Quite principled. In that case..."
Alba had expected Huo Yuhao to grant him a quick death, but instead heard him say, "Then I'll hand you over to the Yuanen clan. When you demons rampaged through their ancestral grounds over a decade ago, did you ever think this day would come? Every wrong has its perpetrator. This was mainly to help them settle accounts. Now letting you die at their hands is only fitting."
Snow Empress was briefly surprised, then a smile appeared in her eyes as she looked at Huo Yuhao.
Yuhao's move was a bloodless killing.
Alba was stunned by Huo Yuhao's words. Thinking of those humans who had stared at him with resentful eyes, realization dawned.
No wonder these humans had laid a trap, set a killing ground—the problem lay in Wu Liao's failed attack on the Douluo Continent over a decade ago!
According to this deity, they had reopened the Demon Gate specifically to take revenge on the demons who'd attacked the Douluo Continent before. In other words, their target had been another Demon Lord—Wu Liao—from the very beginning. Not him!
If Wu Liao hadn't passed the opportunity to him, Wu Liao would have been the one to suffer this calamity. He'd been the other's scapegoat!
Understanding this, Alba felt his blood boil with rage. A tidal wave of hatred surged in his heart—not toward Huo Yuhao and the others, but toward Wu Liao.
Wu Liao, you bastard!
Didn't you say this plane had no beings stronger than us? Didn't you say this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity? Didn't you say only the great Alba could lead the army to conquer this world?
Conquer? Conquer with what? With my head?
The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. Purple-gold blood leaked from the corner of his mouth without him even noticing. He finally understood—Wu Liao, that old fox, had probably sensed something was wrong from the last battle and had deliberately chosen him as the scapegoat.
What "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," what "only you can do it"—all lies to lure him into the trap.
The real purpose was to have him step on this landmine.
And he'd fallen for it.
Burning with rage, Alba saw Huo Yuhao about to hand him over to Yuanen Zhentian and quickly spoke up, "Wait! Lord, the one who attacked your continent last time wasn't me—it was another Demon Lord!"
Don't kill the wrong demon!
Huo Yuhao paused. "Oh? Is that so? But you've done the same thing now—you're hardly innocent."
"Lord... I, I'm willing to submit!" Alba shouted desperately as he saw Huo Yuhao wasn't stopping.
If he died in battle due to inferior skill, so be it. But dying as Wu Liao's scapegoat—that ending, he would not accept!
Just thinking that if he died, Wu Liao—the true culprit—would remain free, was unbearable.
In that moment, all his pride and dignity were crushed by his hatred for Wu Liao. He only wanted to live—to live and go back to settle accounts with that old fox!
"If only you'd been this sensible earlier."
Huo Yuhao stopped and stepped off Alba's body to the ground, giving him a flat look. "Since you've chosen to submit, you should know what to do without me teaching you."
At the quasi-divine level, even he couldn't easily control the other. If Alba was unwilling, controlling him would mean killing him and turning him into an undead. But if he was willing, it was much simpler.
"I understand." Alba opened his Sea of Spirit with complex emotions.
Huo Yuhao's spiritual power surged in like a tide, branding an indelible mark deep in his soul and forcibly signing a master-servant contract. Alba groaned, his whole body trembling violently. A moment of daze passed through his purple-gold vertical pupils before clarity returned.
The contract was formed. From now on, Alba knew his life and death would be completely in Huo Yuhao's hands.
Suppressing his turbulent emotions, Alba lowered his head and said hoarsely, "Alba greets Master."
Huo Yuhao nodded but didn't look at him further, turning his gaze to the battlefield.
By now, the battle had reached its climax.
Gu Yuena's spear moved like a dragon. With a sweep of her Silver Dragon Spear, dozens of hellhounds were cut in two, their purple-black blood exploding midair and transforming into pure life energy. Gu Yuena's spear tip lightly tapped, and those energies rushed into her body like swallows returning to their nest, her aura visibly rising.
The undead Chen Xinjie fought the nine great demons. Though the great demons had combined attack techniques that could stalemate—even defeat—a semi-divine, against a quasi-divine undead like Chen Xinjie, they could only barely hold on.
As for the Yuanen family, they had gone completely berserk. They'd waited a long time for this day. Even if these demons weren't the same batch as before, they killed with abandon.
The battle was completely one-sided.
But when Huo Yuhao saw certain low-tier undead being swept away by the demons, he couldn't help but shake his head.
The undead army was indeed powerful, but the low-tier undead relied purely on numbers.
Skeleton soldiers and zombies, for example, were weaker than even ten-year spirit beasts. It took two or three of them together to match the strength of an ordinary ten-year spirit beast.
They were among the few beings whose combat power could be compared to an Iceworm.
A bunch of Iceworm-level fighters, against Alba's elite demons, clearly could only win through sheer numbers.
Little Iceworm was furious: Insulting Iceworms again—at least I can use skills and grow! Can you undead say the same?
Seeing Snow Empress and Huo Yuhao both looking at the battlefield, Alba watched the fallen demon army, especially the nine great demons who were in dire straits, and felt a pang of distress. He couldn't help but speak, "Master, now that I've submitted, why not stop the war?"
"Feeling the loss?"
Huo Yuhao glanced at him. "You didn't seem to care about these fellows before."
"I wouldn't dare deceive you, Master. We demons have no reproductive ability—our offspring are created through division. I don't care about the other demon subordinates, but those great demons took me centuries to split off. They're powerful and completely loyal. Losing them naturally hurts."
Alba wasn't lying.
Demons indeed had no reproductive ability—they relied entirely on division. And after division, their power was split equally, requiring both to cultivate again.
Though Alba could control the power of his divisions, cultivating one to its peak before splitting again, that still took centuries. If they all died, thousands of years of accumulation would be destroyed.
Since he'd surrendered, he had to try to preserve at least part of his foundation.
After all, surrender meant losing half.
He stole a glance at Huo Yuhao's expression and added, "Besides, if the fighting continues, Master's undead army will suffer losses too. Since I've submitted, why not stop here?"
Huo Yuhao raised an eyebrow. "You don't need to worry about my undead army."
The Undead Plane's undead were endless. Though the total number was finite, whenever an undead died, the Undead Plane would create a new one.
Losses? Nonexistent.
He was a minor Abyss Lord; the Undead Plane was a minor Abyss. Unless the Undead Plane was completely destroyed, the enemy would only face an endless Undead Calamity.
"As for your subordinates, I said I'd leave one-tenth. If those great demons can hold out until then, they can live."
Huo Yuhao had no intention of letting these demon armies go—otherwise, he wouldn't have summoned his forces to besiege them.
After all, they were evil demon invaders. Precious life energy that could be devoured without any guilt. They were a great supplement for him, Na'er, and the Undead Plane. No mercy needed.
As the saying goes: since you're here, you might as well rest here.
Hearing Huo Yuhao's answer, Alba's eyes darted, and he quickly thought of something. Through his connection with the great demons, he ordered them not to fight to the death, but to prioritize defense and escape.
Huo Yuhao noticed his little move but didn't stop it.
Being able to adapt so quickly was Alba's own skill.
Upon receiving the order, the great demons were thrown into confusion.
What? We're about to fight to the death, and you surrender first?
You're making things very difficult for us!
But since they were demons split off from Alba, they were indeed loyal. Hearing the order, they began using various methods to survive.
Unfortunately, as time passed and the battle ended, not all the great demons managed to hold on. Four great demons were successively slain by Chen Xinjie.
Huo Yuhao didn't waste the life energy left by these great demons and other demons caught in Chen Xinjie's attacks. Since Chen Xinjie was an undead transformed by the Reincarnation Domain, Huo Yuhao directly channeled their power through him, converting and absorbing it all.
The life energy of four Super Douluo-level experts and thousands of demons, all converted and absorbed. It was easy to imagine that Huo Yuhao would soon make rapid progress again.
"After this, I can start breaking through to Title Douluo." Huo Yuhao thought, glancing at the over three thousand suppressed demons, then turned to Gu Yuena and the others as they approached after the battle.
"How do you feel?"
"Quite a gain. My progress won't be less than yours."
Gu Yuena was covered in chill, but it had all receded by the time she reached Huo Yuhao. She smiled slightly, her gaze sweeping over the bowed Alba beside them.
"With him and Ye Hui, are we going to attack the Demon Plane directly next?"
"Attack the Demon Plane?!" Alba stared at them in shock, his face full of disbelief.
Even the Yuanen family, who were quietly sizing up Alba, were startled.
They'd understood from Alba's words that the Demon Lord who had harmed their family was someone else.
They'd thought they couldn't truly take revenge this time, only vent by killing some demons. Now it seemed there might still be a chance?
"You don't think Yuhao summoned hundreds of thousands of undead and brought us here just to deal with this demon army and this fellow, do you?"
Gu Yuena glanced at Alba and raised an eyebrow. "Do you think they're worthy?"
Alba: "..."
Of course we're not worthy. But there's no need to emphasize it. Thank you.
***
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