Some speculated that Ding Hao was actually afraid.

He might have realized that he had caused public outrage, so deliberately baffled everyone with this announcement, in order to befuddle the martial artists of the Central Region—when, in fact, he had already secretly fled the land.

"Obviously, that despicable bastard from the Northern Region saw that the situation was bad, so he hid himself, running away with his tail between his legs. He won't dare to show up at ...