Duan Hongchen shook his head slowly. "Though Ming Yue became a Great Emperor only after the Battle of the Shattered Star Sea, once one stands as a Great Emperor, one becomes the Star Boundary's mightiest fighting force. If he had not been willing, how could you possibly have killed him? He chose to die, didn't he?" He paused briefly. "Was he trapped in some inescapable death trap, and then had you strike the killing blow? No, no... knowing your nature, even if Ming Yue had asked, you wouldn't have truly gone through with it. Which means he must have seized an unguarded moment and ended his own life at your hands. Because Ming Yue died at your hands, you received his portion of the World's Acknowledgment, and that is why you carry the aura of both him and the Star Boundary's Heaven and Earth. Am I right?"
Their eyes met. Yang Kai was rendered completely speechless, managing only a string of bitter smiles.
Though Duan Hongchen had been dragged to the Ancestral Domain by Wu Kuang years ago and had heard nothing of the Star Boundary's affairs, he had deduced nearly the entire truth from a single predetermined outcome alone. It spoke volumes about just how meticulous his mind truly was.
"But something still doesn't add up..." Duan Hongchen suddenly furrowed his brow. "Even if Ming Yue took his own life at your hands, how did you come to receive his World's Acknowledgment? When a Great Emperor perishes, the recognition of Heaven and Earth's Will naturally dissipates back into the world, awaiting the next Great Emperor's birth before bestowing itself upon them again. Unless... when Ming Yue died, the acknowledgment was unable to dissipate and could only merge into your body... In that case, Ming Yue didn't die in the Star Boundary?"
Yang Kai drew a slow breath. "Lord Ming Yue did indeed perish somewhere outside the Star Boundary."
Understanding dawned on Duan Hongchen's face, and he nodded. "Then tell me — what exactly has happened over all these years?"
"The demon calamity." Yang Kai said.
Duan Hongchen's expression turned solemn. "The Demon Race?"
"Exactly!" Yang Kai nodded. "You must remember the incident at the Southern Marsh Demon Abyss, when the Demonic Will within the Azure Sun Temple was revived, Senior?"
Back then, Yang Kai had been asked by Xia Sheng, the Head Disciple of the Azure Sun Temple, to accompany a woman named Hua Yulu to explore an ancient cave dwelling in the Southern Marsh. He had expected to find some minor treasures, but instead had inadvertently unsealed a Demon Abyss, releasing numerous sealed Demonic Wills and triggering a minor upheaval in the Southern Region.
Among their party had been Gong Yue, former patriarch of the Gong Family from Tianhe Valley. He was possessed by a Demonic Will, and Yang Kai and the others had tracked him all the way to the Azure Sun Temple — where, astonishingly, another sealed Demon Abyss lay hidden. The possessed Gong Yue had wreaked havoc throughout the Temple at the time.
Duan Hongchen happened to be at the Azure Sun Temple during that period, sequestered within the Spirit Drift Mirror as he attempted to resolve the predicament of his body being occupied by Wu Kuang. He was therefore well aware of the incident.
Upon hearing Yang Kai's account, he nodded immediately. "Naturally, I remember."
Yang Kai smiled bitterly. "That was only the beginning. First, the Demon Abyss seal was broken and Demonic Wills revived to seize control of bodies, plunging the Southern Region into turmoil for over a decade before it gradually stabilized. Everyone assumed the threat had been eliminated — but an even greater conspiracy lay behind it all."
"I have heard that among the ten Great Emperors currently in the Star Boundary, the most mysterious is none other than the Night Shadow Great Emperor of the Shadow Slay Hall in the Western Region. The other Emperors cannot even tell whether he is male or female. As it turns out, it is not that he is sufficiently mysterious — it was deliberate concealment. The Night Shadow Great Emperor, Can Ye, carries the bloodline of the Shadow Demon among the Demon Race. He is a pawn the Demon Race planted within the Star Boundary!"
Even the normally composed Duan Hongchen's eyes went wide at these words, his expression one of utter disbelief.
Among the ten Great Emperors, regardless of familiarity or the nature of their relationships, they had all crossed paths over the years. When Duan Hongchen had wandered the mortal world, he had even visited the Shadow Slay Hall as a guest and come into close contact with Can Ye. Yet even so, he had detected nothing amiss.
He would never have imagined that one of the ten Great Emperors himself carried the bloodline of the Demon Race!
During the ancient era, the Demon Race had once invaded the Star Boundary — something even Yang Kai knew, so naturally Duan Hongchen was no stranger to it. If one argued that some stragglers remained, or that a woman from the Star Boundary had been abducted and violated, giving birth to children, that would be one thing.
But Can Ye's Demon Race bloodline likely traced all the way back to the last war between the two realms.
A strange smile spread across Yang Kai's face — half mocking, half sorrowful. "A Great Emperor serving as a mole, and the Demon Race having plotted for ages — when the right opportunity finally presented itself, breaching the barrier between the two realms and opening the passage between worlds was effortless... Atrocious that we knew nothing of it at the time. The various Great Emperors who arrived upon hearing the news went in one after another to investigate, only to walk straight into an ambush by the Demon Race's Demon Saints. Lord Ming Yue, to cover the others' escape, was trapped in the Demon Realm."
"Later, under Lord Tianshu's commission, I employed a stratagem of self-inflicted injury and successfully infiltrated the Demon Realm. On the surface, I had suffered a Qi Deviation and fallen into the demonic path, reviled and abandoned by everyone in the Star Boundary. In truth, I was searching for Lord Ming Yue's whereabouts and looking for a chance to bring him back." Yang Kai paused, then continued. "On that note, I owe Wu Kuang my thanks. If not for his Heaven-Devouring Battle Art being abhorred by the world, I would never have found a convincing enough pretext to stage that little performance."
"Entering the Demon Realm went smoothly enough. I found Lord Ming Yue imprisoned in a place called the Zhoutian Continent. At that time, he was gravely wounded. The Demon Race's Demon Saints had deployed the Twelve Heavenly Great Demon Formation around him, and the Blood Demon Saint, Xue Li, had conjured an endless Blood Sea to keep him trapped. Lord Ming Yue held on desperately within the Blood Sea, inside the formation." As he spoke, he seemed to recall the scene of his first encounter with Ming Yue on the Zhoutian Continent, and his voice grew tinged with melancholy.