In the Battle of the Emperors across the Shattered Star Sea, Wu Kuang had slain four Great Emperors while his own body had been utterly destroyed. Though his divine soul had escaped and hidden deep within the Shattered Star Sea, for the Star Boundary, that battle had cost half the ten Great Emperors—exactly five.
The Heaven and Earth Bottle had its limits. The Demon Realm's limit was twelve, and the Star Boundary's limit was ten. So even though the last opening of the Profound Heaven Temple had drawn countless contenders worthy of ascending to Great Emperor, only five had ultimately prevailed.
Li Wuyi smiled and nodded. "Precisely. Five Great Emperors died in the Shattered Star Sea, and five new ones were born in the Profound Heaven Temple—perfectly reasonable. But now, the Profound Heaven Temple is about to open once more. However, the situation this time is different from before. There won't be as many Great Emperors born. I'm afraid… only one."
Yang Kai understood. Among the ten Great Emperors currently in the Star Boundary, the Great Emperor of Mortal Dust had vanished without a trace, and the Great Emperor of Night's Shadow had defected to the Demon Realm—but both were still alive. Only the Great Emperor of the Bright Moon had perished. That meant only one slot in the Heaven and Earth Bottle had been freed up. So even when the Profound Heaven Temple opened and the day of the Grand Dao competition arrived, only one person would ultimately be able to attain the body of a Great Emperor.
If that was the case, the competition for that opportunity would be absolutely ferocious.
At that thought, Yang Kai's brow furrowed deeply. He finally understood what Li Wuyi's earlier words had truly meant. At this critical juncture when the Star Boundary's very survival hung in the balance, if the Profound Heaven Temple opened, who could say whether it would be a blessing or a curse?
If someone ultimately obtained that singular opportunity and restored the Star Boundary to its full complement of ten Great Emperors, that would be an immensely beneficial thing for the current state of the entire Star Boundary. Right now, the Dragon Clan's two Elders could already join forces to stand against three Demon Saints. Adding one more Great Emperor would make them virtually invincible.
But before becoming a Great Emperor, a bloody and brutal competition had to take place.
The Star Boundary currently had no shortage of Pseudo-Emperors, though neither was the number insignificant. On the path of martial cultivation, who among them wasn't striving to charge forward and scale the peak? Now this tremendous opportunity lay before them—who wouldn't be tempted? But if everyone was tempted and went running off to that Profound Heaven Temple to compete for the Grand Dao, what would become of the Star Boundary's fifty-five armies?
Without these Pseudo-Emperors to anchor them, the Demon race's forces would devour every last army in the blink of an eye.
Entering the Profound Heaven Temple to compete for the Grand Dao would inevitably bring about internal attrition—something the current Star Boundary simply could not afford. For the sake of the Star Boundary's survival, the various army commanders and Pseudo-Emperor powerhouses could obey Li Wuyi's orders and lead their respective troops into battle against the enemy. But when it came to their own opportunities, the goal of a lifetime of cultivation—just how much weight would Li Wuyi's orders carry? Moreover, he could never bring himself to order those Pseudo-Emperors not to participate in the Grand Dao competition. Blocking someone's path of martial cultivation was something Li Wuyi simply could not do.
His thoughts churning, Yang Kai quickly grasped the source of Li Wuyi's current frustration.
The timing of this Profound Heaven Temple's opening was putting the Star Boundary in an extraordinarily awkward position, leaving them utterly passive.
The earlier excitement and fervor cooled rapidly, as though doused with a bucket of cold water. Yang Kai was silent for a moment before asking, "Can you be certain that this Profound Heaven Temple will truly open?" If it turned out to be nothing more than a misunderstanding, then agonizing over all of this would be meaningless.
Li Wuyi let out a long, leisurely sigh. "In everything I know, Lord Tianshu has never once made an erroneous calculation. If he left behind a prophecy several years ago, then the Profound Heaven Temple is certain to reappear in the world." He paused briefly. "Setting aside Lord Tianshu's divination of heavenly secrets, just the Star Boundary's current situation alone makes the opening of the Profound Heaven Temple inevitable. You carry a strand of the World's Will—surely you can sense it more clearly than others. The Star Boundary is a world, but this world is not dead."
Yang Kai nodded gravely. It wasn't that the Star Boundary was alive with its own thoughts, but rather that this world did possess a form of life.
"Even ordinary birds and beasts have self-preservation mechanisms when faced with mortal threats, let alone an entire world. And now, at this critical juncture of the Star Boundary's survival, its self-preservation urgently needs to produce a Great Emperor to stand against the invading enemy."
Yang Kai nodded. "I understand what you're saying, sir."
"So the Profound Heaven Temple will definitely open, and soon at that. It's just that no one can determine exactly when the signs will manifest." Li Wuyi sighed again. In all the years Yang Kai had known him, he could count the number of times he'd heard the man sigh on one hand, yet today it seemed almost constant. "Though few people know of the Profound Heaven Temple's existence, it isn't exactly a closely guarded secret. Quite a few Pseudo-Emperors in the Star Boundary are aware of it."
Yang Kai's expression shifted. "If that's the case, then why was everyone's reaction in the great hall just now…" He trailed off, then suddenly realized, and a bitter smile crossed his face. "So that's how it is."
Back in the great hall, after Gao Zhan had spoken those words, none of the assembled Pseudo-Emperors had shown any particular reaction. Yang Kai had assumed they too were ignorant of that prophecy. But now it seemed that while a great many of them might not have understood what those words truly meant, there were definitely some who did.
Understanding in their hearts but saying nothing—they clearly had their own plans.
The Profound Heaven Temple hadn't even shown the slightest sign of appearing yet, and all that had surfaced was a single prophecy from the Great Emperor Tianshu. That alone was enough to stir divided loyalties among some of the Star Boundary's Pseudo-Emperors who had supposedly fought side by side through life and death. One could only imagine what kind of devastating impact the full eruption of this news would have on the current situation.
And as the supreme commander of the Star Boundary's fifty-five armies, Li Wuyi was likely bearing an almost unimaginable weight of pressure. How to manage the shock brought about by the impending opening of the Profound Heaven Temple would be the headache that plagued him for the foreseeable future.