After some investigation, Yang Kai had already clarified the purpose of this journey.
While striving with all his might to contend for the Great Dao, he would also slay as many Demon Race Half-Saints as possible. The former was the priority—even if he unfortunately missed out on that sole opportunity, he absolutely could not let it fall into the Demon Race's hands, otherwise the Star Boundary would be beyond salvation.
With his goals set and his thoughts clear, Yang Kai put away the jade slip and adjusted his condition. This journey would be fraught with hardship and the outcome uncertain—life or death, no one could say. Naturally, he needed to be in peak condition for the opening of the Profound Heaven Temple.
That night, Sheng Yuzhu had privately invited Yang Kai and told him that the Profound Heaven Temple would open within a month. And indeed, just three days later, the first trace of it had appeared.
Somewhere in the sky, an inexplicable fluctuation of an extraordinarily mysterious aura had surfaced. That aura resonated with the Heavenly Dao—those with lower cultivation might not have noticed anything, but anyone at the Emperor Realm or above could clearly sense it. Under the influence of this wisp of aura, their comprehension of the ultimate truths of martial cultivation seemed to deepen significantly.
What followed was an explosive surge in strength.
Many Emperor Realm cultivators whose progress had stalled, as well as Demon Lords from the Demon Domain, found that under the influence of this mysterious aura, they broke through the shackles that had plagued them for years in an astonishingly short time, smashing past their bottlenecks to enter the next, higher realm.
At first, the number of those advancing wasn't particularly large, but as time passed, the aura seeping from the unknown grew ever stronger. More and more powerhouses achieved their breakthroughs. At the garrisons of every major army in the Star Boundary, as well as within the Ten Great Demon Caverns occupied by the Demon Race, heaven and earth churned with restless energy day after day, the baptism of worldly power roaring without end.
Even some peak third-stage Emperor Realm cultivators had begun to grasp hidden truths these past few days and hurriedly entered secluded cultivation. If they succeeded, they would surely ascend to the Pseudo-Emperor level.
An era of great upheaval, an omen of great flourishing—like an old man on the verge of death, the Star Boundary, in its final moment between life and destruction, was unleashing the potential it had harbored all along, bestowing its blessings upon all beneath heaven, human and demon alike.
The Profound Heaven Temple hadn't even opened yet, and merely leaking a trace of its aura had already produced such miraculous effects. If the temple truly opened—if one could even step inside—what would that be like?
This anomaly left many people baffled, unable to make sense of what was happening. Those Pseudo-Emperors who had a slightly better understanding of the situation became ever more convinced of their suspicions and quietly ramped up their preparations behind the scenes.
Five more days passed, and then—suddenly, the image of a great hall appeared in the void. It materialized out of thin air without the slightest warning, as though nothing more than a projection with no physical form. The hall's design was archaic, its aura desolate, as if it had traversed the river of time from some unfathomably ancient era, and now it stood revealed before the eyes of everyone under heaven.
Both the Star Boundary and the Demon Domain sent people to investigate, but no matter who went, no matter what methods they employed, none could approach that ethereal hall in the slightest. It wasn't that the hall had any restrictive barrier keeping people out—it was simply impossible to get close to it.
It clearly didn't seem all that far away. Perhaps just a little more flying and one would arrive. But after an hour, the distance remained the same. Fly for another hour, and the distance still hadn't changed.
With no alternative, both sides abandoned their attempts to investigate further. The higher-ups on both sides understood well that until the Profound Heaven Temple truly opened, no one would be able to glean any useful information.
And when the phantom image of the Profound Heaven Temple appeared, all the spiritual energy across the entire Star Boundary began converging toward that hall at a tremendous pace. The momentum set off a tidal wave of energy sweeping through every corner of the Star Boundary.
As the days passed, the great hall grew increasingly clear and solid. In stark contrast, the spiritual energy of the Star Boundary plummeted.
It seemed that the opening of the Profound Heaven Temple was not without its cost. The temple required the spiritual energy of the entire world as its foundation and primal source in order to manifest its true form.
The existence of the Profound Heaven Temple could no longer be concealed.
Though it hadn't been a closely guarded secret before either, only a select few Pseudo-Emperors had known. The vast majority had been completely in the dark. As long as intelligence remained in the hands of that small circle, it wouldn't cause much of a stir.
But now the Profound Heaven Temple had physically manifested—anyone who wasn't blind could see it. No one knew exactly when it had started, but word of the Profound Heaven Temple's appearance and the contention for the Great Dao gradually leaked out across the garrisons of every major army in the Star Boundary. It was also linked together with that earlier prophecy: "When the Heavenly secrets shift, the Profound Heaven shall appear."
Hearts surged with emotion. Those of straightforward temperament went directly to Li Wuyi to ask whether it was true. Those with private schemes watched and waited.
Since the secret of the Profound Heaven Temple could no longer be contained, Li Wuyi simply assembled every Pseudo-Emperor powerhouse in the Star Boundary into one hall and disclosed everything about the Profound Heaven Temple and the contention for the Great Dao.
The crowd erupted in uproar. The great hall descended into a cacophony of argument in an instant.
Li Wuyi could only smile bitterly—his worst fear had come to pass. Now that the Profound Heaven Temple had been disclosed, the question the Star Boundary faced was: who could go in, and who would stay behind to hold the line?
If everyone charged into the Profound Heaven Temple en masse, the Star Boundary's armies would instantly crumble into loose sand. The Demon Race's great formation had already been activated, and the Demon Caverns were continuously gnawing away at the Star Boundary's territory. Without Pseudo-Emperors to hold the fort, who could possibly withstand the charge of the Demon Race's armies? They might not even be able to hold the little territory they had left.
Yet when confronted with the greatest opportunity and grandest event in all of history, which Pseudo-Emperor would willingly miss out? It wasn't that people were selfish—it was simply that they had endured the hardships of Cultivation all this time, walked the line between life and death who knew how many times, fought and killed who knew how many opponents, all for this very moment. Even the weight of racial duty could not suppress their resolve and longing to reach ever greater heights of martial power.