"What's different?" Bing Yun asked.
"They actually don't know about the Void Sky Cauldron. Don't you find that strange, Senior?" Yang Kai's brow was tightly furrowed.
"Could our intelligence be wrong? Or has someone deliberately been feeding us misinformation?"
"That shouldn't be the case." Yang Kai shook his head slowly. Bing Yun's words carried a deeper meaning, and he understood perfectly well what she was implying. But the intelligence about the Void Sky Cauldron had been personally relayed to him by Sheng Yuzhu. He had no grudge against Sheng Yuzhu—if anything, he had saved her life. She had no reason to deceive him on this point.
Besides, if this Void Sky Cauldron had been fabricated by Sheng Yuzhu, what would be her motive? What benefit would she gain from it?
"What do the half-sages of the Demon Domain know, then?"
Yang Kai's expression turned somewhat peculiar. "That's precisely what I find most baffling. They don't know anything at all."
"They don't know anything? Hasn't Can Ye told them anything?" Bing Yun was startled. Can Ye had participated in the previous battle for the Great Dao and had benefited from it, attaining the status of Great Emperor. When it came to the secrets of the Profound Heavens Temple, no one in the entire Star Boundary understood it better than he did. The Star Boundary side had assumed that Can Ye would surely have leaked a great deal of intelligence, but it seemed they had been overthinking things.
"They haven't actually seen Can Ye at all recently. Though considering he's still recovering from his injuries, that's understandable. However, Xue Li did give an order to the half-sages."
"What order?"
Yang Kai looked at Bing Yun and said in an eerie voice: "Kill!"
Bing Yun couldn't help but laugh. "What kind of order is that?" Even without such an order, the half-sages of the Demon Domain and the pseudo-emperors of the Star Boundary would inevitably fight to the death if they crossed paths here. There was no need for anyone to specifically give such instructions.
"The more they kill, the sooner they'll figure out what needs to be done," Yang Kai added.
"Was that also from the Demon Sage?" Bing Yun frowned.
Yang Kai nodded gently.
Bing Yun fell silent for a moment, then ventured a guess. "Could it be that to glimpse that sliver of Heavenly Dao, blood and lives must be offered as sacrifice?"
Yang Kai exhaled softly. "That's what I think as well. Otherwise, the Demon Sages wouldn't have given such a specific instruction. There's also one more thing that's been bothering me..." As he spoke, he waved his hand, and a desiccated corpse appeared before them.
The corpse was completely devoid of moisture, as though it had been dried for countless years, every last trace of its flesh and blood essence utterly drained.
Though it was a corpse, it still bore some remnants of its former appearance. Bing Yun recognized it at a glance—it was the body of the Strength Demon they had encountered before.
"How did it end up like this?" Bing Yun's delicate brows knitted tightly together, then her expression changed dramatically as she looked at Yang Kai. "Yang Kai, don't tell me you..."
Yang Kai chuckled. "Rest assured, Senior. While I do know the general principles of the Heavenly Devouring Battle Art, I have never cultivated that evil technique." The dried corpse looked exactly like the work of some special technique that had siphoned away all of one's vitality—a clear signature of the Heavenly Devouring Battle Art. He naturally understood what Bing Yun was worried about.
"In fact, I didn't kill him." Although Yang Kai certainly had the ability to do so within the Small World, this Strength Demon's death had been caused by the detonation of a Soul Restriction. The Soul Restriction planted in his mind not only possessed a backlash against anyone who attempted to search his soul, but it had also erupted the moment the Strength Demon began to reveal even a sliver of intelligence regarding the Profound Heavens Temple, killing him on the spot.
This was also why Yang Kai hadn't been able to extract much information.
"But in the instant after his death, I clearly felt an invisible force pierce through the boundary wall of the Small World, envelope him, and drain every last bit of his power."
As the master of the Small World, his senses within it were extraordinarily acute. Even though that force had been exceptionally well-hidden, he had still detected it.
Recalling everything that had happened before, Yang Kai felt as though a sliver of the fog obscuring his vision had been swept aside...
"Why would that happen?" Bing Yun was thoroughly astonished. And what kind of force could it possibly be, capable of penetrating the boundary wall of the Small World? After all, that was an entire miniature realm.
"Actually, I had killed another half-sage before this one. After that one died, the situation was exactly the same as with this Strength Demon. I didn't notice anything at the time, but looking back now, it seems this Profound Heavens Temple may not be as simple as it appears."
"You mean..."
"Every being who participates in the battle for the Great Dao—if they die within the Profound Heavens Temple, they all end up like this." Yang Kai pointed at the dried corpse on the ground, a sharp gleam flashing in his eyes. "Combined with Xue Li's earlier order to the half-sages, I believe what you said earlier, Senior, makes a great deal of sense."
"If that truly is the case, then we may need to strike first. The Demon Domain came prepared, and if we don't take precautions, we're going to pay a heavy price." Bing Yun's expression grew grave. She was also inwardly shocked by the extent of Yang Kai's strength. Before all this, he had already managed to slay a half-sage—she was a pseudo-emperors herself, and she knew all too well how extraordinarily difficult it was to kill a peer in direct combat at that level.
Yang Kai nodded in agreement. "At the very least, we need to make sure everyone understands the situation they're in."
If the final secret of the Profound Heavens Temple—the key to becoming a Great Emperor—required mass blood sacrifices, then the Demon Race already held the intelligence advantage. After all, they had their Demon Sages' orders, and with their numerical superiority, they certainly wouldn't be holding back.