Pill Fire City had been the most powerful leading force in the Eight Upper Domains for nearly three thousand years, and the depth of its heritage and the accumulation of its strength were truly staggering.
Unlike Emperor Peacock's far-sighted vision, Emperor Danji was a fiercely competitive, wildly ambitious warlord.
In terms of raw strength, it was difficult to say whether Emperor Peacock or Emperor Danji was more powerful.
But when it came to temperament and character, Emperor Peacock was universally acknowledged among the Eight Upper Domains as a gentleman among emperors—a magnanimous noble spirit that even many enemies and rivals were forced to respect.
Emperor Danji, on the other hand, lacked Emperor Peacock's compassion for the world and its people. He did not possess that lofty character of worrying before the world worried and rejoicing only after the world rejoiced.
To sum it up: Emperor Peacock placed greater weight on sentiment and principle, while Emperor Danji placed greater weight on ambition.
Driven by that ambition, Emperor Danji had carried Pill Fire City step by step to ever greater heights. The visible strength of Pill Fire City was already almost universally recognized as the foremost among all of the human territories.
Even compared to Glazed King City—one to the south, one to the north, the two had long been billed as "Glazed in the south, Pill Fire in the north"—in truth, Glazed King City had never been nearly as aggressive in its expansion as Pill Fire City.
As a result, over the past three thousand years of expansion and accumulation, Glazed King City had been left behind by Pill Fire City. Though on the surface the two still appeared to be on equal footing, in reality, after millennia of accumulation, Pill Fire City had already surpassed Glazed King City in most respects.
Most importantly, Pill Fire City's handling of surrounding forces—whether through force or through persuasion—had been exquisitely calibrated.
So the cards in Emperor Danji's hand far outnumbered those of Glazed King City.
Now, upon receiving the news, Emperor Danji had immediately summoned every Emperor-realm powerhouse in Pill Fire City.
Pill Fire City originally had a full thirteen Emperor-realm powerhouses. All thirteen were representatives of established Emperor-realm factions that held traditional roots within the city.
Beyond these thirteen traditional representatives, Emperor Danji also had two Emperor-realm attendants under his personal command.
In addition, Emperor Danji maintained extremely close ties with numerous Emperor-realm rogue cultivators, having forged tight cooperative relationships with them.
Many times, when there were things Emperor Danji found inconvenient to do himself, he would enlist certain rogue-cultivator Emperors to act on his behalf, paying them handsomely for their services.
Put simply, because Pill Fire City was so vast and wealthy, it possessed enough bargaining chips and enough的利益 to attract independent Emperors.
This was, in fact, exactly the same dynamic as what Jiang Chen was doing now in winning over that group of Emperor-realm powerhouses.
Of the thirteen Emperor-realm powerhouses, two having already perished in the Tiangui Kingdom, the remaining eleven—including Emperor Danji himself—were now gathered together in one place.
"Gentlemen, you must all have heard at least rumors of the news that came back from the Myriad Realm," Emperor Danji said, his tone extremely grave.
"Your Majesty, those reports are merely hearsay spread by rogue cultivators. They haven't been reliably confirmed yet, have they? The investigation disciples we dispatched couldn't have returned that quickly."
"Sending investigation disciples was merely my final effort. In truth, whether it was Elder Ma or Da Jiao, their Life-bound Soul Lamps have already gone out."
Many prominent figures across various factions would create a Life-bound Soul Lamp. Once such a lamp shattered, it meant that its owner had perished.
The moment Emperor Danji said this, every Emperor-realm powerhouse in the room shifted uneasily in their seats.
"Your Majesty, Elder Ma and Da Jiao's Life-bound Soul Lamps have truly gone out?" One Emperor-realm cultivator—his hair entirely yellow, giving him the appearance of a male lion—seemed to find it hard to believe.
Emperor Danji frowned. "I am the master of Pill Fire City. Would I fabricate something like this?"
"Your Majesty, even without Emperor Peacock, Glazed King City has gained Mo Wushuang's support—but surely that alone doesn't give them such fearsome combat power. Elder Ma and Da Jiao may not have been at the very top among us, but they were at least mid-tier, and Elder Ma could even be ranked in the upper-mid range. How could Glazed King City's people have killed them? Even if they couldn't win, they should at least have had a chance to flee, shouldn't they?"
"Exactly. I refuse to believe that aside from Emperor Peacock, Glazed King City has anyone who could deny them even the chance to escape."
"Besides, they went in total secrecy and never alerted anyone in Glazed King City. Since Glazed King City's people didn't know they were coming, there's no way they could have laid an ambush. Without an ambush, in a chance encounter, taking down both Elder Ma and Da Jiao simultaneously—I still find it hard to believe."
"Everyone, what if... what if Emperor Peacock isn't dead, and they simply had the misfortune of running into him?" Someone's imagination ran wild.
Emperor Danji scowled and cut him off. "Nonsense. That fellow Peacock cannot appear again. He is ninety-nine percent dead already—and even if he isn't, he's crippled."
That battle against Emperor Peacock had been Emperor Danji's own doing, and he had been the main force. He was certain that the kind of injuries Emperor Peacock had sustained were essentially impossible to heal.
At the very least, Emperor Danji believed that if he himself had suffered wounds that severe, even he would have had almost no hope of recovery.
Moreover, Emperor Peacock had fled into the desolate, primordial Demon Sealing Land.