Martial Peak

Duan Hong Chen shook his head, "Bright Moon only became a Great Emperor after the Great Emperor War in the Shattered Star Sea. However, since he was a Great Emperor, he was still one of the strongest cultivators in the Star Boundary. If it wasn't for his own willingness, you'd never have been able to kill him. I guess he asked for death, right?"

He paused for a moment, "Was he in a situation where he could no longer survive, so he asked you to end his life? No, no, no… Given your temperament, even if Bright Moon really made such a request, you wouldn't have the heart to make a move against him. In that case, he must have made you kill him when you were unsuspecting. You obtained his World's Will because he was killed by you. That's why you exude the auras of the Star Boundary and Bright Moon, right?"

As their eyes met, Yang Kai was lost for words and smiled helplessly.

It had been many years since Duan Hong Chen was lugged to the Ancestral Domain by Wu Kuang, so he hadn't heard any news from the Star Boundary for a long time. However, simply by learning the outcome, he was able to deduce the truth of the matter, which went to show that his insight and intelligence was superb.

"But, something isn't right…" Duan Hong Chen suddenly scowled, "Even though Bright Moon was killed by you, how did you obtain his piece of the World's Will? When a Great Emperor passes away, his World's Will will dissipate into the world and await the birth of the next Great Emperor. Then, the new Great Emperor will be blessed with it. Could it be that… when Bright Moon passed away, his World's Will wasn't able to re-integrate into the world, which was why it had to remain in your body? In that case, was Bright Moon killed outside of the Star Boundary?"

Yang Kai took a deep breath and replied, "Senior Bright Moon indeed died outside the Star Boundary."

Upon learning the reason behind it, Duan Hong Chen nodded and said, "Tell me what has happened over the years."

"The Star Boundary is troubled by Demons now," Yang Kai replied.

Duan Hong Chen turned solemn, "Demons?"

"That's right." Yang Kai bowed his head, "Senior, do you know of the incident where Demon Spirits from the Southern Swamp Demon Cave revived?"

At that time, the eldest disciple from Azure Sun Temple, Xia Sheng, told Yang Kai to accompany his friend named Hua Yu Lu to explore an Ancient Cave Mansion in the Southern Swamp. Yang Kai thought that he could get some benefits from it, but he hadn't expected that he would accidentally unseal a Demon Cave and release numerous Demon Spirits, which then caused a commotion in the Southern Territory.

They were also accompanied by the former Patriarch of the Gong Family from Heavenly River Valley, Gong Yue, whose body was possessed by a Demon Spirit. Yang Kai and the others chased him down to Azure Sun Temple and realised that there was also a sealed Demon Cave in the Temple. The possessed Gong Yue went on to create chaos in the Temple.

During that period of time, Duan Hong Chen happened to be inside the Divine Ascension Mirror in Azure Sun Temple in an attempt to solve the issue of Wu Kuang's possession of his body; therefore, he should be aware of that incident.

Upon hearing what Yang Kai had said, Duan Hong Chen nodded, "I remember."

Yang Kai put on a helpless smile, "That was the beginning of it. After the Demon Caves were unsealed, Demon Spirits were revived and went on to possess more people. It took us more than ten years to solve the commotion in the Southern Territory. We all thought that we had gotten rid of the danger, but it turned out there was a bigger plot behind it. I've heard that among the ten Great Emperors in the Star Boundary, the most mysterious one is Night Shadow Great Emperor from Shadow Killer Palace in the Western Territory. Even the other Great Emperors were not sure whether he is male or female. Now, it seems that it isn't that he likes to be mysterious, but rather that he deliberately conceals himself. Night Shadow Great Emperor Can Ye possesses a Shadow Demon bloodline, he is a traitor the Demons have planted in the Star Boundary!"

Even though Duan Hong Chen was a calm person, he still widened his eyes in disbelief upon hearing this.

Regardless of how well or not well the ten Great Emperors knew one another, they naturally had some contact over the years. When Duan Hong Chen was travelling around the world, he happened to visit Shadow Killer Palace and came into close contact with Can Ye once; however, he didn't detect any unusual aura from Can Ye.

It had never crossed his mind that one of the ten Great Emperors possessed a Demon Race bloodline.

In ancient times, Demons had invaded the Star Boundary. Even Yang Kai had heard of the incident, so there was no way Duan Hong Chen wasn't aware of it. It was possible that some of the Demons had managed to remain hidden in the Star Boundary, or that some of the women from the Star Boundary were violated by the Demons and then gave birth to children of mixed race.

The Demon bloodline that Can Ye possessed had to be traced back to the last war between the Great Worlds.

There was an awkward smile on Yang Kai's face which seemed to be a mixture of mockery and sorrow, "A Great Emperor was actually a traitor, and the Demons had been planning for this for a long time. When the right time came, they were able to break the barrier and open up a passageway between the two Great Worlds. Unfortunately, we had no idea what was happening until it was too late. Upon learning the news, the Great Emperors entered the passageway to investigate the matter, but they were unexpectedly ambushed by the Demon Saints. In order to allow the others to escape, Senior Bright Moon remained behind in the Demon Realm. Later, I accepted Senior Heaven's Revelations' request and put on a show to infiltrate the Demon Realm. On the surface, I pretended that I had suffered from cultivation dissonance and become demonified, which essentially made me a traitor to the Star Boundary. The truth was that I was heading to the Demon Realm to find out about Senior Bright Moon's whereabouts and look for a chance to bring him back."

He paused for a moment, "It seems I have to thank Wu Kuang for that. If it weren't for his Heaven Devouring Battle Law being unacceptable in the world, I wouldn't have found an excuse to put on that show. After entering the Demon Realm, everything went well for me at first. I found Senior Bright Moon in a place called Eternal Sky Continent. At that time, he was severely injured, and the Demon Saints had arranged a Twelve Pinnacles Grand Demon Array to suppress him. Besides that, a Demon Saint Blood Demon, Xue Li, had set up the boundless Blood Sea to trap Senior Bright Moon. Faced with the Blood Sea and the Array, Senior Bright Moon was struggling just to survive," Yang Kai's voice sounded mournful as he recalled the scene when he saw Bright Moon on Eternal Sky Continent.

Duan Hong Chen chimed in, "I know that the Demon Realm is also a Great World, and the Demon Saints you've just mentioned are supposed to be as powerful as Great Emperors, right? How many of them are there?"

Yang Kai nodded, "Senior is correct. In the Demon Realm, the status and powers of the Demon Saints are equivalent to those of the Great Emperors in the Star Boundary. There are twelve of them in total."

Upon hearing that, Duan Hong Chen gasped and appeared to be suffering from a headache. It was a simple comparison. Initially, there were ten Great Emperors in the Star Boundary. He was held up by Wu Kuang in the Ancestral Domain, Bright Moon had been trapped in the Demon Realm, and Can Ye had betrayed them. It meant that only seven Great Emperors were left to take charge of the Star Boundary. Nevertheless, there were twelve Demon Saints in the Demon Realm in total. Including the traitor Can Ye, it was seven versus thirteen. The odds were almost two to one in favour of the Demon Realm.

With such a stark contrast between the number of top cultivators on both sides, it wasn't hard to conclude that the Star Boundary was at a severe disadvantage in the Two Worlds' Great War.

With a frown, Duan Hong Chen said doubtfully, "You said that Bright Moon was trapped in the Demon Realm and he was severely injured, which was a good chance for the Demon Saints to kill him. Why did they only trap him?"

Yang Kai explained with a bitter smile, "Junior had the same doubt at first. After Senior Bright Moon explained it to me, I realised that it wasn't that the Demon Saints didn't want to kill him, but that they had bigger plans for him. They wanted to expand the capacity of their World's Bottle!"

Upon hearing that, Duan Hong Chen gave it a thought and understood what had happened, "I see."

Without the need for Yang Kai to explain anything, he already realised what the Demons were up to at that time. In that situation, the Demon Saints were capable of killing Bright Moon, but that would lead to nowhere. They would only make those from the Star Boundary lose a top cultivator. If there was no suitable carrier after Bright Moon passed away, his World's Will would simply dissipate and return to the Star Boundary.

However, if they could trap him and refine him to allow the Demon Realm to devour his World's Will, they could expand the capacity of the Demon Realm's World's Bottle.

It had to be said that the Demons indeed had a thorough plot. Given Duan Hong Chen's intelligence, he didn't need Yang Kai to tell him what happened after that.

Certainly, war had erupted and, in the end, Bright Moon was killed in battle. Bright Moon must have made Yang Kai end his life because he knew that there was no way he could survive. Yang Kai was from the Star Boundary, which was why the World's Will had transferred to him as there was no other choice.

"You've done well." Duan Hong Chen didn't ask any further questions or make Yang Kai keep explaining. Then, he lifted his hand and clapped the young man's shoulder, "In that situation, any Great Emperor would have made the same choice. You're the one who was dragged into matters beyond your means. Fortunately, I can see that you're still alive and kicking. Even though you were in a perilous situation, you were still able to survive in the end."

After the World's Will of Bright Moon was transferred to Yang Kai, Duan Hong Chen could imagine that the eyes of those Demons must have turned bloodshot as they hunted him down.

Regardless of what happened though, Yang Kai was still alive at the very least.

"All of us in the Star Boundary, including the Great Emperors, have to thank you," If the World's Will was snatched by the Demons, the Star Boundary would no longer be complete. No one could tell what the consequences would have been if that happened.

A shocked Yang Kai said, "I don't deserve any thanks. I just didn't want to disappoint Senior Bright Moon."

Duan Hong Chen heaved a sigh and fished out a bottle of wine and two cups. Then, he filled the cups with wine for Yang Kai and himself before he faced the sky and lifted his cup to pay homage to his friend. Following that, he drained his glass in one gulp.

Yang Kai similarly finished his wine.

Duan Hong Chen's emotions seemed to be unsettled after he learned that his old friend had passed away. After drinking his wine, he fell silent for a long time. He remained unmoving and didn't seem to have the intention to say anything as his aura dimmed.

One hour later, he took a deep breath, and when he lifted his head, his expression became as calm as usual. No one could live forever. The Great Emperors had gone through the vicissitudes of life, so they were already used to it.

"How's the situation in the Star Boundary? Since you still have the time to come to the Lower Star Field, I guess the situation isn't so serious yet," Duan Hong Chen asked. He and Wu Kuang had other matters to attend to, so it would be best if the situation in the Star Boundary was stable; however, if the Star Boundary was in immediate danger, he had to consider returning to support the other Great Emperors."

"The first few years were the hardest; after all, the Demons were well prepared while we were unsuspecting. However, the situation has stabilised now. Before I returned from the Demon Realm, I sealed off the Two Worlds' Passage, which cut off the support from the Demon Realm to their armies. The Demon soldiers that are left in the Star Boundary are not capable of making any fuss now."