Within the barrier, Yang Jian and the others had long since frozen in shock. When they sensed where the starlight figures were bowing toward, they instinctively got out of the way, clearing a path before Ye Zichen.
The countless stars lowered their heads in obeisance to the Emperor Star.
Gu Li stood within the darkness, his eyes carrying a hint of envy and a hint of bitterness. He was one of the heavens’ chosen emperors, it’s true. And yet, from his various encounters, it was clear that he had no hint of the grand fortune that ought to belong to the Emperor Star.
Take this current scene; the difference in treatment between the “twin emperors” was stark.
Gu Li was the one who’d opened the Divine Mausoleum, as well as the one who’d summoned the stars of the night sky. But who were they bowing to? It wasn’t him, the one who’d called them here, but rather, Ye Zichen.
Disappointment was inevitable. Since being chosen as an Emperor Star, it was hard not to think of himself as the future ruler of all things.
But after that, the Four Great Auxiliary Stars chose to serve Ye Zichen, not him. No Fated Stars had appeared by his side. It was as if he, the nominal Master of the Emperor Star, was transparent, as if the stars of the night sky showed him no favor at all.
From that moment on, he’d had a premonition that the one with the true imperial celestial fate wouldn’t be him.
“Old man, it’s not that I’m not trying, but the two of us really just weren’t fated for this!” Gu li stood within the darkness, a deeply bitter smile on his face. The Outsider Gu Li was constantly pressing him to strive harder and obtain the fortune of heaven and earth, as well as the unique position that went with it.
Unfortunately…
The countless stars of the mausoleum had already made their choice!
“What are they doing?” Ye Zichen watched the bowing celestial figures in shock. Then, inexplicably, he shivered. No wonder Howling Valley had been so strange, so eerie. Watching these figures now, it seemed that when the star bearers of the Second Era transformed into stars, the star bearers’ bodies were all buried here.
No wonder the mausoleum would descend here; they’d designed it this way.
Didn’t that mean that what he currently stood upon was none other than the star bearers’ tomb?
They knelt for just a hundred breaths of time, then all the ordinary star bearers faded into nothingness and disappeared. The women at their forefront followed. The Four Great Auxiliary Stars in the air were the last to vanish into the either.
The starlight dispersed. The humanoid, starlight figures of the Four Great Auxiliary Stars were gone, too.
However, the stars themselves never left. They flew, flashing with light, up to the mausoleum’s main gate, then separated, each occupying one of the four indents on the gate’s corners.
The mountainous Divine Mausoleum rumbled. Countless rocks and vast swathes of dust fell in droves.
Smoke permeated the air, catching the gradually fading light of the red protective coating. Everything was misty and unclear.
The main gate to the mausoleum gradually opened. Although the light was still painfully bright, none of it entered the mausoleum; their naked eyes couldn’t see anything inside at all.
“If you want Zhou Wu to see you here, if you want to leak your status as the Emperor Star, just wait within that barrier.”
Gu Li was already standing directly in the main gate. An Lu and the two imperial lord attendants stood at his side. He walked straight inside without so much as turning around. Only then did Ye Zichen come to his senses and exit the barrier. Yang Jian and the others naturally followed him, and the whole group stepped through the doorway.
The main gate didn’t close. It just remained open.
But shortly after they went inside, countless vortexes appeared in the sky.
Based on these new arrivals’ auras, any one of them had the power to destroy this entire lower plane with a wave of their hand.
When they sensed the appearance of others of comparable cultivation, they couldn’t help but glance at each other. When they saw each others’ faces clearly, some of them looked shocked. Perhaps they were wondering “Why is this person here?”
And indeed; numerous reclusive old experts had appeared here for all to see.
Some people smiled, while others’ faces contorted in hatred.
However, they didn’t communicate much. After a brief glance, all of their gazes landed on the mausoleum.
When they saw that the door was already open, they didn’t hesitate to rush towards it.
The Divine Mausoleum seemed to welcome any and all guests; its door was open for anyone.
The sky shook several times more. This time, those who stepped out of the vortexes were clearly even stronger than those who’d come before.
“Ocean Emperor!”
“Hermit Emperor!”
“Fox Empress!”
“Xuan Ji, what are you doing here?”
These new arrivals were all great emperors in Ye Zichen’s alliance. They all showed up at once, as if they’d planned it that way in advance. They appeared one after the other, but despite how it seemed, all of them knew that they hadn’t contacted each other before coming here. There’d been no discussion between them in the war chat prep group, either.
All they could say was, this was one big coincidence!
“Xue Yang, you rascal, didn’t you say you weren’t coming?” Great Emperor Bi’an pointed at the Ocean Emperor. Although they hadn’t contacted each other before leaving, they’d discussed the Divine Mausoleum a hundred years ago.
“Didn’t you say you weren’t interested either?” Xue Yang rolled his eyes.
“Big Sister Qingyan, why are you here?” As the men argued, Xuan Ji walked up to Su Qingyan. Su Wan’er, the clan head, was there too. “If you’re both here, what about the fox clan?”
“Su Yan and Su Liu’er, those kids, are already enough to support the whole clan,” laughed Su Qingyan.
Su Yan had fused with the Godhead of Life and become a master god. Su Liu’er had made enormous progress with her Breath of Ice; she was practically on par with Su Qingyan herself.
With the two fox sisters to hold down the fort, the foxes felt as secure as they had back in the days of the Fox Ancestor.
The foxes had been leaning on Su Qingyan and Su Wan’er ever since. Now, there were two others who could take their place, which was a huge relief.
“I practically forgot about them.” Xuan Ji nodded.
“What are you doing here? Way I see it, this shouldn’t interest you.” The Jade Pool Palace Master suddenly walked over.
By now, the great emperors had already split into two distinct camps.
Men and women.
Naturally, the Jade Pool Palace Master chose to approach Xuan Ji’s camp.
“Of course I’m not interested,” said Xuan Ji. “Someone made me come here.”
“You ran into that person too?” The Jade Pool Palace Master arched her brows.
To their surprise, when the men heard that, they rushed over. “Xuan Ji, did you say someone made you come here?”
“That’s right! What of it?” Xuan Ji nodded.
“Me too!” said the Ocean Emperor. “I bumped into them too, and he told me I had to show up no matter what. He even specified that it had to be my real body, which is why I left my avatar at the River Styx.”
“Actually… It was the same for us,” said Great Emperor Chao Feng, pointing at himself and Bi’an.
“Me too!” said the Hermit Emperor.
“And us as well,” said Su Qingyan, pointing at herself and her sister. The Great Emperors couldn’t help but look at each other, their eyes filled with indescribable shock.
