Let's just use the Abyss World as bait.
At that time for Zhou Tian, not making that response was unlikely, as aside from the Abyss World as a bargaining chip, he really didn't have many other choices.
Firstly, at that time, Zhou Tian did have other things that could interest those Divine Kings; not to mention, just the God Emperor artifact alone, if Zhou Tian could bring it out now, it's likely it would surely have the hope of attracting some of the Divine Kings.
However, for one, that God Emperor artifact had been essentially depleted for the development of the Abyss World. Additionally, which among those Divine Kings wasn't a "won't release the eagle until they see the rabbit" type, and unless there really was a corresponding hope, it was unlikely they would take the risk just based on a rumor. Zhou Tian knew, from any aspect, that was an unlikely event.
