2092 Tombstone

With a flick of his wrist, Zhang Xuan took out a piece of the Godblood Rock he had taken from the Ocean of Exiled Stars and compared the two together. The difference was really similar to that between an inkstone and a jewel.

They were made out of the same material, but their appearances were vastly different!

Without taking a close look, it was impossible to discern that they were actually the same thing.

"The Godblood Rock is formed when the blood of a god seeps into a stone... Since that's the case, it's extremely likely that the gods' corpses are lying around here!"

Rising to his feet, Zhang Xuan swung his Tongshang Sword, and all of the rubble around the area were swept to the side. On the exposed ground, he found more boulders with the same appearance as the black Godblood Rock.

In other words, the blood of the gods had permeated the entire area.

"Palace Master Du!" Zhang Xuan immediately beckoned.

Du Qingyuan hurriedly flew over.

She didn't manage to find anything much in the area.

"You found it?"

"Not yet. However, I think that these black streaks are a hint to where the corpses of the gods are..." Zhang Xuan said as he gestured to the ground.

Du Qingyuan turned her gaze over.

There was indeed something weird about the black streaks on the ground. They seemed to form some sort of mysterious message when looking at them on the whole. Taking a closer look, it was actually rather similar to the inscriptions on the Heaven Anchoring Boulder.

After looking around with a deep frown for a moment, Du Qingyuan suddenly exclaimed with widened eyes, "It looks like... a ritual!"

"Ritual?"

"I believe that these inscriptions on the floor were formed using fresh blood. Most likely, they were in the midst of a large-scale ritual when the entire city suddenly fell from the Firmament," Du Qingyuan revealed her analysis with a grim look on her face.

"This…Zhang Xuan’s heart skipped a beat.

Normal rituals could be conducted by tributing treasures and artifacts, but some of the more malicious ones might require sacrifices and fresh blood in order to activate.

Back then, Sovereign Chen Ling killed over a hundred thousand of his subordinates in order to summon a deity from the Azure so that he could swiftly recover from his injuries.

Could it be that... someone was attempting to do something similar to that?

It would be too naive to think that the fall of the city coincidentally happened in the midst of the ritual. Most likely, the city was banished from the Firmament by some sort of force after being caught conducting such a ritual.

However, rituals that made use of sacrifices tended to be extremely powerful. It was hard to imagine how powerful that force had to be in order to kick the city out of the Firmament in the midst of the ritual.

"As long as we find the center point of the ritual, we should be able to find the origin of the air of degeneration!" Du Qingyuan said.

Using her zhenqi, she swiftly cleaned away the rubble within a hundred meters radius, revealing a huge black door beneath.

"This door is located at the center of the inscriptions. Let's head in to take a look," Du Qingyuan said as she walked forward and pushed open the door.

She was just about to enter when Zhang Xuan suddenly stopped her. Taking a deep breath, Zhang Xuan took the lead in.

It seemed like the temple extended to the underground as well. Everything above had collapsed, but the space beneath had managed to remain intact over the years, presumably because it was tightly sealed.

Tzzzzzz!

Barely after entering, Zhang Xuan immediately felt innumerable sword qi flying in his direction. He adeptly waved the Tongshang Sword, extending his Sword Intent into the surroundings.

A Heart of Intertwined Threads!

Knowing the dangers that lurked within the City of Collapsed Space, Zhang Xuan didn't hold back at all.

Peng peng peng!

With a few dull groans, several black silhouettes dissipated into the shadows.

They are Degeneration Beasts too! However, they appear to be far stronger than those we have faced above..." Du Qingyuan remarked with a hushed voice from behind.

Zhang Xuan replied with a nod.

These Degeneration Beasts seemed no different from specters lingering in the shadows of the night, preying upon living beings who dared step in their direction.

Zhang Xuan had killed many Degeneration Beasts along the way, but they were all only at High Immortal realm. Yet, the ones which he had just dealt with had astonishingly reached Semi-Divinity realm.

Had it been anyone else in his place, it was likely that he wouldn't have even survived the first wave of attack, eventually fulfilling the fate of being corroded down to bones.

"The air of degeneration seems to be coming from there..." Du Qingyuan pointed out anxiously.

Looking in the direction where Du Qingyuan had pointed out, Zhang Xuan saw the black streaks congregating at the very center of the underground hall.

So, he carefully made his way over.

There was a small altar placed on top of the area where all of the black streaks had originated from.

"This..." Zhang Xuan was a little taken aback.

Even though it was small, the altar looked extremely similar to the altar of the Starchaser Palace. The only difference would be that the altar right before him was of an even higher tier.

If the altar Wu Chen used was from the Forsaken Continent and the one Du Qingyuan used was from the Azure, the one before him must have definitely come from the Firmament!

Zhang Xuan could not discern what it was made of, but despite being buried for several thousand years, it didn't seem to be worn out at the very least. In fact, it was emanating a slight glow.

"Could it be that..." Du Qingyuan clenched her fists tightly in agitation.

There could only be one reason why there was an altar in the City of Collapsed Space which closely resembled the Guardian Artifact of the Starchaser Palace. It was hard to believe it, but the evidence seemed to be pointing toward that direction.

Just as what she had heard from the preceding palace master, it was likely that the population on Starchaser Island had indeed originated from the Firmament!

"It looks like what he said is true..." Zhang Xuan nodded in agreement.

Back then, after 'saving' him, the fake Kong shi explained the origins of the Six Sects, and he mentioned that those living on the Starchaser Island were actually exiled gods.

Noting the slight look on confusion on Du Qingyuan's face, Zhang Xuan told her about the story he had heard from the fake Kong shi back then.

Du Qingyuan shook her head and said, "Such information has been passed down verbally through each generation of palace master, but I thought that such a thing couldn't have been true. But this..."

The other five major sects of the Forsaken Continent had proclaimed themselves as the exiled gods, and as time passed by, those lies ended up being taken for real.

There was no way of knowing when and why those lies had started spreading. Too much time had passed since then to investigate the matter.

However, those lies had indeed become the conventional truth on the Forsaken Continent. There was no longer anyone who would try to question those claims anymore.

Even if Zhang Xuan were to reveal the truth to everyone in the Azure, there would be very few people who would believe him.

But again, the truth no longer mattered at this point anymore. The fact was that no one on the Forsaken Continent was able to reach the level of the gods anymore, so these lies were nothing more than words that made one feel good about oneself.

Zhang Xuan walked around the perimeter of the altar but he didn't notice anything worthy of note. With a helpless sigh, he said, "It doesn't seem like there's anything here aside from the altar. While it's placed at the very center of the ritual, it doesn't seem to be the source of the air of degeneration."

It was a little bizarre how the air of degeneration suddenly thinned out around the altar. If he hadn't known for certain that he was in the City of Collapsed Space, he might have thought that he had been teleported back to the Azure somehow.

However, Du Qingyuan had a very different view from Zhang Xuan, "There must be a reason why this altar is placed here. I think that it's highly likely that the Aura of Divinity lies right here."

"Oh?"

"Since this altar is similar to that in our Starchaser Palace, I'll try and see if I can assimilate it with my bloodline."

Du Qingyuan slit her wrist with a surge of sword qi before dripping her blood on the black streaks around the ritual.

Fresh blood flowed along with the black streaks, and it didn't take long before they were all dyed crimson. Right after, as if a formation had come to life, a brilliant burst of light surged outward.

Hong long long!

The altar began to rattle.

Du Qingyuan's face had already turned pale at this point, but she continued to allow her blood to flow freely from her wrist. With the tribute of her blood, the light grew brighter and brighter.

Whenever her wound started clotting, she would carve a new one with her fingernails. Just like that, she left three strokes on her wrist.

It was fortunate that there was no air of degeneration in the area, or else she would have been corroded down to bones before her blood could even flow out.

Boom!

Just as Du Qingyuan was reaching her limits, the altar suddenly glowed brilliantly.

There was a feeling of great disorientation before the two of them realize that they had been teleported into an area even darker than before.

The entire area was shrouded with a layer of thick mist, hindering one's line of sight.

"Be careful!"

Zhang Xuan quickly fed Du Qingyuan with a bottle of chicken soup and Premier Immortal Pill before she finally recovered from her exertion.

It felt as if they had tumbled into the depths of a cave. There was a vague scent of charred earth lingering in the air. "Are we still in the City of Collapsed Space?" Du Qingyuan asked with a frown.

Zhang Xuan replied solemnly, "I don't know, but I think it's likely that we might have arrived at the source of the air of degeneration."

He could feel a powerful and terrifying power amidst the dark area they were in.

Putting aside his current strength, he felt that even if he were to reach the level of the gods, he would still be no match for this existence.

The fact that he was feeling such a heavy pressure likely meant that there was a real god hidden amidst the darkness, similar to what they had heard previously.

"I'm hungry. I want to eat..." a chirpy voice suddenly echoed in Zhang Xuan's mind.

It was Little Chick.

"Shut up," Zhang Xuan replied snappishly.

It was likely that they were standing before a frightening existence, but all Little Chick could think of was food... Could it be more of a wastrel than this?

He had never met a real god before, but even someone of Vicious' level was able to recover after being killed. Regardless of whether the being lying within this dark space was dead or alive, the other party was an existence which a Semi-Divinity realm cultivator like him should definitely not offend.

"But I'm hungry..." Little Chick cried out.

"Eat these Premier Immortal Pills to fill your stomach," Zhang Xuan replied impatiently as he moved a bottle of Premier Immortal Pills into his tamed beast sack.

Little Chick immediately waddled its way gracefully over and pecked on one of it.

Seeing that it wasn't causing any trouble for the time being, Zhang Xuan heaved a sigh of relief before proceeding deeper in with Du Qingyuan.

A massive tombstone soon appeared before their eyes.

Five words were inscribed on it. It was emanating an imposing pressure that prevented others from proceeding any further ahead.

Zhang Xuan began to examine the tombstone.

The inscriptions on the tombstone were similar to that on the Azure Bridge as well, making it hard for him to discern its meaning.

T-this …"

By his side, Du Qingyuan's body suddenly began trembling.

You recognize these words?" Zhang Xuan asked with a frown.

Du Qingyuan nodded with a pale face. Her voice trembled as she spoke, "It reads... Tomb of the Deathless Monarch!" "Deathless Monarch?" Zhang Xuan was stunned.

"It's said that he's an extremely powerful expert of the Firmament, a being who exists alongside the heavens and the earth. He's known to be an existence who can't be killed, but... he's actually dead?" Du Qingyuan could hardly believe

"A being who existed alongside the heavens and the earth?" Zhang Xuan narrowed his eyes.

He had no way of telling whether Du Qingyuan was true or not, but just the other party's title as the 'Deathless Monarch' spoke a lot about the other party's strength and abilities!

For a being who was bestowed with the title of 'Deathless' to lose his life here...

Just what in the world happened in the City of Collapsed Space?

"Who dares to barge in here?"

Zhang Xuan was still trying to make sense of the situation before him when a hostile voice echoed in the air. Amidst the mysterious dark mist lingering in the area, a figure slowly made its way over.

He clutched the Tongshang Sword as he looked at the approaching figure warily.

In the next moment, a black skeleton suddenly appeared before his eyes.

The black skeleton was tall, and a dark menacing glint reflected off its surface. It carried an imposing pressure which made its tremendous strength clearly known.

This was the first time Zhang Xuan felt so deeply threatened. Even when he first encountered Vicious' heart back in the underground cavern, he hadn't felt such goosebumps over his body before.