Chapter 2092: The Undying Sovereign

With a flick of his wrist, a piece of divine blood stone appeared before him. Compared to the one in his hand, it was like the difference between graphite and diamond.

Although they were the same substance, their appearance was vastly different!

Without careful inspection, one could hardly tell they were the same thing.

“Divine blood stone is formed when the blood of a deity seeps into stone. So… what Palace Master Du said about a deity’s corpse might actually be true!”

Standing up, he shook the Tongchang Sword. The rubble in front, over ten meters wide, was cleared away, revealing the ground beneath.

It was all stone with such patterns, meaning the deity’s blood had spilled in no small amount.

After doing this, he called out, “Palace Master Du!”

Du Qingyuan flew over.

She hadn’t found much elsewhere.

“Found it?”

“Not yet, but it should be related to these patterns…”

Zhang Xuan pointed.

Du Qingyuan looked over.

These black patterns were very strange, as if carved with some special inscriptions. Upon closer inspection, they resembled the runes on the Heaven-Connecting Stone and the Heaven-Connecting Bridge.

After a moment, as if recognizing something, Du Qingyuan said, “This is… a hall used for sacrifice!”

“Sacrifice?”

“Yes, these patterns were all cast with blood. It seems a large-scale sacrificial ritual was underway, and then… before it was completed, the entire city was struck down from the divine realm!”

Du Qingyuan’s expression turned grave.

“This…”

Zhang Xuan was startled.

Ordinary sacrifices could be completed with enough treasures, but there were also evil sacrificial methods that required human lives or blood to activate.

Back in the Spirit Race, Emperor Chenling had used a sacrifice to instantly slay a hundred thousand subordinates, offering so many lives to allow the so-called celestial envoy to descend and to fully heal his own injuries.

Could it be… that this was a similar method?

Such methods were usually extremely powerful, yet even so, the entire city was struck down from the divine realm… That was too terrifying!

“If we find the center of the altar, we should find the center of the decaying aura!”

Du Qingyuan nodded and flicked her sleeve.

A large area of rubble was cleared away.

Her immortal power surged and roamed. In less than ten minutes, a hundred meters of rubble was cleared, revealing a pitch-black door beneath.

“The convergence point of the patterns is inside this door. Let’s go take a look!”

Du Qingyuan approached and pushed open the door, about to enter.

Zhang Xuan reached out to stop her, then stepped in front, took a deep breath, and walked in.

This was a semi-underground structure. The surroundings had mostly collapsed, leaving only this place buried under the rubble, forming its own space.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!

As soon as he entered, he felt countless beams of energy shooting toward him. The Tongchang Sword danced, and Zhang Xuan unleashed a sword intent.

Heart like a double-threaded net, with a thousand knots within!

Knowing the danger, he held nothing back.

Bang, bang, bang!

With a series of muffled sounds, countless black shadows dissipated.

“They are Decay Beasts! But stronger…”

Du Qingyuan, following behind, lowered her voice.

Zhang Xuan acknowledged.

The things that had attacked were, as she said, Decay Beasts—each one seemingly bodiless, like ghosts in the dark night, exuding a sinister aura.

Along the way, they had killed countless Decay Beasts, mostly at the Immortal Lord level, but these just slain were at the Pseudo-God level.

For anyone else, they might not have survived the first wave of ambush, directly corroded into dry bones.

“The decaying aura appears over there…”

Du Qingyuan hurried forward.

Following her direction, Zhang Xuan looked. The black patterns on the ground, one after another, were arranged in rings, all converging at the center of the hall.

They arrived.

Embedded in the surface was a small altar.

“This…”

Zhang Xuan was stunned.

It was extremely similar to the one in the Star-Chasing Palace, only more advanced.

If Wuchen’s altar was from the Master Teacher Continent, and Du Qingyuan’s from the Upper Firmament, then this one… should be from the divine realm!

Made of unknown materials, though buried under rubble for thousands of years, it had hardly changed, emitting a faint glow.

“Could it be…”

Du Qingyuan clenched her fists.

This altar was so similar to their sect’s supreme treasure that even a fool would understand.

The Spirit Race people were lifeforms from Star-Chasing Island who descended to the lower realm. Then… the people of Star-Chasing Island, as passed down orally by successive sect masters, were very likely people from the divine realm who came here!

“What he said seems to be true…” Understanding, Zhang Xuan nodded.

Earlier, that Teacher Kong, after “rescuing” him, had specifically spoken about the relationship between the Spirit Race and the Star-Chasing Palace, and specifically about the origin of the Star-Chasing Palace—it was abandoned deities.

Seeing her confusion, he recounted in detail what Teacher Kong had said.

Du Qingyuan sighed: "The successive masters of the Star-Chasing Sect did have oral traditions passed down, but I originally thought they were false. I never expected... they are actually true!"

On the Abandoned Continent, the other five great sects, having inherited the identity of the Abandoned Gods for so long, gradually turned lies into truth.

As for the specific reason for such rumors and when they began, thousands of years have passed, making it impossible to trace.

When three people spread a rumor, it becomes a tiger; deeply rooted in everyone's heart, even if it's a lie, no one will deny it.

Even if we now explain the true situation in detail to everyone in the Upper Firmament, I'm afraid no one would believe it.

However, true or false, it doesn't have much impact on the people of Star-Chasing Island. If one cannot become a god, everything else is illusory.

After searching around the altar and finding nothing, Zhang Xuan looked helpless: "It seems there's nothing else besides this thing. Although this place is the core emitting the aura of decay, there doesn't seem to be any aura of decay!"

The eye of a typhoon has no typhoon.

This is the place where the aura of decay is born, yet it is completely empty, with not a trace of decay aura detectable. If I didn't know I was in the Void-Crushing City, I would suspect I had returned to the Upper Firmament.

"Since it's an altar, it should be usable. Perhaps... the so-called divine aura is right here!" Du Qingyuan said.

"Oh?"

"Since it's identical to our Star-Chasing Sect's altar, let me try to see if I can refine it with my bloodline!"

Taking a deep breath, Du Qingyuan raised her brows, a sword light flickering at her fingertip as she cut her wrist and placed it on the pattern on one side of the altar.

Blood flowed along the patterns, quickly filling all the fine grooves, as if activating a magic array, emitting dazzling rays of light.

Rumble!

The altar shook.

Her face pale, Du Qingyuan continued to pour blood into it, the light growing stronger.

The blood coagulated three times, and she cut three wounds in succession.

Fortunately, there was no aura of decay here; otherwise, with such large wounds, she would have been corroded into dry bones before the blood even finished flowing.

Boom!

Just as this Palace Master Du was about to give up and Zhang Xuan was about to come help, the altar suddenly blazed with light, and the two seemed to be instantly transported to a pitch-black space.

It was vast beyond measure, with no end in sight, only roiling mist obscuring the view.

"Careful!"

After giving Palace Master Du a bottle of little yellow chicken bathwater and a Yuan Power Pill to restore her recent losses, they proceeded forward.

The pitch-black environment felt like entering a cave without light, or an underground cavern, the air carrying a scorching scent.

"Is this also the Void-Crushing City?"

Du Qingyuan wondered.

Zhang Xuan's expression turned grave: "Perhaps... this is the true origin of the aura of decay!"

In the dark space before him, he sensed a tremendous power that made his heart tremble.

Not to mention his current strength; even if he broke through the shackles and reached the divine realm, he would be unable to contend with it!

The fact that it could exert such pressure on him could only mean... as the rumors said, deep in the darkness, there might be a true god buried.

"So hungry, I'm going in to find food..."

A telepathic message entered his ears.

It was the little yellow chicken!

"Shut up!" Zhang Xuan's scalp nearly exploded.

There might be a divine corpse here, or even more terrifying beings. Eat, eat... all you know is eat! Can't you have some ambition?

Although he had never encountered a god, given that even a cultivator of the Ruthless One's level could resurrect after death, such a being, whether truly dead or not, was not something he, a mere false god, could offend.

"I'm hungry..."

The little yellow chicken said.

"First, fill your stomach with these top-grade Yuan Power Pills..."

With a mental command, a bottle of Yuan Power Pills appeared in the folded space. The little yellow chicken walked over with elegant steps, bent down, and began pecking them up one by one.

Seeing it wasn't causing trouble, Zhang Xuan breathed a sigh of relief and continued forward with Du Qingyuan.

A massive tombstone appeared before them.

Six large characters were carved on it, seeming like a barrier blocking their advance, emitting a dense pressure that prevented them from moving any further.

Zhang Xuan looked at it.

The characters on the stone tablet resembled the runes carved on the Heaven-Connecting Bridge, difficult to decipher.

"This, this..."

Du Qingyuan beside him trembled incessantly.

"Do you recognize these characters?" Zhang Xuan frowned.

Du Qingyuan nodded, her face pale, her voice trembling: "They read... the Tomb of the Undying Sovereign!"

"Undying Sovereign?" Zhang Xuan was startled.

"He is said to be an ultra-powerful expert in the divine realm, coexisting with heaven and earth, immortal and indestructible... Could it be that he... is dead?" Du Qingyuan seemed unable to believe it.

"Coexisting with heaven and earth? Immortal and indestructible?"

Zhang Xuan's pupils contracted.

Though he didn't know if what she said was correct, the title 'Undying' alone was enough to demonstrate strength and ability!

An ultra-powerful expert titled 'Undying' had died...

What exactly happened in the Void-Crushing City?

"Who dares to intrude here!"

Just as they were shocked, a thunderous roar sounded, and then a figure slowly emerged from the dark mist.

Gripping his Tongchang Sword tightly, Zhang Xuan and Du Qingyuan quickly looked over.

They then saw a pitch-black skeleton that had appeared before them at some point.

This skeleton was tall, its exposed bones crystalline and black, giving an irresistible sense of oppression.

If the Ruthless One's skeleton before carried great power, compared to this, it was nothing at all.