2092 Tombstone

　　With a flick of his wrist, Zhang Xuan took out a piece of the G.o.dblood 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 G.o.dblood Rock is formed when the blood of a G.o.d seeps into a stone… Since that’s the case, it’s extremely likely that the G.o.ds’ 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 G.o.dblood Rock.

　　In other words, the blood of the G.o.ds 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 G.o.ds 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 a.n.a.lysis 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 s.p.a.ce beneath had managed to remain intact over the years, presumably because it was tightly sealed.

　　Tzzzzzz!