Song Changsheng continued to gaze into the depths of the starry sky.
What he did not know was that, in those very depths he was staring into, multiple gazes were also fixed upon him.
Far away from Song Changsheng, hidden among the stars, there existed a concealed world.
This world was not only vast and expansive, but far from lifeless — quite the opposite. Life thrived everywhere within it.
The only difference was that every structure and every plant here emanated a thick aura of antiquity.
As though everything here had existed since the primordial age.
Within this world, there was also an observation formation, and a crowd had gathered before it.
Men and women alike, all of them older in appearance — the youngest among them middle-aged at the very least.
They wore white robes, and the tokens at their waists all bore the four words "Heavenly Sword Sacred Palace."
At the forefront stood a wrinkled old woman, ancient beyond measure. Her eyes, in particular, spoke of countless ages past.
Yet her bearing was extraordinary — one could tell that in her youth, she must have been strikingly beautiful.
"Pavilion Master, that man keeps observing our location. Could it be he hasn't given up?"
An old man behind the woman spoke, his voice heavy with worry. But his words revealed the old woman's identity.
The Pavilion Master of the Heavenly Sword Sacred Palace.
"With Lady Qing Yuan here, what is there to worry about?"
The moment the Pavilion Master said this, everyone present instinctively turned to look in the same direction.
Above a sea of clouds in this world stood a complex of palaces crafted from white jade.
Every structure within that palace complex was unique, blending seamlessly with the white clouds — a true celestial abode.
The tallest building among them was a white jade tower.
Atop the tower stood a woman — the very same white-robed figure who had clashed with Song Changsheng earlier.
Her eyes were no longer vacant. That pale blue had returned to her irises.
But the direction she gazed was no longer toward the Pingyuan Upper Realm. It was toward the Ancient Killing Sea.
The people of the Heavenly Sword Sacred Palace all understood just how significant this woman was.
Her name was Qing Yuan of the Heavenly Sword.
According to historical records, she had been the strongest junior of the Heavenly Sword Sacred Palace during the primordial age.
Which meant Qing Yuan of the Heavenly Sword was naturally older than every person present — including their current Pavilion Master.
Though this current Pavilion Master was already tens of thousands of years old, she had still been born in the present era.
Qing Yuan of the Heavenly Sword, on the other hand, though merely a junior in the primordial age, was a true survivor who had lived from that era to this one.
The Heavenly Sword Sacred Palace had not even known she was still alive.
It was only when the Era of the Gods opened that they learned this legendary figure had, in fact, survived to the present day.
Originally, the Heavenly Sword Sacred Palace had intended to enter the Era of the Gods as well, to compete for opportunities.
It was at that moment that Qing Yuan of the Heavenly Sword suddenly appeared and stopped them.
She then brought them to this place.
At first, they had assumed this was merely an unusually large sealed realm.
But as time passed, they grew increasingly convinced that this was no ordinary sealed realm.
Everything here was too real — there was not the slightest trace of fabrication.
It was as though another stretch of starry sky truly existed, hidden within the vast martial world.
The spiritual energy between heaven and earth in this starry sky was noticeably denser than in the vast martial world.
And in the world where they currently resided, this feeling was even clearer.
The spiritual energy here was several times that of the martial world.
Moreover, it possessed a different quality from the martial world's spiritual energy. If one had to describe it, it felt like an energy unshackled by any restraint.
Shortly after arriving, multiple members of the Heavenly Sword Sacred Palace who had long been stuck at bottlenecks successfully broke through.
But the differences were not limited to the spiritual energy alone.
In the martial world's starry sky, nine great Heavenly Rivers blazed with brilliance. Beneath the night sky, one look at them filled the heart with hope and a yearning for martial cultivation.
Here, though countless worlds also drifted through the void, most were utterly devoid of life.
A single glance revealed nothing but pitch-black darkness and a deathly silence so complete it was terrifying.
If the martial world was the realm of the living, this place more closely resembled the netherworld.
And yet, within this silent starry sky, there was not only spiritual energy that filled them with elation.
There were also countless rare treasures and mystical herbs they had only ever read about in historical records.
This place was like an impossibly vast, bottomless treasury.
But in the records of the Heavenly Sword Sacred Palace, there had never been any mention of such a place.
They had asked Qing Yuan of the Heavenly Sword what exactly this place was.
She had only shaken her head and told them they must never venture into the depths of this starry sky.
Though this stretch of stars felt profoundly mysterious, and staring into its depths would fill anyone — no matter who — with an inexplicable sense of unease that made their hair stand on end.