Song Changsheng stood within the Ancient Tombs.
However, the portion of the Ancient Tombs he was in differed somewhat from the area where Chu Feng and the others were.
Here, there were not only those powerful black flame creatures, but also Fierce Beasts—Fierce Beasts that possessed no intelligence, only the instinct to thirst for blood.
Even without venturing into those tomb worlds, merely encountering those Fierce Beasts meant that if one could not kill them, one would be killed by them.
However, despite being far more dangerous, this place also allowed one to observe what was happening outside the Ancient Tombs.
At this moment, Song Changsheng stood amid the starry sky, gazing toward the Ninth Heavenly River.
And due to the distance, his view was even clearer—he could see the black mist churning and rolling violently.
"This is extermination."
Compared to those outside the Ancient Tombs, who did not know the reason behind the black mist sealing off the Ninth Heavenly River, Song Changsheng, who was inside the Ancient Tombs, had already formed a conjecture.
The sacred artifacts within the Ancient Tombs were all extraordinarily powerful—far beyond what the majority of martial cultivators in the current martial cultivation world could handle, and there were many of them.
Should they escape, driven by their bloodthirsty nature, they would inevitably bring a slaughter that would sweep across the vast martial cultivation world.
If one wished to flee, there was only one path—into the Ninth Heavenly River.
But now that the Ninth Heavenly River had been sealed, there was nowhere left to run. What awaited countless beings of the martial cultivation world was nothing but a massacre.
Having deduced this possibility, Song Changsheng's eyes grew a shade colder.
To prevent this from happening, there was only one choice—exterminate every last bloodthirsty Fierce Beast within the Ancient Tombs.
Song Changsheng had already located the Fierce Beasts' lair—another tomb world—and headed straight for it.
However, when he stepped into that grim and eerie world, he found himself caught off guard.
This world bore no signs of devastating destruction, yet corpses lay strewn everywhere.
They were the corpses of those incredibly dangerous Fierce Beasts.
Unlike those creatures that had tried to force their way out through the gates before, these Fierce Beasts did not dissolve into flames upon death. Although they left no origin behind, their physical remains still remained.
Judging by the bodies, they had been killed very recently.
Suddenly, Song Changsheng detected a faint aura. He took a single step forward, and the scenery around him blurred and streaked past, arriving at an entirely different location in the blink of an eye.
And not far before him stood a graceful figure draped in white robes.
It was Heavenly Sword Qingyuan.
Song Changsheng had entered these Ancient Tombs once before, and he had encountered Heavenly Sword Qingyuan back then as well.
But at that time, Heavenly Sword Qingyuan had been the one blocking his advance deeper into the tombs.
He therefore knew just how powerful Heavenly Sword Qingyuan was.
"I was wondering who could possibly slaughter every last one of these Fierce Beasts," Song Changsheng said.
He had been somewhat curious about who had done this, but upon seeing this person, he immediately had his answer.
"I knew you would come."
Heavenly Sword Qingyuan looked toward Song Changsheng. His arrival was not met with any surprise on her part.
"Are you going to block me again this time?" Song Changsheng asked.
"This time, I'm afraid we'll need to join forces."
"Otherwise, the martial cultivation world will face a great calamity."
As Heavenly Sword Qingyuan spoke, her gaze shifted to the ground not far away.
There stood a stone gate.
The gate was open.
No name was inscribed upon it, but there was a carving—a depiction of Fierce Beasts wielding weapons and clad in armor. The impression they gave was reminiscent of the black flame creatures from before, combined with the Fierce Beasts of this place.
But no matter how one looked at it, the beings carved upon the stone gate were far more powerful.
"What lies within is no simple matter," Song Changsheng sighed.
"Mm." Heavenly Sword Qingyuan gave a faint nod.
"You've been inside?" Song Changsheng asked.
"Not yet," Heavenly Sword Qingyuan replied.
"There's something like this inside, isn't there?" Song Changsheng asked.
What he referred to was, of course, the being carved upon the gate.
"If it were only this creature, it would be nothing to fear. But the concern is that there may exist something even stronger within."
"If you and I can slay it, we may be able to save the martial cultivation world. However, I suspect this matter will not be so simple," Heavenly Sword Qingyuan said.