At this moment, when Xu Zimo and the God Emperor arrived, everyone stood up.

They all bowed deeply toward the two of them.

“We greet the Infernal Emperor and the God Emperor.”

“Rise,” Xu Zimo waved his hand.

With a rough glance, he saw that from the five great continents of the Primordial Heartlands, nearly half of the ancestral patriarchs of the great forces had gathered here.

It was clear the Ruins of Divinity had immense attraction for them.

Those patriarchs who had been radiating might and stability, after Xu Zimo and the God Emperor appeared, exchanged glances, looking somewhat nervous and uneasy.

“Where is the ruin?” Xu Zimo asked.

Someone nearby immediately replied, “Infernal Emperor, three miles to the east, at the left side of the gorge, there the void itself is unstable. Every ten years the cycle comes again, and this gorge will reverse yin and yang, finally opening a portal, allowing entry.”

Xu Zimo followed his gaze and saw that in the thick forest; the void was indeed rippling violently.

It was already affecting the surrounding space.

It looked like devouring, endlessly expanding.

“This ruin, is it a Particle World?” Xu Zimo asked.

“More or less. The space inside is vast, but filled with peril,” the man replied. “Even for us, we only dare to roam the outer edges. We would never enter too deeply.”

These words were an exaggeration, for these were the very peak figures of the secular world in the Primordial Heartlands.

If even they didn’t dare enter, then this ruin was likely on par with the Ten Forbidden Grounds, no surprise there.

“How long until it opens?” Xu Zimo asked.

“Judging by the current speed of void expansion, probably tomorrow morning,” someone answered.

Xu Zimo nodded slightly.

His gaze swept across every face present, and immediately everyone felt an oppressive weight pressing on their hearts.

They all understood clearly, this was Xu Zimo’s warning.

The ruin’s fate was his to decide.

………

Xu Zimo and the God Emperor found a flat boulder nearby and sat down to meditate.

The God Emperor smiled and asked, “I suppose you are also condensing your Yin-Yang Bridge now?”

Xu Zimo nodded, replying, “Why? You’ve already completed it?”

Although the God Emperor’s Heaven’s Will had been restored, all his past cultivation was gone. Just like Xu Zimo, he was cultivating anew from the initial step of the Grand Emperor Realm.

“How could it be so fast?” the God Emperor looked up, then said, “But within these Ruins of Divinity, there is a God Crystal, born from the corpses of gods after their fall. It greatly aids in comprehending Nomological Truths.”

“You’re here for the God Crystal?” Xu Zimo asked.

“I wouldn’t mind other treasures too, but the place is far from simple. I wouldn’t dare rush in recklessly,” the God Emperor chuckled.

As the two continued discussing matters of the Grand Emperor Realm, despite the God Emperor having ascended earlier, he had never been to the Outer Heavens, so in truth he knew little more than Xu Zimo.

Finally, after a night passed, at dawn the next morning, white light crept across the horizon.

The void, which had been quivering all night, suddenly thundered with a “rumble” as a black portal opened in the gorge.

Nothing could be seen inside the portal, only that deep blackness that drew every eye.

“Honored ones, please,” all those gathered turned to Xu Zimo and the God Emperor, speaking with utmost respect.

If the two did not enter first, none of them dared step in.

When the two figures disappeared into the void portal, everyone let out a long sigh of relief.

In the presence of two Grand Emperors, the oppression was far too great.

Even their breathing had nearly stopped.

For one who is Grand Emperor, truly unmatched under heaven.

………

Before their eyes stretched desolation.

An ancient cemetery extended as far as sight could reach.

Simple blue bricks and green tiles formed endless walls of the graveyard, stretching like a skyline.

The structures here had endured countless ages yet still stood unbroken.

On both sides towered ancient trees, tall and silver frosted.

The climate here was strange, though outside it was already spring, inside it still snowed heavily, flakes falling like goose feathers.

White snow drifted through the void, carrying a sense of decline and finality.

Looking ahead, there were tombs upon tombs.

No tombstones, no markers, only simple mounds.

There were hundreds in sight, and that was only a fraction, the area was vast, numbering beyond count.

“Were there truly so many gods in the Legendary Era?” Xu Zimo murmured.

“Not all were gods. Some tombs bury monsters,” the God Emperor explained.

He had been here once before, so he knew the way.

“The outer tombs have all been explored. Let us head deeper.”

“What exactly happened here in the past?” Xu Zimo asked.

Everywhere was ruin, desolation, sorrow.

It was as if grief itself had saturated the entire cemetery. Standing here, one’s emotions could not help but be pulled down.

“Come with me,” the God Emperor said, leading Xu Zimo straight along a narrow path ahead.

Those patriarchs who had entered with them quickly separated, everyone knew if they followed these two, they wouldn’t even get scraps.

Their steps crunched over withered branches, over heavy snow, over piles of bones.

It was impossible to distinguish what lay beneath their feet anymore.

The two reached the end of the small path, where several forks spread out.

And at the end stood an ancient stone stele.

This was the only stone stele remaining in the entire graveyard.

“Catastrophe descends, broken bodies protect the world, Godsfall!”

The stele’s age was impossible to determine, but its countless cracks seemed to whisper of endless years gone by.

Deeply carved into it were these words.

“Catastrophe, Godsfall,” Xu Zimo murmured softly.

He turned to glance at the God Emperor and asked, “You know something, don’t you?”

“Only guesses. I don’t wish to say, lest I mislead your judgment,” the God Emperor replied. “When we leave the Ruins of Divinity, we can discuss. After all, this was long ago and no longer matters.”

Xu Zimo brushed his hands across the stone stele. He did not know who had erected it, nor who had carved the inscription.

Yet even after endless ages, he could still feel the sorrow and emotion of the one who left those words.

Passing the stele, the God Emperor led Xu Zimo onto the leftward main path.

Their figures finally stopped before an ancient tomb.

This tomb had been carefully built.

Unlike the crude mounds around it, it stood out in contrast.

It rose a hundred meters high, and the soil covering it was no ordinary earth, but star-sand.

Each grain of star-sand was still visible, though after endless years, their brilliance had dimmed.