Li Tianming nodded to show he understood.
He took Zi Zhen and Weisheng Moran with him, and together they shifted into the real world.
They returned to that empty, dark expanse.
Then gray light enveloped them. Just as it had brought them out, it sent them back...
Before long, the blood-and-lightning gate connected to the Chaos Divine Emperor Universe appeared before Li Tianming again.
Looking at it, Li Tianming sighed. "I wonder how long we'll be gone this time."
Weisheng Moran smiled. "Before we leave, let's finish everything we need to do."
The three returned to the blood-and-lightning gate.
This time, once Li Tianming passed through it and reentered the Chaos Divine Emperor Universe, he shifted into his Guan Zizai form first.
Within the Divine Emperor Universe, doing so put them in a "half-Guan Zizai" state.
Their bodies appeared to be those of ordinary people less than two meters tall, but the world around them remained unchanged.
"This Guan Zizai state is incredible."
Li Tianming marveled at it.
They had merely gone out and come back, yet more than thirty years had passed. That left him with even more to marvel at.
Both the Chaos Divine Emperor Universe and the real world outside were vast beyond imagination.
After returning to the Evil Demon Ruins, he took the Ancestral Realm Nether Ark out to the Upper Star Ruins.
Zi Zhen and Weisheng Moran stayed beside him. They looked around at the stars filling the sky, and both felt the same unfamiliar sensation he did.
"We're in the half-Guan Zizai state now."
Taking in everything familiar around him, Li Tianming sighed. "Seeing this chaos universe in Guan Zizai form makes its sheer vastness even clearer."
He entered the Nine Dragons Imperial Tomb.
He marveled again at the wisdom of the Flameyellow gods.