"Actually, I returned a long time ago, but my strength was insufficient to save you all. Later, I was inexplicably teleported to a universe that was once called the Divine Dragon Realm. However, that Divine Dragon Realm had already been annihilated by the Void God Jade a thousand years ago!
By chance, I slightly improved my cultivation and then tore through the space barrier to return here."
Chu Tian's words simply explained his experiences during this period.
"Oh? The Divine Dragon Realm? Are there greater worlds beyond this one?"
The old city lord sighed.
Chu Tian nodded in response.
He then asked,
"How did you escape? I saw the Vatican turned into ruins, was that your doing?"
Chu Tian came here precisely to inquire about this matter.
He then noticed that the graveyard area was a ruin.
Beneath the ruins was a vast underground world.
However, that underground world was now deserted.
"It's strange to say, but originally, Old Yang and I, our cultivation couldn't reach the Ascension realm, yet we were marked by the Heavenly Tribulation imprint of ascension.
At that time, we knew your cultivation was not enough to save us.
So, we decided to go all out and trigger the Heavenly Tribulation simultaneously. Our thought was, if it meant death, so be it.
We never expected the Heavenly Tribulation to be so easy to overcome. However, after passing this ascension tribulation, we didn't ascend to leave this world as legends foretold.
Afterward, we had a battle with that bird-man who captured us.
It affected that area, hence the destruction.
Even stranger, our level of cultivation was marked by the ascension Heavenly Tribulation.
Yet, that powerful bird-man did not receive the tribulation's recognition.
So, Old Yang and I were enough to fight that bird-man.
Little Dragon Girl and Old Li went to rescue people!
In the end, we retreated completely. That bird-man took a blow from me, sealing heaven and earth, destroying one of his wings.
Old Yang's 'Returning Horse Spear' severed one of his arms.
Just as we were preparing to combine our efforts and destroy him, a milky white light appeared in the sky.
The bird-man vanished in the light, and we couldn't find him.
We also quickly returned here to set up a formation, to prevent a counter-attack."
The old city lord also explained the key to their escape.
Chu Tian's eyes widened upon hearing this.
"So, you mean to say… you've overcome the tribulation of ascension, making you half-immortals?"
Chu Tian's thinking was still based on the ideas from Blue Star,
believing that ascension meant becoming an immortal.
"Immortals? Heh heh… not entirely. I think we were given a backdoor!"
Wei Du expressed his thoughts.
"Oh? Why do you say that?"
Chu Tian tilted his head, very curious about his statement. Could there be backdoors for increasing cultivation and undergoing tribulation for ascension?
"Before we underwent our tribulation, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth had not yet recovered. If we had undergone the ascension tribulation, we should have reached the peak of this plane and would not be able to increase our cultivation further.
However, after the spiritual energy recovered, Old Yang and I discovered that we could continue to absorb spiritual energy and rapidly improve our cultivation, although our realms were already set.
Our cultivation, however, was not enough…"
After Wei Du finished speaking, Chu Tian sensed his surroundings.
He found no spiritual energy in this world that he could absorb.
Could his cultivation have surpassed this world, to the point where spiritual energy could no longer nourish it?
That made sense.
He was now considered Divine Tier.
However, even though he had become Divine Tier, in the eyes of Old Yang and the others, he was still like an ordinary person as before.
This was because Old Yang and the others' cultivation was not high enough.
They could only see Chu Tian as if he were nothing.
Previously, they had sensed a powerful aura descending.
That was due to a trace of aura leaked by Chu Tian's movement technique.
However, Chu Tian had always been unpredictable.
So, Old Yang and the others did not suspect anything.
Who could have imagined that Chu Tian had reached Divine Tier in such a short time?
"You mean that bird-man escaped?"
Chu Tian bypassed the current topic and asked about the milky white light that appeared during the battle.
"Mm," Wei Du nodded.
Chu Tian also scanned the entire Blue Star with his divine sense.
He did not find any bird-men.
This matter had to be let go. Chu Tian had originally planned to catch all the bird-men and pluck their feathers upon his return.
Now, he had to give up.
He had come to find the old city lord for another matter as well.
However, he hesitated and had not spoken of it until now.
It was the old city lord who looked at Chu Tian,
and asked faintly, "You have something else to discuss, don't you?"
Chu Tian hesitated.
The old city lord continued to look at him calmly, without urging him.
Finally, Chu Tian couldn't help but speak.
"The Second Universe is gone, and the Xuan Tian Stars are gone!"
After Chu Tian finished speaking, the old city lord's facial expression paused slightly.
However, he quickly resumed his usual smile.
"I've been here for over a year now. Jin'er and the others… should be long gone by now!"
The old city lord was so accepting.
Seeing that the old city lord was in good spirits, Chu Tian did not dwell on the matter.
Instead, he thought it through clearly.
The time flow rate of Blue Star and the Second Universe differed by a thousand times.
He had been here for one year.
A thousand years had passed in the Second Universe.
If one's cultivation did not reach godhood, the maximum lifespan was 200 years.
Although he didn't know what cultivation Wei Jin had reached, he presumed…
he had long since turned to dust.
The destruction of the Second Universe was not of great concern to him.
Chu Tian merely informed him of the matter.
Since the old city lord was so accepting, he had nothing more to say.
"Then I shall take my leave!" Chu Tian stood up to bid farewell.
He was still thinking about the system message Luo Luo had mentioned.
He also wanted to see what changes had occurred in the Heavenly Dao World.
Leaving the old city lord's room,
Chu Tian flickered and appeared beside Gao Kai and the others.
He found Gao Kai and the others gathered in a room.
This room contained numerous virtual pods.
Zhao Lei and others were all there.
They were actually teaming up for gaming.
He decided to join the fun.
Upon arriving,
he waved his hand and released a virtual pod,
then directly lay down inside.
When he arrived in this room, Gao Kai and the others already knew through the game.
As soon as Chu Tian entered the Heavenly Dao World,
Zhao Lei and the others sent him messages.
And as Chu Tian entered, numerous system notifications chimed.
Besides the messages from Zhao Lei and the others,
there were also repeated success notifications for equipment crafting.
Before he left, he had taken off all his equipment and handed it over to his clone.
It seemed his clone had finished upgrading all his equipment.
A full set of dark gold equipment, Chu Tian was excited just thinking about it.
Although he had gone through so much and his real-world cultivation had reached Divine Tier,
he was still a young man in his early twenties.
In his previous life, he had become disabled because of this game.
In this life, he had also risen to prominence because of this game.
But his passion for gaming had not diminished at all.
A full set of dark gold equipment, how much he yearned for it.
However, the moment Chu Tian opened his inventory, a radiant seven-colored light flashed, leaving him stunned and speechless.