The Heavenly Gate of the God Realm.
The usually cold and lonely Heavenly Gate was unusually lively today. At a glance, almost all the famous gods of the God Realm were gathered here. What could be so important to bring so many gods together in one place?
As it turned out, today, at this very moment, one of the God Kings of the God Realm, the God of Death Zhu Ziyang, was about to leave the God Realm and roam the starry sky.
Oh, no, it should be the former God of Death, because when Zhu Ziyang prepared to leave the God Realm, he had already returned the Death God Position to the Goddess of Life. The Death God Position was born from the Ancient Tree of Death, which shared the same root and origin as the Goddess of Life's main body, the Ancient Tree of Life, so this could be considered returning it to its rightful owner.
Accompanying Zhu Ziyang in his departure were naturally his five wives. Among them, the Goddess of the Moon Jiang Nannan, the God of Fire Ma Xiaotao, and the God of Angels Qian Lingyi also chose to abandon their own god positions, leaving them in the God Realm in hopes that the next fated person could inherit their divinities. After all, this departure meant they didn't know when they would return, so this was their small contribution to the God Realm.
"Brother Zhu / Senior Brother, have a safe journey!" Huo Yuhao and Ji Dong said simultaneously. Behind each of them stood their respective wives: the God of Kindness Lie Yan, and Zhu Ziyang's two junior sisters Wang Dong'er and Xiao Xiao, both with faces full of reluctance and worry.
"Many thanks for your kind words!" Zhu Ziyang embraced Ji Dong and responded.
"The Douluo system is in your hands now!" Zhu Ziyang embraced Huo Yuhao and entrusted him, then embraced Wang Dong'er and Xiao Xiao separately, saying, "You two need to work harder. I hope the next time we meet, I can see your children with Yuhao!"
Wang Dong'er and Xiao Xiao both blushed but nodded slightly.
"Ziyang, if you ever find yourself overwhelmed, I hope you can come back!" The Goddess of Life, holding the full-moon-old Xiao Qing, stood shoulder to shoulder with the God of Destruction, speaking in a profound tone. "The God Realm will always be your home!"
"I will, Sister Green!" Zhu Ziyang approached the couple, the God of Destruction and the Goddess of Life, nodding solemnly. Then his gaze fell on the God of Destruction as he advised, "Brother Purple, I know your thoughts. I don't want to stop you, but here's a word of caution: haste makes waste! Proceed with caution in all things!"
"Mm!" The God of Destruction's eyes shifted, his expression unmoved, but he still let out a barely audible response.
"Little one, I hope when you grow up, you can still remember me!" Zhu Ziyang paid no mind to the God of Destruction's reaction. His gaze fell on Xiao Qing in the Goddess of Life's arms. Xiao Qing's heterochromatic eyes stared wide, looking at Zhu Ziyang and smiling happily. Who knew what she was smiling about—perhaps just a baby's innocent reaction.
"Zhu Yuhuang, Zhu Yuyue, Xiao Hongchen, after I leave, if you have any matters, go find your Uncle Huo," Zhu Ziyang finally turned to the three young people, instructing them earnestly. "Of course, you can also find your Uncle Ji Dong, Aunt Lie Yan, or Aunt Life and Uncle Destruction. I think, for my sake, they won't make things difficult for you."
Zhu Yuhuang, Zhu Ziyang's eldest son, the first emperor of the Douluo world's Great Ming Empire, ascended to the God Realm with the Ice God Position fifty years after Zhu Ziyang ascended.
Zhu Yuyue, Zhu Ziyang's eldest daughter, ascended to the God Realm with the identity of the God of Light forty years after Zhu Ziyang ascended. Accompanying her was her partner, the prodigy of the Douluo world who inherited the Dark God Position, Xiao Hongchen.
Xiao Hongchen, a prodigy of the Douluo world, possessed talent comparable to the children of gods Zhu Yuhuang and Zhu Yuyue. With a dark element martial soul and innate full spirit power, though born a commoner, he became a Spirit Saint at just twenty years old, not falling behind the twenty-year-old Spirit Douluo Zhu Yuhuang siblings at all. Thus, he successfully attracted the attention of the previous Dark God, received divine favor, and ultimately inherited the Dark God Position, marrying Zhu Yuyue and ascending to the God Realm together.
"We understand, Dad!" Zhu Yuhuang and the other two nodded with sorrowful expressions, answering in unison.
After Jiang Nannan and the five women finished bidding farewell to everyone, Zhu Ziyang turned resolutely toward the outside of the Heavenly Gate, waving his hand grandly and shouting:
"Everyone, we'll meet again if fate allows!"
—
The starry sky, one of the important components of the universe. The universe is boundless, with countless starry skies. Between each starry sky lies the boundless void. Within the void, besides the starry skies, there also exists the enemy of the starry skies—the abyss.
If the universe is a human body, then the starry skies are the cells within that body. The fluid carrying these cells is the void, while the abyss is the mutated cells or viruses. Their existence is to infect, to erode, to cause all starry skies to sink into the abyss, allowing all abysses to break through the void's barrier and connect into a massive whole of the abyss, until it devours the entire universe!
Fortunately, balance is the sole principle of the universe. The powers of the starry skies and the abyss wax and wane against each other; neither side can always dominate, nor can either always lag behind. Thus, the universe remains stable.
Zhu Ziyang undoubtedly belongs to the starry sky lifeforms, and among the top tier of starry sky lifeforms—the starry sky divine spirits. At this moment, he was at the edge of the Douluo starry sky. Ahead lay the void—gray and hazy, with no up, down, left, or right in sight; no past or future visible; no touch of the natural laws—the void of all origins, and the void of all endings.
"Is this the void?" Zhu Ziyang murmured, his face showing neither joy nor anger. "It really does make one feel lonely!"
"Hehe, this old man is also seeing the legendary void for the first time. Looking at it this way, it truly lives up to the name of void!" Electrolux appeared beside Zhu Ziyang, his face similarly devoid of joy or anger, but his tone carried a bit more sentiment.
"Teacher, can you sense the coordinates of your starry sky?" Zhu Ziyang gazed at the vast void and asked.
"I can, but it's very faint." Electrolux replied.
"Faint is fine. As long as we can determine the general direction, we can slowly search along it." Zhu Ziyang didn't mind at all, speaking softly. "Get ready—we're entering the void!"
"Haha, come on! This old man is quite curious about this void!" Electrolux laughed heartily upon hearing this.
Without further delay, Zhu Ziyang and Electrolux stepped forward directly, venturing into the void.
In reality, stepping into the void like Zhu Ziyang and his companion was no different from courting death. But fortunately, both possessed God King-level strength, and God Kings were among the few beings capable of crossing the void.
Lifeforms below God King level, if they wished to travel to other starry skies, could only use transmission arrays laid down by predecessors. In the Douluo starry sky, there was only one such inter-starry sky transmission array, leading to another starry sky approximately thirty Douluo starry skies away. In that starry sky, there were two transmission arrays leading to other starry skies, but unfortunately, they were in the complete opposite direction from Zhu Ziyang's goal.
"...Hmm!" Upon entering the void, Zhu Ziyang felt a long-lost sense of suffocation—not a physical breathing suffocation, but a suffocation on the level of laws. Here, he couldn't sense a trace of laws: no time, no space, no law elements at all, making him very uncomfortable. It took him a moment to adapt. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. "Is this the void? Truly extraordinary!"
"?" Electrolux showed a puzzled expression. He couldn't hear Zhu Ziyang's voice, nor could his divine sense detect his presence. If Zhu Ziyang weren't right in front of his eyes, he probably wouldn't even know he existed!
Zhu Ziyang also noticed the anomaly. Thus, the master and disciple tacitly used hand gestures, quickly figuring out the situation and coming up with a countermeasure.
Electrolux led the way ahead, while Zhu Ziyang needed to follow his steps closely. The master and disciple proceeded through the vast void like this, unaware of the passage of time, and unaware of direction or distance.
Zhu Ziyang was very glad he still had a semi-plane where Jiang Nannan and the others could temporarily reside. Otherwise, he wouldn't know how to bring his five wives, whose strength hadn't reached God King level, across the void.
The void was truly too despairing for life. If Zhu Ziyang weren't a God King, having completed the law cycle within his body, he would have been erased of all traces the moment he entered the void, vanishing from the starry skies and abyss without a trace!
It was truly thanks to the Holy Law semi-plane. Otherwise, they could only transmit from one starry sky to another via interstellar transmission arrays, or else leave Jiang Nannan and the five women in the God Realm.
Ahead, it remained a blank expanse, but Zhu Ziyang was already fully prepared!
Crossing the void!