Da Ming: The system granted me immortality; I clock in every day.

The tribulation clouds, having lost their support, began to dissipate rapidly.

As the tribulation clouds receded, a strange and terrifying scene gradually emerged from the depths of the cleaved sky.

There, the blue sky and white clouds of the mortal world no longer existed, but rather a vast and boundless world shrouded in ethereal mist.

Faintly visible are celestial mountains suspended in the heavens, and mythical birds and beasts weaving through the sea of ​​clouds.

A divine aura, infinitely richer and purer than that of the New World, poured down from the crack. Just one breath was enough to make one feel as if every pore on one's body was opening up, and one felt as if one were floating on air.

A colossal gate, radiating golden light and carved with countless ancient totems, loomed faintly in that world.

The gates of heaven are wide open!

This is the legendary Upper Realm, the immortal world that countless cultivators dream of.

The laws there are perfect and boundless; the most powerful beings can pluck stars from the sky and live as long as the heavens.

Li Changqing hovered in mid-air, feeling the pulling force from the upper realm.

He knew that he had already seen the final chapter of this mortal world's drama.

He slowly turned around, lowered his head, and looked at the Ming Dynasty flagship hovering in mid-air.

Zhu Youzhen had a full head of white hair and tears in his eyes.

Then, he solemnly bowed to Li Changqing, who was in mid-air.

"May the Ming Dynasty enjoy peace and prosperity, and respectfully send off the Grand Tutor to his ascension!"

Zhu Youzhen's hoarse voice echoed throughout Mount Tai.

With the emperor's worship.

On warships and in the mountains, hundreds of thousands of Ming soldiers knelt on one knee in unison, the clanging of their armor like a tsunami.

"Respectfully bidding farewell to the Grand Tutor as he ascends to heaven!"

"Congratulations sir!"

Shen You knelt down on both knees, sobbing uncontrollably.

The deafening farewell voices transformed into a visible force of worldly vows, enveloping Li Changqing.

Li Changqing looked at these vibrant faces, at this mortal army armed with runes and steel.

He didn't utter any empty words of lingering affection, nor did he make any pretentious or profound remarks.

He simply folded the Xiangfei bamboo folding fan and gently cupped his hands in front of his chest.

This is a traveler's final farewell to this world that he lingered in for hundreds of years, a world where countless wonderful dramas unfolded.

Then he turned around without the slightest hesitation.

A man in a blue robe, upright and honest, takes a step forward.

His figure transformed into a dazzling stream of light, rushing straight into the towering gate that radiated boundless golden light, as he faced the cascading immortal energy.

The golden light shone brightly, so bright that the people below could not look directly at it.

As the light faded, the crack in the sky slowly closed, and the heavy tribulation clouds also dissipated.

The sky over Shandong Province has regained its former azure and clear blue.

Mount Tai remains majestic, and the fierce winds still howl.

Only the lingering, awe-inspiring power of the Heavenly Dao, remaining in this place, proved that the ascension feat that had shaken the world was not a mere illusion.

The pillar of the Ming Dynasty, the immortal who viewed the world as a play, has finally left this world.

On the flagship, Zhu Youzhen gazed at the empty sky for a long time.

After a long while, he straightened his back, turned his head, and looked at Shen You and the court officials beside him.

"Though the Grand Tutor is gone, the Great Ming Dynasty still stands. The territory of this new continent has not yet been pacified, and the great path of runes has not yet been fully explored."

The domineering aura of an emperor rekindled in Zhu Youzhen's eyes.

"Issue my decree: Return to the capital! The Ming Dynasty's conquest cannot be halted for even a moment!"

The massive fleet slowly turned its bows, carrying the ambition and determination of the mortal empire, and sailed into the distance.

At this time.

As Li Changqing passed through the colossal gate, he felt a bizarre and distorted space before his eyes.

The surrounding void turbulence cut through his protective true energy like sharp blades, but this spatial storm, which was enough to tear apart an ordinary ascendant, could not harm him in the slightest.

A sudden, intense feeling of weightlessness followed.

A soft "bang" sounded.

Li Changqing's feet touched solid ground.

What came into view was not the ethereal white jade square I had imagined, nor the auspicious scene of fairies playing the zither and mythical beasts pulling chariots.

All around was a desolate, gray Gobi desert.

A fierce wind whipped up yellow sand, obscuring the sky and the sun.

The air was indeed filled with a pure spiritual energy far surpassing that of the lower realms, but this spiritual energy was mixed with a nauseating stench of blood and a frenzied malevolent aura.

Not far away, several enormous animal skeletons lay half-buried in the yellow sand.

The edges of the animal bones still bear traces of a battle, with a bottomless sword mark that cleaved the Gobi Desert in two.

Li Changqing steadied himself, patted the dust off his blue robe, and raised an eyebrow slightly.

He extended his divine sense, only to find that the laws of this world were extremely heavy, and the distance his divine sense could reach was suppressed to one-hundredth or one-twelfth of what it was in the lower realm.

"Interesting. I thought it was a peaceful and prosperous paradise, but it turns out to be a dangerous place with a chilling atmosphere."

Li Changqing opened the mottled Xiangfei bamboo folding fan to block the wind and sand blowing in his face.

Just then, a rapid whooshing sound could be faintly heard through the gale.

Accompanied by several piercing screams and the booming sound of magical weapons colliding, it was rapidly approaching from the other end of the Gobi Desert.

A flicker of interest rekindled in his eyes, which had remained calm and still for centuries.

The curtain is finally about to rise on this vast world of immortals and heroes.

Let's see what kind of show the cultivators in the upper realm will put on this time.