Chapter 48: Return - 48
5 more years passed, and as the buddha's last words continuously rang through his head, his eyes shot open.
"We are not the same!" His words echoed throughout the empire as an unmatched power shot out from his body.
His cultivation at the second level of the nascent soul realm, along with his newfound 100% understanding of the dao was finally displayed in its full potential.
A power Zhou Fan never imagined filled his mind as he gathered every single element or concept on the palm of his hand.
During his long period of meditation, he had comprehended every single one to the same level as when he comprehended life on that one day.
He punched out to the sky and the punch dispersed the clouds and continued into space, eventually dispersing.
As his raging power calmed down, Zhou Fan understood much more.
After years of repeating the phrase, Zhou Fan understood its meaning.
The idea of rebirth and nirvana didn't apply to him. He was a cultivator. As long as he continued cultivating, he was eternal.
It was easy to tell after he turned 75, and didn't look a day past 20.
Although he wasn't truly immortal right now, he was closer than anyone else had ever been.
As he fully unsealed his cultivation, he opened his mouth and absorbed all of the Qi in a 10 mile radius. Although it didn't literally flow into his stomach, his weak and frail body began to reinvigorate.
His bald head grew a long growth of gray hair that reached to his knees. His starving body, plumped up to his old look. His clothes dissolved off of his body as he used earth Qi to form a new layer of cloth.
As he sat, he calmed down and investigated himself. His findings shocked him.
Like he said, he had comprehended 100% of the Dao. However, looking now, it could only be said that he understood the mortal Dao, and not the eternal cosmic Dao that he was now feeling.
The original feeling of the Dao came from deep within the world itself, but now, it came from far beyond the reaches of humans, into the unknowns of space.
His understanding of this new Dao didn't even reach 1%.
He also felt that there was a way to better understand the elements and concepts.
If his mortal understanding of them was 100%, then his understanding of the new ones, the immortal ones, was at best 5%.
Along with his enlightenment, the way Zhou Fan viewed the world changed.
After more than 60 years, it was time to go back to the cave.
Zhou Fan soared into the sky and shot back to the dragon cave at maximum speed. Even though he was in the same realm as when he left, he was 10 times stronger in every aspect, including speed.
After only an hour of flying, Zhou Fan reached Yang Lang city, 4 empires away. When he came back, the city wasn't too much different. Besides a few more buildings and some renovations, nothing noticeable had changed.
When he reached his courtyard, Zhou Fan wasn't surprised to see that it was empty and abandoned. Although he had discovered the cause of the deaths, there were still more snakes.
As he landed behind the courtyard, Zhou Fan remembered the people he left behind. Fui rong, the real estate girl, Moun Erzai, the head researcher, Lu Chen, the manager, and wagu, his co-worker.
Although it couldn't be said that he had a deep bond with any of them, the thought that they were probably all dead was saddening.
However, Zhou Fan was able to snap out of it quickly. As someone who was likely to live for a long, long time, the death of mortals wasn't something that he could grieve about.
He also thought about the people within the caves. There was a high chance that most of them were dead. As for the beasts, he already knew that their life spans were much longer than an average humans.
Without waiting too long, Zhou Fan flew down the tunnels and arrived at the dragon cave. Seeing the familiar, yet somewhat unfamiliar scenery, Zhou Fan couldn't help but smile.
Although there were a few more new buildings than when he left, that was only natural.
Zhou Fan flew directly to the house he lived in. From above, it looked like nothing much had changed.
As he landed on the ground, the cabin door opened, and a familiar face walked out. As soon as he saw Zhou Fan, the biscuit in his mouth fell.
With his mouth wide open he tried to speak.
"Zhou Fan?!" Yipeng asked, exasperated.
Looking at him, Zhou Fan was equally stunned. "Yipeng?! How are you still alive?!"
While still staring at Zhou Fan with confusion, he answered. "Elves can live to 150. The same can be said for the other races. Wait. How are you alive? We thought you died."
"It's a long story. Where are the beasts?" Zhou Fan asked.
Finally regaining his composure, Yipeng stiffly responded. "Probably in their habitats. They don't leave much any more."
Hearing him, Zhou Fan nodded.
Then, he raised his head up to the sky. "Xiaolong, Xuanwu, Hang Lu, Bainu, Zhuque!!" He yelled.
Within seconds, the entire cave shook as 5 behemoths made their way to Zhou Fan.
The first to make it into his sight was Zhuque. She had a major advantage since she could fly. As soon as she saw him, she flew at him like an arrow. She soon crashed into him and started to lick his face.
Before he knew it, every other beasts had also arrived and imitated Zhuque.
They were so excited that Yipeng had to retreat or he would have been smashed to bits.
Looking at them, Zhou Fan let out a sigh. In the 60 years he had been gone, each of them had doubled in size. Even so, he could still see the unwavering loyalty and love in their eyes.
Zhou Fan laughed and patted their heads.
Chapter 49: Test Subjects- 49
It was only after half an hour that Zhou Fan was able to get the beasts off of him. The entire time, Yipeng didn't move. He was still in shock that Zhou Fan was alive.
Even more surprising was that besides his longer hair, he didn't seem to age at all.
It was only when Zhou Fan stood up that he snapped out of it.
Looking at Yipeng, Zhou Fan was inwardly saddened. Right now, he should be 130.
In other words, he could drop dead at any time. He even had to use a cane to walk or stand.
"Yipeng, go gather the rulers of the various races. Tell them I have returned, and I have a surprise for them." Zhou Fan said.
"You can take Zhuque."
"Yes sir." Yipeng responded.
As Yipeng left on Zhuque, Zhou Fan took a look around the cave with the rest of the beasts.
Besides a few more houses and some slight changes to their habitats, not much changed.
It's likely that this place was relatively untouched by anyone besides Yipeng and the beasts.
As he wandered around, he wondered if Cao Lin was still alive. Although he would only be around 100 now, there is still a chance he has passed away.
After 3 hours of looking around, Yipeng flew towards him on Zhuque and before long, they landed next to him.
"Everyone is gathered. Besides the shadow queen and the goblin king, everyone has remained alive." He reported.
"Alright. Let's go." Zhou Fan said as he flew towards his house. The beasts and Yipeng followed right behind.
As he got closer, he saw the rulers sitting in a line, waiting for him.
Deciding to make a dramatic entrance, Zhou Fan sped up into a blur and unnoticably appeared high above their heads.
Controlling some Dragon Qi, Zhou Fan fell down to the ground as fast as lightning.
Booom! Roaarr!
A loud sound followed by a deafening roar and the shaking ground stunned the unsuspecting rulers. Each and every one of them jumped up as Zhou Fan landed on the ground with an illusory gray dragon surrounding him.
The rulers were dumbfounded at the mystical sight until the sound subsided and Zhou Fan dissipated the Dragon Qi.
"It's nice to see that most of you are alive." Zhou Fan said, waking them up from their stupor.
"Also, I'm sorry for your loss Cao Lin." He said while looking at him. After all this time, Cao Lin had grown gray hair and seemed like an old man.
Hastily responding, Cao lin clasped his hands and bowed. "Thank you sir. She lived a happy life."
"That's good. I've gathered you all today to introduce you to something that you may be aware of, but don't understand." Zhou Fan started.
"One day, every month, unless I'm in seclusion, I will transform the surrounding Qi into something absorbable for you. In other words, from today on, you will be cultivators." Zhou Fan said.
When he finished, obvious joy could be seen on their faces. Even the new shadow queen and goblin king showed obvious excitement, despite never seeing Zhou Fan before.
After all, they had heard amazing tales from their predecessors.
Looking at them, Zhou Fan could almost see through their bodies. In the past, he had doubts about whether humans or humanoid creatures could absorb Chaos Qi, but after he secretly sent a tiny speck into their bodies to see how they reacted, he could tell that it was impossible.
As soon as the Chaos Qi flew into their bodies, it started to destroy them. Thankfully, Zhou Fan limited the damage and they couldn't even tell what was happening.
Also, as he was flying back, he stopped to test it on an unsuspecting human, who had the same reaction.
Another thing to note was that most of the races didn't need to have their own Qi made for them like Xiaolong and the rest of the beasts and could instead absorb any elemental Qi.
In fact, after testing them secretly, he discovered that only the demon race, the angel race, and the devil race could have their own Qi.
However, they could also absorb the other elemental Qi's.
It was his understanding of the dao that allowed him to come to these conclusions without any major testings.
Another thing his understanding of the Dao would help with is seeing their talent.
As he discovered, all living beings have different talents with Qi. Some could better absorb fire Qi while some could better absorb earth Qi.
However, he again noticed a huge difference between them and himself. Unlike he who could absorb Qi without any difficulty, they needed something else. As for what that something else was, there was only one way to find out.
"Everyone sit down around me and cross your legs." He ordered.
Without hesitation, they all listened.
As they sat still, Zhou Fan tested all of their talents by sending each and every Qi besides Chaos Qi into their bodies and seeing how they reacted.
That also went for Cao Lin and the rulers of the angel and demon races, despite the fact that they had their own Qi.
Before long, he was able to tell their affinities.
Cao Lin's affinity was fire and Yipengs was unsurprisingly wood. As for the others, they also had basic elemental affinities such as fire, water, air, earth, wood, metal, etc.
Not a single one had an affinity to lightning, and the only one with a slightly interesting affinity was the new shadow race queen. She had a dark affinity which wasn't too surprising. It wasn't even a shadow affinity.
Although it would be great if they could simply absorb it as Zhou Fan pumped it into them, they couldn't. The Qi would simply hover around them without being absorbed.
Looking at Cao Lin, Zhou Fan decided to make him a test subject. Pushing his cultivation and his understanding of the Dao to its limit, Zhou Fan observed every inch of Cao Lin's body, in and out.
Almost everything had a function, except for a couple of tube-like structures around the body. They seemed as dormant as could be.
Impulsively, Zhou Fan poured some fire Qi into it.
Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
121 Power
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