500 years passed, and Zhou Fan left Leaf to cultivate as he met the Buddha. The Buddha was still in the same spot, though the people around him had changed a bit. Some were no longer there, while many others had joined.
The Buddha had succeeded in making a lifespan factor with his path. However, it was nowhere near the amount of lifespan that cultivation gave.
In addition, this lifespan factor did not affect cultivators.
Luckily for the Buddha, it was faster to progress on his path than it was for cultivation.
Cultivation was the slow accumulation of Qi, while the Buddhist path focused on tempering the heart and the will of a person to reach enlightenment. Different from the Buddha's original buddhism, this would also strengthen an individual's body through the use of Qi and eventually the Buddha's own power.
Seeing that the Buddha did not need his help, Zhou Fan left. It seemed that the Buddha would be able to create a new path for the universe. Of course, despite leaving, Zhou Fan had left defensive measures in case anyone tried to kill the Buddha.
Since the Buddha's path was now being developed, Zhou Fan needed to continue. There was no guarentee that the Buddha alone would be able to help him. There was a high chance that he would need to see others develop paths, however so they would do it.
And for that, it was time to reappear.
Leaf wrapped around Zhou Fan as Zhou Fan stepped through space. He arrived at the Cosmic sect.
It had been abandoned long ago, but with the war over, it was once again the strongest force in the universe.
Here, Zhou Fan found Heaven and Ying Xiong. Heaven was here to see Ying Xiong, while Ying Xiong was cultivating. Seeing Heaven reminded Zhou Fan that he couldn't cultivate.
As Heaven sat and waited for Ying Xiong, he suddenly felt a new level of power build within him. He instantly reached the peak of the Outer World realm. Although the limit was the Sage Realm, nobody would be going near that anytime soon.
Feeling his cultivation rise, Heaven understood that Zhou Fan was here. Ying Xiong, feeling the uncontrollable burst of power from Heaven, was able to guess the same thing. Ying Xiong came out of seclusion and stood next to Heaven as Zhou Fan appeared.
"No need to focus on cultivation for now. Increase the population of all life in the universe and spread it around. Fill up the entire universe." Zhou Fan said before leaving.
Ying Xiong sighed. He wanted to cultivate, but Zhou Fan's orders were absolute. He got to work. Heaven did as well.
Zhou Fan, meanwhile, went to the other side of the universe. One universe wasn't nearly enough for his future plans. Although he couldn't expand the universe, he could infinitely produce space.
With just a little bit of work, a gate appeared in space. Walking through it, one would enter a small, unseeable universe similar to the one in Zhou Fan's chest. It was the size of a filament, but did not take much space in the Zhou universe.
Zhou Fan once again reappeared in the Zhou Filament. Over countless years, many weird and unusual creatures had been born. Many were defective, unable to either think properly or cultivate, but they showed a new possibility.
Zhou Fan grabbed a bunch of them and threw them in the new universe. He repeated his actions, sometimes with weird creatures and sometimes with humanoid or intelligent life.
He only stopped after creating a thousand mini universes each the size of a filament. Even for him, it was taxing work. Thousands of years had passed since he started, but time was becoming increasingly more ignorable to Zhou Fan.
Taking a break, Zhou Fan began to manipulate his Great Dao. In an instant, it pervaded throughout all of the universe and the mini universes. As it finally covered the last universe, Zhou Fan sensed his limit. He had almost forgotten about it. The Great Dao couldn't cover an endless disatance.
Zhou Fan sighed and continued to do what he planned on doing. The Great Dao covering the universe began to slightly change. A feeling of desire and lust pervaded every single thing that could reproduce.
This would help a lot in the efforts of increasing the population of the universe. With more beings born, there was a higher chance that someone like Zhou Fan and the Buddha was born.
Efficently, this was all that Zhou Fan could do. Any more created would not be covered by his Great Dao.
However, after thinking about it for a while, perhaps an element of unknown was needed. Perhaps something that Zhou Fan did not interfere with needed to be born.
Zhou Fan stood up again. After a long time, he created a thousand more mini universes, throwing random beings into them, and letting them develop completely outside of his control.
Perhaps something interesting would appear.
Zhou Fan returned to his manor and let Leaf off. Everything now was a matter of time. He sat against the now Tree sized Leaf and fell asleep. He had never been so carfree before.
He could not do anything else to increase the probablity of a new path appearing. While making countless new mini-universe might help, Zhou Fan would not be able to keep an eye on all of them. There was a chance that a being would create a path, and die without ever being known. As it is, this was the best way to do things and keep them within control.
Thoughts slowing down, Zhou Fan drifted into sleep. In his dreams, he seemed to watch the entire universe develop. He watched as Zhu Yi developed into an even more invincible being. He watched as Zhu Yi achieved his life long dream of defeating Chen Jie at the same level. He saw Chen Jie laughing, feeling the joy of finally being defeated.
He watched as Heaven and Ying Xiong worked tirelessly to increase the population of the universe. They biased humanoid races, but Zhou Fan's mini universes took care of that aspect.
As he slept, Zhou Fan only saw the events happening in places within his Great Dao. He watched as countless beings lived and died. Zhou Fan only woke up countless years later when the universe was now full.
Of course, some areas were far denser than others, but each universal sector had a large population.
Looking at time, a sextillion years had passed. Zhou Fan looked at the Zhou Filament, and saw a few familiar people.
Heaven, Ying Xiong who had reached the Outer World Realm, Zhu Yi who had reached the Outer World Realm, Chen Jie who had reached the Outer World Realm, Progenitor Ke, Pangu, and Lu Wei who had preserved themselves in cryopods in case of future wars, and Yao Mun was probably hiding somewhere.
Elsewhere, there were also other powerful beings. With such a large universe, countless incredible talents had been born. Among the entire universe, not including Heaven, Ying Xiong, Zhu Yi, or Chen Jie, there were 7 other Outer World Realm cultivators.
It seemed that a new era was starting. And this was only in the Zhou universe. In the Mini universes, countless beings had been born, and countless new species existed. Of course, without cultivation, these beings were all rather weak. However, they were developing. Some could even exist in space and destroy planets despite being mortals. Zhou Fan looked forward to the future development.
As for the remaining universes not covered by his Great Dao, there were plenty of unique species, far weirder than anywhere else. Zhou Fan decided to leave them alone.
Finally, Zhou Fan looked at the Buddha. Sensing his gaze, the Buddha looked back. The Buddha could not see Zhou Fan, only sense him.
Although the Buddhist path was a path, it was nowhere near as versatile as cultivation. He could hardly manipulate any space, and time was forbidden even for him.
The Buddha was at Rank 9 of his path. This was one rank below Rank 10, the equivalent of the Great Dao realm for cultivators.
The Buddha had progressed fast. Theoretically, he could have already reached Rank 10, but he was always going around teaching others and helping out.
Even Ying Xiong and Heaven treated him with as much respect as Zhou Fan. Countless beings practiced the Buddha's path along with cultivation, though not many could get far.
Ying Xiong, due to his past abandonment of Buddhism and constant reincarnations, couldn't even get past the 3rd rank of the Buddhist path. Heaven did not bother with it at all.
Zhou Fan created a circle and invited the Buddha to his residence. The Buddha stepped through and looked around again. He could sense a far different feeling from the last time he was here. Every single array here posed a serious threat to him.
He was once again reminded of Zhou Fan's power.
"Are you ready to reach Rank 10 of the Buddhist path?" Zhou Fan asked.
The Buddha nodded. He had been waiting for Zhou Fan before breaking through. After all, he had been guided by Zhou Fan, giving him a chance to actually create a path.
Thinking of this, the Buddha bowed to Zhou Fan. "Thank you for this opportunity."
Zhou Fan waved him off. "Don't worry about it. You're helping me more than I'm helping you."
The Buddha nodded and sat down. Crossing his legs, a golden glow shone on his body. This was the power of the Buddhist path, Buddhism.
Taking literal form, the Buddha created the power of Buddhism. It wrapped around his body.
Zhou Fan could hardly tell what was going on, but he paid attention. He needed all the information he could get.
After a few years, the golden glow died down. The Buddha stood up, his power much greater than before. He had entered rank 10, the peak of the Buddhist path.
His power, theoretically, was equivalent to Zhou Fan's. Of course, Zhou Fan still felt as if he could kill the Buddha, it would only be slightly challenging.
Zhou Fan had waited for this moment for a long time. The Buddha closed his eyes for a moment before opening them.
"I see nothing further than this."
Zhou Fan sighed. As expected.
He never had hope for the Buddha to see something new. This was only to widen his horizons, and it had. Many new ideas popped into his head while watching the Buddha's path.
There was only one thing that Zhou Fan found faulty. The Buddha's lifespan. Despite reaching the equivalent of the Great Dao realm on his own path, his lifespan was only a nonillion years. For reference, this is less than the lifespan of a sage realm cultivator.
In order to stop the Buddha from dying while he was still useful, Zhou Fan handed him a pendant. The Buddha looked at it, but could not tell what it was.
"You do not have the ability to manipulate time. Wearing that will essentially stop you from aging, and your lifespan from affecting you."
The Buddha sighed but nodded. If it was up to him, he would rather die eventually, but he owed Zhou Fan this much.
"When I'm no longer useful to you, let me know. I would like my story to have a conclusion at some point." The Buddha said.
Zhou Fan nodded. He admired the Buddha's willingness to die. To be honest, he did not want to die. The thought made it seem that everything he had done would be useless. What was the point of it all if he was dead?
The Buddha returned to earth, where he had never really left. His lifestyle would probably not undergo any major changes. Meanwhile, Zhou Fan meditated while waiting for someone special to appear.
The Buddha's path had already given him a new direction of thinking. If more new paths could appear, Zhou Fan felt as if breaking through was a definite possibility.
Countless years passed by as he thought. Meanwhile, in a universe not covered by Zhou Fan's Great Dao, a yellow triangle was born.
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