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.