He fought equally against someone two realms higher than him, two people a realm higher than him, and multiple people at his realm. He only had one False Immortal zombie under his control, which didn't really help at all.
If he was able to break through, he would surely win in a fight, and turn every being in this Universe into zombies.
Zhou Fan only watched on for a bit before he and Leaf collected the green power produced by the Mother Tree and left.
There were still a few more Universes to collect from.
There were some occasional interesting situations, but nothing really worth noting until they made it to the last one. This one was a bit bigger than the others, and was also the one Heaven resided in.
As soon as he and Leaf entered it, he noticed the difference. Everything had more order and structure. The other Universes had been wild and unpredictable, each one weirder than the last, but this one truly reminded him of the Main Universe.
There were humans, Heavenborns, and Celestials, as well as countless beast races and plenty of plant life. There were sects and organizations, as well as many more talented individuals.
When Heaven saw them, he heaved a sigh of relief. After so long, he had been a bit bored. Millions of Sage Years had passed after all. Heaven was already in the Star Immortal realm, and nearing the peak of it. It seemed that having an entire Universe to himself, free of any other Path Creators involvement, allowed him to speedily grow.
"Welcome, Father." Heaven said as soon as Zhou Fan and Leaf entered.
"How has it been?" Zhou Fan asked.
"Nothing unexpected. There are a few talented individuals, but I doubt any will really impress you. Cultivation is also still the main path followed here. My path of Heaven is really only suitable for me. It would be hard to find any other being compatible. That being said, the Mother Tree follows a unique path I've never seen."
Heaven then turned to Leaf. "But I suppose that is your business."
Zhou Fan nodded, confirming Heaven's assumption, and looked at the Mother Tree. This Mother Tree was by far the strongest of them all, reaching the Heaven Immortal realm, and the peak of it at that. Even Leaf was excited with the amount of the green energy it had produced. He absorbed all of it that had been stored, causing the Mother Tree to give a deep bow in no particular direction. It wasn't like it had the capability to find Leaf if Leaf didn't show himself. Leaf had recently entered the Heaven Immortal realm. He was still rather slow, but he was keeping up with most of the beings in the Universe. To this day, he had yet to reach any sort of bottleneck or experience a setback.
Zhou Fan had long given up trying to understand him. If he was born before Zhou Fan, perhaps all of existence would be different.
Zhou Fan and Leaf stayed in this Universe for a while. Zhou Fan gave Heaven some company, while Leaf went and talked to the Mother Tree, who worshipped him as a god.
Leaf wasn't bothered by it and acted as if he hadn't noticed at all. It seemed that he was indifferent to both praise and blame, uncaring about gain or loss, disregarding fame and disrepute.
The Buddha would give him a thumbs up and a pat on the back if he wasn't being controlled.
A Sage Year passed while Zhou Fan stayed in the Universe, occasionally guiding Heaven on his path. As he had said many times, cultivation was the path of growth, and all paths that had growth were under the dominion of cultivation.
That meant that he could help not just Heaven, but any being in the Universe. Well, excluding Leaf.
He was doing a whole different thing which Zhou Fan didn't even bother to interfere with. If Leaf didn't ask for help, he wouldn't give it since Leaf knew more about his path than him, something that couldn't be said for most Path Creators.
During that Sage Year, Zhou Fan had adjusted the time of this Universe relative to the Main Universe. It was just for the Sage Year that they stayed in it, and as he prepared to leave, he aligned them again.
This way, things would be a bit more interesting when he got back.
He and Leaf left.
It naturally took a single instant to return to the Main Universe.
When he and Leaf entered, every powerful being looked at him. He had been gone for a very long time to them.
Around 50 million Sage Years.
He looked at Ye Li first. Ye Li had literally just entered the Universe Immortal realm and was at the first level. Ye Li had not known how powerful Zhou Fan had been before leaving, but had hoped to be in the same realm as him when he returned. Unfortunately, that was not the case.
He just sighed and got back to growing stronger.
Ye Li was the only Universe Immortal. The rest of the notable beings were at the peak of the Celestial Immortal realm.
Of course, there were some new talented beings born, but until they caught up with everyone else, Zhou Fan wasn't very interested.
Leaf seemed disheartened by the increase in everyone's strength, once again requiring him to catch up even further.
Zhou Fan understood his emotions and could only do his best to help him.
When they returned to the mansion on top of the Universe, Zhou Fan let Leaf directly cultivate in the River of Cultivation.
This would normally instantly kill even a peak Celestial Immortal, but Zhou Fan allowed Leaf to enter without facing any danger.
Meanwhile, he also cultivated.
The River of Cultivation was much more powerful than before, though it didn't change in appearance much.
Zhou Fan had been putting in a lot of effort while cultivating so that Leaf didn't look down on him too much.