Both Leaf and Zhou Fan's cultivation increased by leaps and bounds.
When Zhou Fan broke through, Leaf had reached the peak of the Heaven Immortal realm.
Zhou Fan's breakthrough was quiet as always, but this realm represented something special. It was the highest realm those from the future had been in. In the future, people would call those in this realm Celestial Emperors.
But in this era, they were Immortal Lords. As soon as he entered this realm, Zhou Fan comprehended a new Rule.
He had big plans for the next Immortal realms, and among them were comprehended many Rules.
This new Rule was the Rule of Fire.
Zhou Fan had stopped simply comprehending Rules that he aligned with. Instead, he wanted to go wider and cover more Rules. Of course, if he had a really good idea for a Rule, he would comprehend it.
Zhou Fan mastered this Rule in a Sage Year, and after struggling with the Path of Cultivation, finally made it so that he could comprehend multiple rules within a realm.
This process took 100,000 Sage Years and his full power.
The next Rule he comprehended was the Rule of Water. In a Sage Year, he mastered it.
Soon, a hundred Sage Years passed. In these hundred Sage Years, Zhou Fan had comprehended a hundred Rules. Almost all of them were very basic, Rules such as Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Ice, Yin, Yang, Blood, Death, Life, and such. Even the Rule of Karma was in there.
It wasn't like he didn't already have experience in all fields, so a Sage Year was more than enough for even the most complex Rule at his current realm.
One hundred Rules was the max of the Immortal Lord realm. The difference in power between an Immortal Lord and a Domain Immortal was unimaginable.
However, for most beings, comprehending a hundred Rules was unimaginable.
So in order to reach the next realm, one was required to simply master thirty Rules.
And of course, they still had to cultivate.
Zhou Fan once again began to cultivate. Nobody in the Universe understood just how wide the difference was between Zhou Fan and them right now. He had comprehended many of the Rules that the top tier Path Creators had mastered.
Suddenly, he sensed subtle movement. He turned to Leaf.
"Guard the mansion for a while. I'll be gone for a long time."
Leaf was confused, but agreed without hesitation.
Zhou Fan disappeared and reappeared on a mountain floating through space.
On top of it sat the Buddha.
"It's been a while." The Buddha said with a smile.
Zhou Fan nodded. "Indeed. So, what did you need me for?"
"There's no need to rush, come, come. Let's have a drink." The Buddha suggested.
Zhou Fan nodded and sat down across from him.
Although seemingly unaware, he could sense a formation being created around the mountain. He and the Buddha talked for a while.
After a few hours, the Buddha stood up. "All I wanted was to reunite. Thank you for your time."
Zhou Fan nodded and turned around to leave. As soon as his back turned, the Buddha attacked. 15 figures appeared around him. The most noticeable were Ye Li, the God of Death, the Path Creator of Despair, the Demon King, the Hidden Being, and the space bird. Other than them, there were 9 Path Creators at the Star Immortal realm.
All of these beings had existed for countless years and were unimaginably powerful.
Zhou Fan simply closed his eyes and didn't move as 16 sealing seals hit him, and the formation activated.
A black ball instantly formed in space, silent, but the most powerful formation ever created.
Within the formation, everything was dark and silent. Of course, as someone who could exist in even the nothingness, Zhou Fan could see clearly. But there wasn't much to see. Just black walls.
Zhou Fan didn't bother with anything and began to cultivate. The seal had no intention of allowing him to do so, but there was nothing it could do to stop him.
Outside of the seal, all 15 beings, and the Buddha, panted. It was in part due to exertion, and in part due to fear.
None of them had any confidence in succeeding, but if they ever wanted to truly be free, Zhou Fan had to be removed from the equation. He was like a god that controlled everything, and nothing below him could resist. But it seemed that they had finally succeeded.
Some of them gave each other high fives or congratulations, but Ye Li stood out. He stood with his hands behind his back, looking into the distance.
The God of Death came up.
"Your plan succeeded, so why do you seem so solemn?"
"Because I must be careful about what happens next." Ye Li said.
"And what is that?" The God of Death asked.
They had discussed this event many times, but never once thought about what would happen if they succeeded. In all honesty, they had expected to die here.
"I'll give you one chance to follow me." Ye Li said.
The God of Death grew silent and solemn.
Eventually, he sighed. "It seems it is time for the Universe to gain a new god." The God of Death said.
In essence, this was agreement.
They spoke telepathically, and the God of Death moved away, going around the group of Path Creators thrilled by success.
Suddenly, an unexpected guest arrived. It was none other than the fish.
He looked at the seal in shock. "You actually did it, and you actually succeeded."
He was bewildered.
The God of Death threw a glance at Ye Li, who shrugged and nodded.
Out of nowhere, the God of Death burst out with power, attacking every single Path Creator.
They all looked at him in shock, filled with killing intent.
All of them burst with power, including the newly arrived fish. The God of Death's power was dispersed without resistance, when suddenly everything froze.
Time seemed to have stopped as strings descended from the Heavens, one each landing on 15 people. 13 attackers, the Buddha, and the fish.
Time wasn't truly stopped, but when everything seemed to return to movement once again, the 15 people with strings attached to them now had blank eyes.
The God of Death shivered as he looked at Ye Li.