For a long time, everything was peaceful. There was no more apparent action being taken by the beings of the future. The fish progressed quickly, and hundreds of Sage Years passed.
Before long, the fish had regained full control over the Power of Time. Zhou Fan watched as he controlled the River of Time to wash over the Clouds of Time. Like cotton candy being thrown into a river, the clouds disappeared without resistance. When the final Cloud of Time disappeared, everyone heaved a sigh of relief.
Zhou Fan himself knew that the likelihood of anyone ever coming back in time again was miniscule to the extreme.
The path to the Origin Era had not been intentionally made, but as a result of his breakthrough to the False Immortal realm. It resonated throughout time, creating holes in not only this time period, but also the time period of the future.
In short, it was something that would not happen again. Nobody had the power to do something like that, not even the fish, present or future versions. Back when Zhou Fan had grabbed the Buddha from the past, he had been countless times more powerful than anybody else in the then present and past, which made it a possibility.
If he tried to do so now, it would be much more difficult due to the existence of the Path Creators, especially Ye Li and the God of Death who were Earth Immortals. It was not necessarily impossible, but it would take far, far more effort than it was worth. In addition, he would not be able to bring anybody of note back. For example, if he wanted to go back in time and grab someone who had died while at the Peak of the Great Dao realm, it would be almost impossible. If he wanted to grab an Immortal, it simply wasn't possible at all.
It was just how it worked.
Naturally, creating an indefinite hole in time that could lead back to a past era was something so far out of reach he could not imagine it.
With the Clouds of Time gone, Zhou Fan began to cultivate using a Time Bubble. The difference in time could not be accurately estimated anymore. It was too high.
The fish did not wish for Zhou Fan to cultivate this way, but what could it do? It could only try to stop the Path Creators that couldn't suppress it from doing so.
He could somewhat prevent the other Loose Immortals, but when it came to Ye Li and the God of Death, he had to let them roam free, lest they decide to kill him.
Using the River of Time, he was successfully able to avoid the consequences of acting against every other being in existence.
The fish wasn't doing this because he simply wanted to, but because, like when the Clouds of Time had appeared, others controlling time weakened it. This was a major flaw, one that it could do nothing about.
With the Universe at peace for the first time in a long time, everyone began to try growing their strength.
The Demon King took a bunch of beings and relocated elsewhere in the Universe. As time passed, it grew larger and larger. Within his domain, people constantly fought wars and slaughtered others. In this way, his power grew faster.
Other Path Creators followed similar paths.
The God of Death harvested Death, yet also let people in his newly created domain kill each other.
He learned that this also sped up his growth.
Ye Li had learned this method long ago, letting others produce Karma and absorbing it for himself.
Some paths weren't suitable with this method, such as the Grand Empyrean and the Space Bird, but they found their own ways to grow fast.
Zhou Fan's was among the purest. He simply cultivated. Within his Time Bubble, countless Sage Years passed. He rapidly broke through, reaching the Peak of the Heaven Immortal realm.
Pushing against the threshold of this realm gave him the feeling that he could expand the Universe even more once he broke through. With his current strength, he could already begin a long project of expanding Universal barriers, but he was more inclined to wait until he had an opportunity like this to do so. After all, there was more than enough space for anyone and everyone.
Nearly all of the Path Creators had left what had been known as the Origin Civilization and created their own domains throughout the Universe. Yet, not even half of the space had been taken up. Since more Path Creators were often born, space was slowly being filled, but it would take thousands and thousands of Sage Years.
The King of Massacre was doing well for himself, already nearing the Loose Immortal realm. His speed of growth within the Immortal realms had almost never been seen before. Only when the God of Death and Ye Li had received their care packages from the future had they grown faster, and naturally, that didn't count.
More time passed. For Zhou Fan, countless Sage Years had passed, but for the rest of the Universe, it had not been that long.
A sound like a chain was breaking was heard throughout the Universe, though it was so subtle and momentary that few noticed it. Those who did looked at the top of the Universe, where a figure could be seen moving his hands outward.
A power pressed against the walls of the Universe, and they began to expand.
For those in the center of the Universe, the change was barely noticeable, but for those near the walls, it was like a tsunami had appeared, making many things slide away and get pushed elsewhere.
Many Path Creators were able to lock their creations down, but some were washed away into the new space being created.
To Zhou Fan, this was more or less a casual task. With the help of the momentum of his breakthrough, he didn't struggle at all.
When he was done, the Universe's total area increased by ten times. Now, there were many more desolate spaces, open for the taking.