For any race, the most important existence ultimately remained the Universe Strongest.
A Universe Strongest was the true cornerstone determining a race's overall power.
Although within the Original Universe the status of Universe Masters and Universe Strongest experts appeared similar, this was mainly because Universe Strongest experts could only display Sixth-Tier power there.
In the Universe Sea, however, the gap between Universe Masters and Universe Strongest experts was substantial.
This disparity would become even more obvious after the end of a Reincarnation Era, when the Original Universe collapsed.
The difference was not merely one of strength.
More importantly, Universe Strongest experts possessed miniature universes.
Even after universal destruction, they could still carry their race forward and survive.
Furthermore, within three Reincarnation Eras, they still retained the possibility of further breakthrough and transcending reincarnation.
Once a Reincarnation Era ended and the Original Universe was destroyed, those who had not broken through to Universe Strongest would find future advancement nearly impossible.
Even Void True Gods would not separate a portion of their miniature universe's Origin to help Universe Masters achieve breakthrough.
Just like the current two Holy Lands.
Was it that their Universe Masters lacked the ability to break through?
Not at all.
Across countless Reincarnation Eras, many Universe Masters within the two Holy Lands possessed the potential to become Universe Strongest experts.
Yet why had the number of Universe Strongest experts never increased?
Why did newly ascended Universe Strongest experts never appear with their own miniature universes?
Because after the end of a Reincarnation Era and the destruction of the Original Universe, lifeforms below the Universe Strongest level migrating into a miniature universe would bring their divine kingdoms along with them.
Once a Universe Master broke through, their divine kingdom would transform into a miniature universe.
But during that transformation, where would the miniature universe's Origin come from?
Where would the energy required for the divine kingdom's evolution originate?
During the era of the Original Universe, all of this was supplied by the Original Universe itself.
The Origin required by a miniature universe was insignificant to it.
But what if breakthrough occurred inside a Holy Land Universe?
Then the consumed energy would come directly from the Holy Land Universe's Origin.
For any level of expert, universe Origin was incomparably precious.
Although a Void True God's miniature universe was larger than that of ordinary True Gods, separating enough Origin to support another breakthrough placed enormous strain upon it.
It could even damage the foundation of the miniature universe.
After all, a miniature universe was not a true universe.
A Void True God's miniature universe typically spanned only several billion light-years.
Only Eternal True Gods, whose miniature universes reached hundreds of billions of light-years, could reasonably allow Universe Masters to advance.
At that level, the Origin power was vast enough that minor losses could recover over time.
For Void True Gods, however, separating that portion of Origin could permanently damage their potential.
A miniature universe was fundamental to an expert's future.
This was why, despite enduring countless Reincarnation Eras, the two Holy Lands possessed only a handful of Universe Strongest experts.
Even those experts were companions from the era of the original founders.
Only after their own miniature universes collapsed were their life imprints transferred into the Holy Land Universes.
Since then, no one had successfully broken through.
Thus, failing to reach Universe Strongest within a single Reincarnation Era essentially meant losing that opportunity forever.
This was why Universe Strongest experts were the most important existence for any race.
After thinking for a moment, Dream Demon Ancestor decided to probe humanity's bottom line.
"This restriction period is too long. Ten million eras."
Ten million eras roughly represented the growth cycle of ten thousand generations of ordinary geniuses and one truly unparalleled genius.
Producing even a single Venerable within that span was already considered excellent.
This was why peerless geniuses were often described as appearing once every ten million eras.
Hearing this, Giant Axe began bargaining.
Humanity's true bottom line was one million eras.
This had been Luo Fan's assessment.
After one million eras, humanity would experience an explosive rise, especially those geniuses granted innate secret techniques.
Naturally, Giant Axe could not allow Dream Demon Ancestor to see through this limit.
Moreover, even after bargaining, Dream Demon Ancestor would likely only reduce the duration to tens of millions of eras.
For humanity, the longer the better.
After prolonged negotiation, the two finally settled on sixty million eras.
For sixty million eras, the Demon Race would not actively target humanity.
Everything would return to previous normal conditions.
In other words, without special circumstances, humanity would not be deliberately suppressed.
However, competition over newly emerged treasures remained acceptable.
Giant Axe agreed to this.
On the Extraterritorial Battlefield and within cosmic secret realms, the Demon Race would withdraw from the Three-Race Alliance and cease coordinated actions with the Insect Race and Machine Race.
This meant large-scale joint sieges against human experts would no longer occur.
Of course, encounters between individuals would still result in battle.
Giant Axe raised no objection.
For humanity, this still served as valuable training.
Constant large-scale sieges created life-and-death pressure, but the mortality rate was excessively high.
The previous norm, one-on-one or squad-versus-squad combat, provided far better tempering.
Deaths were fewer while training effectiveness remained strong.
This was humanity's preferred outcome.
It was also why the Extraterritorial Battlefield continued to exist.
In truth, the three races themselves were not fond of constant large-scale sieges.
Compared to humanity, their Immortals and Venerables were also experiencing slowed growth.
Fighting with overwhelming numerical advantage provided inferior training results.
Human experts at least truly faced life-and-death struggles.
During mass sieges, once danger arose, allies would immediately intervene.
As a result, the tempering effect declined.
In fact, as long as humanity continuously revived fallen Immortals and Venerables, prolonged suppression would eventually produce numerous breakthroughs.
Every crisis carried opportunity.
The outcome ultimately depended on each race's foundation.
Naturally, humanity remained at a disadvantage.
But humanity possessed Luo Fan, an abnormal existence.
With him present, humanity no longer worried about lacking divine power to revive fallen Immortals and Venerables.
Even so, removing one major suppressing force, the Demon Race, was undeniably beneficial.
After finalizing the agreement, Dream Demon Ancestor prepared to depart.
The ransom peak supreme treasures and hostage Master Nianjiao would not be exchanged immediately.
Otherwise, either side might later renege.
The Demon Race would first deliver one peak supreme treasure.
After sixty million eras, once humanity released Master Nianjiao, the remaining two peak supreme treasures would be handed over.
Before long, the Demon Race delivered the first treasure.
Since Giant Axe and Luo Fan had contributed the most, the ransom belonged primarily to them.
The race would also grant additional contribution rewards.
Giant Axe initially intended to give the peak supreme treasure directly to Luo Fan.
After all, he himself lacked no treasures.
However, Luo Fan refused.
He requested that his share instead be converted into treasure points or treasure materials.
Treasures forged by others were not perfectly suited to him.
Peak supreme treasure weapons and armor were now within Luo Fan's own ability to obtain.
He could already forge ordinary supreme treasure–level equipment himself.
After enhancement through innate secret techniques and system mission rewards, these could reach peak supreme treasure level.
More importantly, they would perfectly suit him.
Thus, he preferred treasure points and materials.
Although accepting the treasure might allow him to obtain a Void True God treasure through system rewards, the difference between True God and Void True God treasures currently mattered little to him.
With his Original Universe avatar, Luo Fan was confident he would soon forge high-tier treasures himself.
At that time, he could produce everything he required, perfectly matched to him.
Even if temporarily unable, he could exchange treasure points for top-tier treasures and still likely obtain a True God treasure through system rewards.
After learning Luo Fan's request, Giant Axe directly handed over many treasure materials he had accumulated over countless years.
Any remaining value was compensated using treasure points.
After all, Giant Axe had long accumulated more treasure points than he needed.
…
Universe Sea.
During this period, Luo Fan had been continuously exploring the Water Region.
He had already established numerous wormholes throughout this area.
These wormholes interconnected in all directions.
Normally, however, they remained sealed.
Passing experts would never notice them.
Only special fragments of spatial worm skin created by Luo Fan could activate these wormholes.
Meanwhile, his avatars hunted many Water Spirits, obtaining large quantities of Profound Heavy Water and Profound Water Origin Fruits.
Luo Fan's true body had now reached the deeper Water Region near the mountainous zone.
This area approached the Inner Domain.
Treasures here appeared far more frequently than in the Outer Domain.
His current location lay near an underwater abyss.
The interior of this abyss was extremely dangerous.
Even Universe Masters would quickly perish upon entering.
Yet valuable supreme treasure materials and occasionally actual treasures, often appeared here.
Just as Luo Fan finished collecting a newly discovered ordinary supreme treasure material, violent fluctuations suddenly erupted from within the abyss.
This was…
A treasure had been born!
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