As he slept, Zhou Fan only saw the events happening in places within his Great Dao. He watched as countless beings lived and died. Zhou Fan only woke up countless years later when the universe was now full.
Of course, some areas were far denser than others, but each universal sector had a large population.
Looking at time, a sextillion years had passed. Zhou Fan looked at the Zhou Filament, and saw a few familiar people.
Heaven, Ying Xiong who had reached the Outer World Realm, Zhu Yi who had reached the Outer World Realm, Chen Jie who had reached the Outer World Realm, Progenitor Ke, Pangu, and Lu Wei who had preserved themselves in cryopods in case of future wars, and Yao Mun was probably hiding somewhere.
Elsewhere, there were also other powerful beings. With such a large universe, countless incredible talents had been born. Among the entire universe, not including Heaven, Ying Xiong, Zhu Yi, or Chen Jie, there were 7 other Outer World Realm cultivators.
It seemed that a new era was starting. And this was only in the Zhou universe. In the Mini universes, countless beings had been born, and countless new species existed. Of course, without cultivation, these beings were all rather weak. However, they were developing. Some could even exist in space and destroy planets despite being mortals. Zhou Fan looked forward to the future development.
As for the remaining universes not covered by his Great Dao, there were plenty of unique species, far weirder than anywhere else. Zhou Fan decided to leave them alone.
Finally, Zhou Fan looked at the Buddha. Sensing his gaze, the Buddha looked back. The Buddha could not see Zhou Fan, only sense him.
Although the Buddhist path was a path, it was nowhere near as versatile as cultivation. He could hardly manipulate any space, and time was forbidden even for him.
The Buddha was at Rank 9 of his path. This was one rank below Rank 10, the equivalent of the Great Dao realm for cultivators.
The Buddha had progressed fast. Theoretically, he could have already reached Rank 10, but he was always going around teaching others and helping out.
Even Ying Xiong and Heaven treated him with as much respect as Zhou Fan. Countless beings practiced the Buddha's path along with cultivation, though not many could get far.
Ying Xiong, due to his past abandonment of Buddhism and constant reincarnations, couldn't even get past the 3rd rank of the Buddhist path. Heaven did not bother with it at all.
Zhou Fan created a circle and invited the Buddha to his residence. The Buddha stepped through and looked around again. He could sense a far different feeling from the last time he was here. Every single array here posed a serious threat to him.
He was once again reminded of Zhou Fan's power.
"Are you ready to reach Rank 10 of the Buddhist path?" Zhou Fan asked.
The Buddha nodded. He had been waiting for Zhou Fan before breaking through. After all, he had been guided by Zhou Fan, giving him a chance to actually create a path.
Thinking of this, the Buddha bowed to Zhou Fan. "Thank you for this opportunity."
Zhou Fan waved him off. "Don't worry about it. You're helping me more than I'm helping you."
The Buddha nodded and sat down. Crossing his legs, a golden glow shone on his body. This was the power of the Buddhist path, Buddhism.
Taking literal form, the Buddha created the power of Buddhism. It wrapped around his body.
Zhou Fan could hardly tell what was going on, but he paid attention. He needed all the information he could get.
After a few years, the golden glow died down. The Buddha stood up, his power much greater than before. He had entered rank 10, the peak of the Buddhist path.
His power, theoretically, was equivalent to Zhou Fan's. Of course, Zhou Fan still felt as if he could kill the Buddha, it would only be slightly challenging.
Zhou Fan had waited for this moment for a long time. The Buddha closed his eyes for a moment before opening them.
"I see nothing further than this."
Zhou Fan sighed. As expected.
He never had hope for the Buddha to see something new. This was only to widen his horizons, and it had. Many new ideas popped into his head while watching the Buddha's path.
There was only one thing that Zhou Fan found faulty. The Buddha's lifespan. Despite reaching the equivalent of the Great Dao realm on his own path, his lifespan was only a nonillion years. For reference, this is less than the lifespan of a sage realm cultivator.
In order to stop the Buddha from dying while he was still useful, Zhou Fan handed him a pendant. The Buddha looked at it, but could not tell what it was.
"You do not have the ability to manipulate time. Wearing that will essentially stop you from aging, and your lifespan from affecting you."
The Buddha sighed but nodded. If it was up to him, he would rather die eventually, but he owed Zhou Fan this much.
"When I'm no longer useful to you, let me know. I would like my story to have a conclusion at some point." The Buddha said.
Zhou Fan nodded. He admired the Buddha's willingness to die. To be honest, he did not want to die. The thought made it seem that everything he had done would be useless. What was the point of it all if he was dead?
The Buddha returned to earth, where he had never really left. His lifestyle would probably not undergo any major changes. Meanwhile, Zhou Fan meditated while waiting for someone special to appear.
The Buddha's path had already given him a new direction of thinking. If more new paths could appear, Zhou Fan felt as if breaking through was a definite possibility.
Countless years passed by as he thought. Meanwhile, in a universe not covered by Zhou Fan's Great Dao, a yellow triangle was born.