The time passed quickly to Ye Li. He now had a sense of how Zhou Fan had felt all these years, except for the constant awareness that Zhou Fan could return at any time.
As he had said, he was not stupid.
He knew that surpassing Zhou Fan had been a pipe dream. Only this plan could perhaps work.
It had all started long, long ago. He knew that Zhou Fan and the Buddha were close. This had been when he had decided to use the Buddha.
It was obvious that Zhou Fan would notice any sort of control Ye Li had over the Buddha. So he did what could not be detected.
Instead of controlling the Buddha, he influenced him. With his constant shaping, the unaware Buddha slowly began to yearn for the power of Divination.
It was true that the Buddha had comprehended it, and that he had seen the future, what would truly happen, but he had misunderstood it.
This whole plan was carried out knowing that Zhou Fan would believe the Buddha. That he would allow himself to be sealed.
Ye Li had gambled on the fact that Zhou Fan was so arrogant he would not bother looking outside of the seal, save for detecting that those he cared about were harmed.
And he had gambled that he would be able to surpass Zhou Fan with the entire Universe under his control.
Only that last gamble had not yet been decided.
But how could Ye Li know that thing would spiral out of control? That even he could not predict everything.
A million Sage Years passed, and within the seal, Zhou Fan broke through, entering the Immortal Emperor realm.
He began to comprehend Rules, and after 8,900 Sage Years, he had mastered ten thousand Rules. In order for an ordinary cultivator to break through, they had to comprehend at least 3000 Rules.
The Universe expanded again, bringing the number of Universes within the Multiverse to 1000. The Main Universe was noticeably large, but many still lived elsewhere.
A million Sage Years passed and Ye Li's influence over the Universe vanished. It would be hard to have another such mass influence.
So he had to go the natural route, without using power. Just as he had with the Buddha. This was known as scheming. And soon, the Race War Era began.
Many power Path Creators had been killed during the Path War Era, but many still existed. Few of the most powerful had died.
Yhwh, who saw Ye Li as his worst enemy, had even reached everyone else's level, the level they all presumed Ye Li was at.
But Ye Li was an Immortal King, and had been for a while. He had fully mastered 1000 Rules.
The second strongest person in the Universe was on the verge of entering the Immortal Lord realm. Their speed simply could not compare to his.
After all, almost every living being was within his scope of collecting Karma. Only around a thousand throughout all of existence avoided it. They were those who had left the Main Universe and had been too strong to permanently mark with his influence.
The Race War Era started, and it was instantly even more brutal than the Path War Era. At the very least, those directly involved in the Path Wars were powerful Path Creators or their few notable subordinates.
But as the Universe was split into two sides, every single being was involved in the war.
Of course, Ye Li let his clone handle all of that.
He did not pay much attention to the Universe as a million Sage Years passed. He was close to breaking through.
Meanwhile, within the seal, Zhou Fan had noticed a large change in his cultivation speed. This breakthrough would take a long, long time. It was special, and after thinking for a while, he decided to make it even more special.
He had decided that he would leave the seal as soon as he was able to break through to the next realm, though he would wait off on actually breaking through. But even that would take a while.
He had to admit that he had enjoyed all of this. He had always thought of simply disappearing and cultivating silently, without being involved in anything, until he reached an unimaginable level. But even he was starting to get a bit bored. He could still wait.
Half a million Sage Years passed, and Ye Li broke through. He entered the Immortal Emperor realm, and in one fell swoop, comprehended ten thousand Rules.
He felt overwhelmingly powerful, but as he glanced at the seal, he did not dare slack. He sat on a throne in a realm unseen by any.
He did not even bother paying attention to the world outside. Only the seal had his eternal attention.
So when two million Sage Years passed and he heard something break, he was surprised. Someone had broken into his realm.
Quite frankly, he had been annoyed at his slow progress for a while, and when he heard the noise, he finally felt as if he could release that annoyance on something.
"Which one of those fools found this place?"
He knew for a fact it wasn't Zhou Fan, but besides that, he didn't have a clue.
"I hope it is Yhwh. That would be a fun rematch. No, maybe it could be the Grand Empyrean. She has always been special. Or Ying Xiong? Such a mysterious person could have hidden away. Speaking of hiding, I bet it is the Hidden Being! Yes, that must be it."
Ye Li, whose head had simply been staring at the sky of his dark, grey realm for countless years, finally lowered his gaze to see who had entered.
However, the face he saw was unfamiliar. He examined him. This being did not have his influence on him, which meant he hadn't been collecting his Karma. He at first thought he was a descendant of a powerful Path Creator, but then noticed traces of the Karma collecting technique.
This man had broken it.
"Who are yo-"
"Star Fist."
Ye Li's realm was shattered like glass, as did his arrogance and conceit, as he was sent flying with a broken arm.