"Indeed." The man said.
"My power is not one based on increasing the body's strength in the slightest. In fact, it has nothing to do with Qi either. My path is the path of Understanding. Through understanding, my power grows. So even with a mortal's body, I can do this."
The man pointed a finger out at a nearby star.
It immediately collapsed, forming a black hole. In the next second, the black hole exploded. Just as the explosion was about to reach them, it went backwards. As if time had just rewinded, the star was as it had been before.
"Through complete understanding, I can do that with ease."
Hun Wu was shocked. Although destroying a star was nothing special, it took many times more power to reconstruct it back after it turned into a black hole. This seemed to touch the realm of true creation. And the most important part was, he was technically a mortal.
Even a Foundation Establishment realm cultivator could destroy his body to the point that it would never recover.
"So, would you like to learn?"
Hun Wu nodded without hesitation.
"This is a far longer process than simply cultivating, so prepare yourself."
Sage Years passed as the two brothers trained.
Although their father worried, their life flames, flames connected to their vitality, had not been snuffed out, indicating they lived.
After ten thousand Sage Years, Hun Luan came out.
"That was a lot more than expected." He said with a deep breath.
"It is a lot to you, but to him, it was a drop in the ocean. However, you should have enough understanding to begin forging your own path with the power of Chaos." Zhou Fan said.
Hun Luan nodded. "Where is my brother?"
Zhou Fan waved his hand, causing a screen to appear. It showed Hun Wu deep in study.
"Alright. So, what's next?"
"You cultivate. Or create your own path. Up to you."
"What do you suggest?" Hun Luan asked.
"If anyone else asked me that, I would say cultivation. It is the greatest path in the Universe after all. But you are special. You have the potential to surpass even me. So create your own path, one perfectly forged for you. Only then can you reach your true potential." Zhou Fan said.
"Is that what you did?"
Zhou Fan nodded.
"So what path do you practice?"
"Cultivation."
"I thought you said you forged your own path?"
"I did."
It took Hun Luan a moment to grasp what he was saying, but when he understood, he was far more shocked than ever before.
"You created cultivation?!"
"This is not a secret among the peak powerhouses of the Multiverse. I created cultivation, the first path in the Universe, long before your oldest ancestors ancestors were born. Don't think too deeply about it, you're too weak to understand."
Hun Luan nodded, not daring to disagree with the unimaginable being in front of him any further.
However, he couldn't help but pose a question.
"You aren't telling me everything, are you?"
"What makes you think that?" Zhou Fan asked.
"Instinct I suppose. It is as if the entire Multiverse revolves around you,a s if you're connected to everything. It just makes me wonder how true what you say is, though I know I have no right to question you."
"If you want to know the whole truth, just surpass me. No secrets will be able to hide from you then. Otherwise, you can just be my successor." Zhou Fan said.
"Successor?" Hun Luan asked.
"Indeed. I sit atop the Multiverse. There is nothing that can escape my sight. Do you think I enjoy this position of absolute supremacy? The power to meld the Multiverse to fulfill any desire I want? I feel nothing of it. I did not choose to sit here, it is a seat that naturally formed around me. And assuming you don't surpass me, you will be the one to take it."
"Why?" Hun Luan asked, not fully understanding everything.
Zhou Fan looked into the sky. "My destiny has long been entwined with the affairs of the Universe, now known as the Multiverse. But it is not where I will stay forever. I was never truly meant to be here. Consider it the price I pay the Universe that birthed me. But one day, my dream will come true."
"What is your dream?" Hun Luan asked.
"Nothing you need to worry about. I myself had only recently realized it had been there all along, eating up at me. True freedom awaits me, brat. So you better hurry up and grow stronger."
Hun Luan nodded and began to ponder.
It didn't take him long at all to create his path. He called it the Path of Chaos, and to begin cultivating it, he started by crippling his cultivation, returning to a state of mortality.
He then began to cultivate the power of Chaos. It was not much different from the Path of Cultivation Zhou Fan followed. After all, he had absorbed Chaos Qi prior to creating the power of Cultivation.
But it was not, in essence, Cultivation.
It was a bit different. Hun Luan was going down a path Zhou Fan had never quite followed.
The power of Chaos had always been a huge part of him, yet he had chosen Cultivation over Chaos in the end.
Chaos was a medium, something to be absorbed. Cultivation was the process of truly growing. At that time, Chaos Qi was nothing without Cultivation.
Now, however, different paths could be traveled.
This was one of them, and as far as Zhou Fan was concerned, one of the three most powerful in the Universe, alongside Leaf's power and the power of Cultivation.
"Yeah, I know." Zhou Fan said as he sat against Leaf.
Leaf's branches dropped the eye level.
"So what if you could allow that Hun Wu kid to cultivate, I could as well. That isn't the point. The point is to force his brother to grow desperate at the thought of the incoming danger, and when he is strong enough to help Hun Wu, Hun Wu can cultivate with the same sense of urgency. It will allow them to be greater in the end." Zhou Fan explained.
Naturally, Hun Luan hadn't heard a thing.