Tribulation - 375

In essence, the array did not truly change much. It only made things more natural. Instead of forcibly increasing space's strength, it simply increased the resistance that space had against attacks.

Each layer of space had a certain level of resistance, and it was nearly impossible for anyone to even reach the final layer. Even Ying Xiong would be unable to.

Soon, Zhou Fan returned to the cosmic sect. Ying Xiong had been waiting, and upon seeing Zhou Fan give a nod, flew out of the galaxy and began to breakthrough.

Zhou Fan was the only one near him, watching him start his breakthrough. As he watched, Zhou Fan felt that it was too easy. It would be much more logical if there was some sort of interference or challenge to breaking through.

Zhou Fan sent Ying Xiong a voice transmission. Ying Xiong's face changed, but he nodded in agreement.

As he went through the process of breaking through, lightning began to flash above him. Ying Xiong looked up, ready for it, and a lightning bolt struck down.

It hit Ying Xiong, but he did not even react. The next bolt began to flash, and Ying Xiong felt power from this one. He covered himself with his bell before the bolt struck down.

Bang!

His bell was struck and rang out, but it was only slightly charred. Another, and the final bolt began to prepare to descend. Ying Xiong felt some danger to this one, and as the bolt fell down, a cosmic buddha's palm met it.

The two attacks dispersed each other. Soon, Ying Xiong successfully broke through.

"What was that for?" Ying Xiong asked immediately. He did not even check out his new strength or test out the divinity within him, but instantly questioned Zhou Fan.

"I'm considering adding "Tribulations" during certain breakthroughs. It would finally create a challenge to prevent anyone with talent from breaking through." Zhou Fan explained.

"But that was pretty weak." Ying Xiong stated bluntly.

"I'm still working out the specifics. Plus, do you think everyone who reaches the god realm would be as talented as you?" Zhou Fan asked.

"Probably." Ying Xiong responded.

Zhou Fan relented. "Fine. In that case, prepare for a real tribulation." 

Lightning began to flash above Ying Xiong, who immediately broke through space and ran away.

"Just kidding." He said shamelessly.

Zhou Fan shook his head and returned to the cosmic sect, Leaf still wrapped around him.

As he returned, he saw Ying Xiong telling all of his disciples about his breakthrough. They looked at him with clear admiration.

Zhou Fan was about to ignore the group and go past them, but someone suddenly pointed at him.

"Is that the origin god?" He said.

Everyone's attention turned away from Ying Xiong and focused on Zhou Fan.

Zhou Fan waved and began to walk away, but before he could, he was surrounded. Everyone surrounding him bowed and greeted him.

"It's an honor to meet the origin god." The majority of them said. Others said a variation of that.

Zhou Fan assumed this was the part where he acted cool.

"It is an honor for me to meet the future cultivators of our universe. I hope that each and every one of you can reach the god realm." Zhou Fan said.

Many of the disciples were excited by his encouragement.

It made for a weird sight considering that many took on an elderly appearance fitting for their age. Luckily, there were a few people that kept young faces.

Zhou Fan soon excused himself and entered his mountain, where he rested with Leaf for the next few days. Soon, he left the mountain.

It was time to change cultivation society, and Zhou Fan had many ideas. He had considered testing his power, but there was really no point. He would experience nothing interesting.

Zhou Fan left the Zhou supercluster and entered the forbidden land. Long ago, he had considered creating a race that could survive such conditions, but not only would it have been difficult, but he did not have much interest at the time.

Unfortunately for humanity and all other races, he had understood something while staying within the cosmic sect.

There was really no point in cultivating for most people. At some point, it would likely be better to just give up. Increasing lifespan was one of the few benefits, and authority was as well.

However, some could argue that there was truly no need for cultivators to exist within the universe. They lived for one simple reason, to live.

People like Ying Xiong stopped others from doing bad things out of boredom or desire, but that only served to once again lower the incentives of cultivating.

Zhou Fan did not really consider himself a part of humanity. That allowed him to look at everything from a much different point of view. A neutral point of view. Long ago, for the Zhou Galaxy, he had created the grim reaper.

What he planned on doing now would be for the same purpose, but much different than before. This time, he would not do it for the sole purpose of creating a common enemy.

This time, he would create a true race with free will, just as humans, celestials, beasts, and others did.

In other words, he would not stop these beings from destroying humanity, as long as they earned it.

He would not prefer such a thing, but if it happened, he could only blame humans and other such races.

Within the forbidden land, Zhou Fan began to design the race. Technically, there would be multiple races, but the first one would be the race that signified destruction.

In simple terms, they would be humanoid black holes. This was one of the only ways that Zhou Fan could create a race that could survive in the forbidden land.

Each member of the race would be born at the void traversing realm. Luckily, they would have a low reproduction rate, but not too low. There would be plenty alive.

First things first, creating the first member of the race. As he moved his fingers, he felt nostalgia.

Long ago, Tian Ren was the first Heavenborn. There were also the first celestials. 

This time, he would be creating a race that could be considered polar opposites of those two.