"Sect Master, there are fully over a thousand Heavenly Lords from the myriad heavens and realms who have come to pledge allegiance. They have now entered the Realm of Yuan, praying for protection and hoping you can meet them."
Feng Baiyu stepped forward to report.
Fang Han sat upright in the center of the Realm of Yuan, activating the Great Destiny Art that spread across the entire eight wastes and six directions and every space of the Realm of Yuan. Ever since obtaining the World Tree, the space within the entire Realm of Yuan had been rapidly increasing.
The thousands of layers of worlds and crystal wall systems were like a honeycomb. Some crystal wall systems actually began to condense into the internal structure of the Gate of Eternal Life. Even if a Heavenly Lord entered the Realm of Yuan, with a slight misstep, they could be sealed.
The current Realm of Yuan was almost comparable in size to a tenth of an ordinary Heavenly Realm. This was a scale created only because Fang Han's magic power was rapidly approaching that of an Immortal King and because he was proficient in the Great Destiny Art.
Therefore, the many Heavenly Lord experts who sought refuge in the Realm of Yuan were overwhelmingly shocked by the overlapping layers of alternate space-time the moment they entered, forgetting themselves completely. Everyone almost wanted to drop down and worship, at the same time wishing to see this great figure who had created the Realm of Yuan, the Sect Master of the Era Gate, Fang Han.
"Very well, I shall meet them and recruit them as disciples of the Era Gate to suppress the four directions. In the future, after the Great Destruction of Heaven and Earth, the Realm of Yuan will serve as the existence replacing the Heavenly Realm, situated above the myriad heavens and realms. All experts whose cultivation reaches a certain realm will be able to ascend."
Fang Han nodded and grabbed with his large hand. Immediately, an area of space-time continuously shifted, and a massive plaza appeared before him. In that plaza, fully over a thousand Heavenly Lords waited in anxious trepidation, whispering and discussing among themselves.
Fang Han watched them with a smile, waiting for them to quiet down.
"What are you still discussing? This is the Lord of the Realm of Yuan, the leader of our Era Gate, Immortal King Fang Han." Feng Baiyu shouted, "Why aren't you paying your respects?"
Rumble!
This single shout immediately triggered a shockwave. Everyone looked over abruptly. Fang Han's form was incomparably towering, his entire body rippling with the aura of an Immortal King, fundamentally different from a Heavenly Lord.
"What? Immortal King?"
"It is actually an Immortal King. I feel the pure and intense aura of an Immortal King…"
"Kneel, kneel down. The Sect Master of the Era Gate is actually an Immortal King. For a Heavenly Lord to kneel before an Immortal King is not a humiliation, but a respect for power. A humility toward the pinnacle."
Many Heavenly Lords discussed. Led by an old Heavenly Lord, they uniformly knelt down in perfect unison. That old Heavenly Lord unexpectedly possessed a cultivation base of five epochs; he was the Lord of the Chivalrous Realm and had survived some previous Great Destructions of Heaven and Earth. However, because this destruction was truly too ferocious, he could no longer withstand it and could only seek protection within the Realm of Yuan.
Fang Han's current cultivation base had already reached the peak of the nineteen epochs, capable of breaking through to Immortal King at any given time or place. Even if a true Immortal King descended, they might not be able to securely defeat him. Moreover, his Great Destiny Art could simulate the aura of an Immortal King.
In truth, having swallowed the soul of the Lord of All Beasts Immortal King and deduced his path to becoming an Immortal King, Fang Han could also achieve the Immortal King realm. His current strength was already not much different from an Immortal King; even if addressed as an Immortal King, it did not matter.
"All of you, rise. Are you willing to become a part of my Era Gate?" Fang Han issued a grand and majestic voice.
"We are willing, we are willing…" The over one thousand Heavenly Lords nodded repeatedly. They did not rise but kowtowed again.
"Good. Since that is the case, Feng Baiyu, help bestow upon them the marks of the Era. From now on, they are disciples of the Era Gate. Have them guard the various parts of the Realm of Yuan to resist the assaults of the Great Destruction of Heaven and Earth." Fang Han waved his hand, and countless crystal-like marks descended, landing in Feng Baiyu's palm.
"Everyone, why don't you quickly pay respects to the Teacher? From now on, Immortal King Fang Han is your respected Master." Feng Baiyu roared loudly.
"Yes! Teacher above, please accept a bow from your disciples…" In a split second, the over one thousand Heavenly Lords nodded continuously and performed the grand ceremony of three bows and nine kowtows.
Right at the exact instant this apprenticeship ceremony was completed, the heaven and earth within the entire pitch-black storm shook fiercely. The Realm of Yuan seemed as though it would overturn at any moment. During the era of the entire Great Destruction of Heaven and Earth, new changes had occurred again.
Buzz buzz buzz…
The crowd was shocked beyond measure.
Fang Han also abruptly stood up, grabbing with his large hand. The surrounding pitch-black storms settled down one after another, forcibly suppressed by him using the Great Destiny Art. The Three Thousand Great Daos circulated ceaselessly in his palm, each Dao vividly brilliant, scattering into the void and stabilizing the Realm of Yuan.
Following that, everyone saw a peerless gateway appear above their heads, omnipresent and reaching everywhere. Everyone felt the majestic, overwhelmingly domineering power of this gateway and could not help but want to kneel down and worship.
"The Gate of Eternal Life has appeared, it has appeared! The time for it to spew out divine objects has arrived." That Lord of the Chivalrous Realm was experienced. Seeing this scene, he muttered: "But this time, it is truly too fierce. The entirety of the Gate of Eternal Life has emerged. During past Great Destructions of Heaven and Earth, the Gate of Eternal Life was only half-hidden, eternally preventing anyone from clearly seeing its true face."
"Everyone, quickly return to your positions and suppress the Realm of Yuan!" Feng Baiyu let out a sharp, loud roar: "You are all now disciples of the Era Gate, no longer rogue cultivators. You must obey the command of the Era Gate and immediately assume your positions, otherwise you will be killed without mercy!"
Hearing this harsh voice, these Heavenly Lords immediately reacted. Everyone knew that Feng Baiyu was the Sakyamuni Heavenly Lord, the Buddha perfectly endowed with the greatest wisdom and strength in the past Buddhist sects. None dared to resist; they immediately heeded Feng Baiyu's command, becoming the formation nodes of the Era Divine Formation within the Realm of Yuan, contributing their strength to withstand the kalpa of the destruction of heaven and earth.
"Has the Gate of Eternal Life finally begun spewing divine objects? This means that my decisive battle with the many Immortal Kings is ultimately coming? Hua Tiandu, oh Hua Tiandu, this chess piece of mine is finally going to start serving its purpose." As the Gate of Eternal Life appeared, the smile on Fang Han's face grew increasingly pronounced.
Swish!
He raised both hands, and countless amounts of eternal life primal qi turned into snowflakes, landing on the World Tree. Immediately, the entire giant tree slowly rose up gracefully amidst the black storm of the Great Destruction of Heaven and Earth.
Every single leaf and branch of the World Tree was an unknown number of hundreds of millions of trillions of miles long, seemingly only describable by a word from technological civilization, "light-year". Each branch spanned over billions of light-years, crossing through the ancient and the modern, its root system spreading out, actually managing to pacify the black storm.
Under the constant baptism of Fang Han's Great Destiny Art, the World Tree had completely restored its former glory. Possessing strength comparable to an Immortal King, it guarded everything in the Realm of Yuan.
Without fearing the backlash of destiny in the slightest, Fang Han had actually forcefully reversed the destinies of all Era Gate disciples, preventing every single disciple from undergoing the Five Declines of Heaven and Mortals.
However, this required him to continuously maintain his power until the Great Destruction of Heaven and Earth ended; otherwise, those disciples would thoroughly die.
Pfft!
As Fang Han slowly unfurled the World Tree, the Gate of Eternal Life emitted an enormous spewing sound. Instantly, a void was paved open through the black storms between heaven and earth. Countless divine objects formed a spectacle even more magnificent than the heavenly river. Everyone could see that within that heavenly river lay oceans of divine objects—things like "Great Derivation Gold Essence," "Yin Yang Demonic Stone," "Connate Divine Jade," "Tai Chi Divine Stone"… Endless divine objects spread out in all directions, scattering into the destructive black storm.
However, owing to the emergence of the World Tree, those numerous divine objects were attracted and descended toward the World Tree.
Back in the day, why did the Xuanhuang Grand World produce experts in successive generations? It was because the existence of the World Tree gathered the divine objects of the heavens within it, birthing a new world. From a certain perspective, the World Tree gave birth to the Xuanhuang Grand World.
Now that Fang Han controlled the World Tree, it played a crucial role in collecting divine objects.
A massive amount of divine objects rained down onto the World Tree, then penetrated through layers upon layers of space-time to land in the mountains, earth, oceans, and rivers of the Realm of Yuan.
Yet, not a single disciple of the Era Gate went to snatch them. Instead, they focused wholeheartedly, sitting upright within the grand formation, driving the formation techniques.
Meanwhile, experts like Feng Baiyu, Linglong, and Fang Qingxue circulated their magic power to refine with the True Fire of the Era all the divine objects falling from the void, infusing them completely into the depths of the Realm of Yuan, turning them into a stream of primal qi and a warm current, ensuring every disciple in the Realm of Yuan received benefits equitably.
Bang bang bang!
With the sound of explosions, many disciples who had not ascended to Heavenly Lords were promoted once again.
This round of divine object spewing was almost comparable to the sum total of those spewed across more than ten epochs in the past. Fang Han even saw immense pieces of Supreme Void Divine Iron attracted from the void, dropping down. Furthermore, many spirit medicine seeds, medicines of eternal life, also appeared among those divine objects and were digested by the Realm of Yuan.
In an instant, the strength of the entire Realm of Yuan greatly increased, and Fang Han's pressure lightened considerably. For every additional portion of disciples who ascended to Heavenly Lords, he could free up a portion of his strength.
"Hua Tiandu, your Tiandu Cult must be taking action as well. You cannot possibly ignore the spewing of these divine objects." While doing his utmost to collect the divine objects, Fang Han looked toward the depths of the pitch-black storm.
Sure enough, just as his intent circulated, an immemorial divine city shattered through the black storm across an unknown number of "light-years" of distance and soared upward. From within the divine city, a pitch-black large hand carrying nearly ten halos reached out. The aura of an Immortal King diffused, suffocating even Heavenly Lords.
This large hand grabbed empty air, intercepting that silvery river of divine objects. Countless divine objects, treasures, and spirit medicine seeds fell into that immemorial divine city, "Tiandu City."
At this very moment, Hua Tiandu finally made his move.
However, the instant Hua Tiandu made his move, Fang Han saw a third-party faction unexpectedly appear within the pitch-black storm. In an unknown depth of the infinite destructive storm, countless martial star river vortexes abruptly erupted, and a combat giant hand also flew out to snatch the divine objects.
With a flash of his gaze, Fang Han saw clearly that it was actually Ying Tianqing, hidden within a void barrier, possessing formidable magic power resembling the reincarnation of an Immortal King, also snatching the divine objects. His former master, the Lord of War, had thoroughly disappeared, seemingly devoured by him.
"Ying Tianqing, he is actually the reincarnation of an Immortal King, and he is not dead yet!"