The fear stayed on the man's face for minutes before he spoke.
"You! You are the King of the Underworld!" He said, clearly trembling.
Ying Xiong didn't refute it. His faction was indeed called the Underworld. Although he wasn't currently known as the King of the Underworld, it was not unreasonable to assume that he could be called so in the future.
The man eventually calmed down, coming to the realization that he was in the past. The King of the Underworld was not necessarily the same as he was countless years in the future.
"Without saying too much, explain the King of the Underworld." Zhou Fan said.
The man nodded, not hesitating.
"The King of the Underworld is a legendary figure above even the strongest of Immortals. Even the Celestial Emperor must bow down before him. All beings who die throughout all existence, assuming their soul is not captured or used for some other purpose, will end up in the Underworld. Most undergo reincarnation, where they will forget everything and be completely reset. However, some become inhabitants of the Underworld in various forms. Some wander as ghosts, some gain a body, and some are reincarnated as one of the natural races of the Underworld."
Zhou Fan did not let the man speak any further. He had already gleaned all of the interesting information that wouldn't be dangerous to Ying Xiong's path.
Some of the information had been naturally filtered out by the restriction in their brains as well.
Zhou Fan brought a few other people forward, but the man recognized none of them. According to him, he shouldn't have recognized Ying Xiong either.
It was only upon chance that he had seen an ancient painting hanging up in a powerful sect he had visited for negotiations. Zhou Fan didn't have much else for the man, keeping him imprisoned for now. After all, he had assisted them without holding back any information.
As for the False Immortal, Zhou Fan had him devoured. He had no useful information that the Loose Immortal didn't have.
Time passed without any sort of action from the clouds of time. It was unknown how the future was reacting to the current situation.
After a while, Ye Li entered seclusion. He had requested to see Zhou Fan, and asked him to give him the same sort of pressure that the Path Creators had given him when he had broken through.
Zhou Fan had naturally agreed, but he warned Ye Li that he would really kill him if he failed to break through. That was the only way to help him.
He should be able to break through rather fast.
The Grand Empyrean was the next to go into seclusion after gaining enlightenment. She made the same request of Zhou Fan.
These were the only two prepared to break through for now, but there were sure to be more to come. It was likely that the breakthroughs would happen at an extremely fast pace.
Trends that affected the entire Universe would also affect the people within it. When great wars came, the speed at which people would grow would naturally increase.
There was nothing but peace and growth within the Universe.
In the future, the factions which had sent people into the Origin era were stunned to hear nothing as years passed. While it was inevitable that communication would be difficult across era's, they had their methods to do so. Yet it had been radio silence.
They had no choice but to assume that everyone they had sent was dead.
Plans began to change, and the factions of the Fire Spirit Universe began to convene.
"It seems that even ten Loose Immortals and twenty False Immortals was not enough."
"How terrifying was the Origin era? Before sending in another group, we need to thoroughly research it."
"It is pointless. Only the top factions may have some information from a long time ago, and even then it won't be much."
"What if we send a —- realm Cultivator?"
"We would risk destroying the Origin era's Universe. We would need to confirm it could handle such a cultivator."
"Why not just risk it? Worst case scenario, nobody gets to benefit from the opening to the Origin era. They already said that such an event wouldn't affect us."
"Are you truly that stupid? Would the other factions of the Universe let us off if we did that?"
"Exactly, and who is to say that there aren't powerful existences from the Origin era alive today? If we do that, they may be affected. We couldn't handle any one of their wraths."
A silence fell over the room. They were in quite a dangerous position.
Suddenly, a voice spoke from the distance. "Our calculations suggest that we can send one or two —-- realm Cultivators."
Everyone turned to see a man in red. A swaying lotus made of fire was on his cloak.
This signified that he was part of the Fire Spirit sect, the most powerful sect in the Fire Spirit Universe.
Although he seemed to at most be an elder, nobody present dared disregard him, even if they were the Sect Masters of the most powerful sects in the Fire Spirit Universe.
"If there are no objections, I want one of the —- realm Cultivators sent to be my son. He is at the peak of the realm, and as I'm sure you know, he is almost unparalleled within his realm in the Fire Spirit Universe." The newcomer said.
There were no objections, only sounds of agreement.
"The next group will depart in five years." The newcomer said before leaving.
"He sure is arrogant."
"I didn't see you raising your head."
"He has the right to be arrogant. Their founder is the ruler of the Fire Spirit Universe, and although he is not quite qualified to be called a Celestial Emperor, he is infinitely close."
"Who cares? Let's decide who the other —-- realm Cultivator will be."
"My nephew is quite impressive."
"Who cares? Let's hold a tournament."