Fan Wubing furrowed his brow slightly.

He had never met the Seven Luminaries True Monarch, but he had borrowed the name many times, sometimes turning danger into safety, other times just to experience that supreme will. He hadn’t seen much of the world before, didn’t know how things worked, so he borrowed it carelessly. But now, he understood phrases like "there is a predestined order in the unseen" and "causality is intertwined, everything is connected."

Hence, he realized that he might already have a connection with the Seven Luminaries True Monarch in some unseen realm.

This seed of cause, when it would blossom and bear fruit, was unpredictable, but it needed to be thought about and prepared in advance. Lest one day, when retribution for cause and effect suddenly arrives, he is caught completely unprepared.

Take one step, look two steps ahead, consider three steps.

Fan Wubing continued to reflect on the years gone by.

The entire Enlightenment Era is divided into three eras: the initial Age of Immortals, where active historical figures were all those like the Jade Emperor and Emperor Zhenwu.

Then came the Hundred Schools of Thought Era, where various ideologies of humanity arose, led by philosophies like Daoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, Mohism, Agriculture, Yin Yang, Diplomacy, Legalism, and others, driving continuous evolution and advancement of humans, leading to numerous wondrous civilizational phenomena and philosophical ideas that paved various paths of cultivation. Immortal, martial, literary, intent, formations, pills, artifacts... various paths of cultivation. This era was one of constant trial and error, and endless innovation.

The Hundred Schools of Thought Era was known as the best era. Because new things, new thoughts, were birthed incessantly, it was the peak era of the human race’s creativity.

Then came the Ascension Era. The greatest achievement of this era was the establishment of a complete cultivation system; Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment, Nascent Soul and Divine Separation, Integration Mahayana Crossing Celestial Tribulation, the Path to Immortality, the Realm of Ascending to Immortality—a complete era of systematized greatness. It was also the era where thirty-three Innate Treasures, Three Thousand Innate Dao emerged successively, along with various cultivation methods like cultivation techniques, divine techniques, and heart techniques.

The Heavenly Dao, as the will of all beings, was also summarized during the Ascension Era. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

If the Age of Immortals was the era of the human race challenging nature, challenging heaven and earth, with the strongest willpower; the Hundred Schools of Thought Era was the most creative, the most brilliant era of civilization for humans; then the Ascension Era was the consummate era of all-encompassing accomplishments, where everything leaned towards "efficiency"—how to cultivate at the lowest cost, the fastest speed, with the smallest price? How to quickly comprehend a Dao?

High towers of cultivation were built layer upon layer.

The human race, during the Ascension Era, reached its peak. Innate Treasures, Innate Dao, cultivation techniques, divine techniques, cultivation powers... A genius disciple within a great power; their entire life of cultivation was decided from the moment they were born, to walk the path to immortality with the fastest speed and the lowest cost, then ascend to become an immortal.

Until, the high towers collapsed.

More than twenty thousand years ago, Peach Blossoms severed twenty-one Ascension Lands, declaring to the world that the post-ascension era of obsession turning into demons had arrived.

Everything irreversibly spiraled downward.

Until today, becoming the era that Jiang Sha calls "ridden with long-standing problems and full of various historical issues."

Fan Wubing, amidst a sea of obsessions, lived a relatively complete life of the human race.

From seeking, to the blossoming of civilization, to the golden age, and then to the shattering of the cultivation dream.

Fan Wubing’s will was deeply entrenched in these changes, overwhelmed with emotions for a long time.

Only after some time did he slowly awaken.

He looked at his own panel, more than half a month had passed,

More than a thousand Mahayana realm True Demons, unceasingly working for him, earning a full [57 quintillion]!

"Too slow, still too slow! I need more, stronger workers."

Thus, he continued to use the "Dead Fire Burning Body Method" and "Furnace of the Heart," forcing the Obsession Furnace to create more True Demons. This time, he set the strength of the True Demons at the average level of a Tribulation Immortal in this world. Not too many, to avoid being overwhelmed, let’s start with ten thousand, and when he becomes familiar, he can create more.

...

The further Xue Ya advanced, the heavier her heart grew; she never expected that True Demons of Integration Realm level had already been born so quickly.

This was supposed to be just the beginning of the Fallen Immortal Land War!

In past Fallen Immortal Land Wars, at this time, at most, there would be True Demons with mid-Divine Transformation strength.

A Fallen Immortal Land War, if within controllable range, typically spans over a millennium. The first hundred years are considered the initial phase, with the True Demons below Integration strength. The middle centuries see the strength range from Integration to Mahayana, and only in the late stages would True Demons of Tribulation Immortal level be born.

"Could Ancestor Qing’s successful tribulation crossing really have such a big impact on the Fallen Immortal Land?" Xue Ya was conflicted, "There are several others capable of crossing the Seventh Celestial Tribulation... when they succeed, how much faster will the Fallen Immortal Land accelerate? Will there be Tribulation Immortal level True Demons born in less than five hundred years!"

What kind of impact would that have on this world?

Xue Ya could hardly imagine.

Even just the current intensity is nearly depleting Taiping Continent, having to rely on support from other regions.

If the intensity truly reaches the point where Tribulation Immortal level True Demons are born in five hundred years, wouldn’t that mean the whole world would be on a war footing, pouring all resources into the Fallen Immortal Land?

Could those able figures avoid crossing their tribulations?

Of course not.

After all, it’s the celestial tribulation that seeks them out, and failing to cross it would only mean losing all their cultivation and having to start the cultivation path anew. Such a cost, who could bear?

In today’s era of "I am the Immortal of the World," there’s long been no courage like when the Dao Ancestor left the mortal world; otherwise, there wouldn’t be such masses of forces flocking to Little South Continent, secretly evading resource conscription.