Just as Ling Tian and the others had previously surmised, a fourth batch of cultivators had escaped from the God Realm. From them, Ling Tian and the others also learned that their friends and family were doing fairly well. But they also received news that shocked them to the core: the Lord of the Universe had given them a deadline of one million years. If they had not returned to report in by then, one of their friends or family members would be killed every ten thousand years.
Although they had anticipated this, Ling Tian and the others knew full well that the Lord of the Universe was not joking. In other words, if they did not return to the Demon God Forbidden Ground to report in within one million years, the Lord of the Universe would really start killing their friends and family. Though he would only kill one person every ten thousand years, it was still something Ling Tian and the others could not bear to see. They did not want any of their loved ones to meet with misfortune.
But Ling Tian and the others also knew that in one million years, they could only break through one or two major cultivation stages. At best, they would reach the thirty-third Heaven of the Near-Saint stage, falling short of the thirty-fourth. They would still be far from the Thirty-sixth Heaven. Breaking through to the Saint level, or even coming infinitely close to it, would remain difficult—almost impossible. What was more, there was no guarantee they would break through even one major stage in that time. As their cultivation increased, and the Origin Power left behind by fallen Saints became less and less effective for them, their progress grew slower and slower.
If Ling Tian and the others truly