The Grotto-Heaven had expanded so quickly that most of the Spirit Beasts, which had long since divided up their territories, had yet to react.
This gave the ordinary Demonic Beasts at the Bottom of the Abyss an opportunity to infiltrate.
Even with Li Changge holding the center, it was difficult to slaughter every Demonic Beast that slipped into the Grotto-Heaven.
Xu Changxing could only temporarily stop hunting the more distant Abyss Great Lords and instead guard this Grotto-Heaven alongside Li Changge.
A full century passed before the Spirit Beasts in this Grotto-Heaven reached a new balance with the Demonic Beasts that had slipped inside.
Although they could not completely prevent the invasion of Abyssal Demonic Beasts, they could keep the number of Demonic Beasts within the Grotto-Heaven in check and maintain the stability of the Great Dao.
Once this Grotto-Heaven had achieved a stable balance, Xu Changxing began another round of expansion.
Over the next thousand years and more, this Grotto-Heaven cycled repeatedly between expansion and rest.
When Xu Changxing stopped expanding it once again, it had become an enormous Grotto-Heaven a hundred thousand li in diameter.
Its area was already comparable to that of some smaller Small Worlds.
Throughout this process, Xu Changxing's understanding of the Way of Life and Death grew ever deeper.
But those who improved the most were not Xu Changxing, but Li Changge and his disciple Jiang Yao.
As the only Taiyi Immortal Lord who had rooted his own Great Dao in this world, Li Changge's strength increased at a pace entirely on par with the expansion of this Small World.
In this short span of a thousand years and more, Li Changge broke through several minor realms in succession, reaching middle Taiyi.
His combat strength was already comparable to the Taiyi late stage.
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