Xie Han Mo gave birth to a young girl in the coming months, whom they decided to name Fang Xue.
Fang Ling took a look at Fang Xue when she was first born. "Why is she so ugly?"
"Hush, Fang Ling, that's no way to talk to your younger sister!"
"But she looks so weird and pink. Can we return her?"
"You can't return children, Fang Ling. Be happy, you have a younger sister now."
At first, Fang Ling did not like Fang Xue very much, however, within the span of one week he had become rathe fond of her and spent a lot of time together.
Fang Yuan had reached Rank 5 Peak Stage by this point. He was kept busy by the management of the Blessed Land, which was a full-time job.
Because of this he wasn't able to spend as much time with his family as he would've liked, but that couldn't be helped.
There was no point in doing anything if the Blessed Land were destroyed, after all. Then he and his family would either be dead or have nowhere else to go. Fang Yuan had already spent an Immortal Essence Bead to retrieve Fang Ling when he had been kidnapped, and did not want to use up any more.
His children were kept under tight surveillance. Because of this, Fang Ling essentially had no friends except for Fang Xue.
"Fang Xue, you need to grow up as quickly as possible," he would say to his sister. "Otherwise, I'm going to be really bored for a long time! There's no one to talk to!"
Life within the Blessed Land was quite peaceful otherwise. What little time Fang Yuan did have with his family was nice. However, it felt like in the blink of an eye, the next Earthly Calamity was upon them.
Now, the Blessed Land was more well-developed than last time, but that also meant that the Earthly Calamity would likely be stronger. Fang Yuan, like before, was ready with many of his Blood Path methods perfected through purchases on Yellow Treasure Heaven as he awaited the descent of the next Earthly Calamity.
Just like last time, Heaven's Will rushed into the aperture, forming the next Earthly Calamity.
But unlike last time, there was no Desolate Beast. Instead, a massive river began to descend from the heavens onto the Blessed Land!
The river was made of water, but it seemed to be still at certain points and moved with terrifying speed at others. Various kinds of Time Path gu worms could be seen in this river.
"A tributary of the River of Time," Fang Yuan realized.
The River of Time snaked throughout the world, and occasionally sections of it could be found in places within the gu world. This was the first time, however, that he was hearing of there being a massive section in a Gu Master's Blessed Land. All Blessed Lands had a small tributary of the River of Time within them, which is why time within them could move at all, but they didn't manifest actual sections of the River of Time unless one used specialized Time Path methods.
No, this was probably only possible because it was an Earthly Calamity. He did not know the name of this Earthly Calamity, having never encountered something like this before, but a name that he thought of on the spot was: Earthly Calamity - River of Time's Deluge!
"What kind of effect will this have on the aperture?" Fang Yuan thought to himself.
It could speed up time as well as slow down time depending on how it chose to flow.
Additionally, various manner of beasts lived within the River of Time, which could find their way into the aperture. As of now, though, nothing like that happened, and the waters of the River of Time simply cascaded themselves onto the Blessed Land.
"This seems to be a rather benign Earthly Tribulation," Xie Han Mo said.
Fang Yuan was not as convinced. There had to be more to it than this.
And as it turned out, there was more.
Suddenly, things within the aperture stopped moving.
A butterfly flitting nearby paused in mid-air, its wings still in the middle of a wingbeat. Next to Fang Yuan, Xie Han Mo was frozen like a statue. Even the Land Spirit, the Seven Rainbows Moth King, was frozen.
The world was frozen like one of Genesis Lotus Immortal Venerable's paintings.
The only thing that could move was Fang Yuan, and the cascading waters of the River of Time itself.
"What's going on?" Fang Yuan wondered, as even the Land Spirit had fallen prey to this Earthly Calamity's effect.
The thing was that stopping time by itself would not really do anything to the Blessed Land, it just meant that no resources were created, but simultaneously, it didn't harm anything either.
And why was Fang Yuan the only one who could move? He had no special abilities or properties that should have let him ignore a Time Path attack.
As Fang Yuan wondered about this, in this cascading River of Time, a figure appeared. The shadow of a man whose silhouette was the only thing visible, though it was massive making him appear as tall as a building.
"Well met," the silhouette said. It did not emerge from the River of Time, nor did it attack Fang Yuan as he might've expected. Instead, it seemed content to simply talk to him. "Fang Yuan, you are currently trapped within a dream realm conjured by Heaven's Will and by myself. I hope that you haven't been too caught up in these memories to forget about reality."
"But, tell me one thing, Fang Yuan. Look around at the people around you, at your two children, at your beloved wife. This dream realm will snap, sooner or later, and you will be forced to go back into reality. But tell me, Fang Yuan, would you not want this to potentially become real? To make this dream come true? For there to be a future where you could live together with Xie Han Mo, start a family together, and live life happily and peacefully, away from the troubles of the world?"
"If I could tell you that such a thing is indeed possible, would you not reach for it? However, Fang Yuan, Fate will not allow it. The Embodiment of Humanity's Collective Will wishes for you to maintain Fate in order to maintain the integrity of this world. However, Fate Gu is what limits you. It is what prevents us humans from achieving happiness. Much as it tore away wealth from Ren Zu's hands and also separated him from Myriad Gold Wondrous Essence and Great Strength True Martial, it had also torn away your love during your first life. But not all is lost, Fang Yuan. If Fate is destroyed, anything can be possible. You wish to live together with Xie Han Mo peacefully? You wish to create a family? Do you want to turn this sweet dream into reality? All such is possible so long as Fate is destroyed. Do not fall for the sweet words of the Embodiment of Humanity's Collective Will, Fang Yuan. All this that you have found in this Blessed Land, all of this happiness, can indeed be yours should you simply destroy Fate."
"It is Fate that limits us, Fang Yuan. Fate which prevents humans from achieving what they wish. You want to obtain Eternal Life? That is impossible with Fate limiting you. Who says that people must die and cannot be brought back? Who says that lovers must be separated? Who says that humans cannot live the way they want with their friends and family and exist forever - what limits them is Fate Gu. It was because of Fate that the two of you could not be together during your first life. Fate Gu is an evil which burdens this world, Fang Yuan, and so long as it exists, humanity will never find peace. Destroy Fate, Fang Yuan, and free yourself of its shackles. Only then will you be able to move forward."
With that, the waters of the River of Time stopped cascading and things within the Blessed Land began to move again.
The wind blew through the Blessed Land, the butterflies were flitting around once more, and the Land Spirit and Xie Han Mo were animated once again.
The Earthly Calamity was over!