Fang Yuan looked down at one of his newly "refined" elders, a man who was once a proud Rank 7 expert but was now a hollow vessel of dark energy. With a flick of his wrist, Fang Yuan injected a concentrated spark of Rank 9 Void-Qi into the elder's core, turning him into a living projection of his own terrifying presence.
"Go to the Alliance of the Five Sects," Fang Yuan commanded, his voice cold as the vacuum of space. "Tell them their struggle pleases me. Tell them they have exactly one year."
The elder vanished in a blur of black smoke, appearing hours later in the middle of the "Great Martial Assembly" where the leaders of the world were debating how to stop the rising monsters.
The sky above the assembly turned pitch black. The elder hovered in the air, his eyes glowing with Fang Yuan's borrowed light. The pressure was so immense that even the Rank 8 Grandmasters felt their knees buckle.
"People of the Azure Sky," the elder's voice boomed, amplified by Fang Yuan's power. "The Patriarch of the Ancient Void has looked upon your weakness and felt... disappointment. He has awakened the ancient calamities to test your worth. You have 365 days to reach your peak. Those who fail to evolve will be the first to be refined. Those who succeed... will be a worthy tribute."
The elder exploded into a cloud of black mist, leaving behind a massive, burning countdown timer in the sky that could be seen from every corner of the continent.
Back on his throne, Fang Yuan watched the terror unfold through the system's eyes. He saw the panic, but more importantly, he saw the sudden, desperate spark of resolve in the eyes of the martial artists.
"Panic... then focus," Fang Yuan whispered, his fingers tracing the edge of his obsidian throne. "Now, Lu Chen, the world is looking for a savior, and I have given them a deadline. Don't let me down. Build me the strongest army this world has ever seen, so I can crush it and take everything they've built."