“Hmph, you actually kept this from me…” Fang Zaiji muttered under his breath as he followed behind Li Fan into the spatial passage.
“Hiss!”
As soon as they stepped into this small world, Fang Zaiji’s vision blurred, and he saw dozens of Green-Winged Flying Serpents baring their fangs, lunging toward him.
“You beasts dare to attack me?!” His expression darkened as he waved his wide sleeve. Instantly, the space in front of him trembled, and the ferocious beasts were reduced to dust, leaving no remains.
The entrance was located at the bottom of a deep ravine, shrouded in mist, with faint traces of spiritual energy dispersing into the air. The disturbance caused by Li Fan and Fang Zaiji’s arrival quickly drew the attention of countless beasts above.
Like waves of an unending tide, they charged forward fearlessly.
“Sir, please protect me while I work.” Despite their overwhelming numbers, these beasts were at most at the Foundation Establishment stage, posing no real threat to Fang Zaiji, who had reached the Dao Integration realm. Li Fan smiled, spoke briefly, then took out a Star-Stealing Lodging Talisman and placed it at the passage entrance.
In no time, after completing the transcription of this spatial node, Li Fan sent the talisman to Liu San, who was preparing inside the Longevity Valley.
“Young master, constructing the spatial passage will take approximately thirty days. Will you return first, or…?” Liu San’s voice faintly echoed through the gateway.
“Hmph, it’s exactly because you’re with him that I am worried.”
“What did you say?!” Fang Zaiji, still clearing out the beasts, suddenly turned around upon hearing this.
Just as he was about to argue with Liu San, he realized the connection had already been cut off. Feeling stifled, Fang Zaiji could only vent his frustration on the reckless beasts.
Before long, the creatures that had lived in this ravine for countless generations were slaughtered to near extinction.
Flying out of the gorge, Li Fan landed on a desolate plain. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and focused. The Black Bird Feather within him emitted a faint black glow. In an instant, he became aware of the omnipresent, free-flowing Heavenly Fortune within this small world.
Like a whale drawing in water, like leaves returning to their roots—without much effort, the Heavenly Fortune from hundreds of miles around surged eagerly into Li Fan’s body.
Or rather, into the Black Bird Feather.
As he absorbed more and more of this power, Li Fan felt a shift within himself. With a mere flick of his finger and a thought, a massive rift split the ground with a thunderous roar.
Countless plants and beasts were swallowed by the crevice, while those that survived let out terrified howls. No longer caring about this sudden intruder, they frantically tried to flee.
Watching the beasts retreat, Li Fan stirred his thoughts, and suddenly, fierce winds swept through the heavens and the earth.
Sand and stones rose into the air, howling as they lifted the fleeing beasts into the sky—only to hurl them back to where they started.
These creatures, already lacking in intelligence, were completely overwhelmed by terror. Trembling, they collapsed to the ground.
Satisfied, Li Fan withdrew his power.
“My fortune is the heavenly fortune, my fate is the heavenly fate. Every word and deed carries the might of heaven and earth.”
“Marvelous!” he thought to himself in admiration.
“Sect Master, was that… all your doing?” Fang Zaiji asked in shock.
Even with his Dao Integration cultivation, effortlessly splitting the earth and summoning stormwinds was no easy feat.
Li Fan simply smiled without answering.
For the next period of time, under Fang Zaiji’s protection, Li Fan continued gathering the free-flowing Heavenly Fortune within this world while making his way deeper into the wilderness.
If the Black Bird Feather’s faint guidance was correct, then Xiao Hei’s remains should be there.
During this journey, Li Fan discovered something rather intriguing…
The closer they got to Xiao Hei’s corpse, the fewer human-like external features the beasts had. At the same time, these beasts became significantly stronger.
“The beasts in this small world belong to a branch of hybridized [Beastkind] that fuses humans and beasts. However, after thousands of years of reproduction across countless generations, the beastly bloodline has not weakened. Instead, it has exhibited an atavistic phenomenon.”
“Interesting.”
As Fang Zaiji cleared a path forward, Li Fan also noticed that some of these beasts had actually mastered various “spells” that allowed them to utilize the free-flowing Heavenly Fortune for combat.
This somewhat hindered Li Fan’s ability to absorb Heavenly Fortune, but it was merely an inconvenience.
No matter what kind of divine abilities or mystical arts these beasts possessed, in the face of absolute power disparity, all of them were meaningless—they would all be crushed.
Fang Zaiji advanced relentlessly, while Li Fan leisurely followed behind, harvesting the remains.
“Mr. Fang, go easy on them. Leave some of the beasts alive. This place could make a fine ranch for our Medicine King Sect in the future.” Holding a blue crystal core in his hand, Li Fan examined it carefully while giving his instructions.
“Whatever you say, Sect Master.” The prolonged slaughter had made Fang Zaiji somewhat impatient. Now that Li Fan had spoken, he could rightfully slack off a bit, so he readily agreed.
This blue crystal core was something Li Fan had discovered within the corpse of a beast at the Golden Core stage.
It was identical to the beast cores described by Li Chenfeng—beast cores that the Empire’s cultivators relied on for cultivation.
Crushing the core, a surge of boiling-hot energy gushed forth like scalding water. As Li Fan absorbed it, he noticed that part of this searing, unfamiliar energy transformed into spiritual qi, flowing through his meridians. Another small portion dispersed into his physical body in tiny specks, strengthening his flesh and enhancing its resilience.
“Not bad, this is good stuff.” Li Fan thought to himself.
At this moment, Fang Zaiji also noticed Li Fan’s actions. Casually slaughtering another beast, he retrieved a crystal core and absorbed it.
“Interesting… Back in the day, we cultivators couldn’t absorb these demon cores. I never expected that after thousands of years, they would become usable to us!” After a brief moment, Fang Zaiji sighed.
“Indeed, the world has changed over these millennia!” Li Fan laughed in agreement.
“Perhaps this is precisely due to the fusion of demon beast and human bloodlines over the past thousands of years.” Li Fan thought to himself, recalling those [Beastkind] that looked nearly identical to humans.
Continuing forward, they saw a towering black three-legged pagoda standing on the distant land. At its peak, a massive black bird stood with its wings outstretched.
“So it really is that thing.” A glimmer of sharpness flashed in Li Fan’s eyes. The black bird’s appearance was exactly the same as the Xiao Hei he had encountered in the Fallen Immortal Realm.
As if sensing that Fang Zaiji’s power was utterly unstoppable, the beasts no longer attempted to hinder their approach.
Li Fan could only watch as thousands upon thousands of beasts knelt beneath the black three-legged pagoda, bowing their heads in reverence toward the black bird, as if pleading for mercy.