With the disciples of the Medicine King Sect joining the management, Li Fan no longer had to worry too much.
After spending a month absorbing all the drifting Heavenly Fortune of the Beastkind Realm, he finally reached a qualitative transformation.
Within the feathers of the Black Bird, a faint image of a newly hatched chick—its feathers not yet grown—could be seen.
It bore some resemblance to Xiao Hei when it was young, yet there were also differences.
Li Fan closed his eyes, and in the next moment, the entire Beastkind Realm appeared before him like a sphere of glowing mist.
He could instantly perceive every detail of the realm with perfect clarity.
However, he also noticed that around the two Dao Integration experts, Fang Zaiji and Liu San, there were distortions in the light and shadow, making the area unclear. And this was despite the fact that the two had noticed Li Fan’s gaze and had not actively attempted to block it.
“In the Xuanhuang World, the influence of a Dao Integration expert can span nearly an entire province. But in this small world, a Dao Integration cultivator can already rival the world itself. This is a natural difference in levels,” Li Fan grasped in realization.
With a mere thought, he stepped forward, instantly crossing ten thousand miles to arrive at a clear spring atop a mountain peak.
It was only after Li Fan had fully mastered the world’s Heavenly Fate that he became aware of the anomaly here.
By the pool, there was a wooden hut. Li Fan pushed open the wooden door and stepped inside.
Inside the room, a Black Bird with feathers that had lost their luster stood proudly.
Though it still looked majestic, it no longer carried the breath of life.
“Xiao Hei…” Li Fan instantly recognized the Black Bird.
“So… it has died of old age?”
After observing for a while, Li Fan murmured to himself.
Even though its lifespan was far longer than that of a cultivator, this Heavenly Fate Black Bird had ultimately reached the end of its life, having lived since ancient times.
However, Li Fan soon noticed something unusual.
By all logic, Xiao Qing had lived in the same era as Xiao Hei, yet Qingluan birds were far weaker than Heavenly Fate Black Birds.
Moreover, Xiao Hei had fused with the Heavenly Fate of this world.
There was no reason why Xiao Qing was still alive while Xiao Hei had perished first.
“Could it be that Xiao Hei exhausted its lifespan for some reason?”
Li Fan narrowed his eyes.
Activating the divine ability [Heaven’s Mandate is Mine], he shielded himself with the domain of Heavenly Fate and gently touched the Xuan Bird’s corpse.
“Whoosh!”
Like a breeze, Xiao Hei’s body instantly disintegrated into countless tiny particles, scattering into the air.
At the same time, countless blurry images flashed through Li Fan’s mind.
At first, the events mirrored what he had experienced in the Fallen Immortal Realm.
Growing up joyfully alongside Xu Ke in the Beast Taming Sect, encountering Mr. Bai who intruded into the sect, and later being sent to the Sacred Beast Mountain of the Nanming…
Ultimately, Xiao Hei had failed the “Heart-Linking Ring” trial and was exiled here by Emperor Sanmo.
The difference was that, in the real timeline, Xiao Hei had missed the opportunity to meet Mr. Bai.
Without the True Profound Art of Creation, upon arriving in this small world, it could only cultivate using the divine abilities inherited through its bloodline.
Even after countless years, it barely managed to attain the [Heaven’s Mandate is Mine] divine ability, but it had already become bound to the fate of this world.
Leaving this world was not impossible, but it came at an extremely steep price.
However, as long as one did not frequently leave their origin world—or replenished themselves with Heavenly Fate upon returning—it was not easy to suffer fatal damage.
Yet, Xiao Hei had chosen to do just that.
And the reason was…
Li Fan sifted through and examined Xiao Hei’s memories from after it arrived in the Beastkind Realm.
At the beginning, in order to prevent Xiao Hei from feeling lonely, Xu Ke would frequently send messages, sharing his experiences and observations.
“Xiao Hei, do you know how thrilling and dangerous this journey has been? We’ve encountered countless strange small worlds and were even hunted by demonic beasts!”
“At first, we thought someone had leaked information. But later, we realized it was just our bad luck—we ran into a group of demonic beasts that, for some unknown reason, also appeared in the small world. We struck first, but in the end, one of the beasts managed to escape, exposing our retreat.”
“Luckily, we’re almost at our destination!”
…
“Xiao Hei, Xiao Hei! Do you still remember Mr. Bai? I originally thought he was already incredibly powerful. But I didn’t expect him to be even stronger than I imagined! My senior brothers and I were sent to explore a small world, but unexpectedly, we encountered a terrifying monster!”
“It had nine heads, a colossal body lying across the sky! Every time it opened its mouth, it seemed as if it could tear apart and devour a portion of the world!”
“I thought I was doomed! That I would never see you again, Xiao Hei!”
“But before I left the Xuanhuang Realm, Senior Brother Lu Ya gave me a red string woven by Mr. Bai. Just as that nine-headed monster fixed its gaze on me, a thin thread suddenly shot out from the red string!”
“Before I could even react, the red thread slashed through the air like a sharp sword—instantly cutting off six of the monster’s heads!”
“And the red string didn’t stop there—it forcibly dragged the beast down from the sky!”
“I was completely stunned! Mr. Bai is truly incredible!”
…
“Xiao Hei, I have received an extremely important mission. I may not be able to contact you for a long time.”
“I’m really sorry. But don’t worry, I’ll come back once it’s over!”
…
“Xiao Hei, tell me, why is it that cultivators were originally humans too, yet once they step onto the path of cultivation, they become so ruthless toward their own kind?”
…
Scenes flashed rapidly before Li Fan’s eyes.
He now knew that Xu Ke had once come to this Beast Realm and met Xiao Hei.
At that time, Xu Ke had already grown into a refined and heroic young man.
Master and beast companion reunited, sitting by the clear pond atop the mountain, chatting for a long time.
But in the end, Xu Ke came in a hurry and left just as quickly.
Xiao Hei originally wanted to follow Xu Ke, but at the time, the restrictions set by Emperor Sanmo were still in place. Moreover, Xu Ke had said that great upheavals were occurring in the outside world, and if Xiao Hei left with him, it might be dangerous.
So, Xu Ke told Xiao Hei to wait here until the time was right—he would come back to take him away.
After their farewell, they communicated a few more times.
However, the intervals between their conversations grew longer and longer. Through the tone of Xu Ke’s messages, one could witness his growth.
Until one day…
Xiao Hei suddenly lost all sense of Xu Ke.
As Xu Ke’s companion beast, even though their master-servant bond had faded, a profound connection still existed between them.
No matter how many millions of miles apart they were, even across multiple worlds—
Xiao Hei could always faintly sense Xu Ke’s existence.
But now, for that connection to completely disappear, there was only one possibility.
Xu Ke was dead.