Neither the Heavenly Sword Sect nor the Di Yi beast clan that departed was ever heard from again in the Xuanhuang Realm.
In Li Fan's eyes, this was the escape route he would consider least.
The High Wall sealed off the interior of the sea of stars from the void beyond.
Once outside the High Wall, all connection with the Xuanhuang Realm would almost certainly be severed forever.
There was simply no way to verify whether the escape had succeeded.
Moreover, under the colossal energy fluctuations of boundary-splitting, any failure would likely leave no opportunity to even use True Reversion.
Neither his true body nor his avatars could afford to "test out" whether boundary-splitting was truly feasible.
Thus, Li Fan had always held little interest in this approach.
"Fleeing by splitting the boundary is nothing short of pure defeatism. The trial of the Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang could never favor such an option.
"If I were Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang and a group of people in my world was preparing to desert, what would I do?"
Li Fan pondered this carefully as he accompanied Xu Ke toward Mount Nanming.
Their encounters along the way differed little from his previous runs through the illusion.
This time, however, with Mr. Bai's wooden carving protecting them, the journey was devoid of danger, and they arrived smoothly.
Guided once again by the human body projected from Di Yi, they attended the demon beasts' Ten Thousand Demons Convention.
Amid a deafening roar of demons chanting their eternal loyalty to Lord Di Yi, the assembly came to a close.
Reminded by Li Fan, Xu Ke handed over the wooden box containing the head of Di Erli.
Di Yi's reaction and conduct were identical to before.
After uttering a string of cryptic, obscure remarks, he split off a gray orb and passed it to Xu Ke.
"Off you go, then."
Di Yi promptly issued his dismissal.
"Wait!"
Xu Ke suddenly called out.
"Hmm?" Di Yi Beast was taken aback.
Even so, he patiently waited for Xu Ke to speak.
"Senior, how many of the demon beasts here do you think truly wish to follow you and leave?
"Abandoning a blessed land like the Xuanhuang Realm over an ethereal, foreboding calamity that shows not a single trace yet?"
Di Yi's human form furrowed his brows. "I don't need their sincerity. I only need them to obey orders.
"If they prove truly disobedient, the worst I'll have to do is swallow them all!"
Xu Ke smiled, adopting a worldly, mature air. "Just now, Senior, you said that an infinite future holds infinite possibilities. Why, then, are you so certain that the Xuanhuang Realm is doomed, and that flight is the only sliver of hope?
"Could there not be a future where the Xuanhuang Realm truly survives—and even stands as the sole safe haven across all time and space?
"Aren't you going to do something for that sliver of possibility?"
Xu Ke's eyes shone with wisdom, as though lit from within, staring straight at Di Yi.
Such words clearly could not have come from a boy of Xu Ke's age.
And the silly bird snoozing away on his head...
Clearly, it could not have conceived them either.
*So this is his meaning?*
Di Yi naturally knew who had sent Xu Ke here.
He began to ponder the boy's words in earnest.
Seeing this, Xu Ke struck while the iron was hot. "Back then, Di Sanmo could break away from the beasts and side with humanity.
"Today, when choosing between leaving and staying, surely a portion could be split off to guard Xuanhuang.
"In truth, this could never be stopped anyway. Having a word from you merely makes it official."
Di Yi Beast glanced out the window at the diverse crowd of demon beasts, lost in thought.
"Interesting.
"Wait a while before you leave, then."
With those words, Di Yi's human form vanished into thin air.
Xu Ke and Li Fan turned toward the gathering, which had not yet dispersed.
Di Yi suddenly called over thirty-odd beasts, including Chi Jiutou.
Whatever was said to them, the beasts' expressions shifted from terror to disbelief, and finally to ecstatic delight.
Li Fan felt Di Yi's gaze drift toward him from afar, only to turn away a moment later.
Seven days later.
In the sky above Mount Nanming.
"What? We're supposed to take orders from this little brat?"
Chi Jiutou, now in human guise, scowled as he glared down at the tiny Xu Ke.
The procession was vast and formidable, numbering over three thousand transformed demon beasts in total.
Right now, every one of them radiated overwhelming baleful qi, eyeing Xu Ke with vicious hostility.
Xu Ke swallowed hard, but encouraged by Li Fan, he nodded firmly. "Senior Di Yi agreed to let you remain in the Xuanhuang Realm, but on one sole condition: you must obey my orders.
"Naturally, I won't make unreasonable demands. It's just that I fear you'll run wild in human cultivator territory, so you must be kept in check."
As Xu Ke spoke, he reached into his robes and pulled out a disk.
The moment the disk appeared, the ferocious beasts instantly fell into line.
At least on the surface.
"Fine. You have the Beast Wheel, so you call the shots," Chi Jiutou said with a tight, false smile.
"Obeying your orders is fine, brat. But there has to be a time limit, right? We can't work like pack mules for you our entire lives, can we?"
"Hahaha, I don't think we need to worry about that. At most, this little brat can live a few thousand years. Which of us demon beasts can't live peacefully for tens of thousands?"
"Then we'd better keep a close eye on him. Wouldn't want him dying on us too early!"
Several jeering remarks rose from the demonic crowd.
Xu Ke kept his face taut, unaffected by their heckling.
After creating a fuss for a while and seeing that Xu Ke never lost his temper, the beasts settled down and focused on the journey.
In truth, the migrating demon beast contingent was far larger than the three thousand visible on the surface.
Nearly every beast brought family along.
They carried their kin who refused to flee the Xuanhuang Realm within spatial treasures akin to grotto-heavens.
Along the way, other beasts who caught wind of the news and wished to stay in the Xuanhuang Realm continuously rushed over to join the ranks.
By the time they neared the Beast Taming Sect, the procession had swelled to over ten thousand strong.
Vast and imposing, their demonic qi swept across the sky.
It looked like an army of demon beasts marching to war.
Had it not been for the Beast Wheel granted by Di Yi Beast suppressing their aura, alongside Mr. Bai's wooden figurine stirring the power of the Heavenly Dao to mask them from time to time, the procession would have sent every cultivator in the regions they passed through into outright panic.
Even so, when this terrifying beast army finally arrived outside the gates of the Beast Taming Sect, the oblivious sect was thrown into utter terror.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
Shrill, frantic alarms tore through the entire sect in an instant.
Countless cultivators, accompanied by their bound spirit beasts, rushed out from all corners of the mountain gates.
"So weak! Pathetically weak!"
"To think our Azure Dragon lineage could be reduced to such frail creatures after being domesticated by humans!"
"Hmph, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I never would have believed demon beasts could sincerely submit to humans!"
"There are plenty of us. Why don't we..."
Sensing the sudden, sinister shift in the beast army's mood, Xu Ke broke into a cold sweat.
Chapter 1081