Xu Ke gripped the Beast Wheel tightly in his hand, not daring to let his guard down for even a moment.
Only after quite a while did the agitated ranks of demon beasts slowly calm down. This was not Xu Ke's doing, however, but because Di Sanmo had appeared.
Interestingly enough, back during the Holy Beast Convention on Mount Nanming, whenever Di Sanmo was mentioned, every single one of these demon beasts sneered with contempt, reviling him as the scum of the demon race whom every beast had the right to execute. Yet now that Di Sanmo had actually appeared in person, the gathered beasts fell as silent as cicadas in winter; not a single one dared raise its voice.
Xu Ke voiced his confusion in his heart.
"Lord Profound Bird, why do I feel like in their eyes, Grandpa San is even scarier than Di Yi?"
Li Fan smiled. "Di Yi is the emperor of the demon beasts, so he must consider the entirety of his race, meting out rewards and punishments with restraint. Under normal circumstances, so long as no one enrages him, there is no real danger. But the Di Sanmo before you has openly betrayed the demon beasts and defected to humanity.
"A traitor to the demon race, who not only continues to live in fine health, but even helped human cultivators establish the Beast Taming Sect...
"Who do you think has killed more demon beasts over the years—Di Yi or Di Sanmo?"
Xu Ke fell deep into thought. Then, casting a glance at the white-haired elder who looked so kind and benevolent, he could not help but shudder.
With Di Sanmo personally stepping in to suppress them, the beast horde naturally fell in line on the surface.
Even so, Di Sanmo did not push things too far by forcing these demon beasts to join the Beast Taming Sect and submit to enslavement by human cultivators.
He merely cordoned off a large tract of land within the Beast Taming Sect's territory to temporarily house them.
Though it was somewhat cramped, survival was not an issue.
After listening to Xu Ke recount everything that had transpired, Di Sanmo asked, "What was your reason for saying those words to Di Yi?"
Xu Ke was well prepared and answered with composure, "Senior Di Yi said that a great catastrophe is imminent in the Xuanhuang Realm, which is why he intends to split the boundary and leave. But while he can flee, we cannot. To face the catastrophe, we must unite every force that can be united. With the strength of this beast contingent joining us, our Beast Taming Sect's chances of surviving the catastrophe will at least be significantly greater."
Di Sanmo pondered in silence.
These words did not sound like something a child could devise. Yet Di Sanmo had lived far too long to measure a person's wisdom solely by their youth.
After a spell of silence, he said flatly, "Since you brought this trouble upon us, I leave it entirely to you to handle. From now on, if any among these beasts stir up trouble and break the sect's rules, I will hold you accountable."
With that, Di Sanmo tossed over a disc as well.
It was not much different from the one Di Yi had bestowed upon Xu Ke.
Only, the patterns of demon beasts carved upon it were far richer and more vivid.
"This is..."
"The sect's supreme treasure, the Beast Taming Reincarnation Wheel?" Xu Ke quickly recognized the treasure Di Sanmo had handed him and reflexively gripped it tight.
Before he could say anything more, Di Sanmo's figure had already vanished without a trace.
"Such a treasure... he just handed it over to me so easily?" Blank-faced with bewilderment, Xu Ke felt as though none of this were real.
Li Fan, meanwhile, silently compared the two different Beast Wheels.
The one gifted by Di Yi depicted only the species that had migrated along with Xu Ke, but possessed a far stronger suppressive power over the demon beasts. Even the strongest among them, Chi Jiutou—whose might rivaled that of a human cultivator in the Longevity realm—held his life and death in a single thought of the Beast Wheel's bearer. This was determined by the trait that all demon beast clans of the Xuanhuang Realm were differentiated from Di Yi.
As for Di Sanmo's Beast Taming Reincarnation Wheel, it seemed to encompass all demon beasts in the world aside from the Emperor Beasts. However, its degree of control over the beasts was relatively weaker. After all, a sage or prophet could only offer concrete counsel, but could never dictate the path one chose.
"I wonder whether my memories regarding techniques and divine abilities will still be lost once I emerge from this trial illusion of the Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang.
"If the principles and techniques behind these two Beast Wheels can be absorbed and adapted, the Empire might truly be able to breed atavistic demon beasts."
Within the pocket world of the Empire, such a hypothesis had long existed.
Strange beasts had evolved from demon beasts, and all demon beasts in the world shared a common ancestor. Therefore, in truth, the body of every strange beast contained complete information regarding demon beast bloodlines.
The creation of the fusion beast resembling Di Yi had been executed based on this very conjecture.
However, far too little data on ancient demon beasts had been preserved to conduct targeted atavistic experiments. Otherwise, reproducing an era where ancient demon beasts ran rampant would not necessarily have been difficult.
"Regardless, I should record them thoroughly first."
The information contained within the two Beast Wheels was simply too vast and convoluted; even with Li Fan's current abilities, mastering it completely proved arduous. Moreover, perhaps because they were not native products of Xuanhuang, the information of the Beast Wheels within this illusion seemed somewhat lacking compared to the physical artifacts.
Yet that did not prevent Li Fan from keeping both Beast Wheels firmly in his possession at all times.
From then on, the course of events in the Disaster of the Beast Taming Sect began to diverge from past iterations.
Xu Ke was no longer assigned the mission to travel to the Divine Brush Sect in search of the Realm-Rifting Whale, focusing instead entirely on managing the horde of demon beasts within the sect.
"Unite every force that can be united"—this was likely the subject of the trial in this second act.
When catastrophe descends, as the Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang, one naturally had to display coordinating and organizing abilities far beyond the ordinary. The factions within the Xuanhuang Realm were tangled and fraught with ulterior motives, yet in the end they still belonged to the human race.
The conflicts and contradictions among them were certainly not as deep as those between humans and demon beasts.
At least, that was how it had to appear on the surface.
If he could handle the relationship between this beast contingent and the Beast Taming Sect well, he would likely pass this test.
"Do not immediately seek to suppress them with the Beast Wheel whenever trouble arises. You must convince beasts through reason...
"If the Beast Wheel loses its power one day, how will you deal with them then?
"In the ancient days of the Xuanhuang Realm, there were sage sovereigns who possessed not even the strength to truss a chicken. Yet their words were earnest, and they treated others with sincerity. Whosoever spoke with them felt as refreshed as if basking in a gentle spring breeze. High and low alike held them in deep reverence and awe."
While studying the Beast Wheels, Li Fan cultivated to increase his own strength.
At the same time, he guided Xu Ke on how to handle and command the horde of demon beasts.
Compared to humans, the demon beasts harbored far fewer devious schemes, appearing considerably simpler by comparison.
Under the personal tutelage of Grand Preceptor Li, Xu Ke drew upon the power of the Beast Wheel only three times over the ensuing years. In the vast majority of cases, he resolved various crises purely through his words and actions.
Gradually, he finally won the trust of all the demon beasts.
At last, the great catastrophe where dharmas cannot be cultivated concurrently finally arrived.
Because the entire Beast Taming Sect cultivated only a single cultivation method, they could not hold out for long, and signs of impending collapse soon began to show.
"To think such a terrifying catastrophe would come—dharmas cannot be cultivated concurrently..."
Xu Ke's face grew rather grim.
Chapter 1082