Did the Thousand-Faced Demon Venerable truly exist?
In truth, this question did not matter.
Since the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals and countless cultivators had already reached their verdict, what had happened in the past was irrelevant.
From now on, he was a specter haunting the territory of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals.
Prowling for victims to devour, impossible to guard against.
Anyone could be the heinous Thousand-Faced Demon Venerable.
And the final authority to define his identity rested solely in the hands of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals, who possessed the Heavenly Profound Spirit-Locking Formation.
That was what mattered most.
Li Fan could almost foresee the far more perilous cultivation environment that awaited the cultivators of the Alliance once the Spirit-Locking Formation was fully constructed.
"If things truly reach that point, the situation will completely fall apart. As a mere Golden Core cultivator, I doubt I would be able to stay out of it. Perhaps when the time comes, I can trigger True Reversion early..."
Soldiers to counter generals, earth to dam water; there were still at least ten-odd years before the Spirit-Locking Formation saw widespread deployment. Any further worries were nothing more than unnecessary fretting for Li Fan at present.
Take things one step at a time.
Li Fan suppressed the stray thoughts in his mind and began the ritual to enter the Fallen Immortal Realm.
"Blessings from the Mysterious Yellow Immortal Venerable!"
The scene before his eyes gradually cleared from a blur.
The howling of the wind roared incessantly in his ears.
He seemed to be flying at high speed high in the sky. The bone-chilling cold all around made Li Fan's body shiver slightly.
"Hm? This time isn't like Ningyuan City; I didn't start over inside the egg?" Having regained a sliver of self-awareness, Li Fan felt a bit surprised.
However, he quickly recalled the exact moment in time of this scene.
The young boy Xu Ke was clinging tightly to the qingluan's neck, while Li Fan clung to the boy's nape.
Following the direction indicated by the boy, the qingluan sped forward.
Wasn't this the exact scene from when he last left the Fallen Immortal Realm?
Had this really become a serialized drama?
Li Fan found it rather novel.
Although he lost the opportunity to repeatedly explore and harvest chances without limit, he would not suffer the frustration of endlessly replaying the same stretch of time.
One could say there were pros and cons.
Transforming into a profound bird severely constrained Li Fan's cognitive capacity.
He decided not to overthink things. Scratching at Xu Ke's hair, he began pondering the divine abilities he had comprehended during his last entry.
Aside from the extraordinarily powerful Heavenly Destiny Profound Light, there was also Destiny Is Mine, which could gather fortune without dispersing.
Squinting, he looked up at the crown of Xu Ke's head once more, seeing that purple-gold pillar of light soaring straight into the heavens.
Li Fan instinctively began absorbing the wisps of energy radiating outward from the purple-gold glow.
As if he had swallowed the most potent elixir under heaven, speckles of purple-gold light entered his body. Li Fan felt as though he had plunged into a hot spring, a warm glow spreading through his entire body.
He could distinctly sense his soul and physical body steadily growing stronger.
He exhaled a contented breath, which turned into a faint golden thread undetectable to ordinary people, returning back into the purple-gold fortune pillar above Xu Ke's head.
Heavenly Destiny Profound Bird... so that's how it is...
Li Fan instantly understood the essence of the divine ability Destiny Is Mine.
Between heaven and earth, all manner of living beings possessed fortune, each differing from the next.
Some sailed smoothly through every endeavor, turning misfortune into good luck every time.
Others were born under the unluckiest stars, choking even on a sip of cold water.
Yet fortune was not set in stone.
Rather, it was exceptionally susceptible to external circumstances.
Those whose lives ran smooth and unhindered in their early years might suddenly suffer misfortune after misfortune upon facing certain events, their fortunes taking a sharp nosedive.
Meanwhile, those down on their luck for most of their lives might one day see their luck turn, rising to immense wealth and prominence from then on.
The underlying reason was that fortune interacted with external phenomena, making it extremely volatile.
The weaker one's original fortune was, the more pronounced this became.
For someone as extraordinarily noble as Xu Ke, his fortune was not easily shaken.
Even so, each disaster he encountered shaved away a portion of his innate fortune.
Furthermore, during daily activities, it constantly radiated outward, steadily depleting itself.
Over time, if it only seeped out without taking anything in, his fortune would naturally dwindle.
The profound bird's divine ability, Destiny Is Mine, could absorb the fortune its master leaked in daily life. While nourishing the bird itself, it refined the fortune and fed it back to its master.
Not only did it help the master accumulate and expand fortune—preventing it from dissipating needlessly—
but in times of crisis, it could also lend its own fortune to its master,
using formidable luck to weather life-and-death crises.
In short, the profound bird and its master complemented and perfected one another.
Seems following this kid around isn't bad at all, Li Fan thought, greedily drawing in another breath of the invisible purple-gold qi.
"Hey, kid, where are you heading now?" Having finished absorbing this wisp of fortune, Li Fan felt himself grow slightly stronger once more.
With a shift in thought, he immediately attempted to communicate with Xu Ke.
Naturally, he did not speak aloud in human tongue, but projected his thoughts silently.
"Whoa! Little Black, you actually learned telepathy!" An instant later, Xu Ke's voice rang in Li Fan's mind.
"Little... Black? Who are you talking to?" Li Fan swiped out violently, giving Xu Ke a sharp scratch.
"Oww, that hurts!" Xu Ke rubbed his head on both sides, sounding thoroughly innocent. "The crane is Little Red, and the qingluan is Little Green. You're pitch-black all over, so what's wrong with calling you Little Black?"
Li Fan pecked him hard several times. "I am the magnificent Heavenly Destiny Profound Bird! How could I have such a vulgar name?!"
"All right, all right." Wincing from the pecks, Xu Ke had no choice but to concede.
"Then I'll call you Little Xuan."
Although Li Fan was still somewhat annoyed, his consciousness was currently inhabiting an exotic beast whose brain had not yet fully developed.
Lacking sufficient mental bandwidth, he couldn't think of a better name on the spot, so he had to let it slide for now.
"You still haven't answered my question. Where are we heading right now?" Li Fan asked.
Seeing that Li Fan had tacitly accepted the name, Xu Ke chuckled foolishly.
At the same time, he replied in his mind, "We're going to find Senior Brother Lu Ya."
"The whole sect is still in a mess right now. It's all because Mr. Bai struck too hard and scared everyone out of their wits."
"A lot of fellow disciples don't want to stay and cultivate in the sect anymore; they think there's no future in it."
"Everyone's running away or fleeing. The martial uncles and elders, plus many seniors, who knows where they ran off to? No one has stepped up to maintain order."
"So the chaos has only gotten worse and worse."
"It's just way too dangerous. If we run into someone like Song Yang again, we might not be so lucky."
"So it's better to find Senior Brother Lu Ya. He's so strong, so staying by his side is bound to be safer."
"And who knows, maybe we can see Mr. Bai too, hehe."
Xu Ke's thoughts moved swiftly, pouring out like a rapid burst of fire.
"How do you know where this Senior Brother Lu Ya of yours is?" Li Fan asked, somewhat surprised.
Chapter 344