Obtaining the Profound Bird's Relic

No matter how one looked at it, the red string in Xu Ke's hand seemed completely unremarkable—nothing more than an ordinary trinket. Yet considering how Mr. Bai could casually dispense something like the True Profound Art of Creation with a mere word, how could he possibly give ordinary items to the children? In particular, when Li Fan's gaze swept over Xu Ke and he slightly relaxed his control over the killing intent in his heart, a sudden, fatal sense of crisis surged forth. Li Fan instantly understood that if he truly lost his sanity and attacked Xu Ke... Then the one to die first would definitely be himself. Yet Xu Ke was completely unaware of the red string's immense value. Simply because it was a gift from Mr. Bai, his heart was filled with joy. "Let us go. It is time." Lu Ya's gaze was profound as he took one last look at Xu Ke. He then quietly flew outside the Myriad Beasts Boat and formed a hand seal. A somber, dim light silently enveloped the vessel. The Myriad Beasts Boat tore through the void, sailing toward an unknown new home. The instant the flying boat left the Xuanhuang Realm, Li Fan, perched atop Xu Ke's head, felt everything around him freeze into absolute stillness in a single breath. Then, like an old photograph weathered by time, the colors gradually drained away. In the end, it dissolved into specks of light and shattered completely. Li Fan knew this was because he had resolved the Heavenly Destiny Profound Bird's obsession and completed "Disaster of the Beast Taming Sect." Yet unlike before, Li Fan did not return directly to the real world. Instead, he returned once more to that distorted, transparent bubble he had occupied upon entering the Fallen Immortal Realm this time. Li Fan looked straight ahead, where a new cluster of light and shadow emerged. Amid the rapidly shifting images, he could faintly make out a colossal stone sword standing tall within an enormous spiraling rift valley. Flanking it, tens of thousands of cultivators, like swarming ants, bustled fervently, drawing upon the power of blazing earth fire to continuously smelt and forge numerous materials into it. "It seems a new scenario has been unlocked. This looks like..." "The Heavenly Sword Sect... the Boundary-Splitting Divine Weapon?" Li Fan narrowed his eyes slightly. Unfortunately, likely because he had just exited the Fallen Immortal Realm scenario, he was not yet able to enter this brand-new scene. "I'll just have to wait until next time." In the shifting glimpses of the light cluster, countless cultivators darted back and forth, streaking across like rays of light. Yet that Boundary-Splitting Divine Weapon remained standing lofty and immovable, appearing ever more imposing with the passage of time. As if drawn by an uncanny allure, Li Fan stared at it for a long while before finally looking away. Looking at the first two light clusters, although both belonged to the "cleared" category, they still gave Li Fan somewhat different sensations. "Retrieving Longevity Fruits in Ningyuan" was like a sphere radiating light in all directions, bright and flawless. Whereas "Disaster of the Beast Taming Sect" was illuminated in only a small portion, with the vast majority still concealed in shadows. Li Fan mused, "Perhaps Xiao Hei's obsession was just like Senior Brother Zhang's back then—merely a superficial cover. The true master sustaining the Beast Taming Sect's spacetime might be someone else entirely." The experiences from his multiple entries into the Fallen Immortal Realm were spliced and pieced together into a coherent sequence, which Li Fan savored and reviewed carefully. Even as the surrounding distorted space grew unstable, he still found no clear clue. The bubble burst, and Li Fan returned to the real world. At the same time, a black feather appeared in his hand. "The Profound Bird's Relic..." Along with the Heavenly Destiny Profound Bird's feather came a rapidly flashing, hazy memory. It was what had truly happened to Xiao Hei in actual history. Just as Li Fan had done, Xiao Hei had possessed great confidence in itself, insisting on taking the trial of the Ring of Shared Hearts despite Xu Ke's dissuasion. But it was a demonic beast after all, and lacked Li Fan's miraculous fortune of possessing the Immortal Heart Incantation. No miracle occurred; the inevitable outcome was that it failed the Ring of Shared Hearts' trial of never harming its master. What originally awaited Xiao Hei should have been the fate of collective execution alongside numerous other demonic beasts. However, under Xu Ke's bitter pleading, Lu Ya felt compassion and ultimately made an exception, sparing its life. Yet to prevent leaks, Lu Ya asked Di Sanmo to intervene, exiling it to a desolate pocket world with an injunction not to leave for a thousand years. "Xiao Hei, we will definitely meet again," Xu Ke had said through tear-filled eyes at the moment of their reluctant farewell. Grief had welled up within the Heavenly Destiny Profound Bird as well, and it cried out mournfully again and again. Yet it also understood that without the restraint of the True Beast Taming Art, it truly could not suppress the violent ferocity in its heart. If it insisted on staying by Xu Ke's side, it might end up harming him instead. Feigning composure, it stroked Xu Ke's head with its wing to comfort him. "Xiao Hei, when we see each other next time, so much time will surely have passed. We will both be all grown up. Will you fail to recognize me then?" Xu Ke fretted with worry. Just as Xiao Hei was about to scoff at Xu Ke's seemingly silly worry, it suddenly saw the boy slap his own forehead and extract a drop of his essence blood. Sealing it inside a brown jade vial, Xu Ke solemnly handed it to Xiao Hei. "Here, keep this. You mustn't forget me, okay?" Xu Ke's little face had turned rather pale, but he still smiled bravely. The Heavenly Destiny Profound Bird let out a sorrowful cry and swallowed the small brown vial into its stomach. After parting with Xu Ke, Xiao Hei was subjected to Di Sanmo's spell and exiled to a desolate pocket world. The imagery shattered; the memory ended here. ... Li Fan recalled the desolate, ruined scene seen through the Profound Bird's eyes that had flashed at the very end, and suddenly felt it seemed somewhat familiar. It was precisely that pocket world Han Yi had previously stumbled into, where many human-beast hybrids existed. "So that fallen Heavenly Destiny Profound Bird really was Xiao Hei, after all." Li Fan pondered for a moment, and a sudden flash of inspiration struck his mind. "I wonder if Xu Ke's drop of essence blood is still there." "An Imperial royal bloodline, the method to manipulate strange beasts..." A vague plan began to take shape in Li Fan's mind. Imperial operatives like Xiao Qing and Li Chenfeng were exceedingly cautious. Ever since Li Fan had intervened last time, stating that a great war was imminent in the Xuanhuang Realm and that transactions had to be suspended for a time, they had all pulled into their shells and vanished without a trace. According to the last surveillance imagery from the Formless Killing Intent, they seemed to have temporarily returned to the Empire. "I haven't yet tried making an avatar using a cultivator's essence blood. If Xu Ke's drop of essence blood is still there, perhaps I can give Xiao Qing and the others a little 'surprise.'" Li Fan's eyes flickered. After a moment, he pushed the thought aside for now and carefully examined the Profound Bird's Relic. His gains from the Fallen Immortal Realm this time, besides this feather, included some memories regarding Xiao Hei's innate divine ability, "Destiny Is Mine." Although he did not possess the bloodline of the Heavenly Destiny Profound Bird, if he relied on this feather, he could still bring forth some of its effects. Drawing the Profound Bird's Relic into his body, the same familiar sensation from when he possessed the Profound Bird during cultivation immediately welled up in his heart. His perspective abruptly rose as Li Fan observed his own destiny. It was a barely visible column of white smoke, as though it could be scattered by the wind at any moment.