A Thread Slashes Chi Jiutou

With the disciples of the Medicine King Sect stepping in to manage things, Li Fan naturally had no need to fret over it anymore. After spending a month absorbing all the ambient heavenly fortune of the Beast Seed Realm, he finally reached a qualitative transformation. Within the Feather of the Profound Bird, the faint phantom of a newly hatched, featherless fledgling could be seen. It bore some resemblance to Xiao Hei in his infancy, yet there were also subtle differences. Li Fan closed his eyes. In the next instant, the entire Beast Seed Realm manifested before him like a cluster of glowing mist. Every scene within it, no matter how minute, could be perceived in a flash. Yet Li Fan also noticed that in the areas surrounding Fang Zaiji and Liu San—two Dao Integration powerhouses—a certain extent of light and shadow distortion occurred, leaving them somewhat blurred. And that was even with both of them realizing it was Li Fan observing and thus making no attempt to conceal themselves. "In the Xuanhuang Realm, the sphere of influence of a Dao Integration expert's abilities spans nearly an entire province. Yet in this pocket world, Dao Integration cultivators can already rival the world itself. Such is the inherent disparity in tier," Li Fan mused, gaining a faint insight. With a shift of thought, he took a single stride, crossing ten thousand li in an instant to appear beside a clear pool atop a mountain peak. Previously, when he and Fang Zaiji were sweeping through the Beast Seed Realm, they had passed by this mountain. Surprisingly, neither of them had noticed the pool at its summit back then. Only after completely taking control of the world's heavenly fortune did he detect the anomaly here. Beside the pool stood a wooden cabin. Li Fan pushed open the wooden door and walked inside. Inside the room, a profound bird whose plumage had long lost its luster stood with its head held high. Though still majestic and spirited in appearance, it was devoid of any breath of life. "Xiao Hei..." Li Fan recognized the bird's identity at a glance. "Did he... die of old age?" After observing for a moment, Li Fan murmured somberly. Even though its lifespan far exceeded that of a cultivator, living from the ancient era until now meant that this Heavenly Destiny Profound Bird had finally met the end of its life. Yet Li Fan soon sensed something amiss. Logically, Qing was a strange beast from the same era as Xiao Hei, and the strength of a qingluan was far inferior to that of a Heavenly Destiny Profound Bird. Not to mention, Xiao Hei had already fused with this world's heavenly destiny. There was no reason Qing should still be alive and well while Xiao Hei had fallen before her. "Could it be that Xiao Hei heavily expended his own lifespan for some reason?" Li Fan narrowed his eyes. Circulating the Destiny Is Mine divine art, with the Destiny Domain guarding his person, Li Fan gently touched the profound bird's corpse. Whoosh! As though brushed by a gentle breeze, Xiao Hei's corpse instantly dissolved into tiny specks of dust, drifting away without a trace. Simultaneously, countless blurred fragments of memory flashed through Li Fan's mind. At the very beginning, they were largely identical to what Li Fan had experienced in the Fallen Immortal Realm: growing up happily alongside Xu Ke in the Beast Taming Sect, encountering Mr. Bai when he barged through the sect gates, and then being dispatched to Nanming Sacred Beast Mountain... In the end, having failed the trial of the Ring of Shared Hearts, he had been banished here by Di Sanmo. The difference was that in actual history, Xiao Hei had failed to seize the opportunity to meet Mr. Bai. Without the Good Fortune True Profound Art, after arriving in this pocket world, he could only cultivate by relying on the divine arts in his bloodline's memories. Although he had painstakingly attained the divine art of Destiny Is Mine after enduring countless long years, his destiny had become inextricably bound to that of this world. Leaving this world was not impossible, but it required paying an exorbitant price. However, as long as he did not leave his origin world too frequently, or replenished himself with heavenly fortune upon returning, he would not easily suffer fatal harm. Yet Xiao Hei had done precisely that. And this was because... Li Fan sorted through and examined Xiao Hei's memories after arriving in the Beast Seed Realm. In the beginning, to keep Xiao Hei from feeling lonely, Xu Ke often sent messages recounting what he had seen and heard. "Xiao Hei, you have no idea how thrilling and perilous this journey has been! Not only did we encounter so many bizarre pocket worlds, but we were also hunted down by demonic beasts!" "Sigh, at first we thought someone had leaked word. Only later did we realize it was purely rotten luck—we ran right into a pack of demonic beasts that had somehow ended up in the pocket world too. We struck first, but in the end, one of the beasts got away, which exposed our retreat." "Fortunately, we're almost at our destination!" ... "Xiao Hei, Xiao Hei! Do you still remember Mr. Bai? I used to think he was formidable enough, but I never imagined he was even stronger than I thought! A group of fellow disciples and I were ordered to explore a pocket world, never expecting to run into an utterly terrifying monster!" "Nine heads, with an unimaginably colossal body sprawled across the sky! Every time it opened a mouth, it seemed capable of tearing away and swallowing down a piece of the world!" "I thought I was a dead man for sure! That I'd never see you again, Xiao Hei!" "Yet before I left the Xuanhuang Realm, Senior Brother Lu Ya gave me a red cord braided by Mr. Bai. Just as that nine-headed monstrous bird fixed its gaze on me, a thin thread shot out from the red cord!" "Before I could even react, that red thread cut through the void like a sharp sword. In an instant, it severed six of the monstrous bird's heads!" "What's more, the red cord didn't dissipate—it dragged the beast bodily right out of the sky!" "I was completely dumbstruck! Mr. Bai is truly too incredible!" ... "Xiao Hei, I've received an extremely important mission. I probably won't be able to communicate with you for a very long time." "I'm really sorry. But don't worry, just wait until I return!" ... "Xiao Hei, tell me... cultivators were originally human too, weren't they? Why is it that once they step onto the path of cultivation, they become so cruel to their own kind?" ... Scene after scene flashed rapidly before Li Fan's eyes. From them, Li Fan learned that Xu Ke had once visited the Beast Seed Realm and met Xiao Hei. By then, Xu Ke had grown into a dashing youth of remarkable poise and martial elegance. Master and servant reunited, conversing at length beside this mountain-top clear pool. In the end, Xu Ke came in haste and left in haste. Xiao Hei had originally wanted to leave with Xu Ke, but for one, Di Sanmo's restriction remained in place back then, and for another, Xu Ke told him that cataclysmic changes were unfolding in the outside world—following along would only bring him danger. He told Xiao Hei to stay here, promising that once the time was ripe, he would return to take Xiao Hei away. After parting ways, the two communicated several more times. Yet the interval between each message grew longer and longer, and from the images and tone of their communications, Xu Ke's maturation was evident. Until one day... Xiao Hei suddenly lost his sensory connection to Xu Ke. As Xu Ke's companion spirit beast, even though their formal master-servant bond was no more, a profound, esoteric connection still lingered between them. Even separated by hundreds of millions of li, even across multiple worlds, Xiao Hei could still faintly sense Xu Ke's existence. And now, for this connection to vanish entirely, there was only one explanation: Xu Ke was dead.