Li Fan looked in the direction of the voice. There, near the very center of the great maelstrom where wind and thunder churned violently, stood a bare-chested cultivator. Though leanly built, his frame was packed with hard, tempered muscle, and he was roaring toward the heavens.
Around him, countless tiny tornadoes could faintly be seen swirling. The eye of each whirlwind was pitch black, looking as though space itself had been torn apart.
The brawny man swayed with the tempest, the miniature tornadoes born and snuffed out in an instant with every movement he made.
Even at some distance from the maelstrom's center, Li Fan was already stung by the biting astral winds buffeting him. Yet the man at the very core took no defensive measures whatsoever, letting the violent gales slam into his bare flesh with the crisp clang of clashing metal.
"He is..."
Li Fan's eyes narrowed slightly.
Though this was their first meeting in this life, Li Fan had encountered him once in his previous life.
He was none other than Dongfang Yao, the man who had overseen the construction of the Heavenly Profound Spirit-Locking Formation in the Spirit-Dissolving Ravine at the Ten-Thousand-Li Flame-Scorched Shoal. A close friend of Huangfu Song, he had already attained the Soul Formation realm at that time.
Now, however, he had seemingly not yet crossed that threshold, remaining within the Nascent Soul realm.
'Interesting. Without any fluctuation of spiritual energy, he's withstanding the astral winds entirely through sheer physical might. If I recall correctly, body refinement methods in the Xuanhuang Realm are shackled by heaven and earth, progressing at an agonizingly slow pace once a certain stage is reached. I wonder how he trained to such a level...'
Li Fan did not step forward rashly, instead observing Dongfang Yao's enlightenment from afar.
The gale howled, and the maelstrom's waters rushed with mounting ferocity. Dongfang Yao fought to steady himself amidst the tempest as he pressed toward the vortex's center. With every step forward, one could faintly hear the creaking groans of his body being crushed under immense pressure.
"Hmph!" Dongfang Yao let out a thunderous bellow. Veins bulged along his neck, and a faint golden sheen seemed to glaze over his muscles.
Resolute and unflinching, he continued his advance toward the maelstrom's heart.
Suddenly, a black rift flashed like lightning, tearing out of nothingness right before Dongfang Yao. Like a sword, it slashed across his body.
*Boom!* A dull, deafening roar erupted, piercing through even the storm. A bloody gash appeared on Dongfang Yao's torso, forcing him back several paces.
Yet far from dismayed, he beamed with joy.
"I've finally waited you out!"
He let out an odd cry from his throat, and the seemingly grievous wounds across his body healed in an instant. Stamping hard against empty air, he surged forward with explosive speed, crossing tens of zhang in a flash.
A massive black rift appeared—or perhaps it had existed since ancient times, merely concealed and hidden from mortal eyes until now.
The dark light fell like a blade, cleaving viciously straight down the midline of Dongfang Yao's body.
*Pfft!*
Dongfang Yao's flesh split wide, nearly disemboweling him on the spot. His form shot back in a frenzy, retreating thousands of zhang in a breath to reach the safer waters at the maelstrom's outer perimeter.
"Fellow Daoist, are you alright?" Li Fan called out in greeting at the opportune moment.
He did not approach him closely, flicking over a healing pill instead. It was a Hundredfold Healing Pill, specially prepared for him by Liu San before this trip. While not quite a divine remedy capable of reviving the dead or regrowing flesh from bare bone, it was nonetheless an exceptional healing panacea. For ordinary injuries, mere breaths were enough to achieve full recovery after consumption.
Dongfang Yao reached out and caught the Hundredfold Healing Pill. Glancing at it only once, he swallowed it whole.
"A trivial scratch! Many thanks for your concern, Fellow Daoist!" Even as he spoke, the gruesome wounds across his body had already completely knit together.
Not a single scar remained.
While part of this was credit to the Hundredfold Healing Pill, it owed far more to the sheer resilience of Dongfang Yao's own physique.
Li Fan could not help but look at him with newfound admiration.
"How should I address you, Fellow Daoist?" Dongfang Yao paused his training in the tempest and flew over to Li Fan's side.
"I am Li Fan. Having heard of the wondrous sight of the Ningxu Province maelstrom, I was passing by and stopped to take a look. Never did I expect to encounter an extraordinary man like you!" Li Fan's gaze drifted over Dongfang Yao's sharply chiseled physique, a hint of awe in his eyes.
"The name's Dongfang Yao!" He waved his hand casually. "Hardly an extraordinary man—just blessed with sturdier bones and meat than most!"
"Fellow Daoist Dongfang is far too modest. With a physique this formidable, I fear even the legendary body cultivators of antiquity could hardly match you," Li Fan marveled.
Dongfang Yao burst into hearty laughter. "Now that's what I like to hear..."
Just as he was about to continue, he suddenly glanced back toward the heart of the great maelstrom.
Amidst the howling wind and rumbling thunder, another dark silhouette seemed to surface.
"Wait here a moment, Fellow Daoist. I'll be right back!"
While his voice still echoed through the air, his figure had already shot like a bolt of lightning toward the center of the vortex.
The tremendous boom and clashing sounds rang out once more.
A few breaths later, Dongfang Yao returned to Li Fan's side, dripping with blood and looking rather battered.
This time, Li Fan did not take out another Hundredfold Healing Pill, choosing instead to quietly watch Dongfang Yao heal himself.
Though his injuries were even worse than before, it only took him a fraction longer to completely mend.
"It seems my worry was entirely in vain, and I squandered a fine pill for nothing," Li Fan remarked, feigning astonishment.
"Haha, hardly squandered! It's still tucked away safe in my belly." Dongfang Yao patted his stomach with a grin of self-satisfaction.
Li Fan was momentarily taken aback, then shook his head with a wry smile. "Fellow Daoist, you truly are one of a kind!"
Dongfang Yao only grinned without speaking.
"To linger here at the ancient boundary-splitting maelstrom for so long without so much as batting an eye, Fellow Daoist Li, you're quite the hidden master yourself!" After a moment, he gave Li Fan a searching look, his words carrying a deeper meaning.
A helpless look crossed Li Fan's face. "The Xuanhuang Realm is fraught with peril at every turn. Without a few tricks, who would dare wander about? Still, mine is merely a method to recover spiritual energy quickly. Compared to your prowess, it pales in every way."
"I have heard that the art of body refinement is exceedingly difficult to cultivate. For you to reach such heights, you could well be called an unrivaled prodigy!" Li Fan said with apparent admiration.
Though Dongfang Yao mumbled that he was flattering him, the pride welling up inside him could not be concealed.
"It's just that my constitution was born a bit peculiar, that's all."
Even as he spoke, another black rift tore open at the vortex's center. Halting the conversation, Dongfang Yao charged right back in.
Once he returned heavily wounded, he resumed chatting with Li Fan.
After repeating this cycle several times, Li Fan gradually gleaned some inside details from Dongfang Yao's lips.
It turned out that Dongfang Yao, much like Ye Feipeng, possessed a trace of ancient demonic beast bloodline within his body.
Though diluted to the point of being virtually negligible over thousands of years, Dongfang Yao had the fortune of acquiring an exotic treasure during a fateful encounter, fully unlocking the latent potential of his demonic beast bloodline.
"At first, I worried whether I'd turn into some freakish thing—neither human nor demon—but that treasure was truly miraculous," Dongfang Yao sighed wistfully.
Chapter 686