Chapter 530: Going or Staying Depends on Fate

This time, there was no grand spectacle. Di Yi simply pointed a finger gently at Xu Ke's glabella and then remained still.

Xu Ke touched his forehead but couldn't feel anything.

"When the time comes, you will know its purpose," Di Yi said.

"What's with all the riddles? It's infuriating," Xu Ke grumbled under his breath. He glanced at Di Yi but ultimately lacked the courage to lash out. He could only endure it.

"Our business here is concluded. Nang Ming is not a place for humans to linger. I will take you away."

Below, in the space where the Myriad Demon Gathering was held, the final decision had also been reached.

"We firmly uphold and support the great decision of His Majesty Di Yi!"

"Under the leadership of His Majesty Di Yi, our demon beast race is bound to usher in a brighter future!"

"This small Xuanhuang Realm is not worth staying in anyway!"

The demon beasts roared their approval, having reached a consensus. As for how much sincerity truly lay within their words, a faint, mocking smile appeared on the face of the condescending child Di Yi, perhaps offering a glimpse into the truth.

The child Di Yi led Xu Ke through winding, deserted passages until they arrived at the large gate where they had first appeared.

"You may go now," Di Yi said, stopping in her tracks.

Xu Ke hesitated, wanting to speak but holding back.

"Don't worry, you and I... will meet again someday," Di Yi implied. While her voice still echoed in the air, her figure had already vanished.

Xu Ke couldn't help but feel a sense of loss.

Holding the spherical object that felt as if a heart was constantly beating inside it, Xu Ke summoned Xiao Qing and, with Li Fan, departed the area.

On the return journey across the Nang Ming Ocean, perhaps due to Di Yi's influence, they encountered no other demon beasts. The journey was peaceful, and they drew ever closer to the Beast Taming Sect.

Li Fan, meanwhile, was flying, standing atop the spherical object Di Yi had given Xu Ke. He seemed extremely interested in it, his eyes revealing a greedy desire to devour it whole.

"Xiao Hei, what are you doing!"

Faced with Li Fan's covetous gaze, Xu Ke hugged the sphere tightly, his eyes filled with wariness. "This is something I need to report back to Senior Brother Lu Ya. You can't just gobble it up because you're greedy!"

Li Fan disdainfully rolled his eyes at Xu Ke, gave him a swat with a paw, and offered no explanation. The reason he had been staring at the sphere for so long was solely because he sensed a familiar aura emanating from it. After careful discernment, he confirmed that this faint sense of familiarity came from the Realm-Splitting Whales that roamed outside the Immortal Severing Array in later eras.

"Although Xu Ke and I found Realm-Splitting Whales before, they are clearly very different from those I saw in later eras. It's not just their size; more importantly, according to the information provided by the Empire, the later Realm-Splitting Whales could self-reproduce by simply devouring energy from the void. Only in this way could they thrive so extensively in the vast void, developing such large populations to complete the plan of completely detaching the small worlds from the Xuanhuang Realm's main body. The ones Xu Ke and I found earlier clearly lacked this characteristic. But this little one..."

Li Fan pondered. The Beast Taming Sect must have hybridized the Realm-Splitting Whales with this spherical creature to cultivate new, suitable subspecies.

"So, after all this effort, it's still about Mr. Bai's mission?" Li Fan felt a surge of doubt. This Fallen Immortal Realm storyline seemed a bit too drawn out. So far, he hadn't figured out what obsession sustained this particular time-space, or how to break it. However, Li Fan had a premonition that upon returning to the Beast Taming Sect, the mystery might be unraveled.

The journey from Nang Ming back to the Beast Taming Sect was long. They had traveled less than halfway when the duration for his stay in the Fallen Immortal Realm expired. With a flicker before his eyes, Li Fan returned to the real world.

"Di Yi Beast..."

Li Fan recalled his experiences in the Fallen Immortal Realm, and a question arose in his mind. Did the demon race's plan for a mass migration succeed later on? If it had succeeded, such a massive undertaking couldn't have escaped the notice of the cultivators at that time. And if there was a successful precedent for escape, then cultivators would surely attempt to emulate it. They would also try various methods to shatter space-time and break free from the constraints of the Xuanhuang Realm.

"Back then, the Great Dao Sect alone had three immortal-realm cultivators who remained hidden from the world. Not to mention other sects; the total number of immortal-realm cultivators in the entire Xuanhuang Realm was considerable. Yet now, they are nowhere to be seen. Perhaps some of them did leave back then." Li Fan suddenly recalled Di Yi's words. "Among the demon beast tribes, there are many disagreements about completely leaving the Xuanhuang Realm. Not to mention us human cultivators. For those who wish to leave, there are naturally those who wish to stay." It was simply a matter of different choices made by individuals in the face of an unprecedented catastrophe descending upon the world.

Li Fan was deep in thought.

Back in the real world from the Fallen Immortal Realm, the groundbreaking ceremony for the Cloud City of Immortals was about to officially begin. Zhou Kebao, as promised, had brought the immortal city dwelling.

"Fellow Daoist, behold!" He extended his right hand, and a miniature city radiating multicolored light appeared. Its appearance was identical to the immortal cities in various states under the Myriad Immortals Alliance.

"It's too cramped here to deploy it properly. Please, Fellow Daoist Li, follow me." Zhou Kebao smiled faintly and handed over a white jade sculpture shaped like an exquisite pagoda.

"This is..." Li Fan looked at the small object in his hand, finding it somewhat familiar.

"It is the key to the Vanguard Realm. Fellow Daoist, you only need to use it as the core for forming a ritual array to enter the designated Vanguard Realm," Zhou Kebao explained to Li Fan.

"So that's it." Li Fan had previously rented the Bone Vanguard Realm to deceive the people of Li Realm. He was naturally not unfamiliar with this. After a moment of thought, he held the exquisite pagoda sculpture and initiated the ritual.

After a slight dizzy spell, when Li Fan opened his eyes again, he found himself within a celestial palace shrouded in white clouds. Besides Zhou Kebao, another group of cultivators had been waiting there for a long time.

"We have long heard of Fellow Daoist Li's esteemed name. It is truly our good fortune to finally meet you today!"

"Haha, Fellow Daoist Li Fan, I suppose we can say we've become acquainted through conflict, right!"

Upon seeing Li Fan, they all enthusiastically stepped forward to greet him. Li Fan responded to each of them with a smile.

"Alright, let Fellow Daoist Li Fan inspect the goods," a cultivator with a square face who exuded natural authority said deeply after the pleasantries.

Zhou Kebao nodded and immediately manipulated the immortal city dwelling in his hand, expanding it to its maximum size. Instantly, a colossal floating city appeared above the cloud palace.

"Fellow Daoist Li, please!" Zhou Kebao said, then flew first into the floating city.