Chapter 658: Sweeping Across the Beast Species Realm

“Hmph, hiding it from me, eh?” Fang Zaiji muttered under his breath, following Li Fan into the spatial passage.

“Hiss!”

His vision blurred for a moment. As soon as he entered this small world, Fang Zaiji saw dozens of green-winged flying snakes baring their fangs and lunging at him.

“You beasts dare to disrespect me!” Fang Zaiji’s expression darkened. With a flick of his wide sleeve, the space before him trembled, and the menacing strange beasts instantly turned to dust, leaving no trace of their bodies.

The entrance was located at the bottom of a deep chasm. Amidst the swirling mists, faint wisps of spiritual energy could be discerned. The commotion caused by Li Fan and Fang Zaiji's intrusion attracted countless strange beasts from above.

Like waves, they surged forward relentlessly, fearless of death.

“Sir, please protect me,” Li Fan said with a smile to Fang Zaiji. Although these strange beasts were numerous, the strongest among them only possessed Foundation Establishment cultivation. They posed no threat whatsoever to Fang Zaiji, who was at the Dao Integration realm. After speaking, Li Fan took out a 'Star-Stealing Easy-Lodging Talisman' and placed it over the entrance to the passage.

Before long, after completing the transcription of this spatial node, Li Fan transferred the Star-Stealing Easy-Lodging Talisman to Liu San, who was preparing in Longevity Valley.

“Young Master, setting up the spatial passage will take approximately thirty days. Would you like to return first, or...” Liu San's voice faintly drifted from the doorway.

“No rush,” Li Fan replied. “Mr. Fang and I will first explore the situation here. With him present, Elder Liu, you don't need to worry about my safety.”

“Hmph, it's precisely because you're with him that I'm uneasy.”

“What did you say!” Fang Zaiji, who was clearing away the strange beasts, spun around abruptly upon hearing this.

He was about to argue with Liu San but found that the connection had already been severed. Feeling stifled and frustrated, Fang Zaiji could only vent his anger on the strange beasts, who seemed oblivious to their impending doom.

Not long after, these strange beasts, which had proliferated in the deep chasm for who knew how long, were almost entirely wiped out.

Flying out from the bottom of the chasm, they arrived on a desolate plain. Li Fan took a deep breath, closing his eyes to sense his surroundings. The Mysterious Bird Feather within him emitted a faint dark glow, and in an instant, Li Fan perceived the ubiquitous free-flowing Heavenly Fortune throughout this small world.

Like a great whale drawing in water, or fallen leaves returning to their roots, the free-flowing Heavenly Fortune from hundreds of miles around spontaneously surged into Li Fan's body, almost effortlessly.

Or rather, it returned to the Mysterious Bird Feather.

As more and more Heavenly Fortune was absorbed, a new sensation simultaneously arose within Li Fan. With a slight thought and a gentle pointing gesture forward, a massive fissure appeared in the ground with a resounding roar.

Countless plants and strange beasts were swallowed by the earth crack, while those who narrowly escaped let out terrified growls. They no longer paid any attention to Li Fan, the audacious intruder, desperately trying to flee the area.

Li Fan watched the retreating figures of the strange beasts. As his thoughts shifted, gusts of demonic wind suddenly swept across the world.

Stirring up sand and stones, the winds whistled, sweeping the strange beasts into the sky before dropping them back to their original positions.

The strange beasts, already not very intelligent, trembled with fear and collapsed on the spot after such an ordeal.

Li Fan then withdrew his divine ability.

“My fortune is Heavenly Fortune, my destiny is Heavenly Mandate. Every word and action possesses the might of heaven and earth.”

“Wonderful!” Li Fan exclaimed in his heart.

“Sect Master, did you just do that?” Fang Zaiji looked at Li Fan with a hint of shock.

One must know that even with his Dao Integration cultivation, it would be difficult to crack the earth or conjure strong winds so effortlessly.

Li Fan merely smiled without answering.

For a period, Li Fan, escorted by Fang Zaiji, collected the wandering Heavenly Fortune of this small world while heading deeper into the wilderness.

Judging by the subtle guidance from the Mysterious Bird Feather within him, Xiao Hei's remains should be located there.

During this process, Li Fan noticed an interesting phenomenon.

The closer they got to Xiao Hei's remains, the fewer human-like external features the various strange beasts possessed, and the stronger their abilities became.

“The types of strange beasts in this small world belong to a branch of creatures that resulted from the fusion of humans and strange beasts. However, after thousands of years and countless generations of reproduction, the strange beast bloodline has not been weakened; instead, a phenomenon similar to atavism has appeared.”

“Interesting.”

As Fang Zaiji cleared their path forward, Li Fan also noticed that some strange beasts had actually mastered various “spells” that utilized the free-flowing Heavenly Fortune for combat.

This somewhat hindered Li Fan's speed in absorbing Heavenly Fortune, but it was merely a minor inconvenience.

No matter what divine abilities or exotic techniques these strange beasts possessed, they were all useless and utterly overwhelmed in the face of such an absolute disparity in strength.

Fang Zaiji swept through them, and Li Fan leisurely collected the spoils behind him.

“Mr. Fang, please go easy and leave some strange beasts alive. This place would make a good ranch for our Medicine King Sect later,” Li Fan instructed, carefully examining a blue crystal core he held in his hand.

“Whatever you say, Sect Master.” The prolonged slaughter had made Fang Zaiji somewhat impatient. With Li Fan's instructions, he could now openly slack off, and naturally, he agreed readily.

This blue crystal core was discovered by Li Fan in the remains of a dead strange beast that possessed Golden Core stage strength.

It was identical to the strange beast crystal cores that Li Chenfeng described as being used by Imperial cultivators for their practice.

Li Fan crushed the crystal core, and energy, scalding like boiling water, immediately surged out. After absorbing it into his body, Li Fan discovered that a portion of this scorching, unknown energy transformed into spiritual energy, flowing through his meridians. Another smaller portion, like scattered starlight, dispersed throughout his physical body.

It was strengthening the resilience of his flesh and blood.

“Not bad, this is a good item,” Li Fan mused inwardly.

At this moment, Fang Zaiji also noticed Li Fan's actions. He casually killed a strange beast, extracted its crystal core, and absorbed it.

“Interesting,” Fang Zaiji exclaimed a moment later. “These demon cores couldn't be absorbed by cultivators back in the day. Who would have thought that after thousands of years, this substance could now be used by us!”

“This is a change in the world over a thousand years!” Li Fan agreed with a smile.

“Perhaps this is precisely the result of the bloodline fusion between demon beasts and humans over thousands of years,” Li Fan mused, recalling the beast species that closely resembled humans.

They continued forward. In the distance, a tall, black three-legged tower stood on the ground. Atop the tower, a colossal black bird seemed to stand, its wings spread wide.

“It really is it,” a gleam flashed in Li Fan's eyes. The appearance of this black bird was identical to Xiao Hei, whom he had seen in the Immortalfall Realm.

It seemed that the strange beasts had sensed Fang Zaiji's unstoppable power, as none came forward to block their path at this point.

Li Fan merely saw thousands upon thousands of strange beasts kneeling beneath the black three-legged tower, prostrating themselves and begging towards the black flying bird.