Early Morning, Ye Mansion.
The chubby Ye Feipeng was sound asleep, seemingly dreaming of something particularly pleasant, as his lips curled slightly. He was completely unaware of the black shadow that suddenly appeared beside him.
The shadow waved a hand gently, causing Ye Feipeng’s head to tilt as he instantly fell unconscious. The figure's right hand formed a claw and hovered above Ye Feipeng's head.
After a brief moment, the hand slowly withdrew.
A drop of thick, blackish-red blood appeared in the figure’s palm.
Ye Feipeng, who had looked healthy moments before, suddenly seemed as though he had contracted a severe illness, his face drained of energy.
The drop of blood in the shadow's palm seemed alive, possessing its own consciousness as it continuously squirmed, attempting to escape the figure's grasp.
As the shadow tightened its fingers, the space in which the blood could struggle grew smaller and smaller until, eventually, the blood was entirely absorbed into the figure's body.
The shadow stood still in the night for a long while.
Two menacing bone wings suddenly tore through the figure's back, stretching out behind him.
Threads of flesh clung to the wings, emitting a faint sizzling sound as the flesh grew along the bone spurs, swiftly covering the bare bones.
The bone wings became fuller.
However, under the moonlight, one could still clearly see the constantly writhing flesh on the edges of the wings, giving off a sinister and eerie aura.
“The Kunpeng bloodline…”
A low voice escaped from the shadow’s mouth. Moments later, the figure ripped the wings off from his back.
Surprisingly, there was no blood spurting from the wounds. The struggling flesh at the injury site was swiftly expelled by a surge of pure, vast vitality.
In an instant, the shadow was fully restored to its original state.
“Ancient demon beasts truly possess some mysteries.” The figure murmured as he looked at the still-twitching wings he had torn off.
This shadow was none other than Li Fan.
Upon arriving in the capital of the Da Li Kingdom, the first thing he did was extract a portion of the Kunpeng blood from Ye Feipeng’s body.
While he stored the majority of the blood in a storage ring, he absorbed a small part into his own body.
The power of this bloodline was far more domineering than the beastly forces Li Fan had encountered in the Beast Soul Bead.
If those beast forces were infectious and grafted, then the power of the Kunpeng bloodline was all about devouring and complete assimilation.
“No wonder in my previous life, Ye Feipeng���s behavior and even his thoughts gradually became more like those of a true demonic beast.”
“This is the inevitable consequence of using the power of the Kunpeng bloodline.”
“But…”
Li Fan smiled slightly. “By mimicking it with my Furnace of Creation technique, I don’t have such worries.”
“Kun Devour, Peng Soar, Peng Transformation…”
As Li Fan muttered quietly to himself, his figure in the night twisted and changed. Sometimes he transformed into a whale, other times into a peng, and occasionally into a human with peng wings.
After a long time, Li Fan returned to his original form.
“The Kunpeng blood I used for comprehension is too little. Right now, I can only mimic its form and cannot fully replicate the Kunpeng’s divine powers.”
“But no worries, I have a ready-made blood bank right here.”
Li Fan looked at Ye Feipeng, a peaceful smile spreading across his face.
He grabbed the chubby youth and shot into the sky, disappearing into the night.
The next day, chaos erupted in the capital.
Children from prominent families, such as the Su, Ye, and Han families, mysteriously went missing.
Even after these influential families searched the entire city, they couldn’t find any trace of the children.
Panic spread, and rumors began circulating.
The affected families gathered in secret to discuss the situation. They concluded that only two entities could be responsible: either the rumored immortals or the Da Li Emperor himself.
It was clear that immortals wouldn’t stoop to such stealthy actions. That left only one possibility—the emperor had acted.
The aristocrats and ministers couldn’t help but recall various rumors they’d heard before, and resentment began to grow in their hearts.
Thus, undercurrents began to stir within the capital.
Meanwhile, the instigator of all this, Li Fan, had already left the Realm.
After returning to the Xuanhuang Realm, he didn’t stop for a moment.
Instead of heading to any particular region of the Xuanhuang Realm, he passed through the Immortal Extinction Passage and returned to his homeland, the Great Xuan.
The Taiyan Boat sailed swiftly through the air, carrying sixteen frightened children huddled together in the cabin, trembling in fear.
Li Fan stood at the prow, gazing below.
Like the Outer Realm, the Great Xuan was a complete miniature world, but it was over ten times larger.
Since the Outer Realm could produce cultivation geniuses like Su Xiaomei and Xiao Heng, there was no reason the Great Xuan couldn't as well.
His first destination was Hangguang City, the wealthiest city in Great Xuan.
As his immense divine sense swept over the mortals below, Li Fan searched for suitable candidates.
Soon after, Li Fan frowned deeply.
“How is it that so few have better potential than I did?”
Shaking his head, the Taiyan Boat sped up and headed for the next city.
But the result was the same.
After spending nearly half a month, Li Fan had almost searched through all the citizens of Great Xuan, yet those suitable for cultivation were exceedingly rare.
“It seems that my difficulty in stepping onto the path of immortality wasn’t entirely coincidental.”
“People and Heaven…”
Soaring into the sky, Li Fan closed his eyes and sensed the very essence of the Xuan Realm.
“Humans are the spirits of all living beings, blessed by the heavens.”
“Those favored by the heavens can sense the Dao, cultivating in harmony with the Way, and step onto the path of immortality.”
“This is what should naturally occur.”
“Given the vast population of Great Xuan, there should theoretically be many so-called geniuses favored by the heavens.”
“But strangely enough…”
Li Fan recalled the void ripper whales that lingered outside Great Xuan, trying to sever the entire Xuan Realm from the Xuanhuang World.
“When the heavens offer no favor, who dares to tread the path of immortality?”
“But why is the (Li)-Outer Realm so unique?”
With doubts swirling in his mind, Li Fan sighed softly and temporarily gave up on his original plans.
He only made a detour to the area near Jieli Mountain, taking the two boys he had noticed with extraordinary potential.
He then left Great Xuan and returned to the world of cultivation.
“I knew it! Immortals do exist!” Sun Erlang exclaimed excitedly, pacing back and forth.
Beside him, the burly Wang Xuanba looked worried and uneasy.
“Erlang, what do you think the immortal wants with us? When do you think we’ll be able to go back? I miss home…” Wang Xuanba whispered to Sun Erlang.
“Have some ambition! How can you return home without mastering the ability to fly through the clouds and split mountains?” Sun Erlang scolded.
Wang Xuanba opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly noticed a figure appear beside them.
“Immortal Master!” Wang Xuanba was startled and hurriedly knelt down to kowtow.
“Immortal Master, please teach me how to cultivate!” Sun Erlang also knelt and bowed.
Li Fan’s gaze swept over the two but he didn’t reply.
Instead, he led them to the cabin where Su Changyu and the other sixteen children were.
The children, many of whom hadn’t seen their families, were lost in fear and confusion, crying uncontrollably.
“Keep them quiet. This will be your first test,” Li Fan said to Sun Erlang.
“Remember, you can’t hit them.”
Li Fan disappeared immediately after.
Sun Erlang, who prided himself on his martial prowess, stared at the group of snot-nosed brats before him, stumped.