"The Sealed Life Treasure Box... It seems that the empire indeed inherited the legacy of the Beast Taming Sect back in the day."

Now that Tianyang had reached Soul Transformation stage strength, Li Fan felt reassured enough to review the rewards from this trade with the empire.

Detailed information on various exotic beasts, along with the frozen beast entities in the Sealed Life Treasure Box, might not be of much use to other cultivators. However, for Li Fan, who practiced the Creation Furnace Technique, this was an undeniable treasure trove.

Li Fan could harness and transform the unique abilities of these exotic beasts, one by one, using his technique.

"The beauty of living creatures—nothing surpasses this!"

"The records in the Heavenly Doctor's immortal Codex probably don't capture the full essence of the living beings of this world either!"

With a light flick of his finger, Li Fan summoned all the bookworms from his storage ring.

His spiritual consciousness flipped through the books, and in an instant, countless rays of light and shadows projected into the air of his cave dwelling.

The Dao Derivation Stone in his mind emitted a deep blue glow it had never shown before. Li Fan narrowed his eyes, focusing on engraving the words and images into his memory.

A flood of information rushed in, organizing itself and being stored in the Dao Derivation Stone.

Amid the continuous sound of flipping pages, the light and shadows constantly shifted.

After recording everything in a few pages, Li Fan felt a slight headache in his temples.

Taking a short rest and consuming a Dao Enlightenment Pill, he resumed his “reading.”

Over the course of several thousand years, the empire had birthed many unique species. Most of them were creatures that Li Fan had never encountered in the Heavenly Doctor's Codex—nor did they exist in the present Xuanhuang Realm.

Their various strange abilities amazed even the well-traveled Li Fan.

For example, the Wisdom Worm that resided in the human brain and could enhance cognitive abilities; the Mimic Beast, which could perfectly disguise itself after devouring other beings; and the Thousand Spirit Bird, which fed on human emotions.

Each of these creatures opened Li Fan’s eyes to new wonders.

"The All-Encompassing Furnace—this is the true myriad phenomena of living beings!"

Amid Li Fan's amazement, the pages of the books continued to flip.

In a short time, he absorbed the knowledge accumulated over thousands of years by the empire into his mind.

Ten days later.

Li Fan let out a long breath, massaged his aching forehead, and returned the bookworms to his storage ring.

Sensing the concerned gaze of Tianyang, Li Fan waved his hand, signaling that he was fine.

After resting for half a day and recovering some of his energy, Li Fan took out the red wooden box.

According to the information he'd previously seen in the Tianxuan Mirror, this Sealed Life Treasure Box was an exclusive artifact of the Beast Taming Sect from ancient times.

It was said to be crafted from Ten Thousand Transformation Spirit Wood, capable of sealing and preserving living demonic beasts.

With the passage of time over thousands of years, the Ten Thousand Transformation Spirit Tree had nearly gone extinct, making the Sealed Life Treasure Box an exceedingly rare item.

"It seems my intuition was correct."

"The familiar feeling I sensed from that woman in green must have come from the Azure Luan Bird that Xu Ke once encountered in the Fallen Immortal Realm."

"I wonder if that Red-Crowned Crane is still alive."

"Could it be that the founder of the empire, the first to comprehend the Beast Taming Technique, was Xu Ke?"

"According to Li Chenfeng's memories, he has long since passed away. But things may not be as simple as they seem."

Li Fan pondered silently.

"Based on the information currently known, it appears that Xu Ke was the only member of the Beast Taming Sect to enter that small world, thus establishing the empire’s legacy."

"But where did the other members of the Beast Taming Sect go? What about Lu Ya?"

"And why did Emperor Sang Mo come to the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance and become the curator of the Museum Of Divine Treasure?"

"How does all this relate to Mr. Bai's mission from back then?"

There were too many questions that remained unanswered for now.

"Perhaps the next trip to the Fallen Immortal Realm will resolve some of these doubts."

"Soon," Li Fan calculated the time in his heart.

After putting away the Sealing Life Treasure Box, Li Fan took out a Beast Soul Bead at the Foundation Establishment level.

One could say that the empire's generosity this time far exceeded Li Fan’s expectations.

Five hundred Foundation Establishment level, four hundred ninety Golden Core level, and nine Nascent Soul level Beast God Armor warriors—if used wisely, they could certainly cause quite a stir.

Although these were only theoretical combatants, in the current Xuanhuang Realm, the actual combat strength of cultivators was shockingly low.

Aside from a few rare cultivators who specialized in combat techniques, most people would already be considered exceptional if they could use a few offensive and defensive techniques.

The Beast God Armor, with its ability to influence spiritual consciousness, resist most spell attacks, and move with incredible speed, was definitely a deadly weapon to ordinary cultivators.

"The question now is how to use them for maximum benefit. I need to think this through carefully."

Li Fan temporarily set aside this thought, holding a Beast Soul Bead in his hand and pressing it against his forehead.

Suddenly, his vision turned blood-red. In a daze, Li Fan seemed to see a fierce one-eyed hunting leopard lunging toward him.

"Hmph!" Li Fan's mind sharpened like a needle, stabbing toward the leopard.

The leopard let out a mournful cry, and the illusion quickly vanished.

The Beast Soul Bead dissolved into a red liquid, which seemed to have a life of its own, flowing from his forehead toward his limbs and bones.

Li Fan sensed a strange energy trying to infiltrate his body, attempting to modify it.

Unlike the pure enhancement from his Creation Furnace Technique, the Beast God Armor felt more like grafting the power of an exotic beast onto a human.

Although it temporarily strengthened his abilities, his physical body became tainted by the beast’s power and lost its purity.

"Crooked paths, not of the true way."

Li Fan shook his head as the hidden power within his body surged like a flood, instantly expelling the invading beast energy.

The hunting leopard’s wail echoed in his ears again, and the red liquid from the Beast Soul Bead evaporated in an instant.

"It seems this armor is only suitable for mortals who cannot cultivate."

"Or perhaps..."

Li Fan's eyes gleamed with a peculiar light.

He thought of Ye Feipeng from his previous life, who had awakened the Kunpeng bloodline.

"If one already possesses a beast bloodline, they would naturally not fear this kind of contamination."

"In this life, He Zhenghao has been profiting handsomely by following me. He probably no longer cares about that smuggling business."

"As for Su Xiaomei and the others, they are still in the Outer Realm. Without me, they likely wouldn't have had a chance to come here."

Li Fan smiled faintly.

"This life’s grand show wouldn’t be complete without these little ones."

With that, Li Fan rose, bid farewell to Tianyang, concealed his aura, and quietly made his way to the Outer Realm.

First, he arrived at the central volcano of the Outer Realm and observed it for a while.

"Strange..." Li Fan shook his head.

Ever since he first came to the Outer Realm, he had felt something unusual about this volcano. However, each time he carefully investigated, he found nothing out of the ordinary.

As his cultivation grew deeper, his sense of foreboding became stronger.

But he still couldn't pinpoint the cause.

"Perhaps after I reach the Nascent Soul stage, I'll discover something."

Li Fan made a mental note of the matter and then headed straight for Dali Capital City.