“To encounter them, it's entirely up to luck. You have to fly into each patch of cloud and investigate personally.”

Xu Ke sighed, touching a colorful pouch hanging at his waist, muttering, “Even finding them isn’t enough, we still need to figure out how to catch them.”

“These creatures, despite their large size, are actually more agile than eels.”

“If there’s even the slightest movement nearby, they’ll vanish into thin air. Several times, I was so close to catching them, yet they still managed to escape.”

“Sigh, I don’t know when I’ll be able to complete the task that Senior Brother Lu Ya assigned to me. It’s the first time he’s entrusted me with something this important. I can’t afford to mess it up.”

...

As Xu Ke rambled on, Li Fan listened quietly, deep in thought.

According to Xu Ke’s description, the Rift world Whales at this time were quite different from the ones Li Fan had encountered thousands of years later.

Not only were they several times larger, but their temperament had also changed, becoming less timid and even highly aggressive.

“They seem more like a subspecies with different traits.”

“With Xu Ke’s luck, capturing a group of Rift Whales shouldn’t be too difficult.”

“Once he catches enough of them, using the techniques of the Beast Taming Sect for selective breeding…”

Recalling a conversation he had overheard between Lu Ya and Emperor Sanmo in his past life, Li Fan’s mind began to ponder.

“Is capturing Rift Whales actually something Mr. Bai requested?”

“Could it be that the group of Rift Whales roaming outside the small world was also his doing?”

Li Fan tugged on Xu Ke’s hair in frustration, feeling increasingly confused.

When he first saw the group of Void Rift Whales pushing the mortal small world away from the cultivation world, Li Fan had once lamented, “Just how much did those ancient cultivators hate mortals?”

From his then single-minded pursuit of immortality, separating mortals from the cultivation world and cutting off their path to immortality seemed like a punishment.

But now, after experiencing many things in the cultivation world and understanding how cultivators treated mortals, Li Fan had begun to have different thoughts.

Cultivators saw mortals as ants, taking what they wanted from them at will.

They even treated them like livestock, using formations to extract their life essence.

And that was now, when mortals carried the Immortal-Mortal Plague, which restrained some of the cultivators’ behaviors.

In the ancient cultivation world, mortals’ suffering was even worse.

They were used as ingredients for refining [Longevity Fruits], and when cultivators fought each other, they wouldn’t care at all about the lives of mortals...

Escaping the control of immortals might not be such a bad thing for mortals after all.

“Could it be that, as the orphans of Ningyuan City said, Mr. Bai is truly a great benefactor with the world in his heart?”

This thought couldn’t help but emerge in Li Fan’s mind.

“Whatever the truth is, I can’t draw conclusions yet.”

“I need to gather more information.”

With that, Li Fan scratched Xu Ke hard again, urging him to hurry up and find the Rift Whales.

Meanwhile, Li Fan nestled in Xu Ke’s hair, practicing the “Creation Furnace Technique” while also using the [Heaven's Mandate is Mine] secret art.

He helped Xu Ke consolidate his luck.

Despite repeated failures, Xu Ke, usually carefree, started to grow anxious.

“Rift Whales, Rift Whales, where are you?!”

He kept mumbling, his eyes filled with desperation.

Li Fan suddenly lifted his head.

He noticed that the purple aura of luck above Xu Ke’s head had dispersed slightly with his murmuring, though where it went, he couldn’t tell.

The disappearance of luck had an immediate effect.

Whereas before they might have seen traces of the Rift Whales once every ten days or so, now sightings became more frequent.

Through repeated attempts, Xu Ke slowly figured out a way to approach the Rift Whales without being detected.

However, capturing a mythical beast with the [Ten Thousand Beasts Bag] was no easy task.

Especially for someone like Xu Ke, who was a novice.

After a prolonged struggle, the whale still managed to escape.

Drenched in sweat and nearly exhausted, Xu Ke slumped to the ground, filled with frustration.

But soon, he regained his spirit and set off again to find the next Rift Whale.

With his relentless efforts, the pillar of purple-gold luck continued to dwindle.

The depletion was much faster than what Li Fan could replenish using the secret technique.

Eventually, it appeared slightly dimmer than before.

But it wasn’t all in vain.

Four months later, after enduring countless hardships, Xu Ke finally managed to capture a Rift Whale.

The [Ten Thousand Beasts Bag] floated quietly in the air, no longer shaking violently.

Xu Ke grabbed it tightly, shouting in excitement.

“I’ve finally completed the task! Now I can go back and report to Senior Brother Lu Ya!”

“Xiao Qing! Let’s go home!” Xu Ke called out his Azure Luan Bird, joyfully hopping onto its back.

Li Fan’s gaze sharpened as he focused on the bird, carefully examining it.

The Azure Luan Bird, however, completely ignored Li Fan, affectionately rubbing its neck against Xu Ke instead.

It then spread its wings and flew off toward the heavens.

“To think that, thousands of years later, it would be transformed into the empire’s [Holy Master],” Li Fan mused, sensing the familiar aura around Xiao Qing and confirming his earlier suspicions.

After more than three years apart, the Azure Luan Bird seemed even more majestic than when Li Fan had last seen it in the Immortal Falls Realm.

Not only was it's flight speed several times faster, but during the journey, a faint blue light radiated from it, enveloping both Xu Ke and Li Fan, blocking out the sound of the wind, making the ride more comfortable.

Xu Ke, who hadn’t rested in a long time, fell into a deep sleep on the bird’s back.

Xiao Qing continued to fly diligently.

After watching for a while, Li Fan slowly retracted his gaze.

As the Azure Luan Bird flew higher and higher, Li Fan stood atop Xu Ke’s head and looked down.

Only then did he realize that this small world wasn’t so much a canyon shaped like a thread of sky.

Rather, it looked more like a scar, forcibly carved by a sharp weapon.

Yet, this scar also brought life. Apart from the long fissure, the rest of the world was nothing but scorched earth.

Scarlet flames scorched the ground, and molten lava flowed savagely.

All of these destructive forces were held at bay, unable to cross the fissure.

The power that carved out the canyon lingered, preventing the flames from encroaching.

Thus, amidst this hellish small world, a lush and vibrant paradise had been created.

“Your perspective shapes your answers.”

Li Fan recalled the issue of mortals separating from the Xuanhuang Realm and had a moment of insight.

Passing through an invisible passage in the sky, they returned to the Xuanhuang Realm.

The pale white light slowly faded, and when Li Fan could finally see clearly, he was surprised.

Because they had just flown out of a painting.