"Infinite futures hold infinite possibilities. This also means that, no matter how small the probability, given infinity as its premise, everything must eventually come to pass..."
Sovereign Primus's words echoed in Li Fan's mind.
He possessed the power of Return to Truth and could restart his journey with no known limit. That was precisely why he understood the meaning behind those words more deeply than anyone else could.
Moreover, Li Fan felt a sudden, inexplicable stirring within. He had a premonition that these words concealed some deeper secret. Something connected to his future path, or perhaps to Return to Truth itself.
But the more he reached for it, the further it receded, like trying to make out flowers through a fog. The full picture remained beyond him.
Li Fan sank into introspection and conjecture.
Meanwhile, the child Sovereign Primus had fallen into complete silence after speaking.
Xu Ke met their gaze directly and couldn't help but shiver, his mouth snapping shut. He, who usually feared neither heaven nor earth, found himself acutely aware of just how reckless his earlier question had been, and he dared not press further.
A long, uncomfortable silence stretched between them. Perhaps to escape it, Xu Ke forced a laugh and changed the subject. "Right! Since you are Sovereign Primus..." He smacked his forehead, as though struck by a sudden recollection, and produced a vermilion wooden box, holding it out. "Senior Brother Lu Ya asked me to bring this here. He didn't specify who to give it to, but since you're the one in charge here, giving it to you should be fine, right?"
He studied Sovereign Primus as he spoke, with no small measure of relief.
"This is..."
Sovereign Primus's gaze swept over the box. A trace of solemnity settled over their small face. They drew it toward themselves, and a dark light flickered across their palm. In an instant, the restrictive seals upon the box shattered.
"ROAR!"
A wave of overwhelming baleful qi erupted from the wooden box, riding a roar of pure resentment and fury. The murderous energy was so dense it seemed almost tangible, coiling into a vortex. The stench of blood surged outward like a shockwave, sweeping in all directions. In the dizzying rush of it, one could almost glimpse the phantom of a ferocious beast rearing back in a howl.
Xu Ke, completely unprepared, stumbled and fell.
Li Fan, still lost in thought, was jolted back to the present by the terrifying display. Every feather on his body stood on end. He trembled uncontrollably, gripped by the instinctive dread of prey before a predator.
Fortunately, the child Sovereign Primus's small hand flexed, fingers curling to form a cage of unimaginable sturdiness. It contained and suppressed the raging baleful qi utterly. No matter how it charged and thrashed, it could not break free.
"Even in death, that foul temper remains unchanged." Sovereign Primus snorted, a faint black light emanating from their palm.
After a moment, as though sensing Sovereign Primus's presence, whatever raged inside the box began to calm. The roars softened, then faded into silence.
Only then did Xu Ke and Li Fan get a clear look at what the box held.
It was the severed head of a ferocious beast, eyes wide open in a death stare of profound grievance. Wounds crisscrossed its face like cracks in shattered porcelain. At the severed neck, the flesh still twitched and writhed, as if the creature were not entirely dead.
To think that what Senior Brother Lu Ya had entrusted him to carry to the Southern Abyss Demonic Mountain was this. Xu Ke's face drained of all color.
He waved his hands frantically. "It wasn't me!"
The child Sovereign Primus froze for a moment, then let out a string of light, amused laughter.
"Don't worry. Even if you claimed you killed him, no one in this world would believe you. The one hailed as the Lord of Slaughter among demonic beasts, Sovereign Secundus the Savage. There aren't many beings capable of killing him. You are definitely not one of them."
Sovereign Primus showed little grief or anger. After this calm explanation, they turned their gaze back to the head of Sovereign Secundus the Savage and studied it intently, as if searching for something.
"Sovereign Secundus the Savage?" Xu Ke, now cleared of suspicion, felt no relief. A greater shock gripped him instead. He swallowed. "If he's number two... doesn't that mean he was even more powerful than Grandfather Tertius? How... how did he end up like this?"
He forced himself to glance at the head in the box as he asked.
Li Fan's mind was shaken just as deeply.
From Sovereign Primus's words, Sovereign Secundus the Savage had clearly been the mightiest among the demonic beast race, second only to Sovereign Primus. Measured by the realms of human cultivators, his power would have stood on par with the Eternal Life realm.
And yet someone had severed his head.
Who?
The wooden box had come from Lu Ya of the Beast Taming Sect. Lu Ya himself lacked the strength for such a feat, but Li Fan knew someone who didn't: Mister Bai.
In an instant, the image of a peerless, solitary figure rose in his mind.
Was it him?
Li Fan and Xu Ke exchanged a glance. The same conclusion had clearly occurred to both of them.
Just as the two of them pieced together the likely culprit, Sovereign Primus seemed to have found what they were looking for in the wounds on the head.
"Those who live by the sword, die by the sword. I warned you many times, but you wouldn't listen. You brought this end upon yourself."
Sovereign Primus's expression was stern, their voice cold as frost.
The head of Sovereign Secundus the Savage seemed to emit a faint roar, as if making one last unwilling retort.
"Perhaps it's for the best that you've returned."
Sovereign Primus uttered this cryptic statement, then did something that made Xu Ke's hair stand on end.
They placed their hand upon the head of Sovereign Secundus the Savage. At once, their small, fair hand began to swell and distort. Mass after mass of flesh, black as sludge, surged violently outward and engulfed the head entirely, swallowing it whole.
Instinctively, Xu Ke grabbed Li Fan and took several steps back, putting distance between themselves and the seemingly harmless child.
After only a few breaths, the churning black mass was withdrawn. Sovereign Primus returned to their original, innocent appearance. The head of Sovereign Secundus the Savage was gone.
"Thank you for delivering this fool back to me. This time, I won't let him leave for the next ten thousand years at minimum."
Sovereign Primus said this with complete seriousness.
Xu Ke scratched his head awkwardly, at a loss for words.
"I understand Sovereign Tertius's meaning as well." Sovereign Primus glanced at Xu Ke and smiled. There was no reproach in it, only a calm acknowledgment.
Then their belly suddenly bulged. In mere moments it swelled into a grotesque shape several times the size of their childlike frame. Something seemed to be gestating inside, rolling and shifting.
Squelch.
The sound of tearing flesh came from within. Before long, a round, plump creature detached itself and tumbled free.
"Take this little one back with you. Deliver it to Lu Ya. He will know what to do."
Having reverted to their child form, Sovereign Primus regarded Xu Ke in silence for a long moment before speaking again. "This is your reward for the mission. Beyond that, I have something else to give you."