Chapter 1019: A Body Undead for a Thousand Years
Chapter 1019: A Body Undead for a Thousand Years
Even though he already knew the full story, watching it all unfold again, Li Fan still felt a tremor of awe when faced with the might of the Immortal Ruins.
After the projection faded, Liu Ruchen's phantom began to deliver his last will and testament.
He appointed his adopted son, Liu Yihang, as the acting Sect Master of the Medicine King Sect, expressing his hope that the other elders would support and assist him.
If they were unwilling, they were free to leave the Medicine King Sect; he would not force them to stay.
He warned them not to rush for revenge upon returning to the Xuanhuang Realm, but to lie low in Longevity Valley and bide their time, among other instructions.
It was all just as Li Fan had previously learned.
But even after gaining temporary control of the Medicine King True Cauldron, Li Fan did not hurry to leave.
Instead, he remained in the control chamber, waiting.
He waited patiently for several hours, yet nothing seemed to happen.
Li Fan pondered for a moment, then the Final Dissociation Disc began to spin rapidly, generating a formation.
A cold glint appeared in his eyes as he instantly deployed the formation within the control chamber.
The formation's primary purpose was to force any hidden remnant souls out into the open!
That's right—Li Fan suspected that Liu Ruchen, the Sect Master of the Medicine King Sect, was not completely dead!
This was no baseless guess.
After all, the Li Fan of today was worldly and experienced.
Mechanisms, formations, restrictions—what kind of constructs had he not seen?
And the phantom that had delivered the last will and testament did not belong to any of those categories.
To sustain the projection long enough to deliver such a lengthy speech, some kind of power must have been supporting it.
Since all external sources had been ruled out, the only remaining possibility was Liu Ruchen's own spiritual soul power!
As the formation activated, waves of intersecting light swept through the chamber.
Just as Li Fan had anticipated, an increasingly faint figure was forced to reveal itself once more!
It was so weak it couldn't even communicate through spiritual sense, appearing as if it might disperse at any moment.
Sensing the faint waves of helplessness and despair emanating from the figure, Li Fan let out a cold snort.
He reached out and seized Liu Ruchen in his grasp.
Without any courtesy, Li Fan slowly infused it with Source Power, tinged with the influence of the Faceless Immortal.
As Liu Ruchen's soul gradually grew clearer, his presence also materialized within Li Fan's sensory network.
"Sect Master Liu, that was an impressive 'golden cicada shedding its shell' trick. You almost fooled me," Li Fan remarked calmly.
"You jest, fellow Daoist." Liu Ruchen's expression was bitter.
"May I ask which sect you hail from?" he inquired tentatively.
"The Xuantian Sect," Li Fan replied with a wicked grin.
"What?!" Liu Ruchen's soul shuddered. It was already unstable, and upon hearing Li Fan's words, it threatened to disintegrate completely.
After struggling to steady his mind, Liu Ruchen said with lingering fear, "It's best not to make such jokes..."
Before he could finish, the phantom of a blood moon materialized behind Li Fan.
An aura far surpassing that of an ancient Dao Integration cultivator erupted, and the pressure alone nearly shattered Liu Ruchen's frail soul.
"You think I'm lying? To your Medicine King Sect, barely half a day has passed since you fled, but in the Xuanhuang Realm, several thousand years have gone by!" Li Fan sneered.
Only then did Liu Ruchen seem to awaken from a dream. "What? Several thousand years?"
He pinched his fingers together in a quick calculation and confirmed that Li Fan was not lying.
His already ethereal face grew even paler. "I knew it would affect space and time, but I never imagined it would be to this extent."
Though deeply shaken, Liu Ruchen was, after all, a sect master. He quickly composed himself.
"In that case, has the Xuantian Sect succeeded in its restoration and reclaimed power?" Liu Ruchen asked cautiously.
"Heh." Li Fan gave a noncommittal smile, then with a flick of his finger, he transmitted a summary of the Xuanhuang Realm's current state to him.
After learning of the immense changes that had occurred over the millennium, Liu Ruchen was speechless for a long time.
"Hmph. I happened to learn the lost tale of your Medicine King Sect's departure in ancient times. Not long ago, I saw a fiery meteor streak across the sky, and on a whim, I divined the full story."
"According to the rules of my Xuantian Sect, traitors as foolish and incompetent as you are usually all put to death." A murderous glint flashed in Li Fan's eyes.
But then he changed his tone. "However, times are different now. To overthrow the Myriad Immortals Alliance and re-establish the Xuantian Sect, we need to gather all the strength we can."
"So, I will give your Medicine King Sect a chance..."
Li Fan stared at Liu Ruchen, his eyes filled with menace.
What other choice did Liu Ruchen have? It wasn't just his own fate; the lives of the disciples slumbering within the Medicine King Cauldron were also in this man's hands.
Liu Ruchen could only agree.
"Hmph, your opinion doesn't really matter. Now that you've paid respects to the Red Dust Compassionate Immortal, you couldn't escape even if you wanted to," Li Fan said with a smile.
Liu Ruchen recalled the faceless stone statue that had abruptly appeared within his soul earlier, and his heart trembled.
Temporarily placing Liu Ruchen and the Medicine King Cauldron into his grotto-heaven, Li Fan returned to the Spirit Wood Realm and summoned Master Craftsman Qiaogong.
Qiaogong was engrossed in his research on Tianyang, and he looked rather displeased at being interrupted by Li Fan.
"This friend of mine has lost his body due to certain... accidents. Could you forge a puppet vessel for him to inhabit?" Li Fan asked directly.
With the current strength of his soul, Liu Ruchen could barely even maintain his form.
To say nothing of resuming his cultivation.
Restoring his soul completely would be troublesome.
It was better to let the Master Craftsman handle it.
Master Craftsman Qiaogong glanced at Liu Ruchen and nodded. "No problem at all! But if it's just an ordinary Heavenly Mechanism Puppet... he was at the Dao Integration stage before, correct? I'm afraid a puppet body won't be able to fully channel his original power."
"As long as he can move, it's fine," Li Fan said, unconcerned.
Reviving Liu Ruchen was merely a means to better control the Medicine King Sect.
He was out of Truth Inducing Fruits, and trying to make the members of the Medicine King Sect submit one by one through threats and promises was, frankly, a bit risky.
After all, signs of that risk had already appeared in the previous life.
As long as Liu Ruchen was around, he wouldn't have to worry about the Medicine King Sect getting out of control.
Muttering to himself, Qiaogong asked Li Fan for some materials.
Having lived in the Xuanhuang Realm for some years now, all the materials Qiaogong requested were native to the realm.
Li Fan gathered them quickly.
"Um..."
"The Source Power Essence... could you provide some?"
Just as he was about to begin forging the puppet, Qiaogong suddenly made a request.
As if afraid Li Fan would misunderstand, he took the initiative to explain, "I've never used Source Power Essence before. I need to get a feel for it, don't I?"
"Otherwise, if I were to use it directly on little brother Tianyang, I wouldn't be very confident."
Li Fan fell silent for a moment before finally agreeing to Qiaogong's request.
Qiaogong immediately grew excited.
He seemed to scrap his previous forging plan and asked Li Fan for more materials.
Only then did he begin forging the Heavenly Mechanism Puppet.
The forging process itself was quite novel.
He used no tangible flames, instead directly using the golden Source Power from the void to wash out an ethereal shape.
Comments