Chapter 1325: The Genesis of an Immortal
With strokes as fluid as a serpent’s dance, the [Submerge] character, disguised beneath various other techniques, was complete.
Its power had been severely weakened, but that made it perfect for a test.
To ensure the accuracy of his experiment, Li Fan also cut off a piece of his own flesh of the same size, as well as another piece of mortal flesh, to serve as a control group.
Under the shroud of the [Submerge] character, the three pieces of flesh underwent vastly different transformations.
All three were instantly enveloped by a layer of shadow.
Li Fan's flesh and the mortal flesh behaved identically. With almost no resistance, they were struck by a wave from an invisible sea, sinking beneath the surface and vanishing from the world.
But the piece of True Immortal flesh...
Though it could not escape the influence of the True Immortal Seal Character, it was like a small boat on a stormy sea. Tossed about by the surging waves, it bobbed up and down, yet remained steadily afloat.
“Truly the flesh of a True Immortal...” Li Fan’s eyes glinted.
Next, Li Fan conducted a series of experiments using the [Chaos], [Solitude], and other True Immortal Seal Characters, arriving at a preliminary conclusion.
Perhaps because it had once been steeped in immortal spirit energy, the True Immortal flesh possessed extremely potent properties of “self-preservation” and “recovery.” It wasn't that it was directly immune to the influence of the Seal Characters. Rather, after being impacted and undergoing a change, it would restore itself at an astonishing speed.
Thus, at a glance, it appeared to be unaffected by the various characters.
“Such resilience, such a rate of recovery...” Seeing this small piece of a True Immortal’s power, Li Fan glimpsed their true, terrifying nature, and his heart trembled with shock.
“The power of mere flesh is thousands upon thousands of times greater than the recovery ability of my own soul, even with the aid of the Limitless Fullness and Emptiness technique!”
“What is the driving force behind this recovery? There isn’t a shred of immortal spirit energy left in this flesh. And from a purely biological standpoint, its structure is no different from that of a mortal.”
“Could it be...”
With a thought, the white ring, Falling into the Mortal Dust, appeared in his palm.
Mere flesh does not possess life. Therefore, in the judgment of Falling into the Mortal Dust, the True Immortal flesh before him fell into the category of a “dead object.”
A soft light enveloped the flesh, and it instantly began to decompose.
But to Li Fan's disappointment, no immortal spirit energy emerged.
Instead, there was only a black gas reeking of a foul stench.
Just a slight whiff made Li Fan feel dizzy and lightheaded, and a series of illusions flashed before his eyes.
His expression changed dramatically. Li Fan teleported a great distance away and activated an array to gather and contain the black gas.
Fortunately, the gas itself had no destructive power and was quickly dealt with.
Staring at the small black sphere suspended in the air far away, Li Fan couldn't help but feel his eyelids twitch.
The stench, which seemed capable of corrupting even the soul, still lingered faintly in his nostrils.
“This black gas seems to be pure decay and ruin.”
“Interesting. To possess such potent vitality, yet to become this upon decomposition.”
An endless curiosity about the True Immortal flesh welled up in Li Fan's heart again, and he nearly gave in to the urge to send out another wisp of his divine sense to probe its secrets.
Fortunately, he managed to stop himself at the critical moment with a great act of will.
“Next life, next life. There will be plenty of opportunities later...” His current physical condition was no longer sufficient to support further investigation into the mysteries of a True Immortal. Li Fan took a deep breath, calming the turmoil in his heart.
Although he couldn't yet unravel the secrets of the True Immortal’s blood, that didn't stop him from continuing to develop its uses.
With a flash of light, the bronze crane he had obtained from the Mysterious Immortal Boat appeared in his palm.
“Immortal Descends, All Things Return to Void!”
After some preparation, a weakened, miniature version of the Return to Void Array manifested in the underground space of the Lecture Stage.
Within the immortal array, an invisible wind howled.
Li Fan tossed the bronze crane into the center of the grand array. Instantly, a storm of violent wind blades, directed by Li Fan’s will, rained down upon the bronze crane.
As expected of a remnant of an immortal artifact that had survived an apocalyptic calamity. The Return to Void Array, though smaller in scale, had not lost much of its power, yet it barely left a scratch on the bronze crane.
But the relentless, invisible wind blew without cease, like a giant hammer striking again and again, slowly changing the crane's shape.
Time passed slowly. Three days later, a bronze skeleton had taken shape within the Return to Void Array.
He temporarily moved it out of the array and, using a golden Source Power Essence as a guide, drew a small piece of the True Immortal flesh toward the bronze skeleton.
Perhaps due to its own inherent properties, or perhaps sensing the similar “immortal” aura on the bronze skeleton, the two met.
The True Immortal flesh slowly settled onto the surface of the bronze bone.
The flesh surged and churned, seemingly wanting to expand outward.
Seeing this, Li Fan took the opportunity to infuse it with a mass of Source Power Essence.
Merging with the True Immortal flesh was incredibly difficult, but perhaps the two truly had something in common. In the end, the flesh, like a sponge, slowly absorbed the golden essence.
Replenished with energy, the True Immortal flesh began to grow along the bronze bones.
What started as a small, finger-sized piece attached to the skull, after a period of writhing and self-propagation, became a red torrent flowing down from the head.
After being fed with Li Fan's Source Power Essence, this pile of True Immortal flesh no longer produced the strange whispers and resentful murmurs upon approach. Instead, it felt like a creation within the great net of Source Power Essence, even giving Li Fan a sense of direct control, as if it were an extension of his own arm.
Continuously infusing it with Source Power Essence, the True Immortal flesh finally covered the entire surface of the bronze skeleton.
But afterward, it did not develop a skin layer.
The humanoid figure, formed purely from a mass of flesh, was a somewhat chilling sight to behold.
Li Fan could sense that the True Immortal flesh was growing roots, constantly adhering to the bronze bones beneath, making the bond stronger.
And the entire flesh body began to undergo some kind of transformation as this bond grew tighter.
However, as he quietly observed the body before him, Li Fan always felt that something was missing.
“The soul is the master of the body. A body without a soul is just an object...”
After a long period of observation, Li Fan faintly understood.
But he hesitated to take the final, most crucial step.
It wasn't just because he lacked the main ingredient of an “immortal soul.”
More importantly, whenever the thought crossed his mind, a strange sense of crisis would simultaneously emerge.
“When dealing with the realm of True Immortals, one must be even more cautious. When painting the eyes on the dragon, one must be careful of the backlash after it breaks through the wall and flies away...”
With this in mind, Li Fan nodded slowly, forming hand seals to temporarily seal the husk within a grand array.
“I’ll wait until I find a consciousness that can fully bear the True Immortal flesh without losing control,” Li Fan considered, his mind flashing through images of Tianyang and Mr. Bai’s remains.
“Eternal Remembrance, everlasting through ages. Something that can resonate with the Dao shouldn't get lost under the influence of True Immortal flesh.”
Compared to the uncontrollable Mr. Bai, the simple-natured Tianyang was clearly a more suitable candidate.
Li Fan personally made a trip to the bottom of the Congyun Sea.
He glanced at Tianyang’s puppet body, still slumbering beneath the earth veins at the seafloor, but did not disturb it.
Instead, he went to Tianyang’s cave-dwelling and retrieved his skeletal remains.
After trying and failing once again to sense the Eternal Remembrance attached to them, Li Fan abruptly crushed the bones.
He then controlled the dust, scattering and mixing it into the True Immortal flesh body.
The bones were merely a facade; the Eternal Remembrance would not dissipate just because the bones were crushed.
Boom!
With the addition of the Eternal Remembrance, the True Immortal flesh body underwent a qualitative transformation.
Intense energy fluctuations erupted from the body. As if carved by an invisible blade, skin and hair began to form on the naked flesh.
The face that slowly appeared was identical to the Tianyang from his memories!
Li Fan pondered, continuously setting up grand arrays around it to prevent the awakened Tianyang from going on a rampage.
At the same time, he constantly generated chains of Source Power Essence to bind the body before him.
But soon, Li Fan realized something was wrong.
Even as Tianyang’s features grew clearer, no life ever emerged. The Tianyang before him was like a doll pieced together from the remnants of an immortal artifact, True Immortal flesh, and Eternal Remembrance.
It looked incredibly lifelike, but there was still a fundamental gap between it and a true living being.
Even just trying to make this doll move was currently impossible.
“...”
Li Fan shook his head slightly. “It seems I was being too naive. Life, especially when it involves immortals, is clearly not something that can be replicated so frivolously.”
“However, that doesn't mean this body is useless. Its core is Tianyang's Eternal Remembrance. When Tianyang truly awakens, he will be able to control this flesh puppet.”
“Although it has no spiritual power, its physical strength alone could probably suppress most of the Xuanhuang Realm. Mortal techniques and divine abilities would be unable to harm it in the slightest.”
“What’s even better is that the puppet’s flesh was nourished by Source Power Essence. Even after this round of growth, it remains under my control...”
With a thought, the flesh puppet before him moved like a marionette, performing various actions.
But because of Tianyang’s Eternal Remembrance, Li Fan clearly felt a certain lack of smoothness in its movements.
“It must be controlled by its true master to move as an extension of his own arm.”
Once again using a grand array, he sealed the flesh-and-blood immortal puppet.
Li Fan looked at the large remaining piece of True Immortal flesh and fell into deep thought.
“Source Power Essence is, after all, just a lower-tier substitute for immortal spirit energy. After being nourished by it, the True Immortal flesh seems to have changed, its realm having fallen. Even though they originally came from the same source, generated by the Heaven and Earth Bone Hand, they almost instantly became unrelated...”
“Mo Rubin once said that Source Power Essence is more harmful than beneficial. It seems he was not wrong.”
But that was only for ordinary people. Even if there were irreversible consequences from being tainted by the Source Power Essence, Li Fan could simply use [Truth] to erase them.
So, until he found a true method of transcendence, Li Fan would certainly choose to make the most of what he had.
“It’s likely not just the Source Power Essence. The inherent self-preservation of the True Immortal flesh means that any power lower than immortal spirit energy that taints it will cause it to ‘downgrade’...”
“The distinction between immortal and mortal is truly vast,” Li Fan lamented.
“If something inferior doesn't work, perhaps I should try something of the same level, or even higher.”
Among the various methods Li Fan currently had at his disposal, the True Immortal Seal Characters and immortal-grade arrays were roughly on the same level as the True Immortal flesh.
And the True-False Transformation of [Truth] was above that of an immortal.
Li Fan began a new round of research.
But this time, the progress was not as smooth as before. After all, these were all things that transcended the mortal realm, and with Li Fan’s current accumulation of knowledge, it would be difficult to make a breakthrough in a short time.
Li Fan was quite self-aware.
He did not waste his main body’s time on this, but instead created a Fabricated Personality to conduct the research in his stead. If any discoveries were made, his main body would immediately sense them.
And to prevent any anomalies that might occur during the research, Li Fan not only set up layers of arrays here but also left the white ring, Falling into the Mortal Dust, to suppress it.
If the True Immortal flesh underwent an uncontrollable mutation, Falling into the Mortal Dust would descend and decompose it entirely.
The black gas was a bit smelly, but as long as it was controlled and not allowed to leak, it shouldn't cause any trouble.
On his way back to the edge of the Star Sea, Li Fan contemplated his recent experiment with the ancient character.
“The restorative power of the ancient character can generate flesh from bones.”
“And there are more than just the bones of True Immortals within the Xuanhuang Realm.”
An image flashed through Li Fan's mind: the remains of the Grand Master within the ruins of the One Beginning Sect, deep in the Great Rift Valley of Fuguang Province.
During the immortal array storm that annihilated the world in the previous life, Source Dao Province had undoubtedly survived until the very end.
Unlike the other survivors, the place where the Grand Master was located seemed to form a black domain, isolated from the outside world. Even with Li Fan in control of the immortal array, he could not peer into its specific circumstances.
Even when the High Wall finally collapsed and the Star Sea was thrown into turmoil, that black domain remained stable. From this alone, one could glimpse the Grand Master’s power.
He was definitely superior to the Dharma Spreaders, the Heavenly Doctor, and the others.
“To allow his own remains to be left out in the open.”
“Unmoved by the destruction of the Xuanhuang Realm, unmoved by the descent of a True Immortal.”
“Even when the High Wall crumbled and the beings who hunt True Immortals from beyond descended, He still did not move. There is definitely something wrong with the Grand Master’s state.”
“No matter how focused one is on comprehending the Dao, upon sensing a fatal threat, one would surely have an instinctive reaction...”
It was based on this speculation that Li Fan wanted to use the Grand Master’s flesh to probe the situation.
However, there was a certain risk involved, so he would have to wait until the very end of this life to make his move.
As his thoughts churned, Li Fan had already returned to the exterior of the Mysterious Immortal Boat.
Following the previously agreed-upon method, he sent a signal.
The elders of the Immortal Boat all came out to greet him, showing him a great deal of respect.
“Fellow Daoist, what happened to you?”
“What has occurred?”
The people of the Immortal Boat looked at Li Fan, whom they had parted from not long ago, now with a full head of white hair and even a faint aura of death, and they were all greatly alarmed, asking questions in a flurry.
Li Fan let out a cold snort, his tone unfriendly as he began his accusation. “You people of the Immortal Boat have brought me to ruin!”
The members of the Immortal Boat exchanged confused glances.
“Why do you say such things, Fellow Daoist?” Zhong Daogong asked with a bitter smile.
“I’m sure you can all see that my life is now nearing its end! I probably have only twenty years of my lifespan remaining...” Li Fan’s face was grim, his eyes filled with killing intent as he swept his gaze across the crowd from the Immortal Boat.
“And all of this is thanks to you!”
Before the people of the Immortal Boat could respond, Li Fan continued, “After I returned this time, I reported the matter to my Master. But I received no reply for a long time.”
“So I took it upon myself to use the world-protecting immortal artifact to try and divine the future of our cooperation...”
“I never expected to end up in this state!”
Li Fan stared fiercely at the people of the Immortal Boat and demanded, “That weakest point on the High Wall—is it connected to what’s *outside* the High Wall?!”
(End of this chapter)
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