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Chapter 1390: The Chenyuan Dao of Life and Death

Li Fan's face contorted, his voice a low growl through clenched teeth. "Daoist, can you even begin to imagine the horror of being trapped in the same dream for a lifetime?"

"It's this damned, bizarre little puppet that's to blame! I want to break free from these nightmares once and for all, and that's why I've brought it to your Thousand Mile Hall."

"But it is, after all, a family heirloom. My ancestor's final wish was that it must be kept safe..." Li Fan's face was a mask of conflict.

Upon hearing this, Jiao Xiuyuan furrowed his brow and replied sympathetically, "An ancestor's decree is a heavy burden, but surely your own well-being matters more."

"This item is certainly sinister, an object of ill omen. But you can rest easy, Daoist. The Thousand Mile Hall prides itself on fairness; I won't use its nature to drive down the price."

Li Fan hesitated for a moment before speaking slowly. "Selling it... is an option. But it would be best if we could uncover the secret behind this little figure. Otherwise, I'll have a hard time answering to my kin."

"May I have a closer look?" Jiao Xiuyuan asked tentatively.

Li Fan was a bit hesitant, but in the end, he handed the mechanical figure over.

Its prior activities had drained its energy reserves, so even as it rested in Jiao Xiuyuan's palm, it remained completely inert.

"Can you make anything of it?" Li Fan asked.

"From its appearance, this puppet resembles someone from the ancient cultivation world known as the Chenyuan Realm. Legend has it that the cultivators of that realm all possessed the bloodline of True Immortals, were born with three eyes, and had a host of innate divine abilities..."

"What's strange, however, is that I've never encountered the material it's made from," Jiao Xiuyuan remarked, his expression one of pure fascination.

"The Chenyuan Realm?" Li Fan feigned complete ignorance.

"It's an ancient secret, and that realm was destroyed long ago. It's only natural that you wouldn't know of it." Jiao Xiuyuan waved his hand dismissively, clearly not intending to elaborate, his attention still fixed on the mechanical figure.

Meanwhile, Li Fan secretly manipulated the illusion array, orchestrating the next change.

The mechanical figure suddenly seemed to open its third eye, shooting out a straight beam of brilliant light that rushed directly at Jiao Xiuyuan.

Both Jiao Xiuyuan and Li Fan gasped in unison.

By the time they reacted, the golden light had already vanished, as if it had been a mere illusion.

"D-Daoist, are you alright? That golden light just now... it wasn't a hallucination, was it?" Li Fan asked, his voice filled with shock and uncertainty.

Jiao Xiuyuan nodded with a grave expression. "I saw it too. Was it actually aimed at me...?"

Jiao Xiuyuan's question seemed to jog a memory.

Li Fan's eyes widened as if in sudden realization. "That's right! Before, whenever the thought of selling this mechanical figure crossed my mind, I'd feel restless and unable to make a decision. It wasn't until I got near your Thousand Mile Hall that I finally found my resolve."

Li Fan's expression grew unsettled. "Don't tell me... Daoist, do you truly have some strange connection to this thing?"

Jiao Xiuyuan didn't answer this time, his fingers carefully tracing the features of the three-eyed doll.

It was unclear what he discovered, but his expression grew increasingly serious.

"This thing... might be alive."

After a long silence, Jiao Xiuyuan's sudden declaration struck like a thunderclap.

"What?" Li Fan feigned a startled jump, staring at the puppet in disbelief.

"It seems that through some unimaginable, transcendent means, a living cultivator from the Chenyuan Realm was sealed and forged into an object."

"Though transformed into an object, it seems to have retained all the spiritual power and innate abilities of the mighty cultivator it once was—a being with the blood of a True Immortal!" Jiao Xiuyuan declared.

"Th-that's impossible, isn't it? To transform a living being into an object... I doubt even the esteemed Dharma Spreader could accomplish such a thing. Besides, Daoist, didn't you say the Chenyuan Realm was already destroyed?" Li Fan voiced his doubt.

"Beyond the Xuanhuang Realm, perhaps?" Jiao Xiuyuan first muttered to himself.

Then, as if to verify his theory, he produced a small green bottle from somewhere.

With a pained expression, he poured out a single, viscous drop of green liquid and offered it to the mechanical figure.

"This bottle contains pure life essence. If it were a dead object, it certainly wouldn't react."

"But if it still possesses any trace of life, it will instinctively absorb it."

As if proving Jiao Xiuyuan's words, the moment the green liquid drew near, the mechanical figure's two normal eyes snapped open. It quickly absorbed the liquid.

Li Fan still couldn't sense any aura of life from it, yet he watched with his own eyes as the little figure stirred, gradually coming alive.

The figure's target, as expected, was still Jiao Xiuyuan.

Its third eye shot out a beam of golden light, like a chain, that tightly wrapped around Jiao Xiuyuan.

"Daoist, are you alright?!" Li Fan asked with great urgency, yet he made no move to help, merely watching from a distance.

Bound by the golden chains, Jiao Xiuyuan's body was immobilized, his expression frozen. He gave no response.

"Don't worry, a petty trick like this could never harm me!" The speaker was still Jiao Xiuyuan, but the voice came from another corner of the room.

Li Fan's head snapped toward the sound. In a corner of the room, a withered, yellow branch sprouted from the floorboards.

It twisted and grew, morphing and expanding.

Moments later, a second Jiao Xiuyuan stepped out of it, whole and unharmed!

"A-are you a man or a ghost!" Li Fan stammered, shivering as if genuinely terrified.

"Hehehe, it's just a simple cloning technique," the new Jiao Xiuyuan said reassuringly.

He had only spoken a single sentence when the Chenyuan Realm mechanical figure's third eye shot out another beam of golden light.

It locked onto the new Jiao Xiuyuan.

Still powerless to resist, he was captured again.

"Daoist!" Li Fan's voice trembled, his legs shaking as if he were on the verge of fleeing.

"Don't panic!" Yet another voice appeared.

A third Jiao Xiuyuan appeared in the Thousand Mile Hall.

His fate was the same; he too was instantly bound by a golden chain.

"Let's see just how many of those you can shoot!"

A voice roared, laced with anger—but it was not one voice, but ten, speaking in unison.

All around the shop, withered branches erupted from the floor. Ten identical copies of Jiao Xiuyuan emerged, one after another.

Faced with such a bizarre spectacle, the three-eyed figure seemed to hesitate, momentarily stunned.

After a brief pause, it lashed out with its golden chains.

But it could only manage to fire three more before its power was clearly exhausted.

Drained, it slumped back into its previous dormant state.

"Trying to catch me? You're still a little wet behind the ears!" seven voices declared in a triumphant, overlapping chorus.

Seven triumphant voices echoed one after another.

With that, six of the free figures dissolved back into withered branches, which shriveled and receded into the floor.

A single Jiao Xiuyuan remained, staring intently at the six captured versions of himself.

He slowly approached one of the captives and reached out to touch the golden chain.

"This thing..."

His hand passed right through it, as if it were nothing more than a projection of light.

Seeing this, Li Fan mimicked the action with feigned curiosity.

His hand also met no resistance.

"It seems to be a manifestation of an innate divine ability from a Chenyuan cultivator."

"Truly quite remarkable."

Jiao Xiuyuan mused, his attempts to grasp the chain's physical form proving fruitless. Finally, he sighed in admiration.

"J-Jiao Daoist. It seems... it really seems... that this mechanical figure's target is you?"

"Could it be that the infant from my ancestors' dreams was you? Did this mechanical figure come to our world just to hunt you down?" Li Fan's voice was laced with a growing, horrified awe.

"But that can't be right. You don't look that old. The timeline doesn't match. Are you a descendant of that infant?" Li Fan scrutinized Jiao Xiuyuan, his face a picture of bewilderment.

"I believe... I am that infant," Jiao Xiuyuan stated with surprising frankness.

"What?" Li Fan's eyes widened.

"I've lived quite a bit longer than most people. It's just that for the vast majority of that time, I was in an unconscious state, acting purely on instinct," Jiao Xiuyuan said calmly.

"In fact, I have some vague memories of my early years. They've been buried deep in my mind for so long that I'd all but forgotten them completely. This little incident, however, has brought some of it back," Jiao Xiuyuan's tone became distant, almost dreamlike.

"Daoist Jiao, are you truly a cultivator from another world?" Li Fan stared at him intently, as if trying to see through to his very core, his expression a mix of curiosity and excitement.

"I... suppose I am," Jiao Xiuyuan said with a slight hesitation before finally nodding.

"I have no memory of anything before I crawled out of that sphere. But since this puppet that's tracking me is from beyond the Xuanhuang Realm, I imagine my homeland is as well."

"No wonder I instinctively sought to cultivate techniques of myriad incarnations. Was it all just to evade capture?" Jiao Xiuyuan murmured, his voice laced with a strange sense of discovery.

Li Fan, for his part, sighed in amazement, staring at him in disbelief. "It's truly hard to imagine how you, all alone, survived from infancy to this day and even founded a business like the Thousand Mile Hall."

Jiao Xiuyuan waved his hand dismissively. "It wasn't that difficult, really. In fact, for as long as I can remember, as long as I followed my heart, I rarely encountered any real trouble. All obstacles would resolve themselves. Except, of course, for business matters."

"Trying to make money is the truly difficult part!" Jiao Xiuyuan suddenly lamented, the comment strangely out of place.

"I originally came here to resolve my own misfortune, but I never expected to involve you, Daoist Jiao. If it weren't for me, this puppet would have remained without power and likely wouldn't have found its way to you," Li Fan said, his face a mask of guilt.

But Jiao Xiuyuan was philosophical. "What is fated will eventually come to pass. Besides, I believe this has been a blessing in disguise for me."

Li Fan looked surprised. "How so?"

"I've lived in the Xuanhuang Realm for so long, been so deeply influenced by it, that I inevitably started down the path of reversing the logic of heaven and earth."

"It was certainly a great help. If not for the Heavenly Venerate's new method, I probably would have died in my youth."

"But in the process, some of the innate abilities from my homeland were sealed away, nearly forgotten."

"If not for what happened today..."

Jiao Xiuyuan's expression grew distant.

He seemed to be recalling some crucial information from the depths of his mind, his brow furrowing from time to time.

His eyes grew brighter and brighter.

Li Fan could faintly sense an exceptionally profound aura emerging from Jiao Xiuyuan, fluctuating unpredictably.

Jiao Xiuyuan's gaze darted around, as if he had discovered something.

A look of astonishment slowly crept into his eyes.

"Freeze!"

Just as he was about to see through the illusion, Li Fan's cold voice cut through the air.

The scene before Jiao Xiuyuan shattered.

"Daoist Jiao, Daoist Jiao!"

"Have you zoned out? Are you selling these Small Medicine King Cauldrons or not!"

An impatient urging sounded in his ear.

Jiao Xiuyuan blinked, and a flood of information rushed into his mind.

He remembered now. He had, with great difficulty, unearthed several high-quality Small Medicine King Cauldrons from the ruins of the ancient Medicine King Sect.

Not only could they be used as storage treasures, but they also contained their own spiritual space, perfect for cultivating all sorts of spiritual herbs and plants. They were extraordinarily valuable.

"Selling, of course I'm selling..." Jiao Xiuyuan replied instinctively.

Just then, he suddenly recalled something else. He had learned from an exceptionally skilled diviner that soon, a fiery meteor would fall and return to the Xuanhuang Realm.

That meteor was very likely the Medicine King True Cauldron, which had carried the entire Medicine King Sect away all those years ago.

When that happened, the remaining Small Medicine King Cauldrons in the world would become the keys to enter the true cauldron. And inside the Medicine King True Cauldron was the entire essence of the former sect.

As keys, the value of the Small Medicine King Cauldrons would skyrocket!

"Not for sale!" The thought of the immense profit he would soon reap made Jiao Xiuyuan's heart pound, and he instantly changed his tune.

"Daoist Jiao, how can you go back on your word?" the cultivator opposite him demanded, flustered.

But Jiao Xiuyuan simply swept all the Small Medicine King Cauldrons away and shut his doors, refusing any more guests.

His mind was already racing, plotting how to drive the price of the cauldrons as high as possible.

"Hmm?"

Jiao Xiuyuan vaguely felt that he had forgotten something extremely important.

But in the face of colossal business interests, he decided to put it out of his mind for now.

...

Outside the illusion, in the real Xuanhuang Realm.

Li Fan stared at the few golden chains before him, his expression profound.

Although everything that had just occurred was within an illusion...

The line between truth and falsehood had blurred. The changes in the three-eyed figure were real.

It had indeed received a massive infusion of life force and briefly awakened. The life force, however, came not from Jiao Xiuyuan's green bottle, but from the power of the immortal array.

Since the stimulus was real, the golden chains ejected by the three-eyed puppet were naturally real as well.

Now, they hung frozen in the air, looking somewhat similar to the golden threads wielded by the Heavenly Doctor.

But in truth, they were fundamentally different.

The Heavenly Doctor's golden threads were a "power to drive and change the laws," achieved through his comprehension and mastery of the laws of heaven and earth.

But this golden light, shot from the puppet's third eye...

"This is a law in and of itself."

"It seems it truly is a divine ability from a Chenyuan Realm cultivator."

Li Fan wasn't particularly interested in this mysterious three-eyed race.

No matter how powerful they once were, they had now been reduced to being refined into puppets.

Li Fan was far more interested in the heaven-defying methods used to transform a living being into an object, and the power behind it.

"The Cat Treasure, the Falling into the Mortal Dust, and now this three-eyed puppet."

"Beyond the wall, turning life into objects, turning laws into objects..."

"They have truly pushed the Dao of external objects to its absolute limit." Li Fan's heart grew heavy, but he was also filled with a profound sense of awe for this unknown civilization beyond the wall.

"Compared to the white ring, the method used to forge this puppet is relatively crude. Perhaps this is a breakthrough point."