In Anchor Year 9, Tian Yang’s cave dwelling had not yet emerged into the world. It lay hidden deep within a dormant underwater volcano.
Using the Earthfire Elevation Array he had obtained from Tian Yang’s Eternal Remnant Will, Li Fan finally pinpointed the cave dwelling’s location after considerable effort.
After activating several protective spirit talismans, Li Fan cautiously infiltrated the dwelling.
The current Reverend Tian Yang existed in a peculiar state, neither fully alive nor completely dead.
From the Eternal Remnant Will, Li Fan had learned the truth.
Back in the ancient era, apart from Tian Yang, every other member of the Embodiment Transformation Dao Sect had gone to participate in that great war. None had returned.
Tian Yang alone had clung to the belief that his master and senior brothers would surely come back.
Fearing they would not find him upon their return, he had stubbornly remained within the sect’s cave dwelling, refusing to leave.
Unexpectedly, a few years later, intruders forced their way in. The young Tian Yang had tried to resist but was no match for them. Only by relying on an artifact his senior brothers had left behind before their departure had he barely preserved his life.
Thereafter, the young Tian Yang began a life of wandering through the cultivation world.
Through his struggles, he slowly came to understand that his aptitude was nothing like what his senior brothers had claimed—that he was a prodigy, the hope for the Embodiment Transformation Dao Sect’s revival.
Never mind comparing himself to his senior brothers. He likely couldn't even match an ordinary Golden Core cultivator.
And yet his master and senior brothers had entrusted him with the sect's final hope.
Whenever he recalled their words to him—"Tian Yang, your aptitude is second to none in this world. Get well soon, the Embodiment Transformation Dao Sect is counting on you"—and contrasted them with his current reality, where he couldn’t even protect his own sect’s cave dwelling, his heart would fill with bitter hatred for his own incompetence.
But facts remained unmoved by emotion.
Tian Yang estimated that, barring some miraculous encounter, the Golden Core realm would likely be his limit in this lifetime.
To live up to the trust placed in him by his master and senior brothers, Tian Yang decided to gamble everything. He would defy the heavens and alter his fate by discarding his mortal flesh and completely transforming into a puppet.
The latter half of his life was spent entirely in preparation for this endeavor, searching for a suitable location to deploy the Earthfire Elevation Array, gathering materials, refining the puppet, etc.
When all preparations were complete, Tian Yang resolutely carried out the human-to-puppet transformation.
Afterwards, he sank into slumber deep within the earth veins, intending to use the power of earthfire to temper and refine the puppet, elevating its level.
If nothing went wrong, Tian Yang would complete his metamorphosis within five hundred years at most.
He would become a formidable existence whose power was no less than that of a Spirit Transformation Immortal Eminence.
But unfortunately, things did not go as planned.
Over those five hundred years, dragons and serpents rose from the land, while mountains transformed into seas.
Shifts in the earth veins drastically reduced the efficacy of the Earthfire Elevation Array, and the materials Tian Yang had used to refine the puppet were all ordinary.
As a result, the Tian Yang puppet's cultivation progressed at an exceptionally slow pace. What had been estimated at five hundred years stretched into several thousand.
Across the vast expanse of time, Tian Yang’s consciousness was slowly eroded even in slumber.
He lost the vast majority of his subjective will, leaving behind only the stubborn obsession that "Tian Yang is not weaker than others."
Li Fan speculated that it was likely the Heaven-Overturning Palm—the very strike that had flattened the Congyun Mountain Range into the Congyun Sea—that had ultimately caused Tian Yang’s plan to fail.
Tian Yang is not weaker than others... Li Fan shook his head and arrived outside the cave dwelling.
After scrutinizing the layout for a moment, Li Fan’s form shifted, transforming into a thin line. Then, he began weaving through the bends and turns.
Eventually, Li Fan smoothly arrived at the deepest part of the cave dwelling without triggering any traps or restrictive arrays.
There, seated upright, was a skeleton the size of a child.
In the actual version of events, because Tian Yang's prenatal deficiencies had never been remedied, he had always remained the same size physically.
Li Fan raised his guard and slowly approached.
Suddenly, a grating, creaking sound rose from beneath the earth.
Li Fan's heart stirred, and his body shot backward.
Immediately after, seventeen black-and-red mechanical puppets burst out of the ground.
Li Fan activated his Embodiment Transformation Dao Sect technique and shouted loudly, "Little Junior Brother, don't you recognize me?"
The mechanical puppets paid him no heed, their attacks utterly merciless as they assaulted Li Fan in unison.
Fortunately, they possessed the characteristic of "weak against the weak, strong against the strong."
A flash of sword light forced the puppets back. Li Fan weaved through the gaps between them, calling out Tian Yang's name.
Slowly, the movements of the mechanical puppets grew somewhat hesitant.
At this moment, Li Fan took out a projection stone, casting Ling Xiao's final work into the air.
The mechanical puppets gradually ceased their attacks.
They tilted their heads up, gazing at the text and images in the air.
"Sec...ond...
"Senior...Brother?"
A slightly sluggish, composite mechanical voice sounded.
Li Fan laughed heartily. "Little Junior Brother, it’s been thousands of years, I trust you've been well!"
"Sec...ond Senior Brother!"
Bang!
Cracks appeared across the bodies of the seventeen puppets. Then, like porcelain, they shattered apart.
The fragments covering the ground dissolved and writhed, finally coalescing into a single, small Tian Yang puppet.
It flew before Li Fan, tilting its head as it examined him.
Looking at this man who seemed somewhat unfamiliar, Tian Yang was bewildered.
Li Fan patted Tian Yang's shoulder. "Come, Senior Brother will take you home!"
The Tian Yang puppet froze.
A rumbling roar came from the depths of the seabed. The great earth trembled, as if something was about to break free.
Li Fan chuckled. "Junior Brother, don't be so agitated. In this era, there are still many bad people outside.
"It wouldn't be good if others discovered us."
The puppet spent some time processing the meaning of Li Fan's words before finally nodding.
In an instant, the seabed grew quiet once more.
With Li Fan's help, Tian Yang spent the next three days retrieving all his various body components that had been deeply buried and scattered underground.
Reintegrating them into one, he quietly followed behind Li Fan.
Li Fan performed a secret art to conceal their auras.
He also took Tian Yang's skeletal remains from the cave dwelling, which contained the Eternal Remnant Will.
The two traveled swiftly, arriving at the nameless, desolate island where the group from the Li World had dwelled in his past life.
Li Fan then spent another ten-plus days carving out a simple cave dwelling resembling the old Embodiment Transformation Dao Sect.
After laying down concealment and protective arrays, Li Fan looked at Tian Yang and instructed, "Little Junior Brother, wait for me here. I'll return soon."
Tian Yang obediently nodded.
After Li Fan left, he went to his original room and sat down quietly.
Within the Tianxuan Mirror.
Waking Tian Yang a few years early does have some drawbacks.
The body refinement process isn’t fully completed. He's still a fair way from the peak of Spirit Transformation.
But I can help him make up the difference.
After doing some research, Li Fan went on to purchase one rare material after another, his contribution points draining away like water.
Two days later, Li Fan returned to the nameless island, carrying enough supplies to fill several storage rings.
“Gray Mystic Diamond, Willow-Brush Profound Stone, Crimson Spirit Copper...
"Little Junior Brother, these are materials your main body can absorb to strengthen itself.
"As for your daily routine, you should stay within this Origin-Returning Array. It will aid your refinement process..."
Li Fan instructed Tian Yang in great detail.
Tian Yang listened attentively.