At this stage, the Tian Yang puppet was still acting purely on instinct.
Teaching him to use the Origin-Returning Array to temper and strengthen himself had truly cost Li Fan a great deal of effort.
Yet even the clumsiest student could learn through repeated attempts. Tian Yang was utterly obedient to his senior brother and was slowly beginning to grasp the process.
Watching Tian Yang’s movements grow steadily more proficient, a wave of satisfaction washed over Li Fan.
"If anyone comes bothering you, Little Junior Brother, don't kill them. Hold them alive and leave the rest to me when I get back.
“If you encounter someone you can’t defeat, don’t be stubborn. Slip away quietly, and we’ll discuss it after we reunite...”
After giving Tian Yang a few more instructions, Li Fan flew out and sealed the entrance to the cave dwelling.
According to public knowledge, the strongest combatants in the Congyun Sea are those few Spirit Transformation Immortal Eminences.
Now that I have Little Junior Brother Tian Yang backing me up, I can accomplish much more.
Looking down at the nameless island below, Li Fan smiled faintly. From now on, you shall be called Embodiment Island.
Once Tian Yang completes his own repairs, I can have him help forge mechanical puppets.
With no shortage of materials, crafting a few puppets with Nascent Soul-level combat power shouldn't be too difficult.
While mechanical puppets can't truly compare to real Nascent Soul cultivators, their advantage is that they're expendable. One can simply overwhelm an opponent with numbers.
The more Li Fan thought about it, the more pleased he became.
After a while, his mind gradually settled. He retrieved Tian Yang's skeletal remains from his storage ring.
Once more, he received the prompt that Return to Truth could absorb it, but that sense of ravenous hunger was gone.
After some consideration, Li Fan ultimately chose not to absorb it.
I've already obtained everything I could from Tian Yang's remnant will. There isn’t much point in absorbing it again.
It's better to keep it. It might prove useful someday.
Cultivators of the Xuanhuang World surely had methods for utilizing Eternal Remnant Wills.
Yet, even in his previous life, when he had reached the Yan 30 permission level, he had never found any related information.
The thought of Eternal Remnant Wills made Li Fan recall the skull of the first cultivator infected by the Immortal-Mortal Miasma.
Perhaps it was precisely because it carried an Eternal Remnant Will that it was placed at the very center of the Museum of Divine Treasures.
After a while, he reined in his wandering thoughts.
Li Fan did not return to Myriad Immortals Island. Instead, he quietly made his way to the outskirts of Liuli Island.
Locating the giant Liuli Fish, Li Fan concealed his aura and descended to the seabed.
He did not act immediately, choosing to wait.
Seconds turned into minutes. Only when the moment finally arrived—the exact point in his previous life when Li Fan had re-entered the cultivation world and used Formless Killing Mechanism to slay the giant Liuli Fish—did he replicate his actions and secure the Exquisite Liuli Pearl.
With an ample supply of Dao Comprehension Pills now, the Liuli Pearl's usefulness had become negligible.
However, Li Fan hadn't killed the giant Liuli Fish for this item; his goal was to ensure the attack on the Spirit Mist Grass island and the subsequent chain of events would occur.
The reason he had refrained from acting in Anchor Year 8 was precisely to avoid the ripple effects caused by deviations in the timeline.
Everything in the world existed in a state of dynamic evolution; all things were interconnected and influenced one another.
His arrival in the Xuanhuang World a year early was like a stone dropped into a pond, rippling out to affect countless events. Li Fan could not guarantee that the events in this lifetime would remain unchanged from the past one. All he could do was minimize the deviation.
The manipulation of Spirit Mist Grass prices will lead to the great war in Tianling Province, the bounty posted by Immortal Venerable Jicheng, and the emergence of the Tianxuan Soul-Locking Array. There is no room for error.
If all else fails...
In the blink of an eye, the giant Liuli Fish was reduced to nothing, its last streams of blood drifting upward. A flicker of ruthlessness passed through Li Fan's eyes.
With that task completed, Li Fan made another trip, securing two stalks of Blueblood Coral.
While the contribution points were negligible to him now, this mission served to introduce him to Chen Ying, the Nascent Soul cultivator from the Medicine Hall.
This man would soon depart for the Five Elements Grotto-Heavens. By using Formless Killing Mechanism to monitor him, Li Fan would know the instant the Tianling Province war erupted, giving him a chance to fish in troubled waters.
Returning to the Tianxuan Mirror, Li Fan submitted the mission. He also inquired if the other party was refining Frostwill Severance Pills.
"To deduce the pill I'm refining from just one primary ingredient? Could it be that you are also skilled in this path, Fellow Daoist?" As expected, Chen Ying sent a query, his curiosity piqued.
"Haha, I'm no alchemist. I just possess some skill in divination and calculation," Li Fan replied with a laugh. "I intend to explore the Fallen Immortal Realm and had a vague feeling the pill you are crafting might be of assistance. Hence my question."
Chen Ying exclaimed in admiration, "Divination arts can be so profoundly mysterious—”
At that moment, Chen Ying seemed to recall something while looking at Li Fan's name and asked in surprise. “Wait, could you be that ancient cultivator from the Heavenly Mechanisms Sect who awoke from slumber?"
"Haha, that would indeed be me. But such a reputation is undeserved. You need not take it seriously, Fellow Daoist!" Li Fan said modestly.
Chen Ying, however, was thoroughly intrigued. He insisted on meeting Li Fan in person and offered to give him some Frostwill Severance Pills free of charge. Li Fan feigned reluctance but eventually agreed.
The two arranged to meet at Chen Ying's residence on Myriad Immortals Island.
It was well-known that cultivators could purchase cave dwellings on the island, though the prices were exorbitant. None of the cultivators from the Congyun Sea Li Fan had befriended in his previous lives had been so extravagant. Even Zhang Zhiliang hadn't been willing to buy a proper residence for his comfort.
It seems alchemy is more lucrative than array crafting. Li Fan mused to himself as he reached Chen Ying's cave dwelling.
Sensing Li Fan's arrival, a green door swung open with a rumble.
The exterior appeared simple and modest, but stepping inside revealed a whole other world.
It was as if he had entered a valley, with sprawling spirit fields growing a wide variety of herbs and spirit plants.
The concentration of spiritual qi within the valley wasn't exceptionally high, and Li Fan saw no dedicated caretakers, yet all the plants were thriving magnificently.
Li Fan guessed it likely had to do with the layers of different colored restrictions shimmering above the fields.
"Ah, Fellow Daoist Li Fan, you've finally arrived!" Chen Ying's hearty laughter echoed from a distance.
Li Fan looked over to see him emerging from a cluster of crops taller than himself.
He didn’t bother to straighten his somewhat disheveled appearance, flying straight toward Li Fan.
Eightfold Profound Grass... though ordinary varieties aren't usually this tall.
I've heard Chen Ying excels not only at alchemy but is also highly skilled in cultivating spirit plants. Seeing it today, his reputation is well-deserved.
Thoughts raced through Li Fan’s mind.
"Fellow Daoist Chen Ying, I've long admired you!" He cupped his hands in greeting, his tone warm.
Suddenly, his expression shifted, his gaze locking intently on Chen Ying.
Chen Ying felt a flicker of confusion and touched his own face.
"What is it, Fellow Daoist Li Fan?"
Seeing Li Fan's expression, as if he were facing a dire enemy, he couldn't help but ask this.
Li Fan shook his head, his voice grave. "Observing your physiognomy, Fellow Daoist, I fear a calamity of bloodshed may befall you in the coming days!"