After obtaining the spirit sand, Li Fan emerged from the cavern and returned to the sea's surface.
With all materials now gathered, it was time to begin crafting his avatar.
This was certainly not something to be done under the watchful gaze of the Myriad Immortals Alliance's Tianxuan Mirror.
Li Fan pondered for a moment before continuing his flight westward.
There, on a deserted island, stood a cave dwelling once established by Sikong Yi. Concealed through special methods of the Heaven-Swapping Sect, ordinary cultivators would find it hard to detect.
It was there that Sikong Yi had hidden while crafting his own avatar.
Since that was the case, Li Fan decided to head for that very cave dwelling.
After two more days of flight, he was nearing the deserted island.
Yet Li Fan faintly sensed someone's presence on the island. His heart tightened, and he concealed his form, stealthily moving closer.
“Strange, it should be on this island.” The voice carried from a distance sounded somewhat familiar.
Li Fan focused his gaze and recognized the furtive figure—it was Jiao Xiuyuan.
Scratching his head with his left hand, he stared intently at a square object held in his right.
The item resembled a compass, but its patterns and symbols were far more complex.
A red light shot from it, spreading outward in all directions. Then, it returned shortly after with a sharp beep.
“Impossible. I shouldn’t have gotten the location wrong. Why isn’t the Spirit Detection Disk working?” Jiao Xiuyuan muttered, puzzled.
“What are you looking for...” Li Fan’s voice suddenly cut through the air.
Jiao Xiuyuan jumped, nearly dropping the Spirit Detection Disk in his hand.
“Fellow Daoist Sikong?” He turned toward the figure obscured by a Form-Concealing Talisman, asking tentatively.
“You sent people to skulk around and follow us before. Was it just to sneak into my cave dwelling when I wasn’t around?” Li Fan’s tone was cold and unfriendly.
Jiao Xiuyuan let out an awkward laugh. “It’s a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding.”
His eyes darted around before he hurriedly asked, “Might I ask where Fellow Daoist Baili is?”
Li Fan didn’t answer. Instead, he summoned the Azurewood Violet Flame Array, enveloping Jiao Xiuyuan in it.
Violet flames flashed, and amid wretched screams, Jiao Xiuyuan turned to ashes.
The scent of something like charred wood lingered in the air.
Just a puppet, as expected. Li Fan wasn’t surprised.
He gazed down at the deserted island below and activated the Heaven-Swapping Art.
Faintly, he sensed the presence of a hidden cave dwelling within the island’s jungle.
He flew toward it, stopping before an utterly ordinary-looking coconut tree.
With a light touch and a verification of his aura, Li Fan felt a pulling force.
He did not put up any resistance as he was drawn into the tree.
The so-called cave dwelling was actually quite crude, barely spacious enough for two people to live without feeling crowded.
There was nothing of value inside. But Li Fan only needed to borrow the place temporarily; he wasn’t particular about such things.
He also wasn’t worried about Jiao Xiuyuan seeking revenge.
After all, attempting to sneak into someone else’s cave dwelling was a dishonorable act on Jiao Xiuyuan’s part.
Moreover, this place was extremely remote. Even if Jiao Xiuyuan wanted to seek vengeance, by the time he traveled all the way here, Li Fan would have long since finished creating his avatar and departed.
Setting aside these distractions, Li Fan took out all the required materials, steadied his breath, and focused his mind to begin the avatar creation process.
For this avatar, Li Fan had no intention of investing great effort to plunder another cultivator’s destiny.
In his plan, this avatar was simply a decoy to deceive and draw the attention of the public while securing the one hundred thousand contribution points.
This avatar would also be left behind to witness Crimson Flame evaporating the sea.
Since it was doomed to perish eventually, there was no need to be overly meticulous.
Thus, he began without hesitation.
Li Fan extracted a mass of his own essence blood, using it as the core. He then began manipulating the blood of ten thousand creatures and the flesh of a hundred beasts, mixing, compressing, and kneading them into human form.
Then he activated the technique, sensing the various drifting fates scattered throughout the world.
These drifting fates mostly belonged to the plants and animals on the surrounding islands. Each was very faint, but there were a great many of them.
Li Fan carefully drew a single thread from each of these drifting fates, gathering them together in one place.
As the number of fates drawn increased, Li Fan began to feel the strain. He knew he couldn't be too greedy; if he lost control, it would provoke a backlash from the fates.
When he felt he had reached the limit of the fates he could control, Li Fan stopped adding more.
He imprinted this brand new, blank fate into the mass of flesh and blood before him.
Immediately, a faint vitality began to emanate from it.
With that, the creation process was more than half complete.
Li Fan then added the remaining materials one after another.
Bones, organs, skin, and hair all slowly took shape.
Next, Li Fan adjusted the avatar's appearance.
Not too handsome, not too ugly. He wanted an ordinary, common face; the kind that would be hard to pick out in a crowd.
A moment later, a face with a dull and vacant expression appeared before him.
Li Fan stared intently at it for a long moment, then nodded in satisfaction.
Then came the final step.
Li Fan concentrated and pointed a finger toward the avatar's crown.
Sever!
He severed the connection between the avatar's fate and its sources.
The avatar was finally its own independent entity.
Li Fan and the avatar looked at each other.
This was an extra body, granting an entirely new perspective.
It felt a bit strange.
He manipulated the avatar to walk, lie down, stand, and sit.
After a while, Li Fan slowly grew accustomed to it.
He took out some clothes from his storage ring, and the avatar put them on.
It bowed to the true self. "Greetings, Fellow Daoist!"
The true self smiled. "From now on, your name shall be Lin Fan!"
"Nice!"
The avatar, Lin Fan, was at the mid-stage Qi Refinement realm, one cultivation stage lower than the true self.
Also, he possessed no cultivation technique; he was just an empty vessel with a cultivation level.
Now that the avatar was complete, the next step was to have him join the Myriad Immortals Alliance.
There was no need for Li Fan to provide a referral.
Lin Fan took the storage ring containing the Cloudwater Model and flew all the way to the vicinity of Lingyun Island.
Li Fan secretly followed behind, just in case any unexpected situations arose.
Fortunately, no incidents occurred.
After successfully meeting the guardian of Lingyun Island, Lin Fan expressed his desire to join the Myriad Immortals Alliance.
The guardian had no reason to refuse.
And so, after going through the familiar procedures, Lin Fan arrived at Myriad Immortals Island and activated his own Tianxuan Mirror space.
Li Fan also returned to Myriad Immortals Island, but the two did not meet.
Lin Fan then took out the Cloudwater Model and chose to complete the mission for one hundred thousand contribution points.
At the same time, Li Fan focused his mind, sensing the situation on Lin Fan's end.
This time, the Tianxuan Mirror remained silent for much longer than usual.
A long time passed with no response.
Just as Li Fan began suspecting that something had gone wrong, the Tianxuan Mirror’s voice rang out once more.
“Unable to verify the authenticity of the Cloudwater Model. Please wait.”
A long moment passed.
“The task issuer... requests to visit your space. Do you accept?”
Lin Fan was taken aback for a moment, then chose to agree.
A short time later, an elderly man with graying hair and a kindly face appeared before Lin Fan.
Not a trace of a cultivator’s aura could be sensed from the old man; he seemed no different from an ordinary mortal.