Even though he had long known the causes and consequences of what had transpired, watching it once more and witnessing the terrifying might of the Immortal Ruins still left Li Fan's heart pounding with lingering dread.
Once the images concluded, Liu Ruchen's projection began relaying his last wishes.
His adopted son, Liu Yihang, was to serve as acting sect master of the Medicine King Sect. It would be best if the remaining elders were willing to support and assist him.
If any were unwilling, they were free to leave the sect on their own; no one would force them.
After returning to the Xuanhuang Realm, they were not to rush into revenge, but rather bide their time in the Valley of Longevity and wait for the right opportunity, and so forth.
It was exactly as he had known before.
Yet even after Li Fan temporarily gained control of the Medicine King Cauldron, he was in no hurry to leave.
Instead, he remained waiting inside the control chamber.
Even after Liu Ruchen's phantom completely dissipated, he did not depart.
After waiting patiently for nearly half a day, still nothing seemed to happen.
Li Fan pondered for a moment. The Terminal Dissociation Disc spun rapidly, and a formation took shape in response.
A cold glint flickered in his eyes as he instantly laid down the formation within the control chamber.
The primary function of this formation was to leave all hidden remnant souls with nowhere to hide!
Indeed, Li Fan suspected that Liu Ruchen of the Medicine King Sect had not completely died!
This was by no means a baseless guess.
After all, the present Li Fan was vastly experienced and knowledgeable.
Mechanisms, formations, restrictions—what variety of existence had he not seen?
Yet this projection delivering its final testament did not belong to any of those categories.
To sustain an illusion long enough to utter such an extensive speech naturally required some power to support it.
Since external objects had all been ruled out, the sole remaining possibility was Liu Ruchen's own soul power!
With the formation complete, crisscrossing beams of light swept repeatedly through the space.
Just as Li Fan had anticipated, an increasingly faint figure was forced to reveal itself once more!
It could not even manage divine sense communication, appearing on the verge of scattering into nothingness at any moment.
Sensing the faint helplessness and despair emanating from the other party, Li Fan snorted coldly.
He reached out and caught Liu Ruchen in his grasp.
Without showing the slightest courtesy, Li Fan slowly infused Source Power carrying the influence of the Faceless True Immortal into the soul.
As Liu Ruchen's soul gradually grew distinct, he also surfaced within Li Fan's sensory network.
"Sect Master Liu played that golden cicada shedding its shell trick quite well. You nearly fooled even me," Li Fan remarked indifferently.
"Fellow Daoist must be joking," Liu Ruchen said with a bitter expression.
"May I ask which sect Fellow Daoist hails from?" he probed cautiously.
"The Profound Heaven Sect," Li Fan replied with a wicked smile.
"What?!" Liu Ruchen's soul shuddered violently. It had not been very cohesive to begin with, and upon hearing Li Fan's words, it seemed ready to disintegrate at any moment.
After struggling to steady his composure, Liu Ruchen said with lingering fear, "It is best not to make such jokes lightly..."
Before his words finished, the phantoms of five blood moons instantly surfaced behind Li Fan.
A pressure far exceeding that of an ancient Dao Integration cultivator manifested. The sheer aura alone nearly shattered Liu Ruchen's currently feeble soul to pieces.
"You think I am lying? Barely half a day has passed for your Medicine King Sect while fleeing through the void, but several thousand years have already elapsed in the Xuanhuang Realm!" Li Fan sneered.
Only then did Liu Ruchen wake as if from a dream. "What? Several thousand years?"
He pinched his fingers to calculate, confirming that Li Fan was not lying.
His already ethereal face turned even more ghastly pale. "I knew it would affect time and space, yet I never imagined it would reach such an extent."
Though thoroughly shaken, Liu Ruchen was a sect master after all, and he soon regained his composure.
"In that case, has the Profound Heaven Sect successfully restored itself and retaken power?" Liu Ruchen asked cautiously.
"Heh." Li Fan gave an ambiguous smile, then flicked a finger to transmit the general situation of the modern Xuanhuang Realm.
Having learned of the millennium of monumental upheaval, Liu Ruchen remained speechless for a long time.
"Hmph. By chance, I came across the lost lore of your Medicine King Sect's departure in antiquity. Not long ago, I saw a shooting star streak across the sky, and on a whim, I deduced the causes and consequences of what had occurred.
"According to the rules of our Profound Heaven Sect, foolish and incompetent traitors like you ought to be executed without exception." A flash of murderous intent flickered in Li Fan's eyes.
Yet his tone shifted immediately after. "However, times have changed. To overthrow the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals and re-establish the Profound Heaven Sect, we must unite all forces that can be gathered.
"Therefore, I will grant your Medicine King Sect a chance..."
Li Fan stared at Liu Ruchen, a fierce light gleaming in his eyes.
What other choice did Liu Ruchen have? Not only his own life, but the lives of all the disciples slumbering within the Medicine King Cauldron hung upon this person's single thought.
Liu Ruchen had no choice but to agree.
"Hmph, in truth, your opinion does not matter. Since you have already paid homage to the Compassionate True Immortal of the Mortal Realm, you could not flee even if you wished to," Li Fan said with a laugh.
Recalling the faceless stone statue that had abruptly emerged within his soul earlier, Liu Ruchen could not help but shudder inwardly.
Temporarily storing Liu Ruchen and the Medicine King Cauldron into his grotto-heaven, Li Fan returned to the Spirit Wood Realm and summoned Layman Qiaogong.
Qiaogong had been lost in thought researching Tianyang, so being interrupted by Li Fan left him somewhat displeased.
"A friend of mine lost his physical body due to an accident. Could you forge a puppet to house him?" Li Fan asked, cutting straight to the chase.
With the current strength of Liu Ruchen's soul, merely maintaining his form was difficult enough, let alone cultivating anew.
Attempting to mend his soul would be rather troublesome.
It was better to let Qiaogong expend some effort instead.
Layman Qiaogong glanced at Liu Ruchen and nodded. "No problem! However, it will only be an ordinary Tianji puppet. He possessed a Dao Integration cultivation before, correct? I'm afraid the puppet body won't be able to fully unleash his original strength."
"As long as he can move around, that is sufficient," Li Fan said dismissively.
Keeping Liu Ruchen alive was merely to facilitate better control over the Medicine King Sect.
He had no Truth Enticement Fruits on hand at the moment. If he relied on threats and inducements to force every member of the Medicine King Sect to submit one by one, there would be genuine risks involved—after all, signs of rebellion had already appeared in a previous life.
So long as Liu Ruchen was present, there was no need to worry about the Medicine King Sect spiraling out of control.
Muttering under his breath, Qiaogong requested some materials from Li Fan.
Having resided in the Xuanhuang Realm for several years, the materials Qiaogong asked for were all native products of the Xuanhuang Realm.
Li Fan quickly gathered them in full.
"Um..."
"Could you provide some Source Power Essence?"
Just before preparing to forge the puppet, Qiaogong suddenly made a request.
As if fearing Li Fan might misunderstand, he took the initiative to explain, "I have never used Source Power Essence before, so I need to practice a bit first, right?
"Otherwise, if I test it directly on little brother Tianyang, I won't have any confidence either."
Li Fan fell silent for a moment, but ultimately agreed to Qiaogong's request.
Qiaogong instantly grew excited.
Seeming to discard his previous forging design, he asked Li Fan for a few more materials.
Only then did he begin forging the Tianji puppet.
The forging process was remarkably novel.
He utilized no tangible flames whatsoever, instead using the golden Source Power drawn directly from the void to scour out a silhouette.
Chapter 1019