As his brush moved with the flourish of dragons and snakes, the "Mo" Formula—disguised beneath various ordinary techniques—was completed.
Its might had been drastically weakened, but that made it ideal for testing.
To ensure the accuracy of the experiment, Li Fan also cut off a piece of his own flesh of equal size, as well as a lump of mortal flesh, to serve as a control group.
Under the shroud of the character "Mo," the three pieces of flesh underwent starkly different changes.
All three were abruptly enveloped in a layer of shadow in an instant.
There was no difference between Li Fan's flesh and the mortal's. Offering virtually no resistance, both were overwhelmed as if struck by a wave from an invisible ocean, sinking and vanishing from the world thereafter.
As for the True Immortal flesh...
Although it could not escape the influence of the True Immortal seal character, it was like a lone skiff. No matter how the waves surged, rising and falling amidst the swells, it remained steadily floating upon the surface of the sea.
When the ripples of the "Mo" Formula finally dissipated, it showed virtually no change compared to before the experiment.
"Truly worthy of being True Immortal flesh..." Li Fan's eyes flickered.
Next, Li Fan conducted successive experiments using other True Immortal seal characters such as "Chaos" and "Solitary," arriving at a preliminary conclusion.
Perhaps because it had once been steeped in celestial spiritual power, the True Immortal flesh possessed an extraordinarily powerful sense of self-sovereignty and regeneration. It was not genuinely immune to the effects of the True Immortal seal characters. Rather, after sustaining an impact and undergoing changes within itself, it restored itself at an astonishing speed.
Hence, at first glance, it appeared completely impervious to the glyphs.
"Such resilience, such speed of recovery..." Glimpsing the actual horror of a True Immortal through this mere sliver of True Immortal flesh, Li Fan was profoundly shaken.
"The sheer power of its physical flesh alone is thousands of times stronger than the regenerative capacity of my divine soul enhanced by the Limitless Waxing and Waning Method!
"What on earth is the driving force behind this recovery? There clearly isn't the slightest trace of celestial spiritual power left in this flesh. And from its physical structure alone, it seems no different from mortal flesh.
"Could it be..."
With a thought, the white ring, Luo Fanchen, appeared in his palm.
Pure flesh was not alive. Therefore, in Luo Fanchen's judgment, the True Immortal flesh before him also fell under the category of inanimate matter.
Enveloped in the light, the flesh was instantly broken down.
Yet to Li Fan's disappointment, no celestial spiritual power emerged.
Instead, what arose was a foul-smelling black vapor.
Just a slight whiff made Li Fan dizzy, and all kinds of hallucinations flashed before his eyes.
His face changed drastically. Li Fan darted away and activated formations to gather and contain the black vapor.
Fortunately, the black vapor had little destructive power on its own, and Li Fan quickly contained it completely.
Looking at the small black orb floating in the distance, Li Fan's eyelids twitched uncontrollably.
That stench, seemingly potent enough to contaminate even a divine soul, lingered faintly at the tip of his nose.
"This black gas seems to be pure decay and ruin.
"Fascinating. Despite possessing such immense vitality, once broken down, it turns into this."
Endless curiosity regarding the True Immortal flesh welled up within Li Fan once again. He almost could not resist sending another strand of divine sense to probe its depths.
Fortunately, at the critical moment, he checked himself through sheer willpower.
"Next life, in the next life. There will be plenty of chances in the future..." His current physical state could no longer support further probing into the secrets of a True Immortal. Li Fan took a deep breath, calming the turmoil in his mind.
Although he could not yet unravel the mystery of the True Immortal blood, that did not stop him from continuing to develop its uses.
With a flash of faint light, the bronze crane obtained from the Xuan Celestial Vessel appeared in Li Fan's palm.
"Immortal Descent, All Things Return to Emptiness!"
After some preparation, a weakened, miniature version of the Guixu Great Array appeared in the underground space beneath the Dao Lecture Platform.
Within the immortal array, invisible winds howled.
Li Fan cast the bronze crane into the center of the array. In an instant, violent wind blades pelted the bronze crane relentlessly, guided by Li Fan's thoughts.
It was truly worthy of being the remnant of an immortal artifact that had survived an apocalyptic catastrophe. Even though the Guixu Great Array was merely reduced in scale while retaining most of its innate might, it failed to leave more than faint scratches on the bronze crane.
However, the relentless, invisible wind blew without pause, acting like a giant hammer that continuously battered and hammered away, slowly altering the bronze crane's shape.
Time flowed by, and three days later, a bronze skeleton emerged within the Guixu Great Array.
Moving it out of the array for the moment, Li Fan used golden Source Power Essence as a guide to draw a small lump of True Immortal flesh onto the bronze skeleton.
Perhaps due to its own inherent nature, or perhaps sensing the matching immortal aura lingering on the bronze skeleton, the True Immortal flesh slowly settled onto the surface of the bronze bones the moment they met.
The flesh surged and churned, seemingly eager to spread outward.
Seeing this, Li Fan took the opportunity to channel a mass of Source Power Essence into it.
Integrating with the True Immortal flesh proved exceedingly difficult, but perhaps there truly was something in common between the two. In the end, the flesh acted like a sponge, slowly absorbing the golden essence.
Nourished by the influx of energy, the True Immortal flesh began to grow along the bronze bones.
At first, it was merely an index-finger-sized cluster clinging to the skull.
After a bout of writhing and spontaneous proliferation, it cascaded downward from the head like a crimson torrent.
Having been fed Li Fan's Source Power Essence, this accumulated True Immortal flesh was unlike before—it no longer produced strange murmurs or resentful whispers when approached. Instead, it felt like a creation bound under the great net of Source Power Essence, even granting Li Fan a sense of effortless control.
Pouring in more Source Power Essence, the True Immortal flesh finally covered the entire surface of the bronze skeleton.
Yet after that, no outer skin formed.
A humanoid figure composed purely of heaped flesh was a chilling sight to behold.
Li Fan could sense that the True Immortal flesh was sprouting root-like tendrils, continually binding to the bronze bones beneath, cementing their union ever more firmly.
As this bond grew tighter, the entire body of flesh and blood gradually underwent a subtle transformation.
Yet gazing quietly at the body before him, Li Fan consistently felt that something was missing.
"The soul is the master of the body. A body without a soul is, in the end, merely an object..."
After watching it for a long time, Li Fan faintly came to understand.
Yet for that final and most critical step, Li Fan hesitated to act.
It was not merely because he lacked the vital ingredient of an immortal soul.
More importantly, whenever that thought crossed his mind, an inexplicable sense of crisis surfaced alongside it.
"Matters involving the realm of True Immortals demand utmost caution. When dotting the pupils of the dragon, one must beware of the backlash once the dragon breaks through the wall and takes flight..."
With that thought, Li Fan gave a slow nod, forming hand seals to temporarily seal and preserve the shell within an array.
"I will wait until I find a consciousness capable of fully bearing True Immortal flesh without losing control." The remains of Tianyang and Mr. Bai flashed through Li Fan's mind in succession.
"Eternal Lingering Thoughts endure across ten thousand generations. Capable of invoking resonances with the Great Dao, they should not lose themselves under the influence of True Immortal flesh."
Compared to the uncontrollable Mr. Bai, the pure-natured Tianyang was clearly the more suitable candidate.
Li Fan made a personal trip to the seabed of the Congyun Sea.
Glancing beneath the undersea earth veins at the slumbering body of the Tianyang puppet, Li Fan did not disturb it.
Instead, he went to Master Tianyang's cave abode and retrieved his skeletal remains.
After trying once more and still failing to sense the Eternal Lingering Thought attached to them on his own, Li Fan abruptly crushed the bones to powder.
He then manipulated the dust, scattering and blending it into the vessel of True Immortal flesh.
Skeletal remains were mere outward form; the Eternal Lingering Thought would naturally not dissipate simply because the bones were crushed.
Boom!
With the addition of the Eternal Lingering Thought, the True Immortal flesh vessel underwent a qualitative transformation.
Violent fluctuations of energy erupted from the body. As though an invisible chisel were continually carving it, skin and hair materialized in succession over the naked body of flesh.
The face that slowly emerged was the spitting image of Tianyang from his memories!
Pondering, Li Fan cast multiple arrays around the area to prevent an awakened Tianyang from running amok.
At the same time, he continuously formed chains of Source Power Essence to bind the vessel before him.
However, Li Fan soon noticed something amiss.
Even as Tianyang's features grew increasingly distinct, vital energy never surfaced. The Tianyang before him was like a doll cobbled together from the wreckage of an immortal artifact, True Immortal flesh, and an Eternal Lingering Thought.
Though lifelike in appearance, it remained qualitatively different from true life.
Even getting this doll to move was currently impossible.
"..."
Li Fan shook his head slightly. "It seems I took things for granted. Life—especially when it involves immortals—cannot be reproduced so trivially.
"Still, that doesn't mean this vessel is useless. Its core is Tianyang's Eternal Lingering Thought. Once Tianyang truly awakens, he will be able to control this flesh puppet.
"Though it possesses no spiritual energy, relying on raw physical strength alone should be enough to suppress more than half of Xuanhuang. No mortal spell or divine ability could harm it in the slightest.
"Better yet, the puppet's flesh was nourished with Source Power Essence. Even after this round of growth, it remains under my control..."
With a shift of Li Fan's thoughts, the flesh puppet moved like a marionette, executing various actions.
Yet due to the presence of Tianyang's Eternal Lingering Thought, Li Fan clearly felt a pervasive clumsiness.
"He will have to inhabit it himself for it to move with absolute fluidity."
Once again using arrays, he sealed the immortal flesh puppet away.
Gazing at the large piece of True Immortal flesh that remained, Li Fan fell into deep thought.
"Source Power Essence is, after all, merely an inferior substitute for celestial spiritual power. After being nourished by it, the True Immortal flesh also seems to have changed, dropping in realm. Even though they originated from the same source—both having grown from the Kunqian Bone Hand—they became almost completely unrelated in an instant...
"Mo Rubin once said that Source Power Essence does more harm than good. It seems those words hold true."
Yet that applied only to ordinary people. Even if being tainted by Source Power Essence brought irreversible consequences, Li Fan could easily erase them through [Trueness].
Therefore, until he discovered a true method of transcendence, Li Fan would naturally choose to make the fullest use of everything available.
"It likely isn't limited to Source Power Essence either. The True Immortal flesh's sovereign nature means that contact with any power inferior to celestial spiritual power will inevitably cause it to degrade...
"Truly, there is a gulf between immortal and mortal," Li Fan sighed.
"If lesser powers fail, perhaps I can attempt something of the same rank, or even beyond the immortal level."
Among the various means Li Fan could employ at present, True Immortal seal characters and immortal-grade formations barely qualified as being on the same level as True Immortal flesh.
And [Trueness]'s alteration of real and false was something above the immortal realm.
Li Fan began another round of research.
However, this round did not progress as smoothly as before. After all, these were all existences that transcended the mundane world; with Li Fan's current accumulation of knowledge, making a breakthrough in a short time was difficult.
Li Fan was also thoroughly self-aware.
Rather than wasting his true body's time on this, he created a simulated persona to carry out the research in his stead. Should any discovery be made, his true body would sense it immediately.
To guard against any anomalies that might arise during the research, Li Fan not only laid down layer upon layer of arrays here, but also left behind the white ring, Luo Fanchen, to suppress the area.
If an uncontrollable mutation occurred in the True Immortal flesh, Luo Fanchen would descend to break it all down.
Though that black gas was rather foul, as long as it was properly controlled and kept from leaking, it should not cause any trouble.
On his way back to the border of the Starry Sea, Li Fan reflected on this experiment with the ancient seal character.
"The restorative power of the ancient seal character can regenerate flesh from skeletal remains.
"And True Immortal bones are not the only ones remaining in the Xuanhuang Realm."
In Li Fan's mind flashed the skeletal remains of the Archmage within the Yishi Sect ruins beneath the Fuguang Province Great Rift Valley.
In the previous life, during the immortal array storm that destroyed the world, Daoyuan Province had undoubtedly survived safely to the very end.
Unlike other survivors, the Archmage's location formed something akin to a dark domain, completely isolated from the outside world. Even though Li Fan had been in master control of the immortal array, he had been unable to pry into what lay within.
Even at the very end, when the High Wall crumbled and the Starry Sea was thrown into turmoil, that dark domain had held firm. From this alone, one could glimpse the Archmage's strength.
It was definitely above the likes of Chuanfa and the Heavenly Physician.
"He allowed his own skeletal remains to wander adrift outside.
"He did not stir when Xuanhuang was destroyed; he did not stir when the True Immortal descended.
"Even when the High Wall crumbled and the existence hunting True Immortals outside the High Wall descended, he still did not stir. The Archmage's condition is definitely abnormal.
"No matter how deeply immersed in comprehending the Dao someone is, they would inevitably react by instinct when sensing a fatal threat..."
It was precisely based on such deductions that Li Fan contemplated using the Archmage's flesh to carry out a probe.
Still, since there was a certain level of risk, it was best to wait until the very end of this life before laying out that plan.
Amidst swirling thoughts, Li Fan had already arrived outside the Xuan Celestial Vessel once again.
He released a signal according to the method agreed upon earlier by both parties.
The elders of the Celestial Vessel came out together to receive him, giving him ample face.
"Fellow Daoist, how did you end up like this?"
"What happened?"
Seeing that Li Fan, who had parted from them not long ago, now had a head of white hair and even faintly radiated an aura of death, the people of the Celestial Vessel were all struck with alarm and hurriedly asked.
Li Fan gave a direct cold snort, his tone harsh as he launched into an accusation: "Your Celestial Vessel has brought utter ruin upon me!"
The elders of the Celestial Vessel exchanged glances.
"Why do you say that, Fellow Daoist?" Zhong Daogong asked with a wry smile.
"I presume all of you can see that my life is nearing its end! I fear I have barely twenty years of lifespan remaining..." Li Fan's expression was grim, his eyes gleaming with murderous intent as his gaze swept across the crowd from the Celestial Vessel.
"And all of this was brought upon me by your Celestial Vessel!"
Without waiting for their reply, Li Fan continued, "After returning this time, I reported the whole matter to my master, but I waited in vain for a response.
"So, taking matters into my own hands, I activated our world-protecting immortal artifact to divine what the future of our cooperation with you would be...
"Little did I expect to end up in this state!"
Li Fan glared fiercely at the people of the Celestial Vessel and demanded, "Does the weakest point of that High Wall have something to do with what lies beyond it?!"
Chapter 1325