"Crude" was only in comparison to the white ring, Descend to Mortal Dust, which was completely seamless and left no trace.
In truth, this method of refining a living person into an object possessed by the three-eyed figurine completely exceeded Li Fan's system of understanding.
Even with the physical object placed right before him, Li Fan was practically at a loss as to where to begin his research.
Of all the theoretical knowledge he had encountered in his life, only the *Medicine King Dao Refining Sutra*, personally imparted by Sun Piaomiao, bore the slightest resemblance to it.
Yet even that resemblance was meager.
"Transforming a person into an object, yet still retaining the living attribute of humanity.
"While simultaneously possessing the attributes of an 'object.'
"..."
Li Fan initiated a series of experiments on the three-eyed figurine he had acquired.
First, he confirmed that the figurine's self-awareness had already been erased; it could only act according to predetermined rules.
Next, Li Fan tested the figurine's durability against attacks.
Once the three-eyed figurine lost its efficacy, Qin Zhuang had tossed it away casually. This showed that beyond the High Wall, it was by no means an item of great value.
Yet against such a small trinket, Li Fan had to bring out nearly his greatest trump card—the Nine Heavens Dust-Descending Finger—to inflict noticeable damage upon it.
"If it were merely a cultivator of the Chenyuan Realm, even if rumored to possess True Immortal bloodlines, they could never reach such a degree. By superimposing the attribute of an object and fusing the two seamlessly and flawlessly, its defensive power was drastically enhanced..."
Beings from beyond the High Wall seemed to possess an extraordinary resistance to illusory arrays.
Li Fan used the three-eyed figurine to test most of the immortal arrays at his command one by one. He discovered that even in an unconscious state, the figurine could consistently evade the lethal strikes of the immortal arrays, navigating through them with effortless ease.
"Apart from 'human' and 'object,' there seems to be a third superimposed attribute."
As Li Fan observed, he made timely adjustments to the immortal array based on the figurine's evasive movements.
Then, using the new array optimized by the Terminal Dissociation Disc, he tested it once more.
The outcome remained unchanged; the figurine dodged it effortlessly yet again.
Li Fan did not grow impatient, continuing with another round of iterations.
When the array improvements reached the fiftieth iteration, the figurine's flawless evasive maneuvers finally developed flaws. It began to be caught occasionally by the functioning immortal array.
Light flashed sharply in Li Fan's eyes.
"My immortal array is like a woven net.
"Although it appears virtually invincible in the Pitch-Black Star Sea, able to envelop all living beings the moment it unfolds, to a creation from beyond the High Wall like this three-eyed figurine, every single gap in the net is a flaw!
"However, as I plug these flaws one by one, weaving the net tighter and tighter and making the openings smaller and smaller...
"It won't be so easy for it to resist the array purely on instinct!
"In short, while my attainment in array dao hasn't undergone a qualitative leap, it has become increasingly difficult to breach!"
Li Fan stared intently at the Chenyuan figurine within the immortal array, his thoughts surging.
He applied all the iterative refinements and detailed modifications to all of his grand arrays.
It was like a rough sketch that grew increasingly refined and meticulous with every added detail.
"Perfecting the details of an array to this extent is by no means something one person can accomplish in a short time. Only through continuous research across generations, one stepping into the breach as another falls—like the multitude of the Celestial Vessel—could such attainment ever be reached!"
In a daze, Li Fan seemed to envision countless figures laboring tirelessly day and night, delving into the dao of arrays.
"My completion could be this swift only because I am directly putting it to practical use. In truth, were it not for the aid of the Dissociation Disc, I could never have iterated the array so rapidly!
"The three-eyed figurine was brought from beyond the Wall by Qin Zhuang five hundred years ago.
"Meanwhile, the white ring and Cat Treasure are both relatively recent creations.
"Five hundred years have passed—have the methods beyond the High Wall advanced so drastically?"
With a thought, Li Fan took out Descend to Mortal Dust and tossed it toward the shifting array ahead.
He wanted to compare its response against that of the three-eyed figurine when facing the shifting array.
Yet, just as Li Fan expected, Descend to Mortal Dust proved immune to every array technique applied to it.
His observation plan failed before it had even begun.
"I didn't even see any evasive movements like those of the three-eyed figurine.
"Instead, it was as if none of the immortal arrays I currently command took effect at all!
"As though they simply do not operate on the same mechanistic level..."
Li Fan's gaze flickered in contemplation. "It seems that over these five hundred years, the technology beyond the High Wall has undergone a qualitative leap."
Previously inspired by the phenomenon of differing time flow rates within the Pitch-Black Star Sea, Li Fan had speculated that time beyond the High Wall might flow far faster than inside.
Since the Great Calamity of the Immortal Realm descended, over ten thousand years had passed within the Pitch-Black Star Sea. Beyond the High Wall, perhaps a million years had already slipped by.
"The gap between the three-eyed figurine and the other creations that arrived in the Xuanhuang Realm at different times seems to corroborate my conjecture to a degree.
"Of course, it is also possible that Cat Treasure and Descend to Mortal Dust are exceptionally rare even beyond the High Wall, and this is simply an inherent disparity in value..."
However, because both Cat Treasure and the white ring had been reeled in from the fishing pond, Li Fan instinctively believed that objects serving as "bait" would not be extraordinarily rare.
"With the three-eyed figurine helping me calibrate and reduce the immortal array's flaws, perhaps in this lifetime I will have the chance to perfect the array.
"And pry some useful intelligence out of Qin Zhuang's mind."
The experiment was now on track and unlikely to encounter any surprises; what remained was purely mechanical repetition.
Li Fan split off a simulated persona to oversee the array's refinement. Next, he turned his research toward the streaks of golden light shot out by the three-eyed figurine, which had been meant to capture Jiao Xiuyuan.
He had already determined that this golden light was an innate divine ability of the Chenyuan cultivators, representing a certain law itself.
And what could analyze laws more easily than the Nameless True Immortal's thigh bone?
Carrying the golden light with him, Li Fan flashed into the You people's pocket world.
Under the protection of Li Fan's illusory statue, the You people, who had once bordered on extinction, had reclaimed the vast majority of the pocket world's territory.
However, at regular intervals, the terrifying stele at the center of the world would erupt with boundless calamity, taking the lives of nearly half of the You people.
The existence of the stele and the illusory silhouette kept the You people living perpetually under terror and pious prayer.
Approaching the Nameless True Immortal's thigh bone, Li Fan first glanced at the progress of the True Immortal seal character manifesting on the stele.
Perhaps because quantity had induced a qualitative change, the wordless stele, having devoured a vast amount of You flesh and blood, manifested the characters much faster than Li Fan had anticipated.
That mysterious character had barely revealed less than a fifth of itself, yet Li Fan could already faintly sense a unique majesty emanating from it.
Unlike the characters "Hunger" and "Innate,"
when this True Immortal seal character involving the Transformation of Immortal and Mortal manifested on the stele, it could actually pierce through the binding power of the stele to a certain extent.
It radiated its own power outward.
It was precisely this faint influence that caused the You people's atavistic transformation to progress slowly even without Li Fan personally activating it.
All of this occurred silently and without a trace.
Even the simulated persona overseeing the area had not noticed.
Only now, with Li Fan arriving in person, did he keenly perceive the shift here.
Li Fan frowned slightly and decisively laid down layers of immortal arrays around the stele to isolate the True Immortal seal character's influence on the outside world.
"It isn't that the status of this seal character representing the Transformation of Immortal and Mortal has surpassed the Nameless True Immortal.
"Rather, this seal character possesses a certain uniqueness of its own. The Great Dao it touches upon might have even influenced the Nameless True Immortal while he lived.
"Furthermore, this stele is not the complete Southern Celestial Pillar, merely a fractured thigh bone.
"It is no surprise that such an anomaly would occur.
"It's just that whenever True Immortals are involved, pitfalls truly lurk everywhere. One cannot be careless in the slightest!" Li Fan inwardly cautioned himself.
He then turned to the business at hand.
Directing a streak of suspended golden light, he cast it toward the stele.
The moment it drew near, it was absorbed by the stele.
The imprint of a brand-new True Immortal seal character began to appear in a corner of the stele.
What puzzled Li Fan, however, was that whether it was "Hunger," "Innate," or the still-forming character for the Transformation of Immortal and Mortal,
all had surfaced in sequence within the central area of the stele.
Yet this new seal character ignored the vast expanse of the center and squeezed itself into the outermost corner instead.
Li Fan tried to recall which True Immortal seal characters had appeared in that corresponding area on the wordless stele in his previous life. Unfortunately, it had been a fleeting glimpse back then, leaving no distinct impression.
Thus, after pondering for quite a while, he failed to find the slightest clue.
Letting it be for now, he continued feeding golden light into it.
As expected of a pure creation of law, it was far more efficient than simply feeding material substances and analyzing them afterward.
With one streak of golden light still unconsumed, the True Immortal seal character on the stele had already manifested in full!
"This is..."
"'Restrain'?"
Like all True Immortal seal characters, the moment Li Fan laid eyes upon it, its true meaning surfaced in his mind.
This character was not particularly complex.
Yet in Li Fan's eyes, it carried a distinct flavor.
After coming into contact with numerous True Immortal seal characters, Li Fan had once classified them in a simple manner.
He did not divide them by the strength of their might, but rather by their purpose.
The vast majority of True Immortal seal characters were annotations of the Great Dao laws of heaven and earth. But a small portion was the evolution of edicts from the Immortal Realm!
For example, the "Return" Formula that had previously caused the core of the ancient Xuanhuang immortal array, the Nine-Star Crimson Pearl, to mysteriously vanish.
And the "Restrain" Formula appearing before Li Fan right now fell precisely into this category.
"That the Chenyuan Realm bears True Immortal bloodlines is likely no empty boast.
"The descent of a True Immortal to the mortal realm incurs an immense price. The Immortal Realm also needed to seek agents in the lower realms to carry out its will. Cultivators of the Chenyuan Realm probably served as the Immortal Realm's enforcers in the lower realm..."
Li Fan suddenly thought further: rumors held that the Chenyuan Realm had been one of the cultivation realms affected earliest when the Great Calamity of the Immortal Realm descended; it should have gone extinct long ago.
Yet many years later, cultivators still seemed to have survived, only to be refined into objects by forces beyond the High Wall.
"There are a few possibilities.
"First, in the entire lower realm, there was more than one Chenyuan Realm. The one in the Pitch-Black Star Sea was merely one of them.
"Second, some cultivators survived back then and escaped the bounds of the Pitch-Black Star Sea before the High Wall was erected, subsequently multiplying and thriving beyond the High Wall. Judging by the current state of things, however, their situation is likely far from pleasant."
Li Fan gathered his thoughts and began testing this newly acquired "Restrain" Formula.
It shared a kindred subtlety with the Binding Insects divine ability he had acquired long ago.
Or rather, it was an outright superior replacement for Binding Insects.
Binding Insects still required the caster's strength to exceed that of the target.
Under the "Restrain" Formula, however, as long as the target could not immunize themselves against the might of the True Immortal seal character, they would be seized in an instant.
Body, divine soul, and thought would all fall into a frozen standstill, leaving them utterly at the caster's mercy!
Li Fan summoned Qiushui and Tianyang to conduct a test.
Both belonged to the Supreme realm.
Yet perhaps because Tianyang had once absorbed the combat experience of the immortal puppet and thus took on some of its traits, under the "Restrain" Formula, he was reduced to an extremely disheveled state.
Only by unleashing nearly his full might did he barely manage to break free.
Qiushui's response, on the other hand, was considerably better. Drawing upon the boundless power of the Star Sea, he could reduce the impact of the "Restrain" Formula to a minimum.
"True Immortal seal characters derived from Immortal Realm edicts seem not to share the same origin as those traced from the Great Dao laws."
Feeling the might of the "Restrain" Formula firsthand, a thought flashed across Li Fan's mind.
"Beyond their normal range of power, they possess a special suppression bonus against certain beings."
Li Fan narrowed his eyes slightly.
He had previously been fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of the Immortal Realm's panorama.
In that boundless, vast ocean, True Immortals were merely a minority. The vast majority of the Immortal Realm was populated by creations of True Immortals, such as immortal puppets and immortal servants.
"Immortal Realm edicts were perhaps the authorized means used to manipulate these beings.
"Furthermore, from high to low, these edicts could also come into play."
What Li Fan meant by "from high to low" was not merely True Immortals over mortals.
It also included that towering figure in the True Immortal's memory over True Immortals.
"'Subject'..."
Reflecting on the fragments from that descending True Immortal's memories, Li Fan arrived at a faint realization.
"Unknown by name, let him provisionally be called the Sovereign. In the Sovereign's eyes, True Immortals are like ants. Perhaps this is inextricably linked to these strict Immortal Realm edicts...
"Just like an imperial decree in a mortal dynasty, a single word could confiscate estates and exterminate entire clans!
"Yet an imperial decree derives from the authority of the emperor. An Immortal Realm edict, however, is..."
Li Fan inscribed the character "Restrain" once again.
"It seems... something is missing." Li Fan frowned slightly.
It was not that the "Restrain" Formula manifested by the stele was incomplete, but rather that Li Fan faintly sensed that in the process of inscribing the "Restrain" Formula, certain constraints were absent!
"Under normal circumstances, not just anyone has the authority to write the character 'Restrain.'
"However, with the destruction of the Immortal Realm and the sovereigns who commanded True Immortals all reduced to ashes, this restriction disappeared along with them."
Li Fan keenly recognized the preciousness of this True Immortal seal character of an Immortal Realm edict.
"As long as one masters its structure, its power can be unleashed."
As Li Fan's thoughts surged, he could not help looking up toward the sky.
He wondered what would happen if he cast the character "Restrain" against that True Immortal of the Immortal Ruins up above, to see how effective it would be.
Chapter 1391