The First Venerable as an Immortal Puppet

After serving as the Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang for ten thousand years, Yi Yutong had theoretically fulfilled her duty. Yet finding a suitable successor was no easy feat. When a probability becomes small enough, it is virtually indistinguishable from impossible. Yi Yutong searched painstakingly for more than six thousand years, combing through almost the entirety of the Xuanhuang Realm, yet she never found anyone who met the requirements to succeed her. Only then did Yi Yutong truly understand why King Xuantian had lost his composure in delighted shock upon discovering her back then. Having sought so long in vain, Yi Yutong gradually let it go. In the spare moments between patiently handling the realm's affairs, she took solace in wandering the rivers and mountains, resigning herself to live and die alongside this world. Until... The war between the Xuanhuang and Taiyuan Realms erupted. A fissure tore across the sky, and before the eyes of the world appeared the scene of a True Immortal of Xuanhuang breaking through mid-battle and turning the tide. As one of those in the Xuanhuang Realm with the deepest understanding of what an "immortal" truly was, the very instant that figure revealed his might, she recognized the unmistakable aura of the True Immortal realm. Immediately, profound bewilderment surged in her heart. The immortal path was clearly severed. Even a peerless genius like King Xuantian could only attain the half-immortal realm. How could a new True Immortal possibly emerge in this world? Later, after blazing with peerless radiance, that True Immortal perished in an instant like a falling star. Only then was her mind put at ease. At the same time, an uncontrollable urge welled within her. *If I possessed the strength of a True Immortal, perhaps I could disregard the many shackles placed upon the Great Heavenly Venerable. After all, the Immortal Realm has long been destroyed...* Once the thought took root, it could no longer be suppressed. And so, taking immense risks, she stepped beyond the Xuanhuang Realm for the first time in her life and traveled into the Taiyuan Realm. One had to understand that the vast majority of her strength stemmed from the empowerment of the Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang. Beyond the Xuanhuang Realm, she was no different from an ordinary Dao Integration cultivator. Yi Yutong knew all too well how many Dao Integration cultivators had fallen upon that soil. Even though the war had subsided and the threat of Taiyuan cultivators was gone, no one could say what dangers might lurk in an alien land. Yet Yi Yutong went anyway. She not only visited the site where the True Immortal of Xuanhuang had fallen to pay homage, but she also beheld that sky-shattering sword scar. Upon her return, Yi Yutong indeed gleaned faint insights. The lingering aura of that True Immortal felt remarkably familiar to her. This familiarity stemmed from King Xuantian, whom she had known in the earlier part of her life, as well as from the faceless divine statue she had worshipped since childhood. "So that's how it is. I was wrong." "Since an immortal still survives in this world, it proves the immortal path was never truly severed. The destination known as immortality has always been there. What was destroyed was merely the Immortal Realm—merely one of the roads leading to that destination..." Relying on this sense of familiarity, Yi Yutong seemed able to faintly brush against the boundary of immortality. As she painted, her mind followed the thread of that familiarity and drifted beyond the Xuanhuang Realm. In a daze, she caught sight of an expanse of boundless, undulating mountains and seas! ... Li Fan slowly closed the book of Yi Yutong, his expression turning solemn. To think that during her comprehension, she had glimpsed the scene of the Sea of Infinity and Shangfang Mountain. Given Yi Yutong's innate talent, this was clearly impossible. The only plausible explanation was the corrupting influence of that so-called familiarity. It was just like how Li Fan used to periodically glimpse the stalwart back of a figure seated upon the mountain, looking out over the sea. That vision was not something he had witnessed firsthand. Rather, it was a change brought about by practicing the *Mound-Guarding Jottings* and stepping onto the path passed down by Mound-Guarding Lord. "So the source of Yi Yutong's insight into the mountain and sea is..." Yi Yutong had now been turned into a Heavenly Pillar, existing almost like an implement. Using her as a medium, Li Fan completely possessed her mind, meticulously investigating the source of her familiarity. "It isn't King Xuantian." "It's the Faceless Immortal..." After a careful examination, Li Fan arrived at his conclusion. After all, across his past cycles of reincarnation, Li Fan had become deeply entangled with both of them. Especially the Faceless Immortal—he had even fallen into the entity's web once, losing his own face just like Yi Yutong's tragically murdered parents. Yet the Li Fan of today was far from what he used to be. He had even met supreme powerhouses capable of traversing the Ever-Silent Void Realm, such as Mound-Guarding Lord, the Violet-Robed Lady, and the Grand Emperor Taitian. Why would he fear a petty Faceless Immortal? "For the resonance to be so intimate, it means this entity still resides within the possibilities of the Primordial, not among the transcendent powerhouses..." Li Fan's eyes flickered as thoughts churned in his mind. Ultimately, however, he suppressed these notions for the moment. It was better to deal with the other matters in the Xuanhuang Realm first. Looking across Yi Yutong's memories, her account to Li Fan had indeed been a mixture of truth and falsehood. The First Great Heavenly Venerable had indeed displayed a tyrannical temperament, but that was merely a side effect of separating his immortal and mortal halves. Later, when the symptoms worsened, the First Venerable isolated himself as much as possible, no longer showing himself to the world, and began searching early on for a candidate to become the second Heavenly Venerable. Furthermore, the reason the First Venerable's bloodline had been able to escape was precisely the result of his intentional indulgence. It was solely out of respect for the First Great Heavenly Venerable's past deeds that, despite the heinous atrocities committed by his descendants, King Xuantian had refrained from wiping them out entirely during the purge. *Knowing there was no hope of ascension, the First Venerable subsequently abandoned all intention of returning to immortality.* *He simply bequeathed his immortal body to the succeeding Heavenly Venerable of Xuanhuang as a trump card for times of crisis.* *An immortal artifact, an immortal body, and the power of Xuanhuang—these forged the supreme status of the Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang within the realm.* *As for the current location of the First Venerable's immortal body...* Li Fan found the answer in Yi Yutong's memories. In the next breath, he shifted instantly to the corresponding location. "So it was here." Space and time shifted in Li Fan's mind as he connected this place to its appearance ten thousand years in the future. It was none other than Tianling Province, where the First Origin Sect would later construct the Five Elements Great Grotto-Heaven. Only at this point in time, the pocket realm known as the Root of Heaven and Earth had not yet been occupied by the First Origin Sect. And inside, the First Venerable's immortal body lay quietly. Wisps of immortal power radiated from the body, nourishing the Xuanhuang Realm. Guided by Yi Yutong's memories, Li Fan met no obstacles, smoothly breaching layer upon layer of restrictions. He arrived before the First Venerable's immortal body. "Not weak. No wonder the Immortal Realm entrusted him with heavy responsibilities," Li Fan remarked faintly, observing from a short distance. Judging by the aura exuded by this physique, though it had not reached the Nameless realm, it was noticeably stronger than the Two Immortals Xi and Yi he had encountered in the Shuo Star Sea. "A True Immortal's vessel, and a body entirely devoid of self-awareness. Truly the finest material for crafting a puppet." Li Fan could not help but be tempted. The First Venerable's immortal body had lain quietly in the Xuanhuang Realm for ten thousand years without anyone defiling it. This was entirely because successive Great Heavenly Venerables lacked the ability, despite having the desire. Even without autonomous consciousness, the spontaneous self-defense of immortal spiritual energy was not something just anyone could overcome. Yet it could not stop Li Fan. *Perhaps King Xuantian might have had the capability, but with Xuanyuan Hong's moral character, he wouldn't necessarily have been willing to do so.* Li Fan, however, did not care in the slightest. In his eyes, everything in the world could be put to his use, and he would use it without the slightest psychological burden. And by "the world," he meant not just the Xuanhuang Realm, but the entire mortal realm of mountains and seas! Though he intended to make the fullest use of it, Li Fan did not let his guard down. He inspected the First Venerable's immortal body thoroughly from top to bottom, then set up arrays on the spot. Only after ensuring nothing could go awry did he begin refining the immortal puppet. This time, Li Fan drew deeply on the advanced experience of refining puppets and avatars from his previous reincarnations. He adopted a state that sat midway between an avatar and an independent puppet. The immortal puppet would retain its own independent intellect, yet Li Fan would possess the ability to control it entirely. Every single thought born in its mind had to remain within his grasp. When necessary, Li Fan could temporarily freeze the puppet's consciousness and seize direct control of the body. He could even extinguish the puppet's intellect with a single thought, craft a new soul, and start over from scratch—all of which were built-in functions. This refinement of the immortal puppet was truly the culmination of Li Fan's capabilities. With his current half-immortal realm, refining it took considerable effort. Fortunately, with the immortal power provided by the ancient protective immortal array of the Taiyuan Realm, he was finally able to bring the First Venerable's immortal puppet to completion. As the puppet's consciousness slowly stirred, the immortal power it naturally radiated to nourish the Xuanhuang Realm was involuntarily drawn back. Almost in an instant, the world of Xuanhuang was like a vibrant blossom drained of its color. It felt subtly different. If it had previously been in a flourishing state, then deprived of the immortal body's nourishment, it turned from prosperity to decline in a heartbeat. Although this shift was currently so faint that only a handful of people in the entire world could detect it, as time passed, the change would surely become increasingly conspicuous, and the rate of decline would only accelerate. *No wonder Su Bai didn't take the First Venerable's immortal body with him when he tried to escape beyond the Great Wall back then. Without the support of this immortal body, whether the Xuanhuang Realm could have survived until ten thousand years later would have been an open question.* While Li Fan was still pondering, the consciousness of the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao, being the first to sense the world's anomaly, descended in a frantic rush. Its shock and fury were palpable. Yet the moment It caught sight of Li Fan, It froze instantly. That rage turned into grievance and ingratiation. "Very good. It seems you learn quickly." Li Fan nodded in satisfaction. Drawing a small portion of the immortal power gathered from the ancient Taiyuan immortal array, he laid down an array here to supply the Xuanhuang Realm. In any case, given the infinite nature of immortal power, parting with a fraction had no real impact on him. And since this Xuanhuang Realm served as his foundational anchor in the river of time, Li Fan would not simply watch It plunge into turmoil. Replenished once more, the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao's distress turned instantly to joy, and It departed in high spirits. It did not realize in the slightest what a terrifying thing it was that Its very lifeblood was now held in Li Fan's grasp. Li Fan, meanwhile, did not pay much mind to the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao. He was attempting to peer into the First Great Heavenly Venerable's life through the few remnants of memory within the immortal puppet. It had to be said that the First Great Heavenly Venerable was indeed remarkably capable. His method of separating the immortal and mortal halves had been executed with utter thoroughness. Even after Li Fan purged the body completely, he could only locate a few of the deepest memory fragments. These memories occupied immensely significant chapters in the First Great Heavenly Venerable's life. Deeply etched into his very essence, not even the separation of immortal and mortal could erase them. "Is this the Dao Annihilation Tribulation...?" The First Venerable watched with his own eyes as the distant Immortal Realm collapsed in utter silence. Golden, resplendent celestial palaces plunged in a flash into pitch-black stillness. And that deathly stillness was rapidly spreading toward where he stood. Countless immortals vanished like ants into this horrifying catastrophe, unable to cry out for help or even wail before disappearing entirely. Despair filled the First Venerable's heart. Not even the thought of fleeing arose. For he knew there was nowhere left to run. Just as he closed his eyes to await death, a figure that appeared somewhat slender yet was actually towering and immense suddenly appeared between heaven and earth. All the immortals were retreating in panicked disarray. He alone advanced, facing the tide of Dao Annihilation head-on. One man, like a mountain. Like a dike. He stood firm there, and the terrifying, surging tide that devoured everything could not advance an inch! A stark dividing line cleaved the field of vision in two. Beyond the line lay death and nothingness. While on this side, where the First Venerable stood, lay life and light. Like all the rescued immortals, the First Venerable stared blankly at the stalwart back standing ahead, unable to recover his senses for a long time. Only long afterward did he learn the name of this peerless powerhouse. Mound-Guarding Lord. ... "If even Mound-Guarding Lord couldn't accomplish it, how could Emperor Tianluo possibly succeed?" The First Venerable appeared to be arguing with someone. Even as the other party tried hard to persuade him, the fury in his heart remained unquenchable. "No self-awareness whatsoever! And yet he still rallied a crowd to follow him..." "No wonder even Mound-Guarding Lord chose to leave." "The Immortal Realm is beyond saving." Once that thought arose, it echoed in the First Venerable's heart like rolling thunder, never to be silenced. "I hear Emperor Tianluo is strictly investigating acts of defiance against celestial governance. Particularly regarding the many True Immortals fleeing to the lower realms..." Just then, the voice of his friend reached the First Venerable's ears. ... "This is the Lanke Dao Sanctuary." "Since you have sought refuge here, choose any cultivation realm you like." The First Venerable's divine sense swept across the countless partitioned cubic spaces before him. Suddenly, upon looking at one particular realm, he froze. "If I am not mistaken, that person appears to be..." In that world, the First Venerable had actually discovered an extraordinarily familiar figure. Long ago, when following in the footsteps of Mound-Guarding Lord, he had glimpsed from afar that very figure standing beside the Immortal Emperor. "Shh..." A knowing chuckle came from the person beside him, carrying a meaning that could only be understood, not spoken. The First Venerable could only hold his tongue. "As expected, my choice was correct." "Then I'll choose here. Any place where such grand figures reside can never be wrong." ... "He died." "Even a powerhouse like that could actually die." "And he died in the mortal world, of all places." The First Venerable gazed at another, illusory Xuanhuang Realm slowly taking shape. His heart was filled with shock and bewilderment. The figure's demise was unexpected enough, but the birth of this illusory world stunned him no less. "Though illusory, it is profoundly real." "It requires no foundation in reality." "Even if the Dao Annihilation Tribulation comes, it can float atop it like a wooden skiff!"