Self-Transformation into Another at Will

Li Fan had no personal experience with Core Formation. Moreover, the jade slip left by Third Senior Brother contained precious little description regarding it. Utterly at a loss, Li Fan had no choice but to grope forward and experiment on his own. Core Formation, whether in the ancient or modern cultivation world, was an extraordinarily difficult hurdle. The gulf in strength before and after Core Formation was as vast as heaven and earth. Hence the saying: "Swallow a single golden core into the belly, and my fate is governed by me, not heaven." Li Fan seized this rare opportunity to test methods of Core Formation within another person's body, paving the way for his own cultivation. While he was immersed in his practice, oblivious to the passage of time, a violent blast jolted him awake. Boom! The entrance to the Path of Bodily Transformation cave abode seemed to be under relentless bombardment. In an instant, the entire cave abode trembled. Li Fan was forced to halt his cultivation and put his guard up, focusing his attention. Before long, the gate was blown to pieces. A gang of people barged in all at once. "This is it—the sect grounds of the Path of Bodily Transformation." "Brothers, not bad a place I found, eh?" "Dense spiritual energy, treacherous terrain, easy to defend and hard to attack." "A fine place to establish a sect." "They say the sect disciples all died in that previous grand war, which plays right into our hands." "Splendid, saved us a lot of effort..." Seven fiercely malicious cultivators dressed in mismatched garb chatted among themselves. As if returning to their own home, they casually wandered through the cave abode. "Wait, how does it look like someone's still inside?" "On your guard!" The Path of Bodily Transformation cave abode was only a palm-sized place. Inevitably, it took only moments for them to discover Li Fan. The group immediately surrounded him tight and fast. Scanning them, Li Fan's heart sank. Two Golden Cores, five Foundation Establishments. Looks like this simulation journey is going to end right here, Li Fan thought to himself. The men opposite looked at Li Fan in their midst, hesitated, and began conferring among themselves. "Boss, what do we do? Looks like the Path of Bodily Transformation left a little brat behind to watch the house." "Hmph, after finally finding such a decent cave abode, how could we just drop it?" "Second Master speaks the truth. In my view, why not just slaughter the kid? Nobody's likely to know anyway." "That's not right, is it? He looks only five or six years old. Why not just chase him out and be done with it?" "Womanly mercy! If we let him go and he goes around blabbing that we seized his cave abode, what then?" "Besides, a five- or six-year-old at Foundation Establishment has scary cultivation talent. In a few years, once he's Golden Core or even Nascent Soul, he'll come back for revenge..." "Sixth Brother has a point. Just kill him and be done with it!" "But the Ten Great Immortal Sects jointly issued a Ban on Slaughter, ordering us to recuperate and prohibiting killing. If someone finds out, we might get dragged off for forced breeding..." Those words turned their faces pale, and the vicious look in their eyes dissolved into panic. Ultimately, the leader among them made the final call. "Things have come to this; there is no backing out. He's merely a petty Foundation Establishment cultivator. If he had Golden Core cultivation, I might have had some qualms." "A Foundation Establishment cultivator doesn't even count as cannon fodder. Dead is dead." "Even if the immortal sects find out, they certainly won't truly do anything to us!" "Do it!" the leader ordered, yet remained completely motionless himself. The five Foundation Establishment cultivators looked at one another. Helpless and unable to disobey, they drew their respective dharma artifacts and charged at Li Fan to kill him. "Granted, you hold absolute dominance in strength, but from beginning to end you haven't asked for my opinion once." "Aren't you underestimating me a bit too much...?" A murderous glint flashed in Li Fan's eyes and vanished. "I originally planned to just head back. Now, I might as well play with you guys for a bit." Three dharma swords, an iron hammer, and a small seal. Five distinct dharma artifacts, radiating bursts of light, flew toward Li Fan all at once. Li Fan stood motionless, channeling the secret technique of Self-Transformation into Another at Will. His divine sense departed his body, split into five strands, and attached to the five dharma artifacts. With a thought, Li Fan felt as if these five dharma artifacts had become part of his own body. Maneuvering them as effortlessly as his own limbs, he turned them around and sent them striking toward the five Foundation Establishment cultivators. "Turns out they're just a bunch of good-for-nothings who don't even know artifact refinement methods." Li Fan sneered inwardly. This secret technique within Self-Transformation into Another at Will was called Body Transforms into Other Objects. It could influence and control another cultivator's dharma artifacts. Used at a critical juncture in battle, it often had the wondrous effect of turning the tide. Of course, its effectiveness varied depending on how firmly the cultivator controlled their own dharma artifact. An occurrence like this—completely wresting control of the opponent's dharma artifacts in an effortless gesture—rarely happened. It only showed that the five opponents had not even performed the most basic artifact refinement. It was as if they had picked up the dharma artifacts off the ground and started using them straight away. They had no common sense whatsoever. The dharma artifacts turning against them in an instant caught them completely unprepared. Crying out in panic, they scrambled to defend themselves. Their strength was truly mediocre, and amid the chaos, they were soon injured one after another. Naturally, Li Fan pressed his advantage to strike them while they were down. Controlling the five dharma artifacts, he unleashed a barrage of attacks like a raging tempest. Taking on five single-handedly, he battered them until they had no room to fight back. Seeing that victory was within reach, the leader of the seven could finally sit still no longer. "What a bunch of useless trash!" he cursed loudly. Then, he summoned a flying sword gleaming with chilling light. Carrying the vast power of a Golden Core, it slashed toward Li Fan. Li Fan shifted his divine sense, attempting to control the flying sword. Unfortunately, it merely paused for a fraction of an instant before passing straight through his body. "The gap between realms is too wide. Not something a secret technique can bridge." The surrounding scene froze, then shattered piece by piece. As if breaking through the surface of water from the depths in an instant, Li Fan returned to the real world. On the True Reversion panel, the available uses of Eternal Lingering Thought changed to two. Trying to recall the contents of the Self-Transformation into Another at Will technique yielded nothing, vanishing like flowers in a mirror or the moon on water. His personal experiences, however, remained crystal clear in his memory. Pondering for a moment, Li Fan did not immediately begin a second attempt. Instead, after erasing every trace on the seabed, he reverted to his original appearance. He quietly returned to Wanxian Island. "From the looks of it now, if I want to break through this impasse, I can start from two angles." "The first is finding a cure for Tianyang's debilitating ailment, entering into the plot's development right from the very beginning. With that variable introduced, perhaps a different outcome will emerge." "The second is cultivating to the Golden Core realm during that period after ingesting the Taishang Foundation-Laying Pill." "By defeating those seven, I can unlock the subsequent plot." "Well, no rush. Let's look into what was going on with Tianyang first." Right then, Li Fan searched for keywords within the Heavenly Profound Mirror. Frailty, somnolence, a body that does not grow. A moment later, dozens of entries popped up. "A fetus forcibly expelled from a female cultivator's body before full development..." "Innate weak constitution, deficient essence and qi..." "Requires great tonic pills that replenish innate essence and qi to treat."