Cleverly Shedding the Shell as an Object

Li Fan's heart was deeply shaken. He had not expected that resolving Master Tianyang's lingering thought would not only bring him immense gains, but also unlock a new function for True Reversion. No wonder True Reversion had radiated waves of hunger when he encountered the Eternal Lingering Thought earlier. Li Fan immediately began studying this so-called "Avatar" function in detail. A moment later, his brows furrowed slightly. "Consumes 100% of reversion charging progress, relinquishing one's physical existence to wholly lodge one's true spirit within an object..." "After becoming an object, one cannot retain autonomous consciousness, preserving only a sliver of spirituality." "Correspondingly, the duration one can endure will be greatly extended." "When that duration reaches its limit, the True Reversion function will trigger automatically, returning to the predetermined anchor." "..." "What use is this?" Li Fan was slightly disappointed at first. However, upon closer consideration, he vaguely conceived a purpose for Avatar. At the most fundamental level, when his lifespan neared its end in a given life and death approached, he could use this method of transforming his body into an object to remain in the mortal realm and gather information. Although the specific details of many events might elude him, grasping the overarching trends of the world should not be difficult as long as he entrusted the object to a reliable person. Furthermore, according to True Reversion's feedback, if Li Fan activated Avatar now, it would be enough to last nearly three thousand years. Even if that lifespan were shortened by damage to the transformation medium, it would still vastly enhance his foresight of the future, allowing him to lay out better plans in the next life. Across a thousand years, anyone able to make a name in history would certainly be no ordinary individual; they were genuine heroes. If he recorded their names, he could invest in them when he started anew. Compared to slowly scouring for talent across a single province based solely on personal encounters and rumors, this was far more efficient. Li Fan felt a stirring of anticipation. "For instance, in this life, what will become of the Xuanhuang Realm under the shroud of the Heavenly Profound Spirit-Locking Formation? Perhaps I can use this to find out..." To be cautious, Li Fan once again confirmed various details regarding the Avatar state. "Transforming Body into Object and Reverting Reality to Emptiness are powers of the same caliber. After transforming the body into an object, as long as an entity cannot resist True Reversion's power of void transformation, they will be unable to detect the sliver of true spirit lodged within the object." "After transforming the body into an object, the reversion charging progress will still automatically accumulate, and the upper limit will increase to 1,000%, greatly enhancing self-protection." "In addition to reaching the limit of duration, if the transformation medium faces the danger of total destruction, automatic True Reversion will also be triggered." ... Before long, Li Fan reached a conclusion. The safety of this Avatar function was well guaranteed. "Conveniently, my lifespan in this life is near its end. Furthermore, with my identity as an architect of the Heavenly Profound Spirit-Locking Formation, even if I could live a few more years, my freedom would be restricted." "Better to transform my body into an object, sloughing my shell like a golden cicada, and quietly watch the changing tides of the world." "Before that, however, I must choose the transformation medium and the person to entrust it to." Li Fan scanned through his storage ring. His gaze halted upon a translucent disc. "Formation-Breaking Jade Platter, specially crafted by the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals' Formation Planning Hall—a dedicated formation-breaking artifact supplied to formation masters at Soul Formation and above." "It was the reward for placing in the top hundred of the Cosmos Courtyard's final assessment." "It's just that over these years, I've been busy constructing the Heavenly Profound Spirit-Locking Formation, so it never saw much use." "Compared to items of dubious origin, an artifact produced by the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals itself will arouse far less suspicion." "Next, what I must consider is how to place this Formation-Breaking Jade Platter into the hands of the designated person." Li Fan pondered deeply in the secret chamber. Time drifted by. During this period, Li Fan received transmissions from Huangfu Song, Qi Buyi, and even Ji Hongdao, asking when he would emerge from the Museum of Divine Archives. They instructed him to head straight to the Formation Planning Hall at the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals headquarters upon coming out; the reward for his second-place finish on the Grand Competition Gold Ranking was ready, and he could collect it at any time. In addition, longevity-extending treasures were prepared as well, merely awaiting his arrival. Li Fan looked over them with only a cold sneer, ignoring them completely. Nor did he fear them coming knocking to take him away by force. Within the Museum of Divine Archives lay an area known as Xuanhuang Myriad Phenomena. Preserved frozen inside were specimens of every living creature in the Xuanhuang Realm. Considering the existence of the Immortal Ruins devouring everything above the Xuanhuang Realm, Li Fan had already harbored faint suspicions during his tour. This so-called "Museum of Divine Archives," rather than being something akin to an ordinary museum, was more like a repository meant to preserve the sparks of the world. If the day truly came when the Xuanhuang Realm met destruction, this place would likely shoulder the hope of preserving the sparks of civilization in anticipation of future rebuilding. Later, when he asked the guide, Bing Yin, it turned out to be true. The Divine Archives held an extraordinary status, and all conflict was strictly forbidden within. Even the Formation Planning Hall had no authority to force an arrest here. As long as Li Fan stayed secluded inside and did not leave, Ji Hongdao and the others could do nothing. Just before initiating Avatar, Li Fan checked on the situation with his clone. Han Yi had set out full of hope with him to explore the Tiandu Ruins. Not only did they discover nothing, but they also ran into numerous inexplicable perils along the way. Both were severely wounded and returned to Yuandao City in disarray to recuperate. On the journey back, Han Yi had repeatedly eyed the clone Xiao Fan with suspicious glances, hesitating several times to speak. "What a pity. I thought I could ride on this person's fortune to reap some gains," Li Fan thought, shaking his head slightly. He then manipulated his clone to return alone to the previously explored Tiandu Ruins, found a restrictive barrier, and walked straight into death, ending the clone's life. ... "With this done, I can proceed with the next plan." Li Fan's eyes flickered. With the activation of Avatar, a sliver of true spirit plunged into the Formation-Breaking Jade Platter inside his storage ring. Li Fan's consciousness abruptly went black. The aura on his body also rapidly waned. At the same time, He Zhenghao, far away in Tianyun Province, and Huangfu Song, in Tianyu Province, both received a deathbed transmission from Li Fan. "A last will and testament?" Huangfu Song's expression changed, filled with disbelief. He hurriedly contacted Ji Hongdao. Nearly half a day later, when Qi Buyi rushed over with Huangfu Song, what met their eyes was already Li Fan's corpse. "He died just like that?" Huangfu Song was stunned. With a solemn look, Qi Buyi stepped forward to inspect him, then nodded. The two exchanged a glance, both left speechless. "I noticed earlier that his complexion didn't look right. He said it was nothing, that he just needed some rest to recover. Who would have thought..." The guide, Bing Yin, shook his head with a sigh. Huangfu Song sent a voice transmission: "What do we do now?" "He's already dead, what else can we do?" Qi Buyi replied with an unhappy expression, glanced at him, and swept her sleeves as she walked away.