By transforming his body into myriad puppets, Jiao Xiuyuan had single-handedly propped up Thousand Li Hall, an immense commercial enterprise spanning every corner of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals.
His trace could be found across various ancient ruins and desolate, uninhabited wilds.
He could even stir up the winds and clouds of the Xuanhuang Realm with his own strength alone.
It carried quite the flavor of attaining the Dao through commerce.
However, this man's luck seemed somewhat lacking.
Though he constantly claimed he never engaged in loss-making trades, from Li Fan's experience dealing with him, Jiao Xiuyuan seemed to lose money on business quite often.
Back when they first met, he had hoarded a massive stock of Form-Concealing Talismans, only for their price to plummet because of the Five Elements Great Grotto-Heaven.
Later, he had painstakingly excavated several Small Medicine King Cauldrons, and had he merely waited for the return of the Medicine King Cauldron, he would certainly have earned a fortune.
Yet, as if born without such fortune, he had sold off all those Small Medicine King Cauldrons at bargain prices long before that.
"Perhaps he truly never sold at a loss, but merely brushed past fortune time and time again."
"Even in the previous life, when he cornered the Spirit Mist Grass market alongside me, a flicker of greed made him pull out too late, and the immense wealth already in his grasp evaporated in an instant."
"Only in this life did he genuinely reap handsome profits. Who knows if any changes will manifest within him."
Musing to himself, Li Fan carefully inspected the items displayed on Jiao Xiuyuan's shelves, seeing if he could find something akin to the Small Medicine King Cauldrons and score a modest bargain.
The wares on the shelves were a medley of all sorts—various talismans, formation diagrams, pills—everything imaginable was present.
Li Fan focused his attention primarily on the goods that looked ancient.
Most were battered and broken, bearing the unmistakable marks of history.
Scroll paintings, miscellaneous ornaments, and unnamed magical artifacts that retained not a shred of spiritual energy.
Li Fan swept his gaze over them one by one.
Suddenly, his eyes halted upon an ancient painting.
His expression growing somber, Li Fan retrieved the scroll and slowly unrolled it.
It was not that the painting itself possessed any remarkable property; rather, the content depicted upon it had caught Li Fan's attention.
The painting depicted a magnificent and majestic mountain gate.
Heaven and earth blended into a vast expanse of uniform hue, where dozens of cultivators stood upon the clouds, pointing toward the distance.
Amid the sea of clouds, towering complexes of buildings atop the mountain peaks loomed faintly visible.
Luan birds, flood dragons, and all manner of exotic beasts wove through the peaks.
Upon the plaza below the mountain stood hundreds upon thousands of youthful disciples, their faces still carrying an air of innocence.
They tilted their heads upward to gaze at the cultivators in the sky, their faces alight with excitement and envy.
What a thriving, vibrant sect this truly was!
However...
Li Fan had seen this sect before, and it was entirely different from the flourishing scene in the painting.
Corpses strewn everywhere, rivers of blood.
A shattered mountain gate, rubble covering the ground.
It was the very scene he had witnessed at the bottom of the abyss when the dense fog in the Ruins Abyss cleared back during his time in the Great Xuan.
The four words carved into the sheer cliff face—"The Immortal Dao Is Dead"—had profoundly shaken Li Fan back then.
Now, Li Fan already knew this was surely the tragic aftermath of sect disciples slaughtering one another after the great catastrophe where dharmas cannot be cultivated concurrently befell the realm.
"Just which sect was this? Why did I see this place back then?"
After all, the scene each person saw at the bottom of the Ruins Abyss was entirely different.
That Li Fan had seen this ruined sect might have been mere coincidence.
Yet Li Fan leaned toward believing that some guidance might be behind it.
Carefully putting the scroll away, he took another walk around. Finding nothing else of value, Li Fan walked over to Jiao Xiuyuan's side.
"Daoist Jiao? Daoist Jiao!"
Li Fan called out a few times as a formality. Seeing that there was still no response, he reached out and began feeling around Jiao Xiuyuan's body.
Not that he harbored any peculiar proclivities; he simply wanted to seize this rare opportunity to study Jiao Xiuyuan's Dao of Myriad Puppets.
Although the *Wondrous Profound True Spirit Transformation* was already a world-shaking divine art, it still possessed minor shortcomings.
Derived from the *Stealing Heaven Changing Sun Art*, it could only sustain one avatar at a time, which was truly a pity.
If he could integrate the Dao of Myriad Puppets and take it a step further...
"Myriad avatars, indistinguishable from the real."
While Li Fan indulged in reverie, his hands did not hesitate in the slightest.
"It is almost completely identical to a living person. Even when penetrating it with divine sense, it's hard to spot any difference."
"The control core seems to be in the head, glowing with a blue light similar to that of the Dao Transformation Stone."
"I previously saw what a puppet looked like after destruction—a withered, rotten-wood yellow. Could it be that all of Jiao Xiuyuan's puppet avatars are crafted from some kind of wood?"
...
Li Fan continuously examined the puppet before him, contemplating deeply in light of his own knowledge, feeling as though he had gleaned some vague insights.
Just as he was rejoicing inwardly, he suddenly noticed Jiao Xiuyuan's eyelids flutter slightly.
His heart skipped a beat, and Li Fan instantly backed away.
A moment later, he saw that Jiao Xiuyuan's previously lifeless eyes had regained their lively glint.
"Daoist Jiao, you're awake?" Li Fan asked, feigning deep concern.
"Hmm? Daoist Li Fan? Why are you here?" Jiao Xiuyuan looked Li Fan up and down with suspicion.
Li Fan originally intended to recount what transpired after being questioned, but having signed a non-disclosure agreement, his lips were sealed.
He had to settle for the next best thing and told Jiao Xiuyuan that he had ducked in here to escape the crowding throngs outside.
"Not long after I noticed Lu Xichan's arrival, I lost contact with this puppet. I knew right then that something major had truly happened, and sure enough."
"A non-disclosure agreement, eh..."
Jiao Xiuyuan eyed Li Fan, guessing the reason for his reticence.
"No wonder Tianquan and Tianyu Province also seem somewhat restless..." Jiao Xiuyuan narrowed his eyes, about to ponder more deeply, when his gaze inadvertently swept over his shop, and his complexion instantly shifted.
Flashing over to the shelves, he inspected them again and cried out in dismay, "Why does it look like a painting is missing?"
"I painstakingly dug that out of a pile of junk!"
Li Fan was just about to say the painting was with him, only to watch in astonishment as the puppet before him exploded into pieces with a loud *bang*.
Fortunately, no flesh or blood flew about—only a shower of wood shavings.
"Daoist Jiao!" Li Fan was stunned by this sudden turn of events.
"I'm fine!" In an instant, another puppet crawled out from beneath the counter.
Looking thoroughly disgusted by his bad luck, he pulled out a broom and began sweeping up the mess.
"What was that just now?" Li Fan could not help asking out of curiosity.
"I made a losing deal, so it couldn't sustain itself." Jiao Xiuyuan offered no further explanation, merely shaking his head with a sigh.
"How bizarre. How could a perfectly good painting just vanish? Who has the audacity to steal right from under my nose?" Having finished sweeping, Jiao Xiuyuan stroked his chin and fumed.
"Er, Daoist Jiao, I forgot to mention it just now. While you were unconscious, I thought that painting looked rather nice, so I went ahead and took it." Right then, he heard Li Fan say.
Chapter 464