"How addictive is this Mind-Ascending Immortality Pill?" Li Fan weighed the jade bottle in his hand, asking with keen interest.
"The closer one is to the legendary realm of True Immortals, the greater the craving for it becomes after taking it." Liu San's expression was exceedingly grave.
"Perhaps there are those of supreme willpower who can resist the temptation to take another, but..." Liu San shook his head. "At the very least, back in our era, one rarely heard of such people."
Li Fan's eyes flickered slightly, and he put the jade bottle away.
"If Elder Liu happens to refine more of this pill in the future, you might as well keep them all. At a critical juncture, they may prove useful," Li Fan instructed.
Liu San nodded in agreement.
"By the way, I must also trouble Mr. Fang to refine a few defensive magical treasures for me," Li Fan said, turning to look at Fang Zaiji.
"Oh? What kind does the Sect Master desire?" At the mention of his specialty, Fang Zaiji perked up with interest.
"At the very least, they should be able to shrug off attacks from ordinary Soul Formation cultivators. Can Mr. Fang manage that?" Having spent some time with Fang Zaiji and knowing his temperament well, Li Fan deliberately lowered his requirements and asked with a smile.
Sure enough, Fang Zaiji's face-saving pride was provoked. "Young Master, you underestimate me far too much! Never mind Soul Formation cultivators, what is so difficult about refining treasures that can withstand Dao Integration cultivators? However... the required materials might be somewhat extensive, that's all," Fang Zaiji mumbled.
Seeing that it was the young master's request and involved life preservation, Liu San spoke up, "No matter. The Medicine King Cauldron still stores some materials, more than enough for you to forge them!"
Fang Zaiji froze on the spot. "Inside the Medicine King Cauldron? That's impossible! I've studied it for so long, how could I not have discovered them?"
Liu San gave a cold sneer. "It seems your skill still falls quite short."
With that, Liu San flew into the Medicine King Cauldron. A moment later, he returned and simply tossed a storage ring to Fang Zaiji.
Fang Zaiji caught the ring, inspected it briefly, and immediately cried out, "Xuanwei ancient bamboo, ink demon gold, purple essence sand... How are there so many treasures?"
Liu San sneered in disdain, "No matter what, our Medicine King Sect was once a sect of immense wealth. If we truly resolved to evacuate, how could we not make thorough preparations?"
Suddenly recalling something, Liu San's expression darkened slightly.
"Don't worry about all that. Just focus on refining defensive treasures for the Young Master. If you run short of materials, you can always ask me for more!"
This time Fang Zaiji did not argue back. Instead, he happily looked through the various heavenly materials and earthly treasures in the ring, already beginning to calculate what kind of treasures to craft.
"Sir, you can refine a white robe and a folding fan for me," Li Fan suddenly suggested at this point.
"A white robe and a folding fan?" Fang Zaiji was immediately taken aback.
Yet, meeting Li Fan's unquestionable gaze, Fang Zaiji could only mutter under his breath and agree.
Taking temporary leave of the two, Li Fan arrived at his secluded cultivation chamber.
He brought out Xu Ke's essence blood and several materials once more. Following the appearance of the adult Xu Ke from Xiao Hei's memories—and tuning his looks even further upward—he concentrated his spirit and began refining the avatar.
This avatar was tied to acquiring the subsequent cultivation techniques of the Mountain-Sitting Art, so Li Fan was more earnest and meticulous than ever before.
After seven full days and seven nights, a masculine physique that could be called flawless appeared before Li Fan.
His features were extraordinarily handsome, his skin pale and smooth as porcelain. In his eyes, starlight seemed to flicker, and a slight smile graced the corners of his lips—resembling an exiled immortal descended from heaven!
Looking at this avatar, even Li Fan could not help but be captivated by his peerless appearance, lapsing into a daze for a split second.
Only then did he realize that in his quest to elevate the avatar's appearance as much as possible, during the refining process, he had unconsciously referenced the face of the most handsome person he had ever seen: Mr. Bai.
This also resulted in the avatar having a striking resemblance to Mr. Bai in demeanor and spirit. Of course, it was merely a resemblance in air and demeanor; the general mold was still based on Xu Ke's appearance.
"There shouldn't be any problem, right?"
The avatar's appearance was simply too perfect. Even though a slight unexpected variation had occurred, Li Fan felt no inclination to refine another from scratch.
"Besides, Xu Ke's essence blood has been entirely used up. Even if I wanted to refine another, the result wouldn't come close to this one."
Li Fan stared at the avatar before him. After pondering for a moment, he ultimately slashed out a finger, activating the avatar.
The sensation of two simultaneous perspectives existing at once surged forth once again.
"Though at the Nascent Soul realm, it is merely an empty shell..."
"No matter, though."
The avatar put on clothes, sat cross-legged on the floor, and immediately began cultivating the Heavenly Fortune Scripture.
The true body took out the Feather of the Profound Bird and handed it to the avatar.
Cultivating a Foundation Establishment technique from the vantage point of a Nascent Soul was inherently an overwhelming advantage of commanding height. Coupled with the terrifying amount of world heavenly fortune stored inside the Feather of the Profound Bird, almost in an instant, the avatar fused the Feather of the Profound Bird into its body and completed the process of establishing its foundation with it.
The Foundation Establishment realm was obviously far from sufficient to meet the requirements of the avatar's task; its cultivation had to be raised further.
Li Fan crushed supreme-grade spirit stones one by one. Incomparably pure spiritual energy instantly formed a whirlwind inside the secluded chamber, surging frantically into the avatar's body.
Like a great whale drawing in water, the avatar absorbed and converted all the spiritual energy.
In less than half a day, a Golden Core took shape within the avatar's dantian.
Across the surface of the Golden Core, a faint purple halo flashed from time to time, imbuing it with a distinct air of noble dignity.
"Though it is a single-method Golden Core, this Method of Heavenly Fortune can be said to be tailor-made for this avatar. What's more, Xu Ke's essence blood already possessed a special connection to the Feather of the Profound Bird... Power-wise, it is probably not inferior to an ordinary Four-Law Golden Core." Li Fan nodded in satisfaction.
After the Golden Core came the Nascent Soul.
Under normal circumstances, to achieve a flawless disguise, one would still need to find a grotto-heaven for the avatar to devour.
However, with the existence of the Beast Seed Realm, that trouble was spared.
With a thought, the true body carried the avatar into the Beast Seed Realm.
Perceiving and manipulating the heavenly fortune of the Beast Seed Realm through the avatar felt even smoother and more effortless than doing so with Li Fan's true body.
"Sure enough, people cannot all be judged by the same standard."
Noticing the disparity between the two, Li Fan could not help but sigh softly.
The avatar closed his eyes, standing suspended in midair.
Spiritual energy from across the world converged toward him from all directions.
Even more terrifying, peak after peak and river after river in the Beast Seed Realm soared into the air, vying with one another as they flew beneath him.
Mountains and rivers compressed together, forming a miniature grotto-heaven at a speed ten million times faster than natural evolution.
This colossal spectacle naturally alarmed the disciples of the Medicine King Sect.
Yet seeing Sect Master Li Fan present, none dared act out of line.
Their gazes were all fixed upon the indescribably handsome man beside Li Fan, reluctant to look away.
In private, they speculated about his true identity.
Plucking nearly one-thirtieth of the heavens and earth from the Beast Seed Realm, he formed a Beast Seed Grotto-Heaven.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the avatar swallowed the grotto-heaven into his body.
Chapter 672