Chapter 1009: Thousand-Year Immortality

Even though he already knew the full story, Li Fan, watching it again, still felt a slight sense of trepidation when confronted with the might of the Immortal Ruins.

After the scene concluded, Liu Ruchen's phantom began to deliver his last will. He appointed his adopted son, Liu Yihang, as the temporary Sect Master of the Medicine King Sect, stating that it would be best if the other elders were willing to support and assist him. If they were unwilling, they were free to leave the Medicine King Sect; there would be no compulsion. Upon returning to the Xuanhuang Realm, they were not to rush into seeking revenge but to lie low in the Longevity Valley, patiently awaiting the opportune moment.

This was consistent with what Li Fan had previously learned.

However, after temporarily gaining control of the True Medicine King Cauldron, Li Fan did not rush to leave. Instead, he continued to wait in the control room. Even after Liu Ruchen's phantom completely dissipated, Li Fan remained.

He waited patiently for half a day, yet no new developments seemed to occur.

After pondering for a moment, Li Fan activated the End Dissolution Disk, which swiftly generated a formation. With a cold glint in his eyes, Li Fan instantly deployed the formation within the control room. Its primary purpose was to expose any hidden residual souls, leaving them nowhere to conceal themselves!

Indeed, Li Fan suspected that Liu Ruchen, the Sect Master of the Medicine King Sect, had not fully perished! This was not a groundless speculation. One must consider that Li Fan was now extremely knowledgeable and experienced; what manner of mechanisms, formations, or restrictions had he not encountered? Yet, the phantom that delivered the will before him did not fit into any of these categories. For the illusion to remain stable enough to deliver such a long message, it naturally had to be supported by some kind of power. Since all external options had been ruled out, the only remaining possibility was Liu Ruchen's own spiritual power!

Once the formation was complete, intersecting waves of light continuously swept through the space. As Li Fan had anticipated, an increasingly blurry figure was indeed forced to reveal itself once more! It was so weak that it couldn't even engage in spiritual communication, seeming on the verge of complete dissipation.

Sensing the faint helplessness and despair emanating from the figure, Li Fan let out a cold snort. He reached out and seized Liu Ruchen's form. Without a hint of politeness, Li Fan slowly infused source energy, imbued with the influence of the Faceless True Immortal, into it. As Liu Ruchen's soul gradually solidified, he also appeared within Li Fan's sensory network.

"Sect Master Liu, your 'cicada shedding its shell' trick was quite effective; it almost fooled even me," Li Fan said indifferently.

"You jest, fellow Daoist," Liu Ruchen replied, a bitter expression on his face.

"May I ask which sect you hail from, fellow Daoist?" he asked tentatively.

"The Xuantian Sect," Li Fan said with a wicked smile.

"What?!" Liu Ruchen's soul shuddered. It was already precarious, but upon hearing Li Fan's words, it seemed on the verge of complete disintegration. After considerable effort to stabilize his mind, Liu Ruchen said with lingering trepidation, "Perhaps such jokes are best avoided..."

Before he could finish speaking, a phantom of a blood moon instantly materialized behind Li Fan. A pressure far surpassing that of ancient Dao Integration cultivators manifested, its mere presence almost shattering Liu Ruchen's already frail soul.

"Do you think I'm lying?" Li Fan sneered. "Your Medicine King Sect's escape lasted only half a day, yet thousands of years have passed in the Xuanhuang Realm!"

Liu Ruchen was jolted as if from a dream. "What? Thousands of years?" He quickly made some calculations, confirming that Li Fan was not lying. His already ethereal face grew even paler. "I knew it would affect space-time, but I never imagined it would be to this extent."

Although deeply shocked, Liu Ruchen was, after all, a sect master, and quickly regained his composure.

"So, the Xuantian Sect has successfully been restored and regained power?" Liu Ruchen asked cautiously.

"Heh heh," Li Fan chuckled ambiguously, then with a slight gesture, he transmitted a general overview of the current situation in the Xuanhuang Realm. Upon grasping the scale of the millennium-long transformation, Liu Ruchen remained silent for a long time.

"Hmph, I occasionally came across anecdotes about your Medicine King Sect's departure in ancient times. Not long ago, I saw a fiery meteor streak across the sky, and on a whim, I deduced the full chain of events." Li Fan's eyes flashed with killing intent. "According to the rules of our Xuantian Sect, foolish and incompetent traitors like yourselves are generally sentenced to death." However, he then changed his tone. "But times have changed. To overthrow the Myriad Immortal Alliance and re-establish the Xuantian Sect, we need to gather every possible allied force. Therefore, I'm giving your Medicine King Sect an opportunity..." Li Fan glared at Liu Ruchen, his eyes radiating a menacing glint.

What choice did Liu Ruchen have? Not only his own life, but also the lives of the disciples slumbering within the Medicine King Cauldron, were entirely at Li Fan's mercy. Liu Ruchen had no choice but to agree.

"Hmph, your opinion isn't actually that important," Li Fan said with a smile. "Since you've already paid homage to the Red Dust Merciful True Immortal, you won't be able to escape even if you tried." Recalling the faceless stone statue that had abruptly appeared within his soul earlier, Liu Ruchen felt a tremor in his heart.

Temporarily storing Liu Ruchen and the Medicine King Cauldron within his grotto-heaven, Li Fan returned to the Spiritwood Realm and summoned Artisan Hermit. Artisan Hermit, who had been engrossed in his study of Tianyang, looked somewhat displeased at being interrupted by Li Fan. "My friend here lost his physical body due to an accident," Li Fan stated directly. "Could you craft a puppet for him to inhabit?"

Given the current strength of Liu Ruchen's soul, it was difficult for him to even maintain a stable form. Cultivating anew was out of the question. Fully restoring his soul would be quite troublesome, so it would be better to let Artisan do the work.

Artisan Hermit glanced at Liu Ruchen, then nodded. "No problem! However, it would only be a standard Heavenly Arcana puppet. He was a Dao Integration cultivator before, correct? I'm afraid the puppet body won't be able to fully utilize his original strength." "As long as he can move, that's fine," Li Fan replied, unconcerned.

Reviving Liu Ruchen was merely a means to better control the Medicine King Sect. Li Fan no longer had any True Temptation Fruits on hand, and forcing or bribing each member of the Medicine King Sect into submission would frankly be quite risky. After all, there had been indications of this in his previous life. As long as Liu Ruchen was present, there would be no need to worry about the Medicine King Sect going out of control.

Artisan Hermit mumbled something and then requested some materials from Li Fan. Having lived in the Xuanhuang Realm for some years, all the materials Artisan requested were native to that realm. Li Fan quickly gathered all the necessary items.

"Well," Artisan began, "could you perhaps provide some essence of source energy?" Just before beginning the puppet's construction, Artisan suddenly made this request. As if afraid Li Fan would misunderstand, he promptly explained, "I haven't worked with essence of source energy before; I need to get a feel for it, don't I? Otherwise, if I were to apply it directly to young brother Tianyang, I wouldn't be confident."

Li Fan remained silent for a moment, but eventually agreed to Artisan's request. Artisan instantly became excited. He seemed to have discarded his previous forging plan, requesting a few more materials from Li Fan. Only then did he begin forging the Heavenly Arcana puppet.

The forging process itself was quite novel. Instead of using any tangible flames, he directly channeled golden source energy from the void, using it to sculpt the ethereal form.