Chapter 1315: The Beginning of Immortal Creation

The Nameless Art, disguised by various techniques, was quickly brought into being. Its power had been severely weakened, making it perfect for testing.

To ensure experimental accuracy, Li Fan also cut off a piece of his own flesh of the same size, along with a piece of ordinary mortal flesh, to serve as control samples.

As the Nameless Art enveloped them, the three pieces of flesh underwent distinctly different changes. Each was instantly covered by a layer of shadow. Li Fan's sample and the mortal sample showed no difference. They had almost no resistance, as if struck by a wave from an invisible sea, sinking and vanishing from the world.

The piece of True Immortal flesh, however, although it could not escape the True Immortal Inscription's influence, was like a small boat that, despite the surging waves, rose and fell yet remained steadily on the surface of the sea. When the fluctuations of the Nameless Art finally dissipated, it showed almost no change compared to its state before the experiment.

"As expected of True Immortal flesh..." Li Fan murmured, his eyes flickering.

Next, Li Fan successively conducted experiments using other True Immortal Inscriptions, such as 'Chaos' and 'Solitude', and reached some preliminary conclusions. Perhaps because it had once been steeped in Immortal Spirit energy, the True Immortal flesh possessed extremely strong 'individuality' and 'restorative' properties. It wasn't directly immune to the True Immortal Inscription's influence; instead, after being impacted and undergoing self-alteration, it recovered at an extremely fast rate. Thus, at first glance, it appeared unaffected by the various inscriptions.

"This resilience, this recovery speed..." A single piece of True Immortal blood offered a terrifying glimpse into the true power of a True Immortal. Li Fan was deeply shaken.

"Just the raw power of its flesh is tens of thousands of times stronger than my soul's recovery ability, even with the enhancement of the Infinite Waxing and Waning Method!"

"What exactly is the driving force behind this recovery? There's clearly no Immortal Spirit energy left in this flesh, and from a purely organizational structure perspective, it's no different from mortal flesh."

"Could it be that..."

With a thought, the white ring 'Descent to the Mortal World' instantly appeared in his palm.

Mere flesh does not possess life. Thus, in the judgment of 'Descent to the Mortal World,' the True Immortal flesh before him also fell into the category of 'dead matter.' Enveloped by light, the flesh was instantly decomposed. To Li Fan's disappointment, no Immortal Spirit energy appeared. Instead, there was a foul-smelling black aura. Just a slight whiff caused Li Fan to experience dizzy spells and various illusions flickering before his eyes.

His expression drastically changed, and Li Fan instantly retreated, activating formations to gather and collect the black auras. Fortunately, the black aura itself had no destructive power and was quickly dealt with by Li Fan.

Staring at the small black orb in the distance, Li Fan felt an involuntary twitch in his eye. The foul odor, seemingly capable of contaminating even the soul, still faintly lingered at his nostrils.

"This black gas appears to be pure decay and dilapidation."

"Interesting. Despite possessing such powerful vitality, this is what it looks like after decomposition."

Li Fan's heart was once again filled with endless curiosity about the True Immortal flesh; he almost couldn't resist sending out another wisp of his spiritual sense to investigate further. Fortunately, at the crucial moment, he stopped himself with immense willpower.

"Next life, next life. There will be plenty of opportunities later..." His current physical condition was no longer sufficient to support Li Fan in continuing to probe the True Immortal's secrets. Li Fan took a deep breath, calming his turbulent emotions.

Although he still couldn't fully comprehend the mysteries of the True Immortal blood, it didn't prevent Li Fan from continuing to develop its uses. With a flicker of light, the bronze immortal crane obtained from the Profound Immortal Vessel immediately appeared in Li Fan's palm.

"Immortal Descent, All Things Return to Void!"

After some preparation, a weakened, miniature 'Return to Void' Grand Formation appeared in the underground space of the Preaching Platform. Inside the immortal formation, invisible winds howled. Li Fan threw the bronze immortal crane into the center of the grand formation. Instantly, violent wind blades, as Li Fan intended, smashed down onto the bronze crane.

As expected of an immortal artifact that survived an apocalyptic catastrophe, the 'Return to Void' Grand Formation, despite being slightly smaller in scale, and with its power not significantly reduced, was surprisingly unable to leave many scratches on the bronze immortal crane. Only the ceaseless invisible winds continued to blow, like giant hammers, continuously striking and pounding, slowly altering the shape of the bronze crane.

Time slowly passed, and three days later, a bronze skeleton appeared within the 'Return to Void' Grand Formation. Temporarily moving it out of the grand formation, he used a small amount of golden prime essence as a guide to attract a small mass of True Immortal flesh onto the bronze skeleton. Perhaps due to its inherent characteristics, or perhaps it sensed a similar 'immortal' aura on the bronze skeleton, as the two met, the True Immortal flesh slowly settled onto the surface of the bronze bones. The flesh surged and churned, seemingly wanting to expand outwards.

Seeing this, Li Fan seized the opportunity to transfer a mass of prime essence. Fusion with the True Immortal flesh was extremely difficult. However, perhaps there truly was a commonality between them, for eventually, the flesh, like a sponge, slowly absorbed the golden essence. Replenished with energy, the True Immortal flesh began to grow along the bronze bones.

Initially, it was just a small mass the size of a forefinger, attached to the skull. After a period of wriggling and spontaneous proliferation, it flowed down from the head like a red torrent. After being fed Li Fan's prime essence, this accumulated True Immortal flesh, unlike before, no longer produced inexplicable murmurs or resentful whispers upon approach. Instead, it seemed like a creation under the vast net of prime essence, and even gave Li Fan a sense of being able to control it as if it were his own limb.

Continuously infusing prime essence, the True Immortal flesh finally covered the entire surface of the bronze bones. However, no outer skin developed afterward. The humanoid form, composed purely of accumulated flesh, looked somewhat chilling. Li Fan could sense that the True Immortal flesh was continuously adhering to the bronze bones beneath, as if growing roots, making the bond even firmer. As this integration became tighter, the entire fleshy body gradually underwent a certain change.

However, quietly observing the body before him, Li Fan always felt something was missing.

"The soul is the master of the body. Without a soul, a body remains merely an object..."

After observing for a long time, Li Fan vaguely understood. But the final and most crucial step, Li Fan had been hesitant to take. Not only because he utterly lacked the 'Immortal Soul' as a primary ingredient, but more critically, whenever this idea surfaced in his mind, an inexplicable sense of crisis simultaneously arose.

"When it comes to the True Immortal realm, one should be even more cautious. When dotting the eyes of the painted dragon, one must be careful of the backlash if it flies out of the mural..."

Considering this, Li Fan slowly nodded, made hand seals, and temporarily sealed the body within a grand formation.

"I'll wait until I find a consciousness that can fully withstand the True Immortal flesh without losing control," Li Fan mused, as the skeletal remains of Tianyang and Mr. Bai successively flashed through his mind.

"An Eternal Imprint, enduring for myriad ages. If it can resonate with the Dao, it shouldn't get lost under the influence of True Immortal flesh."

Compared to the uncontrollable Mr. Bai, the simple-natured Tianyang was clearly a more suitable candidate. Li Fan personally made a trip to the bottom of the Congyun Sea. He glanced at the Tianyang puppet body still slumbering beneath the seabed's ley lines, but Li Fan did not disturb it. Instead, he went to Tianyang's immortal cave and retrieved his skeletal remains. After attempting for a while, still unable to directly sense the Eternal Imprint attached to them, Li Fan abruptly crushed the skeletal remains. Then, manipulating the dust, he scattered and mixed it into the True Immortal flesh body.

The skeletal remains were merely a superficial manifestation; the Eternal Imprint would naturally not dissipate simply because the bones were crushed. After the addition of the Eternal Imprint, the True Immortal flesh body underwent a qualitative change. Intense energy fluctuations surged from the body. As if an invisible carving knife were continuously sculpting, skin and hair successively formed on the bare flesh body. The slowly appearing face was identical to Tianyang's in his memory!

Li Fan pondered, then consecutively set up grand formations around it to prevent the awakened Tianyang from going berserk. At the same time, he continuously generated chains from prime essence to bind the body before him.

However, Li Fan quickly noticed something amiss. Even as Tianyang's appearance became clearer, no vitality ever emerged. The Tianyang before him was like a puppet constructed from immortal artifact remnants, True Immortal flesh, and an Eternal Imprint. It looked lifelike, but ultimately had a qualitative difference from true life. Even if he only wanted to make this puppet move, it was currently impossible.

Li Fan shook his head slightly. "It seems I took things for granted. Life, especially when it involves immortals, clearly cannot be replicated so casually."

"However, that doesn't mean this body before me is useless. Its core is Tianyang's Eternal Imprint. Once Tianyang truly awakens, he will be able to control this flesh puppet."

"Although it possesses no spiritual energy, its physical strength alone could probably suppress most of Xuanhuang. Mortal spells and divine abilities would be unable to harm it in the slightest."

"What's more, the puppet's flesh was nurtured by prime essence. Even after this round of growth, it remains under my control..."

With a thought from Li Fan, the flesh puppet before him, like a marionette, performed various movements. However, due to the presence of Tianyang's Eternal Imprint, Li Fan clearly felt a lack of fluidity in its movements.

"It still requires the main body to truly control it as if it were a limb."

Once again using a grand formation, he sealed the flesh immortal puppet. Li Fan looked at the remaining large piece of True Immortal flesh and fell into contemplation.

"After all, prime essence is just a lower-tier substitute for Immortal Spirit energy. After being nurtured by it, the True Immortal flesh also seemed to have changed, dropping in realm. Even though they originally shared the same source, both originating from the Kunqian Bone Hand, they became almost entirely unrelated in an instant..."

"Mo Rubing once said that prime essence is harmful and offers no benefits. It seems his words were not false."

But that's only true for ordinary people. Even if there were irreversible consequences after being contaminated by prime essence, Li Fan could largely eliminate them through 'Returning to Truth.' Therefore, before finding the true method of transcendence, Li Fan would certainly still choose to make the most of everything.

"It's probably not just prime essence. The individuality of True Immortal flesh causes it to degrade when tainted by any power lower than Immortal Spirit energy..."

"There truly is a distinction between immortals and mortals," Li Fan exclaimed with emotion.

"If below it doesn't work, perhaps I can try something on the same level, or even above the immortal level."

Among the various methods Li Fan could currently employ, True Immortal Inscriptions and Immortal-grade formations could barely be considered on the same level as True Immortal flesh. As for 'Returning to Truth''s transformation of true and false, that was above the immortal level.

Li Fan began a new round of research. However, this time the progress was not as smooth as before. After all, these were all existences beyond the mortal realm, and with Li Fan's current accumulation of knowledge, it was difficult to achieve breakthroughs quickly. Li Fan was also very self-aware. He did not let his main body waste energy on this. Instead, he created a simulated personality to conduct the research on his behalf. Once any discovery was made, his main body would immediately perceive it.

And to prevent various anomalies that might occur during the research, Li Fan not only set up multiple layers of formations here but also left the white ring 'Descent to the Mortal World' to suppress any issues. Should the True Immortal flesh undergo an uncontrollable mutation, 'Descent to the Mortal World' would envelop it and decompose it completely. Although the black aura was a bit foul-smelling, as long as it was properly controlled and not allowed to leak out, it shouldn't cause any trouble.

On his way back to the Star Sea Frontier, Li Fan pondered his recent attempt with the ancient inscriptions.

"The retrocognition power of the ancient inscriptions can generate flesh from skeletal remains."

"Within the Xuanhuang Realm, there aren't just True Immortal bones."

In Li Fan's mind, the skeletal remains of the Grandmaster within the ruins of the First Sect, beneath the Great Rift Valley of Fugang Province, flashed into view. In the previous life's apocalypse of immortal formation storms, Daoyuan Province undoubtedly survived safely until the very end. Unlike other survivors, where the Grandmaster was, it seemed to form a black domain, isolated from the outside world. Even when Li Fan controlled the immortal formation, he couldn't peek into its specific situation. Even when the high walls eventually collapsed and the Star Sea was in turmoil, that black domain still persisted. From this point alone, one could glimpse the Grandmaster's power. Definitely above figures like Chuanfa and Tianyi.

"Allowing his own skeletal remains to wander outside."

"Unaltered when Xuanhuang was destroyed, unaltered even when True Immortals descended."

"Even when the high walls crumbled and beings from beyond, which hunted True Immortals, arrived, he still remained motionless. The Grandmaster's state is definitely problematic."

"No matter how focused he was on comprehending the Dao, when sensing a fatal threat, he would surely make an instinctive reaction..."

It was precisely based on such speculation that Li Fan thought of using the Grandmaster's flesh for a test. However, since there was a certain risk, he would have to wait until the very end of this life to make arrangements.

As thoughts surged, Li Fan had already returned to the area outside the Profound Immortal Vessel. Following the method they had previously agreed upon, he released a signal. All the elders of the Immortal Vessel came out to greet him in unison, giving him full respect.

"Fellow Daoist, why have you become like this?"

"What happened?"

The people from the Immortal Vessel looked at Li Fan, whom they had only recently parted with, but who now had a head full of white hair and even faintly exuded an aura of death. They were all greatly startled and immediately asked.

Li Fan let out a cold snort, then said in an ill-tempered, accusatory tone, "You Immortal Vessel people have truly harmed me!"

The Immortal Vessel members exchanged glances.

"Fellow Daoist, why do you say that?" Zhong Daogong forced a bitter smile.

"I'm sure you all can see that I don't have long to live! Perhaps only twenty years of lifespan remain..." Li Fan's expression was grim, his eyes filled with killing intent as he swept them over the Immortal Vessel members.

"And all of this is your Immortal Vessel's doing!"

Without waiting for the Immortal Vessel members to respond, Li Fan continued, "After I returned this time, I reported the entire situation to my master. But I received no response for a long time."

"So I presumptuously used a world-guarding immortal artifact to calculate what the future of cooperating with you would be like..."

"I didn't expect to end up like this!"

Li Fan stared intently at the Immortal Vessel members and asked, "Is the weakest point of that high wall connected to what's beyond the high wall?!"