Nine years have passed, and the Tianyang Cave Mansion has yet to be revealed.
It remains deeply hidden within an underwater volcano, known to no one else.
After much effort, Li Fan was able to determine the location of the cave mansion using the “Earth Fire Return To Origin Array” he acquired from Tianyang’s remnant thoughts.
After activating several protective talismans, Li Fan carefully infiltrated the cave mansion.
Currently, Lord Tianyang is in a peculiar state, neither fully alive nor dead.
From the Eternal Remnants Memories, Li Fan learned that when the Reestablishing the Body and Transforming into the Dao was initiated, everyone except Tianyang participated in an ancient battle and never returned.
Tianyang, however, firmly believed that his master and senior brothers would return. Afraid they wouldn’t find him upon their return, Tianyang stayed in the cave mansion, refusing to leave.
But years later, outsiders broke into the cave mansion. Tianyang wanted to resist but was no match for them. He barely managed to survive thanks to the magical artifacts left behind by his senior brothers before they departed.
After that, young Tianyang began a wandering life in the world of immortal cultivation.
He couldn’t even match ordinary Golden Core cultivators, let alone his senior brothers.
But despite this, his master and senior brothers placed their last hopes in him.
Whenever he remembered their words—”Tianyang, your potential is not inferior to anyone in this world. Recover quickly, as the ‘Reestablishing the Body and Transforming into the Dao’ depends on you”—he couldn’t help but feel immense hatred toward his own incompetence.
But reality doesn’t change with emotions.
Tianyang estimated that without any extraordinary encounters, reaching the Golden Core stage would be his limit.
To fulfill the expectations of his master and senior brothers, Tianyang decided to risk everything and use a method of discarding his physical body to fully transform himself into a puppet, in an attempt to defy fate.
His entire later life was spent preparing for this.
He searched for suitable locations to set up the “Earth Fire Return To Origin Array”, collected materials, and crafted puppets…
Once everything was ready, Tianyang resolutely completed his transformation into a puppet.
He then entered a deep sleep within the earth’s veins, intending to use the power of the earth fire to temper the puppet, allowing it to evolve.
If everything went as planned, Tianyang would have completed his transformation within five hundred years, becoming a powerful entity on par with Soul Transformation True Monarch.
But fate had other plans…
Over five hundred years, the world changed drastically. Shifting earth veins caused the Earth Fire Return To Origin Array to lose much of its effectiveness, and the materials Tianyang initially used to craft the puppet were ordinary at best.
This resulted in the puppet’s evolution process being exceptionally slow.
The anticipated five hundred years turned into several thousand years.
As time passed, even in his sleep, Tianyang’s consciousness gradually eroded. He lost most of his will, leaving only the obsession of “Tianyang’s Life is Not Weaker Than Others.”
Li Fan guessed that the “Heaven-Flipping Palm”, which had turned the Congyun Mountain Range into the Congyun Sea, might have been the cause of Tianyang’s failure.
“Tianyang’s life was unfortunate…” Li Fan shook his head and arrived at the plaza outside the cave mansion.
After carefully observing for a moment, Li Fan’s figure became as elusive as a ghost. He transformed into a thin line, twisting and turning, safely passing through.
Without triggering any traps or mechanisms, Li Fan successfully reached the depths of the cave mansion.
There, sitting was a small child’s skeleton.
In reality, due to Tianyang’s congenital deficiency never being remedied, he remained the size of a child.
Li Fan approached cautiously, keeping his guard up.
Suddenly, creaking sounds echoed from the ground below.
Li Fan’s heart stirred, and he quickly retreated.
Seventeen black-and-red puppets emerged and charged toward him.
Li Fan activated the Dao-Transforming technique and shouted, “Little Junior Brother, don’t you recognize me?”
The puppets ignored him, attacking relentlessly.
They all launched their assaults on Li Fan.
Fortunately, they had the characteristic of becoming weaker when facing a weaker opponent and stronger when facing a stronger one.
A sword light forced the puppets back. Li Fan moved between them, continuously calling out Tianyang’s name.
Gradually, the puppets’ movements became hesitant.
At this moment, Li Fan took out a projection stone and projected Ling Xiao’s last work into the air.
Finally, the puppets stopped attacking.
They looked up at the text and images in the air.
“Second…”
“Senior… brother?”
A slightly sluggish mechanical voice rang out.
Li Fan laughed, “Little Junior Brother, it’s been a thousand years. How have you been?”
“Second… Senior Brother!”
Bang!
Cracks appeared on the seventeen puppets’ bodies, and then they shattered like broken porcelain.
The scattered fragments dissolved and squirmed, eventually forming a small Tianyang puppet.
It flew in front of Li Fan, tilting its head and examining him.
Seeing the somewhat unfamiliar man before him, Tianyang appeared confused.
Li Fan patted Tianyang’s shoulder and said, “Come on, let Senior Brother take you home!”
The Tianyang puppet was stunned.
A roaring sound came from the depths of the sea, and the ground trembled as if something was about to break through.
Li Fan chuckled, “Junior Brother, don’t be so excited. The outside world is still full of bad people.”
“It wouldn’t be good if they found us.”
As if understanding Li Fan’s words, the puppet nodded after a long pause.
In an instant, the seabed returned to silence.
With Li Fan’s help, it took three days for Tianyang to retrieve all the broken body components buried deep underground.
They were reassembled into one, and he quietly followed Li Fan.
Li Fan used a secret technique to conceal their auras.
He also took Tianyang’s remains, which carried Eternal Remnant Memories, from the cave mansion.
The two of them traveled quickly and arrived at the nameless deserted island where the people who left the world in the previous life lived.
It took more than ten days for Li Fan to create a simple cave mansion, modeled after the original Reestablishing the Body and Transforming into the Dao sect.
After setting up concealment and protective formation, Li Fan looked at Tianyang and instructed, “Little Junior Brother, wait for me here. I’ll be back soon.”
Tianyang obediently nodded.
After Li Fan left, Tianyang went to his original room and quietly sat down.
Inside the Tianxuan Mirror.
“Waking up Tianyang a few years earlier does have some drawbacks.”
“He hasn’t fully completed his tempering, so there’s still a bit of a gap before reaching the peak of Soul Transformation.”
“But I can help him complete it.”
After researching for a while, with the purchase of rare materials, contribution points were spent like flowing water.
Two days later, Li Fan returned to the nameless island with several storage rings full of supplies.
“Gray Mysterious Diamond, Willow-Touched Mysterious Stone, Scarlet Spirit Copper…”
“Little Junior Brother, these are materials your body can absorb to strengthen yourself.”
“As for your daily routine, stay within this Return to Origin Formation. It will aid in your tempering…”
Li Fan carefully guided Tianyang.
Tianyang listened attentively.