“The addictive nature of this Heart-Desire Ascension Pill—how severe is it?” Li Fan weighed the jade bottle in his hand with interest and asked.
“The closer one is to the legendary True Immortal Realm, the greater the craving for it after consumption,” Liu San said with an extremely solemn expression.
“Perhaps someone with an extraordinarily strong will could resist the temptation to take another one, but…” Liu San shook his head.
“At least, in our era, such individuals were exceedingly rare.”
Li Fan’s eyes flickered slightly as he stored the jade bottle away.
“If Elder Liu refines more of this pill in the future, you should keep them all. They may be useful at a critical moment,” Li Fan instructed.
Liu San nodded in agreement.
“By the way, I also need to trouble Mr. Fang to refine a few protective artifacts for me.” At this moment, Li Fan turned to Fang Zaiji and spoke.
“Oh? What kind does the Sect Master want?” The mention of his expertise immediately piqued Fang Zaiji’s interest.
As expected, Fang Zaiji, who was quite prideful about his craftsmanship, was provoked:
“Young Master, you underestimate me! Forget Soul Transformation cultivators—even refining artifacts that can withstand Dao Integration cultivators is not difficult! However…”
“It would just require more materials,” Fang Zaiji murmured.
Seeing that this concerned the Young Master’s safety, Liu San spoke up:
“No problem. The Medicine King Cauldron still holds some materials, enough for you to craft them.”
Fang Zaiji was momentarily stunned. “The Medicine King Cauldron? Impossible! I’ve studied it for so long—how could I have missed that?”
Liu San sneered. “Looks like your skills still have a long way to go.”
Without further explanation, he flew into the Medicine King Cauldron. Moments later, he returned and casually tossed a storage ring to Fang Zaiji.
Fang Zaiji took the ring, glanced inside, and immediately cried out in excitement:
“Xuanwei Ancient Bamboo, Black Demon Gold, Purple Essence Sand…!”
“So many rare treasures?”
Liu San smirked dismissively. “Our Medicine King Sect was once one of the wealthiest sects. If we truly decided to withdraw, do you think we wouldn’t have prepared adequately?”
A sudden thought made Liu San’s expression dim slightly.
“Don’t worry about that—just focus on crafting the protective artifacts for the Young Master. If the materials aren’t enough, you can ask me for more.”
This time, Fang Zaiji did not argue. Instead, he gazed delightedly at the various rare materials in the ring and began contemplating what kind of artifacts to forge.
“Mr. Fang, could you craft a white robe and a folding fan for me?” At that moment, Li Fan suddenly suggested.
“A white robe… and a folding fan?” Fang Zaiji was stunned.
But seeing Li Fan’s unquestionable gaze, he had no choice but to mutter in agreement.
After temporarily leaving the two, Li Fan entered a secluded chamber.
He once again took out Xu Ke’s blood essence and various materials. Following Xiao Hei’s memories of an adult Xu Ke’s appearance, he even enhanced the facial features, concentrating fully on refining a new clone.
This clone was crucial for obtaining the subsequent techniques of the Mountain-Sitting Art, so Li Fan was more meticulous than ever.
Seven days and nights passed.
A perfectly refined male body appeared before Li Fan.
His features were exceptionally handsome, his skin smooth and fair like porcelain. Stars seemed to glimmer in his eyes, and his faint smile carried an ethereal charm—like a banished immortal from the heavens!
Even Li Fan couldn’t help but be momentarily captivated by the clone’s unparalleled beauty.
It was only then that he realized—while striving to perfect the clone’s appearance, he had unconsciously modeled it after the most handsome man he had ever seen—Mr. Bai.
This also resulted in the clone bearing a striking resemblance to Mr. Bai. Of course, it was only a resemblance. The general mold was still based on Xu Ke’s appearance.
“There shouldn’t be any issues, right?”
The clone’s appearance was so flawless that even with some minor unexpected deviations, Li Fan had no intention of refining a new one.
“Besides, all of Xu Ke’s essence blood has already been used up. If I were to refine another one, it wouldn’t be nearly as effective as this one.”
Li Fan stared at the clone before him. After a moment of contemplation, he finally slashed his finger through the air, activating the clone.
The sensation of experiencing two perspectives simultaneously surged once again.
“Although it is at the Nascent Soul stage, it’s merely an empty shell…”
“But that’s fine.”
The clone dressed itself, sat cross-legged on the ground, and immediately began cultivating the Heavenly Fortune Sutra.
Meanwhile, the original body retrieved the Feather of the Black Bird and handed it to the clone.
Using a Foundation Establishment technique at the Nascent Soul stage was already an overwhelming advantage. Coupled with the terrifying heaven and earth fortune stored within the Black Bird Feather, the clone instantly absorbed it and completed the Foundation Establishment process.
However, the Foundation Establishment stage was far from sufficient to fulfill the clone’s mission requirements—it had to continue advancing.
Li Fan crushed several top-grade spirit stones, unleashing an incredibly pure aura that instantly formed a swirling vortex within the chamber, madly rushing into the clone’s body.
The clone absorbed and refined all the energy like a great whale drinking water.
In less than half a day, a Golden Core formed in the clone’s dantian.
The surface of the Golden Core occasionally flashed with a faint purple hue, radiating an extraordinary air of nobility.
“Though it is a single-method Golden Core, this Heavenly Fortune Technique is practically tailor-made for the clone. Furthermore, Xu Ke’s essence blood has a unique connection with the Black Bird Feather…”
“Its power might not be inferior to an ordinary Four-Method Golden Core.” Li Fan nodded in satisfaction.
After the Golden Core stage came the Nascent Soul stage.
Under normal circumstances, to maintain a perfect disguise, one would have to find a Cave-Heaven for the clone to absorb.
However, thanks to the existence of the Beast Realm, this trouble was easily bypassed.
With a single thought, the original body carried the clone into the Beast Realm.
Compared to Li Fan himself, the clone was far more adept at perceiving and manipulating the world’s fortune within the Beast Realm.
“Indeed, people should not be judged by the same standard.”
Realizing the disparity between them, Li Fan couldn’t help but sigh slightly.
The clone closed its eyes and levitated mid-air.
Spiritual energy from all directions in the realm began converging upon him.
Even more astonishingly, mountains and rivers within the Beast Realm rose into the sky, rushing toward Li Fan’s feet.
The land compressed itself, forming a miniature Cave-Heaven at a speed tens of millions of times faster than natural evolution.
This grand spectacle naturally startled the disciples of the Medicine King Sect.
However, upon seeing their Sect Master, Li Fan, present, none dared to act recklessly.
Instead, all their gazes fixated on the breathtakingly handsome man beside Li Fan, unable to look away.
Privately, they speculated about his true identity.
Extracting nearly one-thirtieth of the Beastkind Realm’s world essence, a [Beast Realm Cave-Heaven] was formed.
Under the watchful eyes of many, the clone swallowed the Cave-Heaven into its body.