My Longevity Simulation

Chapter 978: Flesh-and-Blood Cultivation Puppet

“Unable to cultivate?”

The clone Li Qing had been refined using the essence blood of Su Yuqing, the Heavenly Dao incarnation of the realm beyond, and his Dao Foundation was established through the Heavenly Wonder Black Sword. It was impossible for him to lack the talent to comprehend a cultivation method.

It seemed the problem lay within the Vital Essence Technique of All Living Beings itself.

Li Fan’s gaze shifted toward the Lingyuan Sect disciple slumped weakly in the corner.

“How interesting. He clearly knows the contents of the technique, yet there is no trace of it within his divine soul. The only way to extract it is through interrogation. Could it be that the cultivation method is stored within the flesh itself?”

Li Fan swept his divine sense across the unconscious disciple, examining him carefully.

With his current understanding of the human body, it did not take long for him to find the clue.

Inside the body of the Lingyuan Sect disciple was a layer of branding etched directly into his flesh and blood, forming a unique mark. Though it seemed harmless to the body, Li Fan keenly sensed faint traces of the technique’s operation left upon it.

Even though the disciple had since switched to another cultivation method, the imprints left behind from years of practicing the Vital Essence Art had not faded in the slightest.

“The mark stores the cultivation method, and it also acts as some form of authentication. Only those who pass the authentication can cultivate the Vital Essence Technique of All Living Beings.”

Before long, Li Fan withdrew his divine sense from what was now nothing more than a pool of flesh and blood.

It was not that he was ruthless or wished to silence the man.

Rather, when he had probed the imprint, it had triggered an inbuilt defense mechanism. The mark self-destructed, tearing the disciple’s body apart in the process.

Fortunately, Li Fan had already memorized the entire structure of the mark before that happened.

Though it was immensely complex, a single glance was enough for his Dao Deviation Stone to perfectly replicate it.

Narrowing his eyes, Li Fan lifted his hand as if it were a brush, and began to trace in the air.

The imprint of the Vital Essence Art gradually took form.

It resembled a human figure, composed of more than 128,000 distinct “components,” all interlocked together.

The moment the imprint was reconstituted, it seemed to possess its own sentience.

At first, it drifted uncertainly, sensing its surroundings, then slowly floated toward the pool of flesh on the ground.

Li Fan did not intervene. He simply watched.

When the humanoid imprint attached itself to the flesh and blood, the once lifeless mass began to squirm. Using the mark as a skeleton and the flesh as its covering, it rebuilt itself.

The process was eerie to witness, but what surprised Li Fan came afterward.

Although the imprint reshaped the body, it did not resurrect the disciple. The result was no more than a mindless puppet—a fusion of meat and bone. Its surface remained broken and incomplete.

It was a mere construct of flesh and tissue, and the first and only thing it did upon forming was to cross its legs and begin cultivating the Vital Essence Technique of All Living Beings.

Spiritual energy gradually gathered into its body. Soon, Li Fan sensed the distinctive flow of the cultivation method within it.

Like a machine of flesh and blood, it continued its practice tirelessly, even without a living will to drive it.

The mindless flesh puppet ignored both Li Fan and Li Qing. It simply followed its preset command, performing its task endlessly.

“No wonder that mysterious and unpredictable leader of the Lingyuan Sect was once able to find enough cultivators to practice the technique, allowing its accumulated growth to offset the backlash of the ‘the two paths cannot be cultivated together.’”

“So this was his secret—these mindless flesh puppets.”

A gleam of intrigue flashed in Li Fan’s eyes.

“To continue operating a cultivation method even after death, purely through the instinct of flesh... it must be thanks to that imprint. I’ve never heard of such a method before. It seems the Lingyuan Sect master had secrets of his own.”

“Pity. Even a being of his level, before the manifestation of a Immortal Ancestor’s Dharma Manifestation, was no different from an ant—unable to escape death.”

Of course, it could not be ruled out that the Sect Master of the Lingyuan Sect had not been in Nine Mountains Prefecture at the time, and by sheer luck, escaped the calamity.

They only needed to verify it now.

Under Li Fan’s instruction, his clone, Li Qing, immediately sat cross-legged and began engraving the Lingyuan Technique imprint within his own body.

Meanwhile, the true body carefully sensed the subtle changes that occurred within as more and more imprints appeared.

Only when the imprints were fully reproduced and merged as one did Li Fan faintly perceive their effect upon the flesh.

To put it simply, it felt as though a seal had been stamped upon his physical body.

“Begin cultivating the Vital Essence Technique of All Living Beings ,” Li Fan said, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Li Qing gave a light nod and once again attempted to circulate the Vital Essence Technique.

This time, there was no obstruction, and he quickly entered the introductory stage of cultivation.

“Other than us, there is no one left in the entire Xuanhuang Realm who still cultivates this technique.”

“It seems that the Sect Master of the Lingyuan Sect truly is dead.”

Li Fan shook his head.

The reasoning was simple. The Sect Master himself might not have cultivated the Technique, but it must have been extremely useful to him. Otherwise, he would not have gone through the trouble of founding the Lingyuan Sect and spreading the technique across the lands.

If he were still alive, he would certainly have made a comeback. With a method that could control flesh puppets through the imprints, re-establishing power would not be difficult.

Yet so much time had passed since Nine Mountains Prefecture was destroyed, and still no new cultivators had taken up the Lingyuan Technique. Even those who had once practiced it had all abandoned it.

“No matter how many schemes one devises, before absolute power, all is meaningless.”

The Sect Master of the Lingyuan Sect had died in vain, but the inheritance he left behind now benefited Li Fan.

Although the Vital Essence Technique of All Living Beings surely held hidden secrets, Li Fan saw no harm in using it first and slowly unraveling its mysteries later.

“Go and create some flesh puppets, and begin circulating the Vital Essence Technique,” Li Fan instructed.

Li Qing accepted the order and departed.

“If everything goes smoothly, soon this small world will be able to produce a steady stream of cultivators.”

“I do not expect them to confront the Five Elders Association head-on. They only need to help me with Celestial Mending.”

“The Blood-red River of Time stretches endlessly, spanning countless ages. Yet most of history is meaningless; only a few key points truly matter.”

“When Xuantian King returned from the Immortal Realm and founded the Xuantian Sect, until the time of his mysterious disappearance.”

“During the final era of the Ten Great Immortal Sects, when the Immortal Ancestor rose to prominence, and Mr. Bai achieved the unprecedented title of Dual Heavenly Sovereign of both ancient and modern times.”

“...”

“First, let us uncover what truly happened during those two periods.”

Li Fan knew well that relying on the small world’s cultivators to obtain fragments of history from the Book of Genesis Chronicle was much like fishing in a pond.

It was full of randomness. What one obtained depended entirely on luck.

But if the number of attempts became large enough, valuable information would eventually be caught.

Li Qing’s efficiency was high.

Though cultivation techniques still had to take into account the influence of the Immortal-Mortal Miasma, given the urgency, he ultimately gathered materials from within the Xuanhuang Realm itself.

In just over ten days, a sufficient number of flesh puppets had been created.

As for the many Foundation Establishment cultivators who mysteriously vanished within the territory of the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance, their disappearance hardly caused any ripples at all.