Li Fan suddenly raised his voice. "I have one more technique. If you can withstand it, Senior Brother, I will concede immediately!"
"Good! I shall anticipate it!" Si Xing responded.
Li Fan retracted his aura. After a moment, he spoke to Second Senior Brother Ling Xiao. "Senior Brother Ling Xiao, may I borrow your brush?"
"Ah?" Ling Xiao was momentarily stunned. "Oh, sure!" A brush then flew over, caught by Li Fan.
Pouring his spiritual power into it, Li Fan swept the brush through the air, writing in a single stroke.
The word was “Chaos.”
The moment the word descended, terrifying cracks abruptly appeared all over Li Fan's body.
He could no longer maintain the form of the giant hand, reverting to his humanoid puppet form and crashing to the ground.
This degree of consumption... Li Fan felt a surge of alarm within. His hard body, crafted from special stone, was disintegrating. And in many places, it exploded apart directly.
This was a divine ability Li Fan had comprehended from the “Chaos” Stone within the Lost Domain. Its power far exceeded his expectations. Even the caster suffered such terrifying side effects, let alone Big Senior Brother Si Xing, who faced “Chaos” directly.
His Heavenly Form state dissipated, revealing his utterly disheveled form. But before the word “Chaos,” he was unable to move a muscle. The spiritual qi throughout his body ran wild, uncontrollable. His Embodied Object, the green sword, darted about like a headless fly.
Crack!
Si Xing's arm bent and snapped in a grotesque, unnatural direction. A flash of terror passed through his eyes, for he sensed this transformation was about to play out across his entire body.
"Enough!"
At this critical moment, Guang Yangzi finally intervened.
His Embodied Object was a willow tree. The green willow placed itself before Si Xing, its branches instantly whipping into a frenzied dance.
A long time passed before everything slowly calmed. The willow tree vanished. Guang Yangzi's hands, clasped behind his back, trembled slightly.
Si Xing looked with complex emotions at Li Fan, who lay collapsed on the ground, also severely injured. "You've won, Junior Brother," he said softly.
Li Fan let out a slight sigh of relief.
"Tian Yang, that technique you just used..." Guang Yangzi looked at his youngest disciple, his words trailing off. After a moment, he sighed deeply and gave up pressing further. "Forget it. I can see you harbor great secrets. However, that you would deign to join our humble Embodiment Transformation Dao Sect is a stroke of fortune for our humble, declining sect."
Guang Yangzi, his enthusiasm clearly waning, waved a dismissive hand and departed.
Si Xing was at a loss for words.
Only Second Senior Brother Ling Xiao, bustling about while exclaiming, hurriedly set about treating Li Fan's injuries.
For a puppet-body, as long as the materials were sufficient, even the most grievous wounds were easy to repair. Ling Xiao made another trip to the market district, and not long after his return, Li Fan was fully healed.
Under the watchful eyes of his master, Guang Yangzi, and his three senior brothers, Li Fan departed the Embodiment Transformation Dao Sect alongside the conscription envoy who had come to hurry him along.
He began to set forth for the battlefield.
The surrounding scenery abruptly froze.
Then, like shattering glass, it exploded with a roar, transforming into countless motes of flowing light that surged into Li Fan's mind.
Memories belonging to Reverend Tian Yang from millennia ago surfaced with crystal clarity.
The Embodiment Transformation Technique, the methods for crafting puppets, even the Earthfire Elevation Array for tempering and elevating a puppet's grade using earthfire—all of it was now etched into his memory as if personally experienced.
But Li Fan had no time to examine these things now.
Because his entire attention was captured by the prompt transmitted from the Return to Truth.
[Though dead, yet enduring; the true spirit remains unextinguished.]
[Transforming the body into an object, traversing the vast eons.]
[The Embodiment function has been unlocked.]