Treasure Gathering Immortal Furnace

At this moment, Lu Fan finally understood why Zi Yuan looked so lifelike; it was because Mo Li had infused her body with his disciple's blood, and had done it more than once.

This explains why no disciple dared to accept the tasks posted by Mo Li; it was practically suicide.

However, since Mo Li was the only puppeteer in the Dao Sect and possessed a Golden Core stage puppet, the Dao Sect turned a blind eye to this.

As long as Mo Li doesn't touch those core disciples, killing an ordinary disciple every month or two won't cause any major harm.

After all, a puppeteer who possesses a Golden Core stage puppet is quite valuable to a sect.

"It seems that Mo Li will eventually bleed me dry too, but knowing the secret behind it, I won't be so passive anymore," Lu Fan seemed to have already made up his mind.

Lu Fan then read through the entire manual, noting down the refining methods and the way to infuse true essence into the body before putting the manual into his storage bag.

This reminded Lu Fan that there was still the corpse of an elder at least at the Golden Core stage lying in his storage bag.

If I also use this secret manual to refine them, wouldn't I become a top-level puppeteer with golden core puppets?

Of course, Lu Fan was just thinking about it, since there were many materials needed to make puppets, and he couldn't find them all in a short time.

Furthermore, to truly obtain a puppet, one needs to expend eighty years of life essence.

All told, Lu Fan is currently at the 20th level of Qi Refining, but his lifespan is only about 120 years.

He's already in his twenties; once he loses eighty years of his true essence, he'll only have twenty years left to live.

Therefore, Lu Fan still needs to carefully consider his current predicament, because one wrong move could ruin him.

Having made his plans, Lu Fan set off back to the inner sect's back mountain.

...

After returning to the cave, Mo Li did not come back at this moment.

Lu Fan, of course, would not sit idly by and wait for his death. He used the Blood Transformation Heavenly Puppet Technique to make twenty of the thirty puppets at the fifth or sixth level of Qi Refining recognize him as their master by dripping his blood.

This method only grants temporary usage rights, but that is sufficient.

"Let me try, see if it can move!" Lu Fan immediately formed a hand seal, then pointed sharply: "Move!"

Click.

Of the twenty puppets, ten trembled slightly before moving as Lu Fan intended.

Even after just this short period of control, Lu Fan felt somewhat dizzy.

"It seems my limit is that I can only control ten Qi Refining stage puppets at a time. Any more than that and my divine sense can't handle it," Lu Fan said, putting away his hand seals, looking slightly exhausted.

It's fortunate that he's currently at the 20th level of Qi Refining; if he were at the 6th level, he probably would have had a hard time controlling both.

Fortunately, I now have some practical skills, so I'm not fighting alone anymore.

Lu Fan then put all the puppets back in their places. Since ten of them had not yet been bound by blood, Lu Fan dismantled them as usual.

But the speed has slowed down significantly.

After all, we can't really dismantle all twenty of them.

And so time flies.

Fifteen days passed quickly, which also meant the end of the month, and Mo Li, who had been away, returned on time.

But when he returned, he found that there were still twenty puppets that had not been dismantled, and he was clearly displeased.

"Why are there still so many left to dismantle? Are you slacking off?" Mo Li looked at Lu Fan and said in a deep voice.

"Uncle Mo, I think it's too wasteful to dismantle it like this. Since we only need the right arm, why not just dismantle the right arm?" Lu Fan said.

"These trash puppets are useless once their right arms are removed. They'll eventually have to be dismantled and destroyed anyway, so why bother dismantling them again?" Mo Li said slowly.

For a puppeteer, a puppet without parts is a piece of junk. If they don't want it to fall into the hands of others for research, they will naturally dismantle and scrap it. Mo Li was just doing the most basic operation of a puppeteer.

Lu Fan, having just learned puppetry, naturally didn't understand these things.

"Disciple understands," Lu Fan nodded.

Mo Li then stopped carrying people on his back, raised his hand and released Zi Yuan, repeating what he had done half a month ago.

Take the ten right arms that Lu Fan dismantled and try them out.

But clearly, all attempts failed again, yet Mo Li still seemed unwilling to give up. Lu Fan, standing to the side, immediately saw the problem.

The reason why the puppet's right arm could not be completed was because true essence had not been infused into it. Zi Yuan was a semi-finished product, so it naturally could not fully adapt to the other arms according to the controller's wishes.

Only if true energy is poured in at this moment and the right arm is reattached can it be considered truly complete.

But Mo Li clearly didn't have that ability at the moment; his lifespan was limited, and he couldn't gather enough true essence for eighty years.

Click.

Just as Mo Li was at his wit's end, the cracks on Zi Yuan's face suddenly widened.

Seeing this, Mo Li knew that he couldn't wait any longer. Even if Lu Fan failed to dismantle all one hundred puppets as required, he still had to use Lu Fan's blood to keep Zi Yuan's body from collapsing.

Lu Fan naturally noticed that Mo Li's emotions were not right at the moment. He secretly hid his right hand behind his back, made a hand seal, and prepared to fight to the death.

"Junior Nephew Lu, although you did not complete the dismantling task as I requested, you will still receive your due contribution," Mo Li said, tossing a silver token to Lu Fan, which contained the one thousand contribution points.

Lu Fan accepted the token and quickly bowed to express his gratitude: "Thank you, Martial Uncle. There's nothing else, I'll be going now."

"Master Lu, there is one more thing I would like to ask for your help with. Please do not refuse," Mo Li said slowly, staring at Lu Fan with an unfriendly look.

Upon hearing this, Lu Fan knew that this guy was about to make a move, so he quickly bowed and said, "Uncle Mo! Why are you doing this? Senior Zi's soul has already entered reincarnation and is now just a puppet. Even if you don't complete it, Senior Zi won't blame you."

"And how many disciples have you killed over the years to maintain your puppet body? If Senior Zi knew, she would not forgive your evil cultivation practices!"

Upon hearing Lu Fan's words, Mo Li's eyes turned cold, as if he had no intention of giving up.

Lu Fan continued, "Uncle Mo, you are currently in the Pseudo-Core stage. Although you have less than a year of lifespan left, if you let go now and go into seclusion to break through, you will still have a chance to form your Core. At that time, your lifespan will increase, and you can continue to pursue the Great Dao. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Why be so attached to the dead?"

Upon hearing this, Mo Li's eyes remained icy: "I have already tried to form my core three times, and failed each time! I have no time left. I only want to complete Zi Yuan's remains before I pass away, so that I can be buried with her."

"Nephew Lu, I understand that you are innocent. Don't worry, I will not disturb your soul after you die and will let you enter the cycle of reincarnation."

Lu Fan's face turned ashen. It seemed that Mo Li had long been driven mad by love and was completely impervious to reason.

"Since my master is determined to take my life, then I have no choice but to fight back!" As soon as Lu Fan finished speaking, he quickly formed a hand seal.

Click.

The ten puppets in the distance immediately trembled.