Cultivation Starts with Rejuvenation

Afterward, Xiaoying’s consciousness sealed itself, leaving only a small obsession, and their behavior gradually became assimilated by Red Stone Wanderer...

"Faceless Mask... truly worthy of a Dao Artifact!"

Understanding the Faceless Mask’s effect, Li Ji’an praised joyfully.

It devours the essence blood and divine soul of others, along with fragments of their memories, allowing for not only an external disguise but also an impersonation from inside out, in magical power, aura, and even in actions and behaviors.

Li Ji’an repeatedly deduced that other than being uncertain whether Nascent Soul and Primordial Spirit could see through it, he was certain that Core Formation Stage Divine Sense could not, even those at Golden Core Peak.

The only regret is that the Faceless Mask requires a threshold of use, needing at least Divine Sense activation, as Spiritual Sense at Qi Cultivation Stage cannot activate the essence blood within.

If unable to activate the essence blood within, the disguise effect cannot be achieved. Nonetheless, the Faceless Mask itself does offer protection to the Sea of Consciousness and can be considered a piece of Spirit Soul Armor.

Moreover, there is a certain cost to using the Faceless Mask; after a long time of activating and impersonating the essence blood within, one’s behavior and even thoughts and ideas will become assimilated with the essence’s original self.

The degree of assimilation is proportional to the time spent impersonating.

However, this assimilation will gradually fade away after canceling the impersonation.

After understanding the usage and pros and cons of the Faceless Mask, Li Ji’an used his divine sense to restrain Red Stone Wanderer’s essence blood, restoring his original appearance, though he did not remove the Faceless Mask.

At this moment, Gugu returned, and Li Ji’an restrained his mind, focusing his attention again on the stone chamber.

According to the puppet Xiaoying, the owner of this stone chamber was an ancient puppet master, and there must be puppet inheritance within.

What Li Ji’an was most concerned about now was the secret technique for attaching souls to puppets.

"Gugu~" Seeing Gugu come via Earth Escape, Li Ji’an offered it a healing elixir.

After more than two years of trials, Gugu was covered in scars at this moment, the most striking of which was a diagonal scar over its left eye, seeming to have torn open both upper and lower eyelids.

After comforting it for a few sentences, Li Ji’an instructed it to enter the stone chamber.

Inside the stone chamber, apart from a human-shaped corpse in the middle, there were four other remains covered in dust around it.

Gugu blew away the dust covering them, revealing their true form.

They were four puppet remains already eroded by time.

Li Ji’an recognized several non-decayed materials used on them, all Tier Three metal spiritual materials, although their spirituality had severely diminished after many years inside the absolute spirit stone chamber.

Nonetheless, Li Ji’an still instructed Gugu to swallow all four puppet remains.

He then found a storage pouch already turned into ashes beneath the central corpse, containing several jade bottles and jade talismans inside.

"A tributor puppet master of Mystic Mechanism Pavilion?"

"Peak Core Formation, yet a Tier Four Puppet Master?"

...

After reviewing and organizing all the information on the jade talismans, Li Ji’an gained some understanding of this ancient puppet master.

He was similarly a loose cultivator with extraordinary talent in puppets, eventually collaborating with another tributor puppet master at Mystic Mechanism Pavilion to develop and successfully experiment on the secret technique for attaching souls to puppets.

"Tier Four Puppet Inheritance!" Finally, Li Ji’an picked up the jade talisman branded with Tier Four Puppet Inheritance and myriad insights, and the smile on his lips could no longer be restrained.

"With this inheritance, crafting Tier Four soul-attached puppets that can protect the path will no longer be a dream!"

And once he had Tier Four soul-attached puppets for protection, Li Ji’an’s future rejuvenation would face no further worries in the entire Celestial Cyan Domain and even nearby cultivation domains.

"A pity there is no Refining God Technique! I must keep an eye out for divine soul techniques in the future." After a quick scan, Li Ji’an noticed that this puppet inheritance had high requirements for divine soul, relying on divine soul techniques prevailing in ancient times to craft Tier Four soul-attached puppets with peak Core Formation cultivation.

Putting away the jade talisman, Li Ji’an conducted a careful divine sense investigation, confirming there was nothing else inside the stone chamber; he bowed to the remains, closed the stone door again, and filled the passage way, departing with Gugu.

Until he met Xiaoqiao and boarded the flying boat for it to steer, Li Ji’an began to carefully sift through Red Stone Wanderer’s memory fragments afresh.

However, after careful sifting, Li Ji’an frowned.

Despite the thirty hundred years of memories mostly consisting of crucial nodes, they were still vast in quantity, making it challenging to pinpoint the memory of where the cultivation technique was placed.

Moreover, this method of perusing such a massive memory within the Sea of Consciousness was extremely exhausting to divine sense, and after just three days, he felt a stabbing pain in his Sea of Consciousness.

He could only exit quickly, allowing his divine sense some rest.

After a month and a half, the flying boat returned to Odd Stone Forest.

"Seek Uncle Li to protect the Dharma!" Upon returning to the Odd Stone Forest Dao Field, Xiaoqiao mustered the courage to request.

During three years outside, Xiaoqiao simultaneously exercised Earth Spirit Power, honing her magical power. Now, after retreating for another two or three months, she was indeed ready to attempt Foundation Establishment.

"Alright!" Faced with Xiaoqiao’s few requests, Li Ji’an agreed without hesitation.

Of course, besides genuinely wanting to help Xiaoqiao, it was also because he received a message from Xiao Changfeng in the Desert, stating that after returning to the Sect three years ago, he began his retreat, and now that Elder Fang has returned to the Sect, he has emerged from seclusion.

Now, the time has come for him to directly confront Elder Tian and concurrently vie for the Sect’s Core Formation Spiritual Talent.

With the Supreme Elder absent, how Elders Tian and Fang would drive the situation was unclear to Li Ji’an, who simply chose to remain out of sight, intending to wait for a result from Xiao Changfeng before proceeding.

Thus, Li Ji’an again settled within the core Dao Field of Odd Stone Forest.

-----------

In the Peach Blossom Forest.

"Why has this person come again? Could it be they plan to cultivate here in the future?" Ning Yutan’s tone carried slight displeasure.

"Hmph! Ungrateful wolf, don’t forget if it weren’t for him, you’d still be selling pastries at the market. And if it weren’t for him, you’d never be able to buy this Foundation Establishment Pill in your lifetime." Ning Sujin snorted coldly.

"Oops, I know, but... what’s his real intention? I’m afraid of encountering another beast like Old Thief Liu."

"..."

"Could your Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Evil really not be used anymore?"

"First, help me regain my physical body."

"Or... should we not think about it? Ten Thousand Laws Palace has a Nascent Soul True Monarch, I’ll just share my body with you, just take care of it."

"Not interested!"

"Hmph, I’m worried you’ll use my body for dirty deeds."

"Slap!"

"Pa!"

"You, old hag, hitting me again! Get off." Ning Yutan covered her cheek, her Sea of Consciousness stirred, suppressing Ning Sujin’s divine soul.

-----------

Two months later.

"Uncle Li, I’m ready!" Xiaoqiao first went to Li Ji’an’s residence after leaving seclusion.

Li Ji’an carefully sensed her physical condition; her magical power, although not strong, felt solid, more than enough to overcome the magical barrier.

He could not see through her Sea of Consciousness or evaluate its state, but given her identity as an Earth Spirit Master, it should be adequate.

Her physical body was slightly sufficient.

However, without using the Foundation Establishment Pill, it would certainly not succeed in this condition.

"Alright! Uncle Li will protect your Dharma."

In fact, given Xiaoqiao’s condition, with the consumption of an Upper Grade Foundation Establishment Pill, success was almost guaranteed.

The only concern was interference from outsiders.

Despite Xiaoqiao not interacting much with others or having grievances,

nominally, she was Qin Henian’s adopted granddaughter, and fearing that Qin Henian’s enemies would take revenge through her.

Three days later, Xiaoqiao attempted Foundation Establishment in Li Ji’an’s residence.

At Tier Three Spirit Vein Dao Field, with an Upper Grade Foundation Establishment Pill, and Li Ji’an, a protective presence with Fake Pill Battle Power, Xiaoqiao’s Foundation Establishment conditions were indeed far superior to what Li Ji’an had back then.

With no accident, two months later, Xiaoqiao successfully established the Dao Foundation, advancing to a Foundation Establishment Wanderer.

Li Ji’an stayed by her side throughout this period.

Unexpectedly, during this period, the Qin Family secretly observed for a long time.

He was unsure if it was because of his presence they did not act.

But thinking about it, this situation was understandable. The Dao Field of Odd Stone Forest, highly sought after by cultivators, considering Qin Henian gifted it to Xiaoqiao, certainly sparked dissatisfaction within the clan.

Perhaps they wished Xiaoqiao would fail in Foundation Establishment and quickly integrate, reclaiming the Dao Field.

Luckily, they did not intervene.

On that day, the news of the Odd Stone Forest master successfully establishing Foundation spread around.

Meanwhile, in Peach Blossom Forest, Ning Yutan wore a conflicted expression: "Are you sure you want to ask him to protect Dharma? What if..."

"If his intentions were truly malicious, why would he provide so much help? Besides, considering he has been here for so long and you kept avoiding him, would it not arouse unnecessary suspicion?

Of course, the key is your current fragile physical body is indeed lacking. Without a high-level Foundation Establishment cultivator protecting your Dharma, there is indeed a risk of physical destruction!"