Chapter 385: The Rat Appears! Success Through Divine Power, Failure Through Divine Power

Zhao Zhao Jiexuan's physical body is unique.

Back then, beneath Long Hu Mountain, Zhang Fan forcibly activated the 【Divide Soul Great Art】 to evade calamity, splitting his soul into three: the virtuous spirit remained in the original body, the ferocious spirit was intercepted by the Yin Mountain Ghost King Xiong Xiong Sanqi and enshrined in the Xiong family.

Only the evil spirit wandered abroad; by fate's design, it found that body and, after ten years of nurturing, had become perfectly attuned.

After the victory in the Ten Thousand Mountains battle, Zhang Fan successfully reunited his souls and left Zhao Zhao Jiexuan's body in Guixi Province, entrusting Lin Jian to safeguard it.

A body without its soul is like a living corpse, yet since it was once Zhang Fan's own flesh, he could not simply burn it.

In reality, Lin Jian was in the medical pharmaceutical business and possessed the finest organ cryopreservation technology, making it ideal for preserving that body.

Ming Ming Shenshou's fake body opened new avenues for him: Daoist cultivation allows the soul to be mysteriously agile—capable of traveling a thousand li in a day, roaming the eight directions, as the saying goes, "morning in the North Sea, evening in Cangwu."

Yet the physical body is severely bound by space—that is the shackles of mortal existence.

An extra body means an extra chance to escape, an extra life; after all, the soul is the root—if the soul survives, nothing is worth keeping.

Not to mention, Zhao Zhao Jiexuan's body is perfectly attuned, allowing him to unleash one hundred percent of his power.

"I'll have Lin Jian send Zhao Zhao Jiexuan's body to me," Zhang Fan mused.

Prolonged separation of the soul from the body doesn't just cause bodily functions to decay—it also reduces attunement.

Below the High Mastery realm, if the soul remains outside the body too long, the body dies utterly, and the soul becomes a lost, wandering ghost.

"Do you think any high-level Daoists in the sects have forged fake bodies?" Zhang Fan suddenly asked.

Even if a person's body is attuned to their soul, it still requires special secret techniques to be prepared for use.

"What do you think?" Li Yi said indifferently.

"Look up online how many people go missing each year."

"That number will shock you—and these are only the documented cases."

"Don't assume times have changed; even today, anything is still possible."

Zhang Fan fell silent, suddenly recalling a story he'd read on a university forum: ordinary people's medical examination data was uploaded to a database, and if a powerful figure needed an organ transplant, the system would automatically match and screen potential donors.

Once matched, the person would vanish in reality.

Zhang Fan had also seen videos: in broad daylight, three or four burly men would step out of a car and snatch someone outright.

Back then, he'd thought: in this age of surveillance everywhere, how could these people be so insane?

Now he realized: what seems unreasonable often hides a rational explanation.

Soul attunement and organ compatibility are essentially the same concept.

"The Dao has no good or evil; people are righteous or wicked… the mortal world is a yin-yang fish—black contains white, white contains black," Li Yi sneered.

The world says the Wu Wei Sect cultivates by absorbing souls—a heretical path.

But does any Daoist master in the sects use soul absorption to enhance their cultivation?

Humanity's innate nature is black and white.

Falling into the mortal world means harmonizing these two colors within chaos.

"Fake body…"

Zhang Fan frowned, a figure suddenly appearing in his mind.

Li Li Changgeng!

Logically, during the Ten Thousand Mountains battle, he had watched Li Li Changgeng's body and soul vanish completely—not a trace remained; he should have been dead beyond doubt.

Yet at Mount Zhongnan, Bai He's words about Li Li Changgeng troubled Zhang Fan deeply—he now harbored serious doubts about Li Li Changgeng's death.

If even that couldn't kill him, it would be a serious problem.

Again and again—that is the will of heaven, and fortune is tilting.

"Actually, the most perfect fake body isn't a human body."

Li Yi changed the subject abruptly.

"Then what is?"

"A primordial spiritual embryo," Li Yi murmured, uttering four words.

Forged by heaven and earth's creation, nurtured by the essence of mountains and seas, it is innate like the soul—far surpassing postnatal flesh by a thousandfold, ten thousandfold.

If one uses a 【primordial spiritual embryo】 as a fake body, the false becomes true, and the true becomes false.

"Primordial spiritual embryos are too rare," Zhang Fan shook his head.

Primordial spiritual embryos are too potent; each birth brings a cataclysmic calamity. That's why, throughout history, only a handful have ever truly manifested.

"True. But there are many incomplete ones," Li Yi said gravely.

"Incomplete ones?" Zhang Fan's heart stirred.

A primordial spiritual embryo that hasn't fully formed, discovered prematurely, or disrupted at birth counts as incomplete.

Strictly speaking, the 【primordial spiritual embryo】 at Chanbao Mountain was incomplete.

Incomplete 【primordial spiritual embryos】 are nearly fully grown but lack self-awareness—perfect for refining into a body cavity.

"Who would be so extravagant as to forge a fake body from a 【primordial spiritual embryo】?" Zhang Fan shook his head.

If one truly could afford such extravagance, the body would be flawless—so perfect one might even abandon the original. A body and soul both primordial—how terrifying would that be?

"Such treasures are truly one in ten thousand. Bai He Temple must have some," Li Yi said solemnly.

"Bai He Temple!?" Zhang Fan's gaze sharpened, and he nodded.

Bai He Temple isn't among the Ten Great Daoist Mountains, yet its status rivals—even surpasses—their own.

Over countless ages, they must have discovered traces of 【primordial spiritual embryos】, perhaps even hoarding more than one.

"Does the Wu Wei Sect have any incomplete 【primordial spiritual embryos】?" Zhang Fan couldn't help asking.

"Probably. But I can't access them."

Even if the Wu Wei Sect possesses incomplete 【primordial spiritual embryos】, they're surely kept in the ancestral temple. Not even Li Yi can reach them—perhaps not even the lords of the Three Palaces.

"This world is far more intricate and dazzling than we imagined," Zhang Fan sighed.

He suddenly felt that even with his current realm and cultivation, he had yet to glimpse the highest layers of this world.

A long road still lay ahead of him.

"Ladies and gentlemen, our flight is about to land at Bai Yujing City International Airport. Please fasten your seatbelts and remain seated…"

At that moment, a sweet voice came over the intercom. Zhang Fan looked out the window—Bai Yujing City lay beneath him.

"Get off as soon as we land."

Li Yi warned, glancing around—Ye Bei and Mao Mao Xiaoyun's souls had not yet returned to their body cavities.

As for Ming Ming Shenshou, he had clearly abandoned this fake body. The three Great Daoists were likely still dueling somewhere across the land.

As a mere mortal, he naturally wanted to avoid them, not draw the attention of these Daoist elders.

"Once we're back in Bai Yujing, we'll be much safer."

Zhang Fan glanced back at Ming Ming Shenshou's discarded body, wishing he could go over and slap it twice.

"Wait for tomorrow's news," Li Yi said calmly.

"News!?" Zhang Fan paused, then understood.

Flying into a vegetative state? That's exactly the kind of thing that makes headlines!

Moments later, the plane landed at Bai Yujing City International Airport. Zhang Fan and Li Yi hurried off like convicts released from prison, as if afraid the two Great Daoists might awaken at that very moment.

"Sir, the plane has arrived, sir… please wake up…"

At that moment, a flight attendant called from behind. Zhang Fan and Li Yi quickened their pace.

Stepping onto Bai Yujing's soil, Zhang Fan took a deep breath, feeling utterly at ease.

People always feel a sense of belonging only when they return home.

"After returning, I'll rest two days, then head to Zhenwu Mountain."

Now, this is the most watched event in the world. There, on Zhenwu Mountain, he should meet many familiar faces.

"Let me take you home."