Liu Yan had been swallowed by that strange stone, yet after breaking through the shell, she had actually obtained her own physical body.
No matter how he turned the matter over in his mind, it was utterly inconceivable.
Didn't that mean the strange stone possessed the same effect as a Life Fruit? How heaven-defying was that?
Liu Yan was slightly frowning, her voice soft: "My situation… I think I understand it to some extent. I can't say why, but I feel as though this body of mine is a puppet body."
"A puppet?" Yang Kai raised his eyebrows.
Liu Yan nodded gently. "Mm. There are many formation diagrams and mysterious crafting imprints inside my body, but these imprints are completely natural, and incredibly ancient—they must have been forged long ago by some powerful expert."
Yang Kai's expression shifted slightly, as though something had suddenly clicked in his mind. He exclaimed in a low voice, "A spirit grade puppet?"
He had previously heard Hua Qingsi mention that the Thousand Leaves Sect's puppets were divided into several grades. Besides the earth grade and heaven grade puppets he had seen, there was an even higher tier—spirit grade puppets. And rumor had it that spirit grade puppets had already developed their own spiritual intelligence. Not only could they think independently, but they could even grow stronger through Cultivation. However, even at the Thousand Leaves Sect's peak, there had been only a handful of spirit grade puppets, and as the sect declined, no one knew where those puppets had gone.
Yang Kai hadn't particularly believed those rumors before, but now Liu Yan's situation could only be explained by spirit grade puppets.
That strange stone was no naturally occurring object at all—it was something crafted by some past master of the Thousand Leaves Sect, essentially a prototype of a spirit grade puppet. Once Liu Yan's soul had taken residence within it, the shell had cracked open and transformed into this current form, completing the final metamorphosis.
In that case, the so-called spirit grade puppets apparently weren't born with spiritual intelligence from the start. Rather, they were created by fusing a living being's soul with a puppet body through a similar method.
The realization struck Yang Kai like a bolt of clarity, and he grew even more confident that his guess was correct.
No wonder Ye Chong had kept staring at Liu Yan whenever he spoke of that opportunity.
With his extraordinary perception, he would naturally have seen at a glance that Liu Yan had no physical form—she was merely an Artifact Spirit who had taken shape. Inside the cave there was a prototype for a spirit grade puppet, which was undoubtedly the perfect vessel for Liu Yan to inhabit.
In that case, if he hadn't seen Liu Yan back then, he probably wouldn't have mentioned the opportunity at all. It was precisely because he had seen her that he had offered guidance.
But he hadn't been too explicit about it—likely because even he had been somewhat reluctant. That strange stone was probably the last spirit grade puppet prototype in existence, and perhaps no one would ever be able to forge one again. Such a treasure, he naturally wanted to leave to the Thousand Leaves Sect's future generations.
That old fellow was a bit dithering and indecisive, Yang Kai thought with a private grumble.
But he quickly dismissed the thought. Regardless of everything else, Liu Yan now had her own physical body—that much was real. Though the body looked rather strange, it was undoubtedly far better than the manifested form she had before.
Having a body and not having one were absolutely two different things.
Liu Yan seemed to gradually grow delighted as well, forgetting all the inconveniences this tiny body would bring to her future life. She held both hands in front of her eyes, turning them over and over, examining them with fascination. A smile spread across her face.
"How is the fusion between your soul and this body? Are there any signs of instability?" Yang Kai asked with another note of concern.
After all, this spirit grade puppet body was not something Liu Yan had been born with. If the soul's fusion with the body wasn't perfect, the consequences could be extremely severe. It was much like body seizing—body seizing was so difficult, and its success rate so low, precisely because of the compatibility issue between an invading soul and the target body.
A powerful soul seeking to seize a body had to find a vessel with the highest possible soul compatibility. Even then, success was far from guaranteed—a single misstep and everything would fall apart.
Hearing this, Liu Yan shook her head. "There's no problem at all. I feel… as though I've just been born. This body was tailor-made for me."
Well, of course it was like being born—Yang Kai had watched with his own eyes as she broke out of that strange stone. It was essentially a rebirth. Still, Liu Yan's words put his mind at ease.
His only worry had been that the fusion between the body and Liu Yan's soul might go poorly, but it seemed that the past experts of the Thousand Leaves Sect had thoroughly accounted for such concerns when they crafted that strange stone, resolving them through some special means.
Otherwise, they could have simply forged a humanoid puppet and forced a living soul into it.
It was precisely because of the experience of breaking through the shell that Liu Yan's soul could achieve a perfect merger with her current body.
Yang Kai couldn't help but feel a deep sense of admiration.
"Hehe, I have a childhood now too." Liu Yan's little face beamed like a blooming flower.
"Be careful you don't end up stuck like this forever—tiny for the rest of your life," Yang Kai splashed her with a bucket of cold water.
Liu Yan's face immediately darkened. She froze for a long moment, then said with characteristic nonchalance, "Even so, I accept it."