Li Chen had begun planning this while he was in the Long Kingdom, serving the Qi Family Army.
But if he truly traced it back to its source, it went all the way back to the modification surgery in which he performed the Head-Swapping Technique on himself shortly after reaching Foundation Establishment, or even to his use of Fill with Mercury as Blood on himself at the Coldwind Valley Battlefield, or earlier still, when he used Shape-Stealing Skin-Painting to disguise himself.
Strictly speaking, all those actions had already touched upon the Puppet Conversion practiced by Puppet Masters.
The various modifications originating from the Creation-Promotion Secret Art elevated puppet craftsmen, who at lower realms could only make Mechanism Puppets, into seekers of the Dao who studied the creation Great Dao and investigated things to extend their knowledge.
Their purposes and effects varied, but all of them pointed, however faintly, toward the ultimate Dao.
This was entirely consistent with the aims of cultivation and advancement through other outer Dao paths.
One ought to recognize that Puppet Conversion was a project—and an enormous, ongoing one at that, nothing comparable to a static state at any single moment or two.
Thus, over these past six or seven years, Li Chen had never stopped exploring and researching the relevant fields, nor had he neglected the groundwork needed before modifying himself.
Skill, cultivation, mindset, realm... all these preparations had proceeded in an orderly fashion.
Most critically of all, he had also been deliberately stockpiling the materials needed for the modifications.
In Li Chen's conception, if he wanted to use Puppet Conversion to improve his cultivation and strength, directly gaining cultivation that could contend for the foundation establishment peak and look toward Core Formation, he certainly could not afford to be stingy here.
He had already set