Heaven-Mending Peak, within a gloomy and hidden courtyard.
Lu Yang pushed aside the unconscious Madam Ruoxiang, then began to seriously review the memories he had just extracted bit by bit using the Heaven-Mending True Scripture.
This was unavoidable.
After all, Foundation Establishment Perfected Ones sealed their consciousness seas, making it difficult even for Golden Core Perfected Lords to soul-search them. Only the Heaven-Mending True Scripture could do it, so he had to sacrifice himself a little.
As for the main goal of entering Heaven-Mending Peak this time, it was to solve a problem that had troubled Lu Yang for a long time: the origin of Immortal Venerable Taiyin.
Immortal Venerable Taiyin... what exactly is the identity of this good Senior Sister of the Saint Sect? She supposedly entered the Celestial Court five thousand years ago. But if the Saint Sect had such an awesome late-stage Great Perfected Lord five thousand years ago, why are there no records? How could Perfected Lord Feixue and the others know nothing about it?
This was obviously suspicious.
Therefore, according to Lu Yang's guess, Immortal Venerable Taiyin was very likely not a Saint Sect Perfected Lord from five thousand years ago, but "just happened" to emerge five thousand years ago.
After all, that's a late-stage Golden Core Great Perfected Lord.
Before this, whether it was [Sky-Shrouding] or [Perfected Lord Gangxing Budao], their origins could be traced back ten thousand years, or even tens of thousands of years.
Immortal Venerable Taiyin shouldn't be an exception.
After careful consideration, Lu Yang finally placed his suspicion on the Saint Sect's four inner peaks—specifically, the first generation Peak Masters of the four inner peaks.
Speaking of which, the first generation Peak Masters of the four inner peaks are mysteries themselves... They were Perfected Lords who conquered the world with the Saint Sect Ancestor back then. It's impossible they didn't even reach the mid-stage Golden Core, right? With the Saint Sect Ancestor as their backer, they should logically have lived until today, but that's not the case.
Why?
If the four first generation Peak Masters were all dead, who killed them? If not, where were they? Lu Yang was quite curious about this.
"Let me check."
Lu Yang carefully reviewed Madam Ruoxiang's memories. After all, Madam Ruoxiang have the bloodline of the first Heaven-Mending Peak Master and knew her family history like the back of her hand.
A moment later, he opened his eyes.
The next second, Lu Yang rode a streak of light to a clearing deep within Heaven-Mending Peak. He formed a hand seal, and then the world spun before his eyes.
When he came to his senses, the surrounding environment had changed drastically. What entered his vision was an ancestral hall. Inside the hall was a large table. From bottom to top, densely packed spirit tablets piled up like a mountain, overwhelming the eye, until the topmost spirit tablet caught Lu Yang's gaze.
[Ancestral Master of the Moon Palace, Whose Sacred Light Shines in Shadow]
This was the title of the first Heaven-Mending Peak Master, causing Lu Yang to instantly narrow his eyes, thinking: Could she be the same person as Immortal Venerable Taiyin?
Lu Yang reached out and grabbed the spirit tablet.
The spirit tablet was made of jade but was covered in thick dust, lacking luster. The many miraculous aspects on it had long vanished in the passage of time.
A spirit tablet is also a life tablet. If the first Heaven-Mending Peak Master were still alive, the spirit tablet should be clean and dustless, bright and transparent. Now that it's covered in dust, theoretically speaking, she should be dead... No wonder Madam Ruoxiang has fallen to this state; the legacy of the first Peak Master left to her is basically nothing.
But even so, Lu Yang couldn't hide his suspicion.
After all, in this lifetime, he planned to settle old scores with Immortal Venerable Taiyin. Knowing oneself and the enemy ensures victory in a hundred battles; gathering intelligence was quite important.
Just like this right now.
If Immortal Venerable Taiyin were really the first Peak Master of Heaven-Mending Peak, it would mean her mastery of the Heaven-Mending True Scripture was at the peak of perfection, sufficient to extract memories from a Golden Core Perfected Lord.
Then dealing with her would be simple.
Go to the Celestial Court, deliberately reveal that he possessed the secret of the Nascent Soul, making Immortal Venerable Taiyin greedy. Let her subdue him and torture him as she pleased.
Then he could turn the tables using his [Unorthodox Prodigy] talent, directly surpassing Immortal Venerable Taiyin who intended to torture him. Thus achieving an unprecedented, heaven-defying feat by killing a late-stage Golden Core Great Perfected Lord with an early-stage Golden Core body!
The plan was perfect.
However, if Immortal Venerable Taiyin wasn't the first Peak Master of Heaven-Mending Peak, doing this would be seeking death. So for Lu Yang, confirming this point was very important.
But right at this moment, the [Immortal Nexus Survival Guide] suddenly lit up:
[Small trap. Please note, try not to touch.]
Holy shit..
In an instant, Lu Yang felt as if he was holding a burning coal, almost throwing the spirit tablet away. His face remained calm, but giant waves surged in his heart.
Was there anything left in the Saint Sect that could be taken?
Even this had a trap?
No, calm down... The [Immortal Nexus Survival Guide] also said 'Small trap', meaning it's still within my tolerance range and won't make me die on the spot.
But even so, Lu Yang carefully placed the spirit tablet back in its original position.
Since there was a trap, he just wouldn't touch it!
Immediately after, Lu Yang silently exited the ancestral hall and returned to Nether Capital Mountain, beginning to seriously consider his action plan for this lifetime.
In this lifetime... the focus should be on the [Precious Life Perfect Form Scripture].
Since he wasn't following the Grotto-Heaven Method, he naturally needed other channels to improve his cultivation, and the Precious Life Perfect Form Scripture was undoubtedly the most reliable plan.
After all... the [Life Form Body] this technique can enlighten isn't limited to just one!
Rather, the cultivation of this technique requires constantly enlightening [Life Form Bodies].
Although enlightening each [Life Form Body] required consuming many materials, to the current him, mere materials were not worth mentioning.
And before making a move on [City Rampart Earth], it's best to do a dry run first. Use a slightly inferior Dao Fruit with a smaller target for experimentation.
He had already chosen the target.
[Overturned Lamp Flame]!
That's right, start with [Overturned Lamp Flame] and deal with Hong Yun... If successful, I can even fiercely pit [Sky-Shrouding] in the Netherworld once along the way!
With this thought, Lu Yang set his preliminary goal for this lifetime—find Hong Yun, refine him into his second [Life Form Body], use the ownership issue of [Overturned Lamp Flame] to leech off [Sky-Shrouding] for a lifetime, and finally turn hostile and break his promise, directly helping Hong Yun ascend to the position again.
It was also a good chance to test the attitude of the Dao Lords.
After all, swallowing a Dao Fruit whole with a [Life Form Body] was literally seizing control of the Dao Fruit. Heaven knows how the Dao Lords would react to this.
If the reaction is huge and they intervene directly, then abandon it.
If the reaction isn't huge and they choose to acquiesce, then the plan to swallow other Dao Fruits and finally seize [City Rampart Earth] can be put on the agenda!
Thinking of this, Lu Yang decided to act immediately.
As for the [Life Form Body] Yuan Tu, let him stay in the Saint Sect. Didn't that spirit tablet in the Heaven-Mending Peak ancestral hall have a trap? Just right to let him step on it.
A substitute exists to do this for me!
With this thought, Lu Yang instantly dispersed into a mass of pure Qi, merging into the clear breeze. Riding the brimming heavenly light, he vanished from the Heaven-Connecting Cloud Sea in the blink of an eye.