While Lu Yang was diligently listening to the lecture and letting his "innate talent" freely comprehend the material, Ming Feng in the real world had fallen into deep bewilderment.
"...Why."
Looking at the results of the examination, Ming Feng's face contorted slightly. "His Dharma Body truly has nothing to do with the Dharma Body Dao sunken in the [Sea of Bitterness]?"
"How is that possible!"
All along, Ming Feng had been certain that Lu Yang's Dharma Body was the result of occupying the Dharma Body Dao. She completely dismissed the idea of some "Dharma Body Dao fragment."
However, the examination results forced her into silence. "If it were the result of occupying the Dharma Body Dao, invoking his Dharma Body's power to resonate with the [Sea of Bitterness] should have triggered a reaction from the Dharma Body Dao. Even if it couldn't pinpoint its exact location, there should at least be some clues."
But the result thoroughly disappointed her.
The Dharma Body Dao had zero reaction. There was only one explanation for this: the other party's Dharma Body truly wasn't cultivated by relying on the Dharma Body Dao.
But how could that be possible?
Is this a joke?
A powerful Dharma Body at the mid-stage of Golden Core, vaguely even approaching the level of a late-stage Great Perfected Lord... it shouldn't be possible to cultivate this without occupying the Dharma Body Dao.
As a researcher, Ming Feng's common sense and worldview rejected the examination results. Yet, facts speak louder than words. The data was right in front of her. Given her professional integrity, she couldn't lie to herself. In the end, after turning it over and over in her mind, she could only pinch her nose and admit—
It seems there really are fragments of the Dharma Body Dao.
When all other impossibilities have been eliminated, whatever remains must be the truth. Otherwise, she simply couldn't explain the secret behind Lu Yang's powerful Dharma Body.
Of course, this was entirely within Lu Yang's expectations.
Strictly speaking, his Dharma Body was cultivated by occupying the Dharma Body Dao in his previous life. Bringing it over to this lifetime, calling it a "fragment" wasn't actually wrong.
But soon, a look of excitement surfaced on Ming Feng's face.
"This is... an epoch-making discovery!"
"The Dharma Body Dao actually shattered into fragments! In that case, there definitely isn't just one. There must be multiple fragments scattered throughout the sea of light!"
"This is worthy of a major project!"
"I need to report this immediately and dispatch search teams as soon as possible!"
"It's a pity the only known fragment has already been absorbed by this Unorthodox native. Otherwise, I might have been able to use it to locate the main body of the Dharma Body Dao within the Sea of Bitterness!"
At this thought, Ming Feng beat her chest and stomped her feet in frustration. Then, she glanced at Lu Yang, unconsciously licking her red lips and swallowing hard, as if looking at a peerless treasure. In her heart, she was already calculating whether dissecting him could re-extract the Dharma Body Dao fragment.
Should I slice off a piece?
Even though those old fossils in the Star Palace say this is just his incarnation, as long as the profundity of the Dharma Body Dao is present, slicing up an incarnation would be just as useful...
However, right at that moment.
Lu Yang opened his eyes, ending his study of artifact-formations. He woke up directly from the Artifact Refinement Secret Realm, a faint glint shimmering in his eyes for some unknown reason.
Seeing this, Ming Feng was slightly startled. He finished studying that quickly?
That shouldn't be. The tutorial I gave him was the enchanced version from the Old Man of the Star Soul. While profound, the more you listen, the easier it is to fall prey to inner demons.
Again, she wasn't running a charity.
Therefore, from the very beginning, she never intended to genuinely teach Lu Yang the Dao of Artifact-Formations. It was mostly an excuse to thoroughly study his secrets under the guise of learning.
For this purpose, the tutorial she provided was also highly unusual. It originated from an old-school researcher with the Daoist title "Star Soul," who belonged to a completely different school of thought than her. Because the tutorial contained banned content, it had been blacklisted across the entire realm, and the Old Man of the Star Soul himself was suppressed for having overly dangerous ideas.
The concepts in that tutorial are mostly wild, unconstrained fantasies.
The more you listen, the more you ponder, the easier it is to become obsessed, constantly seeking but never attaining. There is absolutely no one in the world with the heaven-defying talent required to actually realize those theories.
In Ming Feng's plan, Lu Yang was supposed to grow increasingly bewildered the more he watched, eventually becoming completely engrossed in it. This would cause him to ignore any changes in the real world, allowing her to thoroughly examine his body inside and out.
Yet, she hadn't expected Lu Yang to snap out of it so quickly, causing her "slicing" plan to die in the womb.
But compared to that, Ming Feng was more curious about something else.
Looking at his clear expression, there's absolutely no sign of demonic deviation... Don't tell me he didn't even listen to the tutorial?
As for the conclusion, Ming Feng guessed wrong.
It wasn't that Lu Yang didn't listen; it was mainly that he couldn't understand it... But he couldn't really blame Ming Feng. After all, she had a very nuanced misunderstanding of his "talent."
Of course, the tutorial wasn't entirely useless.
"Patriarch, how is it?" Lu Yang asked inwardly.
Soon, Patriarch Nether Whisper replied from within the Righteous Dao Banner. "The theories are incredibly profound, and the underlying concepts are grandiose. An ordinary person studying this could easily fall into demonic deviation."
Lu Yang wasn't surprised by this.
Or rather, ever since Ming Feng introduced herself as a Saint Sect disciple, he had been secretly on guard. After all, the Saint Sect's moral character was well-known.
So he immediately asked, "Then what do you think, Patriarch? If you feel there's a problem, I can use the Righteous Dao Banner to erase this memory for you."
"There's no need."
Patriarch Nether Whisper said indifferently. "Although it's profound, it's not incomprehensible. I just need to think about it... I already have some ideas."
Hearing this, Lu Yang instantly gasped.
Hiss... even the Patriarch needs to 'think about it'. It seems this is truly some outrageous stuff!
One must know that after multiple restarts with [The Book of a Hundred Lifetimes] and absorbing the enhancements from the original bodies, Patriarch Nether Whisper's comprehension was far beyond what it used to be.
What kind of things required him to "think about it"?
Recently, it was Void Attainment of the Great Dao, ascending to the heavens in a single step with [Heaven of Carefree].
Further back, it was Mu Changsheng's Rank One True Art!
The most absurd part was the latter. Because facts proved that Mu Changsheng's so-called "refining qi with the Golden Nature" to achieve Void Attainment of a Rank One True Art was entirely theoretical nonsense.
Even Mu Changsheng himself thought the concept was unreliable; he only used it as bait to trick others into unlocking the [Heaven of Nothingness].
But the result?
At the time, Patriarch Nether Whisper had actually managed to research something tangible out of it! If he hadn't discovered the truth and abandoned the research later, heaven only knows what he would have created!
This is a guaranteed win.
Lu Yang had always trusted his peerless "talent." And facts proved that the more the Patriarch needed to "think about it," the higher the value!
The only difference lay in how long Patriarch Nether Whisper needed to think.
For instance, the creation of [Heaven of Carefree] took the Patriarch decades, and it wasn't until they entered the [Nurturing Life Master] that rapid progress was made.
From this, one could see that reference materials were crucial.
Even for Patriarch Nether Whisper, working behind closed doors yielded half the result for twice the effort. Only with an abundance of reference materials could his "peerless talent" truly shine.
With this in mind, Lu Yang immediately looked at Ming Feng.
"Fellow Daoist, I wish to see more tutorials related to artifact-formations. Preferably from the same Senior as the previous one; I am very interested in his philosophy."
"Oh?"
At this, Ming Feng narrowed her eyes, forming a judgment in her heart.
It seems that while he looks clear-headed, he's actually already somewhat possessed deep down.
But that's to be expected.
Back then, that guy Star Soul's philosophy attracted countless supporters in the Star Palace. It even startled Exalted One Hao Yuan out of his slumber to suppress it.
With this thought, she immediately nodded. "Of course you can."
"Oh, right."
Ming Feng suddenly changed the subject. "I just asked Exalted One Hao Yuan for instructions regarding your application to learn the Star Chart refining technology."
"Exalted One Hao Yuan has agreed."
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist." Lu Yang nodded, unsurprised, and offered a polite word of thanks.
Following that, Ming Feng swiped her hand again. An array screen instantly materialized, densely packed with Great Dao pattern scrolling across it.
"This is...?"
"This is the foundation of the Star Charts," Ming Feng explained. "We call it the [Phantasmal Myriad Phenomena Genealogy]. It is our summary of the profound wonders of concepts..."
Lu Yang didn't respond, merely staring brightly at the screen.
Surprisingly, he could understand this.
The reason was simple: the [Phantasmal Myriad Phenomena Genealogy] was just what the Star Palace called it. To him, it should be called the [Dao Fruit Weaving Method]!