Beneath the majestic Star Palace pavilions, Lu Yang walked across the gloomy floor. The bone-chilling cold actually felt warmer and more comforting than his earlier eye contact with Ming Feng.
Soon, the thirty-six stone statues came into view.
However, before Lu Yang could even speak, a beam of light suddenly enveloped him. Almost immediately, it soothed the anxious urgency in his heart.
Because this beam of light was highly unique.
The moment it covered him, Lu Yang's Perfected Dao Heart automatically produced a reaction. This seemed to be a method designed specifically to check whether a Dao Heart had been tampered with.
The Star Palace knows too!
What normal person would test for something like this? Only those who clearly understood the World Honored One's methods and knew he could alter other people's Dao Hearts would specifically guard against it.
Realizing this, Lu Yang breathed a sigh of relief. Regardless of the underlying reason, judging by this preventative measure alone, the Star Palace and the World Honored One definitely weren't wearing the same pair of pants. That was enough. Otherwise, his only option would have been to immediately detonate his incarnation and hide his main body inside Responding to Emperors.
On the surface, however, he deliberately put on a look of confusion.
"Exalted One Hao Yuan, this is...?"
As soon as he spoke, Exalted One Hao Yuan's divine sense rippled. "Just a standard procedure. Every cultivator who visits the mother star must undergo this step."
"...Oh?"
Hearing this, Lu Yang was instantly puzzled. But soon, as he recalled the structure of the mother star, a hypothesis sprang to mind.
The Star Palace's mother star... at first glance, it holds a revered status as the holy land in the hearts of all artifact-formation masters. But in reality? The outer barrier of the Radiant Nebula Belt, the vast expanse of the void region, the counter-attack artifact-formations capable of killing Perfected Lord Chengtian Zhengde... is all of this truly meant for protection?
Looking from the inside out, it was certainly protection.
But looking from the outside in, stripping away the seemingly exalted status of "mother star," this so-called holy land of artifact-formations was actually more like a prison!
Where is the mother star located?
Directly beneath the pavilion housing the thirty-six stone statues, surrounded by the Four Great Constellations. Looked at favorably, it's naturally the core of the entire Star Palace.
But looked at unfavorably... isn't this just the thirty-six stone statues, combined with the Four Great Constellations, suppressing this planet at the very deepest depths of the world realm?
The more he thought about it, the more terrifying it became!
Including those artifact-formation weapons in the Radiant Nebula Belt. When Fu Chen introduced them earlier, he mentioned they constantly monitor the entire mother star.
This so-called 'maintaining security' is probably just a front. At its core, it's a defense against the World Honored One... ensuring that, if necessary, those weapons can instantly reduce the mother star's population to zero to prevent the World Honored One's infection from spreading elsewhere. The Radiant Nebula Belt? That might actually be a quarantine zone!
...Wait?
At this thought, Lu Yang suddenly had a question.
If it were just Ming Feng alone, even if she caused chaos, it wouldn't amount to much, right? Ming Feng's personal cultivation base wasn't actually that high.
No, the problem isn't Ming Feng... The World Honored One can proliferate through karmic inheritance. The real key lies in all those students Ming Feng has taught!
Fu Chen had mentioned this as well.
As a renowned mentor in the Dao of Artifact-Formations, over sixty percent of the researchers on the entire mother star were taught by Ming Feng. Considering this karmic inheritance...
Hiss!
Lu Yang gasped sharply, yet a point of confusion remained.
Wait, that's not right. What Ming Feng teaches should be the knowledge of the Dao of Artifact-Formations.
How can the World Honored One use this for self-proliferation?
And ultimately... as a second-generation disciple of the Saint Sect, why was Ming Feng molded into the shape of the World Honored One? And when did this influence take hold?
Lu Yang could tell that Ming Feng was not a Buddhist cultivator.
Not only that, but he had encountered many researchers on his way across the mother star, and not a single one was a Buddhist cultivator. The legacy of the Pure Land hadn't spread here.
But if it wasn't karmic inheritance, and instead a fortuitous encounter, that should be limited solely to Ming Feng. Why would the Star Palace worry about the World Honored One's infection spreading to the outside world?
Lu Yang fell deep into thought.
However, right at that moment, Exalted One Hao Yuan's next sentence gave him the answer:
"After all, Fellow Daoist, you were on the mother star and listened to some artifact-formation tutorials from Ming Feng. Although it's highly unlikely there are any issues, we still need to go through the motions."
—Artifact-formation tutorials!
The karmic inheritance isn't a Buddhist cultivation technique... it's artifact-formations!? The inheritance of the Dao of Artifact-Formations itself can actually serve as a medium for the World Honored One to alter Dao Hearts?
Lu Yang wasn't actually panicking too much; after all, he had verified the tutorial with the [Immortal Nexus Survival Guide]
The real question was: why would Exalted One Hao Yuan worry that Ming Feng teaching artifact-formation knowledge carried risks? What reason prompted them to harbor such suspicions?
Finally, a hypothesis surfaced in Lu Yang's mind. Like a bolt of lightning from a clear sky, it left him utterly stunned, a bone-deep chill washing over him.
...The first-generation Peak Master of Myriad Treasures Peak!
The Dao of Artifact-Formations most likely originated from him. Ming Feng is his direct disciple, and the students she teaches are naturally his grand-disciples...
Damn it all... Don't tell me the first-generation Master of Myriad Treasures Peak is the World Honored One!?
At this moment, Lu Yang asked himself:
Is that possible?
The answer quickly arose in his heart:
Of course it is!
Because according to the intelligence he already possessed, the World Honored One was originally supposed to be a generation junior to the other Dao Lords!
The first-generation Master of Myriad Treasures Peak fit that exact generation!
Furthermore, why did the Saint Sect Ancestor support the World Honored One back then? The so-called 'nepotism'—the Saint Sect Ancestor definitely had his biases when choosing someone.
And if the first-generation Master of Myriad Treasures Peak truly was the World Honored One, then everything made perfect sense! The Saint Sect Ancestor supporting an old brother who fought alongside him to conquer the world was perfectly reasonable. And Ming Feng, as the World Honored One's disciple, having her Dao Heart secretly altered to become a part of the World Honored One was even more natural!
Thinking of this, Lu Yang was utterly speechless.
The cultivation world was simply too dangerous. He wanted to go back to the [Heavenly Being's Remnant Consciousness]!
No, wait... the more dangerous it is, the calmer I need to be.
I haven't completely exposed my bottom line yet. At the very least, I've only revealed my powerful Dharma Body. In reality, the secret of possessing all four elements complete shouldn't have been exposed.
Also, my previous assumption might have been wrong. Perhaps the World Honored One's interest in me isn't because of the [Divine Firmament Thunder], but because of the Dharma Body I displayed.
After all, the [Divine Firmament Thunder] was still an Unorthodox Dao Fruit at present.
A mere Unorthodox Dao Fruit, no matter how special, shouldn't attract the attention of a Dao Lord.
But a Dharma Body? That made much more sense.
After all, my Dharma Body is so powerful and incredibly compatible with the Dharma Body Dao. To him, he might think I can help him find the lost Dharma Body Dao.
Lu Yang quickly sorted out his thoughts.
Then, his eyes flickered, and his mindset shifted.
Looking at it from this angle... is it possible that the World Honored One actually wants to cultivate me?
The flame of hope instantly reignited.
After all, he was different now compared to his lifetime with the Heavenly Fire. His Perfected Dao Heart was his greatest source of confidence. He no longer feared the World Honored One's possession!
At the very least, when he wanted to restart, the World Honored One couldn't stop him.
He shouldn't fall into the horrifying situation of wanting to restart but being unable to.
And based on this premise, any benefits the World Honored One deliberately threw his way... he could actually eat them all! He could absolutely eat them and refuse to pay the bill!
Just then...
Lu Yang suddenly felt a stir in his heart. The [Divine Firmament Thunder] had sensed something. It was a message from the Mystic Spirit World Realm, seemingly sent by its Supreme.
The content was short, just four words:
[Realm in peril, save quickly!]