Lu Yang did not receive a response.
The moment he locked eyes with the face in the firmament, his consciousness sank into darkness, and an endless tide of memories washed over him.
After the darkness, a phantom dream emerged.
Within the phantom dream, Lu Yang's consciousness seemed to travel through myriad ancient eras to an unrecorded age, witnessing an existence vastly different from the cultivator era.
The sea of light became brilliant because of cultivators.
However, cultivators were definitely not the only darlings of the sea of light.
As everyone knew, the sea of light nurtured world realms, and world realms nurtured life. This was an ironclad rule, simply because the environment of the sea of light itself was far too harsh for life to survive directly.
Yet, for all things in creation, there is always a silver lining.
Even in the brutally harsh sea of light, under the coincidence of trillions of collisions, the shackles of absolute zero could be broken, giving birth to the miracle of life.
Initially, they originated from the wreckage of a world realm that had failed to be born and was left in the sea of light, yet had not fully perished. Every hundred years, this place would be subjected to the baptism of the [Two Polarities Birth and Destruction Profound Light]. While this further pushed the wreckage toward destruction, it also purged the life within it.
They were born in this kind of environment.
Perhaps it was because the world realm wreckage already possessed an Embryonic Dao Fruit and was unwilling to face a future of destruction, the Dao fruit it nurtured was particularly suited for sustaining life.
In short, they survived.
To combat the [Two Polarities Birth and Destruction Profound Light], they cast aside the restraints of a physical body and existed purely as consciousness, trading form for greater adaptability.
This was their advantage.
At the same time, however, this became their greatest hurdle—because they were unaffected by matter, material conditions could not construct the bridge necessary for the birth of intelligence.
Therefore, for tens of thousands of years afterward, they simply drifted as unintelligent consciousness entities, lightly echoing within the wreckage of this world realm. If no accidents occurred, they would perish along with the wreckage when it completely disintegrated, vanishing silently without a trace.
However, a [Variable] appeared.
One day, many years later, by chance, a Dao Arts Dao cultivator traveling the sea of light discovered this world realm wreckage and lived there for a period of time.
He discovered these consciousness entities.
Out of curiosity, he began to use these consciousness entities for experiments. To obtain some experimental assistants, he even used Dao Arts to enlighten a few of them.
Thus, intelligence was born.
Soon, the emergence of intelligence filled in the final missing piece of the puzzle for this life form—whether it could even be called a "race" was unknown—freeing them from their ignorance.
They began to grow explosively.
They found replaceable physical materials for themselves—Dao Arts.
By entrusting themselves to Dao Arts, they became spirits of Dao Arts. At the same time, they used Dao Arts to influence the material world, and then adapted themselves to the external environment by modifying the Dao Arts.
Later, that Dao Arts Dao cultivator departed. His leaving made these consciousness entities realize that a vastly broader world existed beyond the wreckage. What they had thought was the end of the world was merely the starting point of a broad and open road—thus, they birthed the most precious emotion of life:
Curiosity.
What lay at the end of the earth? What existed beyond the sky? Where had the entity that bestowed them with intelligence gone? An ideological revolution occurred within them.
They began to advance.
They began to explore.
However, outside the wreckage, the true environment of the sea of light was even more brutal. Generation after generation of explorers were mercilessly crushed into nothingness by it.
In order to ensure that the experiences of the fallen didn't die with them, they spent a millennium self-modifying their Dao Art bodies, which they relied on for survival. Finally, they designed a Dao Art and used it to connect every consciousness entity. From then on, they reached a "consensus".
Sacrifices were no longer in vain.
Every brave warrior who stepped out of the wreckage to explore the sea of light became a part of the "consensus", and their knowledge and experiences were preserved.
They gave themselves a name.
[Taiyi].
During this process, the lifespan of the wreckage finally reached its limit. The impending death of their mother womb further accelerated the ferocity of [Taiyi]'s evolution.
In the past, perhaps other life forms had reached this stage, only to regretfully perish in the end.
However, this time, a [Variable] appeared.
In the 320,000th year after their birth, which was also the final hundred years before the wreckage disintegrated, they miraculously adapted to the harsh environment of the sea of light.
As newborns of the sea of light, they stepped out of their mother womb and truly descended upon the world.
But very quickly, they fell into bewilderment.
They were born, but what were they to do next?
They were born as a single entity; there was no concept of society, hence no need for any related systems or ideologies. Such things held no meaning for them.
Although life and death existed among their individual forms, the "consensus" would never perish, so they had no troubles related to life and death. Furthermore, they wouldn't experience hatred, anger, joy, or happiness, because they didn't even possess the foundation for these emotions to grow. It was like trying to describe ice to a summer bug.
Thus, they sought the Dao.
Like a group of explorers who would never stop walking, they began a new journey: cultivating, seeking the Dao, and exploring higher and farther horizons.
"..."
Lu Yang's consciousness gradually surfaced. He watched as the rare beast named [Taiyi] integrated bit by bit into the cultivator community, which was also relatively newly born at the time.
He saw how the other party cultivated, how they gained Dao comprehension. A vast sea of Dao comprehension and knowledge was laid bare before him without reservation. In a daze, he seemed to see an illusory figure reaching out to him, inviting him to reach a "consensus."
However, in the next second.
The entire phantom dream suddenly ground to a halt. Only Lu Yang remained as usual, sighing, "So that's how it is. Fellow Daoist is not a human, but a demon cultivator."
Boom!
In an instant, like a stone thrown into a lake, the previously stable dreamscape rippled and revealed flaws, no longer as perfect as before.
Opposite Lu Yang, a figure slowly emerged.
His appearance was incredibly ordinary, the kind of common face you could see anywhere. Only those eyes possessed a depth that seemed capable of drawing people in completely.
"...What is this?"
Miao Le sat before Lu Yang, his tone laced with confusion. "Your consciousness, your Dao Heart cultivation is higher than the Great Perfection. How did you do that?"
Lu Yang didn't answer directly, but instead praised:
"Fellow Daoist discovered me from the very beginning."
"You intentionally letting me meet the person in the dream to shake my Dao Heart, and then taking advantage of my vulnerability to dissolve my consciousness. It was a good scheme."
After saying this, however, Lu Yang shook his head:
"Unfortunately, recognizing the true self, recognizing heaven and earth, recognizing all living beings... Fellow Daoist hasn't even successfully taken the first step of recognizing the true self, but merely took a shortcut around it. How can you possibly recognize heaven and earth?"
"Let alone recognizing all living beings."
In a flash, the confusion on Miao Le's face vanished without a trace, replaced by a deep look in his eyes. "Fellow Daoist seems to understand my [Myriad Ancient Dreams Scripture] very well?"
Lu Yang nodded. "I know a little."
As soon as these words were spoken, Miao Le's expression changed drastically.
However, Lu Yang didn't give him the chance to continue speaking. Instead, carrying the joy of a hunter encountering worthy prey, he slowly formed a dharma seal with his ten fingers:
"Hearing is false, seeing is believing."
"Whether or not I truly understand the [Myriad Ancient Dreams Scripture], Fellow Daoist should come and see for yourself."