This was the second time Chen Kuang attempted to shake someone’s Dao Heart.

The first was during his escape from the Celestial Prison, where the victim was naturally the Daoist who likely still wanted to kill him.

This world’s relatively materialistic way of proving the Dao has a certain meaning of judging a gentleman based on actions rather than intentions. As long as your actions align with your own "Dao," how you feel inside isn’t particularly important.

But this also leads to even rare prodigies or Saints capable of moving mountains and filling seas having greater potential for flaws in their character.

Chen Kuang realized early on that if he could exploit this, no matter how high the opponent’s cultivation was, they would not be invincible.

And after Chen Kuang himself stepped into the Moon Embrace Realm and developed a "Heart Lake" capable of sensing the threads of the Laws of Heaven and Earth, he discovered that the so-called "Dao Heart" actually had a physical form.

Once you start proving the Dao, it condenses into a "Dao Foundation" within the Heart Lake, which, simply put, is your answer sheet that you submit.

What you need to do is to write down the questions you posed to yourself on this blank sheet.

Your task thereafter is to continuously refine it.

Until the "Dao Foundation" is perfected, acknowledged by heaven and earth, and ultimately forms a "Dao Heart."

The "Dao Heart" is the foundation of the strength of Upper Three Grades cultivators, but it is also their inescapable cage, turning them into puppets controlled by the Dao.

Of course, saying it this way is somewhat excessive. If one’s temperament is in harmony with the Dao, and the Dao arises from the heart, then there naturally isn’t a need to strictly guard against the breaking of one’s "Dao Heart."

However, if one’s temperament is inherently unstable, just inducing the other party to act against their own "Dao"...

Then the "Dao Heart" will collapse without being attacked.

However, these cultivators who can prove the Dao, despite having flaws in their hearts, would not easily show them.

Chen Kuang initially managed to seize Shen Xingzhu’s lie to discover that this seemingly aloof and merciful Fairy was internally dark, regarding people as playthings.

But with Mu Zhao, Chen Kuang didn’t even need to probe.

Based solely on how the other turned black into white, branding him as an Evil Cultivator, and issuing a kill order, it was clear how hypocritical this person was.

And would such a hypocrite truly harbor such deep hatred for him just because two disciples died?

Impossible.

Chen Kuang was certain about this; the way Mu Zhao looked at him was not with the hatred of one whose disciples were killed, but rather like the hatred of one whose father was slain.

Who could be the "father" of a "Martial Saint"?

Only the Celestial Dao.

Chen Kuang was no longer the ignorant musician trapped in an inescapable prison as before.

This world no longer had a truly complete "Dao."

Therefore, Daoist Shore Realm cultivators wanting to advance to Canliao Realm could only seek other methods.

Perhaps what Mu Zhao sought was to fulfill his own "Dao" through the "Dao" of others.

Thus, he was so eager to support Wen Yao into becoming the next Saint to break through his shackles and approach the "Celestial Dao."

Wen Yao’s death severed this possibility, hence his intense rage.

So, Chen Kuang took this as an opportunity to craft a strategic test.

He was only sixty percent confident in his mind.

If he guessed wrong, victory or defeat would still be uncertain, and he would have to reveal all his cards for another gamble.

But fortunately, he guessed right.

And more importantly, his stakes were ample!

As for the "Martial Saint," he knew deeply how difficult it was to cultivate a Quasi-Saint seedling. Even a genius like Li Hongling might have to wait twenty or thirty years to advance to Grandmaster Realm, and there was no guarantee of advancing to Upper Three Grades.

Not to mention those unprecedented prodigies like Shen Xingzhu, even those of Jiang Yunqing’s level might not number more than a handful.

After Wen Yao’s death, Mu Zhao had even fewer choices.

Yet at this moment, Chen Kuang suddenly displayed complete mastery of Martial Saint’s unique skills!

Mu Zhao didn’t even contemplate the purpose of Chen Kuang’s knowledge-theft because he wasn’t merely skimming the surface but had obtained both form and spirit!

This was naturally the credit of the "Martial Talent" passive skill.

Theoretically, any martial art Chen Kuang saw, he could learn at a glance.

However, learning too many different arts didn’t actually help, and the "Martial Talent" could only make him "learn," without filling the progress bar entirely—what truly made it effective was a lot of practice.

Moreover, in the end, it would have to involve the Martial Saint’s own "Dao."

Since Chen Kuang used the "Dao Heart" to threaten Shen Xingzhu, he had a subconscious feeling that the "Dao" of this world was unreliable, making him wary of potential manipulations if he learned it.

But at this moment, Chen Kuang’s displayed "learning" was already sufficient for Mu Zhao to see hope.

This was not just any genius, but one that no longer required trial and error.

If Chen Kuang were willing to continue learning, even if just for show, Mu Zhao wouldn’t mind, as he needed not a disciple but a container for the "Dao!"

Mu Zhao felt as if he had found life amid certain death.

He wouldn’t have easily believed Chen Kuang’s rhetoric, but Chen Kuang had a "logical and convincing" passive skill.

[Logical and Convincing: As long as what you say is internally consistent, people are likely to believe it, making doubt difficult to arise.]

This was the final move that tipped the scales in Mu Zhao’s heart.

An irreversible step in which a wrong move leads to eternal calamity.

At this moment, hearing the sound of his Dao Heart shattering, Mu Zhao finally realized the foolishness of his actions!

The breaking of the Dao Heart, for a Grandmaster Realm cultivator, merely meant the shattering of their Dao Foundation, making it difficult to progress to Upper Three Grades before rebuilding it—it didn’t greatly affect their cultivation.