Eastern Imperial Palace, atop the Sea of Clouds.

On a tall pavilion.

Nuwa’s single statement made Huang Rong nervously clutch Xuan Yuan  ’s sleeve and cry out anxiously, «Could it be that Xing-gege had a problem while cultivating?»

«No matter how you think about it, there’s definitely a problem.» Nuwa, being a holographic projection, could freely add any settings to herself.

For instance, right now, she had taken out a pair of sunglasses and put them on — a beautiful girl in a bright red traditional palace outfit wearing sunglasses looked ridiculously out of place.

«Or are you saying you think it’s normal for someone’s whole body to spontaneously catch fire when cultivating?»

Huang Rong tilted her head, thinking — yeah, that’s a fair point.

She had read Nine Yang celestial  Art before. Though she hadn’t practiced it, she could still deduce with her intelligence what cultivation would look like when completed. And no matter how she imagined it, the strange phenomena that occurred when Xuan Yuan   cultivated didn’t match any of it.

«I referenced Rong-meimei’s body data, and ran a simulation of how Nine Yang internal energy would circulate and be cultivated to perfection in your body. While powerful, it’s still restricted to the contents of the original scripture — like endless internal energy, immunity to poisons, etc. But it absolutely shouldn’t cause flames of true solar fire to erupt from your hands with just a small rotation of energy.»

«This isn’t martial arts, this is cultivation! Master, your art style is completely different from that of normal martial artists!»

«Mm-hmm, exactly, exactly!» Huang Rong nodded repeatedly like a pecking chick, face full of agreement. «Xing-gege’s whole aesthetic is totally off from ours!»

After following Xuan Yuan   for a while, this girl had picked up many strange phrases.

«So what should I say then?» Xuan Yuan   was also amused. «Next time I fight someone, should I just start by saying, ‘My art style is above yours,’ and the opponent will just surrender on the spot?»

Huang Rong laughed so hard she clung to Xuan Yuan  , her fragrant shoulders trembling from her laughter.

«In conclusion, a normal martial artist should be like Rong-meimei… Wait no, Rong-meimei isn’t normal either.»

Nuwa gave Huang Rong a scrutinizing look and finally said:

«Master, Rong-meimei — do you know where the problem lies?»

Xuan Yuan   thought for a moment, then suddenly had a flash of realization:
«The meridians?»

«Exactly.» Nuwa gave him a ‘this-child-can-be-taught’ kind of look. «First of all, meridians — while not proven in the anatomy of this world — are absolutely real. Numerous theories of medicine based on meridians have proven effective and practical.»

«But the problem is, the kind of meridians that can store so-called internal energy through cultivation aren’t realistic — at least not in this world.»

«I thoroughly examined Rong-meimei’s entire DNA and compared it in detail with my database, which includes DNA from both normal humans and other humans of this world. In the end, I found that over 17,000 specific gene segments, which were originally thought to be non-coding and irrelevant, had been activated. Data analysis determined that these segments are responsible for regulating the meridians in the human body.»

Huang Rong looked completely confused.

Xuan Yuan   was stunned.

Nuwa continued explaining her preliminary research results:

«As everyone knows, human DNA has 3.16 billion base pairs. In your era, only about 1.5% of it was known to code for traits and synthesize proteins. The rest was unexplained and treated as useless junk.»

«But in my database, 13% of these gene segments have confirmed functions. In other words, even in the Pre-Celestial Civilization, 87% of the DNA remained a mystery. Fortunately, most of this unexplained portion doesn’t self-express, so it could be ignored. We just needed to modify the parts that do express and fix the bugs.»

«Under normal circumstances, meridians can’t be used to cultivate any techniques. They’re imperceptible, practically sealed shut, and can’t even be discovered through anatomy. To borrow terminology from Rong-meimei’s world, this would be called a case of innately crippled meridians — someone who’s completely incapable of cultivating, no matter what supreme technique you place before them. They could train until death and still feel not even a trace of internal energy.»

«But Rong-meimei is different. When those 17,000 gene segments are activated, the meridians manifest in a completely magical way.»

«Unfortunately, in the real world — cough cough, I mean in this world — all of humanity consistently exhibits the former condition. I analyzed this using molecular biology and discovered something astounding: the mutation rate across tens of thousands of years is less than 0.1%. It’s absurdly stable. So now you understand, right? This world’s people are genetically locked out of the path of cultivation.»

Huang Rong shook her head. «Rong’er doesn’t get it.»

Xuan Yuan   nodded. «I do — but it’s too outrageous. And I have a question. Based on what you’re saying, I should also be someone who can’t cultivate. But reality proves otherwise. You did genetic tuning on me before — did you activate those gene segments during that process? But if you did, why didn’t you know it happened? Didn’t the Pre-Celestial Civilization understand this?»

Nuwa’s round, beautiful eyes widened:
«What gave His Majesty Taiyi the illusion that the humans of the Pre-Celestial era had fully understood the secrets of human genetics? They didn’t take the genetic ascension route — they pursued technological ascension. And for unknown reasons, they failed — and went extinct together.»

«Also, that’s the part I can’t figure out. After I tuned your body, this entire set of gene segments should have remained inactive. There are many segments like that — even the Pre-Celestial Civilization couldn’t figure them out. They didn’t even know how to activate them. Since these segments don’t express traits, they were ignored. If a bug doesn’t run, it’s not considered a bug.»

«In the end, my personal speculation is that your mutation is connected to the Xuan Guang Pendant. Moreover, this mutation may not just be genetic — it might extend to even deeper and more profound domains that I can no longer analyze.»

«Otherwise, how could a plain, ordinary Nine Yang Art suddenly become a flashy, mystical cultivation technique with wild special effects when practiced by you? This is completely unscientific! It’s way beyond science! I don’t recognize this world anymore!»

Xuan Yuan  : «Plain and ordinary…»

Huang Rong: «…Nine Yang celestial  Art.»

It was still one of the top-ranking martial arts from the golden tier, yet in Nuwa’s mouth it had become «plain and ordinary.»

After the moment of shock, Huang Rong gleefully clung to Xuan Yuan  ’s arm and chirped:

«I knew Xing-gege was the strongest! Xing-gege, Xing-gege, how about I teach you all the martial arts from Peach Blossom Island? Maybe even the Falling Blossom Celestial Palm would mutate in your hands — you slap it out, and a whole rain of flowers bursts forth from nowhere, creating a breathtaking floral scene… Just imagine how beautiful that would be!»

«But what about your father…»

«He’s in another world anyway, what does it matter? Even if he finds out and scolds me or hits me, Xing-gege will protect me, right?»

Huang Rong stuck out her tongue, perfectly demonstrating what it meant to side with outsiders.

«I recommend Master learns them,» Nuwa agreed with Huang Rong. «I’ll thoroughly document the entire process. Who knows, we might even gain new insights from it.»

«Oh, and Rong’er-meimei, I’ve prepared a medical pod for you too. You can receive the same kind of genetic tuning as the Master. It’ll only be beneficial.»

Huang Rong immediately let out a joyful cheer.

She didn’t care much about anything else — but she did care about one thing Xuan Yuan   had mentioned earlier:
A nearly eternal youth-like extended young adult phase.