Anime Crossover: The Small Workshop System's Aggressive Feeding

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These individuals were among the few remaining elders of the Celestial Master's Mansion, each a powerful figure whose mere presence could shake the world of supernatural beings. Yet, at this moment, they were like novice disciples just beginning their journey, their understanding completely overturned by what had transpired at the foot of the mountain.

They sensed a grand, impartial, and peaceful will, imbued with absolute rationality, approaching them step by step from the foot of the mountain towards its summit. The feeling was neither like that of an invading enemy nor a visiting guest.

It was as if a true king was surveying his territory.

A figure was already waiting on the platform halfway up the mountain.

Wearing a light blue Taoist robe, with black and white hair, and a complex expression on his handsome face, he was none other than Zhang Lingyu, the young Taoist priest who had delivered the invitation to Zhou Ye's hotel.

When he saw Zhou Ye's figure slowly emerge from the stone steps below, his pupils contracted almost imperceptibly.

He witnessed firsthand how, as the man approached, the wildflowers that had been budding on either side of the stone steps slowly bloomed at a speed visible to the naked eye, becoming more vibrant than ever before.

This is no longer a technique; it is a manifestation of the "Tao."

"gentlemen."

Zhang Lingyu composed herself, bowed deeply to Zhou Ye, her attitude even more respectful than before, even carrying a hint of undisguised awe.

"My master has been waiting in the backyard for a long time. Please follow me."

Zhou Ye nodded to him in response.

Zhang Lingyu led the way, guiding him through layers of courtyards. Along the way, every disciple of the Celestial Master's Mansion they encountered, whether a young novice or a middle-aged master, stopped at a distance and stood by the roadside, paying him a respectful look.

Those gazes were incredibly complex. There was curiosity, wariness, scrutiny, but more than anything, there was an instinctive bewilderment that arose when faced with an unknown entity beyond comprehension.

Zhou Ye ignored these stares, maintaining his unhurried pace as if he were simply taking a leisurely stroll.

Finally, Zhang Lingyu led him to an extremely quiet backyard.

In the courtyard, a huge, thousand-year-old ginkgo tree stands, its branches and leaves so thick they block out the sun. Golden sunlight filters through the gaps in the leaves, casting dappled shadows.

Under the tree, there is an antique stone table and a set of purple clay teaware.

An elderly man, dressed in the simplest black Taoist robe and looking somewhat frail, sat with his back to them on a stone bench, leisurely arranging tea utensils. Hot water was poured into the teapot, and wisps of white steam rose up.

He didn't even turn around.

But Zhou Ye knew that the entire Longhu Mountain was already within the old man's perception.

He is Zhang Zhiwei, the contemporary Taoist master.

Chapter 392 Old Master Zhang Zhiwei

"You've arrived? Please have a seat, sir."

The old master didn't turn around. His voice was calm, even somewhat casual, as if he were greeting a younger neighbor who often came to visit.

The sound contained no fluctuations of Qi, yet it naturally pierced through the wind and birdsong, clearly reaching Zhou Ye's ears, carrying a power that calmed the mind.

On the stone table, two small teacups were already set out, one of which was being warmed by him with boiling tea, steam rising from it.

Zhang Lingyu bowed respectfully to the old Celestial Master's retreating figure, then quietly withdrew, leaving the entire backyard to these two beings who could be considered the most outstanding in the world.

Zhou Ye's face remained calm and composed. Without the slightest hesitation, he walked straight to the other side of the stone table and sat down.

The moment he sat down, he clearly felt a subtle change in the entire space around him.

The flow of air, the refraction of light, the propagation of sound, and even the speed of time seem to be controlled by an invisible will. It is a state of complete integration with heaven and earth and all things, omnipresent yet untraceable.

This is Zhang Zhiwei's "Tao," the ultimate manifestation of "harmony between man and nature" achieved through a century of cultivation.

Any extraordinary individual, even a powerful figure at the level of one of the Ten Elders, would instantly lose their composure and have their cultivation suppressed to a mere tenth of its former strength within this domain constructed by the Old Celestial Master's "intention," rendering them utterly incapable of resistance. This was an absolute suppression akin to a "rule."

But this applies to extraordinary people; for Zhou Ye, the difference is like comparing a candle on the ground to the sun in the sky.

But Zhou Ye simply reached out and naturally picked up the empty teacup in front of him, bringing it to his nose and sniffing it gently, as if admiring the craftsmanship of the cup.

After a brief, tentative contact, a bruise appeared at the corner of the old master's mouth, but he quickly swallowed it back down.

The old master paused almost imperceptibly as he brewed the tea.

He poured the first infusion of tea onto the tea pet before refilling the cup and pouring the brewed tea into Zhou Ye's glass. The tea was golden in color, clear and bright, with a unique and fragrant aroma.

"please."

Zhou Ye picked up the teacup, took a small sip, and let the warm tea slide down his throat.

"Good tea."

He gave a sincere compliment.

The old master finally turned around slowly.

What kind of face was that? It was etched with the lines of time, the skin was loose, and the eyes looked somewhat cloudy. He looked like an ordinary, elderly neighbor who was nearing the end of his life.

But when those eyes of his truly examined Zhou Ye for the first time, Zhou Ye saw in them a universe that encompassed everything. There was no joy, no anger, no sorrow, no happiness, only an ultimate "nature".

The old master was also watching Zhou Ye.

Then he realized that he couldn't "see through" the young man in front of him at all.

In his perception, Zhou Ye was neither an individual with terrifyingly strong vitality, nor a pure aggregate of energy, nor like those evil demons and heretics, whose bodies were entangled with resentment and malevolent energy.

He sat there, like a perfectly smooth mirror sphere, or a singularity in data. He existed there, yet he had no causal connection with anything around him. He reflected everything, but absorbed nothing. He was more like an... absolutely rational "observer."

This feeling was something the Old Celestial Master had never experienced in any person or even any "thing" in his more than 100 years of life.

The atmosphere in the courtyard became so quiet it was almost oppressive.

Finally, it was the old Celestial Master who broke the silence. He didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the point: "Your Excellency, you wish to reverse your life threefold."

This is not a question, but a statement.

"Yes."

Zhou Ye was equally direct; he put down his teacup and frankly admitted...

"I am very interested in this technology that can reverse life forms and fundamentally change the mode of existence. Some of its concepts have inspired my research."

He used the terms "technology" and "research" instead of "method" and "cultivation".

A barely perceptible ripple flashed in the old Celestial Master's cloudy eyes.

"In exchange,"

Zhou Ye continued,

"I can answer one question for you. Any question, as long as it's in my database, I can give you the most accurate answer."

This suggestion silenced the heavens.

Did he need answers? In his life, he had witnessed too many storms and uncovered too many secrets. The so-called Jia Shen Rebellion, the so-called Eight Extraordinary Skills—in his eyes, they were perhaps all just fleeting clouds. There were few things in this world that could truly perplex him.

A moment later, a faint smile appeared on the old master's wrinkled face. The smile was faint, but it was like a spring breeze melting the ice and snow.

"You are quite interesting." He picked up his teacup and took a sip.

"In your opinion, can my cultivation, the path I've walked, the so-called Dao, be recorded and understood by your database?"

This is no longer a simple problem.

This is the first direct clash between two completely different worldviews and two fundamental cognitive systems.

Is the "Tao," which is mysterious and can only be understood intuitively and not explained in words, closer to reality, or is the "Li," which can be quantified and calculated, the essence of the world?

Zhou Ye looked at the old master, and for the first time, a pure, rational light, belonging to the Law of Reason, flickered in his calm eyes.

He thought about it seriously for a moment, and then gave his answer.

"Anything that exists objectively, no matter how complex its form of expression, can have its underlying logic broken down, analyzed, and quantified. Your Dao is no exception."

He paused, then added a sentence, which caused the old master's hand, holding the teacup, to freeze in mid-air for half a second—the first and only time in his life.

"The only question is, how much computing power is needed to fully analyze it, and..."

Zhou Ye's gaze fell on the old master, and he calmly stated a fact.

"...Would you be willing to let me analyze the third point?"

Chapter 393

"If you can do that, please let me know afterward."

Zhang Zhiwei's voice was soft, yet it was like a pebble thrown into a still lake, creating ripples in the backyard shrouded in his "intentions".

This is a concession, a test, and also a display of pride belonging to this exceptional individual. If my "way" can truly be deconstructed by you as if you were investigating things to gain knowledge, then I have lost, and lost convincingly.

Zhou Ye showed no smugness, as if this was the natural outcome. He simply looked calmly at the old master, his unfocused eyes seeming to transform into an endless void at that moment.

"Analysis begins."

He meditated in his heart.

There were no earth-shattering phenomena, no dramatic shifts in the atmosphere. Zhou Ye remained seated calmly, his posture unchanged. But in Zhang Zhiwei's perception, the entire world had changed.

The realm he was in, constructed by the concept of "harmony between man and nature," the "Dao" that was integrated with all things in the world and was omnipresent, seemed to be forcibly stripped from reality by an invisible hand at this moment.

He could "see" that the Qi in the air, which originally flowed freely and was in harmony with his mind, was precisely pierced, marked, and categorized by thin, pale golden lines invisible to the naked eye. The trajectory of the wind, the angle of the light, the veins of the leaves, and even the circulation of Qi within his own body, flowing from his dantian through all his meridians, in every cycle of the body... everything was transformed into a series of cold and precise data.

He felt he was no longer a Taoist practitioner in harmony with nature, but a specimen placed under a microscope. His lifelong understanding of the "Tao," his centuries of cultivation and accumulation, and those profound realms that could only be comprehended intuitively were now being thoroughly dismantled and quantified in a way he could not comprehend at all.

"Golden Light Mantra: Energy frequency 7.6 Hz, forming a defensive Qi shield through high-frequency vibration. Its structural stability depends on the user's precision in controlling the energy. There is a 0.03% energy dissipation, which can be improved by at least 5% by optimizing the energy circuit..."

"The Five Thunder Orthodox Method: It attracts and aggregates free charges in the atmosphere, and then constrains and guides them through specific spiritual imprints. Its essence is the release of plasma energy. Hmm... the energy conversion rate of the lightning-attracting process is relatively low, only 19%, leaving a great deal of room for improvement..."

"Harmony between Man and Nature: Achieving a high degree of synchronization between one's own spiritual energy field and the magnetic field of the surrounding environment to form a domain. Within this domain, the user has priority in interfering with energy and matter. A very interesting way to obtain permissions, although crude, it is effective."

The cold, emotionless analysis flooded into Zhou Ye's consciousness like a tidal wave.

Zhang Zhiwei froze, his hand holding the teacup suspended in mid-air. The wrinkles on his face seemed to tighten from this unprecedented experience. He felt his "Dao" being desecrated, yet he couldn't muster the slightest anger. Because in the other person's actions, there was no malice, no spying, only a pure and utter pursuit of "reason."

Like a child curiously taking apart a toy he has never seen before.

The thousand-year-old ginkgo tree in the courtyard seemed to sense this incomprehensible power. A topmost, most golden leaf, without any wind, quietly drifted down, swirling, and finally landed in the center of the stone table.

It only took a dozen seconds.

Zhou Ye's eyes regained their clarity.

He looked at the old master, whose expression was extremely complicated, and calmly spoke a sentence that had nothing to do with the techniques or cultivation.