“Ha ha ha! Luofu, you deceived me, so I’ll destroy your inheritance! The one you’ve carefully chosen will inevitably become a demon, and whoever obtains your inheritance crystal will be rendered useless!”
The laughter was accompanied by a furious, arrogant roar. The resentment within it seemed almost capable of tearing through the void before pouring into Xu Ziqing’s ears.
Xu Ziqing drew a deep breath and struggled to calm the turmoil in his chest.
The laughter lasted a long time. Even after it faded completely, his ears continued ringing. The endless hatred seemed to fill his sea of consciousness, making it almost impossible to settle his mind.
His thoughts spun, his vision blurred, and a piercing pain seized his head. Xu Ziqing was horrified.
In his daze, he vaguely perceived an enormous demonic shadow towering within boundless demonic energy, its head thrown back in a wild roar. It was merely a faint remnant of someone’s voice and image, with no tangible form. Yet even that was nearly impossible to withstand, threatening to shatter his Dao heart.
Far away, Yun Lie sat cross-legged in meditation, wholly absorbed in refining the Demon Mara petals.
The shadow seemed to target Xu Ziqing alone. Yun Lie, immersed in meditation, noticed nothing.
Xu Ziqing was deeply shaken. Am I going to die here today?
Then he strengthened his resolve and struggled to resist.
He absolutely could not die here.
He had devoted himself to seeking the Dao and longevity. He could not abandon his path because of one obstacle. More importantly, his senior brother was demonically corrupted and had lost his memories. Xu Ziqing could not bear to leave him here alone.
He quickly suppressed the wavering of his Dao heart. Like a small boat amid towering waves, he allowed the lingering voice and image of that demonic tyrant to batter him, but held firmly to himself and refused to surrender.
He did not know how much time passed before his endurance reached its limit.
Suddenly a warm current poured into him from above. Pure spiritual energy rushed in from the surroundings, and his dantian began circulating with extraordinary speed.
The Essence of Yi-Wood still dormant within his bloodline, not yet refined, became countless green points of light. They swept through his meridians and poured into his dantian, causing it to expand and strengthen.
Layers of true essence thickened and compressed, repeating the process until his dantian was filled. The pressure then forced it outward, stretching its boundaries until they split, only for the Essence of Yi-Wood to repair them immediately.
After some time, Xu Ziqing felt a sudden tightness in his chest, followed by an extraordinary lightness. His cultivation advanced another level. He had entered late Essence Transformation. Only then did the demonic voice’s influence weaken somewhat, and the pressure in his chest and stabbing pain in his head gradually subside.
He opened his eyes. Azure light flashed within them as his gaze settled on the nearby Cold Jade pool.
Xu Ziqing remembered that something external had helped him when he could no longer endure.
The sensation of that assistance was the same as the force that had greeted him when he first entered this place.
In other words, he owed his survival to the white lotus.
He meditated for another half shichen until the remaining effects had vanished. Then he rose and approached the Cold Jade pool.
The twin lotus blossoms were translucent and beautiful, gathering the spiritual grace of heaven and earth and the pure radiance of all things. A single glance revealed intricate perfection beyond words.
Although these blossoms had drawn the brothers here, causing Yun Lie to fall into demonic corruption and nearly bringing disaster upon Xu Ziqing, he felt no ill will toward them. For some reason, they seemed strangely dear to him.
At last he was certain. The blossoms calling to him had never been the illusory projections in the white-jade pool above. They were this real pair of lotus flowers.
That was hardly surprising. Xu Ziqing had absorbed the Essence of Yi-Wood, which permeated his flesh and blood. As the essence of Wood itself, it would naturally attract plants with strong spiritual intelligence.
These twin lotuses had been left behind by Perfected Master Luofu. They had sensed Xu Ziqing’s presence early and wanted to approach him, so they drew him here. If he obtained the inheritance, it would suit them far better than an heir whose attributes were in conflict with their own.
In this brightly illuminated region, Xu Ziqing suffered no interference. He released his spiritual sense and slowly extended it into the Cold Jade pool, bringing it into contact with the twin lotus blossoms.
As expected, the instant he touched them, he sensed affection and a desire for closeness.
The red lotus blazed like fire, while the white lotus was as cold as ice. Ordinarily the two should have been incompatible. Yet at the extreme of Yin, Yang was born; when cold reached its limit, warmth could emerge. The white lotus thrived upon the Cold Jade pool’s frigid energy, while the red lotus relied upon the white lotus to flourish in brilliant color.
Their temperaments differed too. One was like a proud favorite of the heavens, passionate and fierce. The other resembled an immortal beneath the moon, distant and composed.
Xu Ziqing felt delighted at the first contact and could not help attempting to communicate with them.
Before long, a reply came.
“My name is Yanhua.”
“My name is Yuehua.”
“We have long possessed spiritual intelligence, yet cannot escape our lotus bodies.”
“We beg the Immortal Master to help awaken and transform us.”
“If the Immortal Master takes pity on us and grants us human forms, we are willing to serve you.”
“Even as servants, we would do so gladly.”
The two lotus spirits were pure-hearted. Taking turns to speak, they had already explained their deepest wish.
Xu Ziqing was slightly taken aback.
Enlightening a demon beast was relatively easy. A single Transformation Pill, combined with a simple awakening technique, could grant it human form. The only condition was that the assisting cultivator be two realms above the beast.
But twin lotus blossoms were plants. How was he supposed to awaken and transform plant spirits?
He expressed his confusion.
The lotuses replied, “Immortal Master possesses the Essence of Yi-Wood. A single drop for each of us would suffice. If you cannot trust us, we can offer our spirit souls first. We beg you to grant us this favor.”
Xu Ziqing thought for a moment, then nodded. “Very well.”
He did not like controlling others through their souls. But this place was strange, and his senior brother’s condition was far from reassuring. However much he trusted Yun Lie, he could not be careless.
He could always return their spirit souls afterward. For now, caution was wiser.
The twin lotus blossoms were overjoyed by his agreement. They trembled slightly, opened their flower buds, and released two spheres of light, one red and one white.
Seeing this, Xu Ziqing opened his mouth and swallowed the two spirit souls, keeping them safely within him for the moment.
The lotuses had shown such sincerity that he naturally wished to respond in kind. He closed his eyes and circulated his cultivation art for half a ke, gathering the Essence of Yi-Wood in his flesh and blood and forcing it toward the tip of his right index finger. The longer he cultivated, the more clearly he understood that his current spiritual body could never completely refine such a rare natural essence. He could only absorb it gradually as his cultivation advanced. Providing two drops now would not harm him.
He lifted his hand and produced two points of green light. They flew swiftly into the buds of the twin lotus blossoms, which swallowed them with joyful eagerness.
At once, the two buds closed, and the spiritual radiance that had spread around them withdrew.
Xu Ziqing was startled. But when he examined the two spirit souls he had taken into his body, he realized the lotuses had entered the process of transforming their plant bodies. If anything went wrong, he could communicate with them through their souls. Reassured, he relaxed.
Yun Lie was meditating, and now the lotus blossoms were also in seclusion. Xu Ziqing had only just entered late Essence Transformation, so it was time to consolidate his cultivation and examine the changes within his dantian.
Fortunately, he had not advanced his realm during the preceding two years, giving him a solid foundation at middle Essence Transformation. Although this breakthrough had been sudden, it should not leave hidden problems. Refining more Essence of Yi-Wood had doubled the size of his dantian and considerably widened his meridians. True essence surged through them like hundreds of streams joining into great rivers.
When he circulated his cultivation art and filled the enlarged dantian, he discovered that he could store not only more true essence, but essence several times denser than before. He would be able to sustain his techniques much longer in the future.
The formulas of the Great Art of Myriad Woods Heart-Planting flowed swiftly through his sea of consciousness. Sitting with his eyes closed, Xu Ziqing contemplated its many mysteries more attentively.
A day and night later, he slowly awakened. The moment he opened his eyes, he froze again.
Just like the day before, a familiar, stern face loomed close to his own. Their eyes met, their noses almost touching.
Xu Ziqing instinctively looked upward. As expected, a complete dark red petal remained in Yun Lie’s hair, evidently only just attached. It seemed his senior brother had finished another round of meditation.
Then Yun Lie tilted his head, leaned closer, and pressed their lips together again.
Of course… Xu Ziqing thought with a helpless, wry smile.
Every time his senior brother did this, even knowing it was the result of his demonic corruption, Xu Ziqing could not help feeling unsteady. If it went on, his heart might leap right out of his chest. A cultivator’s heart naturally would not do that so easily, but Xu Ziqing was helplessly moved by Yun Lie and could never bring himself to refuse him.
As usual, Yun Lie remained silent. Since Xu Ziqing had been sitting upright in meditation, however, Yun Lie behaved a little differently. Perhaps he found the posture uncomfortable, for he slipped an arm around Xu Ziqing’s waist, gave a gentle pull, and gathered him into his embrace.
Xu Ziqing was terribly embarrassed. Being carried like a child when exhausted had been mortifying enough in the past. Now they were already pressed close together, and Yun Lie had drawn him into his arms.
Yun Lie’s behavior had become increasingly domineering since his fall into demonic corruption. In the past, his powerful presence naturally inspired obedience. Now he simply acted as he wished, without allowing others much room to refuse.
Thus, when Xu Ziqing tried gently to push him away, Yun Lie held him more tightly, pressing their chests together until Xu Ziqing could almost hear both their heartbeats.
A troubling suspicion stirred within him. His senior brother’s demonic nature… seemed to be growing stronger.
Xu Ziqing closed his eyes and thought rapidly.
Yesterday Yun Lie had carried him into this bright place but refused to enter himself. Today he had walked straight in, behaving completely differently.
Whether that was good or bad remained to be seen. Although Xu Ziqing continued to believe that Yun Lie would eventually recover, his wariness toward the Seven Emotions Demon Mara grew.