飘零影音

Arc 15: Heavenly Secret Realm | Chapter 278: Encounter

The laughter continued for a long time before finally ceasing. Even after it completely disappeared, he could still feel a buzzing in his eardrums, and the boundless hatred seemed to fill his sea of consciousness, making it nearly impossible for him to calm down.

His mind was spinning, and his vision was blurred. Xu Ziqing felt a chilling pain that made his head ache terribly, and he was horrified beyond words.

In his dazed state, he seemed to see a colossal demonic shadow amidst the boundless demonic energy, roaring toward the sky with utter arrogance. This was clearly just a trace of an unknown person’s lingering image—formless and elusive—but even so, it was enough to be overwhelming, threatening to shatter his Dao heart.

In the distance, Yun Lie sat cross-legged, fully immersed in refining the demonic flower petals.

The demonic shadow seemed to target only Xu Ziqing, leaving Yun Lie, who was in meditation, completely unaware.

Xu Ziqing was in extreme shock, thinking: Am I destined to die here today?

He then resolutely steeled his resolve and fought back with all his might.

He absolutely could not die here.

Aside from his unwavering quest for immortality and the impossibility of abandoning himself due to a temporary peril, he could not leave his Shixiong behind, who had fallen into demonic corruption and lost all memories.

Thus, Xu Ziqing quickly suppressed his fluctuating Dao heart, becoming like a small boat amidst a giant wave. Despite the relentless assault of the demonic shadow, he firmly maintained his composure and did not let his Dao heart falter.

He endured for an indeterminate amount of time, reaching the limit of his endurance.

Suddenly, a warm current flowed into him from above, and the pure spiritual energy from the outside surged wildly, causing his dantian to rapidly start circulating.

The essence of Yimu1Wood element, which had yet to be refined in his bloodline, transformed into green light spots, freely moving through his meridians, and quickly converged into his dantian, continuously expanding and growing.

The true energy in the Dantian is thickened and compressed layer by layer, and so on, accumulating more and more. When the Dantian is full, it expands outwards, and then breaks very quickly, and is immediately repaired by the essence of Yimu.

After a considerable amount of time, Xu Ziqing felt a release in his chest, and his entire body felt lighter. His cultivation advanced to the mid-stage of Core Formation. At this point, the impact of the demonic sound had slightly diminished, and the constriction in his chest and the pain in his head gradually eased.

He opened his eyes, a green light flashing across them, and his gaze fell on the cold jade pool nearby.

Xu Ziqing remembered that when he was struggling to endure, it was external assistance that helped him pass this tribulation smoothly.

The feeling brought by this external assistance was similar to the power he felt when he first entered this place.

In other words, it was because of the effect of that white lotus.

Xu Ziqing meditated for another half-hour to eliminate all residual effects before standing up and approaching the cold jade pool.

In the pool, the pair of lotus flowers was translucent and beautiful, embodying the spirit of heaven and earth, gathering the pure light of all things. Just a glance made them appear exquisitely detailed, impossible to describe in words.

At this point, even though it was this pair of lotuses that had brought them here, causing Yun Lie to fall into demonic corruption and Xu Ziqing to be nearly severely injured, Xu Ziqing felt no animosity towards them. Instead, he found them quite endearing.

He could finally confirm that what was truly called to him was not the illusory lotus flowers in the white jade pool above, but the real, existing pair of lotus flowers.

This was not surprising, given that Xu Ziqing possessed the essence of wood, which was embedded in his flesh and blood. The essence of wood was the essence of plants, and the more spiritually endowed a plant was, the more it would be attracted to him.

The Luofu Zhenren left this pair of lotus flowers. They had long sensed Xu Ziqing’s presence and were willing to approach him, leading him to them. If Xu Ziqing obtained the inheritance, it would be preferable to them than if someone with conflicting attributes acquired it.

In this bright and luminous place, unaffected by anything, Xu Ziqing extended his spiritual sense and slowly directed it into the cold jade pool to make contact with the pair of lotus flowers.

As soon as he touched them, he felt a sense of familiarity and affinity.

The red lotus was as fiery as flame, and the white lotus was as cold as ice. The two should not be compatible, yet the extreme cold of the white lotus gave rise to warmth, and the red lotus, with the aid of the white lotus, was exceptionally radiant.

The personalities of the two flowers were somewhat different; one seemed like a proud child of heaven with a fiery temperament, while the other was like an ethereal being in the moon, detached and calm.

The moment Xu Ziqing made contact with them, he felt a surge of joy and attempted to communicate with them.

Soon, responses came.

“My name is Yan Hua.2炎華, Flame/Fiery Flower”

“My name is Yue Hua.3月華, Moon Flower”

“We have long attained sentience but cannot escape our lotus forms.”

“We hope that the Immortal will assist us and enlighten us.”

“If the Immortal shows compassion and allows us to gain human forms, we would be willing to serve the Immortal.”

“Even as servants, we would do so willingly.”

The two lotus flowers, with their pure intentions, expressed their heartfelt desires through their dialogue.

Xu Ziqing was momentarily stunned upon hearing this.

For beast-type demons, it was relatively easy to enlighten them. Just by using a single Spirit Pill and a simple enlightenment technique, it could be done, provided the cultivator’s level was two stages higher than that of the beast.

But these lotus flowers were plants; how could they be enlightened?

Confused, Xu Ziqing voiced his doubts.

The two lotus flowers replied, “The Immortal possesses the Yimu. Just a single drop given to us would be sufficient. If the Immortal doubts us, we can offer our spiritual essence. We hope the Immortal will grant us this favor.”

Xu Ziqing pondered for a moment and then nodded, “Alright.”

Though he was not fond of controlling others with spiritual essence, this situation was unusual, and his Shixiong’s condition was not good. Even though he had complete confidence in his Shixiong, he could not afford to be careless. At worst, he could return the spiritual essence later; for now, caution was paramount.

Seeing his agreement, the pair of lotus flowers was extremely pleased. They slightly trembled and expelled two light orbs, one red and one white, from their lotus buds.

Xu Ziqing, seeing this, opened his mouth and swallowed the two orbs of spiritual essence, temporarily storing them.

The sincerity of the twin lotus flowers made Xu Ziqing respond with equal sincerity. He closed his eyes and meditated for a moment, gathering the essence of wood from his flesh and blood and focusing it at the tip of his right index finger. The longer he practiced, the more he understood that the essence of wood, being a rare substance, could not be completely refined at his current spiritual level; it had to be gradually absorbed as his cultivation progressed. Dropping two drops at this moment was not too much and did not harm him.

He then raised his hand and released two points of green light, which quickly merged into the buds of the two lotus flowers, eagerly consumed by them.

At this moment, the lotus buds suddenly closed, and the scattered spiritual light was immediately drawn back in.

Xu Ziqing was slightly startled, and upon checking the two balls of spiritual essence he had gathered, he realized that this was part of the process of transforming into a demonic form. If anything unexpected happened, he could still connect his consciousness with the twin lotus flowers through the spiritual essence. With this confirmation, he felt at ease.

Meanwhile, Yun Lie was meditating, and the lotus flowers had also entered a state of deep meditation. Xu Ziqing, having just reached the mid-stage of Core Formation, needed to solidify his cultivation and carefully examine the changes in his dantian.

Fortunately, Xu Ziqing had not advanced in cultivation for the past few years, so the foundation he laid in the early stage of Core Formation was relatively solid. Though the breakthrough came suddenly, it did not leave any hidden dangers. The further refinement of the essence of Wood caused Xu Ziqing’s dantian to expand by twice its original size, and his meridians also widened considerably, allowing the true essence to flow through like a surging river, producing a joyful sound.

After Xu Ziqing completed his meditation and filled his dantian, he found that not only had the true essence accumulated more, but it was also several times thicker. This increase would support various techniques for a longer duration.

The method for the “Ten Thousand Woods Great Heart Planting Technique” in his sea of consciousness flowed rapidly. He closed his eyes and focused more deeply on comprehending the many mysteries within.

After a day and night, Xu Ziqing slowly awakened. As soon as he opened his eyes, he was again startled.

Just like the previous day, a stern face magnified in front of him, their eyes meeting and their noses nearly touching.

Xu Ziqing instinctively looked up and saw that Yun Lie still had a dark red petal in his hair, which was quite intact and had just recently adhered. It seemed that his Shixiong had completed another round of meditation.

Suddenly, Yun Lie tilted his head and leaned in, pressing his lips against Xu Ziqing’s once more.

Indeed… Xu Ziqing couldn’t help but smile wryly.

His Shixiong was always like this. Even though he knew it was a result of Yun Lie’s demonic transformation, it still made his heart waver. If this continued, his heart might jump out—though a cultivator’s heart would not easily falter, Xu Ziqing was quite helpless and could not refuse Yun Lie.

This time, Yun Lie remained silent, but because Xu Ziqing had originally been meditating, his posture had changed. Seeing that this position was rather uncomfortable, Yun Lie extended his arm, wrapped it around Xu Ziqing’s waist, and then, with a bit of force, pulled him into his embrace.

Xu Ziqing was very embarrassed. Being held like a child when tired was already quite shameful, and now being embraced like this with their bodies close… it made his face flush with heat.

Since Yun Lie’s transformation, his actions had become increasingly domineering. Whereas before, he only had an impressive aura that naturally made people follow him, now his behavior was more assertive, leaving no room for rejection.

Thus, as Xu Ziqing gently pushed against him, Yun Lie only tightened his hold, pressing their chests together and making it almost possible to hear each other’s heartbeat.

Xu Ziqing felt a faint sense that his Shixiong’s demonic nature seemed to have intensified…

He closed his eyes and quickly refocused his thoughts.

Yesterday, Yun Lie had sent him to this bright place but did not enter himself. Today, however, Yun Lie had come straight in, which was completely different from yesterday.

Whether this was good or bad was uncertain… Though he still firmly believed his Shixiong would awaken, he became even more vigilant about the Seven Emotions Demonic Flower.

Translator: Lynn

Translations are not 100% correct. Please let me know if there are typos/mistakes in the chapter.

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