Outside the outskirts of Shiyan City, withered yellow leaves scattered with the biting cold wind.
Beneath a great tree, a pile of white bones collapsed with a brittle crack, soon swallowed by the snow.
Yao Ranran had no idea that, in the short time since she had eaten the lotus seed, someone had already died because of her. Nor did she know she had provoked someone she never should have crossed.
After swallowing the lotus seed, though she had no actual eyes within her body, she could clearly see a tiny whirlpool spinning in her dantian.
"My dantian looks… strange. I've never heard of anyone with a whirlpool inside their dantian!"
For a Foundation Establishment cultivator, the dantian should hold liquid spiritual energy. She, however, was still only at the tenth level of Qi Refinement. Her dantian should look like mist, never like a whirlpool.
Looking more closely, she saw that at the center of the vortex floated a faint lotus seed. Her vision wavered in that instant. The lotus seed burst into radiance, and a layered azure lotus slowly unfolded. Its soft, sacred light nearly drew her into another world.
"This… this is my true dantian?!"
At last, she understood why her cultivation was different from others. The lotus seed she had swallowed was only a catalyst, unveiling what was hidden in the mist all along. Her true dantian was not empty mist.
It was a azure lotus.
Yao Ranran sighed in wonder. "So being called a white lotus supporting character wasn't just a joke."
As it turned out, she really was a lotus. Whether this belonged to her original body or had come with her soul, she could not say.
In the original novel, everything was told from Pei Xianqiao's perspective. As for Yao Ranran's cultivation, the book never described it in detail, merely brushed over it.
Now she felt a pang of regret. "I should've asked more questions about this lotus seed. Something buried so deep beneath the Demon Abyss can't possibly be ordinary."
Unfortunately, she hadn't thought that far at the time. If she went back now and tried to ask Li Luoqi, given his temperament, he might not answer at all.
Feeling faintly disappointed, Yao Ranran let the inner vision fade, activated her Lotus Petal Cloud-Walking Boots, and quickly departed.
Central Continent.
Qinglan City, Qingshui County.
At the foot of a mountain where a thousand-year-old tree spread its roots, clusters of crude stone huts huddled together. The thick canopy cast the huts in perpetual gloom. With a resounding crack, a century-old wooden table was reduced to splinters.
"Fifth Brother… actually perished!"
Beneath his voluminous black robe, only a pair of eyes glared at the extinguished soul lamp in his hand. A streak of spiritual light flew in. His gaze sharpened. With a flick of his sleeve, the light fell into his palm.
"It's Fifth Brother's transmission talisman!" He poured his spiritual power into it at once.
A hoarse male voice rasped from within:
"That woman's spiritual qi is poisonous. Do not touch her!"
"Fifth Brother!!!"
The black-robed man let out a howl of anguish toward the heavens.
Moments later, his voice sank into a hoarse whisper. "Was that really all? His last words are too few."
That was it? Nothing more?
He turned the talisman over and over, but confirmed there was only that one sentence. His eyes darkened. "Don't worry, Fifth Brother. Your eldest will avenge you. Our plan is nearly complete. Soon, all of Qingshui County will become a breeding ground for plague!"
Malice gleamed in his eyes as he turned toward the hut's only window. In an instant, his immense divine sense blanketed the entire county.
"Please, I beg you! My son isn't infected, don't burn him alive!"
An old woman knelt on the ground, tears streaming, struggling to clutch the legs of the man holding the torch.
"Please, don't kill my boy! The cultivators of Qingshui County can still save him!"
"Out of the way!" The leader kicked her aside, his voice crushing and stern. "It's because you sheltered and hid him that so many innocent mortals here now suffer this calamity!
Every child taken in by the sect has shown signs of the plague, more or less. If not for being chosen by cultivators, most would already be dead. As for your child, with no spiritual root and now guilty of this crime, he deserves to be burned, to pay with his life for all those sickened!"
The man's words carried authority. When he finished, the crowd's eyes turned red.
"Burn him! Burn him alive!"
"Burn him!"
"No, don't! Don't burn my child!" The old woman crawled up desperately. In the last instant before the flames roared, she flung herself into the fire.
"Mother!!!"
The boy's heart-wrenching scream tore through the sky.
From within the flames, a plume of black mist erupted.
For a heartbeat, everyone's vision went dark. Then clarity returned.
"Hahaha! He was a monster after all! At last he's dead. Qingshui County need not fear the plague any longer!"
After returning from Shiyan City and surviving several robberies, Yao Ranran realized how serious things had become.
The spiritual world was no longer a safe haven. She might be trapped here for a very long time. If she allowed others to trample her without resistance, she would never find peace or stability in cultivation.
She could not afford to slack off. She had to strengthen herself and expand her territory.
Longyin Village's surrounding ten miles were perfect. She would plant spiritual herbs here and build the foundation for a lasting home in this world.
Her first act upon returning to Gu Ling Mountain was to carefully survey the land once again.
Longyin Village.
A playful girl suddenly stopped, pointing at the sky in excitement. "Look! A boat is flying up there!"
"What? A boat can't fly!"
But her companions all looked upward.
Beneath the blue heavens, a flying vessel, nearly thirty feet long, drifted slowly through the air.
Atop the vessel, Yao Ranran stood listening to the faint chime of her Qinglian Bell, gazing down at the land below.
"It really is a flying boat! And there's someone standing on it!"
The children's chatter drew the attention of nearby villagers.
They raised their heads in awe as the massive shadow of the vessel swept over them.
"A flying boat! That must be a flying boat!"
A disciple of Biluo Sect recognized it and shouted at once.
Shock rippled through the crowd.
Flying boats were possessions of only the greatest sects and the most powerful clans.
"Look closely! There's a figure standing on deck!"
Another Biluo Sect disciple pointed excitedly.
The girl who had spotted it first jumped up and cried out, "It's Fairy Ranran! Fairy Ranran is standing on the flying boat! I've seen her portrait at the Ranxian Shrine!"
The revelation stirred the entire village.
"Fairy Ranran actually possesses a flying boat?!"
"Kneel! Hurry and kneel before the Fairy! Do not point at her!"
From above, Yao Ranran clearly saw the villagers below suddenly kneel.
"Why are they kneeling again?"
Puzzled, she then noticed countless white specks drifting upward, merging into her body.
She froze. The words to refuse hovered at her lips, but she swallowed them back.
"So this is how the power of faith comes… That monk at Yan Fortress must have brainwashed people before harvesting such strength."
But why was it that of all the people her master had encountered, only she herself seemed to receive this power?