A gentle breeze swept by.
In the lake, the Thirty-Six-Petaled Creation Green Lotus swayed softly.
"Taking human form..."
A voice rang out in Xuanyuan's sea of consciousness.
It was faint.
Curiosity, excitement...
But above all, confusion!
Ever since it had gained consciousness, it had remained here for countless millennia.
Once, it had even thought of leaving this place and going out to see the world.
But the innate defensive array surrounding it was both protection and a kind of restraint.
It could not even extend its faint spiritual awareness beyond it.
As time passed, it had long grown accustomed to it.
Accustomed to being alone. (I couldn't think of a better way to describe it, so I'll use "alone" for now!)
Accustomed to loneliness.
And yet, in all this silence, a voice always echoed in its sea of consciousness, telling it again and again, "Stay here and wait for someone."
It didn't know who that person was.
Nor did it know what it was supposed to do once they arrived.
It didn't even know whether such a person would ever come.
And even if they existed, would they come here?
But it couldn't resist. It could only keep watch in silence, day after day, year after year.
Until—
Xuanyuan appeared!
It knew that Xuanyuan wasn't the person it was waiting for.
But it still decided to give him a chance.
It was bored, after all, and someone had finally made it inside. It might as well play with him.
That was how it consoled itself as it set a test for him.
Using his finger as a sword, he had to paint upon the lake.
Even it was taken aback when it came up with that test.
As a Chaos Sword Embryo with innate Sword Dao Law mastery, how could