Lotus Garments

The faintest glimmer within the Chaos Bead, clenched tightly in Su Miao's chubby little palm, flashed only for an instant before sinking back into silence, as though the tremor just now had been nothing more than an illusion amid the eternal ages.

The bead remained cool to the touch, its patterns ancient and its surface cracked, utterly unremarkable.

Yet Su Miao's overwhelming desire for "clothes" was like a stone cast into a placid lake, sending ripples through her Sea of Consciousness—still ignorant and chaotic despite her early Mystic Immortal Realm cultivation.

The shame of an adult soul burned fiercely, driving her tiny body onward.

Not bothering to study the Companion Spiritual Treasure in her hand any longer, Su Miao crawled on all fours toward the secondary Ninth-Rank Pure World White Lotus by the Lotus Pond.

Her movements were clumsy yet frantic, like a Little Turtle that had just learned to crawl and was already being chased by a starving wolf.

After finally reaching the Nine-Ranked Lotus Platform, she tipped back her little head and stared at the lotus petals towering over her entire body, crystal-clear and radiant with a gentle glow and pure Dao charm. She was stumped.

How... was she supposed to get one down?

Break it off with her hands?

She stretched out her chubby little hand and put all her strength into tugging at the nearest petal. Her tiny face turned red from the strain, and fine beads of sweat emerged on the tip of her nose.

But though the petal looked tender, it was in truth incomparably resilient. It had been formed from the origin of an Innate Spiritual Object—how could a little child who possessed only a realm, understood no spells, and relied solely on physical strength possibly shake it?

It did not budge an inch!

"Waaah..."

Su Miao huffed anxiously, tears welling up again in her watery eyes. She felt that she truly was the greatest good-for-nothing in the Prehistoric World—even a single flower petal was beyond her.

Just as she was about to cry from frustration again, several basic concepts concerning "mana," "refinement," and "retrieval" emerged from the vast, still-unassimilated Inherited Memories in her mind like tiny lightbulbs being switched on, flickering faintly.

That's right!

I'm a Mystic Immortal now!

Not some ordinary baby!

I have mana!

Though she had no idea just how formidable a Mystic Immortal was, nor how mana was supposed to be controlled with any precision, the concept of "having mana" gave her hope.

Imitating the immortal-cultivation dramas from her memories, she crossed her short little legs and sat down, though she sat rather crookedly.

She placed the Chaos Bead beside her legs, then stretched out both chubby little hands toward the Nine-Ranked Lotus Platform. Holding her breath and concentrating, her little belly puffed out slightly as she began striving to mobilize the vast power within her body—a power as difficult to command as a slumbering giant beast.

"Come... come out! Get... down here!"

She muttered under her breath, focusing all her thoughts on the simple goal of "pulling off a petal."

The process was utterly miserable to behold.

A faint, pure white radiance flickered unsteadily around her body. It was the origin mana of the Pure World White Lotus responding passively, yet it was thrown into complete disorder by its owner's exceedingly crude control.

At times, a surge of power burst forth and shook the entire Nine-Ranked Lotus Platform, sending ripples racing across the pond;

At other times, the power would falter, the radiance dimming until only her flushed little face remained, straining with all her might.

The Heavenly Dao Will watching from the shadows saw the Rules fall into disorder again and again, and dearly wished it could step in and break the petal off for her itself.

But with the Great Dao above, if it directly intervened in a living being's own cultivation practice—even if it was merely breaking off a flower petal—the karmic consequences would be immense. It could only fret helplessly.

Perhaps her obsession with "I absolutely must put on clothes" was too strong; perhaps there was already a subtle connection between the Pure World White Lotus itself and the secondary lotus platform; or perhaps the mana of the Mystic Immortal Realm was, after all, no trifling thing. Like a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse, one stream of power finally happened to wrap itself around the enormous, lustrous petal at the very bottom!

Sst—

A faint sound, like a spiritual object being peeled away.

That Nine-Ranked Lotus Petal finally detached from the lotus platform, drifting lightly down. Su Miao caught it in a fluster, hugging it tightly against her body.

The petal was warm yet cool in her hands, its texture neither silk nor jade. It exuded a pure lotus fragrance of the Same Source as her own, its surface smooth and gleaming, with faint Innate Dao Patterns flowing across it.

The first step was a success!

Hugging the petal, which stood nearly half her height, Su Miao panted in small breaths from exhaustion, but her large eyes were brimming with accomplishment.

Next came the second step: refining it!

She spread the enormous petal before her and struck a pose again, pressing her little hands against it as she tried her hardest to recall the scattered knowledge of "Artifact Refining" and "shaping" from her Inherited Memories.

How was she supposed to refine it? Burn it with fire? She had no fire.

Refine it with water? She did not know how.

Forge it with Spiritual Sense?

What was Spiritual Sense?

In the end, she once again chose the stupidest and most direct method.

—Pour in mana and rely on imagination!

She closed her eyes, her tiny face incomparably solemn, and struggled to picture what clothes looked like in her mind.

At first, she imagined beautiful immortal gowns, rainbow garments and feathered robes...

The result was that when her mana flowed into the petal, it did not react at all.

It was too complicated, beyond the limits of her ability.

So she settled for something simpler: modern sportswear? A T-shirt?

There was still no response.

Perhaps the concept simply wasn't understood by the Rules of the Prehistoric World.

Then... the undergarments and middle layers from costume dramas?

Still nothing.

Su Miao was nearly out of ideas. Her little mouth puckered miserably, and she felt this damn petal was about to drive her insane.

She slumped onto the ground, absently stroking the Chaos Bead resting beside her leg, her spirits at rock bottom.

Just as she was about to give up and consider simply wrapping herself in this huge leaf, an image suddenly leaped out from the depths of her memory.

—It's him, it's him, it's him—our friend, little Nezha!

The model brat who went bare-chested in a Red Tummy-Cover and rode atop Wind-Fire Wheels!

A Red Tummy-Cover!

That was simple!

Its style was ancient and rustic, fitting the aesthetic of the Prehistoric World—probably.

Most importantly—its structure was simple!

It was practically just a piece of cloth with two straps!

"This one!"

Having found a way out of desperate straits, Su Miao's eyes lit up, her fighting spirit reigniting.

She pressed her little hand against the petal again, gathering every ounce of her will and frantically thinking, Red Tummy-Cover! Red Tummy-Cover! Red Tummy-Cover!

At the same time, she recklessly drove the clumsy spiritual power within her toward that thought.

She did not notice that, while she was completely focused, the crack on the surface of the Chaos Bead that her other little hand was unconsciously stroking flashed faintly once more.

An indescribable Dao resonance of "creation" and "shaping," as though it had originated at the dawn of chaos, was quietly stirred. It spread in an almost imperceptible wisp, enveloping her and the lotus petal in her hand.

Under the combined influence of Su Miao's half-baked spiritual power and that nearly undetectable trace of ancient Dao resonance from the Chaos Bead, the flawless white Nine-Ranked Lotus Petal finally began to change.

The petal wriggled, contracted, and reshaped itself like a living thing. The Innate Dao Patterns upon it flowed and converged, while its pure white color gradually took on a warm hue like the rising morning sun—not a vivid scarlet, but a soft, pinkish-orange warm red, as though a touch of rosy glow hidden within the lotus itself had been refined out.