I followed Master toward the Black Lotus. The closer we got, the denser the aura of hatred became.
The Black Lotus Seal in my left palm grew increasingly distinct, and the Black Lotus began giving off black energy again.
The Three Talents Seal was clearly struggling to hold it down. The patterns and writing on it looked as though they were "melting."
I forcibly endured the unpleasant, negative sensation of hatred and continued forward with Master.
As we drew ever closer to that Black Lotus, the scene before us became clearer and clearer.
At the end of the cave grew a Black Lotus half the height of a man, without any leaves.
There was only the flower and a single lotus stalk.
The stalk extended straight down, branching into dense black roots. There was no lotus root...
Below it lay four or five half-dead ghosts.
The Black Lotus's black roots were embedded in those ghosts' bodies...
I took a look and found that one of them seemed to be the white-clothed ghost we had seen getting dragged inside when we entered the Drum Tower.
But now, he was weak to the extreme, lying motionless on the ground.
Thinking back, that explained why the Ghost Fiend had said it had come here to be sacrificed as soon as we entered the ghost domain.
It seemed that the sacrifice it spoke of meant coming here to serve as nourishment for this black lotus flower.
Finally, there was the black flower itself, about half the size of a human head.
It was pitch-black throughout, so black that it reflected light.
The lotus was in full bloom, and it looked almost identical to the Black Lotus Seal on my palm.
On the seedpod at the center of the flower was a lotus seed emitting