Chaos Spiritual Root, Twenty-Four-Petaled Creation Azure Lotus

In the blink of an eye, ten thousand years passed. Mount Buzhou.

Before the Primordial World had been opened, there was a Chaos Spiritual Root within Chaos, named the Thirty-Six-Petaled Genesis Azure Lotus, also known as the Creation Azure Lotus and the Chaos Azure Lotus.

After Pangu opened heaven and earth, the Creation Green Lotus, like the Chaos Supreme Treasure Heaven-Opening Axe, could not withstand the pressure of opening heaven and earth and shattered—

Its lotus stem became the God-Slaying Spear, its five lotus leaves became the Five Primordial Directional Flags, its seedpod became the Universe Cauldron, while its five lotus seeds scattered across the Primordial World.

Four of the immature lotus seeds became the Twelve-Petaled Merit Golden Lotus, Twelfth-Grade Karmic Fire Red Lotus, Twelfth-Grade World-Destroying Black Lotus, and Twelfth-Grade World-Cleansing White Lotus respectively, all Supreme-Grade Innate Spiritual Treasures;

Only the mature lotus seed fell upon the summit of Mount Buzhou, where Pangu's spine converged. It took root amid the residual Chaos aura, absorbed the essence and blood of Pangu's physical body, Three Lights Divine Water, and Wu Earth Origin, and after countless Yuanhuis, it was finally about to sprout, seeking to become a Chaos Spiritual Root beyond the innate realm.

Yet the environment of the Primordial World was no match for Chaos. The primary energy scattered throughout heaven and earth was innate spiritual energy, transformed when the World Womb Membrane devoured Chaos currents.

And the residual Chaos aura left on Mount Buzhou had dwindled to almost nothing after being swallowed and consumed by that mature seed.

"Rumble!"

On this day, within the endless spacetime atop Mount Buzhou, a lotus seed brimming with spiritual energy and covered in mysterious Dao patterns sprouted. Consuming the residual Chaos aura it had accumulated over the years, it grew at a rate visible to the naked eye.

Lotus leaves, lotus flowers, and lotus roots all formed in succession.

Most astonishingly, this Spiritual Root bloomed with twenty-four petals. It was actually a Chaos Spiritual Root that surpassed Supreme-Grade Innate Spiritual Roots such as the Twelve-Petaled Merit Golden Lotus and the Twelfth-Grade Karmic Fire Red Lotus!

Moreover, this newly born Chaos Spiritual Root was still attempting to nurture its spirituality and take form into the world!

Unfortunately, it had been born at the wrong time.

The innate environment of the Primordial World could no longer sustain a Chaos Spiritual Root.

Energy flowed from high places to low. After this Twenty-Four-Petaled Creation Azure Lotus emerged, not only could it not obtain the slightest bit of energy from the heavens and earth of the Primordial World, but its own residual Chaos aura continuously diffused and diluted into the surrounding world, only to be reverse-absorbed from afar by the World Womb Membrane.

"Buzz!"

Unwilling to accept this, the Creation Azure Lotus thrust its flower toward the heavens, seeking to break through the barrier between the Thirty-Three Heavens and the Primordial Starry Sky and charge into Chaos.

Yet its residual Chaos aura was rapidly broken down. In the blink of an eye, it had exhausted its strength. After releasing one final unwilling hum, it shattered with a crash, splitting into three and falling once more toward the summit of Mount Buzhou.

"Swish, swish, swish!"

Another thousand years passed. Mount Buzhou had always been a place rarely visited by any living being, and those without fate could not find this independent spacetime secret realm.

Yet on this day, three streams of clear qi flew in from the horizon, transforming into three figures—an elderly man, a middle-aged man, and a young man. They were none other than Pangu's Three Pure Ones.

"There seems to be an innate opportunity emerging here."

Laozi held the shrunken Heaven-Earth Mystic Yellow Exquisite Pagoda in his hand. Black and white qi swirled in his eyes as his gaze suddenly fixed upon the wisp of Green Lotus aura within the endless spacetime atop Mount Buzhou.

"An innate opportunity? Hahaha, Eldest Brother, Second Brother, let me handle it!" Tongtian laughed heartily, and two treasures appeared in his hands.

One was a drum, and the other a hammer. Both were Supreme-Grade Innate Spiritual Treasures, opportunities he had acquired during his travels through the Primordial World over the years.

—For an ordinary Great Supernatural Being, obtaining even one Supreme-Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure was as difficult as climbing to the heavens. But the Three Pure Ones were different. Blessed by the fortune of opening heaven and earth, they possessed the greatest of blessings.

"Rumble!"

Tongtian struck the drum with the hammer, unleashing purple and azure lightning that filled the sky.

The drum was the Fish Drum, while the hammer was the Purple Lightning Hammer. They were a matching set of treasures, corresponding respectively to the yin and yang aspects of lightning. The yang thunder and yin lightning they released complemented one another perfectly.

The purple and azure lightning crashed toward the spacetime fold. Laozi and Yuanshi did not speak to stop him, merely turning their gazes toward that place.

"Bang!"

The invisible spacetime barrier directly dissipated. As for the innate restriction, it had long since shattered when the Creation Azure Lotus had propped up heaven and earth.

Where the lightning passed, the void cracked layer by layer. The originally stable spacetime fold collapsed like colored glaze, revealing the secret realm within.

The three entered the secret realm and saw Green Lotus wreckage scattered across the ground, clear qi coiling through the air, while an exotic fragrance assailed their nostrils.

"Swish!"

The moment Tongtian entered this secret realm, he saw a green lotus leaf soar into the air, transforming into a long sword and voluntarily dropping into his hand.

The sword was three feet and seven inches long. Its blade was translucent like azure jade and colored glaze, its veins distinct like lotus-leaf patterns. The edge was thin as a cicada's wing, yet gleamed with a chilling sharpness.

Its guard was a budding green lotus flower, its hilt wound with green lotus patterns, and its sheath woven from lotus leaves.

"A fine sword! What a fine Green Duckweed Sword!"

His divine sense swept over the sword, and Tongtian immediately comprehended its origins. He was overjoyed at once.

Ordinary Supreme-Grade Innate Spiritual Treasures were already rare. If it had merely been an ordinary Supreme-Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure, he would not have been so delighted—but this treasure suited him exceptionally well and fit his hand perfectly!

"Swish! Swish!"

Before Tongtian's laughter faded, the other two remnants left behind by the shattered Twenty-Four-Petaled Creation Azure Lotus flew over as well.

The red lotus flower transformed into a walking stick and stopped before Laozi.

—The staff was seven feet and two inches long, corresponding to the seventy-two pentads. Its entire body was interwoven from red gold and azure jade, its color warm and lustrous like ancient jade.

At the head of the staff was a coiling Five-Clawed Golden Dragon. Its scales had evolved from twenty-four lotus patterns, while two precious pearls were embedded in its eyes. As its eyes opened and closed, the yin and yang of the taiji flowed within;

The staff body was carved with innate Great Dao runes, with a faint lotus fragrance lingering around it;

The tail was shaped like a lotus petal. When struck, it could produce a clear Dao chime that dispersed inner demons.

This was the Supreme-Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure Coiling Dragon Walking Stick. Normally, it revealed no sharpness and looked like an ordinary wooden cane. Only when one activated it with mana would it bloom with ten thousand zhang of red-gold rosy light, raining down myriad streams of Creation Clear Qi, capable of stabilizing the fortune of an entire region.

The white lotus root transformed into a ruyi and flew into Yuanshi's hand.

—It was three feet and six inches long, corresponding to the thirty-six heavenly fiends. Its entire body appeared carved from mutton-fat white jade, flawless and lustrous, warm to the touch.

The head of the ruyi was shaped like an auspicious cloud and embedded with three round precious pearls—azure, yellow, and red—corresponding to heaven, earth, and humanity, the Three Realms. As the pearls turned, three-colored divine light flowed within them;

Nine Five-Clawed Golden Dragons in varying ascending and descending poses were carved along the handle, their bodies entwined with innate jade inscriptions;

Its tail was shaped like lingzhi and engraved with patterns of the Five Blessings.

When still, it radiated a thousand strands of auspicious brilliance and ten thousand rays of rosy light, untouched by the slightest trace of worldly smoke and fire. It displayed utmost nobility and majesty. It was the Supreme-Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure, the Three-Treasure Jade Ruyi.

"Red flower, white lotus root, green lotus leaf—the Three Pure Ones are naturally one family. Hahaha—" Seeing that his two elder brothers had also obtained treasures, Tongtian was even more delighted.

The Three Pure Ones were joined in qi and connected in branch. These Three Treasures of the Green Lotus had likewise been born from the same source; there could be no Supreme-Grade Innate Spiritual Treasures more suitable for them.

Laozi stroked his beard and smiled. Yuanshi gently caressed the Three-Treasure Jade Ruyi in his hand, and even his usually aloof expression softened somewhat.

"The day of the Dao Ancestor's second lecture draws near. Let us first return to the Kunlun Mountains, refine these three treasures a little, then proceed together to Violet Firmament Palace to hear the lecture," Laozi said slowly, his voice calm yet carrying unquestionable authority.

"Eldest Brother speaks truly." Yuanshi nodded.

"Exactly so! Now that I have obtained this Green Duckweed Sword, I can go to Violet Firmament Palace and discuss the Dao with our fellow Daoists!" Tongtian hung the Green Duckweed Sword at his waist, high-spirited and full of vigor.

At once, the three brothers transformed into three streams of clear light and shot into the sky, heading east toward the Kunlun Mountains.

Within the secret realm, only the Green Lotus clear qi scattered across the ground gradually dissipated.

Now then, the Thirty-Six-Petaled Genesis Azure Lotus had left behind lotus seeds, and so had this mature Twenty-Four-Petaled Creation Azure Lotus.

As the saying went, beneath the Great Dao, there was always a thread of life.

Yet the departing Three Pure Ones failed to notice a streak of green light fleeing into the void, vanishing toward an unknown destination.

"Eh? What is this?"

Elsewhere, Lingxiao had more or less finished explaining the situation. After offering guidance to Zhen Yuanzi and Hong Yun, he took his leave. But as he passed through the Central Lands, he discovered a streak of green light charging straight toward him.