Chaos Green Lotus

"Don't worry. This won't harm you."

Sensing Jiang Zhu's movement, Yan Ruyu assumed he was worried about his safety.

Little did she know that, with his eyes covered, Jiang Zhu had instinctively activated the Source Heaven Divine Eye and seen a rather extraordinary sight.

"All right, Your Highness. I trust you." Jiang Zhu sounded somewhat distracted.

What official could withstand a test like this?

Yan Ruyu moved closer, her skin like ice and bones like jade, her hazily outlined curves pressing against Jiang Zhu.

"!"

Full, rounded, and wonderfully springy!

A fragrance filled his nostrils, its sweetness seeping into his heart, making him feel as though he held warm jade in his arms, or cradled a delicate blossom.

For a moment, he could not stop his blood from surging.

"What's this...?" Yan Ruyu sensed something unusual, and her jade-like hand reached down.

"!!!" Jiang Zhu froze where he stood, as though struck by lightning.

Yan Ruyu came to her senses then. Unable to suppress her shame and indignation, she forced herself to hold them down. "What are you thinking? Focus your mind!!"

"The Sacred Heart has been nourishing me lately, so my blood and vitality are abundant. Please forgive me, Your Highness!"

Under these circumstances, having no reaction would make me worse than a beast!

Afraid Yan Ruyu would change her mind, Jiang Zhu hurriedly composed himself and focused his attention on his Sea of Bitterness, guiding the Sacred Heart's blood energy.

Seeing this, Yan Ruyu also closed her eyes without moving away. They had already come this far; was she supposed to stop cultivating now?

Though their position was somewhat intimate, she could accept it for the sake of this branch of the Demon Clan, and for herself.

Under Jiang Zhu's guidance, the blood energy rushed out of his Bitter Sea and straight into Yan Ruyu's.

Rich blood energy poured in continuously, producing extraordinary results. The excess even nourished her flesh, making her jade-like body tremble faintly as boundless crimson light enveloped her.

Before long, the Demon Emperor's Sacred Heart stopped releasing blood energy.

Yan Ruyu's body quivered slightly. She opened her eyes, stepped back, and studied Jiang Zhu. Seeing him standing there as though blind, she could not help breathing a sigh of relief.

"We'll continue cultivating here at this time tomorrow."

With that, she flicked her fingers and retrieved the ribbon artifact covering his eyes, then fled the hall as though flying, leaving several pieces of source behind.

"Hm?"

Picking up the Source Blocks from the floor, Jiang Zhu wore a strange expression. "Why does this feel so much like payment for a prostitute?"

For some time afterward, the two continued cultivating this way.

Even though most of the blood energy nurtured by the Demon Emperor's Sacred Heart went to Yan Ruyu, Jiang Zhu's body was still continually tempered and strengthened.

Over this period of cultivation, he also noticed changes in Yan Ruyu.

One day, despite his covered eyes, he witnessed a scene: Yan Ruyu was ethereal as an immortal, with sea and sky merging into one behind her. Countless golden lotuses grew from her Bitter Sea, releasing a refreshing fragrance that seeped into the heart.

Her figure was misty as an immortal's, and the golden lotuses swayed behind her, brimming with vitality.

As the blood energy of the Demon Emperor's Sacred Heart was refined, faint wisps of chaos began spreading beside the golden lotuses, as though about to cleave heaven from earth and bring forth creation from the formless.

That day, Jiang Zhu came to the hall again. Yan Ruyu was already sitting cross-legged on a meditation cushion, waiting for him.

After this period of "dual cultivation" and their repeated intimate contact, the two had become quite familiar with each other.

Yan Ruyu was like a secluded orchid in an empty valley, cool and reserved, seldom speaking. Even during their "dual cultivation," she no longer showed her earlier embarrassment and anger.

Jiang Zhu had mostly grown accustomed to her temperament. He simply closed his eyes and began guiding the blood energy.

When their cultivation ended, Yan Ruyu did not leave immediately as she usually did.

"Who exactly are you?" She was somewhat bewildered. The more she cultivated with Jiang Zhu, the more she sensed his resemblance to the Demon Emperor's Sacred Heart.

And the aura emanating from him made her feel close to him.

Could he also be a descendant of our imperial ancestor? She had pondered this question repeatedly during this time, and today she finally could not resist asking.

Throughout this period, Jiang Zhu guided blood energy with Yan Ruyu during the day. After returning to Peach Valley, he used his precious blood to nourish the Demon Emperor's Sacred Heart and the Demon Emperor's essence blood to temper his body.

After all this time, even without cultivating from a scripture, he was on the verge of a breakthrough.

Moreover, under the prolonged tempering of the Demon Emperor's essence blood, the blood within him was steadily transforming into gold and silver.

That was precisely why Yan Ruyu had sensed the change and finally asked about it today.

Jiang Zhu fell silent.

I'm me. Who else could I be? Besides, I'm not famous here in the Big Dipper. Even if I told her, nobody would recognize my name! he grumbled inwardly.

After some thought, he decided against saying that. In the end, he chose to be open and honest.

The next instant, Jiang Zhu vanished from the hall, and a blade of grass appeared in his place.

The grass was crystalline throughout and radiated a halo. Within its nine sword-shaped leaves, runes could faintly be seen flickering, revealing extraordinary vitality and sword energy.

The leaves appeared slender and fragile, yet held an ultimate sharpness capable of tearing apart the starry sky. As they turned, sword energy blazed like rainbows, as though it could cleave the universe apart.

"Huh?!!!"

Yan Ruyu was momentarily stunned by the sword grass before her. As a descendant of the Azure Emperor, she naturally knew his origins: he had taken form from the Chaos Green Lotus Immortal Medicine.

Moreover, apart from the Azure Emperor, she had never heard of any plant taking form and cultivating.

Could he also have undergone immortal medicine transformation? Is there an Immortal Medicine shaped like sword grass? No wonder he feels similar to our imperial ancestor's Sacred Heart! Yan Ruyu pondered inwardly.

The next instant, brilliant light shone in her palm, divine radiance streaming in every direction. A Green Lotus appeared in her hand, enveloped in holy light that submerged her entire jade-like hand in its brilliance.

As the Green Lotus appeared, streams of runes descended from it like immortal ribbons, dazzling and crystalline, and a terrifying pressure emerged.

Jiang Zhu instantly felt a horrifying suffocation, as though the sky were crushing down upon him, or a Great Emperor stood there looking down at him.

The Azure Emperor's Weapon had awakened!

The vast imperial might held no killing intent or malice, only an overwhelming force that made one instinctively want to kneel.

Although the pressure released by the Chaos Green Lotus was negligible and vanished in an instant.

Jiang Zhu still felt as though each leaf bore a Primordial Divine Mountain. His roots, stem, and leaves trembled beneath the pressure, on the verge of being flattened against the ground.

Just then, the pressure abruptly vanished, making everything that had happened seem like an illusion.

All that remained in the hall was a Green Lotus enveloped in holy light, floating silently in midair. Boundless radiance rose from it, and immortal power shone.

A majestic figure stepped out of the Chaos Green Lotus. His face was indistinct, his black hair loose, and his gaze flashed like lightning. His figure was tall and slender as green bamboo, and every gesture carried an incomparably towering aura.

He wore green robes, and within his profound eyes lay scenes of heaven and earth being cleaved apart and the universe being born.

A Chaos Green Lotus hovered above his head, while dense chaos energy wreathed his body, seemingly resonating with heaven and earth.

He exuded neither oppressive pressure nor a terrifying aura, ethereal as an immortal.

"I am the Chaos Green Lotus!" the deity of the Azure Emperor's Weapon declared.

"Greetings, imperial ancestor!" Yan Ruyu knelt where she stood and solemnly performed a full bow.

"Nine-Leaf Sword Grass, Jiang Zhu, pays his respects to the Emperor Lotus!" Jiang Zhu also straightened his stems and bowed toward the Chaos Green Lotus.

"Immortal Medicine cannot cultivate or break free of the shackles of order. I never imagined that today I would have the fortune to encounter another!"

The deity of the Azure Emperor's Weapon spoke in a vast, resonant voice, wisps of imperial intent emanating from him.