Ice Lotus

Biodata

Appearance

• Flowers: Crystalline white blossoms. The thousand-year specimen stands out among green lotus leaves covering its icy pool 11.
• Structure: The thousand-year lotus has sixteen petals and a flower core 12.
• Fragrance: A delicate fragrance spreads when Su Fuyun picks the thousand-year specimen 11.
• Cold: Bringing the harvested lotus out in its jade storage box spreads cold throughout a cave. The ten-thousand-year specimen is potent enough to coat Sang Ying in frost while she stands on the bank 12 15.
• Age-related differences: The older lotus Sang Ying presents to Cang Lian is visibly larger than the thousand-year flower he guarded 18.
• Harvested specimens: Opening the jade box containing the ten-thousand-year lotus offered to Sect Leader Meng releases enough cold air to lower the room’s temperature by several degrees. Liu Wu can identify a ten-thousand-year specimen from a detached petal 53 102.

Properties and Uses

Spirit Root Improvement

Ice Lotuses are sought for their potential to repair or complete Spirit Roots 11 15 16.

• Su Fuyun’s jade pendant tells her that medicine made from the thousand-year lotus will allow her to advance safely to Foundation Establishment. She regards it as a means of repairing her deficient Spirit Root 11.
• Sang Ying believes the ten-thousand-year lotus may purify her incomplete Ice Spirit Root into a Heavenly Spirit Root. She estimates that half the flower would suffice for her needs 15.
• The lotus is of little use to Jun Heng because he possesses a Fire Spirit Root 11.
• Gu Huaiwei later obtains the sect’s thousand-year specimen and gives it to Su Fuyun to help her reach Foundation Establishment 53.

Frost Return Pill

Immortal Lord Fusheng states that direct use does not fully exploit an Ice Lotus’s medicinal potential 16.

• His Frost Return Pill formula brings out twice the effect of an Ice Lotus 16.
• He assures Sang Ying that the pill can make her Ice Spirit Root whole and provides the formula alongside the Realm Pearl containing Ice Lotuses and ice-attribute spirit crystals 16.
• Sect Leader Meng identifies the Frost Return Pill as a seventh-tier pill requiring a thousand-year Ice Lotus. She states that it can completely restore Sang Ying’s Spirit Root as a Heavenly Spirit Root and end her recurring cold poison 53.
• Sang Ying supplies a ten-thousand-year specimen for the refinement, then produces another Ice Lotus so that Sect Leader Meng can prepare additional pills 53.

Heavenly Tribulation Support

Cang Lian cultivates the thousand-year lotus specifically to help him survive his Dragon Transformation Heavenly Tribulation 11 18.

• He guards it for hundreds of years and regularly feeds it Spiritual Qi 18.
• Its theft threatens his preparations for survival, prompting him to pursue the cultivators who took it 11 13.
• He later accepts Sang Ying’s older lotus for the same purpose 18.

Other Medicinal Applications

• Cold poison suppression: Sang Ying’s parents receive information that a thousand-year Ice Lotus can suppress her cold poison. Their search for one leads them into the Vast Sea Secret Realm, although Sang Ying later discovers that Ice Lotuses do not grow there 51.
• Miasma poison: A ten-thousand-year Ice Lotus supplied by Sang Ying saves Madam Jimo’s life and provides hope for her condition after years of miasma poisoning had caused her cultivation to stagnate 145.
• Ice-attribute beasts: Ice Lotuses are among the best spiritual treasures for benefiting ice-attribute Snow Lions. A cub must grow sufficiently strong to withstand the lotus’s Spiritual Qi before it can receive one 257.

Rarity and Exchange Value

Ice Lotuses are exceptionally difficult to obtain, with thousand-year specimens rarer still. The Plain Robe Pavilion has none in its medicine stores when Sect Leader Meng seeks an ingredient for Sang Ying’s treatment. Hai Tingzhou likewise states that the Hai Household has failed to buy one despite searching for years 53 101.

• Sang Ying’s pond provides her with an unusually abundant personal supply, allowing her to offer specimens that others regard as extraordinarily precious 25 101 102.
• Ten-thousand-year specimens secure substantial commitments from powerful cultivators: Cang Lian promises three favors, while Liu Wu promises protection and three conditions 18 102.
• A thousand-year specimen serves as the opening lot at an All Under Heaven Pavilion auction and sells for a high price 137.
• Jimo Qing considers a ten-thousand-year specimen valuable enough to exchange for recognition as the Jimo Household’s eldest young lady 140.

History

Sang Ying’s Parents’ Search

Before their deaths, Sang Ying’s parents learn that a thousand-year Ice Lotus could suppress their daughter’s cold poison. After receiving purportedly reliable information from a fellow member of the Flowing Light Sword Sect, they entrust Sang Ying to the sect master and enter the Vast Sea Secret Realm in search of the medicine. They never return 51.

Sect Leader Meng later tells Sang Ying the purpose of their journey. Sang Ying realizes that the Complete Spirit Plant Book records no Ice Lotuses in the Vast Sea Secret Realm and that the book predates her parents’ deaths. This discrepancy leads her to suspect that someone deliberately misled them and that their deaths may be connected to the false information 51.

The Thousand-Year Lotus

After losing the Frost Condensation Flower she had intended to use against her recurring cold affliction, Sang Ying resolves to obtain the thousand-year Ice Lotus in the Qishan Secret Realm. A spirit-plant and spirit-beast guide supplies its location and warns of a seventh-tier guardian 2 9 10.

Su Fuyun’s party reaches the frost-covered valley while the lotus is about to bloom. She persuades the disciples to cooperate in obtaining it, initially proposing a contest to determine its recipient. When Jun Heng discovers that its guardian is an Ice Flood Dragon approaching dragon transformation, he orders everyone to retreat without taking the flower. Su Fuyun nevertheless harvests it, provoking a furious attack that injures several disciples 10 11.

Sang Ying helps the group escape using powdered Spirit-Bewitching Flowers to incapacitate the dragon. In a cave, the twenty-seven survivors debate dividing the lotus’s sixteen petals and core. They select Jun Heng to receive the core, but the dragon finds them before the flower is divided 12.

The False Transfer

When the group urges Su Fuyun to return the lotus, she stuffs a Storage Bag into Sang Ying’s waistband, pushes her toward the dragon, and announces that she is leaving the flower to her. The dragon attacks Sang Ying, shattering her Ice Soul Sword and knocking her into an underground river 13.

After surviving the fall, Sang Ying discovers that the bag contains a Raising Beast Ring and a Gale Hound pup—not the Ice Lotus. Su Fuyun retains the flower while the dragon pursues Sang Ying under the mistaken belief that she possesses it 14 17.

The Older Lotuses

Exploring the underground world, Sang Ying finds an icy pool containing multiple Ice Lotuses, including a ten-thousand-year specimen. She harvests only one, judging it more than sufficient for her needs. Immortal Lord Fusheng subsequently gives her a Realm Pearl preserving a pond of Ice Lotuses 14 15 16 25.

When Cang Lian confronts her again, Sang Ying offers him a better lotus as a gift rather than repayment. She retrieves an older, larger flower from the Realm Pearl, convincing him that she did not steal his thousand-year specimen. After learning Su Fuyun’s identity, he accepts the gift and promises Sang Ying three favors. She uses the first to secure protection and safe passage out of the secret realm 17 18.

Transfer to the Sect

Back at the Flowing Light Sword Sect, Su Fuyun claims that Sang Ying demanded the lotus and that she accidentally handed over the wrong Storage Bag. The sect master ultimately awards the flower to Sang Ying as compensation for her suffering 20 22.

Sang Ying accepts the settlement but gives the lotus to the sect in exchange for a sizable sum of money, anticipating that Su Fuyun might otherwise use Gu Huaiwei to recover it. Su Fuyun later acknowledges that its designation as a sect resource makes reclaiming it impractical 23 25.

Despite Sang Ying’s precaution, Gu Huaiwei subsequently takes the lotus from the sect and gives it to Su Fuyun to help her reach Foundation Establishment. Sect Leader Meng learns this when she contacts the Flowing Light Sword Sect to request the flower for Sang Ying’s Frost Return Pill. Sang Ying suspects that the sect master understood whom Gu Huaiwei intended to benefit when he released it 53.

Preparation for Sang Ying’s Treatment

After Nan Gurong obtains a medical classic describing the Frost Return Pill, she and Sect Leader Meng identify it as a means of restoring Sang Ying’s Spirit Root. Their initial plan depends on obtaining the Flowing Light Sword Sect’s thousand-year lotus, and its prior transfer to Su Fuyun appears to leave them without the necessary ingredient 53.

Before they can spend money searching elsewhere, Sang Ying reveals that she already has a lotus prepared for herself. Sect Leader Meng is astonished to discover that it is ten thousand years old and arranges to begin refining the pill the next day. Sang Ying then produces another Ice Lotus for additional pills 53.

Bargain with Liu Wu

On Gleaming Gold Island, Zhao San offers Liu Wu an Ice Lotus in exchange for rescuing him from Sang Ying. Liu Wu distrusts the offer because Zhao San does not have the flower with him and could renege after returning to the Zhao Household. Zhao San attempts to strengthen his position by emphasizing the plant’s scarcity 101.

Sang Ying counters by opening a jade box containing her own lotus. She tears off a petal and tosses it to Liu Wu, who immediately recognizes it as belonging to a ten-thousand-year specimen. She offers the flower even if he merely leaves without intervening for Zhao San. Instead, Liu Wu accepts it and swears to protect her until she leaves Gleaming Gold Island and to grant her three conditions 101 102.

The All Under Heaven Pavilion and Jimo Household

Jimo Huan opens an All Under Heaven Pavilion auction with a thousand-year Ice Lotus, which sells for a high price. Jiang Zhuoxue offers to help Sang Ying bid for it because of her Ice Spirit Root, but she declines, explaining that she already possesses several Ice Lotuses 137.

The Pavilion later considers whether to accept a ten-thousand-year specimen from Sang Ying. Jimo Qing approves, regarding recognition as the Jimo Household’s eldest young lady as a reasonable exchange for the flower. He initially accepts the lotus to settle the karmic ties between them, but it subsequently saves Madam Jimo’s life and offers hope against the effects of her long-standing miasma poisoning. This leaves the household with a much greater debt to Sang Ying than he had anticipated 140 145.

Reunion with Cang Lian

While rescuing Cang Lian from the Gong Household’s underground water prison, Sang Ying reveals her true appearance and shows him the dragon scale he once gave her. When he remains uncertain of her identity, she hands him a ten-thousand-year Ice Lotus and reminds him that she previously gave him one. The flower helps confirm that she is his old friend, and he accepts it through the narrow gap of his confinement 149.

The Snow Lion Cub

After an injured Twin-Winged Snow Lion entrusts its cub to Ten Thousand Daos Born, Jiulian asks Sang Ying what treasure might have attracted it to her. Sang Ying concludes that the adult likely detected the Ice Lotuses she is growing in the Mirror Pearl, despite the treasure being concealed in her Storage Bag 257.

Recognizing the flowers’ value to ice-attribute Snow Lions, Sang Ying decides that she will not be stingy with the cub. She is willing to provide an Ice Lotus once it grows strong enough to withstand the flower’s Spiritual Qi 257.