The Lonely Lotus

The rivers surged endlessly.

Ji Ning stood in midair, his eyes filled with fury and pain.

“Old Man Yuan actually chose to side with the Seamless Gate for real? Wasn’t he the one who said he didn’t want to get involved in the Three Realms’ conflict?” Ji Ning had always felt gratitude toward Old Man Yuan. The power Old Man Yuan had shown was shocking enough, but his betrayal hurt even more. His master, Patriarch Subhuti, and Old Man Yuan had once been the closest of friends… this would surely break his heart as well.

Whoosh.

Three figures appeared next to Ji Ning in quick succession: Patriarch Subhuti, who had arrived through a spatial vortex, followed by Daofather Three Purities and Daoist Freedom.

“Elder brother Yuan… he actually…” Daoist Freedom’s beard and hair trembled, disbelief filling his eyes.

“Still calling him ‘elder brother’?” Daofather Three Purities’ eyes turned icy. “I never imagined that among our group of old brothers and friends, there would be a traitor like this! If he had simply left the Three Realms, that would be one thing. But to willingly throw in his lot with the Seamless Gate camp? Excellent. Simply excellent. Subhuti, Zixiu—both of you remember this: from this day forth, that Daoist Yuan and we… are enemies, not friends.”

“Yes.” Daoist Freedom nodded gently.

“A traitor.” Subhuti gritted his teeth, his eyes filled with pain. “I never thought… never imagined. That day, he swore to me with his own mouth that he would leave the Three Realms… and then he immediately turned around and struck at Ning!”

Daofather Three Purities looked at Subhuti.

Subhuti and Old Man Yuan had once been as close as brothers. Of everyone in Nuwa’s camp, Subhuti was likely the one most wounded by this betrayal.

“It seems that even among us, a rotten crop can occasionally sprout,” Daofather Three Purities sighed. “Subhuti, don’t grieve too much over this failure.”

“Grieve? No. I’m not grieving.” Subhuti sneered. “It would be best if he were dead.”

Ji Ning could see that his master was being stubborn, but from the way the old man’s body was trembling with rage, he knew exactly how heavy this blow had been. Seizing the chance to change the subject, he said, “Just now, when Daoist Yuan attacked me, he used Heartforce techniques… I only realized then that his Heartforce has already reached the fifth level.”

“The fifth level of Heartforce?” Daofather Three Purities, Patriarch Subhuti, and Daoist Freedom were all shocked.

They had sensed the earlier battle, but at such a vast distance they had no way of detecting Heartforce.

“Yes. The fifth level,” Ji Ning said with a frown. “Different from senior apprentice-brother Houyi… Houyi channels his Heartforce into archery, granting his arrows an inconceivable power. But this Daoist Yuan’s use of Heartforce is far more sinister. He targets the soul directly. The only reason I endured it is that my soul is strong enough.”

“Directly targeting the soul?”

“This is troublesome.”

All three of them—Subhuti, Three Purities, and Freedom—felt the gravity of the situation.

“That scoundrel must have guessed that you had only just become a True God,” Subhuti said coldly. “He assumed your soul had been nurtured in your divine body for too short a time and was still weak. So he launched a sneak attack.”

“Yes,” Ji Ning nodded. In truth, he had become a True God during the battle in the Ancient Ruins, and he was even a half-step Elder God. His divine soul was actually stronger than most True Gods or Daofathers. When combined with the “Heartforce Soul-Lock” technique, that old Daoist Yuan had truly kicked an iron plate.

“That Daoist Yuan… he was able to withstand a single sword-strike from Ji Ning, and his Heartforce has reached the fifth level,” Daofather Three Purities said grimly. “On top of that, he has defected to the Seamless Gate. He clearly has grand ambitions. A man with such ambition and such power… everyone must be extremely cautious.”

“Yes.”

Each of them felt a heavy weight in their hearts.

Beyond their rage over a rotten betrayal, they also felt a new wariness.

Old Man Yuan had made his final choice. He had led his entire Four Rivers Sect to side with the Seamless Gate. The Four Rivers Sect had long been completely loyal to him; when he had wavered back and forth before, the other experts of the sect had followed him… and now they were all following him into the enemy camp. It showed just how tightly unified the Four Rivers Sect was.

“From this day forth, Daoist Yuan is an enemy of our Nuwa camp, not a friend,” Daofather Three Purities declared with murderous intent in the Hall of Ten Thousand Races. “When the final battle begins, if we get a chance, we will kill him without hesitation.” Every present Daofather agreed completely.

Old Man Yuan’s betrayal had truly enraged them.

Time flowed on.

The Realm Wars across the Three Realms continued to intensify. A hundred and ten years after the battle in the Ancient Ruins, every single Realm War involved more than three thousand Celestial Immortals and True Immortals. Both camps could sense that the final battle was drawing near.

At any moment, the final decisive war could erupt.

It didn’t necessarily have to wait until the final struggle for qi of fortune was over. One side could launch the final battle at any time, as long as it felt that the struggle for fortune was hopeless.

The atmosphere between the two camps grew increasingly suffocating! Everyone was preparing, readying themselves for the final decisive battle.

In the Heaven Realm, at the sacred Mount Ling of the West.

A humble-looking temple. Two young acolytes stood guard outside. Inside, the Buddha Brightmoon sat like a statue, completely motionless, so dry and still that he had no life aura at all, as if he were a dead thing.

Whoosh.

This statue-like Buddha Brightmoon slowly opened his eyes. Extremely slowly.

“The Realm War in the great world of Divine Farmer… has it also begun?” Buddha Brightmoon murmured to himself. “Every corner of the Three Realms is aflame with war. Even the Divine Farmer’s great world has descended into conflict… It has only been a hundred and fifty years since the Ancient Ruins battle. Too fast. At this rate, the final struggle for qi of fortune will be upon us in just a few decades.”

The final struggle for qi of fortune would be a massive battle between the Celestial Immortals and True Immortals of both camps.

At that point, aside from the True Gods and Daofathers, nearly every powerful immortal and demon in the Three Realms would be dragged into the war. And once one side felt the situation was turning against it, the True Gods and Daofathers would immediately act, triggering the final apocalyptic battle.

“Fifty years at most…” Buddha Brightmoon slowly rose to his feet.

Fifty years was actually a very generous estimate.

With the war already raging in the Divine Farmer’s great world, the final struggle for qi of fortune could come in as little as a decade or two.

“According to my life oath, I must leave the Three Realms within a thousand years of becoming an Elder God, and go search for the Heavenly Palace of Azure,” Buddha Brightmoon said to himself. “The final battle could erupt at any moment. It will take me some time to break through from True God to Elder God. If I wait until the final battle has already begun, it will be too late… Yes, now is the time.”

Swoosh.

Buddha Brightmoon vanished from his temple. The two acolytes outside had no idea their master had left.

In the endless Chaos, a dark black star floated.

A massive lotus of light descended upon the surface of this star. On the lotus sat Buddha Brightmoon, cross-legged.

“Boom~~”

The surrounding Chaos suddenly began to rage. Even the star’s own power was frantically devoured by the storm. Everything revolved around Buddha Brightmoon, forming a massive Chaos vortex. Every drop of his divine power underwent a qualitative transformation, a new architectural framework.

After a brief moment, the Chaos vortex dissipated. Everything returned to calm. The dark star regained its former majesty.

But a trace of sorrow filled Buddha Brightmoon’s eyes.

“An Elder God now.”

“Within a thousand years, I must leave.” He felt a deep reluctance to part with the Three Realms. He had risen from weakness step by step. He had ventured into the Moon Underwater Abyss and obtained treasures. He had spent eons cultivating the Forlorn World God technique. He had long since found the faint spark of divinity needed to advance; he could have broken through from True God to Elder God at any time.

But he had been unwilling to leave.

He had a gentle temperament, naturally suited to the Buddhist path. He had no great ambitions. Living a peaceful life in the Three Realms was enough for him.

But this final calamity forced him to act.

Only by becoming an Elder God would he have enough power to influence the battle. And once he became an Elder God, the life oath would force him to leave the Three Realms within a thousand years. If he didn’t leave, he would die.

“Before I leave, to be able to fight alongside my master, and those old friends of mine… this is enough.” Sitting on his lotus, Buddha Brightmoon vanished as easily as he had come.

No one knew about his breakthrough in the Chaos.

He silently returned to his temple. Only two young acolytes guarded the gate, and since he kept such a low profile, rarely going out, and even used a technique to suppress his aura just as Suiren had done, any visitor would have been unable to sense him. Even more so now, with tensions so high that no one was visiting friends anyway. And Buddha Brightmoon was far too low-profile; for eons after becoming a Daofather, he had simply sat in meditation. No one visited.

Thus, the entire Three Realms had no idea that a new Elder God had joined their ranks.