The Illusion of the Blood Lotus

Beside a lake as blue as the finest diamond, spiritual mist coiled, the scenery a living poem. Xiao Chen approached a riotously colored parrot perched amidst a cluster of vines. A strange feeling stirred within him. “You understand human speech?” he asked. “Is this the Primordial Celestial Realm?”

“Of course this is the Celestial Realm!” the parrot chirped indignantly. “A primordial paradise that has existed for eons, home to all ultimate powerhouses. Little Blockhead, you can't have truly forgotten me, can you?”

Xiao Chen frowned. The situation was far too bizarre. How could this brilliantly feathered bird claim to know him with such certainty?

“If you say you know me, then who am I?”

“You are Blockhead, of course—born in the Celestial Realm, raised in the Celestial Realm, your might once shook the eight desolates. Centuries ago, you fell to the lower realm, and now you have finally returned!” The parrot spoke with shocking fluency, spilling out revelations that left Xiao Chen utterly dumbfounded.

“What kind of fiend are you, exactly?” Xiao Chen's frown deepened. The tale was preposterous—how could he believe it? How could he accept it? It all felt absurd.

A look of disappointment crossed the parrot's face, but it rallied its spirits. “Blockhead, you haven't awakened yet. Come with me to my cave—you will soon remember your past and present life.”

“Very well. I'll go see this cave of yours.” Xiao Chen studied the parrot calmly, then followed it along the lakeshore.

“Welcome back, Blockhead!” The parrot seemed genuinely delighted, fluttering up and down in cheerful flight.

“Tell me, then,” Xiao Chen asked on the way, “what sort of person was I in my past life?”

“In your past life, you were renowned across the Celestial Realm,” the parrot chirped incessantly, a noisy chatterbox. “You were an invincible Stone Man King, hailed as the Stone Emperor!”

But Xiao Chen listened in utter confusion, as if trying to see flowers through mist or the moon in water. His past life remained a hazy blur, impossible to grasp.

Ahead, the vegetation grew dense, ancient trees towering. Before long, they reached a great waterfall, a silver cascade plunging from a sheer cliff like ten thousand horses thundering, mist swirling in the roar.

“This… is the Water Curtain Cave, your cultivation retreat from your past life. I've been guarding it for you all these years,” the parrot chattered.

“My past life's cave?” Xiao Chen knit his brows. This all felt too abrupt—the notion of a past life, and the legend that he had been the Stone Emperor… It was almost impossible to believe.

“What are you waiting for? Once you enter the Water Curtain Cave, you will understand who you truly are. Past and present will become clear!” the parrot urged.

With a flutter of wings, the parrot darted through the curtain. Xiao Chen stood rooted for a long time, taking not a single step forward.

“Blockhead, what's wrong? What are you thinking?” the parrot called from within.

After a brief hesitation, Xiao Chen stepped through the veil of water. Inside was a spacious cavern, truly a blessed spot for meditation. Points of light sparkled, spiritual energy was rich, and rare spirit herbs grew from the rock crevices, their fragrance soothing the heart.

Then Xiao Chen froze. He stared fixedly at a stone wall, where an engraving was carved. It depicted a lithe, graceful figure, vivid and brimming with divine spirit, as if it might step right out of the stone.

“This is Qingqing! How could her image be here?” Xiao Chen was deeply shaken.

“Ah, you mean that beautiful girl in white? She arrived in the Celestial Realm over a century ago, accompanied by three pure-white skeletons. I think her name was Qingqing,” the parrot explained. “She seemed to be looking for you. She left this carving and then departed.”

Xiao Chen fell silent, his eyes fixed on the stone carving.

“Come over here—this is your cave. There is a stone of three lives here, recording your past. Once you see it, you will know your former life.”

The parrot was loyal, urging him from nearby to remember the events of bygone days.

Xiao Chen approached, facing an eerily shaped boulder, his expression wooden as he gazed upon it.

The parrot explained patiently, “You must relax your entire body, then slowly extend your divine sense into the stone of three lives. Then you will understand everything.”

“Ah,” Xiao Chen replied dully, his divine sense apparently extending into the stone of three lives.

“Here is a cup of soul-summoning water. It can awaken the deity of your past life. Relax, drink it, and you will fully understand your former incarnation.” The parrot flapped its wings, and a stone cup rose, floating into Xiao Chen's hand.

Xiao Chen raised it and drank, then turned his wooden gaze back to the stone of three lives.

At that moment, the cave began to grow dim, as if lost in fog.

Xiao Chen seemed to fall into a trance, oblivious to all around him.

Then, suddenly, a wave of annihilation aura descended upon him, seeking to grind him to dust.

“Ancestral God-grade food… it has been so long since my last feast.” A woman's voice, cold enough to chill the soul, accompanied the aura that completely enveloped Xiao Chen.

But at that moment, Xiao Chen, who looked so lost, suddenly merged with the formation diagram. A beam of light shot skyward, sweeping out sword after sword. Thirty-three War Swords rang out, gleaming with blinding cold light.

“Ah—” The woman's scream rang out.

In an instant, heaven and earth blazed with clarity. Everything restored to its true form. All that had been seen before vanished.

There was no cave, no Water Curtain Cave. Xiao Chen stood in the azure diamond-like lake. Around him, blood-red lotus petals drifted in the wind, settling upon the water.

The crimson petals were as bright as blood, startlingly vivid. Soon they stained the entire divine lake crimson. Hundreds of white swans in the lake took fright and soared into the sky.

At the center of the lake stood a colossal blood lotus, like a towering ancient tree, blotting out the sun, thousands of feet tall, its whole body glowing red, a sight to chill the heart.

On the giant ray of that thousand-foot blood lotus stood a bewitchingly beautiful woman, a trickle of blood at the corner of her mouth. Several War Swords pierced her high breasts and chest, blood streaming down.

And the enormous lotus beneath her was in tatters, pierced through by the thirty-three War Swords.

“An illusion cast by an Ancestral God-level cultivator is truly hard to tell from reality. However, it contained several fatal flaws, contrary to common sense…” Xiao Chen stood on the lake, staring coldly at the woman on the blood lotus.

“So you are saying that from start to finish, you were never dominated by the illusion?”

“That is correct.” Xiao Chen nodded, then asked, “One thing I don't understand: how did you know the people and events in my heart, and use them to create the illusion?”

“I did not know what was in your heart,” the woman on the blood lotus replied. “I merely guided you ceaselessly, letting you fall into your own world of confusion. Your heart's contents naturally revealed themselves, and I made clever use of them.” She smiled with extraordinary charm.

“So that's it. Trapping me in my own mental cage is certainly a method far superior to ordinary illusion arts—a thousand times more refined, no less. But you don't understand human nature, nor the common laws of the world. How could you possibly make good use of an illusion!” Xiao Chen's voice turned cold. “Why did you scheme against me?”

“To obtain food.” The seductive woman licked her crimson lips. “The flesh and blood of an Ancestral God, if devoured, would save me tens of thousands of years of bitter cultivation. It's been twenty thousand years since my last grand feast. Truly a nostalgic prospect.”

“You demonic lotus, you've lived this long, reached the strength of a War Ancestor. After devouring an Ancestral God, did you truly think you could do as you pleased?” Xiao Chen saw through her power level.

“Then let's test that!” The demon lotus roared, and a flood of blood radiance swept toward Xiao Chen. In that moment, hundreds of blood-red lotuses bloomed, each blossom unleashing a dazzling light.

The instant a demon flower bloomed, it represented the vibrant release of life—one of the most powerful divine forces in the world.

Hundreds of blood lotuses shot out their auspicious rays at once, drowning the space where Xiao Chen stood.

In response, Xiao Chen simply shook the formation diagram, sweeping it across the sky. The hazy diagram and thirty-three War Swords filled heaven and earth. Huge sword beams struck in every direction.

With a series of sharp cracks, the blood-colored radiance collapsed entirely, dispersing like a receding tide.

The woman's face changed dramatically. She had not expected her enemy to be so overwhelmingly powerful. Turning into a beam of rainbow light, she blasted into the sky, her main body—the blood lotus—following close behind.

“Going so soon?” Having just arrived in this Celestial Realm and been ambushed, Xiao Chen had no intention of letting her escape. If she summoned any allies, his every step here would be fraught with danger.

“Do not push me too far. I do not wish to fight you to the death,” the woman called back.

“Fine words! Just moments ago, you were boasting about devouring me. Now you want to slip away? How can it be so easy?” Xiao Chen's voice was ice. He sent the thirty-three War Swords lancing ahead, cutting off her path.

Then, with a thunderous crash, an immense pressure descended upon Xiao Chen from behind.

“A Divine City?” Xiao Chen was shocked. The sky was hazy, and a colossal object was falling toward him.

He dodged aside, evading the city. Looking more closely, he realized it was not a complete Divine City, but only its broken foundation—yet still startling. It had burst forth from that azure diamond-like lake.

How did this demon woman possess such means?

With another crash, the broken city foundation smashed down again. Despite being incomplete, it was still formidable—far larger than an ordinary Primordial Demon City, hinting at the former glory of its master!

But to Xiao Chen, it posed no threat. He raised a hand and offered up the Primordial Demon City he had bartered for from the Void Heavenly Master in the Death World. It shot upward as a beam of black light, meeting the descending foundation.

The broken Divine City foundation, huge as it was, had long since decayed. Colliding with the intact Primordial Demon City, it shattered into pieces. The Primordial Demon City flashed, absorbing the broken fragments, which would become part of itself, to be refined and merged, making it taller and more solid.

The woman on the lotus saw all this. Her heart filled with terror. She knew she had kicked an iron plate. Without a word, she tried to break through the sword formation and flee.

But no sooner had she torn through space than a War Sword split her open. She changed direction, and the Primordial Demon City descended, trapping her.

“No! You cannot kill me! Do you know the origin of that Divine City?” the lotus woman cried out, terrified.

“What origin?” Xiao Chen stood in the distance, his voice cold. The Primordial Demon City hovered silently above her head.

“It is the Divine City of the Lotus King of the Primordial Celestial Realm!”

“Why is it in ruins?”

“Because the Lotus King successfully emerged from his Divine City and no longer needed it. It naturally decayed. This city once sat here, and I was born within its broken foundation—a descendant of the Lotus King, in a manner of speaking. If you kill me, the Lotus King will surely investigate.”

Xiao Chen was shocked. How many ages had passed since the so-called Lotus King had left the city? And yet a single lotus seed had already grown into a War Ancestor. This was truly terrifying.

Thinking that Xiao Chen was now afraid, the demon lotus's tense heart relaxed. But she did not expect—the Primordial Demon City above her head shook violently and crashed down.

“You—!” The woman screamed in fury. In that instant, she launched her main body, the towering blood lotus hundreds of feet high, toward the sky to meet the demon city, while she herself turned into a beam of divine rainbow and fled toward the horizon.

Now that he knew her origins, Xiao Chen would never let her go. If a true Lotus King did emerge, his movement in the Celestial Realm would be impossible; great danger would hound him at every turn. There was no choice but to finish the job and nip this threat in the bud.

The Primordial Demon City slammed down, suppressing the demon lotus's main body beneath it.

Then, with a flash of light, an ancient scroll unrolled, sealing the sky of that region. The fleeing woman was immediately confined.

It was the scroll inscribed with the images of the five Stone Man Kings. Though eons of time had drained much of its power, it was still enough to seal a War Ancestor–level demon lotus.

“No!” The demon lotus cried out, but it was useless. Her form slowly blurred, melting away within the scroll.

Xiao Chen was stunned. He had not expected the scroll forged by the five kings to be so domineering. Thinking it over, he found it reasonable—how else could it have sealed the passage to the Celestial Realm?

Clearly, within the scroll, among the magnificent mountains and rivers, the images of the five kings had grown slightly clearer. This was because the demon lotus had been transformed into pure divine power and absorbed.

Then, using the Primordial Demon City, Xiao Chen also suppressed the giant lotus into the scroll. Like the woman, the vibrant blood lotus slowly dimmed and dissolved into divine power.

It was obvious that within three days, the blood lotus and the woman would be refined away, vanished into nothing.

Xiao Chen's heart pounded. He had long known this scroll was a sacred object, but it still exceeded his imagination. It was a supreme treasure! While sealing the enemy, it also strengthened itself. One day, it would fully recover to its terrifying ancient prime.

Xiao Chen quickly left the area, not wanting to remain. He stood atop a distant mountain, gazing at the high sky. Sudden he noticed several vermilion birds and fire phoenixes circling the sun.

Truly, this was the Celestial Realm. Such legendary divine birds dwelt within the sun itself.

Then, without warning, dark clouds swept across the sky. A black, gloomy expanse rolled in, casting a sinister pall over the picturesque land.

It came from the direction where the six Ancestral God corpses had vanished not long ago. Now, demonic clouds stretched tens of thousands of miles, creating a scene of utter terror. A supremely powerful being was charging this way.

Xiao Chen was shaken. Was that being coming for him… or for the secret passage to the ruined lands? That was a terror that had existed since the dawn of the world—strength beyond all reckoning!