Volume One, Chapter 12: The Nine-Turn Lotus Platform
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It was a complete mess. An utter disaster.
Why were even menial disciples at the first level of Qi Condensation signing up?
These little morons were far too easy to brainwash!
The burly man responsible for registration wore an expression of speechless dismay. He had originally thought this would be an easy job: jot down a few names, then return and collect several hundred spirit stones as a travel allowance.
After all, it was several miles from Hidden Sword Peak to the Demon-Suppressing Prison. This technically counted as a business trip.
But if he continued registering people at this rate, who knew how long he would be stuck here?
He might even have to work overtime. That would be a terrible loss.
He did not have that much time to waste. He had already made plans with his junior sister. That afternoon, she was coming to ask him about his secret technique for enlarging breasts.
“Oh, heavens above… Even someone at the first level of Qi Condensation dares to sign up now? Did I hear that right?”
First-level Qi Condensation versus perfected Qi Condensation.
This was no longer a case of an egg striking a rock. It ought to be called a testicle striking a rock.
With his own testicle.
Liu Yiyun tossed out a few careless remarks, registered, and left, leaving everyone else to marvel at the spectacle.
He had always enjoyed watching the chaos grow.
He returned directly to the Demon-Suppressing Prison and found his immediate superior, a patrol captain at the Foundation Establishment realm.
He casually made up an excuse, claiming that the old sow at home needed to be bred and could not manage without him. He needed several days of leave to go back and take care of it.
Whether one was a regular jailer or a temporary menial laborer, the Demon-Suppressing Prison operated on a standard five-day workweek with two days off. Of course, one could also work on weekends and save up one’s leave for vacations at places like the Star-Twisting Sea or the Mistveil Forest.
Only after doing the math did Liu Yiyun realize that he had more than two hundred days of leave saved up.
Good heavens. His predecessor had truly been formidable.
A veteran wage slave through and through.
Once his leave was approved, he set off empty-handed for Stone Mountain behind Azure Cloud City, a thousand miles away, intending to retrieve the Nine-Turn Lotus Throne from the mouth of the Southern Sea Flood Dragon.
After sprinting two hundred miles, his Qi Condensation body began to falter.
He had neglected exercise and was suffering from weak kidneys.
Fortunately, a small sect affiliated with the Firmament Sacred Land stood nearby: the Verdant Mountain Sect. He casually gave the sect’s name, paid five low-grade spirit stones, and obtained a fine mount from them.
It was an immature bovine-horse hybrid with the bloodline of demon beasts, born from the crossbreeding of a bull demon and a horse demon.
Although bovine-horses were the lowest-grade mounts in the Verdant Mountain Sect, they surpassed the fierce red-maned horses and sweat-blood steeds of the mortal world by a tremendous margin, whether in speed or endurance.
The main reason, of course, was that Liu Yiyun was flat broke. This piece of trash was the only mount he could afford.
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A bovine-horse riding a bovine-horse—the very definition of self-produced goods sold straight to the customer.
If his current cultivation at the fifth level of Qi Condensation were equivalent to level five, then a Spirit Transformation artifact should correspond to equipment around level forty or fifty.
Liu Yiyun had no idea how valuable the Nine-Turn Lotus Throne was, but it had to be worth at least several stories’ worth of spirit stones.
So it was no wonder he was in such a hurry. The system bro provided neither cultivation techniques nor magical artifacts.
If someone truly meant him harm, a Spirit Transformation artifact might save his life at a critical moment.
After mounting the bovine-horse, Liu Yiyun took up his whip and began lashing the creature’s rump without pause.
Crack, crack, crack!
The bovine-horse bolted like the wind.
Between cities and sects, there were special roads meant for mortals and Qi Condensation cultivators who could not fly. Buried beneath these roads were demon-repelling stones, which Qi Condensation-level demon beasts avoided at all costs.
Most people traveled along these roads, as they were relatively safe.
Liu Yiyun, however, did not.
He deliberately took the deserted wilderness.
The special roads wound and twisted, wasting far too much time.
A straight path through the wilderness would save him plenty of time—and might even give him a chance to encounter some demon beasts.
Those were excellent sources of nourishment.
His time was precious. He planned to spend one day retrieving the Nine-Turn Lotus Throne and two days grinding cultivation in the Demon-Suppressing Prison.
An hour later, the bovine-horse slowed down.
The scenery of the wilderness was simply too magnificent. Ancient trees hundreds of meters tall, wild chickens larger than human beings, endless stretches of multicolored vegetation…
It was even more breathtaking than the finest five-star scenic areas of his previous life.
It seemed the cultivators and demon beasts of the Profound Heaven Continent took environmental protection very seriously.
At that moment, Liu Yiyun felt an overwhelming urge to compose a poem.
Unfortunately, he was illiterate and could not squeeze out even a single line.
His enthusiasm quickly withered. If only a few demon beasts would appear and liven things up!
Demon beasts?
His patrol captain had told him that demon beasts generally lurked within the wilderness. If one happened to pass through it, one should never make too much noise, lest the creatures notice.
At that thought, inspiration struck him again. He wrapped his voice in spiritual power and began to sing.
“The Five-Starred Red Flag billows in the wind; the song of victory rings loud and clear…”
There we go. Fishing for trouble through law enforcement!
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Unfortunately, he did not encounter a single demon beast along the way. He arrived at Stone Mountain in utter boredom.
Perhaps the disciples from the various sects had already farmed them all as monsters.
Looking at the utterly unremarkable Stone Mountain, Liu Yiyun could not help sighing.
“Ah, is my luck good or bad, exactly?”
If one said his luck was good, then he had traveled eight hundred miles through the wilderness without encountering a single demon beast.
If one said his luck was bad, then he had traveled eight hundred miles through the wilderness without encountering a single demon beast.
“Forget it, forget it. I should retrieve the Nine-Turn Lotus Throne first.”
Riding his bovine-horse, Liu Yiyun trudged dejectedly up the mountain.
He soon found the temple mentioned by the Southern Sea Flood Dragon. Unfortunately, it had fallen into a state of utter disrepair, and even its signboard had collapsed onto the ground.
The ancient tree behind the temple had long since withered, leaving behind nothing but a section of dead wood.
Liu Yiyun walked beneath the withered tree, activated the secret technique Iron Skin and Steel Bones, and began digging.
He was incredibly strong now. His hands were practically shovels.
The Southern Sea Flood Dragon had buried the item very deeply. Liu Yiyun dug for a full two hours, repeatedly wondering whether he had dug in the wrong place.
Fortunately, he finally struck something.
It was a wooden box.
He did not immediately dig it out of the earth. He still could not be sure whether that old dragon was playing some underhanded trick on him. What if it were a hidden weapon that exploded the moment it was touched? Wouldn’t he be finished?
An hour later.
The wooden box remained motionless. Liu Yiyun gathered a pile of stones and hurled them at it.
Another hour passed.
The wooden box still did not react. Liu Yiyun found a two-meter-long branch, stood at a distance, turned sideways, and prodded the box while preparing to flee at any moment.
Another hour passed.
The wooden box remained still. Liu Yiyun picked it up and examined it carefully.
Another hour passed, and the sun sank below the horizon.
The wooden box still showed no reaction. Liu Yiyun pushed Iron Skin and Steel Bones to its absolute limit, then opened the box with its mouth facing outward, ensuring that he could respond quickly should anything go wrong.
When the wooden box opened, no hidden weapons came flying at him as he had imagined.
Instead, a burst of multicolored radiance erupted from within.
Liu Yiyun focused his gaze and saw a strangely exquisite, many-colored flower spinning endlessly inside.