In the mountains, time lost meaning. Hun Yu no longer remembered how far he had walked or how long he had been running before finally arriving at that cave residence.
After all, it was a demonic beast’s den. Even if it belonged to a high-level demonic beast, it was still filled with all kinds of pungent smells. Even Hun Yu had to pinch his nose while resting inside.
He cleaned up some of the beast’s droppings and scattered them outside the cave. Still feeling uneasy, he even dug up the soil soaked with beast urine and flung it farther away.
On his return, he used some branches to brush away his tracks, then pulled fresh brambles and branches to camouflage the surroundings. He even covered the entrance with some branches and weeds.
Only after doing all this did he finally sit down and take a breather.
It was only then that he noticed that the stone skin of the Blue Lotus Stone Platform had somehow completely shed, revealing a blue jade-like inner core.
There were no intricate patterns—just a lotus platform shaped like a blue lotus. At its center, a vividly lifelike koi fish stood upright as if leaping from the water, frozen in midair, crystal-clear and dazzling.
Hun Yu had never known that the platform had an outer layer. He had always thought it was merely a stone lotus pedestal. Who would’ve thought it was made of such fine blue jade.
Suddenly, a blinding blue light burst from the Blue Lotus Stone Platform, and the entire platform turned into a stream of blue light, shooting straight into Hun Yu’s body.
His mind suddenly jolted. In the next moment, a hazy vision of the primordial cosmos emerged in his mind.
Within a world of dark chaos, a blue lotus bloomed proudly, surrounded by endless radiant light of the Great Dao. It stood tall in the midst of chaos, shining brilliantly, as though it was trying to support and split open the entire void on its own.
One day, the lotus’s roots began to grow endlessly, stretching all the way to the edge of chaos, rooting deep into the eternal darkness.
Its lotus leaves spread endlessly too, filling the vast chaotic space. Everywhere the eye could see, all was covered in blue lotus.
Endless lotus leaves held up a portion of chaos, pushing it upward, while the roots stood tall in another part of chaos, pushing it downward.
In this process, the boundless darkness gradually gained a trace of light, as if heaven and earth were being opened up.
At a certain moment, the blue lotus stopped growing, having reached its limit. Chaos had now been split into heaven and earth, and between them, only the verdant image of blue lotus remained.
Suddenly, without warning, thick clusters of black mist surged from the endless void of chaos, enveloping the entire lotus. From within the black mist came torrents of pitch-black lightning, wildly lashing down upon the blue lotus.
This barrage of thunderous strikes went on for an immeasurable span of time. Eventually, the blue lotus could no longer withstand the relentless assault and completely shattered.
In an instant, all the lotus leaves and roots retracted and began to crack apart.
As it fractured, six lotuses of different colors split off from it. They broke free from the black mist, tore through time and space, and disappeared into the chaos.
Meanwhile, the remaining energy of the blue lotus condensed into a lotus platform surrounded by streaks of green-blue energy. It transformed into a streak of flowing light, tearing through the chaos and vanishing without a trace.
The vision ended abruptly at that point, but the scene left Hun Yu in utter shock, speechless for a long time.
“This stone platform… is the same as the one the blue lotus turned into at the end. Has it now become my Companion Treasure and entered my body?”
Just as Hun Yu was still in a daze, the stone platform began to change again.
It slowly descended into his Dantian and started to dissolve, melting like wax into a liquid form.
Externally, a palm-sized blue lotus condensed above Hun Yu’s head. It swayed gently in the air, and with each motion, a surge of dense spiritual Qi would rush toward the lotus core, then pour into Hun Yu’s body.
Gradually, the lotus’s swaying turned into spinning. The spiritual Qi began condensing into a spiritual Qi storm. It became a massive force, practically tangible, flooding into Hun Yu’s body.
As the spiritual Qi entered him and the lotus platform melted, Hun Yu’s originally crippled Dantian and Meridians began to function once more. The broken Meridians were slowly repairing themselves, reconnecting as if they had never been damaged.
Moreover, the vast spiritual Qi surged through his body, expanding his Meridians. The once thread-like Meridians were gradually becoming thick and strong.
But this process was incredibly violent and aggressive. Hun Yu endured an unimaginable level of inhuman pain and torment. It was essentially a complete reconstruction of his Dantian and Meridians. Even his entire skeleton seemed unable to withstand the overwhelming pressure of this spiritual Qi infusion and began to shatter.
The pain was so intense he wanted to scream, but his instincts screamed back at him—he must not open his mouth to cry out, or the consequences would be severe.
Hun Yu suddenly remembered a phrase he once read: at the beginning of the world, a chaotic turbid energy was born from the chaos, called the Primordial Yellow Mother Qi.
And right now, he felt as though that very energy was building up in his mouth, ready to burst out from his mouth and nose with all its might.
The spiritual Qi vortex kept expanding, and the storm it generated was so immense that it could destroy this entire mountain forest. Even with the surrounding spiritual Qi rapidly drained, the vortex showed no sign of weakening. Instead, it continued sweeping toward the depths of the Monster Beast Mountain Range.
The skin all over Hun Yu’s body cracked open, unable to endure the surge of overpowering energy. Every joint in his body gave off cracking sounds before turning to powder.
His entire skeleton had been destroyed, leaving behind what was essentially just a human skin barely able to stand.
The Blue Lotus Stone Platform continued to dissolve within him, transforming into a basin-sized pool inside his body.
As the spiritual Qi poured in, a grape-sized blue lotus seed floated on the surface of the inner pond, radiating an intense cyan glow.
At that moment, the carved stone koi also came alive, turning into a blue-gold little fish that joyfully swam around the lotus seed, splashing and frolicking in the water.
As time passed, the seed began to sprout and take root, anchoring itself in the pool and beginning a process of mutated growth.
Meanwhile, the surrounding mountain forest for tens of kilometers was ravaged by the spiritual Qi storm. Countless rocks, plants, and trees were destroyed, turning the entire region into a forbidden disaster zone.
Heaven and earth responded. Thick black clouds gathered across a thousand kilometers of sky, blocking out the sun. The oppressive force they released covered the heavens, instantly crushing a towering mountain into rubble, scattering its debris in every direction.