Stranger Danger-Chapter 1719: Cyan Lotus In A Lake

“Huh?”

Not long after they began their return journey, Ye Qing suddenly stopped in his tracks and lifted his eyebrows.

Feng Qingyou asked, “What’s wrong?”

“King Taishan just picked up something.”

Ye Qing pointed at the horizon and said excitedly, “I think it’s up ahead!”

Up ahead was the direction they needed to travel to leave Xi Huang.

“Let’s go!”

The duo immediately sped forward using King Taishan as their compass.

About an hour later, Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou’s pupils contracted into pins.

It was because a lake had emerged from the horizon.

It was a strange lake. For one, it was floating in the air. Its water was clear like a mirror and transparent like a piece of jade. A cyan lotus was floating on its surface.

The cyan lotus had nine petals, and it was emitting a cyan light. Yin and yang seemed to be circulating between the petals, enigmatic and profound. The cyan lotus was also clearly alive and full of spirit. It was nothing like the dead Xi Huang.

“That cyan lotus is probably the evil suppressing spiritual treasure.”

Ye Qing could not help but declare excitedly when he saw the cyan lotus.

He had given up on finding the evil suppressing spiritual treasure before this, but as it turned out, there was a light at the end of the tunnel. It was only natural that he was both excited and pleased.

Feng Qingyou did not look as optimistic as him, however. “We found it yes, but retrieving the evil suppressing spiritual treasure does not look like a simple task.”

Ye Qing’s excitement slowly died down, and a frown gradually overtook his expression when he heard this.

Feng Qingyou was right. It wasn’t simple because the lotus was just out of the five-thousand-kilometer range. If they went further than that, then they would most likely leave Xi Huang, meaning that they would not be able to reach the lotus.

“Black Mountain, go give it a try.”

That said, they wouldn’t know until they gave it a try though.

“Yes, young master.” Black Mountain responded affirmatively before flying toward the cyan lotus. He was just about to reach the point when suddenly, the space around Black Mountain rippled, and the man abruptly disappeared into nothing.

“You go, Flying Dragon.”

Ye Qing lifted an eyebrow and ordered Flying Dragon forward. Flying Dragon was better at movement arts and spatial arts than Black Mountain. Perhaps the man could succeed where Black Mountain had failed.

Flying Dragon flashed and became one with the space around him. Then, he slowly approached the lake using his spatial secret art.

Unfortunately, Flying Dragon disappeared right before he was about to reach the lake just like Black Mountain.

This time, neither Ye Qing nor Feng Qingyou sensed any spatial disturbance. One moment Flying Dragon was there, and the next he was gone.

Ye Qing mulled over his options before holding out his hand. The Earthly Sovereign Bell appeared, and he tapped it with his finger.

Thang...

Profound light flashed, and a bell chime rang. The Five Phases were pacified, and spacetime was still. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

He was hoping that freezing the spacetime before him would allow someone to ignore the rules of Xi Huang and retrieve the cyan lotus.

A divine envoy immediately walked toward the lake, but Ye Qing’s effort quickly proved futile. He disappeared right before he would reach the lake.

Feng Qingyou gave it a go as well. She morphed the Supreme Primal Origin Celebratory Cloud into a palm and tried to retrieve the cyan lotus remotely. However, the palm disappeared as soon as it passed through a certain threshold. Feng Qingyou lost all perception of that portion of the Supreme Primal Origin Celebratory Cloud as well.

The duo would experiment with a lot more methods to no avail.

“What do we do now?”

Ye Qing said with clear urgency. The treasure was right before their eyes, and yet they couldn’t retrieve it. It was frustrating to say the least.

“I think you’ve forgotten something.”

Feng Qingyou wasn’t worried though. In fact, she looked quite calm.

“I forgot something?” Ye Qing was puzzled for a second before realization struck him. “You’re talking about King Taishan?”

Feng Qingyou smiled. “King Taishan’s the one who left the treasure here. Perhaps he is the only one who could retrieve it.”

“I guess you’re right. We don’t have any other choice anyway.”

It wasn’t that he forgot about King Taishan, it was just that King Taishan was their final resort. If even King Taishan failed, then their effort to retrieve the cyan lotus would definitely end in failure. That was why they left him for last.

Obviously, the ideal scenario was that them retrieving the cyan lotus via other means. Since nothing worked, they had no choice but to use their last resort.

Ye Qing summoned King Taishan’s consciousness. As soon as he did this, the cyan lotus started swaying even though there was no wind, and it felt like some sort of link was established between the duo.

“I think it’s working!”

Ye Qing’s eyes lit up, and he commanded King Taishan forward.

As King Taishan stepped forward, the cyan lotus swayed, and wisps of clear light scattered in multiple directions. At the same time, an immense amount of vitality spread throughout the world.

When King Taishan reached the threshold, the light reached King Taishan and enveloped him.

Something incredible happened. Instead of disappearing like Black Mountain or Flying Dragon, King Taishan walked right up to the cyan lotus.

King Taishan reached out and caressed the lotus gently. The lotus shone brighter, and the entire lake slowly shrank under its light. It gradually transformed into an emerald green lotus leaf.

Finally, the cyan lotus landed in King Taishan’s hand.

The cyan lotus in hand, King Taishan slowly made his way toward the duo.

Every time he took a step, grass would burst out of the barren wasteland underneath his feet.

Every time his foot landed, flowers would sprout from the dead land around him.

Right here and now, it was as if King Taishan was a deity of creation and life. He looked holy, noble, and powerful.

At the same time, Ye Qing could sense wisps of origin power belonging to King Taishan transferring from the cyan lotus into King Taishan’s body. It caused both his power and cultivation level to grow rapidly.

“Tsk tsk... King Taishan truly is a smart one!”

Ye Qing could not help but let out a sigh. As expected of an ancient god who was infamous for his cunning, Ye Qing grew certain that every evil suppressing spiritual treasure contained his unique imprint and origin power.

The unique imprint ensured that no one except King Taishan could retrieve the evil suppressing spiritual treasure even if they encountered it by chance, and the origin power was his backup plan.

If something happened to him, or he was grievously injured for whatever reason, he could use the fact that the evil suppressing spiritual treasures were the bane of the Four Evils to threaten his attackers or at least keep himself alive. Two, no one who learned about the connection between the four evil suppressing spiritual treasures and the Four Evils would be able to resist the temptation to look for it.

Be it benevolent warriors who wished to retrieve the treasures so that they could stop the upcoming massacres, or ambitious tyrants who wished to claim the treasures for themselves, claiming the treasures also meant mastering the Four Evils, and mastering the Four Evils was the same as being able to do whatever they wanted.

Therefore, everyone had a reason to look for the evil suppressing spiritual treasures, and as long as they sought after the evil suppressing spiritual treasures, they must bring King Taishan with them. If King Taishan made contact with the evil suppressing spiritual treasures, then he would be able to retrieve the origin power he left behind and swiftly recover his strength. The process was hidden enough that, if not for the fact that Ye Qing had converted this wisp of consciousness into his Heavenly Demon Dependent, he might not have detected it.

Naturally, this would allow King Taishan to regain his power and turn against his captors.

Truly, King Taishan’s intelligence was formidable.