Chapter 1001: Blue Lotus Fairy

The dead silence of the secret realm is more suffocating than the roar of the venomous lizard dragon.

A heavy, strange odor of blood, poison gas and rocky dust pervades the air. Han Wuxian feels excruciating pain in both arms with each step, his inner spiritual energy nearly exhausted, and only a stubborn will keeps his body moving among the jagged stones.

He must find an exit as soon as possible; the wound on his body feels like a red‑hot needle, constantly stabbing his tense nerves.

The ground beneath his feet is no longer hard rock, gradually turning into wet, soft mud, and the air fills with an ancient, decayed yet strangely floral scent.

The surrounding stone forest becomes increasingly bizarre, twisted like ghost claws, its surface coated with a slick layer of moss that emits a faint glow. Light here seems warped and Devour by some force, making the view darker and oppressive.

Suddenly, he stops.

Ahead, the winding stone path gives way to a relatively open hollow.

In the center of the hollow, a pool of pitch‑black still water lies silently, its surface unruffled, yet exuding a chilling dread and a faint… pressure.

At the pool's edge, a gigantic plant of odd shape roots in the silt; its trunk has long petrified into a deep onyx hue, while its apex bizarrely bears a massive, translucent blue lotus.

The lotus petals are as thin as cicada wings, veins coursing with a faint phosphorescence, appearing unusually ethereal and holy amid the dead, dim silence.

Han Wuxian's heart suddenly sinks. This place is too bizarre; the aura of that blue lotus carries an indescribable ancient weariness, even subtly outweighing the power that had just settled within him.

Instinctively, he grips his sword hilt tightly, scanning the surroundings warily.

The moment his gaze touches that blue lotus!

"Hum…"

A sigh, as if spanning Infinity of time and space, ethereal and lingering, rings directly in Han Wuxian's mind!

The sound does not travel through air but acts directly upon his spirit, bearing unimaginable penetrating power and undeniable authority.

At the pool's center, the massive blue lotus slowly unfurls.

At the lotus's heart, not a stamen but a gentle yet intensely condensed blue aura.

Within the aura, an illusory figure gradually becomes clear.

It is a woman. She wears a simple blue Dao robe, its wide sleeves like flowing clouds, the hem moving without wind, as if she could merge into this dead silence at any moment.

Her face blurs within the blue aura, only a faint glimpse of her exquisite outline, while her eyes, like cold stars in a deep pool, transcend time and space, calmly settling on Han Wuxian.

That gaze is deep and desolate, containing wisdom that sees all things and an indescribable weariness.

Centuries of sediment have turned into an invisible pressure on her, not deliberately released, yet making Han Wuxian feel his spirit tremble slightly, as if facing an ancient Existence deity.

His inner magical force instinctively stirs, trying to resist this invisible pressure, yet is drawn to some ancient Dao rhythm contained in her aura.

"Junior…" The cool voice again directly reverberates in Han Wuxian's spirit, without any emotional fluctuation, like a mountain stream dripping into a cold pool: "You have a very unique scent. Pure, and also… familiar."

Han Wuxian suppresses the raging turmoil in his heart, his grip on the sword tightening, and says gravely, "Junior Han Wuxian, I did not intend to trespass upon a senior's cultivation ground; please forgive my transgression!"

"I am the Blue Lotus," she said lightly.

Han Wuxian lowers his posture deeply, for facing a being that has survived seven hundred years, any disrespect could be fatal.

The ethereal shadow within the blue lotus, the Blue Lotus Fairy, gazes as if piercing Han Wuxian's body, landing on the imprint of the Light Dao Principle deep in his dantian that has not yet fully settled.

That beast couldn't have been domesticated by her, could it?

Han Wuxian's face turns bitter, but it's too late to say anything now.

"Bone‑eating venom lizard… was merely a small creature I casually captured years ago to guard this pool, preventing filth from defiling the Pure World Blue Lotus," she says evenly, as if discussing a trivial item: "It died, it died. I… will not blame you for that."

Han Wuxian feels slightly at ease, but his vigilance does not waver. Such a great being would never reveal itself lightly, nor be so lenient to intruders.

Sure enough, the ethereal figure of the Blue Lotus Fairy seems to ripple slightly, and in those deep eyes, a complex ripple surfaces for the first time, both sorrowful and joyful, also bearing an indescribable… yearning.

"You can invoke the Light Dao Principle, albeit weakly, yet you have grasped its essence… perhaps this is destiny," she says with a barely perceptible urgency: "Junior, I will not hold you accountable for trespassing or killing the beast, and may even guide you the path out of the Gap of Returning Ruins."

Han Wuxian's spirit lifts; leaving this place is now the top priority! Yet he knows conditions will inevitably follow.

"Senior, what orders do you have? Please state them clearly!" he says, cupping his fists, in a respectful posture.

The Blue Lotus Fairy's gaze deepens further, as if piercing the secret realm's rock walls, looking toward an unknowable past and future.

"I need you… to find the whereabouts of an item for me," she says, her voice heavy with the weight of ages, "a treasure that should belong to my Mysterious Gan Dao, yet was lost without a trace in the cataclysm seven hundred years ago — the Star Sea Map."

"Star Sea Map?" Han Wuxian has never heard that name.

"Correct," the ethereal aura around the Blue Lotus Fairy ripples gently, "It is not an ordinary treasure, but a wondrous artifact imprinted with the trajectories of the heavens' stars, containing the mysteries of space's origin. It… is one of the key tokens for seeking the Gate of the Returning Ruins, and may even point to the locations of certain lost inheritances."

She pauses, her gaze sharply fixed on Han Wuxian: "I am bound to this place, symbiotic with the Pure World Blue Lotus, unable to leave. Only one possessing a special sensing power can trace the Star Sea Map. Your Light Dao Principle is the perfect conduit for sensing space and stellar paths! Perhaps your intrusion here is destiny itself."

Han Wuxian's thoughts shift rapidly. Searching for a legendary treasure, its difficulty and danger are obvious. Yet now, this seems the only chance to obtain a clue for escape, and… the terms "Gate of the Returning Ruins," "lost inheritance"… make his heart...

"Senior, where might the Star Sea Map be now? My cultivation is low, I fear I cannot bear this heavy task," he asks cautiously.

"I do not know its exact whereabouts," she replies.

The Blue Lotus Fairy says calmly: "Seven hundred years ago, a cataclysm erupted, heavens overturned, and the Star Sea Map vanished together with the last steward of my Mysterious Gan Dao, never heard of again. Clues… may have long been lost in the river of time. Yet your 'Light' is the only spark that can reignite it. Go seek it, in places tied to stars, space, and ancient ruins, looking for any trace. When you draw near, your internal Light Dao Principle will naturally generate a resonance."

Her ethereal fingertip lightly taps, and a barely perceptible blue light instantly merges into Han Wuxian's forehead.