Chapter 36

35, The Lotus Root

Hum!

Zhou Chang, following the Paper Face, stepped into the pool water in one stride. The pool water remained silent and still, as if transformed into a clear, transparent swamp that swallowed Zhou Chang and the Paper Face—

His figure slowly sank downward, the pool water surrounding him soft and rotten like mud.

The pool water submerged over his head. For a moment, the formless, colorless pool water flowing around him showed signs of turning into a illusory, mottled aura, but in the blink of an eye, it returned to seeming normal—within this deep pool, the heavy 'Xiang Qi' was pervasive.

The dense Xiang Qi had even transformed into the water of the pool!

The pool water, returning to its normal state, flowed gently beside Zhou Chang, like the soft, clinging lotus-root arms of a woman.

The moment this thought flashed through Zhou Chang's mind, the pool water flowing around him, soft as sinking mud, truly transformed into rows of snow-white, soft arms!

Beautiful, youthful women with hair like clouds drifted in the water.

'Their' arms linked to arms, encircling Zhou Chang underwater, dancing gracefully!

The world in Zhou Chang's eyes began to become chaotic; this was a sign of the Xiang Qi infecting his Sexual Soul!

Just then, strands of snow-white, transparent lotus-root threads swam out from Bai Xiue, wrapping around Zhou Chang again and again. Those threads connected to Zhou Chang's Thought Threads, causing his Thought Threads to grow, allowing him to maintain his sanity amidst this bewildering Xiang Qi!

The Paper Face pulled him, continuing to descend.

Those soft, transparent women were pushed aside by Zhou Chang's figure.

Their transparent, colorless shells were densely packed within the pool water, like hollowed-out rotten logs, able only to drift with the current.

Faint white, transparent threads swam densely downward from their shells, hanging all the way to the bottom of the pool.

At the very bottom of the Bride Pool, there truly were sections of lotus roots.

In the pitch-black, filthy mud, snow-white lotus roots resembling human limbs lay coiled beneath. As the mud was swept away by the pool water, the lotus root joints appeared in fragments.

Countless lotus root joints deeply sunk in the mire clustered around the single lotus root that had broken through the mud, swaying its figure in the pool water.

That lotus root had nine sections, its surface covered with fine lotus-root threads.

The soft, transparent 'women' crowded in the pool water; the lotus-root threads swimming within their shells all came from this single nine-section lotus root.

The nine-section lotus root continued to emit vast amounts of lotus-root threads.

A small portion of the lotus-root threads swam toward Bai Xiue, connecting with the threads on her body.

The remaining majority of the lotus-root threads wrapped around another lotus root at the bottom of the pool, layer upon layer.

Under the layer upon layer of wrapping lotus-root threads, that lotus root actually revealed a human silhouette. The holes on its body were finer than a needle's eye, resembling human pores.

Looking at that lotus root grown into a human shape, Zhou Chang inexplicably felt a sense of familiarity.

The Paper Face's voice came, light and floating, yet incredibly clear even underwater: "Zhou Langjun, have you heard the opera 'Nezha Troubles the Sea'? In that opera, Nezha pulled out the Dragon King's Third Crown Prince's tendons and flayed his skin, thus offending the East Sea Dragon King.

The East Sea Dragon King then gathered the gods of the Four Seas, intending to flood Nezha's hometown. Nezha was thus rebuked by his father, so he returned his bones to his father and his flesh to his mother...

Finally, he entrusted his soul within a nine-section immortal lotus root, allowing him to be reborn.

Do you think this lotus root can truly transform into a human?

If a lotus root can transform into a human, could it originally have been formed from a human corpse?"

Nezha, lotus root, corpse...

Listening to the Paper Face's words, Zhou Chang vaguely felt the other party was hinting at something to him.

But the Paper Face's words were evasive; relying merely on these few 'coded words', he could not truly connect the clues to glimpse the truth hidden within.

At this moment, the Paper Face suddenly began to softly hum a song of an unknown language. The singing was ethereal and distant, like heavy snow rustling down in the mountains: "Om Da Lie, Du Da Lie, Du Lie Suo Ha... Om Da Lie, Du Da Lie, Du Lie Suo Ha..."

Accompanying her singing, the pool water in Zhou Chang's vision, which had already become clear and transparent, turned illusory and mottled once more.

Rolling Xiang Qi flooded his vision!

He saw that the sections of lotus roots buried in the mud had transformed into the swollen, pale corpses of women!

The many female corpses, wrapped in colorful scraps of cloth, clustered around the nine-section lotus root that had broken through the mud—that nine-section lotus root had transformed into nine beautiful young women with different features!

The lowest section, the woman serving as the root of the lotus root, wore a wedding dress. Over many past years, the phoenix crown and red robes had faded into a mottled mix of red and white, yet the woman's face remained unchanged. Her hair, like clouds and a waterfall, drifted; the face beneath her flowing hair bore an eight-tenths resemblance to Bai Xiue!

This woman, resembling Bai Xiue, emitted clinging lotus-root threads from her body, wrapping around the other seven women dressed in various floral cloth garments.

The seven women, like lotus seeds, tightly encircled the lotus heart, another woman wearing a phoenix crown and red robes.

The wedding dress on that woman was still bright and vivid, not yet faded.

Yet on her delicate, weak face, and on the palms of her exposed hands, were covered with lotus-root holes, from which colorless lotus-root threads flowed like water!

This woman was none other than Bai Xiue!

The nine-section lotus root was actually composed of nine women: Bai Xiue, seven other unnamed women, and the suspected 'Grandmother Bai'!

"Run... run..."

Bai Xiue whispered softly.

Her tear-streaked face suddenly transformed into the appearance of the Paper Face.

The ethereal, pure singing echoed around Zhou Chang's ears, yet the scene in Zhou Chang's vision grew increasingly blurred. His consciousness gradually receded into the depths of darkness, like returning to a mother's embrace—

His vision finally fixed on the other section of lotus root, wrapped by numerous lotus-root threads, revealing a human silhouette.

Just as his Sexual Soul was about to fall completely into slumber, the content of the 'Great Essence Heart Cinnabar Sutra' that Zhou Chang had previously browsed flowed out from his eyes again. Those fragmented, twisted Chinese characters rapidly arranged and reorganized before him.

He saw a sound in his eyes: "Lotus Body, Lotus Root, Divine Essence...

The Divine Essence has not been refined by Heaven, the mind is chaotic and empty...

Chanting the Sudden Arrival Mantra, the Essence awakens my wisdom and connects with me...

Sudden Arrival Mantra, Sudden Arrival Mantra, summon the black, mysterious madness, before my eyes the heaven and earth are vast..."

Divine Essence, Divine Essence...

Zhou Chang's mind captured the key information within that stream of information, generating many other associations in his brain.

He thought of the first time he understood the 'Great Essence Heart Cinnabar Sutra', when the 'Egg Case Embryo of Natta Heaven' mentioned in the Great Essence Heart Cinnabar Sutra...

Divine Essence, Egg Case Embryo...

The last thought churned in Zhou Chang's mind for a while before he finally succumbed to a sleepiness akin to returning to the womb, his thoughts sinking completely into darkness.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The sounds of a cleaver chopping flesh and striking the cutting board rang ceaselessly in Zhou Chang's ears.

He did not know how long he had slept in the darkness before he was finally awakened by these bursts of violent chopping sounds.

He slowly opened his eyes—

Rows of skinned white-fleshed dogs hanging on iron hooks came into view.