Chapter 28: Primal lotus flower and dew

Haishi looked up and took the sandalwood case with the primal lotus dew. The primal lotus dew like its name was dew produced by the primal lotus flower. It takes 100 years for a primal lotus flower to produce a single drop of dew. The potency of said dew is correlated to the age of the flower, which in and of itself was a rarity that would cause the cultivation world to go mad with greed regardless of their strength or foundation.

Both the flower and the dew were of great import to both human cultivators and spirit beasts because of their ability to induce a state of epiphany, and it was especially effective on those that had an affinity with the water element like Haishi.

Entering a state of epiphany was something that could be chanced upon and not guaranteed. Cultivators could spend their entire lives never having experienced it and those that did, triggered it only a few times never exceeding the fingers on their hands.

Triggering an epiphany was as rare as stumbling onto a saint-grade natural treasure, and those who were lucky enough to do so would reap unimaginable benefits from it. Leaps in cultivation base, the formation and improvement of cultivation arts, and other monumental changes in the cultivation world were birthed out of a momentary epiphany.

Having an epiphany was no different than stumbling upon a miracle that could transform your life. Turning rotten wood to gold. There were red-grade cultivation arts that were transformed into gold-grade arts because of an epiphany.

Due to the precious possibilities provided by an epiphany, cultivators of all races scoured for every chance to attain it, finding treasures and natural oddities that could trigger. However said treasures and oddities were as rare as qilin horns, phoenix feathers, and dragon spit. The primal lotus flower was one of those oddities. Each petal and the dew had epiphany-inducing effects with the effects being stronger from the petals in comparison to the dew. The stalk though didn't have the same effects, it helped retain the potency of the dew, and without it the dew would dissipate.

The dew in Feng Xin's possession, though its size was small, about the size of a melon seed, it could induce and maintain a cultivator's state of epiphany for 30 minutes. Feng Xin had traded a few treasures and promises to acquire it, but unlike most who needed the dew to help with their cultivation, Feng Xin only acquired it because it was a great delicacy and he had read in some cookbook of its ability to elevate the flavor of soup dishes to unimaginable levels.

Epiphany? he could care less about it. To him eating came above everything else, even his well-being could be risked if it gave him the opportunity to eat some rare delicacy.

With deep reluctance, he handed the dew to Haishi who had deep fanaticism showing in her eyes. With trembling limbs she picked up the stalk, remembering to return the sandalwood box to Feng Xin.

"Clear your mind of all distractions so you can properly refine the dew. The more you extract the better the effects which we will need. I will need you to fly me somewhere at great speeds without pause..." Feng Xin said.

Haishi nodded solemnly like a child receiving instructions before she swallowed the dew, stalk, and all.

Her large compound eyes turned into narrow saucers as she hovered up and down as if in glee. A huge change soon occurred in her body that made her pause her momentary glee of savoring the dew. Her body felt warmer with the temperature increasing drastically by the second. Just when she thought she couldn't handle the heat, a huge cool energy blanketed her. The energy refreshed her, and the overwhelming heat from before dissipated. What was left now was a level of comfort she had never felt before. Even the tensed-up emotions she felt from being around Feng Xin seemed to have been washed away by the cool refreshing energy. Haishi soon lost herself to that feeling.

"Haishi focus..."

Haishi was woken up from her reverie as she felt as if a frigid cold had penetrated every part of her body including her soul.

"Don't lose yourself to momentary satisfaction here. You still haven't even started properly refining the dew. We don't have time and It's not much, so we don't have the luxury of wasting even a tiny amount away. Keep a calm mind and try to sense the energy around the dew and not your surroundings despite how comfortable it feels. Dive into the dew inside of you. Its nature, its rhythm, and its breath. Be led by it and ignore everything else. The more you attune yourself to it the better the effects you'll receive,' Feng Xin gently said calming Haishi's excited emotions.

Haishi in obedience closed her eyes and tried to sense the qualities within the dew. As she immersed herself within, she saw the dew that was still as tiny as a melon seed but the more she drew closer to it the larger it seemed.

The dew suddenly transformed into a long river and swallowed Haishi. Haishi tried to fly away the moment she was swallowed but her wings were immediately petrified, all turning to rock. Tried as she might, she just couldn't escape the clutches of the river. A massive pain soon assaulted her whole body. She felt herself being forcibly transformed. Her bones and inside were all being compressed and the more she struggled the worse it felt.

She continuously struggled against the transformation, eventually, the pain got so unbearable that she thought of giving up. It was in the midst of that dying struggle that Feng Xin's words of diving into the rhythm of the dew did something click for her and she let go of the struggle and surrendered herself to the force of the river. The instant she did, the pain disappeared and the transformation proceeded swiftly and smoothly. At the end of the transformation, she got turned into a crude-looking rock which then sunk to the bottom of the river and was dragged along with its flow.

She completely immersed herself in the flow of the river. She was dragged along for what seemed years with the river showing no signs of stopping. In those years, however, there was a great change to her now-rock body. What started as crude and jagged rock had been smoothened out over the years being polished and purified in the process and its size greatly reduced. She could not keep track of the passage of time, but she did keep track of the changes happening to her. After what seemed to be five years, she had been transformed into a purple pebble the size of a mango and the flower of the river felt different. She felt like she was in a gentle and warm embrace.

The next time Haishi opened her eyes, she found herself in a hall full of unconscious people. She was a little bit dazed at first before she regained her bearings of where she was.

"Congratulations, it seems you got more of a harvest than I expected."

A gentle voice sounded from behind her. She quickly turned and saw the owner of the voice, Feng Xin. Instead of the deep-seated fear she felt before from seeing him, she now had endless gratitude because she could feel the changes in her body.

Her transformative experience in the river-like illusion didn't seem to be false. Though she was no longer that pebble just like the pebble her body felt more polished and refined. It was lighter, stronger, compact, and filled with energy that she even had doubts was coming from her body. She felt like she had better control of every single part of her body four times better than she did before. Though her cultivation base was still at the fourth stage of the core formation realm, it was purer and more refined filled with energy. The fifth stage wasn't that far off from her. If she dedicated a few days to cultivate she was sure she could breach that barrier and jump into the middle stages of the core formation realm.

"Thank you for the opportunity you bestowed upon me, Feng Xin. Haishi will always remember it," Haishi said as she bowed her head to Feng Xin.

"Don't worry about it, but if you do want to pay me back I need you to fly me with all your strength toward a particular direction. Looking at the changes in your body I think we may make it in good time," Feng Xin said as he inspected Haishi's wings.

Her wings now had a light purple tint to them and seemed sturdier than before.

"I will do all that I can," Haishi said with strong resolve.

Feng Xin turned to leave the hall with Haishi following behind, but just as he was about to leap on her back, he turned seemingly considering something as he looked at the unconscious cultivators in the hall. He fished out a few formation flags from his storage ring and then placed them at specific positions around the building.

Once the last flag was in place, Feng Xin took out a single high-grade spirit stone crushed it to dust, and sprinkled it on all the formation flags which instantly lit up on contact.

A white fog was produced which grew till it blanketed the whole hall.

"The fog of obscurity formation should be enough to stop anyone from harming them not unless a formation arrays expert at the palace stage shows up." Feng Xin said as he dusted off the spirit stone dust from his hands.

"Haishi let's go. We are headed in the northeast direction. Once we are out of the green fog you'll automatically know the exact location I want you to head in. You need to focus on just flying don't worry about anything else, I'll be taking care of the rest," Feng Xin said as he jumped on Haishi's back.

Haishi didn't hesitate as she beat her wings in full force disappearing past Peng Zhen's peak. Within a few seconds, they had already left the grounds of the Green Fog Swamp sect.