Chapter 37 - The Golden Lotus Poses A Test, At Full Power, All The Petals Will Bloom The Best
“To think that someone as godly as them exists!”
“Who are they?”
“No wonder Li Xingchen wanted to host a banquet for them!”
“Wow, Xingchen is one of the world’s top pretty-boys but standing beside them makes him look like nothing.”
“Their every move feels like they have some sort of natural connection to the flow of the universe. It’s so otherworldly. Where do they come from?!”
The crowd returned to their senses and gasped at Kuangren and Lan Yu.
This pair was absolutely stunning.
Especially Kuangren, the aura that emanated from him was extraordinary, even the most esteemed Sages could not rival him.
“Allow me to introduce them. This is an esteemed senior of the Black Heaven Sect, Chu Kuangren. This young lady is Miss Lan Yu.” Li Xingchun smiled.
Silence swept across the crowd when they heard what he said.
The same Chu Kuangren that came to this world and declared war on everyone?!
People stared at him curiously. Especially a few talented sky-pride level cultivators staring with eagerness in their eyes.
“It’s him!”
“He’s the one that defeated the Royal Azure’s Gu Changge!”
“So this is how he looks like…”
…
“Come, Senior Chu, Lady Lan, please take a seat.” Li Xingchen prepared seats for them right beside him and his family.
The banquet began and dancers came onstage to perform.
The crowd seemed to be conversing happily in the harmonious atmosphere.
“Brother Chu, come. Let’s toast.”
They raised their glasses and made a toast to Chu Kuangren.
He returned a smile and clinked glasses before downing the wine, laughing heartily.
Chu Kuangren suddenly felt a gaze on him.
He looked over and saw a young man in white robes.
Ye Lei realized he was seen and froze before quickly smiling at Chu Kuangren and averting his gaze.
He thought to himself, ‘So it was them!’
The one that cleaned out Honorable Yuan Ling’s treasury was Chu Kuangren!
When Ye Baifeng returned, he ordered someone to paint a portrait of the person that took the treasures, and Ye Lei saw the picture.
Despite the silhouette not looking exactly like Chu Kuangren, the features were similar enough that it was almost certainly him.
This was a big deal and he dared not speak up at the moment, so he could only pretend to be unbothered but it. Ye Lei would wait to return home before informing his seniors.
“This guy is a little weird.”
Chu Kuangren muttered to himself before disregarding it.
“Haha! Word is that brother Chu is the most supreme Daoist and is one of the best Sky-prides around! Would I have the privilege of witnessing your prowess?”
One of the sky-pride cultivators could not resist saying.
The crowd also expectantly looked towards Chu Kuangren.
Naturally, they were all deeply curious about his abilities.
Before Chu Kuangren could respond though, Li Xingchen smiled and cut in, “I wanted to host this banquet since everyone is constantly fighting. It gets a bit meaningless.
“But, I do have a rather rare treasure here.”
With that, he pulled out a golden, oval object from his inventory. The object had a bunch of small slits on it as if they were shimmering petals that came together to form a flower bud.
The crowd stared at Li Xingchun, waiting for an explanation.
He continued, “This is the test of the Golden Lotus. It’s a new plaything that Master Windbeard came up with. It can measure the spiritual power and origins of a cultivator, so let’s try it out tonight!”
A cultivator’s spiritual power and type determined the technique, qualifications, basics, etc. that a cultivator honed.
Within the same school, those with high spiritual quality could have a great advantage!
“It’s Master Windbeard huh? Alright then, I shall comply with brother Li.”
Windbeard was White Cloud City’s most famous weapons master. Every weapon he produced was a treasure that was highly sought after.
Countless people came to him requesting a weapon to be made.
“So, how do we use this?”
“Just unleash your spiritual power and you’ll do the trick.” Li Xingchen said.
“Then I shall go first.”
A sky-pride level cultivator volunteered.
He extended his arm and punched the Golden Lotus.
The lotus vibrated and 3 petals unfurled.
A moment later, the petals curled back in.
“3 petals? Is that good or bad?”
“Master Windbeard said that the Golden Lotus has 12 petals in total. People with the highest spiritual power and quality can open all 12 petals, and those people are as rare as diamonds.
The cultivator that volunteered froze. Out of 12 petals, he only opened 3? Was his spiritual power that weak?
“Again!”
The man was unsatisfied and punched again with greater force, but the results were the same.
The others roared with laughter but this test did pique their curiosity and one by one, the crowd came to try their hand at the Golden Lotus.
“I only get 3 petals as well?”
“Sigh, 4 petals”
“Is there really someone that can unfurl all 12 petals?”
“Even with my level of cultivation, I can only get 5!”
The crowd was flabbergasted.
The Golden Lotus held such high standards in terms of purity of spiritual power!
The person the volunteered felt a little better about himself after he saw that everyone else was about the same level.
Then, a burst of Sword Qi hit the Golden Lotus, and with a hum, 6 petals slowly unfurled.
This was the best result yet.
Ye Lei, who was the one that created the burst of Qi, frowned. He was not happy with the results.
He was a true Daoist with the utmost dedication to his training and techniques. Not to mention that he often obtained treasures from far and wide, and his spiritual power was nothing to be laughed at.
To him, at least 7 petals should have unfurled.
Instead, he only got 6.
“Allow me to try as well.” Li Xingchen spoke up, and a burst of light that looked like a star hit the Golden Lotus.
The Golden Lotus vibrated and unfurled 6 petals.
“As expected, it’s still 6.” Xingchen smiled and shook his head. It made sense that he had tried it before since it belonged to him.
“Sigh. Even with brother Li, it’s still 6 petals. The Golden Lotus has really high standards.”
“Looks like there’s no one that can ever unfurl 12 petals.”
“I wonder how many brother Chu and lady Lan can get?”
The crowd cast their gazes on Chu Kuangren and Lan Yu, who had not tried their hand at the Lotus yet.
Lan Yu went first and her fist lit up as she punched. Instantly, the Golden Lotus hummed and 9 petals unfurled. The crowd was dumbfounded.
Ye Lei and Li Xingchen’s eyes narrowed slightly.
The two of them were esteemed Daoists and only unfurled 6 petals but Lan Yu unfurled 9!
This level and purity of her spiritual power far outmatched theirs.
The Golden Lotus returned to a bud once more and Chu Kuangren was the last to unleash his burst of Sword Qi.
Instantly, a burst of light hit the Golden Lotus and the petals began slowly unfurling.
All 12 petals bloomed perfectly. Once it bloomed, a strange fragrance filled the area.
“It’s all open!”
“Just what is this level of pure spiritual power?!”
“My god, to think there was actually someone that could unfurl all 12 petals! Brother Chu truly has the abilities of a godly Daoist!”
The crowd went wild, staring at Kuangren with awe.
Among the crowd were also people that were utterly crushed that they could only unfurl 3 or 4 petals, but for Chu Kuangren to be able to unfurl all 12? They simply could not come close!
“To think the difference between us was that big!!” Ye Lei gripped his wine glass until his knuckles turned white. His eyes flared with hatred.
The sound of glass shattering was heard and the wine glass broke, leaving wine all over the floor.
Unfortunately, the crowd was too enamored by the Golden Lotus to take notice of him.