A flash of green light, as expected, appeared, contrasting sharply with the blue. Instantly, the space erupted into a kaleidoscope of color, shimmering like water. In that moment, within the Hongjun Tower, it was as mesmerizing as a celestial paradise.
And amidst this exquisite scenery, the second Exquisite Lotus began to grow at that same unbelievable speed as before…
And streams of gentle water began to flow continuously from mid-air… Everything had formed a perfect cycle…
The third… the fourth…
Jun Moxie operated at high speed, seemingly tireless. Ever since absorbing the Five Elements Essence left behind by the First Young Master of the Nine Nethers atop the snowy mountain, the Five Elements power within him had reached saturation!
Therefore, even this continuous exertion caused him no sense of depletion…
It wasn't until the thirteenth lotus that Jun Moxie suddenly felt a lightness envelop him. A strange force acted upon him, and in a sudden transition, he was whisked away from the Hongjun Tower and deposited back into his room in the outside world.
What in the world was happening?
Young Master Jun was quite perplexed. At that moment, he still held water power in one hand and wood power in the other.
Though he instantly realized what was occurring and quickly halted his operations, in that brief span, the light of those two colors had already been emitted.
A glorious, mystical flash illuminated the night sky!
The clear, cloudless night sky above the courtyard suddenly erupted into rain…
Almost simultaneously, the flowers and plants in Cao Guofeng’s courtyard seemed to come alive, leaping upwards with a sudden whoosh! A tiny blade of grass instantly shot up to the height of a small tree…
As for the roots that spread in that instant, they rapidly covered the entire courtyard with a swish… The originally hard ground, much of which was paved with bluestone slabs, now buckled and tilted; the small grasses had actually forced these large stones upward.
The entire courtyard, in the span of a single moment, had transformed into a primal forest…
This sudden, shocking development stunned even the practitioner, Jun Moxie.
Speechless and dumbfounded, let alone the others…
A Saint Emperor, who had been meditating in the flowerbeds of the courtyard, guarding the process and deep in meditative union, was suddenly drenched like a drowned rat. The thick grass enclosed him tightly, and some stalks, due to their rapid growth, even poked directly into his nostrils, and one even pressed tightly against his nether regions…
This shock was immense!
He sprang up, drawing his sword while still airborne, and roared in anger, “What manner of wretch uses such base methods for a sneak attack! If you have the guts, show yourself and fight me!” Only after shouting did he notice the bizarre phenomena in the courtyard, and his astonishment was beyond measure. His breath hitched, and he plummeted from the sky with a thud, landing heavily on the ground. He was so shaken that he couldn’t feel the pain, merely staring wide-eyed and gasping, “Th-this… this is what happened? How is this possible? Th-th-this…”
The other four Saint Emperors, assuming an enemy had arrived, burst out through the windows in alarm, swords drawn. Upon seeing the strange result, they too were frozen like statues.
After a moment of shock, one of them zipped twenty feet into the air, surveyed the surroundings, and then landed looking utterly bewildered, still muttering, “It is indeed… This is Brother Cao’s courtyard. How did it transform into this desolate state in the blink of an eye? It’s like the Heavenly Punishment Forest…”
“Could it be that we have fallen into the enemy’s trap, and only this instant has passed, but in reality, years or even decades have gone by?” another Saint Emperor suddenly theorized.
“Yes, quickly check if that boy is still there…”
With a crash, the four walls and one window of Jun Moxie’s room were simultaneously blasted open, and the five figures appeared inside the room at once.
Jun Moxie appeared startled, poking his head drowsily out of his covers, looking quite frightened. “Wh-what are you doing? What happened?”
“Uh, nothing,” one of the Saint Emperors said with considerable embarrassment. “Jun Ye, what time is it now… Specifically, what year, month, and day is it?”
Jun Moxie nearly collapsed…
After he gave his answer, the five men showed expressions of complete bewilderment, then one by one mumbled their way out of the room.
“Jun Ye, perhaps you should sleep in another room… This one is ruined…” one of the Saint Emperors offered sheepishly.
Jun Moxie was left speechless… The room now had openings on all eight sides; naturally, it was ruined…
This young master is also wondering… Why was I suddenly expelled from the Hongjun Tower? I don't recall intending to leave…
He was unaware that his practice of drawing upon the spiritual energy within the Hongjun Tower to create water at an impossibly high rate had caused even the foremost spiritual treasure of heaven and earth to feel the pinch… He simply didn't understand the value of household resources… This was the purest spiritual energy of heaven and earth, not the chaotic energy found outside. If he were cultivating profound items, it would be one thing, but to use this spiritual energy water to mass-produce what amounted to trash—what kind of behavior was that?
Though I possess an infinite supply, seeing you squander it like this is heartbreaking. You should just get out…
And so, in a fit of pique, Young Master Jun was forcefully ejected.
It wasn't just the few Saint Emperors who were confused; Young Master Jun himself wasn't far behind, vaguely accepting the reality before him.
The Young Master was no fool. After thinking it over, he surmised that his unrestrained use of the spiritual energy within the Hongjun Tower to condense water and mass-produce Exquisite Lotuses had angered the rather stingy Master Tower…
Furthermore, the amount of Exquisite Jade Lotus roots produced in this single burst was indeed slightly excessive. Not only was it enough to satisfy the needs of everyone at home, but it was so plentiful they could practically stir-fry it—and have leftovers for several meals! Bah, bah, what bastard would call me stingy? If you had truly used my spiritual energy for high-grade items, I would have accepted it. But you are using such precious spiritual liquid to water these trashy things? Any sensible person would be angry. And you dare call me stingy? Why don’t you call yourself ignorant of true value instead?! the Hongjun Tower grumbled internally…
It seems even this fellow has a limit, the Young Master muttered, shaking his head slightly, and he unconsciously raised a middle finger, then quickly tucked it away. To look down on the Hongjun Tower? How could he? The artifact was currently inside his body; to flip the bird, he would first have to point it at himself. Jun Moxie did not possess that strange masochistic hobby…
However, for the time being, he couldn't re-enter the Hongjun Tower. He could hear the whispers of the five Saint Emperors outside the courtyard. Clearly, they were deeply puzzled by the events concerning Jun Ye. It wasn't a lack of experience; the situation was just too bizarre! Any normal person would struggle to comprehend it!
How could a well-kept, elegant courtyard suddenly become a forest?
Especially since Old Seven, who had been meditating in the courtyard, was breathlessly recounting the terrifying scene he had just experienced, his face taut with lingering fear: “…You all have no idea. I was meditating, precisely at the crucial moment when the Three Flowers Gathered at the Crown and the Five Qi Return to the Origin… Suddenly! A torrential downpour crashed down! I was instantly soaked… Startled, I almost suffered a qi deviation!”
“…Immediately following that, just as I was gathering my scattered true qi to suppress the rampant inner energy, a small blade of grass suddenly shot up—whoosh—and drilled right into my nostril. Even more outrageously, beneath my backside, those bamboo shoots Elder Cao planted caused me terrible trouble… Swish! They drilled right in… Not too thin, not too thick, ice cold… It nearly killed me.”
“Hahahaha…” All the Saint Emperors burst into laughter, nearly falling over.
They all knew that such embarrassing incidents would never be recounted unless they were truly brothers. Even Young Master Jun, hearing this from the room, couldn't help but laugh: No wonder the old man was so flustered; he got skewered by a bamboo shoot. That’s terribly unlucky…
The old man looked chagrined. “You’re still laughing? Damn it, if I hadn’t jumped up so quickly, you all would be seeing bamboo growing out of my mouth right now…” “Old Seven, how did it feel? Were you soaring to the heavens?” Old Fourth laughed the hardest, his eyebrows and beard both trembling: “You've never found a wife, and now look! A piece of bamboo just broke your cherry…”
The four Saint Emperors roared with laughter, tears streaming down their faces. “Immediately afterward, the four fell silent again. Clearly, after the laughter subsided, they began to ponder the cause. The anomaly was so sudden that even the Saint Emperor powerhouses hadn't sensed its approach, and they were almost overcome by the sudden change. If an enemy had used this as a moment for a sneak attack, the consequences could have been dire. Yet, after much effort, they had found nothing…”
Watching the four massive holes torn in the walls of his former room, Jun Moxie sighed inwardly. The quality of the houses in Huan Mansion… is really good. It’s like this, and it hasn't collapsed yet… He knew sleeping there was impossible. He dressed and leaned against the doorframe, watching the five old men in the courtyard, each with his head tilted and brow furrowed in thought… After a long, long silence… “Look! What is this?” Old Fifth exclaimed as if he had found a rare treasure, holding a black seed in his hand while standing before a plant. His beard trembled: “Brothers, a miracle has indeed occurred here! Look at this Crimson Jade Ginseng. Isn't this the plant Elder San transplanted ten years ago? At that time, it was barely twenty years old…”
“Look now! It has actually flowered, and the seeds have even fallen to the ground… Th-this…” he stammered. “What does this prove?”
The four Saint Emperors suddenly rushed over, their gazes locking onto the black seed. In an instant, every single one of them stared wide-eyed, unable to utter another word! (To be continued…)