Chapter Eighty-Seven: The Ice Soul Lotus, One Seed in a Thousand Years

The White-Robed Immortal asked, “May I ask what brings the Immortal Lord of Purple Lotus to my residence today?”

Purple Lotus strode toward him, and I hurried after him, keeping close at his heels.

Only when I drew near did I realize that the man in white seemed oddly familiar. After a careful search through my memories, I suddenly understood: was he not the very same white-clad man I had met on my first day in the mortal world, when I was at my lowest and most wretched?

Of course, the white-clad man I speak of was not that wretch from the temple. If it had been him, heaven knew what would have become of me; I would have had no choice but to turn and flee at once.

I only remember that day as scorching hot, the blazing sun searing the earth beneath it. I, a little demon fish, had not touched water for a long while, and my body had turned red from the heat. Then this white-robed man came slowly toward me with a woman in blue-green beside him. I remember that he seemed to have tossed me a large silver ingot, though at the time I had only just arrived in the human world and had no idea what that stone-like thing was, so I paid it no mind. In the end, that silver was snatched away in a single grab by that scoundrel from the temple.

And now, after only a few days, I had not expected the two of them to have already become husband and wife.

When we reached a pear tree, Purple Lotus stopped. From here, we were not far from the stone table where the man and woman sat, and could see their faces clearly: the face of the supreme god Ancient Ink, and that of the girl in blue-green.

Since I was originally a fish, the summer sun was especially unbearable to me. Luckily, beside us stood a pear tree laden with small green fruit. The breeze stirred softly through it, forming a deep patch of shade that blocked the fierce light overhead, and I instantly felt much more at ease.

“The old injury from three thousand years ago has flared up again. I came here today hoping to ask the Immortal Lord of Purple Lotus for a single Ice-Soul Lotus.”

After standing in the breeze for a while, Purple Lotus, who had remained silent for a long time, finally spoke.

“Ice-Soul Lotus?”

At the mention of it, the supreme god Ancient Ink’s brows knitted together at once. His expression was one of visible difficulty, as though he were most unwilling to part with it.

A wave of disappointment rose in me. So what became of all those lifelong friendships in the heavens? When it came to taking something from another’s possession, whether precious or not, even a single ordinary lotus seed could provoke such reluctance. It seemed friendships like that were truly unreliable.

Purple Lotus said calmly, “Yes. I mean the Ice-Soul Lotus that yields only one seed in a thousand years.”

One seed in a thousand years? That, that, that was far too precious. No wonder the supreme god Ancient Ink had looked so conflicted and reluctant when he heard the words “Ice-Soul Lotus” from Purple Lotus.

I could hardly believe that the expressionless, dark-faced supreme god Ancient Ink would be willing to give my Purple Lotus that Ice-Soul Lotus, which produced only one seed in a thousand years. After all, ever since we had stepped through the gate of his courtyard, my master and I had not done a single thing to please the owner. Breaking in by climbing the wall instead of using the front gate was already embarrassing enough, and now we had even interrupted the husband and wife’s dual cultivation. It was hardly the sort of thing ordinary people could manage. At that moment, all I could hope was that the supreme god Ancient Ink was not entertaining any notion of throwing the two of us, master and disciple, out through the gate.

“Let us discuss this matter inside,” he said.

With that, the two of them went into the house.

I followed behind them and entered. Seeing my master and Ancient Ink sit opposite each other at the table, I also dragged over a stool and sat behind Purple Lotus, lifting my head to examine the room.

Though the house looked large from the outside, its furnishings were extremely simple. On the tabletop sat a white porcelain vase filled with water, with a few locust blossoms and a few pear branches tucked inside. Outside, a gentle breeze kept drifting in, and a faint fragrance lingered before my nose, clean and soul-soothing.

Blue-Green walked out of the room. After a moment, she came back carrying a tray of refreshments. When she approached me, she reached out and took a few cakes from the tray and placed them in my hands.

“Thank you.”

I accepted them and thanked her softly.

“It’s nothing.”

She smiled, then suddenly leaned her head toward me and stared intently at my face. “Haven’t we met somewhere before?”

Met somewhere before? Where else could we have met? Was it not on my first day in the mortal world, when I took a silver ingot from your husband? Ahem... Seeing suspicion rise in her, I hastily denied it. “No, no. How could we have met?”

Noticing that her gaze carried a hint of scrutiny, I turned slightly away and looked toward Purple Lotus.