11: Chapter 11 Black Lotus Seed

Wang Shouren slowly opened his eyes, moonlight falling into the depths of his gaze, making his eyes even more unfathomable.

No one knew that within these hundred breaths, he had seen through twenty-five years of a woman's life.

From the smoke-wreathed stove of a farming household to that thatched cottage deep in the mountain forest burned to ashes.

From the red rope on her pigtails to hands stained with the blood of innocent people.

Meanwhile, after the woman's Divine Soul was completely digested, a pitch-black seed the size of a sesame seed was born from the bottom of the black lotus.

The seed was not large, and from its appearance, one could not tell any abnormalities.

"The lotus seed can be planted within the body of a Cultivator below the third layer of Qi Refining, controlling their Dao Heart and Divine Soul, and supplying their Cultivation insights to me."

Brilliant light flared in Wang Shouren's eyes; past devouring of certain Yao Beast Divine Souls had never birthed a lotus seed.

"Could it be that it requires devouring Cultivators to give birth to a lotus seed, or is there some triggering condition I am unaware of?"

This harvest was far more powerful than simply devouring Divine Souls to strengthen his own Divine Soul.

"This can truly be considered a Golden Finger."

He lowered his head, looking at the lifelike corpse before him.

"Although she is a pitiful person, the lives on her hands have already exceeded one hundred and twenty people, truly deserving of death."

In this world, Cultivators seizing resources and treasures through force or trickery were not uncommon, and killing people to loot their treasures was also a frequent occurrence.

But to strike at Mortals who posed no threat to her at all, and even directly slaughtering an entire Family just because someone glanced at her a few times, was simply going too far.

However, now that she was dead, her debts were cleared, and he could be considered to have resolved the Karma for those innocents.

"According to the final few memories, this woman did indeed accidentally enter an ancient Cultivator's Immortal Cave, and the resources she obtained within were not limited to just the barrier-breaking pill."

Wang Shouren's sword light flashed, slicing a finger-long cut three inches above the woman's navel.

Clearly the wound was not shallow, yet no blood flowed out.

Raising his hand in a summon, a circular object flew out and landed in his palm, causing Wang Shouren's expression to turn immensely joyful at the sight.

"It really is a Storage Ring."

The jade ring was of coarse texture, its edges worn white, and it was unknown how many years it had been used.

His Divine Sense probed inside, and the space within was actually a full fifty cubic meters, more than ten times that of a regular Storage Pouch, causing joy to instantly beam across Wang Shouren's brows.

"Storage Rings are extremely rare, completely unseen in a small place like Baishan County, let alone one with such a large space."

Solely in terms of value, the Storage Ring's value far exceeded the barrier-breaking pill.

He carefully tallied the items inside the Storage Ring.

Ninety Low-Grade Spirit Stones were neatly stacked in the corner.

For a Loose Cultivator, this was already a considerable savings, and it was unknown how long she had hoarded it.

Half a bottle of qi gathering pills, and two Low Grade Magical Artifacts.

Finally, an exquisite wooden box lay quietly in the corner.

He took out the wooden box and opened it.

Two dragon-eye-sized pills lay quietly upon the brocade, entirely jade-green, their surfaces floating with a layer of fine, dew-like medicinal mist.

Bringing them close to his nose, a crisp medicinal fragrance pierced straight through his brow, and with just a single sniff, he felt the spiritual power vortex in his Dantian lighten by a fraction, while the invisible stone wall spanning between the sixth and seventh layers of Qi Refining also seemed to loosen by a sliver of a gap.

"It really is the barrier-breaking pill, and two of them at that."

Wang Shouren was pleasantly surprised once more; although the plundered memories knew what was inside the box, it was far from as shocking as confirming it with his own eyes.

"This box is also a good thing; that ancient Cultivator's Immortal Cave is at least over a hundred years old. To be able to keep the barrier-breaking pill well-preserved without losing much medicinal efficacy, it is definitely a treasure that even Alchemists would drool over—a true treasure."

He carefully stored the wooden box into his own Storage Pouch, properly arranged the remaining miscellaneous items in the jade ring, threw out the useless ones, and directly burned the woman's corpse along with them using a fireball spell, leaving no trace behind.

He glanced at the desolate mountain forest; it was already very far from the spirit field mountain peaks.

"It is time to return."

"Woof woof." Hearing that they were returning, Xiaotian hopped over excitedly.

"Silly dog, your bone won't be forgotten."

Wang Shouren smiled and reached out to scratch the back of Xiaotian's neck.

But at the very moment his fingertips touched the dog's fur,

an indescribable impulse suddenly surged out from the black lotus at his brow.

"Hungry."

The pleasure of devouring still lingered in the depths of his Divine Soul, but it was followed by an even greater emptiness.

Like a starving person who only took a single bite of food, having something in their stomach only made them hungrier.

Wang Shouren's hand stopped.

He lowered his head to look at the hand pressing against the back of Xiaotian's neck, his fingers trembling slightly.

The spiritual power vortex in his Dantian began to spin at an accelerated rate on its own, causing his breathing to grow a bit heavier as well.

A thought crawled out from the depths of his heart, at first just an extremely fine and tiny thread, then rapidly expanding, thickening, and growing louder until it occupied his entire Sea of Consciousness.

Devour the silly dog's Divine Soul.

Not enough, too weak.

Shouxin is still on the mountain.

Shouxin is only at the fourth layer of Qi Refining.

No one will know.

No one will know.

No one will know...

This thought echoed repeatedly in his mind like a curse.

His hand slid from the back of Xiaotian's neck to its throat; the black dog's neck bones were thick and warm, its pulse throbbing beneath his palm.

As long as he used a bit of force.

Xiaotian seemed to have sensed something; it did not run, but simply raised its head, looking at Wang Shouren with those dark, rolling dog eyes.

In that gaze, there was no fear, no vigilance, only a silly kind of trust, and a trace of faint confusion—Master, what is wrong with you?

That gaze was like a basin of cold water poured straight over his head.

Wang Shouren abruptly withdrew his hand.

He staggered back two steps, plopping down onto a stream stone, his back soaked in cold sweat.

He lowered his head to look at his own hands; they were his hands, yet just in that instant, he didn't even recognize them anymore.

"Why are the aftereffects of this devouring so strong..."

Wang Shouren bound his own hands, biting the tip of his tongue to force himself to stay lucid.

"I have previously devoured the souls of a few beasts and Yao Beasts, and never had such a strong desire. Could it be, could it be related to the Cultivator I devoured this time?"

The black lotus devouring Divine Souls brought not only memories and Soul Power.

The essence of devouring was cramming another living creature's entire memories, emotions, obsessions, and malice all at once into one's own Divine Soul.

Though the woman's soul was weak, her resentment, terror, and unwillingness before death, along with all the darkness and malice she had accumulated over a dozen years, were all absorbed by the black lotus together.

And the black lotus happened to love these negative emotions.

Wang Shouren closed his eyes tightly, desperately suppressing it.

The faces of his Family members emerged in his mind one by one.

His father, Wang Yaozu, in green long sleeves, exhausted his heart and mind for the Family, still running about at seventy-two years of age.

His mother Chen Yirou's gentle care.

And his lovely younger sister, Sixth Grandpa, Shouxin, Second Uncle, Third Uncle, the elders of the Yao generation and younger cousins of the Shou generation in the Family...

"I am Wang Shouren."

"I am a person of the Wang Family of Baishan County."

"To protect all of this, I must absolutely not destroy it with my own hands."

After a long while, Wang Shouren opened his eyes again.

The dark red trace in the depths of his gaze had faded completely, and the black aura dissipated without a trace.

"I almost lost myself. Although... what on earth is this black lotus? But whether it can be used or not, it's better not to use it."

The black lotus was a sword.

If the person holding the sword was driven by the sword, then what difference was there between him and that woman, or the evil people devoured by their desires?

His voice calmed down, recovering his usual composure. He turned and walked back the way he came, his steps growing a bit firmer.

Xiaotian tilted its head, looking at his back, and slowly wagged its tail. After confirming that its master was not going to pet it again, it cautiously followed, maintaining a distance of three paces from Wang Shouren.

"black lotus, black lotus. Ever since I was born, this black lotus has accompanied me, counting as a rather unorthodox Golden Finger."

Years of observation revealed that this thing seemed to only have a restraining effect on things like Divine Souls.

Precisely because of this, the black lotus was called the "Primordial Spirit black lotus" by Wang Shouren.

This was the first time he had let the black lotus devour a Cultivator's Divine Soul.