410: Chapter 410 Lotus Division

What shocked him was not the vast, boundless nature of this power itself—though it was something to look up to, it was not unimaginable.

What truly shook his spirit was the peak, masterful "Control" that this power displayed!

Seizing a treasure of heaven and earth is something a strong person can do; but to do it with such ease, without a trace of effort, without damaging the treasure's brilliance in the slightest, and even maintaining the mysterious Spiritual Qi interaction between the black imperial golden lotus and the world...

This already exceeded the realm of power, almost touching upon some kind of... rhythm of the "Dao"?

In this silence that caused even the Soul to freeze, Chu Zhanxiao's wrist turned, almost imperceptibly, with extreme subtlety.

It was as if he were merely brushing away an invisible speck of dust from his palm.

This World-Purifying Green Lotus, which had been carefully "cradled" in the Void Realm by the giant thunderous palm, obediently and lightly detached from that control.

Like an ink-colored feather that had broken free from a branch but lost all its weight, or like a dark star willingly following a trajectory, it drifted down slowly and steadily from the sky.

Finally, it hovered quietly in the Void Realm three feet in front of him.

The deep ink color and the sacred golden light swirled and blended upon it, casting a hazy and mysterious halo over his sharp-angled, cold-lined profile.

Luo Xiaojiu, who had been burying her face in his battle robe, secretly drawing in that reassuring scent, finally could not hold back any longer and lifted her head.

Tear tracks plowed winding, shallow furrows across her dirty little face; her messy hair was stuck to her forehead and cheeks by blood and sweat, and tiny, trembling teardrops hung from her eyelashes.

Her appearance could be described as utterly disheveled.

But when her gaze collided with the black imperial golden lotus, which was rotating slowly close at hand and radiating incomparable life force and the light of creation, those eyes that were always filled with liveliness and cunning suddenly widened.

All the remaining grievances and the fear of surviving a disaster were instantly washed away, replaced by an outpouring of immense surprise and a thick, dreamlike sense of disbelief.

Starlight?

No, it was a light more brilliant and intense than starlight that exploded in her eyes, lighting up her entire dim gaze.

"Senior... Senior Brother..."

Her voice trembled slightly, carrying a cautiousness born of fear that she might wake from a beautiful dream. "Th-this is..." She didn't even dare to voice that guess, only locking her gaze tightly onto the golden lotus, then looking at him longingly, "For... me?"

Chu Zhanxiao lowered his eyes.

His gaze fell upon her dirty, cat-like face.

Dirty, messy, pitiful, disheveled.

Yet those eyes were crystal clear at this moment, burning with a trust and expectation that was pure to the extreme and searingly hot.

This light was so unreserved, as if in her currently chaotic and fragile world, he was the only clear, the only stable, and the only reliable source of light.

His line of sight lingered on those eyes for just a fleeting moment, as short as light skimming over the surface of water.

Then, he moved it away without a change in expression, letting it fall back onto the floating golden lotus.

His voice remained his usual calm and cold, without a hint of fluctuation:

"It is not just for you."

The moment his words fell, he raised his sleeve and flicked it casually.

The movement was understated, as if brushing a fallen leaf from his shoulder or flicking away a speck of dust.

However, the quietly hovering World-Purifying Green Lotus responded with a clear, melodious hum, like the gentle striking of a jade chime, and the lotus body trembled slightly.

Immediately after, three of the most plump and lush lotus petals, upon which the golden Dao patterns were the most complex and brilliant, quietly detached from the lotus base.

They did not fall, but the moment they detached, each was wrapped in a mass of golden radiance as thick as liquid sunlight, warm and dazzling, quickly condensing into three fist-sized spheres of light with inner luster.

Within the spheres of light, the complete lotus petal was clearly visible, its natural, profound Dao patterns flowing and breathing as if possessing life, emitting a majestic vitality and the aura of creation that made the Soul intoxicated and the Bloodline surge.

The three spheres of light, as if pulled by invisible threads of fate, traced three warm golden arcs and drifted in three different directions—

One drifted toward Luo Xiaojiu, who was still half-leaning in Chu Zhanxiao's arms, looking up with her little face.

One drifted toward Li Jiuyou, who was not far away, barely standing by leaning on his sword, his expression completely stunned.

The last one... drifted straight toward the Golden Lion, which was sprawled at the edge of the giant pit, its aura withered and listless, all five of its heads looking somewhat dazed and foolish.

"This is... ?!"

Li Jiuyou gasped, then forgot to exhale, simply staring blankly and almost sluggishly at the warm golden light floating before him, within reach.

Inside the sphere of light, every delicate line of the lotus petal and every wisp of flowing golden light were clearly visible. Just the aura it naturally emitted caused the nearly exhausted source of Spiritual Qi within his body to tremble like a long-parched land meeting rain, and even the severe pain from his wounds seemed to be soothed somewhat by this warm aura.

He certainly knew what this was!

And he was even more acutely aware of what kind of bloody storm such a fully mature petal of the World-Purifying Green Lotus would stir up in the outside world!

It would be enough to make those arrogant descendants of the Holy Land and Prodigies of ancient families break their heads and tear each other apart to fight for it!

But now...

This Third Senior Brother, whose strength was unfathomable, whose temperament was cold and aloof, as if separated from everyone by endless glaciers, had just... casually given him a piece?

Given it to him, a Junior Brother whom he had just met for the first time, barely spoken to, and strictly speaking, not even officially initiated yet?

He looked up abruptly at Chu Zhanxiao, his lips trembling violently. His chest churned with countless words of gratitude, fear, and refusal, but when the words reached his lips, it was as if they were tightly strangled by an invisible hand, unable to utter a single syllable.

All language, in the face of this understated yet heavy-as-a-mountain gift, seemed so pale, thin, and unworthy of mention.

Almost instinctively, he cast his gaze toward the Golden Lion on the other side.

That fellow, usually cunning, slick, opportunistic, cowardly, and full of nonsense, was now completely frozen in place, as if under a immobilization spell.

Five heads, ten copper-bell-sized eyes, staring unblinkingly and fixedly at the black-gold radiance floating in front of its main head, its pupils completely occupied by the brilliant golden light.

This expression was indescribably complex—there was the instinctive, uncontrollable shock and greed when facing a supreme treasure, the disbelief and trance of having a pie fall from the sky and hit its head, and even more, a kind of... deep, almost fearful confusion, and a trace of a subtle "flattered" feeling that it couldn't even understand itself.

"Th-this, this, this..." The Golden Lion used its one relatively intact front paw, with extreme caution and a trembling that was almost like a pilgrimage, to gently touch the edge of the golden sphere of light.

The sphere of light transmitted a warm and supple sensation, but it recoiled as if struck by an invisible electric current, pulling its paw back sharply. A comical, off-key purring sound came from its throat, and it stammered, "This treasure... this is a petal of the World-Purifying Green Lotus! A supreme treasure! A peerless item that could make an Old Ancestor jump out of their grave just to fight another battle over it!"

"You, you just... just split it so lightly? And, and... have... have a share for me?!"

It suddenly lifted several of its heads, its gaze shooting straight at Chu Zhanxiao, filled with extreme confusion and a strong self-doubt of "Did you accidentally strike me stupid when you were striking lightning just now?"

Chu Zhanxiao just glanced at it indifferently.

No explanation, no reassurance, not even a trace of unnecessary emotional fluctuation.

That gaze was as calm as if looking at a pebble on the roadside or an insignificant withered leaf in the wind.

It was as if what he had just casually waved out was not a rare treasure capable of drawing the attention of the entire cultivation world, but really just a few common petals grown in his own courtyard.

The Golden Lion, looked at by that calm and waveless gaze, simultaneously shrank all its heads. The majestic mane around its neck seemed to droop a little, and it immediately fell silent, not daring to make another sound.

But deep in its heart, the thoughts within its five heads were already like the surface of a sea swept by a storm, churning up monstrous waves, wildly stirring and roaring—

Damn it! Is this the scale and world of a top-tier powerhouse?!

Supreme treasure? Didn't even blink, just split it away! Everyone present gets a share, without the slightest stinginess!

Splitting it so cleanly and decisively! So casually and naturally! So matter-of-factly!

The key is... this damn thing actually includes a share for me!

I was almost sent to see my great-grandmother by a bolt of your lightning just now!

It secretly and extremely quickly scanned the face of Li Jiuyou beside it, which was also filled with confusion and shock. Finally, its gaze involuntarily and firmly locked onto Luo Xiaojiu, who was still tightly hugging Chu Zhanxiao's waist and staring blankly at the sphere of light before her, while a voice inside it roared hysterically:

This little girl... what kind of unfathomable, god-like sect did she join?!

This Third Senior Brother of hers... what kind of monster ancestor is he exactly?!

Meanwhile, Luo Xiaojiu was not caught in a complex and chaotic brain storm like the Golden Lion.

She just stared blankly at the black-gold sphere of light that had drifted before her, radiating a warm glow. She blinked first, tiny teardrops still clinging to her long eyelashes, as if confirming that this scene before her was not a hallucination after a serious injury.

Within the sphere of light, the golden Dao patterns flowing on the lotus petal were like the gentlest veins of the galaxy, and like poetic chapters condensed from sunlight, streaming bit by bit, wisp by wisp, into her eyes, shining into the depths of her heart that had just experienced darkness and pain.

Then, without warning—

Large, hot teardrops burst from her eyes again, cascading down her dirty cheeks like a breaking dam.

This time, it was no longer tears shed from pain and fear, but a torrent of emotion that was more surging, hotter, and almost about to submerge and melt her entire being.

This was the relief of being caught steadily after surviving a disaster, the shock of being firmly chosen amidst cold despair, and the weakness of finally finding the way home after a lonely journey...

She looked up, her tear-blurred eyes gazing at Chu Zhanxiao's jawline, which was as cold and hard as stone carving. Her lips trembled violently, as if thousands of words were colliding in her chest, but in the end, she could not utter a single word.

She only buried her face deeper and more forcefully into his solid chest, her shoulders trembling uncontrollably, letting those hot tears, filled with all her complex emotions, silently and surgingly soak his dark-colored lapel.

The arms that were tightly wrapped around his waist did not relax in the slightest; instead, they tightened even further, to the point where her knuckles turned white.

It was as if what she was holding onto was the only piece of driftwood when drowning, the only source of light in the darkness, the only harbor that would not capsize in the storm.

It was her entire world at this moment, and she was even willing to believe it would be forever—the only world that would never abandon her.