Chapter 1

*Snap*

A bolt of purple-black lightning instantly struck a white lotus, and with that, the calamity clouds finally dissipated slowly. Golden light rained down from the sky, all of it merging into the white lotus. The lotus, which had been on the verge of collapse with cracks all over, could no longer maintain its original form and exploded with a loud boom. Its essence contracted, transforming into a lotus seed. The golden light continued to pour in, and the lotus seed took root, sprouted, and bloomed. In the end, the flower bloomed in nine grades, and a figure slowly appeared on the lotus pod, becoming tangible. The golden light finally faded away.

The petals that had been scattered, under the influence of the last ray of light, transformed into a long robe, which draped over his body. Thus, the lotus that had grown in the pond for countless years finally took on a human form.

However, the newly formed figure did not show much joy on his face. Instead, he looked bewildered, his eyes lifeless, and he slumped onto the lotus pod in a state of dejection.

At this moment, countless scenes flashed through his mind like a movie.

Sometimes, he was the white lotus that had cultivated for countless years in the pond below. Other times, he was an ordinary person, living a simple and hard life. In the end, his memory settled on the last scene.

He clutched his heart tightly, feeling distressed. Under his long lashes, his clear eyes instantly filled with bloodshot veins. He remembered.

However, just as he was lost in painful memories, the white lotus beneath him gently turned, instantly suppressing and erasing all the pain. The bloodshot veins in his eyes gradually faded.

"Immortality?" He spoke for the first time, seemingly mocking himself.

With a thought, the white lotus beneath him slowly disappeared, merging into his mind. He gently landed, his bare feet lightly touching the water, and where his toes touched, a golden lotus bloomed. At this moment, he had already become a Golden Immortal, achieving a pure and unblemished body. Wherever his feet landed, golden lotuses would bloom, preventing his body from touching mundane things.

Standing quietly on the water, treading on golden lotuses, he looked around at the pond of white lotuses. A faint smile appeared on his lips, and a gentle joy rippled through his calm heart.

His divine consciousness extended, and a spring at the bottom of the pond slowly emerged. Water occasionally gushed out, but this was not ordinary water; it was True Water, also known as the Water of Creation, which was primordial. It was this pool of water that had nurtured the lotuses in the pond.

In the center of the spring, a jade bottle floated, collecting the excess Water of Creation and brewing it inside.

Seeing this, his eyebrows slightly raised, and a realization surged in his heart. Could this be...?

Lifting his head, he looked through the protective array of the island, his gaze directed at the starry sky. Occasionally, the essence of the sun, moon, and stars was absorbed by the array, falling into the pond and merging with the jade bottle, blending with the Water of Creation inside. After being transformed by the jade bottle, it became the Three Lights Divine Water. Calculating with his fingers, at the current rate, it would take a hundred years to produce one drop of Three Lights Divine Water.

Turning his head, he looked at the edge of the pond, where a divine mountain stood not far away. The pond was at the foot of the mountain. His divine consciousness swept over, and the entire landscape of the ten-thousand-mile "island" appeared in his mind.

Purple bamboo, white lotuses, a divine mountain, the pond, and the jade bottle. There was no doubt about it.

He was none other than one of the twelve Golden Immortals of the Ch'an Sect, the Venerable Ci Hang. He stepped out of the pond, treading on golden lotuses, and found a green stone at the foot of the mountain to sit cross-legged. Similarly, a golden lotus lifted him up.

He tilted his head, sitting on the golden lotus, carefully pondering his future path. Should he still become a disciple of the Primordial Celestial Venerable?

After some thought, he began to organize his memories and assess his background and resources.

First, although he was the incarnation of a white lotus, he had no connection to the so-called Primordial Green Lotus. This nine-grade white lotus was simply nurtured by the primordial chaos itself. While it could be called a primordial sacred being, its background was not particularly strong.

In the end, it was the jade bottle that brought him luck.

The jade bottle was originally a fragment of the Primordial Green Lotus, which fell into the South Sea during the creation of the world. It contained the primordial undying light and was a high-grade primordial spiritual treasure. It contained a small world and the power of creation. The place where it was located naturally became a sacred land. The spring of the Water of Creation came from this.

With the jade bottle and the spring of the Water of Creation,

After countless years, the creative energy, mixed with a trace of the clear energy brought by the jade bottle during the creation of the world, nurtured a lotus seed in the Water of Creation, which grew into this nine-grade white lotus. The lotus developed intelligence and, after countless eons of cultivation, finally took on a human form today, achieving the status of a Golden Immortal.

The lotus seeds he had nurtured over the years bloomed into this pond of white lotuses.

After considering all this, he felt a sense of melancholy. Time was truly the greatest creator.

Turning to look at the jade bottle at the bottom of the pond, he sighed softly. How did he come to be? With a faint doubt, he closed his eyes and reorganized his memories.

After an unknown amount of time, he finally opened his eyes, a hint of doubt in his gaze. He had no memory of being transported here; he only remembered dying, dying a miserable death. Then, everything went black, and when he opened his eyes again, it was during the last bolt of lightning.

In the end, he had benefited. According to the timing, it was not the best moment for Ci Hang to emerge. Without him, the last bolt of lightning would not have killed Ci Hang; it would have only scattered his spirit, leaving a bit of true essence. After being nurtured in the pond for several hundred thousand years, he would naturally re-emerge as the true Ci Hang.

However, at that moment, he, who had been hiding in the jade bottle, emerged. When the last bolt of lightning struck and Ci Hang's true essence fell into a state of confusion, he took the opportunity to possess his body. After countless years of close interaction, both sides had absorbed each other's aura, creating the current him.

At this moment, his true essence was Ci Hang's true essence, but his spirit was formed by his own spirit absorbing fragments of Ci Hang's spirit. They were no longer distinguishable, meaning that in the eyes of the Heavenly Dao, he was the Ci Hang who had passed the transformation calamity.

Moreover, he knew why Ci Hang would later become a disciple of the Primordial Celestial Venerable. After all, his background contained a trace of the clear energy from the creation of the world. The Three Pure Ones were originally formed from the primordial spirit of Pangu, carrying the clear energy of creation. Thus, there was a natural connection between them, or rather, a deep-rooted connection.

As for cultivation techniques, they did not exist in the primordial chaos at this time. The beings born at this time were already "immortals." The lowest rank was a Celestial Immortal. Of course, this referred to the primordial beings, those who began to form before the Heavenly Dao emerged.

Those born later were mostly post-primordial beings.

Even so, post-primordial beings, by instinctively absorbing the essence of heaven and earth, could achieve the status of a terrestrial immortal by adulthood, as long as they did not die. The starting point was different.

At this time, the beings, from the moment they became aware, would begin to comprehend the Dao. If they understood, their Daoist cultivation would greatly advance. As for cultivation, with the abundant primordial essence in the air, it was simple—just absorb it.

The cultivation techniques only appeared after Hongjun's teachings, as the primordial essence gradually became scarce.