Chapter Fifty-Four: The Lotus Born of Violet Flames

"Boss, what do you think?" Judas asked.

"It's not complicated. It's like how pigs are raised to be fat before slaughter. Hmph... Now we'll see who among us is the final pig, and who is the butcher feasting on meat." Cold Sky gazed calmly in the direction where the three figures had disappeared, his expression unruffled.

"No wonder you're the boss. Looks like you've had this planned all along! The spiritual energy here is so dense, but it does nothing for me," Judas muttered, sensing the primordial energy of the ancient world with little interest.

Cold Sky immediately cut off his connection with Judas, annoyed that this fellow had made himself look exactly like the short, stout one among the Three Demons of Cauliflower, making Cold Sky want to give him a good kick.

He inhaled deeply, sensing the thick primordial energy of heaven and earth within the ancient realm, feeling a rush of clarity and vigor throughout his body. After a moment's thought, he picked a direction and leaped across the earthen hills, heading toward the distant green expanse.

Despite the waist-high grass surrounding him, Cold Sky moved with ease. Half a day passed, yet the place seemed vast—he had yet to see its end at his pace.

A tiger's roar suddenly echoed—a kingly presence unmistakable.

Cold Sky halted, gazing toward the source of the roar, which had come from the left-front, beyond the endless grass. "Judging from the sound, it's still some distance away," he thought.

He decided to move on, uninterested in the beasts of this place—should he encounter a truly formidable one, it would only bring unnecessary trouble.

Just as he was about to leave, another tiger's roar rang out. This time, Cold Sky could sense anger in it, along with a forceful urge to drive something away. "A tiger is the king among beasts—what creature could provoke such rage from it?"

"Boss, why don't we check it out? If you're worried about trouble, I can use my Formless True Body to hide you—no one will find us that way!" Judas said, emerging as a transparent white glow from Cold Sky's brow, enveloping him. In a flash, both Cold Sky and Judas vanished, leaving not a trace behind.

Looking at his now intangible arm, Cold Sky exclaimed with delight, "Not bad—I can turn invisible too! This will greatly reduce the dangers I face in this ancient realm."

His voice rang out, yet the place he stood was utterly empty—the effectiveness of Judas' stealth technique was extraordinary.

"Let's go and see what could possibly concern the tiger demon so much," Cold Sky said, already darting toward the source of the sound. Yet as he moved, not a blade of grass stirred, not the faintest ripple disturbed the air—a sign that Judas had thoroughly mastered the art of dissolving form into nothingness.

At the edge of the grassland stood a cliff dozens of yards high. Below lay a grove of trees sheltering in the shade, and beside the woods was a small, clear lake.

At the lakeside stood a magnificent tiger, its satiny coat shimmering, its bronze bell eyes coldly fixed on the small lake ahead. Its four paws stamped the ground, low growls rumbling from its maw.

This was a monstrous tiger, more than twice the height of a man. Following its gaze to the center of the lake, there bloomed a lotus with nine petals of deep purple hue—most astonishingly, this purple lotus was a double-birth: the outer nine-petaled lotus was in full bloom, while at its heart another nine-petaled bud, yet to open, nestled within.

This strange purple lotus was a peerless treasure, long extinct in the Red Peak Continent since ancient times—a miracle of nature essential for beasts seeking to break through their bottlenecks.

Here in the Azure Sea Celestial Domain, however, such treasures were not particularly rare. The reason was simple: this was the ancient realm, not the resource-starved Red Peak Continent. Here, most inhabitants were beasts who had lived in such an environment since antiquity, feasting on rare wonders as their daily fare. The notion of "precious" did not even exist for them.

The greatest difference between demon beasts and spirit beasts lay in their cores: for demon beasts, the core was not the most important thing. The two kinds differed in that one was innately powerful—fierce beyond compare—while the other relied solely on innate abilities. Yet even those abilities, when compared to the demon beasts, were child's play. Since time immemorial, the demon race had been another name for power.

Not only were their bodies formidable beyond belief, but their skills far surpassed those of spirit beasts. Take, for example, the northern sea giant demon—its cultivation was so deep that even a human Saint might return in defeat. Yet, should a Xuanwu—a black tortoise—of even one rank lower appear, it could easily torment that giant demon to the brink of death.

This shows that the gap between them is not merely one of strength, but of quality. Demon beasts, through ancient inheritance, occupy an irreplaceable place in the world. Even the king of the spirit beasts, the dragon, is but a branch of the divine dragon's bloodline, and its purity does not match that of some rare demon beasts.

Spirit beasts condense their cores by absorbing the primordial energy of heaven and earth. Demon beasts, in addition to this, consume vast amounts of celestial treasures, refining their own flesh until it reaches unimaginable toughness.

This bears some resemblance to Cold Sky's Ninefold Heaven-Shaking Force, which also transforms the body itself, lifting it to a higher realm. Yet, the cultivation of the physical body is the exclusive domain of the demon race. According to present records on the Red Peak Continent, most human body-refining techniques were directly copied from demon beasts.

As for humans themselves, there is no such precedent. If we look back further, into more distant ages, there is no way of verifying—human historical records only span several tens of thousands of years. The ancient glories and achievements of mankind have been buried deep by the river of history, with not even a snippet in the oldest tomes of the ancient powers.

Now, at the silent lakeside, two demon beasts were about to battle for the right to a rare treasure.

This striped tiger was no ordinary creature—it was called Qiongqi, one of the Four Great Divine Beasts of the ancient demon race, a direct descendant of the White Tiger. Born with inexhaustible strength, wings upon its back, and the power to spit beams of primordial energy with devastating force, even the protective shields of most profound-level experts could barely withstand several of its attacks.

Opposite Qiongqi, in the small lake near the purple lotus, there lurked a massive azure python with a single horn. Its blood-red eyes glared at the tiger, ready for battle.

This horned azure python had a noble lineage as well—the direct descendant of the dragon race, a child of the flood dragon. Its cultivation was still shallow, unable yet to transform into a true jiao, and this small lake was its home, where it had waited for the lotus to bear seeds, hoping to trigger its next transformation.

Today was the day the lotus would seed, and just as the serpent was filled with joy, an unexpected visitor ruined its mood completely.

The area stretching tens of miles around the lake was the python’s territory—no beast would normally dare cause trouble. But today was different. The demon beast Qiongqi, from dozens of miles away, somehow learned of the lotus' seeding and came to claim it.

Of the two, Qiongqi was the stronger, which was why it had come to seize the lotus. Now, a word should be given to the lotus itself.

The "Purple Flame Twin Lotus" was said not to have existed before. Legend tells of a mighty fire-law practitioner from ancient times. When he failed to ascend during his final tribulation, he was devoured by the laws. In his last moment, he merged his soul and heart of law into a purple half-born lotus.

As he faded away, the lotus formed of his soul and laws split into countless seeds, scattered across the land, in hope of one day being reborn.

Some texts recount this tale, agreeing with the legend and lending the flower an even greater air of mystery.

Since then, both demon beasts and warriors have fought fiercely over this lotus, believing it contains the fire-law master’s insights and all his martial arts.

Yet after many predecessors' attempts, no one could prove the rumors true. On the contrary, the flower's violent fire element claimed the lives of many who possessed it.

Because its fire was too fierce, most warriors could not even absorb it—their very bodies would be burned to ash.

This terrifying power caused warriors to lose interest: from fierce contention to avoiding it like a devil, they came to liken it to an abyssal demon that devoured all.

Yet for the demon race, things were different. Thanks to their powerful bodies, the fierce fire element did not destroy them. Instead, they used its special properties to achieve a qualitative transformation—especially those at bottlenecks, who often broke through to higher ranks after consuming the lotus seed.

These two demon beasts, by the spirit beast ranking of the Red Peak Continent, would both be peak level eight—one step more and they would ascend to the realm of Holy Beasts.

The greatest difference between demon beasts and spirit beasts is that one is the original, the other a copy—and a failed copy at that.

In ancient times, humans and demons were mortal enemies, capturing and enslaving each other's kind. In those days, the demon race flourished, boasting many divine beings who often led vast armies against mankind.

Fortunately, humanity then also counted many deities among its ranks, and they repelled the demons again and again. As time passed and the demon incursions grew ever more troublesome, the human powers decided, after much discussion, to capture large numbers of demon beast cubs, purify their bloodlines with divine power, and endow them with new abilities. Thus were the first spirit beasts born.

Martial Dao's Zenith, Chapter 54: The Purple Flame Twin Lotus—End of update.