Chương 239: The Lapis Seed and the Annoyed God

The council of war at the Golden Shell headquarters concluded in a state of grim, strategic uncertainty. They had a name for their enemy—two names, in fact—but no clear path to strike at them. The Golden Tide Clan was a major, established power, and the Beast Revolution Faction was a shadowy, multi-continental conspiracy. A direct assault on either was foolish. They were playing a game of shadows, and their opponents were masters of the art.

"We are at an impasse," Fengliu stated, his voice calm and analytical as always.

"A direct assault on the Golden Tide Clan is still too risky. We don't know the full extent of their alliance with the Faction, or how many other cells like the one you encountered are hidden in the south. My intelligence network is active, but digging into a secretive clan and a multi-continental terrorist organization will take time." Kui nodded in agreement, his usual cheerfulness replaced by a merchant's cold pragmatism.

"He's right. We move on them now, and we risk starting a war we aren't prepared for. We need better intelligence."

"Then that is our path forward," Li Yu said, his voice bringing the meeting to a decisive close.

"Fengliu, you have your mission. Find their nests. Find their leaders. The rest of us will remain in Coralspire Harbor for now."

"While we wait," Xylia interjected, her voice a low growl, "I'll check on the local White Paw garrison. This city is full of tough, experienced sailors and beast hunters. It's a good recruiting ground. I'll see who's worth bringing into the fold."

"Good," Li Yu acknowledged.

"Everyone has their tasks. We will use this time to cultivate and prepare. This will be our base of operations." The meeting adjourned, a sense of unresolved tension hanging over them. Fengliu melted back into the shadows of the city to coordinate his vast network of spies and informants. Xylia left for the barracks that housed her local mercenary force. Kui and Fat Pig dove into the Guild's business, strengthening their security.

Jian Xuan returned to his private courtyard to continue his solitary pursuit of his breakthrough. Li Yu returned to the quiet solitude of his own chambers. With the grand, world-altering schemes of revolutionaries and fanatics on hold, his mind turned to a smaller, more personal mystery. He sat down in a meditative posture and retrieved two items from his storage ring: the Crystal Orb of Serenity and the Lapis Lotus Seed. He focused his will, calling forth the manifestation of his koi martial spirit.

In his mind's eye, he could see its true form, swimming in the vast, misty sea of its sanctuary. It was no longer a three-foot-long fish. It was a colossal, majestic being, at least sixty feet in length, its form a perfect, breathtaking fusion of a primordial whale, a divine dragon, and an ancient leviathan. Its body was broad and powerful like a whale, covered in shimmering, crimson-gold scales that carried the intricate, profound patterns of a divine dragon.

Its head had become draconic, with two long, flowing whiskers of pure light and two small, nascent horns of crimson jade budding from its brow. A moment later, it materialized in the room before him. It had appeared in a shrunken-down form, its sixty-foot length condensed to the size of a human, floating gracefully in the air.

It still retained all its majestic features—the draconic head, the whale-like body, the leviathan's regal authority—but at this size, its large, intelligent black eyes and flowing whiskers made it look, despite its immense power, still quite adorable. First, he held out the Lapis Lotus Seed. The effect on the martial spirit was instantaneous and profound. It darted forward with an eager, instinctual speed and, without hesitation, swallowed the blue seed whole.

The seed vanished into its ethereal form, and Li Yu felt a deep, resonant thrum of satisfaction from the spirit, a feeling of having consumed something essential and long-desired. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Next, he held out the Crystal Orb of Serenity. The shrunken koi spirit looked at it, its large eyes showing a complete lack of interest. It nudged his hand curiously, then went back to its lazy circling of the room.

It clearly did not see the orb as food or as anything of particular value.

'It seems you don't think this item is anything special,' Li Yu thought. He had to coax the spirit, gently pushing the orb towards its mouth. The koi spirit, with the placid obedience it always showed its master, finally opened its draconic mouth and swallowed the orb as well, though with none of the eagerness it had shown for the seed. The moment the two items were consumed by the spirit, Li Yu felt a massive, churning movement within the Koi Sanctuary.

The spiritual energy within the vast, inner world of his martial spirit was fluctuating wildly. He immediately closed his eyes and sent his consciousness inside. The sight that greeted him was astonishing. There, on the dark, sandy seabed right next to Khaos's solitary, black rock ledge, was a lotus seed. But it was no longer the small, pill sized object he had purchased. It was now colossal, as large as a small house, its lapis-blue shell shimmering with a deep, internal light.

A single, thick, vibrant green plant stem, already several feet tall, had sprouted from its top, but it did not seem to be growing any further. Even more strange was its effect on the immediate surroundings. Khaos, in his true, monstrous form, was resting on his ledge as always. But his usually overwhelming, oppressive aura of pure void was… slightly muted.

The vibrant, life-giving energy of the giant lotus seed seemed to interfere with it, to disguise it, making the ancient entity seem less like a hole in reality and more like a simple, if terrifyingly large, sea creature. He did indeed look a bit weird next to that massive seed. Khaos was clearly aware of this, and he was not pleased. As Li Yu watched, one of Khaos's immense, razor-sharp pincers extended from the shadows.

With a movement of clear, irritated intent, he nudged the house-sized seed, pushing it with a surprising gentleness away from his ledge. The seed slid across the seabed, coming to a rest in the deeper water a few hundred feet away. Li Yu thought the matter was settled. But then, he witnessed something truly bizarre. The giant seed, on its own, began to move. With a slow, inexorable pull, as if drawn by an invisible, unbreakable tether, it began to drift back towards Khaos's ledge.

A palpable wave of annoyance washed through the sanctuary. Khaos raised both of his massive pincers. He did not touch the seed this time. Instead, thin, shimmering lines of absolute blackness, threads of pure void energy, shot out from his claws. They wove themselves around the returning lotus seed, forming a perfect, cubic cage of nothingness. The seed's slow, determined journey came to an abrupt halt, trapped within the void cage. It was held firmly in place, a safe distance from Khaos's personal space.

Li Yu was just stunned by how much Khaos didn't want the plant near him. He had never seen the entity interact with anything in the sanctuary before, let alone with such a clear, almost childish display of irritation. It was a rare and baffling glimpse into the personality of a being that was supposed to be beyond such things. He flew over to the void cage, his spiritual sense carefully examining the trapped seed. It did not seem to be damaged; the cage was a prison, not a weapon.

Satisfied, and not wanting to provoke the clearly annoyed god-like being any further, he left it be. His gaze then fell upon the Crystal Orb of Serenity. It lay on the seabed where the koi spirit had deposited it, looking like nothing more than a large, clear marble. He picked it up and flew to a central, open area of the sanctuary, a place where many of his most powerful aquatic beasts congregated.

He placed the orb on a high pillar of rock, and almost immediately, a gentle, silvery light began to pulse from it, spreading a wave of profound, calming energy throughout the water. The beasts in the immediate vicinity seemed to relax that ever bit more, their movements becoming slower, more content. It was working as intended. His work done, Li Yu left the Koi Sanctuary. He returned to his room, his mind filled with new questions.

The larger problems of the world, the two revolutionary factions and their shadow war, were momentarily forgotten, eclipsed by the profound, personal mystery of the Lapis Lotus Seed and the ancient, cosmic entity that was, for some unfathomable reason, deeply annoyed by a houseplant.