Chapter 249: The Mother-Child River and the Twin Rivers

"Back when I was a supreme ruler, an entire planet was my domain. I could manipulate it as I pleased, bringing blessings to the world."

"Even this Twin-Lotus was a new species I cultivated."

"There's such a story?"

The Immortal Fairy had been chattering endlessly in Lu Yang's spiritual space. Initially, Lu Yang had dismissed it as idle chatter, letting it go in one ear and out the other, not really listening to anything she said.

Now, Lu Yang was intrigued.

Lu Yang had always felt that natural treasures had existed since ancient times, remaining unchanged.

Common precious medicinal herbs like ginseng and ganoderma, or even roadside foxtail grass and wild chrysanthemums, had all been around since human history was recorded.

Since they were called 'natural treasures,' they were naturally treasures born of heaven and earth.

Lu Yang had never heard of any natural treasure being cultivated by later powerful beings.

Now he had.

"Tell me, what happened?" Lu Yang asked eagerly.

The Immortal Fairy smiled triumphantly, very pleased with Lu Yang's attitude. *This* was how one should treat an immortal.

"Speaking of this, I must mention my capabilities."

"That was after I achieved immortality. As you know, I was incredibly renowned in ancient times, and many willingly became my followers."

"At that time, a devout female follower came to seek my help. She wanted twins, but such a thing was beyond human capability, so she came to me."

"I figured granting this wish wouldn't cause any issues, so I began to handle it." The Immortal Fairy was a discerning immortal and wouldn't grant every wish.

"Originally, I could have refined a pill to help this follower conceive twins, but then I remembered what the Nine Heavens Immortal once said."

"The Nine Heavens Immortal said that when one follower expresses a wish, ten more followers will desire the same."

"Childbearing is an eternal desire; it's impossible that only one follower would want twins."

"Even if I refined a pill now, what if someone else prayed to me later? Would I keep refining pills? That would be too troublesome."

"I thought of a permanent solution: using my supreme divine abilities, borrowing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, extracting Dao essence, altering certain rules, and employing various other methods you currently can't comprehend, I refined an entire river into an immortal artifact."

"Anyone who drank from its waters would conceive two fetuses."

"I named the river the 'Twin River'."

Lu Yang was silent for a moment, then asked, "...You didn't by any chance later have a sudden whim and create another river called the 'Mother-Child River,' where women who drank the water would get pregnant and give birth only to girls, did you?"

"Not exactly..."

Lu Yang sighed in relief.

"I created the Mother-Child River before I made the Twin River."

The Immortal Fairy asked curiously, "How did you know about the Mother-Child River? Is it recorded in ancient texts?"

"Just assume I dreamed about it."

The Immortal Fairy didn't ponder it further and continued, "Creatures living in the river were affected by its waters, causing a deviation, or rather a change, at the very source of their souls."

"The most obvious change was in a lotus plant. Originally, it would only produce one flower when blooming, but after growing in the Twin River, it began producing two."

"Finding it novel, I named this lotus..."

"Twin-Lotus?" Lu Yang blurted out, following the Immortal Fairy's train of thought.

"Sister Flowers."

Lu Yang: "..."

"After the Sky-Responder Immortal learned about this, she advised me against 'Sister Flowers,' saying it didn't reflect the prestige of an immortal's creation. She persuaded me to change the name to Twin-Lotus."

"I thought the name was good, so I agreed."

"The lotus seeds from 'Sister Flowers' tasted great. I often made porridge with them for the Sky-Responder Immortal and the others."

The Immortal Fairy had previously mentioned that lotus seed soup could bless people with many children and good fortune. It wasn't just talk; it genuinely had that potential.

"With the end of the ancient era, I don't know what became of the Mother-Child River and the Twin River. Whether they were refined into other immortal artifacts or hidden away, I have no idea."

The Twin-Lotus, a precious natural treasure capable of helping someone form a first-grade Golden Core, was generally regarded as a natural wonder. People never considered it an immortal creation, and its original purpose wasn't for forming Golden Cores but for making porridge.

"What's so impressive about forming a Golden Core with the Twin-Lotus? Stick with me, and I'll teach you to form an invincible Golden Core," the Immortal Fairy scoffed at the idea of using the Twin-Lotus for core formation, believing that Golden Cores formed this way were far inferior to her own.

Even among first-grade Golden Cores, there were distinctions in quality.

Lu Yang rolled his eyes, ignoring the Immortal Fairy, and refocused, resuming the discussion on how to divide the lotus.

"Since the Twin-Lotus's function is to help form Golden Cores, why don't the four of us observe it together and see who gains an insight for core formation? That person can have the lotus. How does that sound?"

Meng Jingzhou's suggestion was met with agreement from the other three.

Meng Jingzhou found a vase and placed the Twin-Lotus inside. The four gathered around it, staring intently at the lotus.

The scene was quite peculiar, resembling a demonic cult performing some forbidden ritual.

Fortunately, all four were disciples of the Dao Inquiring Sect, legitimate righteous cultivators, so they wouldn't arouse suspicion.

Lu Yang stared fixedly at the Twin-Lotus, wondering if he could form an extremely potent Yin-Yang Golden Core, like his second senior brother.

Meng Jingzhou imprinted the Twin-Lotus in his mind.

Through long evolution, the Twin-Lotus had acquired the ability to invert attributes. Meng Jingzhou tried to use the opportunity of studying the Twin-Lotus to invert Yin and Yang, hoping to transform his "single-attribute spiritual root" into a "harem-attribute spiritual root."

Tao Yaoye, on the other hand, was thinking of incorporating Yin-Yang changes into her illusions to make them more mysterious and unpredictable. It would be ideal if she could integrate the illusionary changes with insights for Golden Core formation.

Mang Gu stared at the Twin-Lotus, his mind filled with descriptions of lotuses, such as "rising unsullied from mud, washed but not seductive from clear water" and "endless green lotus leaves reaching the sky, lotus flowers brightened by the sun with a unique red."

Soon, Mang Gu thought of another crucial question: "Can lotus flowers be eaten? Can they be roasted?"

And so, the four sat idly for two whole days.

Lu Yang's eyes felt dry from staring at the lotus, so he pulled out the eye drops his senior sister had given him, applied two drops, and felt much better.

"Have any of you gained insight?" he asked.

The three all shook their heads; none had gained anything.

Two days of contemplation yielded no results, indicating that their destiny for core formation wasn't linked to this Twin-Lotus. Forcing it wouldn't work.

"It'd be a shame to just discard it, especially after we worked so hard to get it. How about we sell it at the trade guild and split the spirit stones?" Tao Yaoye suggested. Further contemplation wouldn't yield results, so it was better to cut their losses now.

"Sounds good," Meng Jingzhou and Mang Gu agreed, having no objections.

Lu Yang raised his hand, making a different request: "I'd like the lotus seeds. I won't take any of the spirit stones from the auction, is that alright?"

The Immortal Fairy had been making a fuss in his spiritual space for a while, absolutely insisting on getting the lotus seeds.

To appease the immortal's "calamity," Lu Yang had no choice but to claim the lotus seeds.