Chapter 3: The Nine-Colored Divine Lotus Scripture!

Chapter 3: The Nine-Colored Divine Lotus Scripture!
“Not related to the Martial Vein!”
Qin Zheng read those words, a low growl escaping him.
He had no Martial Vein. This constant limitation was his biggest problem. Yet this Nine-Colored Divine Lotus Scripture didn’t need a Martial Vein for cultivation! How could he not be extremely excited?
Especially since this was the Nine-Colored Divine Lotus Scripture.
The Divine Martial Continent universally acknowledged three great Martial Scriptures: the Nine-Colored Divine Lotus Scripture, the Nine-Turn Coiling Dragon Scripture, and the Nine Deaths Nirvana Scripture.
Legend said that if you gained even one of these three great Martial Scriptures, and cultivated it to its peak, you could shatter the barrier between mortals and gods, becoming a deity as eternal as the sun and moon.
Moreover, all Martial Scriptures and Martial Arts Manuals that came after were formed by taking a single essence point from these three great scriptures. You could say these three Martial Scriptures were the ultimate, the highest level – nothing surpassed them.
An excited Qin Zheng continued reading.
“To cultivate the Nine-Colored Divine Lotus Scripture, requires vigorous vital essence.”
Next was an annotation. Qin Zheng saw it was left by the Old East Sea King.
The main idea was that the demand for vigorous vital essence to cultivate the Nine-Colored Divine Lotus Scripture was incredibly high, terrifyingly so. At the very least, the Old East Sea King hadn’t qualified. The result of forcing cultivation was that despite his power, which terrified the Divine Martial Continent, and his potential lifespan of three to five hundred years, he lived less than a hundred and twenty years. He died because his vital essence was depleted.
“So, the Old Prince died because he forced the cultivation of the Nine-Colored Divine Lotus Scripture after a hundred years.”
“No wonder the Old Prince didn’t pass the Nine-Colored Divine Lotus Scripture to anyone. Instead, he carved it here. Known as a martial genius in his youth, praised for his strong vital essence, even if his Martial Path achievements hadn’t been high, he should have lived over three hundred years. He could have been the longest-living person. But because of cultivating the Nine-Colored Divine Lotus Scripture, he only lived a hundred and twenty.”
Qin Zheng’s excited heart suddenly felt like a cold shower had been poured over it.
Because he had stayed by the Old East Sea King’s side during the last ten years of his life. Normally, the Old Prince told him things about his past. Even in the last half-year, when his mind was fuzzy, he revealed many secrets that probably even the current East Sea King didn’t know. So, Qin Zheng knew very clearly: the depth of the Old East Sea King’s vital essence was unmatched by almost anyone. If he wasn’t qualified, who possibly could be?
Qin Zheng continued reading the words on the stone table.
“Only after cultivating the Nine-Colored Divine Lotus Scripture did I understand the universe’s mysteries and devise a way to test if someone could cultivate it: drip one drop of Essence Blood onto the stone table. If the characters transform into Divine Lotuses, cultivation is possible. Sadly, no one in the Prince’s Mansion could meet the requirement.”
Reading this, Qin Zheng realized the Old East Sea King had secretly tested everyone in the Prince’s Mansion to see if they could cultivate – meaning he, Qin Zheng, had been tested too.
“I didn’t qualify either?”
“I still have to try! The Old East Sea King passed away five years ago already. My three hundred failed breakthroughs and tempering my Bloodline happened in the last six years. What’s more, it was only recently that my Bloodline had a qualitative shift.”
Qin Zheng thought about the metal turning watery during the Bleed Forge ceremony. He looked at his own Blood with great anticipation.
He immediately dripped one drop of his Essence Blood onto the stone table.
Earlier, only ordinary blood had soaked in, revealing the characters.
A drop of Essence Blood fell.
It sank into the stone table. The Essence Blood spread rapidly, spreading outwards and continuously fading. It gathered around each individual character.
Qin Zheng held his breath, eyes locked onto the table.
The characters started to gently ripple, as if becoming solid objects. The inside of the stone table was no longer solid; it now held a space. As the rippling continued, each character underwent subtle changes. Gradually, the characters dissolved and reorganized themselves. Shockingly, they transformed into clusters of Divine Lotuses!
“Characters turning into Divine Lotuses! I can cultivate!”
Qin Zheng’s hands gripped the stone table so hard it might crack. He was so excited he almost roared to the heavens.
Thankfully, the tempering from three hundred failed cultivation attempts had made him far steadier than his peers. He held back the roar of joy. He plopped down to the ground. He kept writing the character “Calm” on the ground with his finger. He wrote it over thirty times before he finally calmed down.
After steadying his mind and spirit, Qin Zheng stood back up. He saw the Divine Lotuses on the stone table had already returned to their original character shapes and were beginning to fade.
He quickly pulled out paper and a pen. Carefully, he copied down the entire Nine-Colored Divine Lotus Scripture.
During the process, he dripped Blood once more to maintain the visibility.
Once he finished copying completely, and the characters on the table vanished once more, Qin Zheng didn’t immediately put the table back. He managed to get Blood from some other people and tested it. He discovered their Blood couldn’t make the characters appear at all. Clearly, only those who could manifest the characters with Blood had the qualification to test the character-to-lotus transformation.
Only then did Qin Zheng feel truly comfortable putting the stone table back in its original spot. He erased any traces he might have left.
He returned to his room and began reading the Nine-Colored Divine Lotus Scripture.
He didn’t start cultivating immediately. First, he wanted to firmly memorize every word.
After confirming he knew it by heart, he burned the copied pages. Only then did he formally begin cultivating the Nine-Colored Divine Lotus Scripture. This extreme caution was also a direct lesson from the fact that the Iron Box’s secret had somehow been discovered.
“To cultivate the Nine-Colored Divine Lotus Scripture, first temper the Bloodline.”
“Use the Bloodline to sense the Heaven and Earth Energy, tempering oneself.”
The initial steps of the Nine-Colored Divine Lotus Scripture floated in Qin Zheng’s mind. He settled into a cross-legged position, emptying his thoughts. Heart and spirit merged. He focused all his senses to perceive.
He sought to perceive the most basic flowing power in the world… the Heaven and Earth Essence.
If he could sense it, he could draw it into his Bloodline according to the scripture’s demands, guided through his Bloodline, to temper his body. Using his Blood as the foundation, he could hopefully condense the Nine-Colored Divine Lotus Meridian. This would break him free from the cage of having no Martial Vein preventing his breakthrough.
Time slipped away quietly.
Without him noticing, deep night arrived.
All sounds hushed.
Qin Zheng, now feeling immensely pure and calm, felt like he might float away. Soft threads of moving air seemed to stir around him, like a faint breeze teasing his skin. The sensation was incredibly clear. Moreover, these faint threads of air were slowly seeping into his body through his pores.
“I sense it!”
“The Heaven and Earth Essence!”
Qin Zheng’s heart leaped with joy; the connection had vanished.
He immediately calmed his mind and reached out again. Having already succeeded once, the connection came easier this time. Soon, he sensed the link between the Heaven and Earth Essence and his own body, and he promptly began cultivating the foundation chapter of the Nine-Colored Divine Lotus Scripture.
He guided the Heaven and Earth Essence, merging it into his Bloodline.
Gradually, his blood began to boil, its flow quickening.
Before long, the sound of rushing blood filled the air—first like rolling streams, then like fierce currents of the Yangtze River, finally transforming into the roar of ocean waves. Thick, sanguine energy manifested around Qin Zheng, churning restlessly.
“Sanguine forces, coalesce into the lotus!”
Qin Zheng crossed his arms over his chest.
Immediately, the dense sanguine energy surrounding him roiled and gathered, slowly forming the shape of a divine lotus.
“The Divine Lotus enters the body, refining oneself!”
The sanguine lotus coalesced from the energy melded into his body and began circulating through every part of him.
Each place it passed through felt as if it was being brutally broken apart, the agony almost making Qin Zheng black out.
“Hold on, can’t faint.”
“Pass out now, interrupt the cultivation, have to start all over. I must push through this time.”
He gritted his teeth until they nearly cracked, enduring for a full hour, until the sanguine divine lotus finally completed its circuit, refining his entire body.
Qin Zheng felt utterly transformed, as if all the impurities and filth within him had been purged.
Completing this step brought him to the most crucial final stage.
The divine lotus absorbed Essence Blood, infused the Dantian, and evolved into the Martial Vein!
The unique feature of the Nine-Colored Divine Lotus Scripture was that it used blood as its foundation, forging the Bloodline’s essence into the Nine-Colored Divine Lotus Meridian, planting it within the Dantian.
“Push through in one go tonight! Melt blood into the divine lotus!”
Qin Zheng took a deep breath and surged with force.
His entire body’s blood ignited into furious boiling, emitting the thunderous roar of sea surges. The sanguine divine lotus entered his Dantian, anchoring itself at its center. From the violently churning blood, wisps of its innermost essence converged towards the Dantian.
With every fraction of Blood Essence consumed, Qin Zheng’s complexion paled further.
This cultivation process was also one of self-depletion.
Only by successfully forging the Nine-Colored Divine Lotus Meridian through blood essence fusion could recovery begin. Should the vitality of his sanguine forces fall short, his foundation would suffer damage, difficult to restore.
Wisp by wisp, the Blood Essence merged into the sanguine divine lotus, causing the previously ethereal lotus to solidify step by step. Its nine petals also ceased being merely red, each developing its own distinctive character.
Half an hour later, Qin Zheng’s face was ashen, devoid of any blood color. His breathing became faint and shallow, as if he might suffocate at any moment.
The divine lotus finally took on nine distinct hues.
Red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple, black, and white.
The Nine-Colored Divine Lotus was complete!
A strained smile surfaced on Qin Zheng’s paper-white face. Success was nearly guaranteed now that this step was done.
“Divine Lotus, become the Martial Vein!”
At his low shout, the Nine-Colored Divine Lotus emitted nine rays of light, weaving connections through his Dantian and integrating fully with his body.
Once perfect integration was achieved, without the slightest barrier remaining, Qin Zheng inhaled deeply and pressed his thumbs and index fingers against his lower abdomen.
The Nine-Colored Divine Lotus immediately began to spin.
The next moment, the Heaven and Earth Essence seemed pulled by a terrible suction, wildly plunging into the Nine-Colored Divine Lotus. Pure energy then surged out from the lotus, infusing his Bloodline. Qin Zheng’s bloodless face rapidly regained color, appearing recovered mere moments later.
As the Nine-Colored Divine Lotus absorbed the Heaven and Earth Essence, Qin Zheng once more felt that sensation he had sought through three hundred attempts.
There was no time to react. A tremor shook his entire frame.
He broke through!