The blood coursing through Bai Lian's body sped up. Anger swept through her as she focused her attention on the visual and audio signals sent by a plant near the rim of the forest.
The crown prince of Evergreen Kingdom, Fan Yu Han entered the Obsidian Forest with a small entourage of guards. Although the guards were few in number, each one possessed great strength. Bai Lian could not deduce their level of strength from the visuary signals she received.
"Your highness, the sunrise water lily is estimated to bloom in a week. What are your orders?"
"I'm tired from the trip, so I'll rest at the inn after a small walk around the edge of the Obsidian Forest. Set up a camp near the flower five days before its estimated bloom. Make sure we get a good spot near the flower. Word should already have spread that the sunrise water lily will be blooming soon in this forest. A lot of experts will be coming."
"Understood."
Bai Lian noticed Fan Yu Han looked slightly older than in her memories. A soul master would age slower than a non-cultivator, so quite some years must have passed after Bai Lian's death in her previous life.
After regaining her memories in this life, Bai Lian's anger towards Fan Yu Han felt very distant. However, aftering see his face, hearing his voice, she could hardly contain her anger. If she weren't rooted to the bottom of the lake, she might have ran over to the crown prince.
She finally resolved herself that in this life, getting revenge for her past life grievances was a must. Until now, she had only been building up her strength to ward off boredom and for self protection. However, now she had a goal. She couldn't leisurely live in this lake forever. Bai Lian glared at her roots. Her first step would be to unroot herself and leave the lake. However, before that she needed to become stronger.
Her focus shifted to the two large leaves floating in the water near her. These leaves were part of her body, but she had not included these leaves or the stems attached to them in her exercises. Even after her first evolution, these leaves and stems drained too much energy to move, so she had ignored them until now, giving the stem and small leaves under her flower petals attention instead. After all, she was a pampered young miss in her previous life, where would she find the determination to exercise those tiring large leaves. However, now she had to start utilizing her whole body if she wished to become strong enough to seek revenge on her previous enemies. Bai Lian inwardly sighed, feeling deep dread over her future tiring training.
Bai Lian calmed herself and started pondering over the situation in the forest. The sunrise water lily was a red and orange water lily and the key ingredient for the sunflare pill, a rank 7 pill that is rumored to awaken one's ability to sense and manipulate fire qi for those who are not fire soul masters. On the other hand, the flame of a fire soul master who eats the pill would be able to reach new heights. However, these effects have become mere rumors for the sunrise water lily blooms once in a hundred thousand years, making the sunflare pill extraordinarily rare.
Upon blooming, the sunrise water lily would exude a faint glow as the nearby waters reflect a faint orange. The spectacle of the blooming lily was said to be exceptionally beautiful and it would come as no surprise if people came to the forest only to witness the blooming. Needless to say, with all the experts aiming for the flower, no ordinary person will be able to get their hand on the sunrise water lily.
Focusing on the signals from the plants of the Obsidian Forest, Bai Lian undertook the task of searching for the sunrise water lily. Her spirits dropped as she noticed hoards of spirit beasts heading towards the lake she lived in. In a week, her lake would be surrounded by spirit beasts and spirit masters. Bai Lian would have to suspend her training plans for a while and pretend to be an ordinary white lotus.
As a plant, Bai Lian was already quite good at having little presence. Utilizing her past life knowledge, Bai Lian hid her aura. Gradually, she had gotten a better grasp on hiding her cultivation. If one were to glance at her location, rather than simply seeing a normal white lotus, they may not even notice a white lotus was there.
As the blooming day of the sunrise water lily crept nearer, the lands around the lake grew more crowded. With three days until the blooming, fights had already broken out due to the limited space near the lake.
'Cultivating plant, you may take my properties.'
Bai Lian was shocked by the signal she had received. Plants were very unsociable, so this was the first time she had received a signal from another plant that wasn't sent automatically. She shifted her gaze towards the water lily that had yet to bloom. Through slight openings in the bud, one could already get small glimpses at the water lily's petals, revealing a brilliant red that drifted to a soft orange as it reached the tip of the petal.
'Why?' Bai Lian sent a signal in reply to the sunrise water lily.
'Look at those crowds of spirit master and spirit beasts. It is already glaringly obvious I will die shortly after blooming. Since my death is already inevitable, I may as well assist my fellow flower. Who knows, perhaps after you absorb my properties, I may survive and after losing my valuable properties, I may be spared.' These words cause a sense of heartache to surge within Bai Lian. However, she was not sure why.
After four days of concealing herself, Bai Lian felt her mastery of concealment had grown by leaps and bounds. She felt confident that even if her white petals turned red and orange, she would be able to escape notice.
'Alright. I will absorb you by your roots.' The distance between the two flowers were about five meters. However, Bai Lian's roots would need to extend itself by three meters to reach the water lily's roots. Bai Lian urge the root that was closest to the water lily. Forcing her root to grow was more tiring than moving her large leaves. However, she continued to urge it to grow.
As she grew tired, she realized why the words of the water lily had brought her heartache. In a daze, still urging her root to grow, Bai Lian recalled her previous life. Like the water lily, she had walked calmly towards her death. Even though she knew she would die, she did not resist.
As she continued to urge her root to grow, tiredness morphed to pain, pressuring her to stop. With determination she never knew she had, Bai Lian pushed on. Her attempt at growing her roots had become an inner battle to fight her past helplessness. It was as though she were the sunrise water lily and she was now fighting against her imminent death, refusing her pitiful fate.
As Bai Lian's root grew, its growth gradually increasing in speed. Urging her root to grow had become easier with each passing moment of urging. Slowly, the great pain began to ease. After two days and nights of urging without rest, her root had made contact with one of the sunrise water lily's roots.