Li Chengyi strained his eyes and looked in the direction of the light.
He saw a purple glow approaching, getting closer and closer.
It was a purple ring.
The ring was divided into twelve sections, each with a crystal pedestal within.
And in the center of the ring was still darkness, but from that darkness, it seemed as if something was approaching, emerging.
Li Chengyi's gaze was unconsciously drawn to the dark center of the ring.
He looked intently, observing, trying to discern what was emerging.
Hum!!!
Two points of silver light suddenly shone from the darkness.
A set of purple-black armor, like crystalline gems crafted into a ferocious metal form, slowly emerged from the darkness.
The armor was assembled into a humanoid shape, overall resembling a seated person.
The helmet was diamond-shaped, with extremely ornate and complicated floral patterns and characters etched all over the cheeks and forehead.
Extending backward from the back of the head was an X-shaped gray armor piece, the purpose of which was unknown.
The back carried two oversized broad straight swords in a crossed fashion, resembling a pair of folded wings.
The swords were sheathed, the surface also covered with a large number of intricate and ornate patterns.
On the whole, the armor wasn't thick and appeared like a set of decorative battle armor worn by ancient warriors.
In the details, one could also see traces of damage and age. On the arms and legs, there were gaps and spiderweb-like cracks.
It was as if it had gone through an incredibly brutal battle.
'Successfully loaded the Evil Flower.' A stream of invisible information flowed into Li Chengyi's mind.
'Please freely select twelve different types of flowers, each type of flower can form its own Floral Dress and will possess its unique Flower Language Ability. '
There are a total of twelve Moon time Divine Flower Positions to be filled. Once completed, all Floral Dresses will merge and forge your very own Ultimate Floral Dress.'
'Different flowers possess different Flower Language Abilities and evolutionary paths. Once chosen, they will permanently occupy a Divine Flower Position and cannot be changed. Please choose carefully.'
'Prompt will self-destruct in five seconds. '
'Finally, successor, please don't forget your original intent when you first inherited this power.'
'Creation or destruction, both lie within a single thought of yours.'
The darkness dispersed abruptly.
Li Chengyi stood there dazed, still holding his phone, pointing it at the back of his right hand.
On the back of his hand, the black pattern had now transformed into a purple-black ring.
The ring was divided into twelve sections.
Each section seemed to have its own life, sending out incessant messages of longing towards him.
They were longing to find the designated flowers to fill them.
'This... What on earth is this thing?! Finding different flowers to fill the twelve sections?'
He looked down at the purple-black ring on his hand, unsure what to do next.
'Does it have to be a flower?'
He looked at the green grass beneath his feet. There were no flowers on it.
The lush green lawn was dotted only with mounds of dark green bushes, half the height of a person, and a row of bare black trees of unknown variety.
'Flowers! I must find flowers immediately!! I could be pulled in at any moment! I have to be quick!'
Li Chengyi was only stunned for a moment before he snapped back to reality. He could be dragged into the Blind Spot at any moment, so finding a flower to fill the sections was crucial!
He immediately scanned his surroundings.
It was early May, the residential complex was bustling with people and cars, with not many flowers in sight.
What he saw first was a cluster of white and yellow little flowers swaying in the wind by the corner of the surrounding wall in the distance.
Li Chengyi immediately stepped out of the greenbelt and dashed straight towards the small flowers.
'Who cares what flower it is, let's just try it out first!'
He sprinted, quickly arriving at the corner, bent down, and reached out to touch the small flowers gently.
'Before it was just a matter of touching, should be the same now.'
Li Chengyi's chest rose and fell violently, but his hands were exceptionally tender, fearing he might damage the small flowers.
He reached out with his index finger, gently and slowly, touching one of the small White Chrysanthemums.
This White Chrysanthemum was only the size of a fingernail, its petals white like fan blades, surrounding a tender yellow pistil. The pistil looked like a miniature beehive made up of many sesame-sized bubbles.
'This... isn't this a wild chrysanthemum?' Li Chengyi's predecessor was, after all, a student of plant maintenance, and even with his vague memories, he recognized the name of this type of small flower.
He didn't think too much and decided to first test out the power of the Evil Flower.
As his fingertip drew closer, his breathing grew rapidly subdued, becoming lighter.
He observed carefully, wanting to see how the ability would manifest itself.
Puff.
Finally, his fingernail lightly touched the small White Chrysanthemum with a yellow center.
A whiff of sensation, like an electric shock, streamed out from the edge of the petal and entered Li Chengyi's fingertip.
Then this whiff flowed from the fingertip, into the back of the hand, and into one of the sections of the purple-black ring.
At the same time, a stream of related information entered Li Chengyi's mind.
'White Chrysanthemum: Often grows by roadsides and field edges, extremely tenacious in life, capable of quickly recovering after rain even if it's been plucked. Has medicinal properties of clearing heat and detoxifying.'
'Flower Language: The heart of persistence.'
'Floral Dress Collection Degree: 1%. Possible Evolutions: Insufficient information.'
'Fill it?
Please note, only by developing the Floral Dress to its utmost can one unlock the Second Divine Flower Position, and only then can a second type of flower be filled in. Please choose carefully.'
A string of information flowed in, allowing Li Chengyi to quickly grasp the usage method of the Evil Flower ability.
Flower Language is the special power inherent to different flowers.
The Floral Dress is akin to Armor, offering some level of protection, capable of enhancing one's own strength and amplifying the Flower Language Ability.
'.....' After a moment of silence, Li Chengyi instantly understood the entire power system of the Evil Flower.
In simple terms, it allowed for the transformation of different flowers into various superpowers and special Armors.
'Resolute Heart....' He carefully focused his attention on the Flower Language Ability.
'What use is this ability?'
There was no explanation, just the simple names of the texts.
'There's also the collection progress for the Floral Dress, just one percent. Does that mean I need to find a hundred chrysanthemums to realize the Floral Dress??'
Li Chengyi crouched down, his thoughts churning, and quickly reached out to touch the other chrysanthemums around him.
Luckily, these little flowers were everywhere, lined up along the corners of the community walls, dense and numerous at a glance.
He touched this one, then that one, and soon the collection progress rose to 10%.
But next, his gaze fell on the white pentagonal flowers mixed in among the chrysanthemums.
This flower looked like a soft version of a pentagram, its petals had delicate yellow line patterns in the middle, and its center was dark yellow with interspersed black dots.
Li Chengyi reached out and gently touched the petals of this flower.
Immediately a fresh stream of information flowed into his mind.
'Roadside Thorn: An evergreen shrub, roots, stems and leaves can be used in medicine, it clears the liver, relieves depression, cools heat and dampness, can treat acute tonsillitis, pharyngitis, and more.'
'Flower Language: Mirror of Yearning.'
'Floral Dress collection progress: 3%. Number of evolutions: Insufficient information.'
'Fill it?'
Can't I get a more practical Flower Language Ability?
Urgency began to grow in Li Chengyi's mind.
This Mirror of Yearning was obviously not suited for survival or life-saving, not as good as the Resolute Heart from before.
He quickly rose to his feet and swept his gaze around him.
The grey and white residential buildings stood quietly around him, like silent white giants.
From a distance, black vehicles slowly drove out of the underground parking exit, their headlights dragging two white traces of light in the evening.
The wheels of the cars rolled over the grey-black ground, kicking up a spray of fine yellow-green leaves.
Li Chengyi stood up straight, his gaze sweeping quickly over everything around him, knowing that time was running out.
It was an indescribable sensation, but for some reason, he knew that the Blind Spot would soon arrive.
'I must hurry! As quickly as possible!'
Suddenly, his gaze swept around and he saw, in the middle of the community, next to an old grey gazebo, a wooden frame that someone had constructed.
Dangling from the square wooden frame were strings of small flowers that looked like purple grapes, falling from top to bottom.
The flowers were somewhat dark in color, as if they had been blooming for some time, and many had fallen to the ground; some were even broken and played with by children.
Right then, two seven or eight-year-old children were in the gazebo, beating the wisteria flowers wildly with sticks in hand.
Li Chengyi took a deep breath and hurried towards the wisteria.
Within a matter of seconds, he dashed to the wisteria frame, out of breath, and grabbed a string of flowers that hung down.
The flowers were beautiful, with most of the bodies being tubular, the purple petals fading inward from the edge to pure white.
A string of flowers hung downwards, like grapes, with at least dozens of flowers distributed from top to bottom.
And the size of each blooming flower gradually decreased from top to bottom.
The fragrance was also faint, almost undetectable unless one got very close.
As soon as Li Chengyi reached out his hand, information came through instantly.
'Wisteria: Belonging to the legume family and the wisteria genus, it has strong resistance to harmful gases such as sulfur dioxide and hydrogen oxide, can absorb dust in the air, and has uses such as promoting diuresis, killing insects, and relieving pain; its medicinal property is warm, slightly toxic and should not be consumed for long periods.'
'Flower Language: Drunken Hand.'
'Floral Dress collection progress: 3%. Number of evolutions: 2.'
'Fill it?'
'There are enough of them, Flower Language Ability seems literal, maybe somewhat useful, and then there's that number of evolutions....'
Li Chengyi thought swiftly, comparing in his mind.
Compared to the previous two, the Wisteria's Flower Language Ability seemed more practical.
If he could divert the attention of that face monster....
Standing there, he muttered to himself while holding the wisteria flower, his incantations making the two playing kids edge away, wondering what was wrong with him.
Before long, the two kids ran off elsewhere and stopped meddling with the wisteria.
'This is it!!'
Finally, Li Chengyi glanced at the seven or eight strings of wisteria flowers hanging from the wooden frame around him, settling on his decision.
No sooner had he made up his mind than the information stream asking if he wanted to fill in automatically disappeared.
A cool sensation began to flow from the wisteria, into his fingertips, up his right hand, and into one of the slots on the purple ring.
'Filling the Moon time Divine Flower Position with: Wisteria.'
'Floral Dress collection progress: 5%. Reach 100% collection progress to materialize the Floral Dress. Please collect more Wisteria flowers.'