Three generations, three palaces
Four-leaf lotus
Yan Dan slowly turned her head to look at Tang Zhou, and finally said softly, "Congratulations."
He had found the person he was looking for; he had regained everything he once had. But what she had left was destroyed once more.
Have you ever loved someone?
Have you ever hated the person you loved?
But in the end, I found that I hated myself more.
Yan Dan was once a minor fairy in the Heavenly Court.
She said this to Liu Weiyang, but unfortunately it was still not pure or true.
Her true form is a four-leaf lotus, a rare race similar to the nine-tailed spirit fox and the nine-finned azure scales, which are ancient remnants that are now almost extinct. This destined her not to be planted in the residence of any celestial lord in the Nine Heavens, but to be raised by the Jade Pool, cared for by the fairies under the Queen Mother of the West.
Yan Dan couldn't remember exactly when she went from being an ignorant lotus to gradually being able to understand the words of the immortals and fairies passing by Yaochi. After regaining consciousness, she began to carefully examine her dwelling.
The Jade Pool, shrouded in ethereal mist, was incredibly crowded.
The lotus flowers in this pond have completely covered the water with their leaves.
From the same root, twin lotuses sprout. Ever since she became conscious, she has always nestled together with her twin sister Zhixi, swaying from side to side in the wind.
At that time, in this small corner of the world, there were only her and Zhixi. They were from the same root and branch, relying on each other for support.
Even though they are twins, they are still very different. Zhixi is more quiet and devoted to Taoism and Zen, while Yandan is more lively and doesn't care about these things.
"Zhixi, Zhixi, tell me, it's clearly a very small matter, but when you apply Zen principles to it, you can turn it into a whole bunch of nonsense." Yan Dan leaned against her twin sister, looking quite distressed. "Can't I just not become an immortal and not talk nonsense?"
Zhixi always smiles, gentle and delicate.
Generally speaking, one must wait until adulthood to take human form, but there have always been exceptions throughout history. For example, Donghua Qingjun, who was incarnated by the thousand-year-old Crimson Spirit Grass, was one such example. When he took human form, he was still a young boy, which became a popular topic of conversation among the gods and immortals.
Yan Dan felt that there was nothing good about transforming into a young man's appearance. Looking young meant being inexperienced and would definitely be bullied by others in the future.
At that time, Yan Danli was still a hundred years away from adulthood. She never worried about transforming into human form or attaining immortality, and had always lived a carefree life. However, recently she had begun to feel somewhat melancholy: the Jade Pool was filled with so many lotus blossoms, which were indeed a vibrant and beautiful sight when they bloomed, but if this continued, she would really be squeezed flat. If she was squeezed and her flower stems grew crooked, would she also have a crooked neck after transforming into human form?
Well, the fairy with the crooked neck, although she may not become a celebrated figure like Donghua Qingjun, will surely make a name for herself in the vast Nine Heavens.
On the eve of the Jade Pool Festival, the Lotus Fairy under the Queen Mother of the West was already tending to the Jade Pool. While pruning the lotus flowers that grew as luxuriantly as weeds, she murmured to herself, "At this time tomorrow, all the celestial lords and fairies of the Heavenly Court will come, including those three who are usually rarely seen, as well as the Buddhas and Arhats of the West... You must bloom well and not be naughty or mischievous, remember, remember..."
The three people the Lotus Fairy mentioned, whom Yan Dan had long since become intimately familiar with after spending countless days by the Jade Pool listening to the celestial children gossiping. Those three referred to the Nine Heavens Emperors, with the Heavenly Extreme Purple Void Sage Emperor at the head, followed by the Primordial Longevity Emperor and the Azure Departure Abyss Emperor.
Yan Dan was very frustrated. It was a pity that she was still in the form of a lotus, and there was nothing unusual about her appearance: This was supposed to be a lotus fairy, after all, didn't she know that blooming wasn't something that could be done at will? There were still ten days or half a month left before the flowering season, how could she suddenly bloom so profusely in the pond?
The lotus fairy trimmed their branches and leaves, and continued to murmur, "It's this time tomorrow, so please don't bloom too early."
So, Yan Dan spent an extremely strange night. At night, everyone was busy preparing for the blooming of their emotions, and even though they were exhausted, they stubbornly refused to sleep, but she slept soundly.
Why bother? Those immortals, fairies, Buddhas, and Arhats aren't here just to admire the flowers.
But that's fine too. If everyone manages to bloom beautifully, then in this huge pond of lotus flowers, no one will notice that there's one that's too lazy to bloom. She squeezes in among them, pretending to be something she's not, and she'll still receive plenty of praise. So, she felt even more at ease and simply fell into a deep sleep.
The next day, when she slowly opened her eyes, the grand gathering at Yaochi had already begun.
Her neighbors' lotus flowers were all in bloom, their vibrant red petals covering the pond, with some even extending beyond the Jade Pool.
Seeing the reproachful look in Zhixi's eyes, Yan Dan felt guilty for the first time. However, this feeling of guilt stirred up some incredible immortal root, and she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her body, wishing she could roll into the Jade Pool and drown herself.
As the saying goes, "A willow planted unintentionally may grow into a shady tree." As for the fact that the willow tree not only became a shady tree but also grew into a sycamore tree, this was something she never even thought about.
She actually transformed into a human about a hundred years before she reached adulthood.
While Yan Dan was in excruciating pain, she vaguely thought that Donghua Qingjun had transformed into a human thirty or fifty years earlier, and he was a childish boy. It took several hundred years for him to grow from a childish boy into a handsome young man. So what would she look like this time?
When Yan Dan transformed into human form, colorful birds flew in unison along the Jade Pool in the Heavenly Court, and large, vibrant red lotus flowers veiled the pool's spring waters. Immortal lords from all walks of life gathered together, clinking glasses and discussing the Dao and its laws.
Yan Dan calmly crawled out of the lotus leaves and lotus flowers amidst the envious and even murderous gazes of her fellow clansmen.
She transformed into a human, a full hundred years earlier than she was supposed to. Had she known it would turn out this way, she would have preferred to remain an unknowing and unaware lotus until her death.
She struggled to crawl forward, dragging her short arms and legs, trying to speak, but could only utter single gurgling sounds. Fortunately, although she was small, she was clear-headed and carefully crawled towards the dense lotus leaves. If she had accidentally fallen into the water, she would have surely drowned in the Jade Pool.
She wasn't quite used to this newly grown shell yet, and her limbs weren't very coordinated when crawling. But she had to get used to it, after all, in the long run, this was the only body she would ever have. Just as Yan Dan was getting into the swing of things, suddenly a pair of hands reached out and lifted her out of the Jade Pool.
Yan Dan looked up and saw that the person holding her was an old immortal with a white beard. The kind smile on his face gave Yan Dan goosebumps for no reason. She struggled for a while, stretching her arms and kicking her legs, but to no avail. She could only let the old immortal hold her.
Suddenly, a fairy boy with his hair in pigtails clapped his hands and laughed, saying, "Master, look over there, there's another one, a pair of twins."
Yan Dan looked at the fairy child with disdain. "You can talk if you want, and laugh if you want, but why are you clapping?" She turned her head with difficulty and saw a fair-skinned, soft child carefully crawling over in the light mist. Suddenly, the child tilted and fell into the pool with a splash, rippling the spring water.
Yan Dan opened her eyes wide and saw a handsome young immortal lord dressed in an ink-wash robe fly to the Jade Pool. He casually cast a small immortal spell and scooped up the white, soft ball that had fallen into the water.
A thunderous cheer erupted from the crowd. One of the immortals, dressed in a white robe and with a flamboyant appearance, opened his folding fan and waved it twice. He said to the immortal beside him, who was dressed in a yellow dragon robe with cloud patterns, "Jade Emperor, this Lord Yingyuan is really becoming more and more promising."
Yan Dan opened her mouth and mumbled something. Is pulling someone out of the water considered successful? Then she could do it too. Suddenly, a thought struck her, and she felt even more disdain. Ying Yuanjun, Ying Yuan—wasn't that the name of the last of the Nine Emperors, Qingli Emperor? So he was still so young, and didn't seem very capable at all.
There are indeed many charlatans and imposters in this world.
There she saw a wet, white blob placed on an empty chair next to her. Yan Dan leaned over to look and recognized that the blob was indeed her Zhi Xi. After looking at it, she reached out and poked it with her finger and found it very soft.
Zhixi was hurt by her poke, her eyes reddened, and tears fell down her cheeks.
The young immortal named Ying Yuan quickly reached out and hugged the crying girl. Yan Dan was furious. This soft, white girl was, after all, hers. Who did this Ying Yuan think he was, daring to come here and try to take her away?
She clung on desperately, refusing to let go, and the young immortal lord actually brazenly met her gaze. Yan Dan was still in the form of an infant, weak and with short arms, so Ying Yuanjun couldn't really argue with her, and the two remained locked in a stalemate.
The immortal lords who were talking nearby immediately fell silent and looked at the two of them.
Ying Yuanjun's lips twitched, as if he felt his skin was about to give way. But at this point, regardless of whether he let go in the end, this scene had clearly been seen by his colleagues around him.
Yan Dan glanced at the flamboyant immortal lord in white robes who had been there earlier, slowly waving his folding fan, a smile on his face clearly showing his enjoyment of the spectacle and his desire to stir up trouble.
She decided she would never let go, even if it meant death.
Yan Dan had just taken human form and could not speak fluently, only managing to utter single words with a few "uh-huhs". However, she was clear-headed, had a righteous look in her eyes, and was determined to snatch Zhi Xi away.
Ying Yuanjun had no choice but to let go in the end, and when no one around was paying attention, he secretly pinched Yan Dan's face again.
Yan Dan was furious. Even if such a treacherous person rose to a higher immortal rank, they would never amount to anything. She struggled to hold Zhi Xi, while painstakingly poking Ying Yuanjun with her small, delicate fingers, speaking each word with difficulty:
"You... you despicable person..."
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