What happened next was exactly what Zhang Yun had predicted.
He will not only be struck by lightning, but he will be struck more than once.
As the first golden petal unfurled, a bright purple bolt of lightning descended from the sky, striking the World Mother Tree that was protecting it.
The thick branches and leaves covering him from the Mother Tree of the World were shattered, and new branches and leaves quickly grew and spread to protect his flower buds.
"Sister Tree..."
Zhang Yun felt like crying again.
He felt powerless and sad.
How could I be so useless!
Aside from relying on the World Mother Tree to absorb nutrients, all he does is cause it trouble. Now, he even needs the World Mother Tree to help him withstand the lightning tribulation.
There were a total of eighty-one lightning strikes, which Zhang Yun counted very clearly.
The lightning bolts grew stronger and more terrifying with each strike, until finally, the nine bolts coalesced into a golden-purple lightning dragon that struck down with tremendous force.
Before the golden-purple thunder dragon descended, Zhang Yun's body was moved by the World Mother Tree to the soil beneath the main trunk, where its roots wrapped around him in a circle, layer by layer.
"Sister Shu, don't worry about me..." Zhang Yun cried out in her heart.
You will die!
The Mother Tree of the World remained unmoved, but a bolt of lightning struck, splitting its trunk in two.
The roots that had been protecting Zhang Yun lost their vitality and helplessly loosened their protection over him.
Zhang Yun's body, transformed into nine golden petals, fully bloomed. The moment it broke through the earth, rays of light shone everywhere, accompanied by heavenly music.
The strange fragrance spread, attracting countless creatures from the surrounding area, all attempting to possess it.
However, those powerful beings that once threatened his life vanished before they even touched the halo surrounding his petals.
Zhang Yun could feel that he had become very powerful, so powerful that nothing in this world could harm him anymore, including the Heavenly Dao.
His mental perception range was expanded infinitely, and he was able to perceive countless worlds, large and small, beyond this world.
Each of those worlds is connected to the world he inhabits by a thread of cause and effect.
This is the Origin Realm, the place where all worlds originated.
This information automatically came to Zhang Yun's mind.
He sensed the fear the Heavenly Dao of the Origin Realm had of him.
I can take his place.
Another piece of information came to Zhang Yun's mind.
He seemed to be born knowing these things without needing to be told.
Zhang Yun had no intention of replacing the Heavenly Dao of the Origin Realm.
His divine sense looked down at the World Mother Tree, which had lost its vitality and turned charred black.
Just as I was about to touch it, the charred remains of the tree branch turned to dust.
"No, no..." Zhang Yun was heartbroken. His body stopped in mid-air, and his divine sense sensed the charred wood below that was gradually turning into dust and dissipating.
"Sister Tree, look at me! I've blossomed! I am..."
Zhang Yun's voice choked with emotion, "A lotus flower."
"Sister Tree!"
Zhang Yun wept bitterly, and his emotions seemed to affect the surrounding environment. In an instant, all life withered, and the world lost its color.
The area around the World Mother Tree was teeming with life and had originally been home to countless powerful demons and monsters. However, these creatures sensed an unsettling aura emanating from Zhang Yun and fled in panic to distant places.
Two streaks of light, one blue and one white, flew in from afar, facing the fleeing herd of beasts.
"Senior brother, look! What a strange object is that?" A man's voice came from within the white glow.
From within the blue glow, another man's shocked voice rang out, "This is... the Golden Lotus of Annihilation!"
"The World-Destroying Golden Lotus? Master has been asking us to search for the World-Destroying Lotus Seed for tens of thousands of years. Is this it? I'll go and fetch it!"
"Junior brother, don't go!" the man shouted, but it was too late.
The person in the white glow launched an attack on Zhang Yun. The spiritual energy touched the protective aura surrounding his body and was instantly amplified dozens of times before being reflected back.
The person in the white light was shocked and hurriedly summoned countless magical treasures to protect himself, but he was still seriously injured by the backlash and spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Junior brother!" The person in the blue glow rushed over and caught him, using their spiritual power to stabilize his injuries.
"The World-Destroying Lotus Seed has actually bloomed! This kind of rare creature is not tolerated by heaven and earth. It should have been plagued by calamities from the moment it was born. How could it possibly grow up and even bloom!"
We must call our master here immediately!
As he spoke, the man took out a golden talisman, activated it with spiritual power, and it transformed into a stream of light.
Afterwards, he set up some formations around Zhang Yun, guarding the formations while healing his companions.
Zhang Yun saw and heard everything that person did with his divine sense.
He could even sense where the talisman that person had cast ultimately ended up.
With just a thought, he could sever the talisman's transmission and kill these two beings, who were as insignificant as ants to him.
He didn't move.
All he knew was that the World Mother Tree, which had protected him for countless years, had disappeared.
They've been together since birth.
They have been together for trillions of years.
Watch the sun and moon alternate, the sea change into mulberry fields, all things rise and fall, gather and disperse, live and die.
Only they remain unchanged throughout the ages.
Breath, body, and life have long been completely integrated into one.
Zhang Yun originally thought that they would continue to walk together like this forever.
He diligently absorbed energy, hoping that one day he could become strong enough that he would no longer hold back the World Mother Tree when faced with calamities.
He also harbored a small selfish desire: that one day he would have the power to protect the mother tree.
Now, he has become stronger as he wished.
Outrageously strong, incomparably strong.
The Heavenly Dao trembled under his aura; the survival of countless worlds and countless living beings rested in his single thought.
No calamity could threaten him anymore.
But he wished he had never become stronger.
Despite not suffering any injury, Zhang Yun felt as if his body had been split in two, and the pain at the broken ends was excruciating.
I don't want to grow up! I don't want to bloom!
Please come back.
Please come back!
I want you back!
Come back!
Endless, violent, and terrifying destructive energy spread from the nine-petaled golden lotus, shattering the ridiculous array that had been trying to conceal his presence.
The cultivator was shocked and quickly carried his seriously injured junior brother away into the distance.
The violent energy swirled and splashed outwards like a torrential rain, piercing through any object hit by these energy droplets.
Just as an energy beam was about to strike the fleeing cultivator, a purple light shield suddenly enveloped him.
Then the purple light shield expanded, enveloping Zhang Yun's golden lotus body along with the violent energy.
Zhang Yun sensed a familiar and comforting aura on the purple light barrier. His emotions calmed down, and he looked at the person who had arrived.
The person's face was obscured by a hazy purple mist, making it impossible to see their features.
Zhang Yun looked at that person with a somewhat blank expression.
I vaguely felt that his aura was familiar, and I must have seen him before.
But his life was too long, and he had seen too many things, so Zhang Yun had forgotten where he had first met him.
"Enough. Now that the golden lotus has bloomed, the calamity of chaos in this place is sealed." The man shook his head and sighed. "Come with me."
Zhang Yun didn't move.
The man said, "Now that you have developed intelligence, you should know that the Golden Lotus of Annihilation can destroy the life force of all things. Forcing it to stay here will only hinder the mother tree's revival."
Upon hearing this, all nine lotus petals suddenly lit up.
"Can it be revived?"
Zhang Yun used his divine sense to transmit his voice to that person.
"The World Mother Tree is the source of all life. As long as all things survive, they will naturally nourish the source. In order to protect you from calamity, it has exhausted its merits and destroyed its divine body. To recover, it needs endless years of life force to nourish it. If you stay here, you will only affect its ability to absorb life force."
"Come with me, and I can seal away the power within you."
The lotus petals swayed slightly, revealing Zhang Yun's wavering heart.
Zhang Yun felt an inexplicable sense of closeness to him, a sense of closeness that made him unconsciously believe what he said.
The lotus body twitched slightly, and Zhang Yun shrunk into a palm-sized golden lotus flower, flying above the man's palm, allowing the man to wrap his body in purple energy.
The violent destructive force dissipated, and this world finally returned to peace, but the once vibrant oasis had become a scorched wasteland.
The man raised his hand and swept the two disheveled disciples into his sleeve, then carried the golden lotus away.
As time passed, and after an unknown amount of time, a small, dark green vine struggled to break through the layers of dry, hard soil pressing down on it and emerged.
"flower!"
In the darkness, a nascent thought uttered its first sound.
"flower?"
Where are my...flowers?
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