mtl008 Chapter 3 Crimson Cloud Flower
Chapter 3 Crimson Cloud Flower
Yes, she was born into a good family and was originally a rich second generation. Shen Yao recalled that she was indeed born into a good family.
She was the only daughter in her family. In her previous life, her parents were very loving, and in the year she was born, they were fortunate to benefit from the reform and opening up policy, which made them a wealthy family in the area.
While other families were still living in tile-roofed houses, her family had already built a high-rise building. She also learned to speak and read very early and was among the top students in her class.
She still remembers having so many beautiful new dresses when she was a child that she couldn't wear them all. In that era of material scarcity, she could buy fresh fruit to eat every day.
But one day, her father died in a car accident, and the driver, who was all alone, also died in the accident.
The mother was devastated, her health deteriorated, and her business was impacted by competitors, eventually going bankrupt.
She herself also suffered from headaches, always experiencing excruciating pain, for no apparent reason. She had seen many doctors, but none could diagnose the cause.
Later, her mother remarried, and she became a child without anyone to protect her. People around her began to say that she was a jinx, that she had bad luck, that her father was killed by her, and that she was a burden to her mother...
She dropped out of school early and experienced a lot of malice in society, but she still worked hard and saved money by living frugally, wanting to change her life.
But reality kept hitting her hard, and no matter how hard she tried or how much she saved, she was always forced to spend all the money she had saved.
After years of hard work, she finally saved enough money to make a down payment on a house, only to be met with the bursting of the real estate bubble and a dramatic drop in housing prices. To make matters worse, she lost her job at that very moment and could only pin her hopes on the lottery, hoping to strike it rich overnight and change her fate…
Shen Yao looked up at the sky with tears in her eyes, remaining silent for a long time.
The golden beetle suddenly broke the silence: "Actually, you don't have to call me 'Dad' if you don't want to."
Shen Yao wiped away her tears: "Then what should I call you?"
Golden Beetle: "Call me Daddy."
"Get lost!" Shen Yao couldn't take it anymore, glancing at the golden beetle with disgust and rolling her eyes.
The painful memories were interrupted by the golden beetle. Shen Yao composed herself and asked, "Then what plane did I live in before? Who were my friends? Did I have any relatives in my original world?"
Golden Beetle: "The plane you are in is one level higher than the world of cultivation gods. Your friend is named Guan Guan. Her trials are not over yet. She is still on Blue Star."
After thinking for a moment, the golden beetle continued, "As far as I know, you didn't have any family in your original world. When you came here with Guan Guan, you said, 'Guan Guan, come back soon. You're the only one left in my life.'"
Shen Yao asked, "Can I go back to my original world? Also, when will Guan Guan's training end?"
Golden Beetle: "According to the timeline of Blue Star, Guan Guan has fifty-one years left. As for whether you can go back, I can't take you back, but my true body will tell Guan Guan everything after her training is over, and she should come to pick you up."
Shen Yao thought for a long time, took a deep breath, and sighed, "That's the only way."
Fortunately, she has a friend who can pick her up soon.
Feeling that a lot of time had passed, Shen Yao said, "We should go back to the sect. Two hours should be up by now, right? Is time in this cultivation world the same as on Earth?"
"A day in this world of cultivation has eighteen hours," the golden beetle said. "The daytime in the world of cultivation has eleven hours, and the nighttime has seven hours."
"Eighteen hours in a day, that's so long? Six hours longer than on Earth." Shen Suyao asked, "Then how many days are there in a year here?"
"A year in the world of cultivation has three hundred days, which is equivalent to four hundred and fifty days on Earth," said the golden beetle.
“In the mythology of Blue Star, a day in the sky is equivalent to a year on Earth. The story must be set in a higher plane, right? If that’s the case, then this world of cultivating gods isn’t a very high plane either?” Shen Suyao discovered another blind spot.
“You guessed right,” the golden beetle affirmed. “This world is only one level higher than Earth.”
Shen Yao stopped talking and just stared at the golden beetle, making the beetle feel guilty.
The golden beetle felt embarrassed by the stares and stammered, "Hehe, actually, I can only travel between planes one level higher than Earth, and there's a price to pay for it."
Shen Yao asked, "What price?"
"That's how it is now. The clones that I painstakingly created are completely depleted of energy after just one dimensional traversal," the golden beetle said helplessly, its tone filled with deep regret.
"But don't worry, I still gave you a cheat code before I ran out of energy. Everyone else gets a cheat code when they transmigrate, so you have one too. How about that, isn't Daddy good to you?" The golden beetle was smug again.
Shen Yao was also happy: "That's great! What's a cheat code?"
"Just wait, the Golden Finger needs energy to condense before it can be sent. It will arrive in a few days," the Golden Beetle assured him.
Shen Yao had no doubts. She believed that this gatekeeper, who had exhausted his energy to bring her back to life, would not lie to her about these things.
"Let's go, let's go back to the sect." Shen Yao started walking happily: "Let's see what the sects in this cultivation world look like. Although Bai Luo has memories of them, I've never seen them with my own eyes!"
"No rush, no rush, there's still time. Go and pick the Crimson Cloud Flower first."
"What?!" Shen Yao feigned shock, as if she were being framed: "Bai Luo died from touching the Crimson Cloud Flower, and you're telling me to pick it?"
"Look at you, such a cowardly coward." The golden beetle sneered, "Bai Luo was poisoned and died after touching the pistil of the Crimson Cloud Flower. As long as you don't touch the pistil of the Crimson Cloud Flower, it's fine to touch it anywhere. Besides, the Crimson Cloud Flower is a demonic creature and shouldn't grow in this immortal territory. We have to pick it to be at ease."
"The relationship between immortals and demons in this cultivation world is terrible. Demons shouldn't be able to enter the territory of immortals. Besides, this is the back mountain of the Spirit Herb Sect. The appearance of the Crimson Cloud Flower here must be suspicious," Shen Suyao analyzed.
"If demons really do sneak into this place without a sound, then the Spirit Herb Sect is not safe either. I have finally been resurrected and started a new life. I don't want to end up here for no reason."
"Let's go pick some red cloud flowers."
The two, one human and one insect, entered the woods again, following their memories toward the path where Bai Luo had fallen. Not far along, they indeed smelled a strange fragrance, and Shen Yao quickened her pace.
"Oh, my dear girl, slow down, walk slowly, think about how Bai Luo died!" the Golden Beetle shouted anxiously.
Shen Yao suddenly realized, oh right, Bai Luo tripped and fell on the cold pistil of the Crimson Cloud Flower because she was walking too fast. So she slowed down and carefully searched for her, following the strange fragrance.
Sunlight filters through the leaves into the forest, like twinkling stars or dancing sprites among the trees.
The fragrance grew stronger and stronger; just smelling it, one felt that this flower must bloom alluringly, like a seductive enchantress, hiding her body yet calling to you with her melodious voice: "Come~ come find me~"
"Come on~ Let's have fun~ Anyway, we have plenty of time~" Shen Yao thought to herself, her body unconsciously swaying, raising her pinky finger and singing in a high-pitched voice.
"No way, the Crimson Cloud Flower fragrance doesn't have any illusion-creating effects. Could my daughter be possessed?"
Looking at Shen Yao's appearance, the golden beetle felt that his daughter had gone mad. Then Shen Yao heard an amplified boy's voice coming from beside her ears, piercing straight from her eardrums to the top of her head: "Daughter, wake up! Wake up!"
Shen Yao looked at the golden beetle speechlessly and asked, "What are you doing?"
Golden Beetle: "Girl, you're obsessed. You kept twisting and singing. Luckily, I woke you up."
Shen Yao rolled her eyes, sighed deeply, and thought, "Forget it, this bug doesn't understand my fun. There's no point in saying anything more. I'll just pretend he woke me up from my trance."
"Look, Crimson Cloud Flower!" The golden beetle flew toward the Crimson Cloud Flower. Shen Yao followed the beetle's gaze and saw a large, bowl-sized, bright red flower growing under a big tree.
Shen Yao walked over and took a closer look. Good heavens, so this is what the Crimson Cloud Flower looks like! It's just an enlarged version of the red spider lily! It's the Lycoris radiata, the red spider lily of Blue Star. The slender stamens are sticking out, no wonder Bai Luo bumped into them when he tripped.
“This looks like an enlarged version of the Blue Star Spider Lily, except that the Blue Star Spider Lily’s stamens are not poisonous, while the Red Cloud Flower’s stamens are highly poisonous.” As Shen Yao spoke, she picked up a twig and carefully dug at the soil around the flower stem, trying to pull the flower out by the roots.
"Be careful," said the golden beetle. "The roots of the red spider lily on Blue Star are poisonous. Although the roots of this red cloud flower are not poisonous, its stamens are highly poisonous. As soon as you touch the stamens, the toxins will be sprayed out immediately. It is colorless and odorless, and it kills people invisibly."
"So Bai Luo didn't die from touching the flower's stamen, but from inhaling the toxins released by the flower's stamen after touching it?" After saying that, Shen Yao immediately tore off a piece of cloth from the lining of her skirt and used it as a mask to tie to her face.
People who have died once are especially afraid of death.