Chapter 20
Chapter 20
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Blooming Flower
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“Aaaah!!!”
Swallowing the flower seed sent waves of agony through my body, my organs alternately burning and freezing over. I collapsed to the ground, screaming.
My entire body was drenched in sweat, slick and soaked, and my mind went blank white.
‘It hurts so much I can’t even think straight.’
Honestly, just keeping my eyes open was heroic.
“Even if you regret it now, it’s too late. Once you’ve swallowed the flower seed, there’s no spitting it back up.”
The Golden Immortal Lotus, who had been silently watching me, spoke in a firm voice.
‘Sure, the pain of my body being torn to shreds is driving me insane...’
“...No regrets.”
I propped myself up on the ground with both hands and arduously lifted my head to meet the Golden Immortal Lotus’s gaze.
Whether it was from struggling to accept the powerful martial art, tears of blood streamed down my cheeks, staining the floor red.
“If becoming stronger means I can change things, then I’ll save Daddy...”
“Star, if anything dangerous happens to you, make sure to call for Daddy.”
“Of course. Daddy would fly to you anywhere if you called.”
‘My daughter-obsessed Daddy who only has eyes for me.’
Even as bloody tears flowed, thinking of Daddy brought a faint smile to my lips.
“If it means I can change fate...”
I clenched my teeth so hard my jaw ached, enduring the heat surging through my body.
“I won’t regret it, even if it kills me!”
The Golden Immortal Lotus watching me looked conflicted, a mix of emotions flickering across its face.
But I had no spare energy to worry about that.
That was when it happened.
The powerful energy racing through my veins suddenly jammed to a halt at my solar plexus.
“Kuhuk! Ack!”
I vomited up clumps of blood repeatedly.
‘Dizzy...’
As my vision spun and my body tilted sideways, golden silk robes fluttered before my eyes like rippling waves, and the Golden Immortal Lotus caught me.
Its sharp golden eyes pierced right through, scrutinizing my solar plexus.
“So the poison was blocking your vital energy, preventing it from manifesting?”
“...Poison?”
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
Poison in my body?
“Yes, a deadly poison that would stop a child’s heart even in small doses.”
Instead of answering, I spat up another clot of blood and looked up at the Golden Immortal Lotus with wide, watery eyes.
‘No way. I’ve always been with Daddy...’
“Judging by the poison’s state, someone fed it to you right at birth.”
‘Someone poisoned me the moment I was born?’
According to the original story, I was born in the Tang Clan of Sichuan.
So one of the Tang Clan folks?
Why? To an innocent newborn?
The Golden Immortal Lotus’s words shocked me deeply, but the nonstop vomiting kept me from thinking further.
“To survive such a deadly poison without anyone’s intervention is impossible.”
Through my blurry vision, the Golden Immortal Lotus’s voice sounded faint and distant.
The Golden Immortal Lotus lifted me and immersed my body in the spring where the golden lotus had been.
The spring’s chill made my body shudder violently.
“This spring, infused with my—Golden Immortal Lotus’s—energy, doesn’t just maximize martial arts; it heals internal injuries too. Find and purge the source of the deadly poison in your body there.”
The Golden Immortal Lotus’s slender yet large hand covered my eyes.
At once, my body relaxed, and darkness enveloped me.
“Waaah!”
Moments later, a hearty infant’s cry echoed from a grand building.
‘Where am I?’
Looking around, I spotted a green flag reading “Tang Clan of Sichuan.”
‘Tang Clan of Sichuan?’
“Lady Seol-hwa, it’s a girl!”
“Just a bit more strength, Lady Seol-hwa!”
Pained groans from a woman came from inside the building.
‘Seol-hwa? That’s my mother’s name.’
It seemed my mother was giving birth inside.
I’d never properly seen my mother’s face, so I pushed open the door where the sounds were leaking from.
In an instant, I became a swaddled newborn.
‘Huh? I just opened the door—why am I swaddled? I wanted to see Mom’s face!’
“Baby, stay still. I’ll go grab some fresh cloth right away.”
The woman holding me handed me to a nearby maid and left.
Once the woman was gone, the maid glanced around cautiously before looking at me.
“Baby, forgive me. I have no choice.”
The maid was trembling, tears streaming down her terrified face.
‘Forgive what? Lady! Hurry back! This one’s got crazy eyes!’
“Now, open wide. Be good, okay?”
The maid fed me something from a purple vial.
“Waaah!”
In that instant, my breath caught, but a sacred green leaf sprouted from my solar plexus, wrapping around and protecting me.
‘Phew, I can breathe again. What did you feed me?’
I tried to yank out the maid’s hair, but my vision blurred, preventing it.
‘Whose sacred power saved me?’
When I opened my eyes again, I was back in the Golden Immortal Lotus’s cave.
Submerged in the spring, my body was now wrapped in sacred green leaves—from my infant vision—forming vines around me.
“A divine power transcending humans.”
“...Divine?”
‘I don’t remember meeting anyone like that...’
“Long ago, the Tang Clan had an ancestor renowned as a peerless physician whose skills were godlike, earning him the title ‘Divine.’ Though his end wasn’t happy. No one else fits the bill for such power.”
‘An ancestral ‘Divine’ from the Tang Clan?’
I’d never heard that from Daddy.
Besides, the Tang Clan excels in poisons, right?
They know herbs well, sure, but could they produce a medical genius like that?
As my unanswered questions piled up, the Golden Immortal Lotus continued.
“Anyway, the poison in your body is all gone now.”
Indeed, no more blood came up, no more bloody tears.
“So, we’re done now?”
I looked up at the Golden Immortal Lotus with eyes shimmering in anticipation.
“I said the poison is gone. I didn’t say the flower seed has fully taken root.”
‘You bastard, why torment me with false hope?’
With no poison hindering anymore, explosive martial energy from my dantian rampaged wildly through my body.
‘I have to make this power fully mine. Hang in there! Seol Cheon-seong!’
“Uwaaaah!”
I pushed with every ounce of strength, even beyond nursing days—no, until no strength remained. My nails dug into my flesh, blood flowed, but I felt no pain from the pressure.
How much time passed?
In a dreamlike haze between sleep and wakefulness, I saw a beautiful golden lotus blooming in my dantian.
“Pretty flower...”
With those words, I passed out.
“To actually make the flower bloom...”
The Golden Immortal Lotus gazed in admiration at the seven-year-old girl who had fully accepted its flower seed as her own power.
‘Unknown to the world, the Golden Immortal Lotus’s flower seed is a double-edged sword.’
It maximizes power, but few bodies can fully withstand it.
‘Even those lucky enough to obtain it mostly die upon consumption.’
Thus, the Golden Immortal Lotus crippled unworthy sprouts from the start, preventing them from even reaching it.
That was its own form of mercy to those who arrived.
‘I didn’t want to waste a precious seed on one who couldn’t bloom it.’
Cheon-seong was no different.
‘I didn’t hand it over thoughtlessly, but I never expected that tiny body to endure the seed’s full might.’
Interest in Cheon-seong began when she watered it.
‘At first, her chattering alone was annoying, but before I knew it, I found myself peering outside, waiting.’
Then Cheon-seong returned.
And the Golden Immortal Lotus saw it:
The two opposing latent powers in Cheon-seong’s body.
And how the poison had blocked their manifestation.
“My eye for people is still sharp, it seems.”
As the Golden Immortal Lotus touched the golden lotus in Cheon-seong’s dantian with a fingertip, it sank inside.
“Humans say leaving it like that would kill them...”
The Golden Immortal Lotus sighed, looking at Cheon-seong—half-submerged in the spring, fast asleep—and stood.
“My heart’s too soft; that’s my problem.”
It fished Cheon-seong out of the spring and laid her on the dry floor.
“Heek! She’s ice cold!”
Feeling her skin temperature upon accidental touch, the Golden Immortal Lotus recoiled in shock.
“Humans are so fragile.”
Grumbling as if it were a huge hassle, the Golden Immortal Lotus still removed its outer robe and carefully draped it over Cheon-seong.
“...Should I light a fire? I hate fire—it’ll dry out my beautiful skin.”
The Golden Immortal Lotus stroked its own silky cheek with delicate hands, gazing at the soundly sleeping Cheon-seong.
Seriously pondering whether to sacrifice its own body heat by lighting a fire to warm her.