Hui’s eyes went blank, and he sunk into a dreamstate. In the dream, he returned to the lotus seed. Darkness spread in all directions. Nothing existed but dirt, cool and silent. A few bugs wiggled around, living quiet lives. He laid there in silence, waiting. For what, he didn’t know, but he knew he had to wait.

The earth grew warmer. Water sank into him, refreshingly cool. Abruptly, the urge to grow spread through him. He surged upward, through the earth. Hui broke the earth and spread his leaves, basking in the sun at last.

Right, I remember this. It was all quite boring… could we skip ahead?

The images sped up. Hui grew into a sapling. Wind and rain battered the sapling. A strong gust of wind nearly uprooted him, but he dug his roots deeper and clung on. More and more roots, more and more branches. He grew broad and tall. Other trees blocked out the sun and funneled his rain toward their roots, but he persevered. The taller he grew, the more light and rain he got, until eventually, he towered over the forest, a massive tree that took as much sunlight and rain as he wanted. The other trees protected him, and he protected them. They stood together, a forest against the storms that thrashed them year after year.

Well, that part’s new… but I wasn’t a tree before.

He stood alone. High above the forest. Now no trees protected him, and he faced the storm alone. Winds and rain tore at his body, scarring it. He lost limbs. Lightning struck, and an entire half of his body fell away. Still he strove upward, spreading fresh limbs, growing new leaves, stretching his trunk ever upward.

Er… what’s the point of this? Could it be that this is an inheritance that only plants can comprehend? Plants, and Master, probably. Ahh, this small cultivator is far too lacking!

His branches spread. His roots reached deeper. Something called to him, something deep under the earth. He reached for it, even as his body decayed, as the damage from the lightning turned to rot and his proud branches fell one after another, even as only a last few leaves grew from his body. At last, his taproot, the deepest, strongest root, reached a depth no other tree had before. Deep beneath the forest, a warm river spread, not of water, but of something else. After all his years of growing and growing, at last, his root tapped directly into it.

Dragon veins! This world has dragon veins, those massive rivers of spiritual energy deep beneath the earth’s surface? I take it back, it’s useful knowledge after all! My apologies, Senior Mu. You’ve done this small cultivator a great service.

I wonder if it’s common knowledge? I’ll have to poke around. If not… if not, this small cultivator has made a great discovery for the entire world of cultivation.

The scene continued. He grew even more massive. Using the power of the dragon vein, he regenerated all the pieces he’d lost and grew to even greater heights, even more massive power. The other trees stood so far below him that they appeared as grass, clustering amongst the hills and valleys of his roots. He dropped seeds, and young trees appeared around him. They pushed through the ground, thrived, then died.

Years passed. Eons. People found the forest. At first they were simply primitive people who lived simply in the forest, but as time passed, they grew more and more sophisticated, until the first cultivators arrived there. They formed a sect around the massive tree. The sect lived, thrived, died. Another sect. Another. Time passed faster.

Hui’s energy waned. His body grew old and soft. Many creatures lived in the pools of rot along his length, but he weakened with each day.

No, no. I don’t want to die!

Hui reached out to the dragon vein far below. He drew the power into himself and crystallized his body, petrifying it. No longer could it rot. He fell into a suspended animation, not quite alive or dead. The last flickering tongue of his life flame dwindled day by day, until little remained but the last embers. In that state, he remained. Eons upon eons passed, until at last Hui saw himself, sitting below the tree’s boughs.

The vision ended. Hui opened his eyes. A tree made of life qi hovered before him. Before Hui could do anything, it flew forward and sank into his chest.

Burning heat poured into Hui. His lotus body began to grow uncontrollably, growing larger, much larger. His meridians swelled, burning him from the inside out under the force of the qi. Steam rose off his body, and his pale green flesh began to wilt. His body grew to five meters, then ten, then twenty. He bit his lip and dug his hands into the earth, fighting against the pain. This… life qi… too much!

Overhead, the clouds suddenly darkened, and lightning flickered violently nearby. Hui cast it a frightful glance. I haven’t prepared at all! I don’t want to be obliterated! Don’t obliterate me, Heavens! This small cultivator isn’t worthy of your Tribulation!

Around his neck, Zhubi wriggled, no longer long enough to loop even once around Hui’s neck. Momentarily at a loss, he began to slip down, but before he could fall, he quickly transformed into his longer form. Now much larger, he happily wrapped a few loose coils around Hui’s neck.

…

You crazy snake! I’m over here on the verge of a qi deviation, and you just—

Wait. Qi deviation. Zhubi.

“Zhubi, bite me!” Hui said, excited. That’s right! Zhubi has venom that can slow the flow of one’s qi! I’ve trained in suppressing my own qi enough to deal with the aftermath, but in a situation like this, where I can't control the qi entering my body, his venom is a lifesaver!

Zhubi cocked his head. His tongue flickered quizzically. He hesitated just a moment, then drew back, opening his mouth wide.

“Wait, wait. Only use your original venom! Your original venom, understood?” Hui requested.

Zhubi hesitated another beat. His fangs extended, and a silvery droplet appeared from the tips of each one.

“Right, right. That one!” Hui said, stretching his neck out to give Zhubi more room to bite.

Rearing up, Zhubi struck Hui’s neck. His whole body contorted as he pumped venom. Exhausted, he drew back and rested on Hui’s body, blinking slowly.

Hui gasped. Zhubi’s venom felt like ice, cooling his overheated body. He shivered and took a deep breath, lowering his defenses to let the venom circulate. His growth slowed, and his huge body began to deflate. Life qi continued to pump into the air around him, but with Zhubi’s venom in his veins, his qi couldn’t rush to flow at the same speed. Hui took a deep breath and settled his mind, no longer in pain.

Now that I’m not in danger… isn’t this an opportunity?

He held out his hands. Rather than absorb the life qi into his passages and to his dantian, he immediately used it to bloom new lotuses and create new lotus seeds. One after another, lotuses bloomed, died, and plopped out lotus seeds. One after another, Hui buried them in the ground at his feet to rest and absorb the life qi independently of him. As he buried more lotus seeds, the burden on him grew lesser, until it took an entire hour to grow a new lotus seed.

At that, Hui sat back with a sigh, exhausted. He scratched his head and yawned. Creating new life is tiring! Who would have thought…

Hui shook his head emphatically. No, no. Creating new bodies. New bodies, not new life! I did nothing perverse! Nothing at all. I am a pure, good, clean, righteous cultivator. Far be it from me to rely on anything sketchy or untoward. All cultivators create clones. It’s nothing unusual. It’s just because Fang Hua called it making the lotus girl pregnant that I have such an odd thought process toward creating lotus seeds. That’s all.

He breathed out, looking at all his future clones. A few sprouts poked through the earth, already stretching delicate leaves toward the sun. A smile touched Hui’s lips.

Ah, in the future… think of all the death faking I can do with these bodies!