Inside the second Stone Chamber,
Red Lotus found a young woman who once showed the visage of an upright and righteous person but was now replaced with the despair and darkness of a person in their waning phase.
The woman was sitting in the centre of the room, periodically touching her belly.
It was none other than Tie Ruo Nan.
Red Lotus approached her: "Tie Ruo Nan."
Instantly, the commands instilled into her sprang to life as she entered a defensive position.
"*Sigh* why do all these young people jump straight into flight or fight mode," Red Lotus sighed and shook his head: "I'm not here to hurt you or Bai Ning Bing, I'm Red Lotus."
Tie Ruo Nan kept her guard up: "Even so, I am ordered by mistress Bai, to ensure her safety above my own."
Tie Ruo Nan, kept the Bai Xiang Killer Move at the ready: "Using Bai Xiang, I should be able to at least buy enough time to run…"
Though she was not confident as the enemy was a Venerable.
Red Lotus rolled his eyes once again: "I'm not here to be your enemy, but to just tell you that I am abandoning the Stone Continent, which means it's about to collapse."
"This…" Tie Ruo Nan seemed conflicted, on the one hand, Red Lotus had no reason to lie and if what he said was true, then it would be in her best interest to listen, but on the other hand, Bai Ning Bing instilled a permeant sense of cautiousness in her.
"This damn Slave command, won't let me reckless put Bai Ning Bing in a dangerous situation."
Tie Ruo Nan's face still showed uncertainty, until Red Lotus suggested:
"I can give you 2 options, either I send you out of here, back to the Southern Border,"
Tie Ruo Nan thought about this option but considering the number of enemies she would face: "What's the second option?"
Red Lotus used his hands to forcefully tear open a hole in Space, "The 2nd option is that you reside in this Time Capsule Dimension I just created, the flow of Time is x9 the speed of reality, allowing you to shorten your 'pregnancy' to 1 month instead of 9."
Tie Ruo Nan was of course tempted by the second option, anything to hasten the process and get her out of this situation, but Bai Ning Bing had been so cautious that unless there was no choice, she could not move.
"I want the second one, but my mistress gave me orders not to take refuge under others unless there is no alternative, could you force me into it?" Tie Ruo Nan asked.
Red Lotus raised an eyebrow: "This Bai Ning Bing is very cautious."
"Okay, I can help with that," He used his powers to freeze Tie Ruo Nan in time, then threw her into the Time Capsule Dimension.
Upon landing in the Time Capsule Dimension, she was unfrozen, and quickly surveyed her surroundings.
It was a small room with some pieces of literature scattered across a few bookshelves and a reading desk with a lamp.
The room was not luxurious, but it gave off a cozy vibe, Red Lotus shouted: "This room has a few Immortal Inheritances that I casually picked up, the light in this room will mimic a day-night cycle so you don't crazy and lose track of Time."
Before he left, he added one more thing, "The exit will automatically appear after 10 months, allowing you to not only give birth but recuperate safely."
And with that, he left Tie Ruo Nan.
"Finally," Red Lotus emerged once more in his Main Secret Chamber, he appeared behind Zhao Lian Yun, who was expectedly looking at the centre coffin.
"How's the progress?" Red Lotus called out from behind.
Zhao Lian Yun was startled and nearly dropped the Rank 9 Gu in her hands!
"Careful!" Red Lotus was given a mini scare.
The two took deep breathes.
"Sorry, for startling you." Red Lotus apologized.
Zhao Lian Yun shook her head: "No, I'm sorry it's just that I'm so nervous. I mean he's been dead for so long, and I can only imagine what he went through, will he even remember me? Does he even still Love me?"
Red Lotus looked at the young couple and it brought up bitter memories of the past:
"I don't want to give you false hope and say that nothing wrong will happen, but as someone who has been in a similar situation, I can only tell you that Love can preserve even through the harshest of times, it will only fade if we allow it the time to."
After hearing Red Lotus's story, Zhao Lian Yun was touched by his words:
"Indeed, I must remain hopeful."
At that moment, a mechanic voice readout:
"Body Reconstruction 100%, Providence Siphon 100%, Soul Reconstitution 100%, Revitalization Complete."
The sound of air being released came from the coffin, as its lid opened causing gases to leak out in the form of smoke. [1]
"It's finally happened," Zhao Lian Yun held her hands together, praying, for the best.
When the smoke cleared, Zhao Lian Yun's jaw dropped.
Ma Hong Yun's eyes slowly opened, his vision returned gradually, at first he was blinded by the lights around him as his eyes adjusted he noticed the petite girl in front of him:
"Zhao Lian Yun, I'm back."
These words made Zhao Lian Yun burst into tears as she had long dreamed of this day, but at the same time, she turned her head away from him.
Ma Hong Yun came up to her, apologizing, thinking that she was blaming him: "I'm sorry, it's my fault that caused us to be separate, and forced you into going through so many adversities for my sake. I swear I'll make it up to you."
But Zhao Lian Yun took a step back: "I-I don't blame you silly, it's just well…"
Ma Hong Yun let his brain go wild: "Is it another man!?"
"No!" Zhao Lian Yun turned to him worried, but then immediately turned away, her face beet red, "I-its just that you've Uhm, aged well…"
"Huh?" Ma Hong Yun then looked down at his body.
The first thing he noticed: "Holy Crap! I'm naked!"
The second thing he noticed: "Wait? Is this my body?"
He inspected his body, he found that he had perfect proportions, neither too beefy nor too scrawny, he was lean and defined. His abs, pecs and biceps were clearly outlined but were not too ostentatious.
And the third thing he noticed: "Is t-that my…"
Zhao Lina Yun turned in time to see Ma Hong Yun glance down at his 'little' brother.
"Though, I guess little brother has grown up." Zhao Lian Yun thought internally.
Red Lotus passed Ma Hong Yun a robe, "This will have to do, for now, I'm sorry it was an oversight on my part."
To be fair, Red Lotus had many plans and schemes he had to carry out, on top of secrets that he had to think upon.
Clothing was not high up on his list of priorities.
"Before we begin," Red Lotus looked at Ma Hong Yun: "I need to tell you the reason why I resurrected you."
"Mhm," Ma Hong Yun nodded: "I know it couldn't have been purely out of the goodness of your heart, tell me what?"
"Then I'll get straight to the point, I need you to kill Fang Yuan!"
!!!
Ma Hong Yun had expected a request like, serve Heavenly Court, but kill Fang Yuan?!
But before Ma Hong Yun could say anything, Red Lotus added: "Just so you know Fang Yuan has ascended to become a Venerable and not just that but a quasi-Dao Emperors as well."
Ma Hong Yun was gobsmacked, he didn't know what Dao Emperors were, but just the word Venerable was enough to shock him, and fusing context clues, he knew a Dao Emperor was stronger than a Venerable.
Stronger than a Venerable!
Those words had never been uttered in all of history.
Venerables were the publicly acknowledged number 1 existence!
There had been debate amongst the people on who the strongest Venerable would have been, but never was their talks discussing on a realm beyond the Venerable level.
"And you want me to beat that?" he asked, shocked.
"Yes." Red Lotus replied.
"H-how would I even…" Red Lotus cut him off: "Of course, I won't send you in your current condition, but I'm telling you that this will be your duty and mission, to grow and defend the world from Fang Yuan."
Red Lotus immediately turn solemn: "I won't lie to you. There is a high chance you may die in the process as well, but there is also a huge possibility that the world as we know it may cease to exist if Fang Yuan wins."
"He is near unstoppable below the Dao Emperor real, and he has the potential to become the strongest Dao Emperor in the world, he has an advantage that no one else in the world can match."
"He can acquire multiple Dao!"
Red Lotus began explaining the situation to Ma Hong Yun:
"Ordinarily, Dao Emperors are stuck on the Dao they chose, unless the destroy their Dao Fruit and restart, but if the secondary, or even tertiary, Dao they choose is compatible with their original Dao Fruit, they can cultivate on the side, though the eventually have to be fused."
"This is because of conflicting Dao Marks, which causes wildly different Dao Fruits to reject each other."
"But here's where the problem lies, Fang Yuan's body has Non-conflicting Dao Marks, allowing him to host multiple Dao Fruits at once since none of them would be in conflict with one another."
Indeed, it could be seen that Fang Yuan already had plans for this as his first Dao Fruit was the most stable of all the Dao Fruits, the Dao of Elements.
Ma Hong Yun asked: "Then how do I play a role in all this?"
Red Lotus explained: "You see, I did not just merely reconstruct your body, I created a perfect counter to Fang Yuan!"
"I drew inspiration from Heaven's plan, who originally placed Fang Zheng to counter and control Fang Yuan. Thus, within him flows a unique providence that counters Fang Yuan's Luck, I have extracted that from him, and his son, I then used the talent of 10 Children of Human Path to reconstruct your body, don't worry although they had to be killed to acquire, I've already made plans to revive them with decent talent as compensation, though now the providence of the Children of Human Path falls on you making you the Child of Humanity!"
Red Lotus stroked his chin: "In fact, your body and bloodline can already be considered a new type of Extreme Physique, I haven't come up with a name yet but that's not important right now [2]"
Ma Hong Yun gripped his hands, he once was under the effect of Dog Shit Luck Gu, and thus, had some sensing towards luck and providence.
"The providence is so thick, that even without any Gu I can feel it coursing through my veins," he looked at Red Lotus: "But how am I supposed to catch up to Fang Yuan in this short amount of time? I can't use time speed up effects or they'll compromise the potential of this body."
This time Zhao Lian Yun stepped in: "That's where this comes into play,"
She held up a Rank 9 Gu but compared to the majestic title of Rank 9, the aura this Gu released seemed dim and uneventful.
The Gu was a tiny dim light that floated, even without being supported.
Though its appearance was unassuming Ma Hong Yun instantly recognized it: "I-is that a…"
Red Lotus nodded: "Mhmm, it's the culmination of Millions of years of research, Rank 9 Hope Gu!"
[1] If you want a good visual representation of this scene, just imagine Captain America and Peggy meeting after he stepped out of the Pod and became buff.
[2] Please suggest names, and I'll pick the one that I feel represents this new body the best. It should be something that can reflect the immense weight of responsibility and destiny that is attributed to it. Plus, it is the culmination of Humanity itself.