1000 Year Old Demon Lotus! Han Yu Four!

"This...such a beautiful treasure! The Demon Lotus..." Xiang Xiang said as she was sitting in her shabby home at the top of the hill. After killing Yi Ning yesterday and stealing the treasure from his body, the villagers praised and thanked her.

She stared at the Demon Lotus which was glistening in a black, red, and white light. The entire treasure seemed to be made of crystal as it slightly reflected Xiang Xiang's appearance back towards her. The Demon Lotus had 9 petals and each one had a red and white streak of color on it that emitted a terrifying amount of Evil Qi. Although, to Xiang Xiang, this Evil Qi felt especially welcoming.

"Yi Ning...no wonder he became so powerful despite cultivating for a week. I remember in the memories of this body, the demon lotus was an Earth-ranked treasure and it was said to bloom every 1000 years in an area of dense Evil Qi. My only question is how did Yi Ning get his hands on it." Xiang Xiang admired the beauty of the lotus for a minute before sitting in the lotus position and placing the lotus in her lap.

She began wholeheartedly cultivating and absorbing the Evil Qi from the lotus...

"Miss Xiang Xiang, we're here to pay the weekly tribut-"

"S-So much Evil Qi is surrounding Miss Xiang Xiang's house!"

"Did something happen? Let's go check it out!"

...

"Miss Xiang Xiang!" The shouting of a worried child could be heard not too far from Xiang Xiang's house.

"Hm?" She said as she opened her eyes and watched the Evil Qi emerging from the Demon Lotus go back inside of it. Seeing this, she became slightly annoyed and angry at the little child who disrupted her cultivation. Xiang Xiang had been wholeheartedly cultivating and absorbing the Evil Qi from the Demon Lotus for a full weak and her cultivating advanced by leaps and bounds.

"3rd Stage of the Foundation Building Realm..." Xiang Xiang muttered to herself as she gazed into the distance at the little girl and middle-aged man coming her way. They had worried expressions on their faces as they ran as fast as possible towards Xiang Xiang's home.

"Now that I think about it, I need to do something about this. This can't even be considered a home..." Xiang Xiang mumbled.

In just under a minute, the child and adult arrived at Xiang Xiang's house and were surprised to see that the Evil Qi which enveloped it previously was now gone as if it were an illusion.

"What do you want?" An emotionless voice sounded from within the house. The duo took their gazes of the house and directed it towards the location of the voice, which was Xiang Xiang. They both felt chills run down their spine when they looked inside the house.

"W-We came here to pay the monthly tribute..." The middle-aged man said as he held the basket of bread and milk from behind his back in front of Xiang Xiang. Beads of sweat rolled down the side of his head and he tried to keep his eyes off the inside of the house.

"Leave it here and go." Xiang Xiang coldly responded. She briefly browsed through the memories of the previous owner of her body and figured out that 'Xiang Xiang' killed the village chief of this village and seized control over it. She then enforced a monthly tribute rule over the villagers and it just so happened to be the end of the month.

The duo quickly walked down the hill and headed towards their homes. Xiang Xiang took the basket and ate the food inside. After cultivating for so long she had worked up an appetite and the monthly tribute came at the right time. She also wanted to test her power now after reaching the third stage of the foundation building realm.

Xiang Xiang left her shabby home, made her way down the hill, and went to the edge of the village. She looked at the broken wooden gates and the dense cluster of trees all around, it seems that the front of the village was surrounded by a forest.

"What's in the forest." Xiang Xiang said to a woman nearby. The woman seemed surprised and backed away a few steps before speaking.

"There are countless animals in the forest that we use for farming, but if you go in too deep you'll find powerful magical beasts..." She said in a wary tone. Xiang Xiang looked at her with a narrowed gaze for a moment that frightened the village woman.

"You're free to go." Xiang Xiang responded.

The village woman didn't hesitate to speed off towards her home. It was evident that some villagers within the village wouldn't blindly follow Xiang Xiang just because she saved them once. Xiang Xiang left the village and headed directly into the forest in search of a magical beast.

.

.

.

"So many different creatures! I've never seen most of these animals back in my world..." Xiang Xiang was surprised countless times when she entered the forest due to the myriad of creatures inside of it. There were normal animals like rabbits, wolves, bears, and the like, but there were also new and exotic creatures like sheep with long grey legs and 4 tails. Or gigantic frogs with eyes as big as windows and dozens of legs.

Xiang Xiang wished she could write down all types of information about these wonderful animals but she didn't have any sort of pen or pencil and paper sadly.

As she was walking through the forest in a good mood, she heard the distant shouts of a few individuals.

"Who else is in this forest?" She thought to herself before speeding up and running in the direction of the laughter. In but a minute, the silhouettes of 2 men and 2 women in Daoist robes emerged next to the silhouette of a gigantic beast that Xiang Xiang couldn't make out yet.

"What is that gigantic creature?!" Xiang Xiang said in shock. Although she was shocked, this was the opportunity that she needed! Since she advanced to the 3rd Stage of the Foundation Building Realm, Xiang Xiang needed a worthy opponent to test her power on.

"I hope this creature isn't too strong or too weak..." She said with a worried expression. She finally closed in on the group of individuals and could now see their true appearances. They were all wearing blue and white Daoist robes and had long straight brown hair, it was an extremely weird sight.

"Why do they all look the same?" Xiang Xiang wondered. It was like they were identical clones of each other.

"Does this world have cloning technology too? But that wouldn't make sense considering how underdeveloped the village looks." As Xiang Xiang was in her head, the voice of one of the individuals interrupted her train of thought.

"Hey, you! Come help us, the 'Han Yu Four' defeat this magical beast! If you do so, we'll reward you greatly, I can tell that you're a poor cultivator and have never touched a treasure so I'll be generous!" One of the so-called 'Han Yu Four' yelled at Xiang Xiang in a mocking and arrogant manner. Xiang Xiang thought about helping them at first, but after listening to that guy's arrogant speech, her mind was changed.

'We'll see what happens if I don't help you. I can just wait until you die then defeat the creature and take your treasures as well as your bloodlines!' Xiang Xiang thought to herself. Although she hadn't found a use for the bloodlines yet, she knew they held some significance, and a panel on the system referring to the number of bloodlines she collected also appeared.

The man who called out to Xiang Xiang was expected her to run to their side and help them as a loyal dog but instead, she just sat there and stared at them. Despite his arrogant speech, the 'Han Yu Four' were losing the battle against the magical beast and if they didn't receive any help then they'd die. They brought this on themselves because they were arrogant and thought that they could defeat a magical beast by themselves.

"Hey! Did you not hear what I said?! Come help us now before I get angry!" The same man said again in a furious tone. He knew he and his comrades could only hold out against this magical creature for maybe another minute, so they planned to use Xiang Xiang as bait and run away.

"Aren't the Han Yu Four almighty? They shouldn't need the help of a peasant like me right?" Xiang Xiang said sarcastically. The man's face instantly scrunched up when he heard what she said and a thought appeared in his head.

'Does she know we can't hold on any longer? No, even still she won't be strong enough to take on this magical creature...The peasants in this area are only at the 1st Stage of the Foundation Building Realm.' The man's expression changed multiple times as he was debating in his head and also trying to withstand the onslaught of the magical creature.

Even though it was four of them fighting one magical creature, they were still not enough to defeat it. Initially, they thought they could defeat the magical creature so they didn't bring any communication treasures or talismans, nor did they bring any life-saving treasures. So if they died here, no one would know...

'We can't die here. I'll bring this woman to our side forcefully!'

Just as the man thought about this, a large amount of True Qi erupted from his palm and condensed into the form of a whip and swung out at Xiang Xiang, desperate to grab her. Xiang Xiang wasn't expecting the man to take such drastic measures so she was caught off guard but it didn't matter.

"Focus on your current dilemma before trying to go for me!" Xiang Xiang said as she evaded the True Qi whip with ease, wasting the man's effort.

'No! I used the rest of my True Qi in that attack just now-'

ROARRR!