Reborn as a lotus, she initially refuses to hand it over to the state.

Can a seal be broken?

Chu Zhou was also puzzled. What was wrong with this strange rock? He carefully sensed the changes in Black Dragon Mountain.

Suddenly, it was discovered that the seal beneath Black Dragon Mountain had loosened somewhat.

His heart sank immediately: "System, what's going on?"

The system did not respond, perhaps due to insufficient permissions. Chu Zhou was speechless; this system guy was sometimes unreliable.

The more wildly the strange stone laughed, the calmer Chu Zhou became. Seeing that Chu Zhou remained silent, the strange stone grew displeased and mocked, "Lotus Demon, aren't you curious about where the other seal I mentioned is?"

Chu Zhou said, "I'm not interested."

The strange rock was speechless. This was illogical! It finally spoke, asking, "Aren't you prepared to save the world?"

Chu Zhou found it amusing and said disdainfully, "What do I care if the world is destroyed? If it really is destroyed, that's fine."

Upon hearing this, the strange stone became somewhat exasperated: "You're only at the fifth level! Don't you want to cultivate to a higher realm? Don't you want to become the true ruler of heaven and earth?"

Chu Zhou replied calmly, "Yes, I do."

The strange rock sneered: "Since you want to know, then you should understand that only I know the true secrets of this world."

"Those seals, those ancient veins, those powers sleeping underground are all opportunities beyond your imagination."

"If you're willing to release me, I can save you from countless detours."

Upon hearing this, Chu Zhou immediately laughed: "Have you forgotten?"

The strange rock was taken aback: "Forgot what?"

Chu Zhou said calmly, "You're still locked up."

"An old man who's been suppressed underground for who knows how many years, who can't even save himself, yet he says he'll guide me to avoid some detours?"

"Where will I go with you, into a coffin?"

The underground ancient city fell silent instantly. The giant crimson eye of the strange rock visibly froze for a moment, and the next second, the blood-red patterns surged wildly.

"How dare you, Lotus Demon, insult me!"

Chu Zhou said, "I'm just stating the facts. If you were really capable, you would have come out long ago."

"If you could really control everything, you wouldn't have had your essence extracted by me until now. If you were really that powerful, you wouldn't just be able to talk tough to me from behind a rock."

With each word it spoke, the blood-red patterns on the surface of the strange rock flashed violently once, and the entire rock trembled with rage.

But what Chu Zhou said was true, and it was suppressed.

It couldn't get out; it could only watch as the blue lotus swallowed its dissipated essence bit by bit, which was what made it most vulnerable.

"Lotus demon, I will uproot you sooner or later!"

Chu Zhou laughed and said, "You've said that many times already."

"Let's change the wording."

Strange Rock: "..."

It suddenly felt like it was choking, so stifling, so incredibly stifling.

It has lived for countless years, seen countless powerful figures, and witnessed countless geniuses.

I've never seen anything like it before. It's just a green lotus, yet its words are more venomous than those of evil cultivators.

Strange Stone suppressed his anger, his voice cold: "You're smug now only because you haven't seen true terror yet."

"That tiger king in Changbai Mountain is just the beginning. It has swallowed my source of pollution and will grow to a level that you cannot match sooner or later."

"At that time, it will tear apart your forbidden zone, devour your family, and finally uproot you, this blue lotus."

Chu Zhou nodded thoughtfully: "I see."

No wonder the strange rocks are so arrogant. It turns out that there is a seal on the strange rocks in Changbai Mountain. But Chu Zhou doesn't care. As long as he can lie down, he will try his best to lie flat.

Seeing this, the strange stone assumed he was finally scared, and its voice immediately became smug: "Now you understand?"

Chu Zhou said seriously, "I understand. That tiger king will become very fat in the future, and it also contains your essence."

"Killing it should yield much higher profits than killing a high-level beast."

The strange rock was instantly dumbfounded; it had just been laying the groundwork for quite some time.

In the end, the lotus demon's focus was still on the origin?

The strange stone's voice changed: "Isn't there anything else in your mind besides devouring?"

Chu Zhou countered, "What else?"

The strange rock trembled with rage: "That's the Polluted Beast King!"

Chu Zhou said, "Just purify it."

The strange rock roared, "It will grow, it will kill, it will become a calamity!"

Chu Zhou said, "It's good that it's growing. Killing it now won't yield much profit. Wait until it grows a bit more, then there will be more meat."

The underground city fell silent once more, and the strange rocks were completely silenced.

It suddenly realized that it and the blue lotus were not on the same wavelength at all; it wanted to talk about destroying the world, while Chu Zhou wanted to talk about profits.

It wanted to talk about terror, it wanted to use the Changbai Mountain Tiger King to scare Chu Zhou, but Chu Zhou was already calculating in his heart when it would be more worthwhile to harvest it.

"That's insane."

The strange stone muttered, "You lotus demon have gone mad."

Chu Zhou ignored it and instead looked at the surface of the strange rock.

The strange stone's emotions had fluctuated too much just now, and fine cracks reappeared on its blood-red surface.

A wisp of black-gold essence was emanating from it, and Chu Zhou's eyes lit up.

A strong sense of foreboding suddenly rose in the strange stone's heart: "What are you looking at?"

Chu Zhou did not answer. Hundreds of green roots instantly emerged from the ground and pierced directly into the crack.

The strange rock exploded on the spot: "Stop! Stop right now!"

The black-gold essence was frantically drawn away along the roots, and system notification sounds rang out one after another.

"Ding, Evolution Points +3000."

"Ding, Evolution Points +3000."

"Ding, Evolution Points +5000."

Chu Zhou was in a good mood. It seemed that the more the strange rock broke through its defenses, the more it leaked out. The strange rock was so angry that its scarlet giant eyes were about to burst open.

"That was my power, Lotus Demon! How dare you scheme against me!"

Chu Zhou was speechless and said irritably, "Don't speak so harshly. This is called making reasonable use of resources."

"Besides, didn't you say you have inexhaustible power? What's wrong with letting me absorb a little?"

The strange rock roared, "A little bit? You call that a little bit?"

Chu Zhou thought for a moment and said seriously, "Then you have to bear with it. As long as you don't break your defenses, I won't have a chance to absorb it."

Upon hearing Chu Zhou's words, the blood-red patterns on the surface of the strange rock suddenly flared up, but quickly subsided.

I mustn't get angry, I absolutely mustn't get angry. This lotus demon is deliberately provoking me.

If it breaks through the defenses again, it's tantamount to actively handing over its core essence to the opponent.

The strange rock forced itself to fall silent, closed its crimson giant eyes, and pretended not to have heard anything.

Chu Zhou waited for a while and found that the old man had actually held back, which made him feel a little regretful.

"So you're not going to say anything now?"

The strange rock remained silent, so Chu Zhou continued, "Weren't you quite talkative just now?"

The strange rock remained silent. Chu Zhou smiled and said, "The tiger king of Changbai Mountain swallowed your essence, so wouldn't you consider him your son?"

The giant, scarlet eyes of the strange rock snapped open instantly: "Bullshit! Those are merely lowly beasts corrupted by my power!"

Chu Zhou nodded: "I understand, illegitimate child."

Strange Rock: "..."

With a rumble, the underground ancient city trembled once more, and the chains on the bishi statues burst forth with runic light, forcibly suppressing the strange rocks.

On the surface of the strange rock, a wisp of black-gold primordial energy seeped out, and Chu Zhou was satisfied.

"Ding, Evolution Points +5000."

"Ding, Evolution Points +5000."

The strange rock completely collapsed: "Lotus Demon, you are shameless!"

Chu Zhou calmly replied, "Thank you for the compliment."

The strange stone's voice distorted with anger: "That wasn't a compliment!"

Chu Zhou said, "I think so."

The strange stone fell silent. This time, it was truly afraid. It feared that if it spoke again, the lotus demon would anger it so much that the seal would break.

The underground ancient city finally quieted down.

Chu Zhou looked at the motionless strange rock and felt a little regretful.

However, we gained quite a bit from that last wave.

The system panel appears.

[Current evolution points: 3826000/5000000]

[Distance to Tier 6: 1174000 Evolution Points]

Chu Zhou looked at the panel and felt satisfied.

The incident just happened at Changbai Mountain, and we managed to collect a bunch of strange rocks here. It's definitely a good deal.

Although the giant crimson eye on the surface of the strange rock was closed, its internal consciousness was so angry that it was almost distorted.

It suddenly realized that the loosening of the seal might not be entirely a good thing, because every time another seal loosened, the lotus demon would become more vigilant.

Then I'll take advantage of that and make a quick buck.

Thinking about this, the strange stone had an absurd idea for the first time: was it reviving, or was it helping this lotus demon cultivate?