A Thousand-Year Wait for the Lotus to Bloom

Legend has it that a thousand-year snow lotus can cure the deadliest poisons in the world, but can also awaken the darkest desires in people's hearts. Years ago, Su Han, daughter of the Medicine Sect, took the deadly poison of the Poison-Erosion Valley, Bone-Eroding Soul-Eater, in place of Xiao Rang to save him. Her life hung by a thread. The snow lotuses covering the mountain were destroyed, leaving just one seed. To save her, Xiao Rang sheathed his sword and withdrew from the martial world. Using his Frost Marrow inner art, he froze his beloved in time, then buried the seed in a land of eternal ice. From then on, the once-famous Cold Mountain Wanderer became an unknown country doctor living beside a lotus garden. Beasts came prowling through the snow, bandits lay in wait, martial sects used lavish rewards to pressure him, old friends betrayed him out of greed, and war swept across the land. To protect that one snow lotus, Xiao Rang broke his seal again and again, each time sacrificing his lifespan, power, and youth. He could have roamed the martial world freely, yet he confined his entire life to a little lotus garden. What he protects is not a flower, but someone who has yet to wake, and a promise no one believes. Even if it takes a thousand years, I will wait for your lotus to bloom.