"By the void," Torvain gasped.

  The sight of the vast garden before them was breathtaking, even amidst the surrounding desolation.

  Every elder and disciple present came from an alchemy sect. They possessed gardens of their own and had witnessed similarly expansive ones before. The sheer size of this garden alone was not what stunned them. It was the plants themselves that truly left them shaken.

  The entire garden was enclosed by a semi-translucent barrier. A formation flickered faintly beneath the soil, still functioning despite its age. Cracks spider-webbed across the barrier's surface, leaking mana in thin streams that fed directly into the chaotic energy surrounding the area.

  Even from outside the barrier, they could already detect plants with extraordinarily dense mana. Kaya's eyes widened as she sensed it and spoke in disbelief, "With just a single plant from there, we should be able to refine a mana pill containing one hundred thousand mana units."

  One hundred thousand mana units.

  A mana pill of that level could be sold for two hundred thousand UNI-Coins. And this was just from a single plant. The garden stretched endlessly, and no one could even guess how many such plants existed within it.

  Adrian watched their reactions. Even Lara and the other elders were momentarily stunned by the plants they were witnessing. He understood them well. At the end of the day, they were all cultivators from an alchemy sect, people who loved plants more than anything else. Their excitement in front of such a sight was only natural.

  He shifted his attention to the formation barrier surrounding the garden. He analyzed its structure carefully. It was constructed with a divine concept using Life, Growth, Preservation, and Boundary arcane concepts, all woven together into a delicate but resilient pattern. This formation had sustained the plants for countless years, even as the rest of the planet descended into chaos.

  The symbols layered over one another, each reinforcing the next. Whoever had built this understood not just formations, but the nature of time itself. The design accounted for degradation, redirecting leaked essence to slow the barrier's collapse rather than prevent it outright. A calculated surrender to entropy.

  Lara was the first to recover from her momentary stupor. She stepped forward and said, "The barrier is damaged. We should be able to pass through the cracks without triggering any defensive formations."

  "Assuming there are no traps inside," Maelis muttered under her breath.

  "There will be," Lara replied quietly. "Alchemy gardens like this are always protected. Even if the sect fell, the formations guarding the interior should still be active."

  Adrian descended toward the nearest crack in the barrier, with the others following closely behind. As they approached, the density of chaotic energy increased sharply. Adrian's domain could no longer refine everything completely, and even with the others maintaining their own domains, simply moving forward required focused effort and authority.

  The air thickened. Pressure mounted against Adrian's chest, a weight that had nothing to do with gravity. His domain flickered, struggling to hold its shape.

  "We need to pass through quickly," Lara said. "Once we're inside, the chaotic energy should no longer be an issue."

  Everyone nodded in agreement. One by one, they slipped through the crack in the barrier and entered the interior of the garden.

  Inside, the environment changed instantly. The air was thick and humid, saturated with mana so concentrated that it felt almost liquid. The chaotic energy that plagued the outside world did not seep into the garden at all. The mana and essence here were pure, stable, and harmonized.

  Adrian inhaled. The mana filled his lungs, warm and alive, settling into his mana sea.

  Everyone instinctively slowed and looked around. The plants here were ancient. Some radiated such dense mana that it was clear they were at least a million years old. This alone confirmed the assessment made by the Nine-Vault Commerce Sect when they had sold the relic key.

  Towering stalks rose overhead, their leaves broad as starship hulls. Vines coiled around stone pillars, pulsing faintly with bioluminescence. Flowers the size of Adrian's torso bloomed in clusters, petals shimmering with condensed essence that dripped onto the soil below.

  Adrian's gaze swept across the garden. This place was nothing short of a paradise for cultivation. Anyone who spent time here, simply observing and breathing in the ambient mana, would gradually expand their mana sea. The plants themselves could be refined into extraordinary pills, but even without harvesting a single leaf, the environment alone was a heaven for cultivators.

  He descended to the ground and reached out to touch a purple flower. The moment his senses brushed against it, he felt the staggering amount of mana contained within. This single plant held at least one hundred thousand mana units. If he were to absorb all of that mana slowly, it would expand his mana sea by nearly ten thousand mana units.

  The petals hummed beneath his fingertips, resonating with his own mana. A faint warmth spread through his hand.

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  However, direct absorption, whether from plants or the environment itself, was an extremely slow process. That was why everyone used mana pills and why they were so popular. If someone created a mana pill using these plants, it would deliver mana instantly to the cultivators. Adrian understood this well, and the idea of refining such plants into pills tempted him deeply. It even made him consider learning pill refinement in the future, as that knowledge would be immensely beneficial to him.

  Nearby, Lara and the others had also descended to the ground and were already examining the plants nearby. Maelis grabbed Lara's arm and pulled her toward an emerald-colored plant glowing faintly with life essence.

  The plant stood waist-high, its broad leaves catching and refracting ambient mana. Tiny droplets of concentrated essence beaded along the leaf edges, trembling with each breath of wind.

  "Look at the life force in this," Maelis said excitedly. "With this, we could refine a high-tier healing pill."

  Lara nodded slowly, kneeling beside the plant. Her fingers hovered above the leaves, not quite touching. The raw life force radiating from the emerald surface made her own essence resonate in response. This was the resource minor sects always lacked. Without plants like this, producing high-tier healing pills was impossible. Yet here, with just a single plant, she could refine multiple high-tier healing pills!

  Maelis moved quickly from plant to plant, her earlier composure fracturing beneath unbridled enthusiasm. She knelt beside a cluster of silver-veined leaves and gently brushed their surface with her fingers.

  "This one," she murmured, her eyes shining. "This is a Moon-Silver Root variant. If refined properly, it can stabilize violent mana fluctuations within a cultivator's body."

  She looked up at Lara, barely containing her excitement. "With this, we could refine supplementary pills that help disciples safely break through their mana sea limits without risking internal backlash."

  Lara examined the plant closely, her mind racing through formulas and refinement processes. The fastest way to expand one's Mana Sea was to consume a mana pill when one's reserves were already full, but the more powerful the pill, the more dangerous the backlash would be if the body could not handle the sudden influx. This Moon-Silver Root could be refined into a supplementary pill that would soften the impact, stabilize the excess mana from going violent, allowing the mana to integrate safely.

  "Elder Lara," Kaya called from several paces away, standing before a towering stalk crowned with violet blossoms. "Is this what I think it is?"

  Lara straightened and approached.

  "This is Celestial Violet," she said. "Used in advancement pills for unlocking Rule Perception."

  The disciples exchanged glances. This plant existed back in the sect itself, but they were limited, and they had to purchase from outside if they needed more. But here, they could see so many of them!

  Some distance away, Torvain had stopped in front of a low-growing plant with dark blue petals that seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it. The air around it felt unnaturally cool, as though the plant drew warmth from its surroundings and converted it into stillness.

  "A Void-Calming Bloom," he said slowly, disbelief evident in his voice.

  He gestured toward the others, and Marivelle noticed the plant immediately. She approached carefully, "Aren't these the plants used to refine pills said to calm the mind?" she asked.

  Lara quickly moved over to inspect it, her expression shifting to wonder, "With something like this, our disciples could train authority with far less risk of willforce collapse."

  Adrian approached as well when he heard it was related to the mind. He studied the Void-Calming Bloom closely, observing how its petals curved inward, creating a natural spiral pattern that seemed to draw one's gaze deeper. The Boundless Mana Body Art described willforce as consciousness itself. Anything that calmed the mind would naturally stabilize consciousness. The implications were immense. Authority required unwavering focus and will to command reality or manually alter rules. Training authority alongside a Void-Calming Bloom would dramatically increase safety and efficiency. Maybe this could even make the willforce recovery faster. He didn't know for sure, but such possibilities existed.

  "How many of these are there?" Maelis asked, scanning the surrounding area.

  "I count three within sight," Torvain replied. "Likely more deeper in."

  For a long moment, everyone simply stood there, observing the garden. Everywhere they looked, it was filled with plants that minor sects would never even dare to dream of acquiring. Plants that were auctioned leaf by leaf in the UNI-Hub for outrageous prices. Plants that major sects guarded as strategic resources. And here, they grew freely, tended by formations that had outlived their creators.

  Lara stood still, slowly turning as she took in the entire garden. Rows upon rows of vegetation stretched beyond her perception, disappearing into mist and shadow. "This," she said quietly, "this alone is enough to change the fate of our sect."

  "With even a fraction of these resources," she continued, her voice gaining strength, "we could supply our disciples with proper pills instead of makeshift ones. We could stabilize breakthroughs, reduce casualties, and accelerate growth."

  Maelis laughed softly, her voice almost unsteady. "Calling this a garden is an understatement. This is a treasury."

  Torvain nodded heavily, his expression darkening, "A treasury that can't be moved."

  That single statement grounded everyone. The excitement dimmed slightly as reality asserted itself. Disciples exchanged glances, the weight of their situation settling back onto their shoulders. This place was not theirs yet. The Everlasting Pill Sect would eventually find it, or worse, they might have already discovered it and could be inside even now.

  "We need to secure the Core-Reforging Lotus first," Lara reminded them, her tone shifting back to command. "Everything else is secondary."

  "Understood," several disciples replied in unison.

  Adrian saw their awe, their calculations, their hopes. He felt it himself. If his people had access to a place like this, the benefits would be immeasurable. Adrian had ways to increase his own mana capacity, but this garden could elevate everyone under him. And even he himself would need the Void-Calming Bloom.

  He glanced at Marivelle, who stood apart from the Crimson Vital disciples, observing the plants with a complicated expression. She seemed to be thinking about the Everlasting Pill Sect, even if they'd abandoned her. It seemed she still needed some time to come to terms with her situation.

  Adrian looked down at the soil beneath his feet. The ground was rich and perfectly balanced, dark and loamy, threaded with faint luminescent veins that pulsed in time with the formation below. Beneath it, he could sense the formation still functioning. It regulated growth, stabilized mana flow, and maintained equilibrium. The plants neither overgrew nor devoured one another. Everything existed in harmony because of that formation.

  This place could absolutely become a lifeline for his people.

  His will surged as a single thought solidified in his mind. He wanted this garden!

  "Everlasting Pill Sect," he thought coldly, "let me see how you dare touch a single leaf from here."