Fearing the foreshadowing Dramel created, Yasenia trod the path extremely carefully. One-million-year-old plants were ridiculously strong. Some of them had enough battle power to defeat high-level Transcendents. Regardless of how much their power was sealed within this Secret Realm, Yasenia was not confident in beating them on their home turf.
As she walked through the stone paths, she could sense roots from different plants slithering under the ground. Even when her nose was picking up the scent of treasures, she was not even the slightest bit tempted to step out.
Noticing Yasenia's lack of attention, some roots surged upward, flowers sprouting on them and releasing pollen onto the path. The dragoness frowned and protected her body with a layer of energy. Even if it was pollen, it could have properties that activated upon touch, rather than when inhaled.
"What is that? Why are they doing that?"
Sui Xing asked, curious. "Are you okay?"
Confused about the sudden question, Yasenia nodded once. She asked, perplexed. "What's wrong? Does the pollen around me have any strange properties? I can fend it off with my energy."
"Ho?" Sui Xing hummed, pleasantly surprised. "The pollen around you is called [Temptation Source Pollen]. It comes from a powerful plant called [Endless Temptation Flower]. It's a treasure that, when ingested raw, can increase a person's beauty permanently. Usually, it is part of the ingredients to create the [Beauty Pill]."
"Ho?" Yasenia's eyebrows raised, and Sui Xing explained further. "The [Beauty Pill] is not only famous but also incredibly precious. It can permanently enhance the appearance of a creature, and it also increases the quality of their Yin Energy. It is a dream pill for female Dual Cultivators and those rare males with innate yin energy."
Yasenia rubbed her chin. "That's a pill I ate in the past. Although I am unsure if its effects remain after my rebirths."
Sui Xing heard about Yasenia's entire journey from Draheart. However, the [Beauty Pill] was something Yasenia ate before she got Draheart. Therefore, Sui Xing was unaware of this fact.
"They should remain. After all, unless you completely get rid of your body and replace your soul, the [Beauty Pill]'s effects will remain."
Yasenia blinked. "So… If I hadn't eaten that pill, would my current beauty be less than it is now?"
Sui Xing laughed. "Are you worried about that? Don't. Your innate appearance is ridiculously good, so the pill's effects are more ethereal than anything else. Even without it, your beauty would remain as impressive as it is now."
Yasenia pouted. "It's a valid worry, alright? I don't want strange changes to my appearance that don't come from my naturally developing beauty! My dears would…" She wanted to see that they might not like it, but her lovers loved her all the same. So, she snorted and spoke unreasonably. "Anyway, I don't like to modify my appearance with external tools!"
"Alright, alright." Sui Xing laughed. "Either way, since you've eaten the [Beauty Pill], the effects of this plant's pollen won't affect you. It is honestly a really good chance to test if pollen can affect those walking on the stone path."
Placing her trust in him, Yasenia lowered her barrier for a fraction of a second and allowed some of the pollen to enter her nose. Her eyebrows twitching a bit at the ticklish feeling, and after a few seconds, the urge in her couldn't be stopped.
Sui Xing frowned. "Are you affec—"
"Hishoo!"
Yasenia sneezed adorably, the high-pitched tone reaching all the treasures in her Dantian.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Soluna spoke, her voice shy. "That sneeze was so cute! Ahhh!"
Yasenia blinked twice and spoke, surprised. "It has been… I don't even know how many years it has been since I last sneezed."
Dramel spoke seriously. "You should sneeze more."
"Huh?" The dragoness blinked. "Why?"
"It's adorable!"
Yasenia laughed and shook her head. "Anyway, the pollen is not affecting me. Not because I was resistant to it, but because it lost its effect once it crossed the stone path's edge.
"That's great to hear." Sui Xing smiled and spoke. "Since that's done, there are no more methods for the plants to harm you. You can streak ahead without any hesitation."
The dragoness didn't rush. Instead, she asked. "Sui Xing… Do you think I can get this plant?"
"Hm…" Sui Xing thought seriously about it. After a few moments, he commented. "I wouldn't recommend it. If it were you against that plant, it's more than possible. You have high resistance to all its tricks. So, it would come down to a physical showdown. With the Secret Realm's restrictions, you wouldn't be at a disadvantage."
"Then, you don't recommend it because of the chance of me encountering other million-year-old plants in its territory, right?"
"Yes." The man nodded easily. "Million-year-old plants have great intelligence, so they can create cooperative bonds with others to protect themselves. If I were in your position, with your same strength, I would ignore it."
"Alright." Yasenia sighed. Then, she smiled. "Well, if I manage to get this garden, I will get it either way. How many million-year-old plants are in this garden?"
"From what I know, there are 10 species of million-year-old plants, 100 of half-million-year-old plants, and over 1000 of one-hundred-thousand-year-old plant species."
With that in mind, Yasenia picked up her pace and quickly trodded the path to reach the center of the garden. Thankfully, there were no interferences in the way, and she arrived without a hitch.
The place she arrived at was a neatly arranged town. There were five wooden houses surrounding a modest plaza with a fountain at its center. The five houses were all different, but Yasenia didn't know what each of them was for.
As she walked toward the center, her nose twitched and caught the scent coming from the fountain. "Water Natural Treasure? So this garden uses a Heaven-born Water Natural Treasure to water the plants."
Now that she had become familiar with its aura, Yasenia's senses could trace the complex paths below the ground that spread this fountain's water outward. "No wonder… This garden is truly worth being a coveted treasure. Even without the plants, sects would fight each other to get it."
The effort needed to arrange such a treasure to feed a continental-sized garden neatly was not small.
"Sui Xing, what do I do now?"
Not hearing an answer, she asked again, confused. "Sui Xing? Are you okay?"
"Ah." The man exclaimed for a second and then smiled. "Sorry, I spaced out. I was recalling memories I had forgotten about the creation of this garden. So, I became dazed."
"Oh!" Yasenia's eyes lit up. "What are they? Will they help me get it?"
Sui Xing laughed. "Yes. They will. As I said before, the way to get this garden is to use alchemy, right? I had forgotten completely about the five houses, only remembering the fountain…. Either way, if you want to get the garden, your task is rather easy. Open all five houses and then get the key to open the middle fountain and find the core of the garden. Once there, you can imprint your aura on it with your Blood Essence and become its owner."
Yasenia frowned deeply.
"Why? Isn't that quite easy?"
Yasenia grumbled at Sui Xing's confused tone. "The easier something looks, the more problems and difficulty it will have during the trials." Sighing, Yasenia shook her head and approached the shortest wooden house. The tallest house was a three-floor house, with two lateral cottages; the following one only had one cottage, and the next one had none. The last two had fewer floors, two and one, respectively.
Yasenia, believing that this house would be the easiest of them all, approached it. Once before it, she looked at the text engraved on the door.
"Craft the [Star Limb Pill] at a level that an alchemy master would recognize as a success."
The dragoness almost puked blood. "Can there be a more subjective assessment in the world!? What do you mean by that!?"
Sui Xing chuckled. "That's why I told you that your Transmutation Cauldron would come in handy."
Yasenia's rotten expression lightened, and her eyes shone. "Right! Transmutation is the process of using external materials to enhance the properties of something else. So, if I fail to reach those standards, instead of creating it again, I can fiddle with the Transmutation Cauldron and enhance the pill."
Satisfied, Sui Xing nodded. "That's it. As long as you can at least make it, you shouldn't have a problem increasing its value to an acceptable level."
Motivated, Yasenia took out both her [Spring Tree Pill Cauldron] and [Earth Refining Cauldron]. The [Spring Tree Pill Cauldron] was the alchemy cauldron Tatyana gave Yasenia before she entered the first secret realm. That cauldron was a Transcendence-ranked cauldron hidden as a Heaven-ranked treasure. To bring out its true level, Yasenia needed to reach the Sixth Realm as well.
On the other side, the [Earth Refining Cauldron] was in Kali's hands in the past. The foxgirl used it to enhance the herbs she used in alchemy and such. Still, before coming to the higher heaven, Kali gave it back to Yasenia, just in case it came in handy for her, who was in a much more dangerous location.
"Hehe, my pretty fox sure has some foresight~."
Reminding herself of how much she loved her dears, Yasenia looked at the pill recipe on the wall of the wooden house. "Let's see… The pill recipe has 452 different herb types. Of those, 412 are auxiliary herbs, so I have all of them. Now, do I have the 40 main herbs?"
She went through them and checked inside her spatial ring one after another. "Hm… I lack two of them."
Soluna commented, surprised. "Are you sure? You collected a lot of plants on your way here, so you should have them, right?"
Yasenia smiled wryly. "The problem is that these two are 500,000-year-old herbs. My ring doesn't have herbs of that quality yet."
Sui Xing sighed a bit. "That's unfortunate. You should go back and forth to get the herbs from this garden. This is probably part of the trial."
Yasenia accepted it. "To begin with, the trial would usually involve those attempting it to collect all the herbs within this garden's bounds. I am lucky that my ring can hold powerful spiritual herbs."
The treasures and Yasenia sighed simultaneously. Then, the dragoness patted her cheeks. "Alright, let's do this then."