The medicinal garden was no longer quiet.
One after another, figures rushed through the ancient entrance.
Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Peak Xuan Gang martial artists.
Loose cultivators.
Family disciples.
Sect geniuses.
Within only a few breaths, dozens of people had already entered.
Every pair of eyes immediately swept across the enormous medicinal garden.
Then—
Confusion appeared.
"...Where are the herbs?"
One cultivator frowned.
The herb fields remained vast.
Yet the medicinal herbs that should have covered them were almost completely gone.
Only patches of young spirit herbs remained rooted in the soil.
Most possessed medicinal ages below one hundred years.
Several people hurriedly searched nearby fields.
Nothing.
Another section.
Still nothing.
The higher-grade herbs had disappeared completely.
Naturally...
None of them considered the possibility that someone had already harvested almost everything.
Instead, they simply assumed they had entered the wrong section of the garden.
Before anyone could think further—
Someone suddenly shouted.
"There!"
Instantly.
Every head turned.
Far ahead, near the center of the medicinal garden, an enormous vine climbed around an ancient stone pillar.
Its thick green branches intertwined naturally.
Five fruits hung quietly among countless emerald leaves.
Each fruit shimmered with faint golden patterns.
Pure Wood Spiritual Qi continuously flowed around them.
Even from hundreds of meters away, everyone could clearly sense the astonishing medicinal aura.
A thousand-year spirit herb.
No...
Possibly even older.
One elderly Foundation Establishment cultivator's breathing became rapid.
His eyes widened in disbelief.
"Heaven..."
"Heaven Mending Fruit!"
The entire medicinal garden became silent.
Then—
The silence exploded.
"Heaven Mending Fruit?!"
"Impossible!"
"It actually exists!"
"I thought it only existed in ancient records!"
Excitement spread like wildfire.
Even several normally calm Foundation Establishment cultivators completely lost their composure.
Everyone understood exactly what those fruits represented.
The Heaven Mending Fruit.
One of the rarest Wood-attribute heavenly treasures recorded within ancient alchemical texts.
By itself...
The fruit already possessed astonishing effects.
It could cleanse impurities hidden within Spiritual Roots.
Strengthen a cultivator's innate foundation.
For some fortunate individuals...
It could even slightly improve the quality of their Spiritual Roots.
However...
Its true value lay elsewhere.
The Heaven Mending Pill.
A legendary Rank Three medicinal pill.
The Heaven Mending Fruit served as its primary ingredient.
Only after being refined through alchemy could its medicinal potential truly be unleashed.
Legend stated...
A successfully refined Heaven Mending Pill possessed the power to permanently improve Spiritual Root quality.
A cultivator possessing Mid Grade Spiritual Roots...
Could potentially advance to High Grade.
One with High Grade...
Might approach Top Grade.
Such opportunities completely changed a person's future.
Throughout the cultivation world...
Very few treasures affected innate talent.
The Heaven Mending Fruit happened to be one of them.
Looking at the five fruits swaying gently in the wind...
Everyone's breathing gradually became heavier.
Five fruits.
Only five.
Yet nearly a hundred cultivators stood within the medicinal garden.
Someone suddenly laughed.
A harsh laugh.
"There are only five."
Another person's expression gradually became sinister.
"Indeed..."
"So the rest of you..."
His flying sword slowly rose.
"...should simply die."
No further words were needed.
Boom!
The first attack erupted.
A crimson flying saber slashed directly toward a nearby cultivator.
The attacked cultivator immediately roared in anger.
"You dare?!"
His defensive artifact instantly appeared.
Almost simultaneously...
Another spear pierced through someone's chest.
A third cultivator launched dozens of talismans without warning.
Within a single breath...
The entire medicinal garden descended into complete chaos.
Flying swords crisscrossed the sky.
Exploding talismans illuminated the battlefield.
Magical artifacts collided continuously.
Every cultivator immediately became an enemy.
No alliances.
No cooperation.
No trust.
Only five Heaven Mending Fruits existed.
Every additional survivor meant one less opportunity.
Blood sprayed across the herb fields.
A Foundation Establishment cultivator had his arm severed.
Another had his chest pierced by three flying needles.
Several Xuan Gang martial artists attempted to seize the fruits directly before being bombarded by dozens of simultaneous attacks.
The ground trembled continuously.
Ancient medicinal fields were destroyed one after another.
Within moments...
The medicinal garden transformed into a battlefield.
...
Far away.
Standing atop an enormous ancient tree...
Lin Yan quietly watched everything unfold.
Her expression remained completely calm.
Not a trace of surprise appeared within her eyes.
Because...
She already knew this would happen.
Earlier, while harvesting the medicinal garden, she had approached the Heaven Mending Fruit.
The moment she came within several hundred meters...
She immediately sensed something wrong.
It wasn't the Heaven Mending Fruit itself.
It was another tree growing beside it.
Compared to the dazzling Heaven Mending Fruit Vine...
The nearby tree appeared completely ordinary.
Dark crimson bark.
Twisted branches.
Few leaves.
Nothing particularly eye-catching.
Yet...
The moment her divine sense touched it...
A strange fluctuation quietly entered her mind.
Greed.
Violence.
Killing intent.
Although extremely weak...
The influence undeniably existed.
Lin Yan had immediately withdrawn.
After careful observation...
She finally understood.
The crimson tree had become parasitic.
Not physically.
Spiritually.
Over countless years, it had grown together beside the Heaven Mending Fruit Vine.
Its roots intertwined with the surrounding spiritual veins.
Its strange ability continuously stimulated negative emotions within nearby intelligent creatures.
Normally...
The effect remained extremely weak.
A lone cultivator might merely feel slightly impatient.
Slightly greedy.
Nothing more.
However...
When dozens...
Or hundreds...
Of cultivators gathered together...
The situation changed entirely.
Greed fed greed.
Suspicion created suspicion.
Every negative emotion amplified another.
Like dry grass meeting fire.
Eventually...
Reason disappeared completely.
Below...
The battle became increasingly brutal.
A Foundation Establishment cultivator laughed maniacally while continuously swinging his spirit blade.
Blood covered his robes.
His eyes had already become slightly crimson.
Another cultivator ignored a sword piercing through his shoulder simply to kill the person standing beside him.
Several people who had originally been allies now attacked each other without hesitation.
The Heaven Mending Fruit remained untouched.
Yet dozens of people had already died beneath it.
Lin Yan quietly looked toward the crimson tree once more.
Her Wood Spiritual Root allowed her to perceive subtle life fluctuations far more clearly than ordinary cultivators.
She immediately noticed something astonishing.
Every drop of blood soaking into the ground...
Every severed limb...
Every corpse...
The blood didn't remain there.
Instead...
It slowly disappeared.
Like water entering dry earth.
The crimson tree's roots silently absorbed everything.
With every cultivator that died...
Its branches became slightly brighter.
Its leaves became increasingly vibrant.
Even its aura strengthened little by little.
"It absorbs blood..."
Lin Yan's eyes narrowed.
"So that's your true purpose."
The Heaven Mending Fruit merely served as bait.
The real predator...
Had always been the Blood Tree.
Over countless years...
It had likely evolved alongside the Heaven Mending Fruit Vine.
Using one to attract prey.
Using the other to harvest them.
What terrifying evolution.
Lin Yan couldn't help muttering softly,
"A truly demonic tree..."
Her gaze remained fixed upon the increasingly lively crimson tree.
Meanwhile...
The massacre below showed no signs of ending.
---
Deep within the Array Center...
Silence filled the ancient halls.
Countless jade slips lay scattered across stone tables while formation diagrams covered nearly every wall.
The room Qin Fenxing occupied had long since become a mess.
Ancient scrolls remained open.
Formation flags had been casually discarded across the floor.
Several broken jade slips had already lost all their spiritual light after having their contents completely copied into his memory.
Qin Fenxing slowly opened his eyes.
The surrounding spiritual qi naturally gathered toward him before gradually calming once more.
A smile slowly spread across his face.
Then...
It widened.
"Hahaha..."
His laughter echoed throughout the empty hall.
Finally.
After years of painstaking research...
After countless failures...
After being trapped at the peak of Rank Two...
He had finally crossed the final bottleneck.
Rank Three Formation Master.
The moment the realization settled within his heart, Qin Fenxing could clearly feel the difference.
Previously, the countless Rank Three formation records scattered throughout the Array Center had seemed profound beyond measure.
Now...
Although many still remained difficult, they no longer appeared incomprehensible.
Instead...
Everything seemed to connect together naturally.
Many concepts that had confused him for years suddenly became obvious.
Formation Dao...
Always emphasized accumulation.
One breakthrough often meant understanding countless previous questions simultaneously.
Qin Fenxing slowly extended a finger.
Several formation runes immediately appeared in the air.
Without using formation flags.
Without using array plates.
Purely through divine sense.
The runes quietly revolved around his fingertip before slowly dispersing.
His smile grew brighter.
"A true Rank Three Formation Master..."
Although still unable to construct large-scale Rank Three formations independently...
His understanding had already entered that realm.
Most importantly...
His authority within this Heaven Seal Gate secret realm had increased once again.
The Core Disciple Token resting inside his sleeve suddenly emitted a faint glow.
Immediately afterward—
He sensed something astonishing.
The countless ancient formations scattered throughout the ruined sect seemed to respond faintly to him.
Not complete control.
Far from it.
The Heaven Seal Gate had once possessed Golden Core cultivators.
Its guardian formations naturally couldn't be manipulated by someone merely at Foundation Establishment.
However...
Simple adjustments.
Opening certain restrictions.
Temporarily controlling isolated formations.
These were now completely possible.
The feeling made Qin Fenxing's breathing become slightly heavier.
"As expected..."
"The Core Disciple Token truly contains deeper authority."
He slowly spread his divine sense.
The Array Center's defensive formations immediately responded.
Several barriers quietly shifted.
Ancient restrictions recognized his identity before silently opening and closing according to his intentions.
Qin Fenxing couldn't help laughing again.
Excellent.
With this authority...
His chances inside the secret realm would increase tremendously.
He slowly looked toward the distance.
The Core Disciple Token suddenly transmitted another fragment of information.
Unlike before...
This wasn't a memory.
Rather...
It resembled instinctive guidance.
The token seemed to possess limited authority over certain important locations within the sect.
Several major halls appeared vaguely within his mind.
The Scripture Pavilion.
The Weapon Hall.
The Alchemy Pavilion.
The Life and Death Arena.
And...
The Medicinal Garden.
The moment that final location appeared—
Another fragment of inherited memory surfaced.
Qin Fenxing immediately froze.
Then his pupils contracted violently.
"The Heaven Mending Fruit..."
He immediately stood up.
The fragmented memories left behind by the former Core Disciple clearly recorded one particular matter.
The medicinal garden contained a Heaven Mending Fruit Vine.
It had originally been cultivated personally by one of the sect's Golden Core Elders.
The fruits were intended as one of the primary ingredients for refining Heaven Mending Pills for outstanding disciples.
Unfortunately...
Before the fruits fully matured...
The Heaven Seal Gate had already been destroyed.
After countless years...
Those fruits should have reached astonishing medicinal ages.
Qin Fenxing's breathing unconsciously became heavier.
The Heaven Mending Fruit.
Others coveted it because it could improve Spiritual Root quality.
To him...
Its significance exceeded even that.
Ever since childhood...
His greatest weakness had never changed.
Mid Grade Spiritual Roots.
Within ordinary cultivation families...
Such talent could already be considered excellent.
Within the Qin Family...
A Rank Four family possessing Golden Core Ancestors...
It was merely average.
He had watched countless clansmen surpass him effortlessly.
He had watched people younger than himself enter higher realms.
Every bottleneck seemed harder.
Every breakthrough required more resources.
That was why...
He abandoned ordinary cultivation.
That was why...
He devoted himself entirely to the Formation Dao.
Only after becoming a Formation Master had he finally earned sufficient respect.
Yet...
No matter how talented he became in formations...
His Spiritual Roots never changed.
His cultivation speed remained his greatest weakness.
Now...
The Heaven Mending Fruit offered a solution.
If he could obtain it...
Perhaps...
Perhaps his greatest flaw could finally disappear.
His cultivation speed would increase.
Future bottlenecks would lessen.
His position within the Qin Family would rise dramatically.
The thought alone caused his heart to race.
Without another moment of hesitation...
Qin Fenxing immediately waved his sleeve.
The ancient formations surrounding the Array Center quietly opened.
The defensive barriers recognized the Core Disciple Token before allowing him to leave freely.