The Herbal Garden Trial

The third floor of the ancient structure.

Lin Xian'er rushed up and immediately looked toward the center.

There stood an ancient altar, its surface covered in fine cracks after enduring the erosion of time.

On the altar, a faint spiritual light was fading away.

Her expression changed, and she dashed to the altar at top speed.

After inspecting it for a moment, her face darkened.

"It really is a teleportation array."

She glanced around the altar and spotted several grooves embedded in it.

The spirit stones fitted into them had already been drained of their spiritual energy by the array, reduced to powder.

With a wave of her hand, she cleared the powder from the grooves and replaced them with fresh spirit stones.

The next moment, the teleportation array on the altar lit up again.

But the glow lasted only an instant before the newly placed spirit stones shattered, and the array's runes faded back into the altar.

"The quality of the spirit stones isn't enough?"

Lin Xian'er's expression shifted.

Legend had it that in ancient times, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was abundant and incredibly pure.

Spirit stone veins were plentiful back then.

Spirit stones were categorized into four grades based on the potency of their spiritual energy: supreme-grade, high-grade, mid-grade, and low-grade.

But now, after the cataclysmic changes in the world, the cultivation environment was far worse than in ancient times.

Not only had spirit stone veins become exceedingly rare, but the stones they produced were almost exclusively low-grade.

Clearly, this altar was a relic from ancient times.

Its array couldn't be activated with low-grade spirit stones.

She refused to believe that old bastard would possess high-grade spirit stones. The only possibility was that the altar had originally been embedded with stones, and the last remnants of their energy had been exhausted.

The more she thought about it, the uglier her expression became.

If low-grade spirit stones couldn't activate the array, how was she supposed to leave?

In the end, finding no solution, she could only return to the second floor.

The spiritual pool there could help her improve her cultivation. For now, she had no choice but to take things one step at a time.

Yet every time she thought of that old bastard, she couldn't help but gnash her teeth in frustration.

……

Lin Xian'er's guess was spot on.

Wang Jianqiang indeed didn’t possess high-grade spirit stones. Instead, he had activated the array using the stones originally embedded in the altar.

Now, he had arrived outside a medicinal garden.

Calling it a garden was an understatement—the place was astonishingly vast, stretching as far as the eye could see.

At a glance, rare medicinal herbs grew wildly like weeds.

Wang Jianqiang eagerly stepped into the garden.

Almost immediately, he spotted dozens of Jade Spirit Ginseng plants clustered together not far ahead.

Jade Spirit Ginseng was the core ingredient for refining Foundation Establishment Pills.

Wang Jianqiang hurried over, ready to harvest them.

Just as his hand was about to touch one of the ginseng plants, a burst of spiritual light erupted beside it.

He instantly felt resistance against his palm. Before he could react, his vision blurred, and he found himself in an empty, boundless space.

Hum~

A sphere of spiritual light materialized before him, swiftly taking the form of a solid figure.

The figure was an exact replica of Wang Jianqiang, down to his cultivation level.

"Is this... a trial for harvesting spirit herbs?"

Wang Jianqiang studied the figure before him, a thought crossing his mind.

At that moment, the spiritual clone lunged at him in attack.

Wang Jianqiang willed his thoughts into motion.

The Flawless Cloudwater Frostlight Sword was summoned, instantly shattering the clone's assault.

The sword paused briefly before piercing through the spiritual figure.

The figure disintegrated.

Wang Jianqiang's vision blurred again, and he was back in the medicinal garden.

"So it really was a trial."

Wang Jianqiang murmured to himself before reaching for the Jade Spirit Ginseng once more.

This time, he encountered no resistance and easily plucked the herb.

He proceeded to harvest nine more.

But when he reached for the eleventh, a familiar surge of spiritual energy reappeared.

Wang Jianqiang raised an eyebrow but didn’t dodge.

The next moment, he was pulled back into the trial space.

Amidst the glow of spiritual light, another identical figure materialized.

Its cultivation level still matched his own.

The clone wasted no time—with a flick of its finger, a chillingly cold flying sword shot toward him.

Recognizing the sword, Wang Jianqiang's eyes widened in surprise.

The Cloudwater Frostlight Sword!

The clone was using his own technique!

Dodging the sword's strike, Wang Jianqiang studied the figure, deep in thought.

Instead of destroying it immediately, he engaged in a drawn-out exchange.

After a while, he summoned the Flawless Profoundwater Ring, empowering his Frostlight Sword with its energy before delivering a decisive slash that shattered the clone.

His vision blurred once more.

Back in the garden, Wang Jianqiang continued harvesting Jade Spirit Ginseng.

One after another.

When he plucked the twenty-first, another burst of light enveloped him.

"As expected, every ten herbs mark a threshold. Crossing it triggers the trial."

Wang Jianqiang's mind raced.

By the time he refocused, he was back in the familiar void.

The spiritual clone formed again and attacked without hesitation.

The frost-coated flying sword shot toward him.

Wang Jianqiang's body shimmered as the Flawless Moonwater Robe materialized around him.

Moonlight radiated outward.

Clang!

The sword struck the moonlight barrier, causing it to tremble violently.

Wang Jianqiang's expression tightened. He channeled the Profoundwater Ring's power into the robe, amplifying the moonlight's glow.

Only then did he barely block the clone's strike.

His sharp gaze locked onto the clone's finger—there, he spotted a familiar ring.

The Flawless Profoundwater Ring!

So the trial's difficulty was escalating.

Every time he revealed a new technique, the clone would replicate it in the next trial, increasing the challenge.

If this continued indefinitely, the clone would eventually master all his abilities, making the trial impossible to pass.

Having deciphered the garden's rules, Wang Jianqiang wasted no more time.

With the combined might of the Flawless Frostlight Sword, Profoundwater Ring, and Moonwater Robe, he swiftly annihilated the third clone.

Returning to the garden, he harvested the remaining six Jade Spirit Ginseng plants nearby.

Glancing at the other herbs in the distance, he hesitated before deciding against picking them.

Instead, he headed toward another cluster of Jade Spirit Ginseng further away.

Based on the garden's trial mechanics, each person’s harvest was inevitably limited—though the exact number varied depending on their abilities.

Jade Spirit Ginseng was the rarest core ingredient for Foundation Establishment Pills. The supplementary herbs could be purchased elsewhere.

And since he had no idea how many flawless pills he’d need for his own breakthrough, he decided to focus solely on the ginseng.

While the garden undoubtedly housed even rarer herbs, they’d be useless if he couldn’t establish his foundation.

When he plucked the forty-first Jade Spirit Ginseng, he was pulled into the trial space for the fourth time.

This time, he originally intended not to use more magical artifacts and fight the spiritual light humanoid figure solely based on his combat awareness, aiming to reduce the difficulty of the fifth test.

Unfortunately, he overestimated himself.

Although the spiritual light humanoid figure had no intelligence, its combat experience exceeded his imagination. After just a few moves, it beat him to the point where he was scurrying around with his head in his hands.

Helplessly, Wang Jianqiang had no choice but to take out the Perfect Small Qian Mountain Seal and smash the figure directly with it.

Back in the medicine garden, he continued to pick the Mysterious Jade Ginseng.

After picking the fifty - first plant, he took the fifth test.

After a fierce fight, relying on the sudden burst of speed from the Perfect Wind - Chasing Boots, he defeated the spiritual light humanoid figure.

Not long after,

the sixth test began.

After a bitter battle, he took out the Perfect Mysterious Light Seal and barely managed to win.

In the seventh test,

he finally used his trump card... the Small Five - Element Sword Formation.

With the triple sword formations overlapping, he broke through the spiritual light humanoid figure's magical artifact defense and smashed it to pieces.

In the eighth test,

he used the quadruple sword formations overlapping. After a long - drawn - out battle, he finally managed to defeat the spiritual light humanoid figure with great difficulty.

In the ninth test,

he had finally exhausted all his means. Only by overlapping the quintuple sword formations and unleashing the complete Small Five - Element Sword Formation was he able to kill the spiritual light humanoid figure.

After returning to the medicine garden, Wang Jianqiang picked another ten plants of the Mysterious Jade Ginseng.

When looking at the next plant of the Mysterious Jade Ginseng, he hesitated.

Once he picked this plant of the Mysterious Jade Ginseng, he would surely be pulled into the test space.

The spiritual light humanoid figure in the tenth test already possessed all of his skills, and its combat experience was even better than his.

If he entered the test again, there was almost no hope of passing it.

Just when he was about to give up picking the medicinal herbs, it was as if a thunderbolt flashed across his mind, and an idea popped up.

It seemed that he still had one more trump card that he hadn't used!