That such a garden should exist so deep underground was more than mind-boggling—it turned Wei Zhao's entire worldview upside down. All these flowers, blooming in such dazzling competition with one another, surely they could not do without sunlight?

"Senior, it seems we've stumbled upon something truly extraordinary!" Fei Yangnian was instantly elated, though his focus was nothing like Wei Zhao's. He had noticed that among the surrounding flowers there grew a great many exceedingly precious panaceas; carry out any single one of them, and on the marketplaces of the Primordial Little Jianghu it would be worth a fortune!

"Indeed." Wei Zhao gave a slight nod. These panaceas meant little enough to him—his stockpile, after all, had been built up starting from Cloud Terrace Island, and many of the rare specimens he had amassed were seldom even seen there, their grades and tiers only higher than those before him now. Even so, one thing could not be denied: this place was truly no ordinary one.

After days of exploration, Wei Zhao had formed a rough understanding of this Primordial Trial Ground. The spiritual energy here was not poor, but perhaps because the various spirit beasts, great and small, were packed too densely, panaceas were hard to find outside, and those that could be called rare were fewer still. A concentration of rare panaceas on the scale before him now likely existed nowhere else in the entire Primordial Trial Ground—here and only here.

Only, how could such a wondrous place exist beneath the earth?

Paying no heed to his own injuries, Fei Yangnian set to frantically harvesting the rare panaceas all around. He cared for nothing else; to him, panaceas meant great heaps of spirit jade, and there was nothing under heaven more important than that.

"Hold on!" Wei Zhao suddenly spoke up to stop him.

"W-what is it?" Fei Yangnian's heart gave a lurch; he thought Wei Zhao meant to snatch these rare panaceas from him, and he hurriedly put on a bitter face. "Senior, look at all these rare panaceas—the two of us alone could never gather them all, and even if you meant to keep them to yourself, you couldn't carry them away. Why not let me share in the windfall and have a sip from the cup?"

"Keep them to myself?" Wei Zhao laughed at that, then pursed his lips toward the thing in Fei Yangnian's hand. "Take a good look at what you've actually picked before you say another word."

"Isn't this the legendary Crimson Flame Fruit? Worth no small sum in the Primordial Little Jianghu—ten spirit jade at the very least." Fei Yangnian spoke gleefully. Given how scarce spirit jade was in the Primordial Little Jianghu, ten pieces was already a rather hefty fortune.

"Open your eyes wide and look carefully. Are you certain this is a Crimson Flame Fruit?" Wei Zhao shot him a withering glance.

"Uh…" Fei Yangnian examined it once more, and only then did he notice that although the fruit in his hand looked at first glance exactly like a Crimson Flame Fruit, it bore an added pattern of fine, subtle veins. He stared blankly. "Could it be a variant of the Crimson Flame Fruit?"

"A variant?" Wei Zhao shook his head with a laugh. He strode over, snatched the fruit from his hand, and tossed it away.

"Hey—!" Fei Yangnian was frantic at the sight. Even if it was not a Crimson Flame Fruit, a perfectly good thing could not simply be thrown away like that. But before he could get a word of complaint out, the fruit went off with a thunderous blast, and everything around it was flattened in an instant.

Fei Yangnian was struck dumb. It was a good while before he came back to himself, and then he stammered, "H-how did that happen?"

"Mark this well: that was a Blast Flame Fruit. Once it ripens fully, it explodes. Even a slight bump will set it off—and its power is more than enough to finish off someone at the peak of the mid Foundation Establishment stage." Wei Zhao curled his lip.

"Uh, how was I supposed to know the thing was that dangerous? You've saved my life again, Senior." Fei Yangnian gave a sheepish laugh and hurried to make amends, fawning, "You're the one with wide experience and deep knowledge, Senior. It's a good thing I came along with you—if everyone were as blind as I am, they'd never even know what killed them."

"Mind yourself a little better. Otherwise, no matter how many fine panaceas there are, you'll have the life to pick them but not to carry them off." Wei Zhao offered the advice, though inwardly he quietly made a note to himself: this place was indeed strange beyond measure.

Unlike the widely known Crimson Flame Fruit, the Blast Flame Fruit—similar in name by a single character and nearly identical in appearance—was an exceedingly obscure and rare panacea. Its nature was highly unstable, and growing it by natural means was very difficult; to see one or two would already be fortunate. Yet here, at a single glance, the number of Blast Flame Fruits in this mysterious garden around them was at least eighteen if not twenty. For Blast Flame Fruits, such density far exceeded the bounds of natural growth.

There was only one possibility: these Blast Flame Fruits had been planted by human hands.

But how could anyone be here? That was what Wei Zhao was most curious about at present—which was exactly why he had not hesitated to set off that Blast Flame Fruit, hoping to startle the snake from the grass. And yet there had been not the slightest unusual reaction from the surroundings.

Fei Yangnian was still cheerfully gathering panaceas, only far more cautiously than before. He had to examine each kind carefully several times over before daring to reach for it, fearful of running into another dangerous panacea like the Blast Flame Fruit. To die to such a thing would be far too unjust.

Wei Zhao was not idle either. Whenever he came across a rare panacea like the Blast Flame Fruit, he would casually tuck it into his jade pendant's space—but what concerned him more was the secret of this mysterious garden.

The place was neither large nor small, by his estimate some ten li across. What secret lay hidden behind it, and what connection did it have to the Twin Eating-Flower? Wei Zhao believed that so long as he probed a little more, he was bound to find some trace or clue.

Before long, the various panaceas Fei Yangnian had gathered filled a great bundle—any more and he could not carry them. He could only gaze at the panaceas strewn everywhere and sigh again and again with a pained look. "Ah, all these rare panaceas I can't pick. What a pity…"

If not for this place being the once-in-a-millennium Primordial Trial Ground, he would absolutely have made trip after trip to strip every last panacea within reach, leaving not a single stalk behind—they were all heaps of spirit jade, after all!

"I'd advise you to stop while you're ahead. Are you sure you can carry that great bundle of panaceas out of here?" Wei Zhao gave him a dubious look.

Fei Yangnian, with the air of long experience, had prepared a huge cloth sack in advance. Now it was stuffed to bulging, and set on the ground it stood a full head taller than a man. For a capable cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage, such a weight was of course nothing much—but to bring it out of here intact, and above all to carry it from this danger-riddled Primordial Trial Ground back to the Primordial Little Jianghu, was by no means an easy task. Especially since Fei Yangnian was now badly wounded and far from his peak condition. (To be continued.)