1165 Mysterious Garden

"If you care so much about it, why don't you go take a look at their sites? Maybe you'll learn something about their identities." Jin Xi suddenly said.

"Their sites? What are you talking about?" Yuan raised an eyebrow.

"Those that have managed to make it to the core of the tomb are awarded with a special location somewhere in the tomb to memorize them. If you make it to the core, the tomb will also create a unique place for you."

"Although they pique my interest, I am not going to go out of my way to see these places, unless they benefit me somehow."

"Nope, you don't get anything from visiting these places." 

Sometime later, Yuan came to a halt when he noticed a colossal shadow looming in the distance, its shape and form reminiscent that of a dragon.

"Hey, is that…"

"Indeed, that statue was created to memorialize the dragon who reached the core. It's quite large, spanning thousands of miles."

Despite only seeing a glimpse of its immense form, Yuan couldn't shake the inexplicable feeling of familiarity that washed over him at the sight of the shadow. It was as if he had encountered this behemoth before, perhaps in a long-forgotten dream or a faded memory from a past life, and its presence now stirred something deep within him, something primal and profound that defied explanation.

"The Great One…?" Yuan suddenly muttered this name.

"Hm? You know the dragon?" Jin Xi looked at him with a surprised look on her face.

"I'm not sure if this dragon is the Great One. It certainly gives me a familiar vibe. Though, even if it is the Great One, I can't say that I really know him. It's complicated."

After encountering what he assumes to be the Great One, Yuan decided to follow the direction it was pointed towards.

Thousands of miles later, Yuan came to a stop again when he noticed a garden in the distance.

"What is this place?" Yuan asked Jin Xi as he descended towards it.

However, Jin Xi didn't respond, and when he turned to look at her, she appeared to be greatly shocked by the appearance of this garden.

"W-Why is this place here…?"

He could hear Jin Xi mumbling in a dazed voice.

Yuan raised an eyebrow and returned to look at the garden from outside.

At glance, he couldn't help but be awestruck by the vast array of colorful and vibrant blooms inside the garden, each one a unique and exquisite creation of nature's boundless beauty, captivating his senses and filling his soul with a sense of wonder. However, these flowers were clearly still immature and not fully bloomed.

At the heart of the garden, amidst the colorful flowers, stood a small and unassuming pavilion. When Yuan's eyes beheld the sight of the pavilion, his heart stirred with an inexplicable yearning, a deep connection that transcended time and space.

As if drawn by an invisible force, he felt compelled to approach it, his footsteps guided by an ethereal presence that whispered to his soul, beckoning him to get closer.

The pavilion, bathed in the soft light of the sun, seemed to glow with an otherworldly radiance.

When Yuan stepped foot inside the garden, a curious thing happened.

The flowers that had been half-bloomed, began to stir, as if sensing his presence and responding to his arrival.

Petals unfurled, leaves stretched out to bask in the sunlight, and the air was filled with the sweet fragrance of blossoms bursting into full bloom.

It was as if the garden had been waiting for him, ready to showcase its most precious treasures in his honor.

Yuan felt a surge of wonder and awe wash over him, as if he had stumbled upon a secret garden that had been hidden away from the world for countless eras, now revealed to him alone.

The flowers fully bloomed by the time he reached the pavilion, and to his absolute surprise, these flowers became enveloped in Sword Aura after their blossoming.

Since there was nothing inside the pavilion, Yuan could only stand there and look around as he tried to figure out the secrets of this garden.

He used Divine Gaze when he saw nothing with Divine Sense, but even then, he wasn't able to see anything special about this place besides the flowers with Sword Aura.

He turned to look at Jin Xi and asked in a loud voice, "Hey! Jin Xi! What is this place?"

Jin Xi snapped out of her daze and looked at him with a pondering face.

"No… There's no way…" She mumbled in a dumbfounded voice.

Eventually, she said, "There is nothing special about this garden, so you can stop wasting your time here."

Yuan immediately doubted her words, which did not align with her reaction.

When Jin Xi saw the dubious look on his face, she sneered, "I am serious. There isn't anything for you to gain here. It's just a garden that was once managed by my Master. If you don't believe me, you can continue wasting your time here."

Yuan stared at her eyes to see if she was teasing him or if she was telling the truth.

'She's not lying… But why would a pointless place like this exist in the tomb?' He wondered inwardly.

'Whatever, I will come back here later if I have the time.'

With that in mind, Yuan left the garden and returned to wandering the tomb.

Jin Xi silently stared at Yuan's back and thought to herself, 'That garden only blooms for Master, so why did it bloom for him?'

As they soared through the sky, leaving the garden behind, a strange phenomenon began to unfold. A thick mist, like a shroud of mystery, descended upon the garden, obscuring it from view and engulfing it in a cloak of otherworldly fog.

When the mist finally dissipated, there was nothing left but an empty patch of ground, devoid of any sign that a garden had ever existed there. It was as if the garden had been a mirage, a fleeting dream that had vanished into the ether as soon as it had been beheld.