496 Garden

"There is a garden in this cave?" Alex asked in surprise. It didn't seem like the place for those sorts of things.

"No, it's outside," Yao Jia said. "Why would there be a garden inside the cave? You, humans, are such a silly creature."

"Oh, there is an 'outside' in this place?' Alex asked with surprise. "I thought everything was underground."

"No," Yao Jai said. "Only the palace is underground, everything else is outside."

"Now I'm really curious," Alex said and followed Yao Jia. They walked through a maze corridor and came to the end of the tunnel where the spirit vein in the ceiling stopped.

Beyond that point was a door with beasts staying on guard in it. Under Yao Jia's order, they opened the door which led to a flight of stairs.

The two of them started climbing the stairs and finally reached aboveground where they came out of a well-maintained gateway at the opening of the cave.

Alex walked out of it and could see a beautiful garden with flowers all around and a beautiful meadow to go along with it.

There were small beasts in the garden that were playing with each other, and adult beasts that were looking after them. Alex felt a sense of guilt when he remembered the many beasts he had killed up until now.

He had never once felt bad for killing a beast before, unlike how he felt when he killed humans. However, that was only because he was used to seeing beasts killed back at home.

However, now that he was starting to realize that beasts were also quite intelligent and were capable of the same things humans were, guilt started to manifest.

Beyond the garden was a wall made up of vines and thorns. And beyond that seemed to be a lot of trees. He wondered how close this place was from the stone platform he teleported through when coming here.

"It's nice, right?" Yao Jia asked.

"Yes, it's beautiful," Alex said as he turned back to look at the garden again. His face suddenly changed and he walked towards the garden. Yao Jia followed him to show him more of the garden.

"You know, if you like this, it makes me really happy. After all, I was the one— Hey! Are you even listening?" she asked when she realized that Alex seemed to be lost in his own world as he walked towards the garden.

He walked towards a flower bed and crouched down to pick up a flower.

"Hey! Don't touch those. Those flowers turn bad when they—"

The words stuck in Yao Jia's throat when she saw Alex pick up the flower without destroying any of the rest.

"Huh? What's going on? Every time I tried it, the flowers wilted and disappeared," she said.

"That's because you were picking the wrong flower. Amongst these entire flower beds, there is only one flower that you can pick without destroying the flower bed," Alex said.

"That way, you can keep these flowers and make use of this most important one," Alex said.

"Oh, you know a lot about flowers?' Yao Jia asked.

"I know a lot about plants in general, and a little about beasts, but mostly about plants. I'm an alchemist after all," Alex said.

"An alchemist? Oh, you make pills right? I've read about you guys," Yao Jia said. "There's no beast here that can make pills, so I don't really know much about it."

"What do you do when you get injured or catch some sort of illness?" Alex asked.

"Oh, we have a senior who can treat the unhealthy, but it mostly extends to illness and minor injuries. I heard pills can even regrow limbs, is that true?" she asked.

"Yes," Alex said. "Although they are a little hard to make since the ingredients they require is very demanding and also very rare," Alex said.

Alex then turned around and looked at the area he had come from. The cave opening he thought he had walked out of actually turned out to be a massive mansion.

"What's that mansion for?" Alex asked.

"That's the secondary palace on top of the real palace. That is where the King's family and other important figures are kept," Yao Jia said. "Although, it's mostly empty now with only servants keeping that place alive."

"Oh, I must've not been as important then if they didn't bother to keep me there," Alex said with a deprecating laugh.

"Of course, you're not. At least, not yet," Yao Jia said. "Maybe you will be more important if they find out something regarding you today."

"Something regarding me? Like?" Alex asked.

"I don't know. Father and Lady Ren went into the library to find stuff on you, I think. You seemed to have made them very curious about you. If they end up finding some importance in you, your status in this place will significantly increase," Yao Jia said.

"Hmm… you guys need an alchemist?" he asked.

"I mean, maybe," Yao Jia said. "But are you a good one?"

"Of course, I'm a—" Alex stopped. He was talking with True realm beast and most beasts he had seen here were of similar cultivation base or higher. So, if he said that he was a good one for them, that would be incorrect.

"I can make pills for common beasts, although I'm in the process of learning how to make pills for True realm cultivators," Alex said.

"Oh, let me know once you do. I will tell my father, and you can probably find some work around here," she said. "By the way, what does that flower do? You gonna make some pills with them?"

"Uhh… no," Alex said. "Can I take some more of them? I can explain later what I can do with them."

"Umm, they won't wilt, right? If you can promise that you can get them without them wilting then you can take them," Yao Jia said.

"Thank you," Alex said and got into plucking the few Spirit Cleansing Lily that was growing in the garden.

There were about 5 in total by the time he was done with them. "Are there more of them around here?" Alex asked.

"Uh, I don't really leave this place that often so I don't know," Yao Jia said. "But there should be a few in the forest."

"How did you grow them here by the way?" Alex asked.

"Oh, no I didn't," Yao Jia said. "I just ordered some men to bring anything that looks beautiful from the outside and they brought all of them. We directly brought the whole thing instead of growing them on our own."

"Right, that works too, I guess," Alex said. He started walking around the garden, looking around to see if he could find anything else that was precious.

He found a few more ingredients, but none of them were worth picking, so he let them be to keep the aesthetic of the garden.

He walked on the soft grass, amidst the watchful eyes of the many beasts that were looking at him suspiciously. However, after seeing Yao Jia behind him, they got on with their own business.

"What are all of these beasts doing here?" he asked.

"They just like to come around here and pay their respect to the family. Also, this garden is one of the only places in this area that beasts can come to enjoy the sunlight."

"All the other places are filled with trees to the brim and sunlight barely ever passes through," Yao Jia said.

"I see," Alex said and he looked at the relaxing beasts. There weren't just feline beasts anymore, but beasts of all shapes and forms. Deer, Rhino, Elephant, Boars, every species of beasts would be found here.

Alex then looked at the wall surrounding them and saw that beyond the vines and thorns, there was an actual solid metallic wall inside.

"What's beyond these walls exactly? Just a forest?" Alex asked.

"Yes," Yao Jia said.

"Hmm, can you tell me how far this place is from the stone platform on which we teleported here?" Alex asked.

"How far? Well… that is a hard question to answer really," Yao Jia said.

"Why? Has no one measured the distance before?" Alex asked.

"Um, no," Yao Jia said. "It's kind of impossible to measure after all."

"Is it? I mean you can just fly and see how far the distance is, can't you?" Alex asked.

"Oh," Yao Jia said as she realized something. "You don't know, do you? Father and the others must've been occupied with learning about the child and forgot to tell you."

"Tell me what?" Alex asked.

"That we're not in the forest anymore," Yao Jia said.

Alex was a little confused. He looked around and could still see the forest very clearly. "What do you mean? We're still in the forest."

"No, silly. I meant the actual big forest that takes over a third of this continent," Yao Jia said.

"Oh, you mean the Southern Forest," Alex finally understood what she meant.

"Yeah, southern forest as you call it, northern forest as the others call it; same thing. We're not there anymore," she said and stopped to correct again. "Well… technically we still are… but also not."

This just confused Alex even more. "Um, can you explain a bit more? I don't think I understand what you're trying to say."

"Well, basically what I'm trying to say is that we are currently in a Secret realm inside of the big forest," Yao Jia said. "So, while we're still in the forest, we also aren't in it."

"Get it?"