Ezio thought the cave would be dark. But there were Fire Iron Ores inside the cave illuminating the cave thoroughly. The temperature inside the cave was also cozy. The fetid odor was stinging his nostrils, but it wasn't unbearable.
Ezio walked for more than 20 minutes to reach the end of the cave. He would have to go up the hill sometimes and go down on others. There were too many holes in cave walls opening too many other smaller caves. Ezio guessed they were only small tunnels connecting each other, and he was too lazy to check each of them.
The further Ezio walked, the brighter and warmer it became. The Fire Iron Ores on the walls were much larger. The cave was a gold mine, but Ezio didn't have the equipment to mine the ores.
When Ezio finally reached the end of the cave, the first thing he noticed was that all the lights on the walls had vanished. There was only one thing in the darkness, standing proudly and looking down on everything.
"What kind of herb is this?" Ezio looked at the herb at the center of the cave. It was illuminating the opening he arrived at. It was taller than him, and the heat it was emitting was making him uncomfortable. "This must be a treasure." Ezio guessed. He heard these kinds of herbs protected by Demonic Beast to help them overcome their bottlenecks. Some herbs were even able to help them awaken their bloodlines. But in the end, Demonic Beasts were unable to make use of these treasures to their utmost potential.
"No wonder Fire Tiger was so angry when they fired a Den Buster into the cave. He was protecting this herb for who knows how long." Ezio silently mused. "From the heat and light, I can discern it is highly useful for Fire Elemental Cultivators, as well as Fire-based Demonic Beasts. But the fruit at the top of it still hasn't ripened. I can't pluck it. If I do, it will be half valuable."
"But I can't leave it either. If I leave it here, some other Demonic Beast will take this cave, or maybe eat it before I can have a chance to pluck it." Ezio was hesitant. He didn't want to leave the herb behind, after all, it looked precious. But plucking out now would halve its effect and value.
Ezio was about to pluck the fruit, his mind jolted into the Mysterious Room. One of the windows started to open. Inside of the room was dark, but one corner brightened up in the next second. There was a copy of him in a gardener outfit. Behind him was another window. Through the window, Ezio could see the endless garden.
"Hello Ezio, I am Botanist Ezio." the copy of him in a gardener outfit said with a charming smile. Ezio now understood how dangerous his smile was. He almost passed out with a simple smile.
"Hello. What is this room?" Ezio asked after he came back to himself.
"This is the dimension room. There are some things that can't be kept inside the ?*^#½?." Copy of him said, but the last word was blocked. "For example, the herb outside would die if you simply placed it in here, but with Heaven's Backyard, you can lend me any herb and I will look after them. Doesn't matter what their attribute is, fire or ice, dark or light I have an endless garden that can accommodate them all."
"Can you tell me the name of the herb and its uses?" Ezio asked. Since Botanist Ezio was able to take care of all herbs, he should know their uses as well.
"Unfortunately, I don't know it either. I instinctively know how to look after them, but it will take me some time to learn their uses. But if I happen to grow a unique herb special to Heaven's Backyard, you can learn everything about them. To do so, I need countless amounts of different herbs.
The whole room runs with your energy, that is why your strength will affect almost anything in here. If you cultivate further, I can even fasten the time inside the garden or one part of the garden to help the herbs to grow up faster." Botanist Ezio said proudly.
"You can even do that? How fast can you make it for now? And how long would it take the herb outside the ripen?" Ezio asked with excitement. Wasn't this too exaggerated?
"For now I can't do anything at all. You are weak. You have to ascend first, then I can barely make it twice faster." Botanist Ezio stabbed Ezio's heart with his cold words.
"I don't even know the names of all the stages. All the manuals I have seen only mention the Qi Crystallization Realm." Ezio said helplessly. He had a Mana manual he won from the lottery inside the Mysterious Room. The Myriad's Element's Roaring was only covered until Mana Crystallization Realm as well. He learned the Force Signiums from Myriad's Element's Roaring too.
"It is a step later than what you call Qi Crystalizing Realm." Botanist Ezio said helplessly. "Now, keep your hand above the herb, and surround it with your inner energy. When it is covered from top to roots, transfer it to my garden. I will take care of the rest. When it ripens, I will preserve the fruits, so you can use them anytime you want."
"Oh, thank you." Ezio thanked him sincerely and left the room. He followed the Botanist Ezio's instructions and covered the herb with his mana. When it was covered from top to root, it vanished like it was never there. With the absence of the herb, the cave returned to its tranquility. The Fire Iron ores on the walls were still illuminating and warming.
Ezio looked around the cave, but couldn't find anything else. There were some bones similar to humans, and some rusted weapons. But nothing valuable. Since he couldn't mine the Fire Iron ores, he had nothing else to do in the cave.
Leaving the cave, he started to walk out of the forest cautiously. He was sure that the group of five was fine even though there were twenty wolves chasing them. He hated those guys to the bone, still, he wasn't cruel to kill them with cold blood. But since those wolves would be unable to catch those guys, they might return to look for him instead.
Luckily, there wasn't any wolf on his way and only some low-level Demonic Beast. Since he was having a carefree walk in the forest, he also looked for Wind Grass, Fatty asked him to gather. They weren't rare if one knew how to search. Ezio was a bookworm. He always loved to learn more, and the sect had too many books on botany. He was also frequent in the gardens in the sect. That is why he knew the Wind Grasses would only grow up at the base of the Flying Nuts.
Flying Nuts were special trees. Their fruits would fly when they ripened, but until then they would float above the tree tied by vines. They were really easy to detect.
After gathering enough Wind Grass, Ezio started to climb up to the mountain. He looked around to see if there was anyone around when he reached not far from the gate and took the Fire Tiger's body out. He grabbed the long tail and started to drag the carcass.
When he arrived at the gate, there was a commotion and noise. He looked closer and noticed the group of five being treated at the gate. Since some of them were wounded heavily, treatment started at the entrance. But Ezio with the Fire Tiger he was dragging was too eye-catching. Not long after he walked in, all eyes were on him, including the five who were having their treatment.
"Little Ezio, we were about to come to the forest to look for you." Fatty approached him with a smile, seeming relieved to see him in one piece. "Senior Brother Tian said wolves were chasing them near the Fire Tiger's cave, we thought you might also run into them since you were also looking for a Fire Tiger. But it seems you are okay."
"Thank you for worrying about me, Senior Brother Fan," Ezio said smiling.
"You! Where did you find that Tiger? It is ours." Tian Huang rose to his feet. He looked like a beggar. He had too many cuts all over his body. His clothes were torn, and his hair was disheveled.
"What do you mean the tiger is yours, Senior Brother Tian?" Ezio said with fake humility. "Everybody just saw me dragging it to the sect."
"How can you kill a Fire Tiger? It is obviously the tiger we killed. You stole it from us!" Tian Huang wasn't willing to yield. "Give it back."
"Don't you think you are going a little bit too far, Senior Brother?" Ezio put on an angry face as he took a step. "I found this tiger by myself and killed it by myself.
Funny thing though, it was almost dead when I found it." Ezio said with the biggest smile as he walked away. "It doesn't matter if it was the same tiger you fought or not since you ran away leaving it behind, and I was the one killing it. It. Is. Mine!"
"I will fight for it!" Tian Huang couldn't take the humiliation. They were so close to killing the tiger, yet the wolf pack started to chase them. Because they were injured all they could do was return to the sect. And now the person he wanted to hinder, stole his work.
Tian Huang was already tired and injured. Even at his peak, he couldn't fight against Ezio, let alone when he was injured. When Tian Huang ran to him, he waited with a big smile. He was still holding the Tiger's tail, and when the former reached him, he swung the tail to Tian Haung's face, making him fly away.
"You can't even beat a dead tiger. How can you claim to be the one who killed it?"
***
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