I stepped out onto an endless plain, all alone. None of the young men or women who had entered before me were anywhere in sight.

In front of me, a field of herbs stretched off to the horizon. The plants nearest to me were all Rank 1, but in the distance, I could see herbs that reached into Ranks 4, 5, 6, and beyond. A few of the nearby, low-level herbs were familiar enough, but most of these plants were of some strange species or cultivar that I had never seen before. All but a small handful of the high-Rank herbs were entirely foreign to me.

Stranger still, when I looked at this field in energy vision, my eyes were assaulted by an unholy blend of colors in a variety of unknown hues and shades. There weren’t just a handful of new elements here—there were dozens.

Tearing my eyes away from this sight, I looked around to see what other treasures this place might hold.

To my right, there was another field, just as endless as the first. This one, however, was entirely barren, without even weeds growing in its soil. In the gap between this barren field and the field of herbs, there were sheds that contained a myriad of different tools, from basic herbalism supplies like water and mulch to weapons of every design imaginable.

Behind me, I found an alchemy workbench, a pill furnace, and countless rows of tables, containing pre-prepared herbs—herbs that were identical to those in the field in front of me.

To my left, a series of 10-meter-wide platforms formed a staircase that extended off into the heavens. These platforms looked empty, but a quick check proved that they were bristling with energy.

Finally, tucked into the gap between this staircase and the field of herbs in front of me was a black portal that led to places unknown.

The moment my initial scan of the area was complete, a booming voice sounded out from every direction at once. “Demonstrate your skills. When you are done, leave. If you remain any longer than necessary, points will be deducted from your final score.”

This was the test to join the Palace of the Herb Sovereign. I had been teleported directly into the middle of it.

I turned my attention back to the field in front of me and studied it carefully in energy vision. It was… real? It looked real, at least. Growing so many herbs so close together was practically impossible—especially the high-Rank ones that I saw off in the distance—but I couldn’t find evidence to suggest that this was anything other than what it looked like, a massive garden that contained an endless number of priceless treasures.

Should I run forward and ransack the place? Maybe, but would even a Saint-level force be willing to let random Martial Masters casually stroll through a garden of Rank 6+ herbs? Not a chance.

I walked up to a nearby blue peony and used my herb analysis ability on it.

Nothing happened.

Then, I used my illusion analysis ability.

Unknown Rank Unknown Illusion

Snorting, I refocused. This wasn’t a treasure ground. This was a test. Likely, one of the reasons that we would be punished for staying here any longer than necessary was because of the insane amount of energy that was needed to keep this illusion running.

So, what was I supposed to do?

I looked around again. The empty field and the pill furnace seemed straightforward. They would let me demonstrate my herbalism and alchemy skills. As for the massive herb field, it had to be there to give herbalists a place to gather seeds and cuttings. Also, instead of using the herbs that had already been prepared for me, I could perform alchemy using herbs directly from the field, demonstrating my ability to harvest and prepare my own ingredients.

What were those platforms for, though? They didn’t have any obvious purpose, but the only possibilities I could think of were that they were a way to test my cultivation base, my combat ability, or the level of my soul.

My eyes focused on the empty field.

I hadn’t yet attempted to grow herbs on this continent, but the books that I had purchased from the Hall of the Herb Lord had given me a decent understanding of the complications brought about by being on the Central Continent. So, I was relatively certain that I would be able to grow Rank 1 herbs successfully. Unfortunately, though, I hadn’t been allowed to purchase any of the Hall’s Rank 2 knowledge yet.

Should I give herbalism a try? Might as well. After all, mediocre herbalism skills should be better than no herbalism skills, right?

I searched the field until I found Rank 1, 2, and 3 herbs that I was familiar with from my time on the Nine Rivers Continent. Since I was cultivating moon spade qi, it might have been easier for me to grow moon spade herbs, but I didn’t know what kind of environment such herbs would do best in. The books that I had gotten from the Hall in Golden Eagle City had only covered herbs of the five basic elements.

After identifying the plants I wanted, I didn’t harvest them immediately. Instead, I went to the sheds and gathered supplies.

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The Rank 1 herbs that I had chosen were all wood-based, so I just needed to dig up a layer of earth and replace it with a thick bed of mulch. The Rank 2 and 3 herbs, however, had members from all five basic elements, requiring significantly more preparation.

For the fire-based herbs, I needed to burn small branches to create a bed of fresh ashes. And, for the metal-based herbs, I needed to file down an iron bar and fill a pit with its shavings. Thankfully, the water-based herbs only required a small puddle, and the earth-based herbs didn’t require any special preparations at all—they just needed dirt.

Once my preparations were complete, I gathered cuttings from the herbs that I had selected and planted them in accordance with the information that I had read about herb synergy.

To give these plants a better chance at growing into healthy, hearty herbs, I wanted to lay down a few formations that would boost the ambient qi- and wu-levels. However, since I didn’t yet know what this continent had done to make inscribing formations more difficult, I decided not to risk it. So, after using my affinities to manipulate the local environment as best I could, the only thing I knew to do was to leave these plants alone to grow on their own.

With the demonstration of my herbalism skills complete, it was time for my alchemy demonstration.

To make high-quality pills without a spirit fire, I needed to start with high-quality ingredients. So, I searched through the Rank 3 herbs until I found the two sets that had the greatest synergistic bond. One of these sets centered around sword breaker energy, and the other contained a type of energy that I didn’t recognize.

After studying these plants in energy vision for only a couple of minutes, I had a solid understanding of how their medicinal energies were supposed to fit together, and I was confident that no herbs were missing. I didn’t know what pills they would create, but I was sure they would create something. So, I harvested the herbs and took them over to the pill furnace.

While I was sure that everything around me was an illusion, nothing aside from my System-purchased analysis abilities suggested that anything was amiss. Concocting pills felt exactly the same as it did with real herbs, and after the first pill dropped to the bottom of my furnace, I had to examine it to make sure that I wasn’t going crazy.

Unknown Rank Unknown Illusion

This made me sigh in regret. Without my analysis ability, I had no way of knowing what I had made. It might have been nothing more than a standard Rank 3 Sword Breaker Attunement Pill, but it could have easily been something else entirely.

In any case, what was important was that, because of how well-formed the herbs had been, I had been able to turn the sword breaker herbs into a Perfect pill without needing to use a spirit fire. However, while I was able to condense the medicinal energy into a pill, it wasn’t complete enough to form any patterns. So, with the herbs that contained the unknown energy, I intentionally left several patches of toxins in place and turned them into a High-Purity Three-Patterned Pill. This way, the judges could decide for themselves which accomplishment was more impressive.

After placing both pills into jade bottles, I went back to the field, found a set of Rank 4 herbs that only contained energy from the five basic elements, and transformed them into a High-Purity One-Pattern Pill. Without a will lock, spirit fire, or higher-quality pill furnace, this was the best pill that I could produce.

I placed this pill into a jade bottle, then returned to the herb field one last time to gather a set of ingredients for a basic Rank 1 Moon Spade Attunement Pill.

I had already shown the judges the limit of my capabilities, so with this last pill, I decided to take a risk. After cleansing the energy, melding it together, and enhancing it into a one-patterned pill, I focused my will and infused the medicinal energy with pill intent. The judges might not appreciate this, but if they wanted to see what I was capable of, then I would show them.

The moment my intent entered the medicinal energy, the world around me froze. Then, the medicinal energy shattered and disappeared, as if it had never existed.

Taking a step back, I shook my head. First, my analysis ability. Then, my infuse ability. This illusion was incredibly powerful, but, in the end, it was still just an illusion. It couldn’t properly simulate the unpredictable powers of blessings. It likely couldn’t even simulate the most basic of pills unless the original illusionist had thought to include them.

Unfortunately, this meant the illusion was worthless for developing new recipes. It might be a decent place to practice one’s skills—using illusory herbs instead of expensive, real ones—but this had to be at least a Rank 8 formation, possibly higher. Considering both the energy that would be required to operate such a formation and the cost of replacing the formation once it wears out, practicing with real herbs might end up being cheaper.

In any case, I didn’t have time to stand around and ponder such things. With my herbalism and alchemy skills demonstrated, there was still one thing left for me to do. I turned to the staircase and stepped onto the first platform.

Energy surged around me, and mist coalesced on the far side of the platform. When it dispersed, it left behind a giant fire-breathing lizard. This lizard might have only been as tall as my waist, but it had to be nearly six meters long and had vicious-looking fangs.

The lizard darted toward me.

As it neared, I pulled out my crescent moon spade, stepped to the side, and beheaded the creature. The poor thing had only been a low-level Rank 1 beast, so I hadn’t even needed to use any energy on it.

After the lizard fell to the ground, it dissipated, and the energy that had formed its body returned to the platform.

When no more opponents appeared, I stepped onto the second platform, where I was greeted by the sight of a mid-level Rank 1 beast. Though slightly more resilient, this beast didn’t fare any better than the lizard.

Climbing up the platforms, I faced a high-level Rank 1 beast, a Peak Rank 1 beast, a low-level Rank 2 beast, and a mid-level Rank 2 beast.

Finally, on the seventh platform, I had to fight against a high-level Rank 2 leopard. As a Martial Master 3, I only had meridians in my torso and right arm, and my best moon spade technique was only Rank 1, so this fight was rather difficult.

Challenging my Yellow-Rank movement technique with perfect precision, I was able to narrowly dodge one of the leopard attacks and counter with a Moon Strike to the creature’s back, crippling it. This gave me the victory, but if the beast had been even the slightest bit faster, my strategy would have failed. So, after watching the body of the leopard dissipate, I chose not to push any further.

Upon returning to the ground, I glanced one final time at the high-Rank herbs in the distance.

Those were what I really wanted. Those were what would allow me to take my alchemy to Rank 7 and beyond. But, sadly, they were just illusions, and as the failure of my infuse ability had proved, this illusion had its limitations.

So, not wanting to lose points by wasting time, I stepped into the portal and returned to the real world.