Borrowing the territory of the Spirit Flower Garden to accumulate his Core? Was this allowed? No, wait. What kind of god-like idea was this? Could this be done?!“This person is crazy!” Ina immediately observed this madman with alarm. She was afraid that his madness would infect her. “Sister Celeste, let’s stand further away!”

Since she dared to work here, she definitely had an understanding of the elemental spirits. They were rather prideful and sensitive creatures who were obsessed with cleanliness. They could not even endure an ant appearing within a thousand-meter range of them, but he had the fantastic idea of going to the home of the elemental spirits to accumulate his Core? If he was not crazy, then what was he?

However, Celeste faintly understood what was going on. When she thought about how welcome Wang Zhong was in the Spirit Flower Garden back then, those elemental spirits would anxiously and excitedly agree even if he wanted to live there for years, let alone if he wanted to accumulate his Core there. This fellow’s popularity in the Spirit Flower Garden was definitely unheard of in history…

However, going to the Spirit Flower Garden to accumulate his Core… She could not help but respect Wang Zhong’s imaginative abilities. As compared to the various environmental conditions in the Land, the Spirit Flower Garden was obviously much better, regardless of whether it was in terms of elemental forces or the concentration of spiritual influence present. He was truly impressive to have thought of this…

“S—sure.” Celeste nodded her head. “Follow me.”

“Eh? Eh? Eh?!” Ina could not understand. Had Sister Celeste been infected and gone mad? Wait, now I understand! Sister Celeste was definitely playing with this little fellow, allowing him to go in to accept reality and be devastated.

Ah, what a pitiful man. Why were men such foolish creatures?

Princess Ina quickly found a reason to sigh in relief. What followed after would be a commotion to watch, which the Princess loved most. Furthermore, she had just arrived at the Spirit Flower Garden today. She could not wait to see the garden full of elemental spirits.

After walking along the path, when Celeste pushed open the rune gates leading to the Spirit Flower Garden, Princess Ina saw a scene that she would never have imagined.

There was a long “ceremonial carpet” covered in fresh flowers at the entrance. Meanwhile, the elemental spirits, who Ina thought were extremely prideful, were neatly lined up in two rows beside the red carpet at that moment. All the elemental spirits had uncontrollable excitement on their little faces as they stuck out their heads and looked at the gate. The moment they saw the gate open, two leading spirits gave a command, and all the spirits cheered in greeting. At the same time, petals were floating in the air, and there was even music playing!

“Master, Master!”

“Ah ah ah, handsome, you’re back!”

“Welcome, welcome, a warm welcome to you!”

“Mr. Handsome, Mr. Handsome, we love you like a mouse loves rice[1]!”

“My beloved Zhong! No matter how long you stay here, we will always support you!”

“Silence! You’re not allowed to call our Master so affectionately!”

Lao Wang covered half his face. Beside him, Celeste also awkwardly lowered her head. After all, they had experienced the madness of the elemental spirits before. Even though they had overstepped the boundaries this time, they were psychologically prepared. The only pitiful one was Princess Ina.

Her cherry-red mouth gaped wide open in shock…

Damn, this completely overturned her world-view!

Were—were these the elemental spirits she had to take care of for the next year or two? Were they all crazy? Had they been infected by this madman? What the hell was this?!

Before Princess Ina could recover from the shock of her outlook on life and values being subverted, Nini rapidly flew over. Meanwhile, Roro was advancing beside her at the same speed! However, Nini forcibly squeezed her way through at the last moment, pushing Roro to Celeste. Roro was so upset that she furrowed her eyebrows and had no choice but to act as if she was welcoming Celeste. She climbed on Celeste’s shoulder and kept silent…

“Master, Master!” Nini huddled into Lao Wang’s chest. “Are you satisfied with this welcome ceremony?”

Lao Wang had no choice but to force a smile. “Nini, really, could you stop this kind of thing in the future…?”

“Master, do you not like it?” Nini looked as if she had been wronged. “Yiyi and I took a long time to organize this.”

Beside her, Yiyi hurriedly nodded her head and looked worried.

“I—I like it…” Looking at how the two girls were in a state of anxiety, Lao Wang could only say yes while keeping his real thoughts to himself. “However, this time, I came here for closed-door cultivation and to break through to the Void Core Realm. It would be better if it were quiet here…”

“Did you hear that, did you hear that?” Nini waved her small hand. “Why haven’t you dispersed? What are you doing, gathering around here? And you guys!”

She pointed at Celeste and Ina with a face full of disgust. “Get out!”

Princess Ina could not even remember how that gate was closed. It seemed as if several dozen elemental spirits surged at them in a swarm. Then, they heard a massive and heavy bang!

The gate was fiercely closed shut. The only deep impression left on the goblin princess was the disgusted expressions those elemental spirits looked at her with when they closed the door. It was as if the appearance of the dignified goblin princess had disturbed them. They truly did not hide anything. They were direct and even rash…

“%u0026…@#*!” Princess Ina’s mind was in disorder!

Where was the promised fairytale flower garden? Where was the promised scene of the beautiful princess and the warm-hearted spirits holding hands?

Had she gone mad? Or were these spirits all mad? Even though she was psychologically prepared, but after personally witnessing this scene, the princess felt like she was going to collapse. Why were such perfect creatures so… crude?

No, no. What in the world was that Wang Zhong? He, he, he, he went in? For closed-door cultivation in the Spirit Flower Garden?

Oh my god…

Princess Ina felt slightly dizzy. She was truly dizzy as this had been too much to take in, so much so that her small brain could no longer operate. Her widened mouth gradually closed after a long time. “Sister Celeste, this… Did you send Uncle Wang to test me?”

“What Uncle Wang… He is only a few years older than you, just that he seems a bit older.” Celeste did not know whether to laugh or to cry.

In reality, Wang Zhong did not look old, but that depended on who one compared him to. Top civilizations like the Heavenly Shell race and the goblin race, particularly princes and princesses like Celeste, would have good natural endowments and genes, as well as a long lifespan. Regardless of whether it was their qualities or the vitality of their soul, they would always seem youthful.

Lao Wang… Most importantly, his experiences were too rich. Although he was not that old, he was not close to youth either.

Celeste did not know whether to laugh or to cry either. Back then, she had gone through a step-by-step process to slowly accept Wang Zhong’s special privileges in this aspect. This was a process that was not easy to digest, but Ina had simply jumped into hell the moment she started. It was good enough that she did not get a heart attack from this stimulation. “He is slightly special. He is from the Earth civilization that just joined the Star Alliance. The elemental spirits here are especially friendly towards him… This kind of welcome is normal. After seeing this a few times, you will get used to it.”

Princess Ina seemed to have calmed down significantly. After all, she was the princess of the goblin race and had seen the world before. At that moment, her eyes lit up slightly, and she quickly captured the main points. “The Earth civilization? I’ve never heard of it. What’s so special about it? Has this Earth civilization always been on good terms with the elemental spirits?”

Celeste shook her head. “It is a former Playground of the Gods. However, I have investigated before, and it does not seem to be too special. He should be an exception… How much the elemental spirits favor him will surpass your expectations. I am not clear of why, and even he himself does not seem to be particularly sure. He has a rather good personality and is rather easy to get along with…”

“So that’s the case.” Princess Ina suddenly understood and nodded her head. At the same time, she looked around. As expected, she was extremely intelligent and only needed a hint to understand this. “Sister Celeste, is he only a few years older than me? Oh, oh. After carefully thinking about it, this Earth brother seemed to have the taste of a mature male. He’s quite handsome!”

Celeste was rendered speechless by this. She was planning to remind her to be careful with how she addressed Wang Zhong. If Nini heard her calling Wang Zhong “Uncle”, then Princess Ina would definitely be done for.

But now… Celeste simply put away her plan to remind her. She had truly been overthinking. With her sharp mind, Celeste would not need to remind her.

…

There was an extremely massive ancient tree at the center of the Spirit Flower Garden. Its trunk had a diameter of at least twenty meters, and it towered high above the clouds. One could not see the top of the tree.

Countless willow branches grew from the tree, amounting to hundreds of millions of branches. Furthermore, they appeared in various colors. Some were golden yellow, some were fire red, some were ice-blue, while others were dirt yellow or emerald green. They radiated exuberant vitality and were the source of the various elemental forces that filled the Spirit Flower Garden!

The Ancient Spirit Tree was also called the Heavenly 5 Element Roots. It was the origin of the elemental spirit race and the Spirit Flower Garden. Furthermore, it was an important component of the 5 Elemental Rules in this world. Yes, this ancient tree was a part of the 5 Elemental Rules in this world!

This was the materialization of rules! No one knew whether it had an independent consciousness, but even if it was a non-living thing, no amount of words could describe its nobility!

Even looking at the tree from a distance of several hundred meters away, Lao Wang could already feel the entire world turning dim, and he felt so insignificant as to not be worth mentioning, let alone what he felt when he was standing under the tree. It was as if only the elegant demeanor of the ancient tree was left in the entire world. Even the aura of the powerful Shell race superintendent and Elder Yimo simply could not compare to this tree.

This ancient tree was originally the home of the elemental spirits, but now, those chattering elemental spirits had been chased elsewhere by the joint efforts of Nini and Yiyi. The surroundings were quiet.

With a heart full of respect, he approached the ancient tree step by step.

How powerful! It was shocking!

The closer he was, the more he felt!

The power of the 5 Elements, the rich spiritual influence that seemed as if it could liquidize in the air, and the incomparable vitality that the ancient tree radiated.

All of these brought Wang Zhong unprecedented shock. Standing in front of the tree made him seem like an ant against countless stars, as if he was a mosquito facing the vast universe!

“Nini said that the Ancient Spirit Tree does not seem to have any consciousness. Ever since this Spirit Flower Garden was brought into existence, no spirit has ever felt the will from this ancient tree. However, it has some instinctual reactions.”

“The Ancient Spirit Tree will keep ugly souls from approaching it. At the same time, it will also protect the elemental spirits. In the past, a powerful and peak Gold Core expert wanted to forcibly take away elemental spirits from here but was severely injured by a branch from this ancient tree. After that, he could only escape in embarrassment!”

“Void Cores, Solid Cores, Gold Cores… But even Gold Cores are many levels away from the level of this ancient tree!”

“The Fifth Dimension is too vast. I simply cannot imagine what kind of power has truly reached the peak. Cultivation is neverending, and I really don’t know if any creature has relied on cultivation to reach the level of this ancient tree!”

The closer he was to the ancient tree, the stronger the forces he felt, regardless of whether it was the concentration of spiritual influence, elemental response, or the vitality of the ancient tree! Of course, he hoped that he could be as close to the ancient tree as possible. However, as he approached the tree, sweat started to appear on Lao Wang’s forehead. The pressure that the ancient tree brought to him was too strong.

Nini had said that the ancient tree would not harm others, but this only referred to elemental spirits. No outsider had ever tried to do what he was planning. Typically, practitioners who came to the Spirit Flower Garden to sign contracts with the elemental spirits would stand far away at the entrance and wait for the elemental spirits to choose them. Even when the Heavenly Shell superintendent came, he simply stayed outside the flower garden.

Coming in? No one did so. The only exception was the peak Gold Core expert who wanted to forcibly seize the elemental spirits. Back then, the elemental spirits were so shocked that they swarmed towards the ancient tree. In the end, just as the Gold Core expert approached the area shrouded by the ancient tree, he was almost disabled by just a willow branch. He was so shocked that he escaped in embarrassment…

Even a peak Gold Core expert was put in such a difficult position. If this ancient tree was just slightly unhappy with him, Lao Wang felt that he probably would not even have the chance to resist. Thus, he was extremely cautious.

Before entering the range of the tree branches, Lao Wang tested it out again and again.

“It… doesn’t seem to have any animosity towards me!”

Powerful souls had an advantage in this aspect. When one’s consciousness was extremely powerful, one would be able to sense many things that their five senses could not pick up on.

Lao Wang cautiously entered. The branches around him did not seem to intend to attack him. On the contrary, a sweet breeze blew past lightly. In particular, when a few fire-red branches brushed past Wang Zhong’s body, he felt warm and comfortable. There was even a hint of enthusiasm…

Lao Wang sighed in relief. The ancient tree was his most ideal location to break through. At first, he simply wanted to try it out. If it was not possible, he would randomly look for a place in the outskirts of the Spirit Flower Garden. However, he never expected that the ancient tree that even the Gold Core expert feared seemed to faintly accept him.

The crown of the tree was extremely large. Its trunk had a diameter of 20 meters, and its branches and leaves covered a large area.

When he sensed the lack of animosity and resistance from the ancient tree, Lao Wang’s nervous feelings slowly calmed down, He had originally planned to walk to a position next to the trunk of the ancient tree. However, it was a pity that he gave up on this thought after walking through one-third of the area.

He could no longer continue to advance. The ancient tree did not stop him, and this had nothing to do with the 5 Elements either. In reality, the deeper he walked into the area, the purer the 5 Elements would be. Lao Wang’s condition, senses, and other aspects would be better!

However, there were not only 5 Elemental forces around the ancient tree. What was stopping him was the spiritual influence in the air that was so rich, it was about to turn into liquid!

This was general knowledge that he had just after arriving in the divine territory. The greater the concentration of spiritual influence, the greater the gravity and spiritual pressure. At that moment, Wang Zhong felt gravity that was about to reach the limits of what his body could endure, as well as spiritual pressure that was so rich, it was about to suffocate his entire body.

[1] A reference to the song “Mouse Loves Rice” by Yang Chengang