Chapter 82: The Valley of Medicine in the Realm

At this moment, Rowen found himself quite perplexed. He had refrained from condensing the spatial seed now solely because of his younger brother’s lame leg, yet after hearing his explanation, Messius insisted that this was precisely the reason he ought to condense the spatial seed at once. Rowen couldn’t help but look at him in confusion.

Messius, unhurried, said, “Rowen, open that Seven-Star Potion Formula and look at the ingredients needed to craft the Elixir of Vitality.”

“My lord Messius, I’ve already memorized the ingredients: one level-seven Light Element magic crystal core, fifty drops of royal bee essence, two Swordfruits, and three stalks of Vitality Herb.” Rowen had committed the potion’s recipe to memory the moment he obtained the Seven-Star formula—especially delighted when he saw royal bee essence listed, for he had just tamed a swarm of blue-winged bees before entering the cavern, and their queen could produce precisely that essence. Thus, he recited the list in a single breath.

“The magic crystal core and the bee essence shouldn’t be too hard to find, but the other two—especially the Vitality Herb—had already vanished from existence in my era ten thousand years ago. You simply won’t be able to find them,” Messius said.

A wave of anxiety swept through Rowen’s heart. If things were truly as Messius described, all his painstaking efforts to reach Seven-Star mastery in potion alchemy, his relentless cultivation up to the seventh circle of magic, would be for nothing if he discovered, at the last, that the ingredients for the Elixir of Vitality could not be gathered. That would be a tragic fate indeed!

Yet as he pondered, he realized Messius had just urged him to condense the spatial seed now, and had now brought up the missing ingredients. Clearly, Messius must already have a solution. Calming himself, Rowen asked, “My lord Messius, may I ask, what is the connection between the Vitality Herb and Swordfruit and condensing the spatial seed?”

Messius nodded approvingly. On such a matter concerning Rowen’s future path, he remained clear-headed and had immediately grasped the heart of the issue. Satisfied with his chosen successor, Messius replied, “A good question, Rowen. What I’m about to show you is the last treasure here—and indeed, the greatest treasure of all. I believe it will answer your question perfectly.” With that, he strode toward the deepest part of the cabinet.

The greatest treasure? Rowen was filled with bewilderment. The Blood Sovereign Elixir, the Golden Trident, the cultivation manuscripts, the spatial notes—any one of these could be called a peerless wonder. Could it be that none of them were the most precious in Messius’s trove?

The two of them stopped at the farthest end of the cabinet. Hanging on the wall was a massive oil painting, depicting a verdant green hill half-hidden amidst redwoods—the very scene outside the cave entrance to Messius’s sanctuary.

With a wave of his hand, Messius caused the painting to fall away. When Rowen saw what lay behind, he drew a sharp breath.

Behind the giant painting, a section of the cabinet wall and the stone wall behind had been hollowed out, revealing a gaping black void. What astonished Rowen even more was that within the darkness, clusters of strange energy flickered, distorting the very space around them. Though he stood at a distance, Rowen could sense an uncanny power emanating from these clusters—a wave that made his heart race, yet also felt oddly familiar. It was the very same sensation he’d experienced during the third trial, when the spatial energy in his body had vibrated.

“My lord Messius, this—” Rowen’s confusion only deepened. The space ahead seemed to be a highly concentrated area of spatial energy, but he could not fathom what it had to do with Swordfruit or the Vitality Herb.

Gazing into the darkness, Messius’s eyes reflected a trace of nostalgia. He had not set foot there in ten thousand years; now, as he stood on the verge of departing this world forever, this would be his final glimpse of the place.

“Rowen, this is a spatial gate,” Messius declared, his first words making Rowen’s jaw drop in shock. Messius continued, “Through here, one can reach another world.”

The next sentence nearly dislocated Rowen’s jaw, already stretched to its limit. “To… another world!” This was beyond anything he could comprehend.

Messius nodded. “I only discovered it myself after mastering spatial energy. When I first found this place, I was even more astounded than you are now. Only when you command spatial energy do you understand how terrifying this is. I tell you this: anyone who enters here without mastery of spatial energy—no matter how powerful, even if they stand at the peak of the Sanctuary—will be torn to shreds by the spatial turbulence within!”

Rowen swallowed hard. He could scarcely imagine that a Sanctuary-level powerhouse—someone at the very pinnacle of Aragon’s continent—could be destroyed by a mere spatial gate.

“At the time, I had just mastered spatial energy, which allowed me to remain inside for a short while. But I could not guess what lay beyond. However, my innate curiosity for the rare and the extraordinary finally got the better of me, and after two days of hesitation, I resolved to step inside.” At this point, Messius’s face flushed with excitement, clearly immersed in the memory of that fateful day.

“It’s not just you who would be curious,” Rowen mused inwardly. “Anyone would want to explore such a strange place if they stumbled upon it.”

“After making the necessary safety preparations, I stepped through. What I saw on the other side stunned me beyond words.”

Rowen, carried by Messius’s words, seemed to become Messius himself, stepping through the spatial gate, hands clenched tightly, unable to hold back his question: “What did you see?”

Messius’s eyes gleamed with excitement. “I found myself surrounded by treasures of heaven and earth as far as the eye could see. Herbs that are rare or even extinct in our world grew there in wild, untamed abundance—as common as weeds. There were even many precious plants unknown to our world. Those you mentioned—the Vitality Herb, the Swordfruit—were utterly commonplace there, not even worth mentioning!”

Rowen inhaled deeply, then exhaled slowly, striving to calm his wildly beating heart. By such a description, this place truly was the greatest treasure in Messius’s hoard.

Messius, too, returned from his recollection of stepping into a new world. “It was because I discovered this spatial gate that I decided to build my sanctuary here.”

Rowen nodded. If he were equally passionate about the alchemical arts, and the world’s supply of ingredients was perilously scarce, then to find a new world overflowing with alchemical resources would certainly make him take root here.

Messius’s tone grew calm. “Later, when I dealt with some of Aragon’s gods, I learned that this was likely a plane connected to the continent of Aragon—a different dimension. So I named it the ‘Plane of Herbal Valleys.’ Rowen, if you wish to harvest those two ingredients from the Plane of Herbal Valleys, you must first master spatial energy.”

Seeing the lingering hesitation on Rowen’s face, Messius cast out another revelation: “Rowen, there is another ‘resource’ in the Plane of Herbal Valleys—one that I believe you will desperately need.”