Lan Douhan’s words revealed two very important facts about the alchemy gardens.

First, there were multiple of them, all created around the multiple infirmaries that were in the sect. Considering the size of the sect, Alex could see there being at least a dozen of such infirmaries.

Which meant there were at least a dozen alchemy gardens such as this, each one spanning multiple mountains. Compared to the one back in the Hong Wu sect, the alchemy garden around the infirmaries was nearly 4 times as large.

Considering that they all contained nothing but Immortal and Divine rank plants and ingredients, that was simply too stunning for Alex.

And yet, they considered this alchemy garden to be used only in emergencies?

That meant the second thing he revealed was that the actual Alchemy garden would have to be so much larger than this. Just how much larger could it be?

As they arrived on another mountain, Alex looked to the side, seeing a few large buildings around the place as well as an arch at the very edge of the mountain that went all the way down.

“Is this the mountain I was climbing?” Alex asked.

“Oh yes, this is the First mountain,” Lan Douhan said.

Alex looked around. This was the place he would’ve arrived at, had he not forced himself to climb up the mountains. He would have been able to take the test at that point.

‘Why was I so stubborn back then?’ Alex wondered as he sighed.

Lan Douhan took him to the largest courtyard around. “Enter. The elders should be waiting for you,” the man said, stepping to the side.

“You won’t be coming?” Alex asked.

Lan Douhan simply shook his head.

Alex looked toward the large courtyard with an archaic aura to it, colored bright blue. The building itself gave him the feeling that it was a treasure when it was nothing but a simple building.

Alex took a deep breath and walked in.

The hallway was short and it led to a bright backyard with a large stone monolith standing at the center of the courtyard. Blue grass covered the yard, grass that Alex recognized to be Blue Silk grass.

He looked around and noticed a group of people looking toward him from the outer hallway where they were gathered.

Alex quickly bowed, greeting the group of people.

“Come, junior,” an older man with thin white hair and a dark mole on his left cheek spoke.

Alex recognized the voice to belong to the person who had told them to come here. He wondered how the man had done such a thing.

Alex walked up to the group of elders, slowly analyzing all of them as he did so.

There were 13 people gathered in total, 6 male and 7 female. Alex only realized Elder Shang from among them, and none of the judges from the preliminary tests were here at all.

Of the 6 males, 4 were old men with white hair and 2 were slightly younger looking in their mid-thirties. One of the people in the mid-thirties was actually a beast, and Alex only realized it because he noticed the man’s tail. He was some sort of fox beast, the species of which Alex had no idea about. The women were of varying ages, only 2 appearing old at all. And they too were easily separated based on who had white hair and who had black hair. Elder Shang had black hair, while the other woman had white.

Alex didn’t recognize any of the other women in the least, or so he thought until he saw one of them and a name popped up in his head.

The woman he saw was a short woman with dull red hair, braided to the side. She had a warm appearance and looked almost motherly.

Alex had never seen the woman in her life and yet he knew the name.

Sunheart Amberwood Tree.

This woman was a tree given human form after it reached the Immortal realm. And since then, it seemed that she had reached the Divine realm as well.

Alex stopped right before he reached and bowed once again. “I am here, seniors.” fr𝚠bovl.c𝔬𝚖

Many nodded, but no one said anything. They all simply looked at Alex, some more keenly than others. One of the men even narrowed his eyes to look at Alex better.

“You missed your test because you pushed yourself too far. How do you feel?” the man asked.

“I’m… alright,” Alex said. “There’s a bit of regret, but not as much as I thought there would be.”

The man raised an eyebrow. “You do not regret that you missed a chance to enter the sect?” he asked. “I know young Lan told you we may give you another chance next year, but those are his words. We have said nothing just yet.”

Alex smiled. “I was prepared for failure from the start, senior,” he said. In fact, he might have even been hoping for it deep down. “How could you be prepared for failure?” one of the men to the side asked. “If you are a cultivator, you must fight for victory at every point. Never accept failure. Always push yourself to victory.”

“He did, brother Battleborn,” one of the women said. “That’s how he failed.”

The man looked a little embarrassed. “That he did. Good,” the man said, speaking no further.

Elder Shang turned toward Alex. “Young Dawnblade, while it is true that you failed, what you managed to do still had us all impressed. Normally, if someone failed, they would be kicked off the mountain immediately, but…”

She turned toward the old man with the mole.

“But we have decided to consider giving you another chance. In fact, you won’t even have to take any of the other tests that everyone else had to go through,” the man said. “Will you do it?”

Alex thought for a moment. “Will this one test decide whether I join the sect or not?” he asked.

The old man nodded. “If you pass this test, your entry to the sect will be guaranteed,” he said.

“Then I must ask senior a question before the test is administered,” he said. “I will take the test based on that answer.”

The many elders there raised their eyebrows. “Go on. You may ask.”

Alex nodded. “The reason I am trying to join the sect is to use the sect to earn enough fortune to leave this world,” he said. “So, if I do join the sect, will I be tied down to the sect or will I be free to leave whenever I want to?”

The elders were surprised by the question. Two of them even looked angry after hearing that.

“You do understand the opportunity we are giving you, do you not? The Myriad Spirit realm may not be considered strong among the other Immortal realms, but we are still formidable. And our sect is at the very top in the realm,” the old man said. “Do you really wish to join such a sect, just to leave it?” Alex gave a small nod. “Truth is, I understand the opportunity I have been given. But I have family in one of the other realms that I must find as quickly as I can. If the sect will let me leave to find them, only then will I be willing to join.”