There was silence everywhere as not even the sound of wind could be heard.
"Whatâs the benefit of being the King of somewhere where no one lives? Itâs much better to rule the world than being imprisoned inside a temple, thinking of yourself as the king," Long Chen replied. "Without anyone here, this place is just a bunch of buildings."
"Thatâs true as well. Since weâre going to become the rulers of the universe anyway, this place will also come under us as well," Snake Monarch said, nodding. "So, whereâs the herb garden?"
"Follow me," Long Chen told the Snake Monarch as he started floating in the air before he shot towards the distant palace where the Four Generals had only recently come out from.
To get there, he had to pass from near the entrance of another palace where the four Generals were currently searching.
He landed at the entrance of the massive Palace, the gates of which were enough for a Dragon to enter easily.
He pushed the door open and stepped inside with the Snake Monarch.
Entering the Palace, he was able to see that there were no floors on anything here. It was just a big hall inside the Palace, covering the entire area.
An ancient-feeling air filled up the herb garden, which contained even million years old herbs.
"Itâs not as good as the herbs in the Beast Region. I thought it would be somewhat special. Itâs just meh," Snake Monarch said, shaking his head in disappointment.
"I would have no idea about this, but for me, this place is more special than the Beast Region. Since unlike the herbs in that place, I can actually touch the herbs here," Long Chen told the Snake Monarch as he looked at the rarest of herbs and plants in amazement.
The Beast Region was inside the ancient ring, so it was special. Of course, it was going to have better things than the Immortal World. But he couldnât use them, so it was useless for him.
"Itâs a Rainbow Ginseng. Another thing that I needed to make a body for Xun. Perfect," he exclaimed as he noticed a ginseng. "Itâs also older than ten thousand years, I think, if not more. Pretty good."
He walked over to another plant that seemed to have a golden flower.
"This is the Light Origin Flower. Good for improving talent. Something I can use too with others."
"The Seven Dark Alis? The Twin Jade Flower? The Fragrant Wind Herb?"
Long Chen kept moving from one herb to another as he kept getting surprised. He recognized a few things that were here, which were enough to shock him. The herbs that were only considered mythical legends in places were as common as grassroots here.
"Are you going to take everything? Wonât the plants die after you take them?" Snake Monarch asked Long Chen.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
"Youâre wrong. If I keep them in the Ancient Ring, theyâll stay stuck in time while being nourished by the energy of the ancient ring. The only problem is that they wonât multiply and grow either. Thatâs why gardens are useful, including treasures that help carry them," Long Chen explained as he smiled wryly.
"In any case, itâs not like Iâm going to do gardening. I donât need to grow them. Theyâre already old enough to be used," he further said before he started pulling the herbs out of the ground and sending them in his Ancient Ring.
"Itâs really going to take a long time like this. Iâll need help," he muttered as he realized that it was a massive place and taking all the herbs was going to take a long time.
He brought out more people from his Inner World.
Xue, Mei, Mingyu, Zhiqing, Ming Ran, and everyone from his family was brought out, except his grandfather.
He believed his grandfather was busy in a meeting with the Emperor of the Empire they were occupying inside his Inner World.
"This place... There are so many rare herbs. What is this place?" Long Jun asked his son as he looked around.
"This is a Herb Garden of the Dragons," Long Chen replied, smiling.
"Dragons? You mean there are Dragons here?" Sima Ziyi asked Long Chen.
"Yes, mother. Want to meet one? I tamed one too," Long Chen replied as he called forth the Blood Dragon who flew above their heads.
Seeing the massive dragon in the sky, everyoneâs mouth opened in shock.
"Such a massive beast; itâs a real dragon!" Long Jun exclaimed.
"He looks so powerful," Mingyu commented. "How did you tame it?"
"It wasnât hard. I just knew what tricks to use. I wasnât even injured," Long Chen replied as he sent the Blood Dragon back.
"Anyway, I called you here to help me collect the herbs so I could take them with me. It would be a great help if you pluck them all and collect them at one place," he further said, getting back to the topic.
Since he wasnât asking anything much, everyone agreed. Everyone got to work of collecting the herbs that were treasures of the Dragons.
...
While Long Chen and his family started collecting herbs, the four Generals left the second Palace as well.
"Thereâs no one there either. Itâs getting suspicious by the second," the Eastern General said, frowning.
They still hadnât seen a single dragon.
"Letâs check the Treasure Temple. There must be a few there," the Southern General said, suggesting the tower.
"Alright. In any case, weâll be searching everything until we find whatâs wrong here," the Northern General said as he flew towards the tower on the side.
The others also followed him as they landed before the tower.
"You all remember, right? No matter what happens, donât touch any treasure! Donât be greedy, or youâll make us all die," the Northern General warned the rest again before he pushed the gates of the tower, opening the entrance.
All of them stepped inside to see the treasures that were everywhere.
"The treasures are really amazing. The best of the best, owned by the Emperors of the Immortal World, gifted to the Dragons. I now understand why you meant we shouldnât touch them again and again," the Southern General said as he observed the formations on the treasures while keeping his safe distance.
"Thatâs right. Anyway, we arenât here to gawk at the treasures. We need to find the Dragons. Letâs go up," The Northern General said as he started flying up.
The others also followed him.
The group of four stopped at the fortieth floor, right in front of the broken statue.