Greed and Delusion (1)

Deep within Azure Rock Mountain, the aura of metal and stone coiled like invisible blades, lending this land a natural barrenness and cold hardness. The soil was mostly gray-white or dark ochre, the jagged sinews of mineral veins extending to the surface. It was too rigid, too hard, lacking the softness needed to nourish life.

Flowers and grasses found it exceedingly difficult to take root and grow here. The razor-sharp spiritual energy made survival immensely difficult.

Yet, in some secluded corner of this barren land, a small courtyard had been quietly carved out.

The soil within was not native earth, but fertile soil transported from afar at great expense, mixed with finely ground powder from precious water-type and Wood-Type Spirit Crystals. Only then could it barely neutralize the excessively sharp metallic aura continuously seeping up from deep underground.

Around the courtyard, spiritual markings invisible to the naked eye flowed silently, forming an exquisite composite array.

Not only did it gather the sparse, gentle spiritual energy between heaven and earth, it also filtered and tempered the overly restless, razor-edged aura from the mineral veins again and again, transforming it into a soft, waterlike curtain of light that silently enveloped the entire courtyard and isolated it from the harsh world outside.

It was precisely because of this almost extravagant human intervention that the courtyard could display such a near-miraculous sight—

As far as the eye could see was a nearly crowded bustle of gentle colors. Though they were not precious spiritual blossoms, merely hardy varieties common in the wilds, they now competed to bloom within this tiny space, clustering into swathes of warm purple, pink-white, goose yellow, and pale blue, covering the once-barren ground.

They bloomed with all their might, even carrying a sense of staking everything on one throw, because here,