Lara glanced toward a disciple who was still gently touching a flower and said firmly, "Let's get moving. We won't survive long enough to enjoy it if we become greedy."

  The disciple flinched and immediately withdrew his hand, bowing his head deeply. "Yes, Elder."

  The group lifted into the sky once more and resumed their flight, moving deeper into the garden. As they traveled forward, the scenery gradually grew denser.

  Adrian flew beside Lara, observing the landscape below. The neat rows they'd passed earlier had given way to something wilder. Plants pressed against one another, competing for space yet somehow thriving together.

  The farther they went, the fewer empty spaces remained. Plants no longer grew in neat clusters or open stretches. Instead, the entire landscape became layered and intertwined. Roots wove together beneath the soil, vines threaded through the air, and towering stalks overlapped in complex, interlocking patterns that left no clear pathways. Mana density also rose steadily, pressing against their bodies like invisible water.

  They continued to see the same types of plants they had already identified earlier, but now they appeared in overwhelming quantities, filling every direction their perception could reach.

  Lara slowed mid-flight and raised her hand, signaling everyone to halt.

  "Don't move," she said calmly.

  Everyone halted instantly. The disciples froze in place, divine essence tightly wrapped around their bodies. Even Marivelle and Adrian came to a stop.

  "What is it?" Adrian asked.

  Lara did not answer immediately. Instead, she extended her perception downward, carefully scanning the soil beneath them.

  Her expression tightened. Several seconds passed in silence before she spoke again.

  "This area is no longer normal," she said. "From here onward, we are inside the garden's inner formations."

  Torvain drifted closer, "Are you certain?"

  "Yes." Lara gestured toward the ground below. "Look at the mana density here. Even the plants here contain much higher mana."

  She continued, "And what we passed through earlier were only sustaining formations meant to preserve the garden. What we are entering now seems to have a defensive formation. During one of my travels, I once visited an ancient sect's garden similar to this. Even though that garden had been destroyed and no plants remained to harvest, its formations were still intact. From that, I learned that some ancient sects used layered formations like these. They placed little importance on the outer areas and focused their protection on the inner regions, where the truly valuable plants were grown. So this ancient sect's garden could also follow the same pattern."

  Maelis frowned, "Meaning the Core-Reforging Lotus will be deeper still."

  "Most likely."

  Adrian's eyes narrowed slightly as he activated his Source Eyes.

  The world changed instantly. What had appeared to be soil and vegetation was revealed as a dense lattice of rules and symbols buried beneath the surface. Formation lines crisscrossed endlessly, overlapping in ways that would have been impossible for ordinary inscribers to design. Some formations were active, others dormant, but all of them were interconnected into a single structure.

  "This isn't a single trap," Adrian said quietly, "It's a system."

  Lara frowned, "What kind?"

  She had learned a little during her travels, but she lacked the knowledge and analytical ability to truly study these formations. Formation knowledge were always hoarded by Major sects, and one cannot find everything related to it even in the forums. Even the guide she had relied on back then had not revealed everything to her.

  "A conditional system," Adrian replied. "The formations aren't triggered by presence alone. They respond to actions."

  Lara's expression sharpened. "Meaning?"

  Adrian gestured downward, "If we move, observe, or pass through, nothing happens. But the moment someone tries to harvest, extract, damage, or even isolate a plant without authorization, the system responds. We won't know the exact response unless we test it."

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  Even Adrian himself did not know what kind of response would be triggered. The formation's logic chains were sophisticated enough that predicting outcomes required direct observation.

  He added, "Let me test it first."

  Adrian descended before anyone could speak further. His feet touched the soil gently, disturbing nothing. The formation beneath him pulsed faintly, acknowledging his presence but remaining dormant.

  He approached a Void-Calming Bloom. He touched it briefly, fingers brushing against the smooth surface.

  Nothing happened.

  Then he deliberately attempted to pluck it from the soil.

  The moment he harvested the plant, the ground beneath them pulsed once.

  A faint ripple spread outward, not through the air, but through the formation lines hidden beneath the soil. Adrian saw it clearly with his Source Eyes as logic chains activated in sequence, conditions were evaluated, and permissions were denied.

  Instantly, the space around him distorted. A lance of green-gold light erupted from the ground, formed entirely of condensed life-aspected divine essence. It shot upward toward Adrian, attempting to pierce him.

  Adrian dodged to the left, but the light bent unnaturally and pursued him.

  The attack moved with intention, tracking his movements as though guided by conscious thought. Adrian's perception caught the formation beneath adjusting in real-time, recalculating trajectories.

  He materialized his Source Blade and cut through the attack, dispersing the condensed essence.

  The lance shattered into fragments that dissolved mid-air. Silence returned to the garden.

  Adrian landed softly, still holding the Void-Calming Bloom. He examined the formation beneath his feet, watching as the logic chains reset themselves, returning to their dormant state.

  Everyone hovering above witnessed the reaction of the formation.

  Maelis spoke first, her voice tense. "It's using a high-level divine spell."

  High-level divine spells were spells only mastered and used by High Rule Stage cultivators. Everyone immediately understood the danger. The elders could counter such spells using their own divine spells with minimal effort, but the disciples' spells would be weaker. They would be forced to rely on authority to counter them, and a single lapse in concentration could lead to severe injury or even death.

  One of the disciples said, "Elder, if the formation can track movement like that—"

  "Then harvesting anything here will trigger it," Lara finished.

  The disciple fell silent.

  "This is designed to force willforce consumption," Lara said.

  Willforce could not be replenished through pills or any methods. Even the Void-Claming bloom could only calm the mind, not recover the willforce itself. So rest was the only remedy for now, and rest was a luxury they did not have.

  Adrian flew back toward the group and nodded. "Yes. The formation responds by increasing output across multiple layers. It floods the area with divine spells strong enough to force the user into sustained willforce expenditure."

  As he spoke, Adrian recognized the design behind the formation. From the logic he had observed, it was clear that this formation possessed conditional logic and layered responses, creating something akin to a limited mind that reacted only against hostile actions. This was something he had expected to encounter in the wider universe.

  Back in the Milky Way, he had designed a similar formation mind for the Origin Capital formation. For this, one just needs to possess the full symbols and knowledge needed to construct such logic. So he expected that the universe would surely have full knowledge of the language of mana to create things like these.

  Still, witnessing it firsthand was different.

  Marivelle voiced what Adrian was already thinking, "This is a formation mind. The Everlasting Pill Sect has similar formations guarding their alchemy garden. It evaluates the target and counters based on that evaluation."

  Her voice carried an edge of bitterness. She had seen formations like this before, had walked through gardens protected by similar systems. But those had been accessible to her, sanctioned by her sect. Here, she was an intruder.

  Hearing this, everyone finally understood. They had all heard of formation minds, but the Crimson Vital Sect had never possessed enough resources to acquire one.

  Lara asked, "How do we disable it?"

  Marivelle shook her head, "I don't know. I'm not an inscriber. Only the sect leader understood these things."

  Her admission carried no shame. Those who understood formation minds were rare. The Everlasting Pill Sect's leader had been one such individual, but Marivelle had never possessed that knowledge.

  Lara and the other Crimson Vital Sect members turned toward Adrian. Marivelle might not know, but they were well aware that Adrian was an inscriber, and not a simple one. He had repaired the UNI-Sect server formation earlier, so they knew what he was capable of.

  "I can't do anything from here," Adrian said. "To disable or alter this system, we would need access to the formation's core."

  His Source Eyes could read the logic chains, could trace the flow of commands through the buried lines. But reading was not the same as controlling. The formation's core lay somewhere deeper, hidden beneath layers of mana-dense soil and protective wards.

  Without direct access, any attempt to rewrite the system would be incomplete. Worse, it might trigger a defensive escalation.

  Lara grimaced, "So the only option is to move deeper."

  She continued, "But the disciples won't be able to follow us further. We can counter these spells using our divine spells with minimal willforce consumption. But the disciples would be forced to use authority every time."

  Torvain crossed his arms, his expression grim, "And if they exhaust their willforce, they won't be able to retreat."

  Maelis added quietly, "They'll become liabilities."

  Kaya spoke up, "Elder, we can manage."

  Lara turned toward her, "No. You can't."

  Kaya opened her mouth to protest, but Lara raised a hand.

  "This isn't a question of courage," Lara said. "It's a question of survival. The formation will escalate the deeper we go. High-level divine spells could become Ultimate-level. You won't last against that kind of spells."

  Everyone nodded grimly. They had no idea what awaited them deeper within the inner zones. Even if danger arose, the elders could retreat safely. The disciples, however, would struggle, and death was a real possibility.

  The garden's true trial had only just begun.