As the key finished absorbing the core, the blessed land stabilized once more.
Strictly speaking, however, it could no longer be called a blessed land at all.
It had already been completely devoured by the Zen Garden, merging into it as a whole.
Now, one edge of the former blessed land was seamlessly connected to the Zen Garden. If viewed from high above, a clear boundary line between the two lands could still be seen.
But to Arthur, this was hardly a problem.
The entire Zen Garden existed under his absolute control. Merging the two lands fully would be as simple as adjusting terrain in a sandbox-building game.
"My King… what did you just do?"
Ranni asked with curiosity. Arthur had clearly destroyed the core of the blessed land, yet the space hadn't collapsed.
The Zen Garden's key was a product of the system itself. Even Ranni couldn't perceive that it was actually the core of the Zen Garden, which was why Arthur's actions were completely incomprehensible to her.
"I merged this blessed land into my Zen Garden," Arthur explained simply, giving a brief overview of the core fusion.
Then he added, "Let's go. We should check what things look like outside now."
The two returned to the surface.
By this time, Hermione, Huoxuan, and Huangxi—alarmed by the earlier tremors—had already left the treasure forest and gathered by the lake.
They were searching for Arthur and Ranni when they suddenly saw the two of them emerge directly from the ground on the island at the center of the lake.
Arthur took Ranni with him and flew toward the shore. Along the way, he glanced around and realized that there didn't seem to be much change.
After all, they were standing near the former center of the blessed land, while the point of fusion with the Zen Garden was at its edge.
From here, Arthur could only see the towering Erdtree in the distance.
Compared to the thousand-meter-tall Fusang Tree above his head, his Erdtree suddenly felt… rather short.
For the first time, Arthur found himself feeling faintly dissatisfied with it.
The moment he landed, Hermione hurried over and asked eagerly,
"Cousin, did you do something just now? Why is your Erdtree over there?"
She pointed toward the distant Erdtree.
"Yeah. I merged this blessed land with my Zen Garden. The space is much larger now," Arthur explained.
"Wait—what exactly is the Zen Garden?" Huoxuan suddenly asked.
Huangxi was just as curious, both of them staring intently at Arthur.
"You can think of it as my personal blessed land," Arthur replied.
"It's a bit special. I can carry it with me, and it can keep expanding by cultivating rare plants and treasures."
His words completely stunned Huoxuan and Huangxi.
They had never heard of such an outrageous blessed land in their lives.
The disbelief on their faces was unmistakable.
Seeing their reactions, Arthur added, "Explaining it isn't as convincing as showing it. I'll take you to see it."
With a wave of his hand, the group instantly appeared beneath the Erdtree.
In the outside world, Arthur would have needed Apparition to do something like this—but inside the Zen Garden, all it took was a thought.
Within the Zen Garden, he was practically omnipotent.
The moment they arrived, Huoxuan's attention was immediately drawn to the herb fields, where medicinal plants were growing at an astonishing speed.
Some of the herbs were foreign and unfamiliar to her, but many were extremely precious—even to someone of her status—making her eyes light up with greed.
Huangxi, meanwhile, stood there completely dazed, staring at the Erdtree.
The aura it radiated was irresistibly attractive to her.
And combined with its dazzling golden appearance, it felt like the true tree worthy of the Phoenix clan.
As for their clan's parasol trees?
Dogs wouldn't even stay there.
Huoxuan finally snapped out of it and turned to Arthur.
"What's going on with these herbs? Why are they growing so fast?"
"My Zen Garden can adjust time flow," Arthur explained.
"At the moment, I can push it up to two hundred times."
Since gaining control over time-based power, his ability to regulate the Zen Garden's temporal flow had improved significantly.
In fact, this multiplier could continue to increase as his mastery of time deepened—giving him yet another path to enhance time acceleration.
Huoxuan was utterly shaken.
A blessed land this powerful was simply unheard of.
Her envy was so intense her eyes nearly turned red.
Huangxi was equally stunned—but suddenly, a thought struck her.
If the blessed land had been absorbed into Arthur's Zen Garden, wouldn't that mean the Phoenix clan was now under his control?
That realization filled her eyes with concern.
Arthur noticed her unease and spoke calmly,
"Don't worry. I won't restrict the Phoenix clan in any way, nor will I damage your homeland."
He continued,
"But as you can see, the sharp divide between your former blessed land and my Zen Garden doesn't look very pleasing. I'll be making some light adjustments to the environment."
Huangxi finally relaxed.
She didn't believe someone as powerful as Arthur would deceive her, so she trusted his words completely.
As for minor environmental changes, she could accept that—as long as their homeland wasn't harmed.
If anything, she was now tempted to move the entire clan closer to the Erdtree. That glittering, radiant tree suited the noble image of the Phoenix clan far better.
"Then… what if we want to go outside?" Huangxi asked.
Although the odds of these reclusive phoenixes leaving were slim—perhaps once every few centuries—she still felt it was better to clarify.
"You can still use the original exit," Arthur replied.
He had already checked: even after being absorbed by the Zen Garden, the original entrance to the outside world still existed.
More precisely, the Zen Garden had gained an additional spatial node connected to the outside.
Arthur had full control over opening and closing it, and he had already adjusted it so that only beings from within the Zen Garden could use it. Outsiders couldn't enter through that node.
Hearing that the exit still existed, Huangxi felt completely reassured.
For the Phoenix clan, being absorbed into the Zen Garden brought no disadvantages—only benefits.
The space was larger now, and living conditions were better.
Thinking that her clan members likely didn't yet understand what had happened, Huangxi said,
"I should go explain things to my people."
With that, she transformed back into her phoenix form and flew toward the clan's territory.
Arthur gave her a small assist, directly teleporting her there.
With Huangxi gone, Huoxuan turned to Arthur.
"Can I pick some of these herbs? I can trade seeds for plants you don't already have."
As an alchemist, Arthur's herb fields were simply irresistible to her.
"Of course," Arthur replied.
"But wait a moment first. I want to introduce you to two… special family members."
The two he referred to were Rya the serpent-woman and Ifrit the little fire dragon. He had already sensed the pair rushing toward him.
Unlike his owl Erol and cat Crookshanks, whom he regarded as pets, Rya and Ifrit occupied the place of family in Arthur's heart.
Rya was Ranni's niece—family, without question.
As for Ifrit, Arthur treated her like a well-behaved daughter and had always doted on her accordingly.
Huoxuan was still wondering who these "special family members" might be when she suddenly heard the sound of wings beating.
She turned—and saw Rya riding atop Ifrit, flying toward Arthur.
Rya looked as innocent as ever. Upon seeing Arthur, she leapt from Ifrit's back midair, reverting to her lizard form and landing neatly on his shoulder.
Ifrit shrank down as well, diving straight into Arthur's arms.
Huoxuan finally understood why Arthur had emphasized the word special.
"Lord Arthur, is the Eastern Nation fun?" Rya asked curiously.
Ifrit, nestled in Arthur's arms, gazed at him with the same curious look.
Arthur had originally planned to take Rya along on the journey.
However, due to Ifrit's unique nature, she couldn't appear in the Muggle world without causing chaos.
So Rya had chosen to stay behind in the Zen Garden to keep Ifrit company.
As a result, neither of them had joined Arthur on his travels and knew nothing about the outside world.
"It's pretty good," Arthur said, gently stroking their scales.
"I'll take you both out for a trip in a few days."
Then he added,
"Oh, right. Let me introduce you—this is Huoxuan, a new friend of mine."
"Hello, I'm Rya."
"Hello, I'm Ifrit."
They introduced themselves in unison.
"Hello," Huoxuan replied, then immediately turned back to Arthur.
"These are the family members you mentioned?"
"Yeah. Rya is Ranni's niece, and I've been raising Ifrit as a daughter. Any problem with that?" Arthur asked casually.
"No, none," Huoxuan said with a shake of her head.
"I just didn't expect your special family to be quite this special."
She was simply surprised.
In the Eastern Nation, spirits and beings that could take human form weren't rare. She assumed Rya was one such existence.
As for why Ranni's niece was a spirit—well, that was personal family business.
And Ifrit?
Huoxuan simply assumed she was a particularly unusual dragon with the ability to change size.
Nothing more, nothing less.
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