Edmund watched her for a long moment, the faintest trace of warmth in his eyes. To him, she was still a kind, obedient child—exactly the sort the Divine Realm needed in its chaos.

  Immortal Roots, it seemed, had chosen well.

  Nash sent a message to Lauren. “Ms. Lauren, are you free to come down the mountain soon?”

  Lauren was deep in cultivation, surrounded by floating shards of ice. Her breath condensed into frost as spiritual energy surged around her. To break through, she needed to strengthen her inner world—if her foundation wasn’t solid, the next realm would remain out of reach.

  She opened her eyes briefly and replied, “What’s going on?”

  “Dividing loot,” Nash said. “There’s still a lot we haven’t sorted. I thought you should come down so we can discuss it together.”

  Lauren frowned slightly. “You guys decide. Just leave me a share.”

  Nash stared at the message, speechless.

  He turned to Dante and Westin. “She said we can decide ourselves, that she’s not coming down. The Immortal Master’s been strict with her tely—I think he’s keeping an eye on her cultivation.”

  Dante remembered his own encounter with the Immortal Master a few days earlier and couldn’t help feeling a little pity. Having to face that terrifyingly calm man every day? That was a kind of suffering all its own.

  “In that case,” Dante said, “let’s just decide ourselves. We’ll donate all our contributions under Ms. Lauren’s name.”

  Westin raised a brow. “Then you’ll lose your spot at the top?”

  Dante ughed. “I’m trying to stay low-key anyway.”

  Nash chuckled. “Fine, then. Let’s do it.”

  It was a little bit of mischief on their part. She didn’t want to come down to cim her share—so they’d hand everything to her instead.

  The spoils from the expedition were enormous: treasures from the fallen Mahayana cultivator, maps and jade slips packed with ancient techniques, along with defensive artifacts, spiritual tools, and weapons. Dozens of storage bags in total.

  They also brought back a trove of rare spiritual pnts from overseas. The most precious among them were the Weak Trees—vital for stabilizing ley lines and nourishing energy flows. They kept one of the best specimens for study and donated the rest to the sect.

  Under Gerald’s direction, the disciples pnted an entire grove of Weak Trees on a peak second only to Starfell Summit. The water flowing through the grove carried pure spiritual energy that revitalized half of Thunder Sect’s grounds.

  Gerald was overjoyed.

  Meanwhile, Lauren entered closed-door cultivation. She had reached the limits of early Core Formation, her spiritual energy boiling beneath her skin. Months of intense focus ter, she broke through—her power solidifying into the middle Core Formation stage.

  She didn’t yet know that her name had already risen to the very top of the Thunder Sect’s Core Formation rankings.

  When Lauren reentered her inner space, she was no longer standing on empty air.

  This time, she stood on a small patch of solid nd floating in the void. A single Weak Tree grew from the center—its roots winding into the emptiness below, its leaves shimmering with faint silver light. Beneath it sat Edmund, cross-legged in quiet meditation.

  Lauren’s eyes brightened. “I’ve only advanced a minor realm, and I’ve already condensed such a big piece of nd!”

  Edmund smiled faintly. “Keep working. This whole void is waiting for you to expand it.”

  He rose, broke off a slender branch from the Weak Tree, and breathed lightly on it. In an instant, the branch pulsed with life, glowing green and vibrant.

  “Take this to that kid who’s repairing the Wood Domain,” Edmund said. “Ordinary Weak Trees won’t do him any good.”

  Lauren held the branch carefully. The vitality radiating from it was so rich that it made her skin tingle. “With this, Westin’s progress will skyrocket. I didn’t think you cared so much about him.”

  “He’s got strong willpower and decent luck,” Edmund said evenly. “He’s got a chance to ascend.”

  “Oh, I see,” Lauren said dryly. He was casting a wide net—trying to back every potential ascendant so someone broke his seal.

  Edmund didn’t deny it.

  “So you’re staying here now? Not going back to the Immortal Roots?”

  “These are sacred trees,” he said, gncing up at the glowing canopy. “Far better than those Immortal Roots. I can recover faster here.”

  Lauren gave him a skeptical look. Right. He was through all that trouble building this inner world just to live more comfortably.

  “Fine,” Lauren said. “Stay here and rex. I’m heading down the mountain today.”

  “What for?”

  “I’ve been taking too many elixirs. My body feels… overloaded. I need to go to Hyakka Valley to get some flower dew—it’ll cleanse the pill toxins and purify my system.”

  After Core Formation came the Nascent Soul stage. She needed to be at her absolute best before attempting that leap.

  “Then while you’re at it,” Edmund said, “buy me some beast cores.”

  Lauren sighed. “Still the same as st time—one hundred each?”

  “I don’t want first-tier beast cores,” Edmund said ftly. “They’re useless.”

  “Then what kind?”

  “Fourth-tier.”

  Lauren blinked. “...Why so high?”

  “You heard Elder Zane—he doesn’t even have fourth-tier cores. Third-tier ones are rare enough.”

  “I know,” Edmund said. “But you can post a bounty. If you do, people with fourth-tier cores will definitely bring them in. Let Zane handle it.”

  Lauren groaned inwardly. He was worse than a pet—more like a gold-eating beast.

  He gave her a sidelong gnce.

  “You really picked the wrong person to mooch off,” she muttered. “You should’ve followed my master. He’s got so many spirit stones lying around he compins they take up space.”

  Edmund’s expression twitched.

  This girl was sharp, capable, and frighteningly stingy.

  “What’s wrong with spending a few spirit stones?” he said dryly. “You won’t lose out. When I break the seal and return the Immortal Crystal, you won’t have to dig in mines for cultivation stones after you ascend.”

  Lauren looked at him as though he’d just promised her the moon.

  That sounded exactly like a beggar saying he’d pay her back once he became a billionaire.

  “Let’s just hope everyone’s still alive when that day comes,” she muttered.

  When she arrived at the foot of the mountain, Lauren went straight to Elder Zane’s pavilion.

  “Ah, Ms. Lauren, back again already,” Zane greeted with a warm smile.

  Lauren gnced around, lowering her voice. “What’s going on with her?”

  “You mean Indiana?”

  “Yes.”

  “She successfully formed her Core,” Zane said. “I figured you’d gone into seclusion after returning, so I didn’t bother you with the update. I knew you’d come ask the moment you were done.”

  Lauren nodded slightly. She hadn’t expected the woman to die so easily anyway.

  “When did she achieve Core Formation?”

  “Last month. She was ambushed and seriously wounded. Took her almost a year to recover.”