After all, anything that grew beside the rare Ice Heart Tree could not be ordinary.

Were these countless small buds coexisting with the tree or opposing it?

And those Ice Silk Worm... could they be considered the guardian beasts?

Looking at the tiny and crystal-like buds, Xiao Shou could not help but feel curious and lightly poked one.

"Hm? So fragile?"

He blinked his eyes in disbelief as the small bud fell off and landing in his palm before he quickly caught it.

He thought to himself, I did not even use any force. I only touched it lightly. How did it fall off so easily?

Something that could grow on the trunk of the incredibly hard Ice Heart Tree should not be this fragile.

Or was he mistaken?

Perhaps this was not something on the same level as the Ice Heart Tree and not a symbiotic or opposing entity, but just an ordinary delicate flower?

Xiao Shou felt that possibility was extremely unlikely.

How could something ordinary grow in a secret realm like this, especially on a tree trunk so hard it could shatter treasure artifacts?

Yet the fragile little bud resting in his palm said otherwise.

Forget it.

Whether it was ordinary or a high-level material, he would know once he fused it.

There was no point overthinking.

After more than two months of monotonous cultivation, Xiao Shou had gradually changed.

Instead of dwelling on problems, he now preferred to find a solution quickly and act on it.

In other words, his personality had become more decisive.

Without noticing this change, Xiao Shou made up his mind and immediately gathered nine more buds.

He activated his ability and fused all ten together.

A flash of Tier 5 fusion light passed.

When the light faded, a delicate and crystal-clear bud with the size of a fingernail rested in his palm.

At the same time, information about it flowed into his mind.

...

[ Flower of Eternity ]

Grade: Tier 1

Description: A rootless flower that grows in areas rich in spatial energy, naturally containing the law of time.

It takes ten thousand years to reach Tier 1.

A common material for refining time-based magic treasures and spirit treasure.

Effect: A Tier 1 Flower of Eternity can control time at a rate equal to one times the outside world.

...

A Flower of Eternity?

Xiao Shou immediately recalled it.

This was the very same Flower of Eternity that had appeared at an auction attended by Mahayana cultivators in the Spirit Realm in the original story.

He remembered the auctioneer explaining it in detail.

It grows one tier every ten thousand years.

At one hundred thousand years, it reaches Tier 2.

A Tier 1 Flower of Eternity allows time to flow at the same rate as the outside world.

A Tier 2 Flower of Eternity allows time to flow ten times faster.

A Tier 3 Flower of Eternity allows time to flow one hundred times faster.

And so on.

It was easy to imagine just how powerful the Flower of Eternity was.

But such a powerful spiritual plant had extremely harsh growth conditions.

By nature, the Flower of Eternity was fragile.

Even a slight wind or rain could knock it off. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

It was also extremely picky about its environment, only growing in places rich in the power of time.

Even then, it would take ten thousand years just to reach Tier 1, and one hundred thousand years to reach Tier 2.

Thinking about it now, the Ice Heart Tree possessed innate spatial laws.

Its enormous trunk and dense canopy could shield against wind and rain, providing the necessary protection for the Flower of Eternity to grow.

Meanwhile, the Ice Silk Worms usually stayed high among the branches and leaves and Xiao Shou had not seen any other creatures since arriving.

They were likely extremely rare.

Only under such conditions could the Flower of Eternity grow successfully.

After recalling the information about the buds, Xiao Shou was stunned.

A series of ideas flashed through his mind, things like time acceleration formations and space-time cultivation advantages from the cultivation novels he had read in his previous life.

Thinking about the convenience of time-based abilities, he was momentarily overwhelmed.

But having already been shocked once by the Ice Heart Tree, he quickly recovered.

After all, he had gotten used to surprises over the past days.

It almost felt like no matter how great the opportunity, he would not react dramatically anymore.

After he calm down, he wasted no time.

He immediately began harvesting the tiny Flower of Eternity buds. He carefully placing each one into jade boxes and storing them in his storage belt.

After an unknown amount of time, even with his cultivation, he felt exhausted and his back sore from the effort.

Only then did he finish collecting all the buds from the tree trunk.

In total, he had filled ten jade boxes completely.

After finishing, Xiao Shou stretched and glanced at the hourglass.

Another day had passed.

He then resumed cultivating, consuming demonic beast cores, using spirit sand water, practicing the Hidden Spirit Returning Soul Art, and circulating his techniques to recover his energy.

Once he had finished cultivating and his energy was fully restored, Xiao Shou did not rush to break out of the cocoon.

Instead, he took out the jade boxes containing the Flower of Eternity and began fusing them.

He wanted to see for himself what a Tier 5 Flower of Eternity that was containing ten thousand times time lawwould look like.

It must be incredibly beautiful.

Recalling the delicate and crystal-like bud from before, he felt full of anticipation and focused entirely on the fusion.

Tier 1... Tier 2...

Finally, after consuming an entire jade box of Flower of Eternitys, a Tier 5 Flower of Eternity formed under the glow of his ability.

...

[ Flower of Eternity ]

Grade: Tier 5

Description: A rootless flower that grows in regions filled with spatial power, naturally containing the law of time.

It takes one hundred million years to reach Tier 5.

An exceptional material for refining time-based magic treasures and spirit artifacts, possessing strong spirituality.

Effect: A Tier 5 Flower of Eternity can control time at a rate ten thousand times faster than the outside world.

...

"Possessing strong spirituality?"