In an open clearing in the manor's backyard.
In the afternoon breeze, Madame Falan was teaching Xilutaiya.
"Tiya, do you know the Three Elements Law?"
"Scholar Haide taught us a little about it. It seems to be Power (Resources), Skill (Knowledge), and Practice (Trials)."
"Indeed. It is also known as the Three Phase Laws, representing truth and balance in the world." Madame Falan picked up a broken branch from the side of the path.
"The Three Phase Laws can be applied across many domains—whether advancement, study, or rituals. But what I am going to teach you today is merely a secret art passed down among gardeners.
"It is called 'Bloom Art.'"
With that, the broken branch in her hand seemed to find spring in dead wood, sprouting tender shoots that unfurled fresh green leaves. Soon, a tiny flower bud emerged among the foliage, swelling step by step until it bloomed completely, revealing delicate white petals.
Although Madame Falan's primary focus was the Blazing Sun attribute, the ability she had just displayed belonged to the Emerald Honey attribute, which piqued Xilutaiya's curiosity.
It seemed attributes were not entirely incompatible after all, she noted silently to herself.
"As the name implies, 'Bloom Art' is the magic of making plants blossom." Madame Falan pinched the stem between her fingers, snapping off the excess wood below and letting it fall.
"I see," Xilutaiya nodded, not finding it particularly surprising.
Seeing her blank expression, Madame Falan found it rather amusing. Pinching the stem, she gently waved it. A faint fragrance wafted through the air, refreshing Xilutaiya's senses and giving her spirits a slight lift.
"How do you feel now?"
"I seem a bit more energized." The girl reflected carefully on the change just now.
"Indeed. The blossom of this white tree has an extremely faint refreshing effect.
"Normally, producing even a slight effect like this requires distilling essential oil from a massive quantity of flowers, so nobody would bother with such a thankless task.
"Alright, that is all I have to say. How much have you grasped?"
Wait, she's done already? The girl was surprised.
Blooming flowers, faint effects... She fell into deep thought.
"Do you mean that by making it bloom, an otherwise faint and imperceptible effect can be magnified many times over?"
"You truly are clever. In truth, many transcendent abilities work like this—they require sufficient imagination, followed by patient exploration and practice, before being fully developed." Madame Falan nodded approvingly.
"Now that you understand the power of Bloom Art, have you thought about how you might use it?"
"In that case, if a flower possesses an effect I need, I could use Bloom Art to amplify it and accomplish what I want." She couldn't help but recall how, prior to her advancement, she had wondered what it would be like to advance using a Swan Orchid.
Back then, she might have gained the Swan Orchid's effect as an ability, but now, what if she used Bloom Art to stimulate a Swan Orchid?
Xilutaiya quickly voiced her thoughts.
"Correct. That is its most common application, and also where the ability holds its greatest value."
Madame Falan lightly raised her wrist, and a surging heat burst forth from the garden plot, blending into the chilly autumn wind and sweeping across the entire manor backyard, making Xilutaiya feel as though she were standing in midsummer.
"You see, I barely exerted any strength, yet such heat is enough to alter the manor's environment." She tossed the white blossom lightly into the air.
Before long, invisible currents of heat converged, instantly igniting the flower midair and scattering it as ashes.
"Even if a third-order Castle knight were to trespass into this garden, I could melt him down into fertilizer for the soil. Now do you understand the utility of this ability?"
"Yes," Xilutaiya replied, waves of admiration rising within her.
"However, Tiya, do not celebrate too early." Madame Falan seemed to anticipate the young girl's thoughts.
"If you wish to trigger the effects of an extraordinary plant, you must be one rank higher than the plant itself..." That condition was practically a verdict that the ability was useless at first-order.
"Unless that plant was personally cultivated by you." Her sudden turn of phrase reignited the girl's hope.
Yet so far, she had only cultivated three Swan Orchids. If she wanted additional combat abilities, she would have to put in extra effort to cultivate flowers capable of combat effects.
Sure enough, the duty of a gardener was to grow flowers.
At that thought, Xilutaiya couldn't help asking, "Teacher, if I want to have some combat ability to protect myself, what kind of flowers should I cultivate?"
"Do you remember the Fire Cloud Orchids and White Camellias I had you look after a while ago?"
"I remember." Hearing this, Xilutaiya seemed to realize something.
"Indeed. If a Fire Cloud Orchid is cultivated successfully, it emits a scorching aura. Normally, such an aura cannot harm anyone, but what if it is amplified through Bloom Art?
"As for the White Camellia, it has the ability to purge toxins, proving quite effective whether treating wounds or dealing with poisonous miasmas.
"Your energy is limited right now, so you only need to focus on cultivating these two plants."
"Yes, Teacher."
"In addition, regarding the Swan Orchids you previously grew, keep one for yourself. I plan to take the other two and give them to a friend who has a use for them."
"Alright," Xilutaiya agreed with a nod.
"Aren't you curious about what he will use them for?" Madame Falan couldn't resist teasing the exceptionally obedient girl.
"What are they used for, then?"
"It has to do with a pure and quiet environment.
"When you are an ordinary mortal, your perception of the various attribute powers is dull; you feel no real difference or disruption.
"But once you reach higher ranks, you will discover that the faintest traces of attribute power permeate everyday life, intertwining and interfering with one another.
"These infinitesimal traces of attribute power won't cause any noticeable disturbance normally, but for experiments demanding extreme precision—such as brewing specialized potions or crafting alchemy—they are fatal.
"The slightest discrepancy can alter a potion's efficacy and change the final outcome entirely.
"Thus, special means are needed to purify the environment beforehand. The longest-lasting and most cost-effective method is to use plants with a 'purifying' effect.
"The Swan Orchid happens to be a plant with precisely that special efficacy.
"Originally, he commissioned me to cultivate them. However, after I shifted to Blazing Sun, my attribute power was no longer as pure as before, and the delicate nature of Swan Orchids does not suit Blazing Sun's stimulation—it would only damage the growth of such fragile flora.
"Therefore, over all these years, whenever someone came to me seeking to learn gardening, I gave them Swan Orchid seeds to see who could cultivate them first.
"And in the end, it was you, sweet child, who came along."
"Ah... Thank you, Madame." Xilutaiya felt a stroke of fortune; had it not been for this, she likely wouldn't have earned the noblewoman's favor.
"Alright, that is enough study for today. Later, I will give you the materials and knowledge needed to learn Bloom Art, and you can practice until you master it."
"Yes," the girl agreed. Yet she did not leave immediately, instead asking about the underlying detail she had caught earlier.
"Just now, you said you 'shifted to Blazing Sun.' Does that mean you weren't originally a Blazing Sun gardener?"
"Of course. Gardeners almost all start out with Emerald Honey. However, attributes are by no means unchangeable. If you can cultivate an exceptionally rare and unique plant, advancing through it allows you to shift to that plant's attribute." At this point, Madame Falan recalled something.
"Especially for gardeners with limited talent—if they find themselves stuck at a certain rank and unable to break through for a long time, their only remaining hope is to cultivate a plant of a higher rank than their own. That becomes their sole path forward.
"Though that is hardly an easy task either," she added, shaking her head.
"Generally speaking, transcendents do not change their attribute lightly. It represents the accumulation of years of effort; the knowledge, skills, and other abilities they have studied are all tied to their primary attribute. Once changed, many abilities will weaken or fail entirely.
"Do you know Scholar Haide's past? In his youth, he harbored grand ambitions, taking 'Secret Words' as his life's pursuit. To that end, he traveled far and wide in search of learning, laboring for nearly a decade. He achieved great accomplishments and penned a travelogue based on his own experiences and observations.
"Once that book was finished, published, and widely circulated, it would have meant the condensation of the third-order Secret Words attribute.
"Yet that process was cut short. A close friend of his used borrowing the manuscript to study as a pretext to steal his life's work, and then slandered him, claiming to be the true author and accusing Scholar Haide of plagiarism.
"Because of this, Candle Fortress stripped Scholar Haide of his scholar title and imprisoned him for interrogation.
"Scholar Haide endured severe torment during that time. Fortunately, many friends and students rallied on his behalf, ultimately exonerating him. Only then did Candle Fortress restore his title and compensate him with an emblem—an emblem that properly belonged only to full third-order members of Candle Fortress.
"Yet it was all too late. His years of blood and sweat were ruined, and the torment of his imprisonment left Scholar Haide utterly disheartened. In the end, he abandoned the path of Secret Words and turned to the Castle attribute, which he had always treated with indifference, becoming an ordinary scholar," Madame Falan sighed wistfully.
To think there was such a painful history behind it, Xilutaiya sighed inwardly.
"Then what became of the person who framed Scholar Haide?"
"His end was no better. Candle Fortress stripped him of his attribute rank and banished him. He likely died in some forgotten corner." Madame Falan shook her head.
"Some things are universally recognized taboos. Once crossed, the offending party will face severe punishment from their respective school.
"Among us gardeners, there are also recognized taboos, though there is no need to trouble you with such dark matters just yet."
Afterward, their lesson and conversation drew to a close. Xilutaiya transcribed the knowledge of Bloom Art Madame Falan had given her and began attempting to learn it.
Chapter 63