Jacob kept using the Formation; the drop of blood had adjusted its course. The Alchemical Garden was fairly close since it was now swerving rapidly diagonally.

He took a deep breath and exhaled.

What the f*ck, old goat.

Jacob put the small parchment in his satchel and bent on his knees. While his hands rested on his face, he felt his eyes burn.

Goddamn teenage body, Jacob cursed.

There is a bigger mission to accomplish. Come on, Jacob. What’s the matter with you thinking about the future, Juliet, Helena? Mankind, Christ, the literal Mankind was canceled from Earth’s surface in your past life. Before, you fought monsters in any form, Demonic Beasts or otherwise. Now, you get hung over a kid? She’s a bit smart, so what? Get a fu**ing grip on yourself, you fu**er.

He put a hand on the hilt of his sword, immediately feeling better.

“For fu*k’s sake, Jacob,” he murmured to himself before resuming the search. He blew his nose with his bare hands and smeared across the ground.

“Christ, I need some time alone.”

Jacob looked around. He was starting to perceive some vibrations in the surrounding energy. They were well hidden, a natural feature of the Alchemical Garden that acted as a natural cover from predators.

I hope I’ll find some big fu**ing monster inside, Jacob thought. He wanted to kill something right now. He needed to kill something.

He found a tree bigger than any other. It was not as conspicuous as one would have imagined, but it did not fool Jacob for even a second.

Putting his hand on its bark, he felt the Inscription Pattern inside it.

“These Inscription Patterns,” Jacob’s brows furrowed. “They shouldn’t… They have been altered and re-inscribed.”

Jacob unsheathed his sword and looked around.

He took a few steps back from the trunk and widened his stance. There was someone inside the Alchemical Garden, and it had knowledge of Inscription Patterns, something that humanity shouldn’t be able to know yet. Not even if they found books. If they did, it would take them decades to start translating the less complex ones.

JULIET.

He tugged at the Ancestral Bond. It had become stronger during the past month, and now Jacob and her could somehow feel each other presence even from afar. It was like having an internal compass that would bring you back to your soulmate.

JULIET.

Jacob charged his emotions with urgency and danger.

If a Demonic Beast had made those Inscription Patterns, they were dead. They were all dead. For a Demonic Beast to acquire enough sentience to learn Inscription Patterns, it should have been at least at the 4th realm.

A couple of minutes later, Juliet landed like a fire meteor from the sky.

“What’s happening?” her arms were coated in flames, and she was ready to fight.

“There might be a huge threat inside the tree. I’ll open it now. I’ll go forward, but I need you to stay right behind me. We might make it a monster too strong for us. If we do, run.”

“I can’t fly while holding another person yet,” she said.

“I know, Juliet. That’s not what I asked of you.”

Jacob snapped and simply activated the Inscription Patterns on the tree before she could say anything else. If there was a monster there, they had to know.

The bark magically disappeared, and a set of stairs appeared in front of them. A thick medicinal scent came upon them from the inside, filling their nostrils with dense spiritual energy.

“Let’s go,” Jacob moved forward with his sword in his right hand. He was ready to activate his sword aura at a moment’s notice.

As they followed the tunnel, Juliet saw much more light than she had expected from the place. Some weird runes on the walls seemed to emanate enough light to brighten up the place as if the sun itself had been shining underneath the surface.

“Jacob, I’m not going without—”

“SHUT UP!” Jacob gritted his teeth, and his temper flared.

Juliet felt a wave of anger hit her from their Ancestral Bond, so much anger she got scared.

Jacob went forward until they reached a huge opening, more than forty meters tall. He was pretty sure there was some Dimensional Magic at work here. They hadn’t gone that much below the surface. And now, they found themselves in a dome-like room, hundreds of meters wide and with the thickest energy Jacob had met so far.

He scanned the surroundings, ready to kill whatever creature was around, even if it would cost his entire cultivation. He had some hypothesis on the type of beast, but nothing was certain. If he were anywhere near right, though, the monster would be way too strong for them unless they both decided to sacrifice themselves. As strong as Jacob could get, it would completely destroy his Meridians or directly kill him if he wanted to attempt killing a beast at the 4th realm of cultivation.

He saw many Spiritual Herbs he needed, including a very rare Dawn Lily.

“Holy f*ck,” he stared at the Dawn Lily and swallowed hard.

Jacob got shivers so strong that Juliet thought that he had received some sort of mental attack. But, then, she saw his gaze fixated on that plant, and better understood the signals she was getting from the Ancestral Bond.

“Jacob?” a female voice called his name from afar with a scratchy tone to it.

Jacob's eyes widened.