I had many plans to be launched once I returned to mortal domains … only to hit an immediate problem.

Janassa was gone.

Not only she was gone, but also there was no disturbance to my formations. No external attack, no internal fiddling. "I just need to decide whether it's a good thing or a bad thing," I muttered even as I examined the fake mystic land, taking note of many small signs, including a toppled tea cup and a half-empty teapot.

The evidence implied that she had disappeared with no warning. "Maybe it was teleportation," I muttered as I focused, trying to see if there was any kind of disturbance in Providence. Unfortunately, I failed.

The perspective from Alchemy and Formations was not exactly interchangeable, especially when the topic was a possible teleportation.

"I wonder how it'll bite me back," I muttered. I didn't need to have any evidence. My best guess was that the responsible party was the Kartpa Valley, solely because she had the technique even before we met.

If it was before my encounter with Elsana and Lannayin, I might have been panicking, but I started to get a sense of a pattern about the things that were happening. We would meet again … probably when she was fighting against a dozen Nascent Soul Cultivators or something, and I had to put myself into an even bigger mess.

"There's nothing to do," I muttered even as I started to go for the Spiritual Vein, with a small sapling in hand. It wasn't anything special that cultivators cared about. Just an ordinary spiritual tree with no fruits or special uses.

But, it had one beautiful feature. It could grow almost unlimited. The perfect tool for the next step of my plan. I would have loved to do that with my Alchemy technique surpassing Perfection, but it didn't seem to be possible.

And, I didn't have the luxury of waiting.

"Let's see if I could create a proper spiritual pillar for Forest Dance," I muttered even as I planted the spirit plant right on top of the spirit vein, and around it, I created a formation pattern from the pieces from the alchemical pillars.

The move was a bit too rash for my tastes, but what Elsana had said about the response from the cultivators was true. They would retaliate, and once they did, it would be a bloodbath. I didn't know what would be their limit. I didn't expect to kill everyone in the Mortal Domain, but it was almost certain that they would destroy Markas completely.

Maybe they would decide that just destroying the Zaim Kingdom was an acceptable compromise.

Unless, of course, I had enough power to dissuade them. Luckily for me, what happened with the Burning Ice had given me the blueprint for defending a region.

"Suddenly, I'm glad that I have created that fake mystic land," I muttered even as I channeled the output of the spirit vein to the tiny sapling completely, almost in an unrestricted manner. The sapling stopped being a sapling in a second, reaching my height … then doubled it.

Then, doubled it again … and again.

I was prepared to assist its growth, but it seemed to be unnecessary. The moment it connected with the pieces of the alchemical trees, the providence that had been collected started to flow to it.

As the tree grew, I started alternating between using formations and Land Mastery, making sure that, as the tree grew, it stayed wrapped in an illusion of clouds. I would keep the growing tree hidden from the gaze of the cultivators even as it continued to grow — how much, I had no idea.

It was the risk of using something I understood only halfway.

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As the tree grew, I could feel two things. First, it was the connection of it spreading to the enclaves I had created, connecting with the martial artists through the alchemical trees … and the results were spectacular.

I had the records. Even at its peak, Burning Ice Sect hadn't come close to having a fraction of the martial artists I had. A part of it was talent, as they lacked the ability to mass-produce pills to enhance martial talent. Though, an even bigger driver was their desire to maintain the longevity of their style. Recruiting too much might cause a schism just as easily.

For me, how it would change in multiple generations was not as big of a concern. Partially due to the urgency of the current situation, but the nature of Forest Dance assured me somewhat. The essence leaned strongly toward preservation and pacifism, and that was reinforced further with the wild growth of the central spiritual tree, embedding to its nature.

Eventually, it would be strong enough to support Spiritual Infusion practitioners.

Admittedly, it wasn't a direct conclusion but a deduction from the way Elsana and Lannayin were bonded with the mountain. Two of them had no impact on the mountain, but I wasn't sure if the same would be true for hundreds of Spirit Infusion martial artists, all pressing against the same structure.

Limits, I would eventually discover once the tree continued to grow.

And, grow it did. I made several small changes on the alchemical web based on my growing understanding of Land Mastery, which meant that the tree was not just another part of the network, but a siphon that drew the providence toward it.

At first, I was afraid of the backlash, but I soon realized it wasn't the case. With both of them embodying the same art, the Providence treated them the same, moving without problem. It was a good detail under the circumstances, but I needed to be careful.

After all, it was the exact same ability that the cultivators were using to attack the remnants of the Everdawn Empire. Though, whether those remnants actually represented an entity in the depths of the mist, or it was just the remnants like the base of the Burning Ice sect the cultivators were trying to destroy, I had no idea.

What I cared about was finding a solution to the problem before the same attack was wielded against me.

"But, that's for later," I muttered even as I started to add more and more formations around the tree, doing my best to hide its nature as an ancient alchemical feature. It was already strong enough to deliver hits that could rival peak Foundation establishment on its own, and that was without adding in all the tricks I could deliver from the formation, or alchemical poisons.

Alone, any of them would barely allow me to fend off an early Golden Stage cultivator. Barely. However, luckily, the three transcended methods all have unique strengths and weaknesses.

Formations gave me an incredible versatility, one that no cultivator I had seen came even close to matching. I could weave shields, illusions, and displacements, and generate incredible wide-range attacks. The only problem, was the sheer power it packed was lacking. No formation I could build that a Golden Core cultivator couldn't punch through.

The only thing it managed to keep them away in the fake mystic land was the threat of self-destruction, which would mean the loss of the treasures.

Alchemy gave me a lot of poisons that were effective for Golden Core cultivators, which had unmatched damage. Once infected, a Golden Core Cultivator would have died unless I applied a treatment. For the alchemy, the problem was twofold. First, I was still uncomfortable about killing people. One part was the leftover morality of my old life, albeit much weakened — after I led an army of martial artists to kill people, whether I delivered a killing blow or not was academic — but the real reason was Providence.

Killing created a karmic bond, which had mysterious implications on Providence in a way that I didn't fully understand, which only worked when one delivered the blow. The impact wasn't always negative — the Burning Ice improved quite a bit after the demonic cultivator hunt — but considering the troubles it brought whenever I created a personal connection, I wasn't willing to add even more trouble.

Then, there was the growing tree. Currently, it was merely peak Foundation Establishment power, but it could both restrict and deliver devastating attacks at a surprisingly large radius which would increase the more it grew.

The true benefit lies in the combination of the three features. Formations for strategic flexibility, alchemy for pure, long-lasting damage and area denial, and the tree to restrict or deliver devastating damage as needed.

Altogether, as long as I was in Markas, I was confident I could deal with a number of Golden Cultivators at once.

"Assuming, of course, the tree grows unrestricted," I muttered even as I moved toward the roots, examining the way Providence suddenly wrapped around it, as if it was trying to suffocate its growth. For anyone else, it would have been impossible to handle trouble.

I just triggered the System for a simple reward, which gave me a better understanding of Music.

The chains of Providence dispersed, and the tree continued to grow unrestricted.

All that remained was a race against time, growing the tree to a sizable level before the inevitable retaliation from the Treasure Pavilion arrived.