Chapter 179: Copycats

Chapter 179: Chapter 179: Copycats

A ripple of quiet realization swept through the Grand Alpine Botanical Arena as hundreds of thousands of spectators and contestants alike understood what had just occurred.

Seeing the tiny, golden-green shoot sprouting serenely from Rowan’s pristine loam, the lingering panic across the radial grid shifted into sharp, desperate imitation.

One by one, the surviving life-cultivators abandoned their aggressive tools. Gabriel Bernard hastily shoved his gilded nutrient bottles back into his spatial ring. Tian Yu completely retracted his needle-like spiritual sense.

Across the arena floor, the frantic hum of high-density piercing arrays and spirit-fire lamps sputtered out as every remaining contestant shifted their focus entirely toward the dirt beneath their feet.

They stopped attempting to brute-force their mana into the petrified relics, pivoting instead to enrich, hydrate, and condition the soil surrounding their seeds.

However, understanding the concept was vastly different from executing it with uncorrupted perfection.

Gabriel Bernard channeled a stream of soft, aristocratic light magic into his plot, attempting to sterilize and warm the soil. But because his light mana was infused with heavy elemental radiation from forced cultivation methods, the surface moisture instantly evaporated, scorching the topsoil into a dry, crusty bed that threatened to bake his seed’s calcified casing. He cursed under his breath, sweating profusely as he frantically dialed back his output.

Tian Yu, however, proved far more adept. Drawing upon the deep, restrained heritage of the Eastern Dynasties, he poured a distilled mountain dew elixir into his hands and gently worked it into the earth with fluid, earth-shaping palm strikes.

His subtle, refined chi carefully bound and extracted the coarse mineral salts from the dirt without disturbing the fragile stone shell resting within. Slowly, his petrified seed began to soften, its slate-grey casing loosening under the cleansed moisture.

Across the rest of the floor, several other experienced contestants managed to stabilize their plots, successfully preventing their seeds from shattering into dust. Yet, even as they enriched their earth, the subtle elemental slag lingering in their standard mana pathways slowly bled into the soil, creating faint, discolored rings of mineral residue around their planting mounds.

"They’re learning fast," Jeremy observed, carefully applying his own balanced earth-smoothing technique to condition his assigned plot. "Though most of them are finding out the hard way that their mana carries too many residual mineral toxins to create a truly pure environment."

"The intention is right, but the foundation is flawed," Rowan replied smoothly, tipping the brim of his Enchanted Straw Hat as he monitored the vibrant, steady growth of his own Silphium sprout. "They spent years refining explosive output and forced growth. Clearing their energy channels of elemental slag isn’t something they can accomplish in three hours."

Up in the high-tier VIP gallery, Emperor Aurelius chuckled warmly, taking another slow sip from his crystal glass as he watched foreign grandmasters sweat over the lingering impurities in their prodigies’ soil.

The lesson was being written in real-time across the stadium floor: Eden International didn’t just possess better produce—it held a fundamental mastery over uncorrupted life that no amount of last-minute imitation could match.

***

Across the third quadrant, a soft hum of spiritual energy echoed as a delicate, golden-green light flared atop Tian Yu’s platform.

The crowd in the Eastern Dynasties’ gallery let out a collective breath of pride as a slender, fragile shoot breached the surface of Tian Yu’s carefully conditioned mountain-loam. Against all odds, the young Eastern prodigy had successfully coaxed his petrified Silphium seed out of its millennia-long slumber and forced a true germination.

However, as the sprout uncurled its first pair of tiny leaves under the stadium spotlights, the initial cheers from the spectators slowly trailed off into uncertain whispers.

Through the crystal-clear glass of his station’s monitoring field, the flaw was immediately apparent. Unlike Rowan’s seedling—which radiated a smooth, uniform emerald-golden glow—Tian Yu’s sprout was visibly uneven. The delicate stem and leaves were mottled with inconsistent shades of green, ranging from a pale, sickly sage at the tips to a dark, muddy olive near the base, interspersed with faint yellowish veins.

Tian Yu stood over his basin, his knuckles turning white as he stared down at the discolored herb. His usual cold, unshakeable composure wavered, replaced by a deep, suffocating sense of defeat.

He had done everything right according to the highest texts of Eastern life-cultivation. He had cleansed the earth, softened the salt crust with pristine mountain elixirs, and refrained from forcing the seed with aggressive chi. Yet, the outcome was irredeemably flawed.

"Look at the leaves," Jeremy remarked softly, leaning over his platform to inspect Tian Yu’s station. "The color is all over the place. Why did it turn out splotchy?"

Rowan adjusted the brim of his Enchanted Straw Hat, his refined perception scanning the spiritual pathways of Tian Yu’s plot in real time.

"The microscopic mineral slag," Rowan explained quietly. "Tian Yu’s technique was brilliant, but his ancestral chi was tempered through years of consuming high-tier body-refining pills. When he used his palm strikes to shape the soil, those invisible trace impurities bled into the dirt. The ancient Silphium absorbed them during cell division, causing localized toxicity in its vascular structure. That mottled coloration is the plant trying to push out the elemental slag."

Jeremy let out a low whistle, shaking his head. "Even a microscopic fraction of slag ruined the purity of a legendary herb... That really shows just how sensitive these extinct seeds are."

"It proves that modern cultivation itself is fundamentally contaminated," Rowan said, a calm, knowing smirk touching his lips. "You can refine your techniques all day, but if your core mana isn’t uncorrupted at the foundation, the earth will always tell the truth."

Up on the floating central podium, the Swiss diagnostic arrays scanned Tian Yu’s station, displaying his score on the massive holographic leaderboard: [Tian Yu — Seed Germinated (Sub-Optimal Purity / Grade B)].

While still a remarkable achievement that placed him far ahead of the disqualified participants, it paled in comparison to Rowan’s pristine display. At the very top of the leaderboards, Rowan Vance’s entry blazed in gold: [Rowan Vance — Perfect Germination (Primordial Purity / Grade SSS)].

Tian Yu slowly raised his head, his dark eyes meeting Rowan’s across the arena floor. There was no hatred or arrogance left in his gaze—only the heavy, humbling realization that the gap between them wasn’t just a matter of skill or secret recipes, but a complete difference in their fundamental understanding of nature itself.

***

A sharp gasp rippled through the spectators in the French and Western Alliance delegations as a sudden, frantic surge of pale silver mana flared around Gabriel Bernard’s basalt basin.

Answering the desperate prayers of the young aristocrat, the soil at the center of Gabriel’s plot parted. A pale, translucent green stem burst through the dirt, shooting upward at an unnaturally rapid pace.

For two glorious seconds, Gabriel’s pale face lit up with overwhelming relief and vindication. A smug, triumphant grin began to spread across his lips as he looked up toward the broadcast cameras, ready to claim his victory.

"I did it!" Gabriel exclaimed, his voice cracking with panicked ecstasy. "I’ve awakened the—"

Sizzle.

The words choked in his throat.

Before the shoot could even unfurl its first leaves, the pale green stem abruptly turned a sickly, bruised purple. The fast-growing vascular structure buckled under the sheer, unyielding pressure of the silver mana Gabriel had pumped into the earth. The seedling didn’t just stop growing—it withered right before the entire stadium’s eyes.

The leaves shriveled into blackened husks, the stem collapsed into a slimy, decayed thread, and within three seconds, the short-lived sprout disintegrated into a smudge of foul-smelling black sludge atop the soil.

Gabriel froze, his outstretched hands trembling violently over the ruined plot. "No... no, wait! Re-ignite! Sprout!"

Panicking, he unleashed a raw, uncontrolled blast of light-attribute mana directly into the dirt, attempting to force another sprout from the remains. But the damage was done. The diagnostic array hovering above his platform let out a harsh, low buzz as a solid red crimson boundary enclosed his station.

BUZZ!

[Participant #07 — Gabriel Bernard: Specimen Life Force Extinguished. Disqualified.]

The blaring announcement echoed through the stadium speakers like a thunderclap. In the VIP boxes, members of the House of Bernard slumped back in their velvet seats, covering their faces in absolute, public mortification.

Gabriel stood paralyzed, staring at his hands in utter disbelief as the automated containment field lowered over his station, officially ending his tournament run.

"Forced germination," Jeremy muttered with a grim shake of his head, watching the black sludge dissolve into the dirt. "He saw Tian Yu getting results and panicked. He poured way too much mana into the roots to force the shoot out of the dirt before the core was ready."

"He treated the seed like a battery," Rowan said softly, adjusting the brim of his Enchanted Straw Hat as he looked on with cold, detached precision. "He forced the Silphium to convert its entire remaining life reserve into rapid cell division in a matter of seconds. Without a clean, uncorrupted foundation to draw nourishment from, the plant burned through its whole lifespan before it could even open its leaves."

Rowan turned his attention back to his own platform, where his pristine, golden-green Silphium sprout continued to flourish in perfect, quiet harmony with the enriched earth.

"Forcing nature always demands a price," Rowan added, a subtle, knowing smirk touching his lips. "And when you force an ancient relic, the price is instant death."