"Not so fast, sapling," the black dragon said, curling back so that it was once more floating in front of the painting which had conjured it.

It was only now I realised that not only had the image of the dragon vanished from the painting, but so had that of the familiar white robed youth. Why was he so familiar?

"Is there another trial I have to pass first?" I asked with a sigh. "I thought you said I was qualified to enter the Gate of Spring and Autumn."

"Indeed you are. It's not another trial you have to pass, but something you need to do before entering," the dragon replied. "Take off all of your spatial artifacts and weapons. You are only allowed to enter the gate as your original self without the aid of outside objects. Seeing as you've already opened your spiritual sea and even possess the beginnings of a true dao you should have no issues."

That was an annoying stipulation, but it made sense. What was the point of leaving a trial behind if some rich young master cheesed their way through it with overpowered artifacts their elders had given them?

However, I was still suspicious of the dragon. I didn't want to leave all my possessions with it while taking the trial, but it seemed there was no choice. When it spoke of a spiritual sea did it refer to that strange lake in my mind with the floating spark?

So that's what it was. I knew what a spiritual sea was—it was the mark of the Foundation Building Realm. Which made me all the more confused as to why I'd already opened it.

However, this wasn't the time to think about such mysteries. Confirming the spark as the beginning of a dao also made sense. It had appeared when I reached a new level of understanding of healing and my own path.

Whatever the case, backing out now was impossible. "This better be worth all the hassle," I said as I undid the string of my spatial bag and slid the ring from my finger before handing them over.

"Is that it? What about your weapon?" the dragon asked with a raised brow.

"I don't have a weapon, other than my fists when I have to fight. I prefer not to, though," I explained.

"You grow more interesting by the moment, sapling. Very well, prepare yourself!" it said, sweeping away my spatial artifacts that vanished into its claws and striking me with its tail.

The air was knocked from my lungs and I was sent flying into the wall once again. This time instead of smashing into the hard stone where the characters for spring and autumn were inscribed, I just kept flying.

I tried to use my spiritual senses to look around me, given that all my eyes could see was a blinding golden light, but it was equally futile. All I could sense in every direction was a dazzling mass of pure spiritual energy.

My flight ended as suddenly as it had begun. There was no violent crash landing. Instead I simply found myself standing at the base of a towering mountain that seemed to stretch all the way to the heavens.

Was this the fabled Mount Tai?

The sides of the mountain were covered in a myriad of trees, flowers, and rock formations. I even saw a river flowing down and curving around to the unseen side of the slope.

The sun floated at its zenith, casting a golden glow across the landscape. The air shimmered in the sweltering heat of summer. Nature was in full bloom and I could hear the chirping of birds.

If I didn't already know this was a trial, I would think I had been transported to an idyllic natural paradise. Once again there was no clue as to how I was supposed to proceed. Behind me and to either side I could see rolling hills stretching out into the distance. I could even see what seemed to be a city dozens of kilometres away.

I doubted it was real, but it made it feel as though I hadn't been sent into a trial but transported to another world. With no obvious objective, I figured that taking the simplest route was the best option.

So I began to climb the mountain. It wasn't difficult to start, there was a path leading towards the base of the slope and then up into the forest that started about a quarter of the way up. Beyond that it was hard to see, but I had to assume there was a way up.

I was no stranger to climbing mountains, having already conquered the Jagged Sword Peak. A smile appeared on my lips as I remembered claiming the Ten Ascensions Lily and breaking through to Middle-stage Qi Gathering.

Would this mountain be the place I made my breakthrough from the Qi Gathering Realm to the Foundation Building Realm? I was reminded of the pressure in my dantian, constantly demanding I advance and release it.

However, I knew there was still a piece missing before I could do so. If I tried now, I had a feeling that I would fail and be forced to start over from one-star Qi Gathering.

That was something I had to avoid at all costs. Not because I particularly cared about the strength I had cultivated, but because I didn't only have my own life to think about now.

Without a sufficiently powerful leader, the disciples of my sect wouldn't be safe. I was still lacking in that aspect and couldn't afford to lose what little strength I had achieved.

The walk up the first part of the mountain was pleasant. Rather than a trial I felt as if the black dragon had sent me for a leisurely stroll in the countryside.

A bead of sweat rolled down my cheek. The heat of the sun wasn't unpleasant, but it was beyond a typical summer's day. Ignoring it I continued onwards.

I soon reached the border of the forest I'd spotted earlier. Up close it couldn't be further from the idyllic scene I'd envisioned.

The bark of the trees was pale and sickly, cracked and coated in dried sap. The leaves were a pale green, almost yellow. The roots were withered where they poked up through the ground.

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I spotted a squirrel sitting in the branches of a tree, staring down at me with a wild look in its eyes. There was no curiosity, only craving. Hunger.

Its fur was matted and patchwork, showing bare skin in places. Everything in this place was unhealthy. Despite my apprehensions I continued upwards, entering the forest.

No matter how far I walked, it was the same. Dying trees, unhealthy animals, and a complete lack of vibrancy.

A few times I'd even been attacked by a rabid squirrel or malnourished wolf. Rather than fight back, I knocked them out with a single strike and then healed them before continuing on my journey.

Killing animals that hadn't even begun to cultivate and become beasts would have been needlessly cruel. The increase in my qi was negligible, but I still felt it was worth doing.

After healing more than ten animals in this way, I started to wonder if my healing technique would work on plants and trees. I'd never tried it before, but surely it was possible?

My compassion didn't quite stretch to plants, but it was depressing wandering through a dying forest in the sweltering heat. The humidity in the air made it feel more like a jungle, though it lacked any of the defining features.

I knelt down beside the nearest tree. Like the others it had withered roots and branches, dry bark, and pale leaves. Clear signs it was lacking nutrition or infected.

On Earth I would have had no confidence treating a plant in this manner, but this world was different. Plants could cultivate and develop sentience and spirituality, so why shouldn't I be able to heal them using my spiritual techniques?

I gathered my qi and reached out to the base of its trunk. As my palm touched the bark I used my healing technique, allowing my medicinal qi to seep into the tree.

Part of me had expected it to fail instantly, but I was glad to be proven wrong. My technique took hold and I observed as my qi spread through the tree.

The vast majority of the qi would target the areas most damaged in the patient, so I was surprised when almost all of the qi raced up the trunk and then burst out of the canopy into the sky. I waited for a few moments, but it never returned.

I never received the familiar burst of qi that accompanied a successful use of the technique, either. I frowned. This was wrong.

The two outcomes I had expected were for the technique to either fail immediately, or for it to take hold and heal the tree. This was beyond my expectations and understanding.

Thinking that it might just be this one tree which was odd, I tried to heal a few other trees. However, the result was the same every time.

Worse, the heat of the sun had started to become overbearing. I was dripping sweat and my breaths felt difficult to take. Given that I was a peak Qi Gathering Cultivator, a mortal might have died from such extreme conditions.

I had a sudden thought about the strange phenomenon in the forest, my gaze darting up to where the sun hung in the sky. Was the odd weather the cause of the forest's distress?

It would explain the sickly leaves and the withered roots, but it wouldn't explain the odd behaviour of my healing technique. Even if the sun was the cause of the damage, my technique should have restored the tree to peak health until the weather wore it down once more.

Instead my qi had vanished into the sky without returning. With no other explanation I was forced to consider the possibility that this was part of the trial.

Simply climbing to the peak of the mountain would have been far too simple to receive the full inheritance of a nascent soul sage. Was my task to heal the entire forest at once?

That didn't make sense to me. I had seen barely any trace of healing techniques in this world and if such an outstanding sage had existed, practicing a wholly unique dao, he surely would be a legendary figure in the Celestial Jade Empire's history.

I had never heard his name until I entered the Blossoming Heavens, however, so that couldn't be the case. Even so, that was the only method I could think of.

Then again, I might be getting distracted. To be certain, all I had to do was make it to the other side of the forest and keep advancing.

If I was able to do so while leaving the forest in its sickly condition it would prove that there was no need to bother healing it. After all, I was only a doctor, not a miracle worker.

No Qi Gathering cultivator could control the weather. That was possible only for Nascent Soul sages and Divine Beasts who had comprehended the truths of the world.

It took me another few hours to reach the end of the forest. That shocked me given how fast I could move now. I was probably faster than a bullet train.

The heat had grown more oppressive with every step I took and by the time I reached my goal I was forced to maintain a constant barrier of qi around my body in order to resist its effects.

Without the barrier my skin would blister and peel away, as though I was once again caught in the dragon's flames. To my dismay, upon reaching the far edge of the forest, all I could see was a towering cliff face.

It was perfectly smooth without any handholds. Climbing it would be impossible unless I used qi to glue myself to the surface. I looked upwards, unable to see where it ended.

I might run out of qi before reaching the top. Even worse, when I placed a hand against the rock it caught fire! I was able to purge the flames with a burst of qi and heal the damage with a single breath, but that was still absurd.

I spent the next few hours wandering along the cliff, thinking that there was no way it stretched all the way around the mountain. To my dismay that was indeed the case.

Apart from a thundering waterfall I encountered on the opposite side of the mountain, which fed a large river that wound its way down into the valleys below, there was only the smooth rock face.

That did give me one other path to the summit, but it was far from an appealing one. I would have to swim up a waterfall, fighting against the current, in order to reach the top.

It reminded me of the story of the carp climbing the waterfall to leap over the dragon gate. I was no carp and certainly no dragon, even though that black dragon had called me a 'sapling', whatever that meant.

Climbing the smooth, burning rock face would probably be easier than swimming up the raging waterfall. The way it crashed against the pond at its base with the sound of thunder made me shiver.

My skeleton would be crushed before I could take my first stroke.

With two impossible paths forward presented to me, I was forced to return to my original fear—I had to heal the forest to continue. Actually it was possible that 'healing' wasn't the right idea.

Given the name of the sage whose inheritance this was, it was more likely I had to figure out something related to the cycle of the seasons. Spring Autumn Sage. Spring Autumn Palace.

However, if I had to make an educated guess then the place I was currently trapped in resembled the peak of a sweltering summer instead. Was my task to figure out how to advance the forest from summer and into autumn?

That would make a lot of sense, but at the same time it was hopeless. I had absolutely no concept of a dao of seasons.

My own cultivation was firmly rooted in my physique and my knowledge of healing. Judging a fish by its ability to climb a tree would always result in it seeming like a talentless fool.

So despite the fact it seemed to be an impossible task, I decided that I would heal the entire forest the only way I knew how. I would decipher the mystery of my vanishing qi and restore the ecosystem to a flourishing state.

It wasn't the type of healing challenge I was used to, but I thought it might serve to broaden my horizons and deepen my comprehension of my fledgling dao. As I made that decision and turned back to the forest, I felt the spark in my mind become more solid and increase in size.

It seemed that the spark of my dao agreed with my choice. There was no better way to confirm it was the correct path. This forest would be my biggest patient ever, but I wasn't nervous whatsoever. On the contrary, I was excited for the challenge.

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