47: Chapter 47 A Chance Encounter on the Road, Exploring an Ancient Cave, and Advancing in the Path of Array Formations

Ye Qing left the Black Water Swamp without rushing at full speed.

Having just entered the Foundation Establishment Stage, he still needed to consolidate his Realm, adapt to long-distance flight, and observe the terrain along the way to collect information and verify the knowledge he had read in miscellaneous notes on earth vein geomancy and other manuscripts.

He maintained the flight speed expected of an ordinary Early Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator, traveling southeast at a steady pace.

His aura was restrained to the Early Stage Foundation Establishment level, his appearance maintained that weathered and cold look, and several ordinary Storage Pouch items hung from his waist, making him look like a cautious, solitary Loose Cultivator.

Along the way, mountains, rivers, dense forests, and swamps continuously swept by beneath him.

He released his Divine Sense to maintain a radius of fifty zhang around him; this allowed for early warnings without excessive consumption.

The Divine Sense of the Foundation Establishment Stage was as solid as substance, with perception that was more delicate and nuanced, capable of clearly capturing the low growls of Yao Beasts in the mountains, the crawling of insects and ants underground, and even the subtle flow of moisture and Spiritual Qi within the soil.

Occasionally, he would lower his flight light and land in places where the Spiritual Qi seemed slightly abnormal, using his Divine Sense to investigate carefully.

Sometimes it was just some insignificant low-grade Spiritual Plants or low-quality Ore; he would collect them casually, better than nothing, or let the space absorb them to turn into meager nutrients.

Sometimes he would encounter other Cultivators; most were small groups of Qi Refining Stage Yao Beast hunters, or other solitary Foundation Establishment Loose Cultivators.

Sensing each other's aura from afar, they would tacitly detour, not disturbing one another; in this wilderness, unprovoked approach often meant hostility.

This day, he flew over a desolate mountain range called "Withered Bone Ridge."

This ridge had craggy rocks and sparse vegetation, the air was filled with a faint scent of sulfur and decay, and the Spiritual Qi was thin and impure—not a good place; the map only had a rough annotation with no special description.

Ye Qing intended to fly directly over it, but paused slightly when his Divine Sense swept over a shaded mountain col below.

Deep in the col, near the cliff face, there was a faint, intermittent, and non-natural fluctuation of spiritual power; this fluctuation was extremely obscure; if not for his condensed Divine Sense, his sensitivity to the fluctuations of Formation and Restriction, and the fact that he was at the right angle, it would have been extremely difficult to detect.

"Is it a residual Restriction? Or a naturally formed vortex of Spiritual Qi?"

His heart stirred, he lowered his flight light, landed silently on a higher ridge, restrained his aura, and observed carefully.

The source of the fluctuation was located in the deepest part of the col, hidden by several collapsed boulders and dense withered vines; sensing carefully, the fluctuation carried a trace of an ancient, decayed sense of "Sealing" and "Concealment."

"It looks like… an ancient, crumbling concealment Restriction? There is something behind it."

Ye Qing became interested; he did not approach rashly, but first used his Divine Sense to carefully scan the surroundings for several miles to ensure no other Cultivators or powerful Yao Beasts were lurking, and he also observed the fluctuation for a long time, judging that it was indeed extremely weak and had no active aggression.

Only then did he use "Void Step," his figure flickering several times to avoid potential warning traps, and arrived silently in front of the cliff.

Pushing aside the withered vines and brushing the dust off the boulders, a narrow crack that could only allow one person to pass was revealed on the cliff; on the edge of the crack were broken and dim rune traces that were almost integrated with the rock—these were the remnants of the concealment Restriction; at this moment, the spiritual light of the Restriction was almost exhausted, leaving only a faint fluctuation as proof of its former existence.

The crack was pitch black inside, and his Divine Sense felt a sense of stagnation when probing in; Ye Qing pondered for a moment, condensed a point of light at his fingertip to illuminate the path, and squeezed into the crack sideways.

The crack was very narrow at first, just enough for a person; after walking a few dozen steps, it suddenly opened up.

Before him was a natural stone cave about ten zhang in circumference; it was dry inside, the air slightly stale, and there was no sign of living creatures; in the center was a stone table and a stone stool, both covered in dust; in the corner lay a few weathered beast bones and an overturned, dim, and worn-out meditation cushion.

Clearly, this place was once a simple Immortal Cave for a Cultivator, but it had been abandoned for a long time.

Ye Qing's gaze swept over it and finally settled on the seemingly ordinary cliff face behind the stone table.

Under his perception of the Void Realm, he could vaguely "see" that behind the cliff face, there was a small, secret room sealed by a more powerful Restriction! The decayed Restriction he had sensed earlier was just the outer concealment part; this inner layer of Restriction, though also dim in spiritual light, was still stubbornly operating, sealing the entrance.

"A cave within a cave, a dwelling within a dwelling; it seems the original owner of this place was also a cautious person."

He walked to the cliff face and examined it carefully; there were no traces on the wall; when his Divine Sense touched it, he felt a tough barrier, carrying the heavy protective power of the Earth and Metal elements, as well as a faint, time-worn sense of "Sealing."

The Restriction itself was not particularly profound, but the technique was experienced, closely integrated with the earth veins, and borrowed the thin Earth and Metal Spiritual Qi of this place to maintain its operation; without the correct method to open it, or sufficient brute force to break it, it would be difficult to enter.

Brute force would cause too much commotion, which was not what he wanted.

Ye Qing stood still for a moment, his mind sinking into the "Void Dao Seed" within his Divine Soul, recalling his learned knowledge of Formation and his understanding of the "Lesser Five Elements Prohibition Formation."

"The core of this Restriction lies in 'Sealing' and 'Protection,' borrowing the Earth and Metal power of the earth veins; if I can interfere with its connection to the earth veins, or find its weak point in the Five Elements generation and Restriction, and penetrate it with clever force, I might be able to open it silently."

He extended his right hand, his five fingers pressing lightly against the cliff; his mana output was not a hard strike, but rather like the gentlest flowing water, slowly penetrating and sensing the internal structure and spiritual power flow nodes of the Restriction.

At the same time, a wisp of Divine Sense attached to the mana, meticulously tracing the rune trajectory of the Restriction, looking for a possible "Gate of Life" or "Qi Eye."

Time passed bit by bit; Ye Qing, like the most skilled locksmith, patiently probed, analyzed, and deduced; the powerful Divine Sense of the Foundation Establishment Stage and the spatial insight brought by the "Void Dao Seed" allowed him to clearly grasp the most subtle changes in spiritual power within the Restriction.

Half an hour later, a flash of insight appeared in his eyes; the five fingers pressing on the cliff suddenly vibrated gently at a specific frequency; his mana also transformed into an extremely subtle fluctuation, carrying a trace of "Water Element" penetration and "Wood Element" vitality, and quietly invaded along a calculated gap in the flow of the Restriction's spiritual power.

"Click."

A faint, almost imperceptible sound, like a mechanism loosening.

The seemingly seamless cliff face in front of him suddenly rippled like water, and then slid silently to the sides, revealing a narrow entrance only three feet high and two feet wide; behind the entrance was a smaller secret room, less than a zhang in size.

A more intense, yet also more stale, dusty atmosphere, mixed with a faint scent of medicine and Spiritual Qi, rushed toward him.

Ye Qing did not enter immediately; he first scanned the interior of the secret room carefully with his Divine Sense to confirm there were no traps, and only then did he crouch and squeeze in.

The secret room was empty, with only a small stone altar in the center; on the altar lay three things.

On the left was a black Jade Slip box the size of a palm, the lid tightly closed, with no spiritual energy leaking out.

In the middle was an ancient Jade Slip that was gray-white in color, covered in cracks on the surface, and seemed as if it would shatter at any moment.

On the right was a small bronze tripod, half a foot high, with an ancient design, three legs and two ears, covered in verdigris; the tripod was covered in thick dust and had no spiritual light.

Ye Qing's gaze first fell on the black Jade Slip box; he cautiously wrapped it with mana and gently lifted the lid.

The box was lined with old silk, on which lay three pills the size of dragon eyes, perfectly round, dark gold in color, with natural cloud patterns on the surface; the pills had no luster and gave off no medicinal fragrance, as if they were just mud pills.

But when Ye Qing's Divine Sense swept over them, he could sense that sealed within the pills was an extremely condensed, heavy Earth Element spiritual power and vigorous vitality.

"This is… 'Wutu Life-Generating Pill'? No, the pill patterns are wrong, they are more ancient… It seems to be some kind of ancient pill that focuses on the Earth element, emphasizing consolidating the foundation and strengthening the Physical Body? It's just that too much time has passed, the medicinal power is restrained and sealed, and it requires special techniques or sufficiently pure spiritual power to be activated."

He did not recognize this pill, but he could feel its extraordinariness, so he carefully put it away with the box.

Next, he picked up the gray-white cracked Jade Slip; the Jade Slip felt cold to the touch, and the texture was unique; he tried to sink his Divine Sense into it.

The information within the Jade Slip was severely damaged, and a large amount of content had dissipated with the cracks; but the remaining parts made his heart tremble.

This was actually a Jade Slip that recorded a portion of the Legacy of an ancient "Earth Vein Spirit-Locking Formation"! The concept of using earth veins as the Formation base, mountains and rivers as Formation patterns, locking the spiritual Opportunity and fortune of a place, integrating offense and defense, and being invisible—these concepts were far more profound and mysterious than any Formation he had learned before! Although it was incomplete, the concepts involved, such as earth vein geomancy, spiritual Opportunity guidance, and Formation connection, had immeasurable value for him to perfect the "Five Elements Void Prohibition Formation" and even to set up more powerful Formations in the future!

"It really is an ancient Cultivator's Immortal Cave! The value of this Jade Slip Legacy is not necessarily lower than those ancient pills!"

He suppressed his excitement and firmly memorized the content of the Jade Slip; the Jade Slip itself was on the verge of shattering and could not be taken away; after recording the content, he carefully put it back to its original place before it completely disintegrated.

Finally, he looked at the small bronze tripod; this tripod looked like an ordinary object, but being able to survive the passage of time and be collected by an ancient Cultivator here, it must have something special.

He picked up the small tripod, it felt heavy in his hand; brushing away the dust, the body of the tripod was engraved with vague cloud-thunder patterns and some ancient seal characters that were difficult to identify; probing with his Divine Sense, the inside of the tripod was empty, and there was no Spiritual Qi reaction.

But when he tried to inject a wisp of mana into the tripod, a sudden change occurred!

The small bronze tripod shook slightly, and those vague cloud-thunder patterns and seal characters on the tripod suddenly lit up with an extremely faint, almost imperceptible cyan spiritual light! At the same time, the dust accumulated in the tripod moved without wind, swirling and dancing, faintly forming a miniature, constantly emerging and disappearing vortex of cloud energy!

A faint, but definitely existing fluctuation of "Storage," "Refining," and "Space" came from the tripod!

"This tripod… is not a Medicine Cauldron or an Artifact Refining Cauldron, but a special spatial Magical Artifact from ancient times, or one that combines simple refining functions?! It's just that it is severely damaged, its spiritual power is nearly exhausted, and less than one percent of its functions remain!"

Ye Qing was surprised; the design philosophy of ancient spatial Magical Artifacts was completely different from today's Storage Pouch units, often carrying other miraculous functions; it was a pity that this tripod was too damaged to be used.

However, the trace of "Space" attribute material and Dao rhythm remaining on the tripod body made the space within his body show clear interest.

Ye Qing did not hesitate; he held the small tripod and communicated with the space with his mind.

The space exerted a suction force, but it was not absorbing the entire tripod, but rather targeting the trace of ancient spatial Dao rhythm and special materials contained within the tripod body.

Wisps of extremely faint spatial Origin power, carrying the aura of ancient times, were slowly drawn from the tripod body, submerged into Ye Qing's palm, and disappeared.

The small bronze tripod lost its last bit of spirituality at a speed visible to the naked eye, became dim and lusterless, and finally, with a "crack" sound, turned into a pile of worthless bronze debris, scattering on the ground.

After the space absorbed this trace of ancient spatial Dao rhythm, it did not expand immediately, but Ye Qing could feel that the gray fog at the edge of the space seemed to solidify a bit, and his control over spatial power felt vaguely smoother; more importantly, the space seemed to have "recorded" the refining concept and Dao rhythm fragments of this kind of ancient spatial object, which might be beneficial for future evolution.

"Better than nothing, this can be considered a gain."

Ye Qing cleaned up the debris and carefully checked the secret room again to ensure no omissions, and only then did he exit.

Returning to the outer stone cave, he burned all the sundries that might carry the original owner's aura, such as the stone table, stone stool, beast bones, and meditation cushion, into ashes with True Fire, and used mana to shake them, completely erasing any potentially remaining traces.

Finally, he came to the entrance of the cave, waved his hand to cast a burst of mana, completely destroying the already dilapidated concealment Restriction, and shook part of the cave entrance to collapse, blocking it with rubble, making it look like a natural collapse.

After doing all this, he flashed away, left "Withered Bone Ridge," and continued to fly toward Liuyun City.

Inside his body, the one hundred and fifty zhang Cave Heaven was quiet; the newly obtained ancient pills, the Formation Legacy, and that trace of ancient spatial Dao rhythm had all become provisions on his steady Dao path.

Especially the partial Legacy of the "Earth Vein Spirit-Locking Formation," which raised his understanding of Formation Dao to a higher level; while flying along the way, he had already begun to combine the mountains and terrain he saw, deducing and verifying in his mind, and his accomplishments in Formation Dao were rapidly advancing through subtle influence.

The road ahead was long, and the Dao path was not lonely.

The accidental Legacy of the ancient cave was just like an embellishment on the journey, proving that Opportunity is everywhere, and only those who possess both strength and wisdom can obtain it.

Foundation Establishment Cultivator Ye Qing, stepping on the flight light, walked leisurely among the clouds.