61: Chapter 61 Exploring the Lake Bottom, Obtaining Star Essence, and a Change in Space

The star pattern steel jade shards at the bottom of Zhuixing Lake were like a small pebble tossed into the tranquil life of Ye Qing's cultivation.

The ripples were not large, but they were worth exploring.

In the following days, apart from his routine cultivation and research, he added a new activity—exploring the lake bottom.

It was still that same flat-bottomed boat, and fishing still served as his cover.

Yet his Divine Sense was like the finest fishing net, slowly sweeping over every inch of the lakebed beneath the boat.

At first, he only searched the waters near Hunyuan Island, but the harvest was meager, mostly just fingernail-sized shards of star pattern steel jade.

Gradually, he expanded his range, heading towards the center of the lake and several dangerous areas marked on the map with undercurrents and whirlpools.

There were many Yao Beast in the lake, mostly First Stage, with the occasional Second Stage, usually lurking in places with slightly denser Spiritual Qi or lush aquatic plants.

Adhering to the principle of 'if they don't provoke me, I won't provoke them,' Ye Qing tried his best to avoid them.

When he encountered those blind enough to attack him, he would conveniently deal with them, collecting their corpses and Materials into his space to supplement his 'provisions.'

On this day, he steered his boat to a patch of water east of the lake's center.

The lake surface here was wide, the water a deep dark blue, and the lakebed dropped sharply to form a deep valley.

The map marked this place as having undercurrents and whirlpools, where ships often sank, and rarely did any Cultivator come near.

Ye Qing extended his Divine Sense and indeed sensed turbulent currents and rampant undercurrents at the bottom of the lake; even the Divine Sense of an ordinary Foundation Establishment Cultivator would find it difficult to probe deeply.

However, his Divine Sense far exceeded those of the same rank, and with the augmentation of the Void Dao Seed, he was particularly sensitive to energy fluctuations.

After carefully sensing for a moment, he detected that the fluctuation of star power coming from a certain part of the deep valley was clearer and richer than any he had discovered before.

"There is something good."

Ye Qing's spirits lifted. He put away his fishing gear, cast the Water Avoidance Technique, and his figure quietly submerged into the lake water.

Diving down several tens of zhang, the light gradually dimmed, the water pressure increased, and the undercurrents tore at him like invisible giant hands.

A faint chaotic spiritual light shimmered around his body, isolating the water flow and pressure, and he moved like a fish, diving towards the direction he had sensed.

Soon, he arrived before a cliff on one side of the deep valley.

At the base of the cliff was a narrow crevice, half-hidden by aquatic plants and silt, only a foot wide and bottomless.

That clear fluctuation of star power was coming from deep within the crevice.

The crevice was narrow, and there were undercurrents surging out from within, with considerable force.

Ye Qing did not mind. With a slight sway of his body and a faint cracking sound from his bones, his whole person seemed to shrink by a circle. He used the Bone Shrinking Technique and easily squeezed into the crevice.

It was very narrow at first, but after traveling a few zhang, it suddenly opened up.

It was a natural stone grotto completely submerged by the lake water.

The grotto was not large, only a few zhang in circumference, and a weak light from the sky seeped in through the rock crevices at the top, making the water shimmer.

In the center of the grotto, there was a small pile of shimmering silver Ore!

These Ores ranged from the size of a fist to a pigeon's egg. They were pure silver-white, their surfaces covered in natural star patterns and specks of golden light, emitting a rich star power and the sharp aura of metal, illuminating the surrounding lake water in silver.

"star pattern steel jade! So much of it! And the quality is a cut above those shards from before!"

Joy flashed in Ye Qing's eyes, and he swam over quickly.

Upon closer inspection, in the center of the Ore pile, there were a few crystals with a deeper color, almost dark silver, with star patterns as complex as a galaxy, and the star power they emitted almost condensed into a tangible halo.

"This is... a companion mineral of star pattern steel jade, star pattern jade marrow? Good stuff! The star power contained in this item is even purer, and it also carries a trace of jade-like warmth. It is an excellent material for refining star-attribute Magic Treasure or setting up Formations to channel star power!"

Without hesitation, he waved his hand and collected the entire pile of Ore, along with those few pieces of star pattern jade marrow, into the waste area of his space.

The space instantly sent back an unprecedented, intense throb of joy!

These high-quality star Ores were clearly of great benefit to it.

After finishing the harvest, Ye Qing did not leave immediately but used his Divine Sense to carefully scan every corner of the grotto to confirm there were no omissions.

Just as he was about to exit, his gaze swept over the original location of the Ore pile, and he suddenly paused.

There, on the surface of the exposed rock, was an extremely fine, straight, smooth cut, as if sliced by a sharp blade.

The cut was very fresh and did not look naturally formed.

Ye Qing swam closer and touched the edge of the cut with his finger, feeling a trace of extremely faint, almost dissipated residual spatial fluctuation.

"This is... a trace of spatial cutting? And the technique is quite brilliant; the residual fluctuation carries an ancient and profound aura, definitely not something done by modern Cultivators."

His heart chilled. Could the star pattern steel jade Ore in this grotto have been 'cut' and piled here by some existence proficient in spatial power?

Was it an ancient almighty? Or some kind of spatial-attribute Yao Beast? Or... related to the legend of the 'falling star' of Zhuixing Lake?

There were too few clues to infer.

Ye Qing carefully noted the position, shape, and residual fluctuation characteristics of this cut, leaving it for future investigation.

Then, he no longer lingered, quickly exited the crevice, surfaced, and steered his boat back to Hunyuan Island.

Returning to his Immortal Cave, he activated the Formation.

His consciousness impatiently sank into the space.

He saw that the pile of star pattern steel jade and star pattern jade marrow was floating above the waste area, wrapped in spatial power, slowly rotating, as wisps of pure star power and metallic essence were rapidly extracted and absorbed.

The space, like a long drought meeting sweet rain, emitted a comfortable hum.

The gray mist at the edge of the two-hundred-zhang space churned wildly, expanding outward at a speed visible to the naked eye!

Two hundred and ten zhang... two hundred and thirty zhang... two hundred and fifty zhang!

It only slowly ceased its expansion when it reached nearly two hundred and eighty zhang in circumference!

The central black soil surged as well, now over sixty zhang square!

The chaotic jade luster flowed on the land, and the dense Spiritual Qi almost turned into liquid, forming several small pools of spiritual liquid on the ground, shimmering with ripples.

The Floating Landmass expanded to five zhang square; upon it, the moonlight star seed shone with silver brilliance that reached the sky, the water jade bodhi spread its green leaves, the jade marrow ganoderma and soul soothing flower glowed with spiritual light, and the earth vein array core mushroom stood thick and imposing, forming an even more spectacular scroll of spiritual plants.

More importantly, after absorbing so much high-quality star power, the 'sky' above the space had changed.

The originally soft and uniform light now faintly condensed into dots of star shadows; although weak and blurry, they were truly, slowly rotating and flickering, sprinkling wisps of pure star power, which intertwined with the silver brilliance of the moonlight jade tree to nourish all things below.

"The space... has begun to evolve star shadows on its own? Although it is only a prototype, it means that the rules of the space are more perfect, and it has taken another step towards a real world! Moreover, the star power emitted by these star shadows can be directly absorbed by spiritual plants or sensed by me; it has infinite wonderful uses!"

Ye Qing was shocked. This harvest had promoted the growth of the space too much.

The feedback energy was vast as a tide, not only pure but also carrying a clear Dao rhyme of eternal stars and the true intent of sharp metal, continuously pouring into his limbs and bones, washing his Foundation, nourishing his Physical Body, and tempering his Divine Soul.

The barrier of the Foundation Establishment Mid Stage Perfection was already clearly visible and tottering under the push of this power.

Ye Qing did not rush to break through but suppressed his cultivation, continuing to guide the energy, repeatedly solidifying his Foundation, and polishing every bit of improvement to the extreme.

What he wanted was for things to come to fruition naturally, a perfect Breakthrough.

Exiting the space, he took out those few most precious 'star pattern jade marrow.'

The jade marrow felt warm to the touch, containing a galaxy within, and the star power almost wanted to burst out.

"This item can be directly absorbed to assist in comprehending the Dao of the stars and strengthening the Metal Spiritual Root. But it is of greater value when used to refine Magic Treasure or as a Formation eye."

Ye Qing pondered for a moment and decided to keep it.

He now had Void Finger and Great Void Cleaving Slash for attacks, Chaos Spiritual Shield and Lesser Hunyuan Five Elements Earth Vein Array for defense, Wind Spirit Wings and Void Step for escape techniques, Five Elements Demon Sealing Chain for control, and various Medicinal Pill and Talismans for support; his system was initially perfected.

What was missing was a powerful Lifebound Treasure embryo that could grow with him, as well as a portable Immortal Cave Formation that combined offense, defense, and concealment.

"Perhaps, I can try using star pattern jade marrow as the main material, combined with other rare Materials, to refine a Lifebound Treasure embryo with star and void attributes, as well as a set of detachable and combinable 'zhou tian star formation flags'?"

Once this thought arose, it was difficult to suppress.

However, refining a Lifebound Treasure and Advanced Formation Flags was not a one-day task; it required long-term planning, collecting more auxiliary Materials, and improving his Artifact Refining and Formation skills.

He carefully put away the star pattern jade marrow, leaving it for the future.

In the next few days, Ye Qing stayed indoors, fully digesting the improvements brought by this harvest.

The star shadows in the space gradually became more solid, and the sprinkled star power made all the spiritual plants grow better, especially the moonlight star seed, which, under the dual nourishment of stars and moon, had sprouted its second pair of tender leaves, interlaced with silver brilliance and star specks, looking quite beautiful.

Ye Qing's own comprehension of star power became increasingly profound. He tried to integrate a trace of the true intent of eternal stars into the Hunxu Yandao Scripture. When the Cultivation Technique was running, his mana faintly carried star light spots, adding more stability and mystery.

On this day, he was in his Immortal Cave trying to combine star power with Void Step, deducing a short-distance 'Star Shifting Step' that could use stars for positioning, when the Formation outside the Immortal Cave suddenly sent a warning fluctuation.

It was not that someone had intruded into the Formation's range, but that the Formation sensed violent spiritual power collisions and Yao Beast roars coming from the lake surface not far outside Hunyuan Island.

A battle was taking place, and the commotion was not small.

Ye Qing frowned slightly, walked to the window of the Immortal Cave, and looked out through the Formation's light curtain.

He saw that on the lake surface a few miles away, spiritual light was flashing, and water waves were surging to the sky.

Three Human Race Cultivators were fiercely fighting with two huge Yao Beast.