150: Chapter 150 Cold Moon Silence

"What a marvelous spiritual land."

Li Changqing sighed softly, secretly astonished in his heart.

He had been in the Taixu Secret Realm for over a month. Along the way, he had grown accustomed to dangerous places filled with malevolence and rampant Yao Beasts, subconsciously assuming that the entire Secret Realm was a purgatory of slaughter. He had not expected that at the end of this Burning Heaven Red Lake dead zone, there would be such a tranquil and profound cave-heaven lake region.

Taking out a remnant map to compare and combining it with the scattered legends and records of the Secret Realm, he instantly realized that this place must be the Cold Moon Silent Marsh within the Multi-Origin Lake Group.

Legend had it that the Cold Moon Silent Marsh was born when the Secret Realm first opened, formed from the essence of water and wood between heaven and earth. It was one of the few places within the Multi-Origin Lake Group region of the Taixu Secret Realm that was rich in Spiritual Qi and harbored supreme Opportunity, yet for a Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator, it was also a dead zone hiding lethal dangers.

Everyone knew that blessed lands in Secret Realms were always accompanied by crises; the richer the spiritual aura, the stronger the entrenched Yao Beasts, and the more terrifying the hidden dangers.

The Burning Heaven Red Lake only had endless tides of low-level fish; its advantage lay in their shocking numbers and relentless pestering, but there were no top-tier fierce creatures holding the fort.

However, this Cold Moon Silent Marsh, in addition to first-order Yao Beasts, was also inhabited by many second-order Yao Beasts and contained special areas hiding ancient Restrictions and secrets.

With this thought, Li Changqing reined in his light joy, his expression turning solemn again, and the aura around him instantly retracted to the extreme.

He closed his eyes slightly, and his vast Divine Sense spilled out like mercury covering the ground, sweeping across the sky as he cautiously probed the surrounding waters.

As his Divine Sense swept past, the entire Cold Moon Silent Marsh was utterly tranquil; the lake surface was calm, the water and wood Spiritual Qi flowed slowly, and one could not hear a shred of Yao Beast roaring, nor see any sign of living creatures stirring. It was quiet to the point of being eerie.

The more deathly silent it was, the more it hid murderous intent.

Li Changqing was well-versed in the ways of danger in Secret Realms and dared not be the least bit lax.

He could clearly perceive that while the lake surface appeared peaceful, countless obscure auras of living creatures lay dormant deep underwater. These auras were deep and restrained, flickering in and out of existence. Unlike the Burning Scale Fish, which were overtly malevolent, dull, and violent, these creatures all hid their auras and harbored murderous intent, with intelligence far surpassing the former.

Among them, there were even several unfathomable, obscure, and vast terrifying pressures slumbering beneath thousands of feet of lake water. Even separated by endless lake water, it still made him, a Foundation Establishment Late Stage Cultivator, feel a slight tremor in his heart.

"There are several second-order Yao Beasts, and there is no lack of second-order Late Stage fierce creatures, with even second-order Peak Yao Beasts close to the third order lying in wait."

Li Changqing's eyes narrowed slightly as he quickly judged the approximate strength level of the underwater Yao Beasts.

The Yao Beasts in the waters of the Cold Moon Silent Marsh were all born from the rich water and wood spiritual charm; their Physical Body was tough, their innate Divine Ability was exquisite, and their intelligence was extremely high. They excelled at hiding, ambushing, and controlling water to trap enemies. In one-on-one combat, they far surpassed the Burning Scale Fish, and once they surrounded and killed in groups, the level of danger was by no means comparable to the Red Lake fish tides.

For the sake of safety, he did not rashly fly low over the water. Instead, he remained suspended dozens of feet in the air, stepping on the qingming sword, with a faint sword qi lingering around his body, ready to deal with sudden changes at any time.

He pondered for a moment and decided on a method of travel.

The Cold Moon Silent Marsh was extremely vast, with countless fierce creatures at the bottom. Flying low over the water made one extremely prone to underwater ambushes and falling into water-based trap Formation.

There was no air-Restriction Formation here. By traveling at high altitude and looking down, he could capture anomalies in the water flow and Yao Beast auras in advance, avoiding most of the risk of ambush.

At that moment, Li Changqing steadied his mind and flew his sword up to a hundred feet in the air, avoiding the coverage of the water vapor Formation on the lake surface. He set his sights on the eastern direction deep within the Secret Realm, turning into an ethereal green rainbow as he sped along at a constant speed.

As he flew along, the scenery in his field of vision became increasingly profound.

Beneath the clear lake surface, one could see thousands of strange-shaped water and wood spiritual plants swaying gently with the waves.

The century-old water jade grass that was glowing green throughout, the Moon Heart Lotus bearing glowing white moon essence fruits, and the purple-gold spiritual bamboo rooted at the bottom of the lake were all mid-to-high-grade spiritual materials rare in the outside world, growing everywhere and visible everywhere.

Occasionally, schools of water-patterned fish shimmering with spiritual light and silver-white spiritual shrimp would pass through from the bottom of the lake. Their movements were swift, and their auras were pure; they were all spiritual objects that grew by absorbing moon essence Spiritual Qi, without a shred of malevolence, appearing as a completely different species from the brutal and bloodthirsty Burning Scale Fish of the Red Lake.

Along the way, there were also scattered small islands in the center of the lake. The islands were paved with blue-white jade, covered with exotic flowers and grasses, surrounded by spiritual mist, with moon essence falling down and Immortal Qi swirling, just like Immortal islands in the mortal world.

It was just that all the islands were deathly silent, with no human footprints or birdsong; only the spiritual charm flowed, and the quietness permeated with a stifling eeriness.

Li Changqing flew his sword rapidly for half an hour, his journey smooth and waveless, without encountering a shred of attack.

However, his Divine Sense remained tense, never relaxing. The more peaceful and smooth things were, the heavier his vigilance became.

Suddenly, his flying figure came to a sudden halt, stopping rapidly in mid-air, his gaze suddenly locking onto a giant lake island several miles to his front left.

That was the largest solitary island he had seen since he started his journey through the entire Cold Moon Silent Marsh.

This island was several thousand feet in radius, far exceeding the small Red Lake island where he had previously picked the red flame nether lotus.

In the center of the island stood a pure white jade platform. The platform was layered, with carved beams and jade masonry. Although it had gone through endless years of erosion, its spiritual light was not extinguished, and the textures were clear. It was clearly a sacrificial altar relic built by ancient Cultivators with their own hands.

The sacrificial altar was surrounded by nine moon essence stone pillars, each a zhang high. The stone pillars were engraved with complex and profound ancient runes. The runes faintly flowed with silver radiance, weaving into a hazy curtain of light that shrouded the entire altar, isolating the inside from the outside.

And on the stone seat in the very center of the altar, a strange spiritual pearl the size of a goose egg was floating quietly. Its body was clear and transparent, containing flowing streams of silver moon essence, as if it contained a miniature galaxy of the moonlit night.

The spiritual pearl floated in the air, slowly rotating on its own, continuously absorbing the essence of water and wood between heaven and earth and the moon essence of the night. It radiated a soft, vast, and extremely pure halo of Dao rhyme outward, gentle, heavy, simple, and sacred. Its grade of Spiritual Qi and the Foundation of Dao far exceeded all the Heaven And Earth Treasure he had seen in the past.

Just by looking at it from afar, Li Changqing's heart was greatly shocked, and a look of extreme amazement and burning heat flashed in his eyes.

"Water-Wood Dao-Nurturing Pearl!"

He had seen the records of this treasure in the travel notes of Immortal Master Shuangjue, and at a glance, he recognized the origin of this treasure, his heart suddenly pounding violently.

The Water-Wood Dao-Nurturing Pearl required the precipitation of eternal moon essence in a cold marsh. It took over ten thousand years to naturally gestate one top-tier Dao pearl. It was a Heaven-Defying treasure for Cultivators below the Soul Transformation stage to refine their Foundation, comprehend the Dao, and break through shackles.

For a Cultivator's practice, the Foundation was the root of everything; the depth and purity of the Dao Foundation directly determined the upper limit of future cultivation.

Ordinary Cultivators relied on hard cultivation to polish their spiritual power and solidify their Foundation. The process was slow and very easy to leave behind hidden dangers of impure spiritual power and a floating Dao Foundation.

Especially during the two critical Realms of Foundation Establishment breaking through to Golden Core, and Golden Core impacting Nascent Soul, thousands of Cultivators failed their Breakthroughs and lost all their cultivation due to impure Dao Foundations and shallow comprehension of the Dao, remaining trapped within the barriers of their Realm for life.

And this Water-Wood Dao-Nurturing Pearl was a peerless treasure specifically for tempering the Dao Foundation, purifying spiritual power, and solidifying Dao comprehension!

Long-term practice with the help of its water-wood Dao rhyme could refine the impure spiritual power of the whole body, eliminate hidden dangers in practice, and make one's cultivation speed and the thickness of spiritual power far exceed those of the same Realm.