30: Chapter 30 The Fountain of Spiritual Eyes

However, this was also within his expectations. After all, these areas had already been searched several times by the Family, but he was still holding onto a glimmer of hope.

Having found nothing, Li Changqing took the Spirit-Seeking Mouse and steered a small boat to continue practicing his archery on Xuanling Lake. He locked his gaze onto a piece of deadwood floating gently with the waves sixty Zhang away on the lake's surface.

That was no ordinary piece of wood, but a "target wood" that he had specially treated. He adjusted his breathing, and the spiritual energy throughout his body flowed along the path of the Heavenly Star Soul-Splitting Arrow, slowly pouring into the bow. The bowstring trembled slightly, and the black arrow became increasingly solid, its tip gleaming with a sharp, cold light.

“Squeak, squeak!”

A cheerful squeak came from his shoulder as the Spirit-Seeking Mouse looked around curiously at its master's actions.

“Be quiet, Xiao Jin,” Li Changqing said with a slight smile, instructing in a low voice. Xiao Jin was the name Li Changqing had given to the Spirit-Seeking Mouse. Upon hearing this, the Spirit-Seeking Mouse, Xiao Jin, obediently shrank its head, but its lively eyes remained fixed on the distant target wood.

“Whoosh!”

The sound of tearing air suddenly rang out as the arrow shot off the string. It did not fly in a straight line, but instead traced a slightly curved trajectory like a willow leaf in the wind, piercing through the thin mist on the lake lightly yet swiftly, accurately hitting the center of the target wood.

Li Changqing continued to Cultivate, gathering his spiritual energy once more. This time, he took out two arrows made of ordinary iron and attempted to control both simultaneously with his spiritual energy. Splitting his mind and dividing his spiritual energy was quite a challenge for him, as he had been learning archery for less than a month.

Just as the second arrow was about to take shape, the Spirit-Seeking Mouse, Xiao Jin, on his shoulder suddenly let out a rapid series of high-pitched squeaks.

It was no longer its usual playful tone, but a sharp cry filled with discovery and warning. At the same time, its little claws scratched vigorously at Li Changqing's lapel, its body turning toward the water below the right side of the spiritual boat, its nostrils twitching rapidly, looking extremely excited.

“Master, there is treasure at the bottom of the lake,” a crisp, ethereal voice echoed in Li Changqing's mind.

Li Changqing's heart stirred. He slowly put away his bow and arrow and looked toward that part of the lake, following Xiao Jin's guidance. The water here was calm and without ripples, showing no significant difference from the surroundings. Logically, the lakebed should have been searched several times by the Cultivators of the clan, so no spiritual items should still exist.

But he knew well the talent of the Spirit-Seeking Mouse after its Breakthrough to the second tier, especially its extraordinary sensitivity to hidden or thin sources of Spiritual Qi. Supporting the Spirit-Seeking Mouse with his right hand, he stroked the forehead of the Spirit-Seeking Mouse, Xiao Jin, and asked, “What did you find? Is there something underwater?”

The Spirit-Seeking Mouse, Xiao Jin, nodded vigorously, leaped into the air, and continued to point toward that area of water, making a drilling motion downward.

After receiving a nod of approval from Li Changqing, the Spirit-Seeking Mouse leaped into the lake. Li Changqing followed closely behind, leaping and vanishing into the water like a green shadow.

Holding the Water-Avoiding Bead in his hand, the lake water around him was pushed away by an invisible force field, and he dived downward like a swimming fish.

As the water pressure gradually increased, the light grew dimmer. He could only rely on his Divine Sense to closely follow the Spirit-Seeking Mouse as they dived, using the tracking of that thread of pure Spiritual Qi flow to discern their direction. After diving about sixty-five Zhang, he and Xiao Jin reached the bottom of the lake.

The scene at the bottom of the lake gradually became clear: thick layers of silt, scattered rocks, and scattered water plants. The source of that flowing thread of Spiritual Qi was precisely the two Spiritual Veins at the bottom of the lake.

The spot on the lakebed where he and Xiao Jin were currently located was an open space at the intersection of the two Spiritual Veins. Observing with his naked eyes and Divine Sense, Li Changqing did not find anything unusual here.

Beneath their feet was soft silt, and the Spirit-Seeking Mouse, Xiao Jin, began to rapidly dig through the silt with its front claws. After a moment, a hard layer of rock was revealed beneath the silt.

The Spirit-Seeking Mouse, Xiao Jin, did not pause. Its seemingly small front claws actually gleamed with a metallic cold light, easily sinking into the rock layer. Accompanied by slight "crack-crack" sounds, the hard rock was dug open by it like crispy crackers.

Li Changqing followed closely behind, summoning his High Grade Flying Sword, a Magical Artifact, to widen the area around the narrow hole opened by the Spirit-Seeking Mouse. Wherever the blade of the Magical Artifact reached, although the rock layer was not as fragile as under the claws of the Spirit-Seeking Mouse, it was still peeled away layer by layer like hardwood.

The Spirit-Seeking Mouse's movements were swift and rhythmic. It kept digging downward, and though its body was small, it displayed astonishing strength and endurance.

After digging down about twenty Zhang, the texture of the rock changed, becoming denser and harder. The mutated steel teeth of the Spirit-Seeking Mouse began to play their part. Sometimes it used its front claws to chisel away large chunks of rock, and sometimes it used its sharp teeth to gnaw off stubborn, protruding stones.

Li Changqing was responsible for widening the passage enough to fit a person and pushing the debris backward.

After digging continuously for nearly two Shichen, the passage had extended downward by nearly seventy Zhang. Just then, the Spirit-Seeking Mouse's movements suddenly accelerated, and it let out urgent squeaks.

Li Changqing swept his Divine Sense downward. Although it was greatly weakened by the obstruction of the rock and soil, he could already faintly perceive an exceptionally pure and active fluctuation of Spiritual Qi ahead, coming faintly like a heartbeat.

With a powerful dig from the Spirit-Seeking Mouse, a hollow echo came from the rock layer ahead. Immediately after, a small piece of the rock wall cracked and fell off under its claws, and a thread of Spiritual Qi, far richer than that of the outside world and carrying a fresh dampness, gushed out from the crevice like a trickle, instantly dispersing the stuffiness inside the passage.

Li Changqing activated his Magical Artifact and struck at that weak point with all his might. With a crashing sound, the rock wall finally broke, revealing an opening about three feet wide.

He stepped forward, widened the opening slightly, and stepped inside. At first, the entrance was extremely narrow and sloped downward, so Li Changqing could only shuffle slowly sideways. After walking for about ten Zhang, the passage gradually widened, and finally, it opened up. A naturally formed cavern appeared before his eyes, about ten-odd Zhang wide, over a hundred Zhang long, and seven or eight Zhang high.

He had entered a bizarre space completely surrounded by the lake water yet dry inside—a natural karst cave located deep within the rocks at the bottom of the lake. The air inside the cave was fresh and dry, isolated from the external lake water, clearly possessing a natural barrier. It was a closed Spiritual Qi field formed by a geological coincidence.

A few stalactites hung from the ceiling of the cave, and in the center of the cavern, the most eye-catching feature was a spring.

The spring was only a few feet in diameter and crystal clear. The spring water was not still, but bubbled up from several small holes at the bottom, forming a subtle but continuous flow. Above the spring water, a visible, veil-like milky-white spiritual mist rose, drifting in wisps without dispersing.

What was even more shocking was that the spring water itself emitted extremely rich and pure Spiritual Qi, far exceeding the concentration of the outside Xuanling Island, and even surpassing what Li Changqing had experienced when cultivating on the second-tier Spiritual Vein of Qingfeng Mountain.

“Spirit Eye Spring!” Li Changqing's heart jolted, and the words almost slipped out.

He had once read an introduction to this item in the Family's ancient records. It was the result of the earth vein's Spiritual Qi accumulating and condensing at a specific spot (namely, a 'spirit eye') over thousands or even tens of thousands of years, eventually materializing. It could not be man-made and was extremely rare.