72: Chapter 72: Encountering the Ancient Restriction on the Stone Wall, Skillfully Breaking Through the Void, Obtaining the Star Source

Leaving the broken canyon, Ye Qing checked his map and the dark slate again.

The Inheritance Hall was located deep within the Secret Realm; there was still a long way to go.

The location marked as the "Star Source Pool" happened to be on the way to the Inheritance Hall. It was slightly off-course, but not a significant detour.

"Since it is on the way, I might as well go and check out this 'Star Source Pool'. If it truly contains star source essence as the slate suggests, it would be a huge benefit to both the space and me."

Ye Qing made up his mind, adjusted his direction, and flew toward the general location marked on the slate.

The scenery along the way became increasingly desolate. The metallic strange trees were sparse, and the ground was gradually covered by a kind of deep blue gravel filled with starlight spots, soft and silent when stepped upon.

The star Qi in the air was so dense that it formed a faint blue mist, carrying a strange, damp coldness, vastly different from the sharp dryness of the Star Forest before.

After flying for about another hour, a low, circular hill appeared in front.

The hill was made entirely of deep blue rock, also filled with star spots, and was barren.

In the center of the circular hill was a bowl-shaped basin with a diameter of a hundred zhang.

There was no water in the basin, only a shallow mud puddle shimmering with dim blue starlight. In the center of the mud puddle, tiny bubbles were bubbling up. Every time a bubble burst, it emitted a wisp of pure star source essence aura.

At the edge of the mud puddle lay several Yao Beast carcasses that had long rotted into white bones, as well as several rusted and spiritless fragments of Magical Artifacts.

Clearly, Yao Beasts or Cultivators had coveted this place before but failed to succeed.

Ye Qing landed on the edge of the basin without approaching the mud puddle immediately.

His gaze swept over and finally locked onto the inner wall of the circular hill, ten zhang high, directly behind the mud puddle.

The mountain wall was flat and smooth, like a mirror, deep blue in color. In the center, there was a huge, complex Formation diagram outlined in silver lines.

The Formation diagram was circular, three zhang in diameter, with a constantly rotating nebula pattern at the core, surrounded by several circles of dense, unrecognizable ancient runes.

The fluctuation of star Qi emitted by the Formation diagram was of the same Origin as the star source essence aura rising from the mud puddle, but it was more condensed and orderly, vaguely forming a powerful barrier that firmly sealed the depths of the mud puddle.

"Is this the true entrance to the 'Star Source Pool'? Or is it a Formation Restriction set up by ancient Cultivators to Seal the leakage of star source essence and refine/condense it? The mud puddle is just an appearance formed by the aura escaping from the periphery of the Formation."

Ye Qing understood in his heart. No wonder those Yao Beast and Cultivator remains were scattered outside and could not get deep inside. Without breaking this Formation, it was impossible to touch the true star source essence.

He walked close to the mountain wall and carefully observed the Formation diagram.

The structure of the Formation diagram was complex, inheriting the same lineage as the 3D star map and the stone platform Restriction in the ancient palace, but it focused more on "Sealing" and "Condensing". Its core nebula pattern rotated slowly, continuously extracting escaping star Qi from the Void Realm and the depths of the mud puddle, purifying and compressing it through the surrounding runes layer by layer, and finally sending it behind the mountain wall, though it was unknown where it flowed.

"This Formation not only Seals but also continuously converts and purifies star Qi. Behind the mountain wall, I fear, is where the true 'Star Source' lies, perhaps a small spring of star Qi, or a pool of essence liquid gathered together."

Ye Qing tried to probe the Formation diagram with his Divine Sense.

The moment his Divine Sense touched the surface of the Formation diagram, a powerful repulsive force came, and a sharp star Sword Intent counterattacked along his Divine Sense, piercing directly at his Divine Soul!

He groaned, immediately cut off his Divine Sense connection, took a few steps back, his face slightly pale.

"What a powerful Formation, it comes with a Divine Soul counterattack. Forcing a break would likely trigger an even more violent counterattack and might even destroy the Star Source behind it."

He sat cross-legged, took a Clear Heart Jade Dew Pill, and adjusted his breath to recover.

At the same time, his mind raced, combining the records about star Formations in the nameless star Cultivation Technique with his own understanding of the Dao of the Void, deducing a method to break the Formation.

"The core of this Formation lies in that rotating nebula. Using it as a pivot, it mobilizes the surrounding runes to form a stable sealing and conversion force. If I can interfere with the rotation of the nebula or temporarily cut off its connection with the surrounding runes, the Formation will inevitably show a momentary flaw."

"The Void Tampering Restriction technique might be worth a try, but this Formation is of a high Rank, so I need to find the weakest 'Void connection point' in its operation nodes."

He opened his eyes again, his eyes glowing with a faint silver brilliance. With the power of the Void Dao Seed added, his gaze seemed to be able to penetrate the surface of the Formation diagram and see the deeper level of spirit power flow and spatial structure inside.

Time passed bit by bit.

Ye Qing, like the most patient hunter, carefully observed the energy flow rhythm of every inch of the Formation diagram, looking for the theoretically existing, extremely short spatial fluctuation gap caused by rune conversion and energy convergence.

Finally, the moment the nebula pattern rotated to a certain angle and resonated with a special rune in the third outer circle of runes, he captured a trace of an extremely subtle spatial ripple, like water ripples.

Now!

Ye Qing's figure rose violently, his right index and middle fingers pressed together, Chaos starlight condensed at his fingertips, the power of the Void surged, and he pointed rapidly at the center of the spatial ripple that had just been created and was about to calm down!

"Void Tampering Restriction, Sever the Flow!"

The starlight at his fingertips sank into the ripple, not triggering a violent reaction, but like the most dexterous key, it gently flicked the most critical "string" inside the Formation.

Hum—

The huge Formation diagram trembled violently!

The core rotating nebula pattern suddenly paused in speed.

The surrounding runes flickered uncertainly, and a trace of extremely subtle lag and confusion appeared in their flow.

The sealing and conversion power of the entire Formation appeared to have a momentary disorder.

Although it was only for a moment, for Ye Qing, it was enough.

"Void Step!"

His figure turned into a phantom, and during the gap when the Formation power was disordered and had not yet recovered, he passed through the weakest point of the Formation diagram's light like a swimming fish and entered the smooth mountain wall.

The mountain wall was not a solid object, but a spatial barrier maintained by the Formation.

Passing through the barrier, the scene before him changed greatly.

It was no longer a mud basin, but a closed stone room only ten zhang in circumference.

The stone room was built entirely of a kind of warm, white jade emitting soft starlight, and the ground was engraved with more complex Spirit Gathering and Origin Condensing Formation patterns.

In the center of the stone room, there was a shallow pool, three feet square and about a foot deep.

The pool was not filled with clear water, but with a small pool of liquid that was thick as honey, crystal clear, and shimmering with dreamy, dim blue starlight.

The liquid rippled quietly, and every ripple emitted a pure, vast, gentle, and majestic aura that seemed to contain the most original power from the birth of the stars!

star source liquid!

This was the true "Star Source Pool"!

There was not much liquid in the pool, occupying only one-third of the shallow pool, clearly having been consumed over a long period of time. But the star source essence contained within was more than a hundred times purer and richer than the aura escaping from the mud puddle outside!

What surprised Ye Qing even more was that at the bottom of the shallow pool, dozens of rice-sized, perfectly round, silver-shining crystals, as if solidified stars, were deposited.

star source crystal!

This object was formed by the high concentration of star source liquid after endless years of precipitation. The star source essence it contained was more condensed and stable. It was a peerless treasure for refining top-grade star Magic Treasures or assisting in the Breakthrough to the Golden Core Realm!

"It really is a great Opportunity!"

Ye Qing suppressed the excitement in his heart and did not act to collect it immediately.

He first carefully checked the stone room to confirm there were no other Restrictions or dangers.

Then, he took out several specially prepared jade bottles made of star-attribute jade and carefully collected all the star source liquid in the pool without leaving a drop, obtaining a total of three bottles.

He then picked up the dozens of star source crystals at the bottom of the pool one by one and stored them in a separate jade box.

With the star source liquid and crystals removed from the pool, the star source essence aura in the stone room faded by more than half, but those white jade walls and ground Formation patterns were still slowly absorbing thin star Qi from the Void Realm. Given time, they might regenerate, but that would likely be thousands or tens of thousands of years later.

After doing all this, Ye Qing did not leave immediately.

His gaze fell on those white jade walls and ground Formation patterns.

The Materials and Formations that made up this stone room themselves contained pure star Qi and had the effect of gathering and condensing stars. They were excellent Materials for setting up star-type Formations or cultivation rooms.

"Since I'm here, how can I return empty-handed from a treasure mountain."

He pointed like a sword, infused with Chaos magic power, and began to carefully cut and peel off those white jade bricks and ground Formation patterns.

The process needed to be meticulous to avoid damaging the structure of the Materials themselves and to prevent triggering any potentially remaining Formation counterattacks.

It took a full half an hour to dismantle all the star white jade bricks and complete Formation patterns of the entire stone room and store them in his space.

The stone room suddenly became empty, leaving only the rough inner wall of rock.

Ye Qing nodded with satisfaction, then turned around, passed through the spatial barrier that had become extremely unstable due to the loss of the internal Formation support, and returned to the basin.

The huge Formation diagram on the mountain wall behind him, after the core Star Source was taken away and the internal Formation was dismantled, had its brilliance dimmed, the runes gradually dissipated, and finally disappeared completely, revealing the ordinary rock mountain wall behind.

The star aura rising from the mud puddle also weakened rapidly and finally returned to mediocrity.

The greatest Opportunity in this place had been completely taken away by Ye Qing.

He did not linger, steered the Wind Spirit Wings, soared into the sky, and continued to fly toward the Inheritance Hall.

Inside his body, the four-hundred-fifty-zhang Immortal Cave felt an unprecedented joyful vibration due to the newly obtained star source liquid and crystals.

He did not let the space absorb them immediately, but first placed the star source liquid and crystals properly in the center of the Floating Landmass, nourishing them with the power of the star core, to be used at a critical moment.

Those star white jade bricks and Formation patterns were temporarily piled in a corner of the space, perhaps to be used to renovate the Immortal Cave in the future and set up a more powerful cultivation room.

The energy fed back by the space seemed to have become more active due to the "potential" value of this harvest.

His Foundation Establishment Perfection Stage cultivation base, under such continuous nourishment, became increasingly stable and profound. The door to the Golden Core Realm seemed to be in sight.

Ye Qing was in a good mood, and his flying speed increased.

The harvest from the "Star Source Pool" far exceeded expectations. Not only did he obtain the urgently needed star source essence items, but he also gained precious star source crystals and Formation-building Materials.

This made him look forward to the final "Inheritance Hall" even more.

What kind of Opportunity could the Inheritance Hall be hiding?

He looked at the dim sky deeper in the Secret Realm with a firm gaze.

Inside his body, the stars rotated, and moonlight flowed. The newly obtained star source liquid in the jade bottles shimmered with dreamy, dim blue starlight, quietly waiting for the moment to be used.

The Secret Realm exploration of Ye Qing, a Foundation Establishment Perfection Stage Cultivator, was moving steadily and firmly toward the final goal through one harvest after another.