145: A century of change

What Lin Feng valued most was the azure thunder bamboo forest!

In five years, nourished by abundant thunder power and the life force of [Rain Prayer], the few saplings from back then had already multiplied into a dense bamboo forest!

Within the bamboo forest, electric arcs flickered and crackled.

Most of the azure thunder bamboo had grown to the level of second-tier Spiritual Materials, and among them, more than a dozen were exceptionally thick, several zhang tall, and deep azure in color, with natural thunder Talismans flashing at their nodes, clearly reaching third-tier quality!

azure thunder bamboo, according to ancient records, contains the righteous Qi of heavenly thunder and is an excellent primary material for refining thunder-attribute Flying Swords and Magic Treasures, and even a core refining material for many high-tier Formation Flags and Talisman brushes, making it incredibly valuable.

Such a large patch of third-tier azure thunder bamboo, if known to the outside world, would be enough to make even Golden Core True Persons envious and eager.

However, Lin Feng still hadn't found a perfect method to utilize these azure thunder bamboo, as both Artifact Refining and Talisman crafting required specific Legacies and techniques. He could only let them grow for now; Xuanlei Island was large and had abundant Spiritual Qi, so allowing them to self-propagate and improve in quality was not a bad thing.

The prosperity of the spiritual plants directly led to the growth of the Jade Emperor Bee swarm. The swarm's size had increased by more than ten times compared to five years ago, producing 'Thunder Honey' and the even more precious 'Jade Emperor Bee Queen Jelly' of extremely high quality, which had a subtle effect on refining the Physical Body and nourishing the Divine Soul. Lin Feng's jade bottles were almost full, forcing him to specially excavate a stone chamber and build pools with cold jade to store these spiritual honeys.

The Yao Beasts brought in by daily [Gather Beast], in addition to providing the energy feedback needed for Cultivation, their carcasses also became a huge source of Materials.

Yao Beast Materials piled up like mountains; useful Demonic Cores, fur, bones, claws, and teeth were categorized and packed into Storage Pouches one after another. Those he temporarily couldn't use or were of low value, Lin Feng didn't even bother to collect, letting them be eaten by subsequent Yao Beasts or washed away by the waves. The speed of wealth accumulation far exceeded his consumption capacity.

As for the most mysterious Golden Phoenix Egg, it still lay quietly in the center of the spiritual spring after five years, with no change in its appearance, and its life fluctuations remained faint and stable. But Lin Feng, relying on that trace of Bloodline connection, could vaguely feel that the dormant life Origin within the eggshell was growing extremely slowly but steadily. What was both amusing and exasperating was that the Treasure Seeking Rat, Silver Treasure, was the one constantly circling the Golden Phoenix Egg and occasionally rubbing its fur against the shell. It seemed to have taken the egg as its own possession, often chirping at the Jade Emperor Bee Queen who came to collect nectar from nearby spiritual flowers, as if arguing or showing off, truly acting like a protective parent.

The Jade Emperor Bee Queen often ignored it, flapping her wings and flying away. Silver Treasure, relying on a vast amount of spiritual fruits and occasional Medicinal Pills over these five years, had also increased its strength to Qi Refinement Stage Great Perfection, only needing an opportunity to Breakthrough to Foundation Establishment, and its intelligence seemed to have developed quite a bit.

One day, Lin Feng finished a round of Cultivation, and with a slight thought, his Divine Sense spread out like a tide, covering a sea area of two hundred li.

Suddenly, he frowned slightly.

Through the meticulous observation of his Purple Mansion-level Divine Sense, he discovered that the Yao Beasts brought by [Gather Beast] recently seemed… somewhat abnormal.

Not only were there more of them than usual, but they were also more agitated and restless, with an indescribable… ferocity and chaos in their eyes, in addition to the greed attracted by the Divine Ability? Occasionally, even some deep-sea Yao Beasts, rarely seen in this sea area, would appear.

This phenomenon had been gradually intensifying over the past month.

Lin Feng looked up, gazing at the distant sea horizon, his gaze seemingly penetrating through layers of thunderclouds. He recalled some records in ancient books and scattered rumors he had heard in Tianfeng City teahouses years ago.

“Yao Beasts restless, strange species appearing frequently… It seems that the once-a-century Yao Beast invasion tide is truly coming,” he murmured to himself, his eyes not showing fear but rather a sharp glint.

A chaotic era was approaching, and within the crisis also lay opportunities. For him, who needed vast resources to Cultivate the Ming Wang Purgatory Skill and the Overturning Sea Sword Art, this might just be an unprecedented… hunting feast!

Of course, the prerequisite was that Xuanlei Island could stand firm in this storm.

He glanced at the mountain of resources accumulated in his Immortal Cave, felt the surging power within him, and the layers of Formations arranged on the island, gradually gaining confidence.

Upon noticing the abnormality of the Yao Beasts, Lin Feng immediately took action. He first completely stopped casting the [Gather Beast] Divine Ability, to avoid excessively attracting powerful or abnormal sea beasts and prematurely triggering uncontrollable impacts.

Subsequently, he dedicated almost all his energy to strengthening Xuanlei Island's defense system. Xuanlei Island was his Foundation, his secret Dao field, harboring too many secrets that could not be known to outsiders (Golden Phoenix Egg, fallen phoenix grass, azure thunder bamboo, vast resources, etc.). Before he possessed strength capable of rivaling Nascent Soul Cultivators and fearless of any covetousness, this place absolutely could not be trespassed by outsiders, nor could its exact location and true state be known to the outside world.

His Purple Mansion-level powerful Divine Sense was used to its extreme. He hovered above the island, his Divine Sense like the most precise scanning Magical Artifact, sweeping inch by inch over every coastline, every reef beach, every inch of land on the island. Based on a deep understanding of the island's terrain, Spiritual Vein direction, and even the laws of thunder distribution, he began to re-plan and perfect the layout of the defensive Formation, especially focusing on concealment and blocking detection.

The two sets of third-tier “Yin and Yang Reversal Formation” were given a more important task—not just defense, but to maximally confuse the heavenly secrets, distort light and shadow, and isolate internal and external Qi! So that from the outside, this sea area still appeared as a dangerous place with dense thunderclouds, surging waves, and chaotic Spiritual Qi, making it difficult to detect the true situation within the island. Countless second-tier Formation Flags and Formation Plates obtained from Yao Beast Materials and years of accumulation were taken out, layered and embedded, further strengthening the island's “stealth” effect.

As for the offensive and defensive Formations, they were mainly arranged in the reef areas and shallow seas around the island, forming an outer warning and interception circle. Mist Formations, Illusion Formations, Adamantine Barrier Formations, Earth Thorn Thicket Formations, Ice Trap Formations… various types, no less than a dozen. The power of these individual Formations might be limited, but they were interconnected and embedded, forming a complex and troublesome composite defense system, aimed at blocking incoming enemies outside the island gate, or luring them astray, or wearing them down in the outer areas, to minimize their approach to the island's core region.

The biggest project was still trying to draw upon the power of the central thunderfield. He buried more carefully refined “Thunder-Attracting Pillars” between the edge of the thunderfield and the Formation nodes on the island's periphery. After multiple failures and adjustments, he was finally able to more stably guide out wisps of scattered thunder power and inject them into several key “Adamantine Barrier Formations” and “Earth Thorn Thicket Formations.” This not only greatly increased the defensive power of these Formations but also endowed them with violent thunder counter-attack properties, making their power astonishing. The prototype of the “Nine Heavens Thunder Fire Formation” was being painstakingly constructed step by step.

While strengthening defenses, Lin Feng also began a frantic “war preparation production,” mass-drawing Talismans, processing Yao Beast Materials, and refining simple Puppets.

During this period, he also repeatedly activated the Qiankun Spirit Eye Technique, gazing into the deep sea. Under its power of insight, he could see that in the extremely distant place where the sea and sky met, the flow of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi became unusually chaotic and violent, vaguely forming huge Spiritual Qi vortices. Large amounts of powerful Demonic Qi gathered and moved like dark clouds, heading towards the Human Race sea area! He could even occasionally see some terrifying dark shadows, as huge as mountains, swimming beneath the deep sea, emitting a Qi that made even him, a Foundation Establishment Late Stage Cultivator, feel a sense of dread.

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