38: Eye of the Spirit Spring

After eating, its attitude towards Lin Feng softened significantly. It no longer squeaked wildly but instead pointed at Lin Feng with its tiny paws, then gestured towards a direction deep within the island, chirping eagerly.

"Oh? Something good?" Lin Feng's heart stirred, and he opened the cage.

The Treasure Seeking Rat shot out like a flash but didn't run far. Instead, it looked back at Lin Feng, signaling him to follow, then transformed into a silver streak, agilely darting towards a mountain hollow in the island's center where vegetation was exceptionally lush and Spiritual Qi almost condensed into a thin mist.

Lin Feng followed closely behind.

Passing through a damp, moss-covered forest, the view suddenly opened up.

At the end of the mountain hollow, beneath a rock wall as smooth as a mirror, there was a deep, secluded cave entrance just wide enough for one person to pass through.

Dense, almost liquefied Spiritual Qi continuously surged out from within the cave!

The Treasure Seeking Rat stopped at the entrance, chirped twice at Lin Feng, and then scurried in first.

Lin Feng was inwardly shaken but followed without hesitation. The passage inside wound downwards, and the deeper they went, the more intense and oppressive the Spiritual Qi became, making Lin Feng feel as if he were immersed in spiritual liquid.

After walking for about a quarter of an hour, the surroundings suddenly brightened!

A naturally formed grotto, approximately ten zhang in circumference, appeared before them. In the center of the grotto was a clear pool, about a zhang in diameter. The pool water was not ordinary spring water but presented a faint milky white color, emanating an indescribably pure Spiritual Qi and vibrant vitality!

And in the center of the pool, above a strange, jade-white stone resembling a lotus pedestal, a fist-sized "water droplet" floated, constantly rotating and emitting a soft, seven-colored glow! It was this "water droplet" that continuously released incomparably pure spiritual liquid, flowing into the pool below.

"Spiritual Spring! And... a Spiritual Spring Eye!" Lin Feng exclaimed in a lost voice, his eyes filled with unbelievable ecstasy!

A Spiritual Spring was already a rare Heaven and Earth treasure, capable of continuously producing spiritual liquid. And the Spiritual Spring Eye was the core Origin of the Spiritual Spring, a creation of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, highly condensed!

With it, a Spiritual Spring could be continuously generated, nourishing the area and even slowly improving the quality of the underground Spiritual Vein! No wonder the Spiritual Qi on this island was so abundant, with a tendency to advance to a third-tier Spiritual Vein!

This Spiritual Spring Eye was the island's true core Treasure Trove!

"Unfortunately... with my current strength, I cannot move such a Heaven and Earth creation." Lin Feng looked at the slowly rotating seven-colored water droplet, feeling regretful.

Such a treasure could probably only be collected by a Nascent Soul Grandmaster without damaging its Origin.

He greedily took several deep breaths of the almost liquefied Spiritual Qi, feeling his cultivation Bottleneck subtly loosen.

With this Spiritual Spring and its eye, this place was simply a blessed land for Cultivation! He could completely establish a secret Daoist temple here!

Just as he was planning for the future, his gaze swept over a corner of the grotto and suddenly paused.

There, a human skeleton, seated cross-legged, leaned against the rock wall.

The clothing on the skeleton had long turned to dust, and the bones exhibited a warm, jade-like luster, indicating that the Cultivator's cultivation was not weak during his life.

Scattered in front of the skeleton were several dull Ores, and a grayish-white Jade Slip, its surface covered with fine cracks, its spiritual power fluctuations so faint they were almost dissipated.

Lin Feng's heart stirred. He walked forward and carefully picked up the Jade Slip. His Divine Sense cautiously probed into it.

The information in the Jade Slip flowed like a trickle, incomplete due to the passage of time and poor preservation, but the core content was still shocking!

The one who left the Jade Slip was a Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator who called himself "Formation Madman Hermit." The time recorded in the Jade Slip indicated that about 1,300 years ago, he traveled the sea region and discovered that the thunderous storms on the edge of the Eastern Sea Region were unusually active and regular, not like a natural phenomenon, but rather... a vast Formation naturally formed!

Driven by curiosity, he risked entering the thunderous storm area and, like Lin Feng, was swept into this place.

After being trapped on the island, the Formation Madman Hermit didn't rush to find a way out like Lin Feng. Instead, he became completely captivated by this naturally formed, grand thunderous storm Formation that enveloped the entire sea region!

He spent decades here studying it, recording a massive amount of observations, deductions, and insights about this natural thunder Formation. He discovered that this thunder Formation was not artificially arranged but was a Heaven and Earth wonder Formation naturally evolved over a long period due to the special geographical environment of this place: underwater Spiritual Veins, ocean currents, magnetic fields, islands rich in thunder-attribute minerals, and so on!

Its scale was immense, its structure exquisite, and its power terrifying; he speculated that in its prime, it was capable of killing a Golden Core Cultivator.

The Jade Slip not only contained his profound analysis of the core operating rules and circulation cycle of this natural thunder Formation but also recorded dozens of powerful Formations he independently deduced, improved, and even innovated, inspired by it!

Among them were several complete third-tier Formations: "Nine Heavens Thunder Drawing Formation," "Abyssal Dragon Trapping Formation," and two incomplete but astonishing fourth-tier Formation prototypes: "Universal Star Lock" and "Two Instruments Dust Restriction"!

These Formation concepts were imaginative, full of profound understanding and application of Heaven and Earth power, and their value was immeasurable!

At the end of the Jade Slip, the Formation Madman Hermit left a passage filled with endless emotion and a hint of relief:

"...Having exhausted my life's efforts, I have glimpsed a mere fraction of the Dao of Formations in Heaven and Earth. I have no regrets in death. This natural thunder Formation's 'Life Gate' rotates once every forty-nine years, opening a brief passage in the direction of the 'Starfall Sea Eye.' My Lifespan is nearing its end, and I am fated not to see the next opening of the Life Gate. If a future Cultivator has the fortune to arrive here and obtain my Legacy, I hope he uses it well... The Dao of Formations is endless, Heaven and Earth are my teachers..."

At this point, the spiritual power in the Jade Slip was completely exhausted. With a soft "crack," it shattered in Lin Feng's hand, turning into dust.

Lin Feng stood still for a long time, speechless.

His heart was filled with admiration for this "Formation Madman Hermit" Senior, as well as immense shock and ecstasy!

The problem of leaving the island that had troubled him was solved! According to the astronomical calculation method recorded in the Jade Slip, combined with the path he had accidentally taken before, he could deduce the approximate time and direction of the next opening of the Life Gate.

More importantly, this Formation Legacy, especially the third and fourth-tier concepts and the insights into the natural thunder Formation, its value far exceeded the sum of all the treasures he had obtained before! This was the supreme treasure on the path to becoming a Grandmaster of Formations!

He looked out of the grotto, his gaze seemingly penetrating the rock wall, seeing this treasure island protected by the natural thunder Formation.

"Heaven-bestowed Daoist Temple!" Lin Feng's eyes gleamed with determined light. With the Spiritual Spring Eye, with the Legacy of the Formation Madman Hermit, and with the natural barrier of this place, this would be the Foundation for Lin Feng's future rise!

He solemnly bowed to the remains of the Formation Madman Hermit, then began to meticulously plan how to transform this place into a true secret base.

Several days later, Lin Feng, using the astronomical calculation method left by the Formation Madman Hermit and combining it with his initial understanding of the natural thunder Formation's rules, finally captured the fleeting direction of the "Life Gate."

He controlled the Moon Shuttle, carefully following a specific trajectory through the outer thunderous storm area, which appeared violent but actually contained a hidden path to safety.

When the raging sea of thunder was finally left behind and he once again saw the clear blue sky and the boundless ocean, Lin Feng let out a long sigh of relief. He took out his sea map and quickly re-positioned himself—Azure Wave Island, Black Reef Island, were in the distant west.

He turned back, gazing deeply at the sea region shrouded in thunderous storms, as if it had never existed...