170: The unrest and opportunistic behavior sparked by food delivery services

Early the next morning, as the first rays of sunlight spilled onto the surface of Falling Star Lake, an anomaly occurred.

At first, it was just a faint gurgling sound from deep within the center of the lake, like water boiling. Soon, the water near the lake's center began to surge unnaturally, as if something was churning violently beneath the surface.

"What's going on?" The guarding Elder and deacons stood up alertly.

The Disciples who were Cultivating by the lake or preparing to enter the water were also startled, looking towards the center of the lake in surprise.

The water in that area turned a deeper color, and countless silver "Spirit-Devouring Star Threads" writhed crazily like a stimulated swarm of snakes, breaking through the surface and thrashing about in the air! They seemed to have become extremely manic, no longer lurking at the bottom as before, but actively attacking any energy source that approached!

"Not good! The Spirit-Devouring Star Threads are rioting!" an Elder shouted, "All Disciples, retreat immediately and stay away from the lakeshore!"

Everyone scrambled to retreat. A few Disciples who reacted a bit slowly were grazed by several star threads that lunged out of the water; their protective spiritual light dimmed instantly, scaring them into fleeing pell-mell.

The commotion at the center of the lake intensified; one could even see some star threads intertwining and attacking each other, as if fighting over something. The air was filled with chaotic and manic energy fluctuations.

"Elder, what is happening? This has never happened before!" a Disciple asked, still shaken.

The leading Elder frowned, staring at the surging lake surface, and said in a deep voice, "I'm not sure. Perhaps the energy at the bottom of the lake suddenly lost balance, or perhaps something stimulated them... Strange."

He tried to cast a scouting Spell into the center of the lake, but it was instantly shredded and devoured by the wildly dancing star threads!

"Such strong aggression! It's several times more ferocious than recorded!" The Elder's expression changed slightly, "No one is allowed to approach! Wait for it to subside on its own!"

Wen Youyi and Zhao Iron Pillar blended into the crowd and retreated as well, their faces appropriately showing "panic" and "curiosity."

[Boss, is this caused by that thing you threw yesterday?] Zhao Iron Pillar asked quietly through the "Mind Net."

[Yes.] Wen Youyi responded, [Those 'star moss' spores have been processed and contain pure starlight and vitality. To the Spirit-Devouring Star Threads, it's like a starving man seeing a grand feast; the temptation is too great. Naturally, they will fall into chaos to fight over this 'takeout'.]

[Hehe, awesome!] Zhao Iron Pillar secretly gave a thumbs up.

The chaos at the lake's center lasted for nearly an hour. During this time, two giant star threads as thick as water buckets, which had been lurking deep in the lake, were even startled and surged out. Their ferocious aura made both Elders look solemn and prepare for battle.

This sudden commotion completely disrupted everyone's plans. No one dared to enter the water again, and even Cultivating by the lakeshore was nerve-wracking. Those few Black Fiend Disciples monitoring Wen Youyi were also overwhelmed by this turn of events, their attention completely drawn to the chaos in the center of the lake.

This was exactly the effect Wen Youyi wanted!

Taking advantage of everyone's attention being drawn to the lake center, he silently converged his aura to the extreme, like a stone blending into the environment. He secretly activated the "Thousand Mechanisms Hand," extremely delicately manipulating a trace of imperceptible Star Core Power. Like controlling an invisible thread, he kept it close to the lake bottom, avoiding the main activity areas of the manic star threads, and cautiously probed towards the edge of the depression on the lake floor where he had detected the star core fragment yesterday.

This process was extremely mentally taxing, like walking through a minefield. He had to precisely control the intensity and fluctuation of that trace of Star Core Power; it had to be strong enough to induce resonance in the fragment, yet not cause an excessive reaction from the Formation at the bottom of the lake or those violent star threads.

Time ticked by. After reaching its peak, the commotion at the center of the lake began to show signs of subsiding. The star threads, seemingly having finished dividing the "takeout," gradually regained their "sanity" and began to sink back to the bottom of the water.

Everyone on the shore also breathed a sigh of relief.

Just then, the trace of Star Core Power controlled by Wen Youyi finally touched the target! The star core fragment located in the crevice of a huge rock at the edge of the depression on the lake floor!

The fragment was about the size of a fist, dark all over, and covered in the marks of time, yet it still contained pure Star Power within. Upon feeling the call of the same source of power, it vibrated slightly, emitting joyful fluctuations!

"Found it!" Wen Youyi was ecstatic in his heart.

He immediately manipulated that trace of Star Core Power like a gentle tentacle, wrapping it around the fragment, preparing to "fish" it up silently.

However, the moment the fragment was moved— "Hum—!" The hidden Gathering Spirit Formation at the bottom of the lake suddenly emitted a warning hum! An invisible scanning wave instantly swept across the lake floor!

Although Wen Youyi reacted extremely quickly, immediately cutting off that trace of Star Core Power and hiding himself to the extreme, the anomaly of the fragment being moved still triggered the lowest-level alarm of the Formation!

"There is an anomaly at the bottom of the lake!" The guarding Elder immediately sensed the fluctuation of the Formation, his gaze sweeping across the lake surface like lightning.

At the same time, those few giant star threads that had just subsided seemed to be stimulated again by the fluctuation of the Formation and the trace of aura leaked when the fragment moved, and they lunged towards the general area where the fragment was located!

"Not good!" Wen Youyi's heart tightened. He hadn't even obtained the fragment yet, and instead, he had attracted even bigger trouble!

Seeing those giant star threads about to rush to the area where the fragment was, if they entangled the fragment, it would be as hard as ascending to heaven to get it!

At the critical moment, a fierce look flashed in Wen Youyi's eyes! He no longer hid, stood up abruptly, pointed to another direction in the center of the lake (far from the actual location of the fragment), and shouted in surprise: "Elder! Look over there! Such a large star thread! It seems to be entangled with something glowing!"

This shout instantly drew everyone's attention, including the "attention" of those giant star threads, to the wrong direction!

Everyone subconsciously looked in the direction he pointed, and even the two Elders and those few giant star threads were no exception!

In this fleeting moment of chaos, Wen Youyi's fingers hidden in his sleeves rapidly formed a strange hand seal—this was a small technique for short-distance "telekinetic retrieval" he had learned from ancient knowledge. It consumed a huge amount of energy, but he couldn't care about that now!

"Come here!" he shouted inwardly!

The star core fragment at the bottom of the lake, using his own star core as an anchor point, was forcibly pulled by him, turning into an imperceptible stream of light that broke through the lake water and zoomed into his sleeve!

It felt cool and heavy in his hand! Success!

At this moment, everyone looked in the direction Wen Youyi pointed, but apart from the surging lake water and a few star threads, where was anything glowing?

"Wen Youyi, what nonsense are you spouting?!" an Elder frowned and scolded.

Wen Youyi's face showed an "embarrassed" and "lingering fear" expression, and he scratched his head: "Disciple... Disciple seems to have misread it just now, I was scared by those star threads..."

Everyone was speechless, assuming he had been scared by the chaos just now.

The giant star threads that had lunged at nothing circled in place for a moment, and not finding their target, gradually sank back down.

The Formation alarm at the bottom of the lake also slowly subsided because the source of the anomaly (the fragment) had been taken away.

A potential crisis was quietly resolved by Wen Youyi with a "false alarm" and precise "fishing in troubled waters."

No one knew that during that brief commotion just now, one of the greatest Treasure Troves of Falling Star Lake had quietly changed hands.

Wen Youyi felt the heavy fragment in his sleeve happily resonating with the star core in his Dantian, and he forcibly suppressed the excitement in his heart.

Step one, seizing the star core fragment, complete!

Next, it was time to look for an opportunity to set up the second "Star Network" node. The energy at the bottom of the lake was so rich, and the location was so critical; it was simply a natural treasure land for a node!

His gaze once again turned to the lake surface, which was gradually returning to calm, and he thought to himself: "Chaos, let it be chaotic; the more chaotic it is, the easier it is to make a move..."

(End of chapter)