The Strange Spirit Well

Before long, the three arrived at a quiet clearing in the town, where the tree canopies spread like parasols.

A massive locust tree stood at its center, its gnarled branches twisting together with ancient solemnity. Its dense shade covered half the sky, bringing a rare patch of coolness to the scorching summer day.

"Cousin, is this old locust tree the wonder you mentioned?"

Chen Minglang strode beneath the tree and curiously reached out to touch the rough patterns of its trunk, but he felt nothing unusual.

Chen Heng did not answer directly. Instead, he turned his gaze toward the other side of the locust tree's roots.

There, an ancient well built from blue stone rested quietly beneath the tree's shadow.

The well's rim was smooth, clearly worn down by the passage of years and the friction of countless bucket ropes.

He walked over slowly.

"Not the tree," Chen Heng said calmly as he stopped beside the well. "This well."

Chen Minglang immediately leaned over the opening and peered down. "A well? What's so spec... huh?"

Before he could finish, surprise appeared on his face. "Strange, at the bottom of this well... there seems to be some kind of... special aura. It's faint, but it really feels like spiritual energy!"

A faint glimmer also flashed through Chen Mingjing's originally indifferent eyes.

She did not need to move closer. As a cultivator with a sixth-grade spirit root, her spiritual senses were far sharper than Chen Minglang's.

"Indeed," her cool voice rang out, carrying a trace of barely perceptible scrutiny. "Deep within the well water, there truly is an extremely faint yet pure wisp of spiritual energy dispersing."

She walked to the well's edge and lowered her head to stare into the dark water, seemingly trying to find the source of that spiritual energy.

The discovery surprised her somewhat. Why would an ancient well in a mundane place be leaking spiritual energy?

This was highly unusual.

Chen Heng nodded slightly, confirming their senses. "Exactly. When I played here as a child, I only thought the water was especially sweet and refreshing. It was only after I stepped onto the path of cultivation that I realized there was actually a trace of Heaven and Earth spiritual energy in it."

"Though it is extremely thin and of little use to a cultivator's training, drinking it over many years should have a mild nourishing effect on ordinary people's bodies. It might even help prolong their lives."

He recalled, "This well was supposedly dug at the location personally designated by Heavenly Thunder Venerable when the town was founded. They say the High Person's actions were unfathomable. Could this spirit well also be a blessing he left behind in passing?"

Chen Minglang found it even more fascinating. He sprawled over the well opening as though he wished he could plunge his head inside. "A blessing left by Heavenly Thunder Venerable? Amazing! This spiritual energy... although there's pitifully little of it, and it feels like one breath would use it all up, having a spirit well in a mortal town is still incredible!"

He fiddled with the wooden pulley holding the bucket rope. "Our Chen Household has been established in Jade Spring Town for centuries. Looks like there are quite a few good things here."

Chen Mingjing ignored Chen Minglang's noisy exclamations. Instead, her brows furrowed slightly.

Women were naturally meticulous in thought, and she considered matters more deeply. "Cousin Ming Heng, this well's spiritual aura is weak. If it benefits ordinary people without harming them, then naturally there is no issue. But..."

A trace of gravity entered her voice. "This wisp of spiritual energy exists here without any formation to conceal or guide it. Over time, could it attract low-level demon beasts with keen senses, or Rogue Cultivators harboring ill intent?"

"Jade Spring Town may be peaceful, but a hidden danger is still a hidden danger."

Chen Heng's expression also turned serious when he heard this. Mingjing had struck at the heart of the matter.

The spiritual energy in this well was far too abnormal, and it seemed to be exposed just like that.

He had not understood the dangers as a child, but now that he thought about it, lingering fear rose in his heart.

If some demon creature or cultivator truly lurked nearby, coveting this meager spiritual energy...

Just as Chen Heng was about to answer Mingjing's concerns, his gaze unconsciously fell upon the dark depths of the well again.

The well water reflected the sky above, fragmented by the lush leaves and branches of the locust tree. The light was dim.

Amid those hazy ripples and reflections, he vaguely saw that the stones at the bottom of the well did not seem entirely natural. On one dark stone with regular edges, there seemed to be...

There seemed to be some exceedingly dim, indistinct patterns carved upon it.

Chen Heng's heart suddenly lurched! What was that?

He had played in this water as a child and looked into the bottom of the well countless times. How had he never noticed that the stone bore patterns?

Or could it be... that these patterns had only appeared later?

The thought flashed through his mind like a bolt of lightning, and an ominous premonition quietly rose.

At that moment, a faint ray of light piercing through a gap in the locust leaves happened to fall upon that stone deep in the well.

In that instant—the dim patterns seemed to awaken, and a nearly imperceptible, fleeting trace of faint light abruptly flowed across them!

The sudden change was so swift that Chen Minglang noticed nothing. He was still muttering about the amount of spiritual energy.

Even Chen Mingjing, sharp as she was, only caught an extremely brief energy fluctuation with her spiritual senses. It was too faint and too fleeting for her to determine whether it had been an illusion, so she merely focused her spiritual sense on the bottom of the well again in confusion.

Only Chen Heng, whose eyes were fixed on that strange stone, saw his pupils suddenly constrict.

He had seen it clearly! There was something strange at the bottom of the well!

After pondering for a moment, Chen Heng carefully inspected the ancient well again, yet detected no danger whatsoever.

"I'll go down and investigate. You two wait for me above."

"Cousin Ming Heng..."

Before Chen Mingjing could finish speaking, Chen Heng had already leaped into the well. Forming a simple Water Repelling Incantation with his fingers, he descended straight down.

At this moment, Chen Minglang tried to follow him down, but Chen Mingjing grabbed him and rebuked him, "Chen Minglang, what are you doing? Cousin is at a higher cultivation realm than either of us."

"I couldn't stop him from going down, but don't even think about going down yourself."

Seeing this, Chen Minglang had no choice but to give up and wait obediently beside the well.

Below the well, at the bottom of the water.

It was dark and deep, cool and icy, with no silt stirred up.

Chen Heng found nothing unusual, so he followed his gaze toward the strange stone he had just discovered.

After focusing and examining it closely, he was startled to find that it did not seem to be a stone at all, but more like a magical artifact.

Thus.

His true essence surged, and his magical power rolled forth, drawing it into his hand.

The cold, rough touch of a teapot came from his palm. Chen Heng brought it close to his eyes and examined it carefully.

The well water was dim. By the faint light falling from the opening alone, he could see that the object's surface was indeed covered in scratches of varying depth and gaps obscured by silt. Most of the traces that seemed to be artifact patterns were blurred and broken.

It was as though the long years and ceaseless currents had utterly worn away its spiritual charm. Not even the slightest fluctuation of spiritual power could be sensed from it. It looked exactly like an old, mundane teapot that had lain submerged at the bottom of the water for who knew how many years.

"Did I see it wrong? Or... had it already been completely destroyed?"

Chen Heng pondered inwardly, his brows slightly furrowed.

The powerful sense of strangeness brought by that fleeting flash of light stood in stark contrast to the dead, spiritless mundane object in his hand, filling his heart with doubts.

He turned it over and inspected it several more times, yet found nothing unusual at all.

No matter how he looked at it, it was merely an ordinary object.