Light Cocoon Stirs, Array Spirit First Revealed

Xuanwei felt like his immortal life was a roller coaster ride—without a safety belt! He had barely survived the Eastern Sea's "egg-carrying" scare and had not even caught his breath when that "ancestral light cocoon" beneath his backyard—the Medicine Garden—started causing trouble again!

Daoist Duobao's message, stern and questioning, exploded through his mind like a thunderclap. The disturbance beneath the Medicine Garden had intensified? It had triggered an autonomous reaction from the Island Protection Array?! This was way too big!

"Three Senior Sisters!" Xuanwei hurriedly called out to the San Xiao, who had been about to return to their respective caves. His face was full of panicked something huge has happened. "Senior Brother sent word. Something... happened at my Medicine Garden. It seems... a little out of control!"

Bixiao's eyes instantly lit up. "More excitement? Come on, come on! Your senior sister will hold the fort for you!"

Qiongxiao asked with concern, "Is it serious? Do you need us to come with you?"

Yunxiao was the calmest. Sensing the unusual ripple of Chaos Qi and the hum of an array coming faintly from Golden Ao Island's core region, her cool brows furrowed slightly. "Such an anomaly is no trivial matter. We shall go with you, so we can look after one another."

Xuanwei was so touched he nearly cried. At a critical moment, his senior sisters were still the reliable ones! He hurriedly thanked them, and the four once again rode their escape lights, streaking toward the Medicine Garden in the rear mountains like four shooting stars.

Even from afar, they could see the chaotic spiritual energy above the Medicine Garden. The earth-vein power Xuanwei had painstakingly sorted into order seemed to have been startled by something and was now darting wildly in every direction. More conspicuously, a faint azure barrier carrying Heaven-Severing Sword Intent had already enveloped the entire Medicine Garden—Biyou Palace's Island Protection Array had activated its autonomous defense mechanism! Daoist Duobao's ancient, solemn figure floated outside the barrier, staring down with tightly furrowed brows.

"Senior Brother!" Xuanwei quickly landed and bowed.

Daoist Duobao glanced at him, then swept his gaze over the San Xiao behind him. "You have returned. Half an hour ago, the Chaos aura underground suddenly became extremely active, sending the earth veins into a frenzy. It even showed signs of breaking through the soil, triggering the array's alert. Xuanwei, what exactly have you been nurturing here? Why did you not report it earlier?"

Here it came. The ultimate interrogation had finally arrived.

Xuanwei groaned inwardly, knowing he could not bluff his way through this time. His old excuse about "sorting out the earth veins" might fool ordinary disciples, but before someone like Duobao—a Grand Unity Golden Immortal and an array master—it had nowhere to hide. Besides, with the disturbance now so obvious, further concealment would only invite greater suspicion and trouble.

Gritting his teeth, he decided to confess... half-truthfully.

"Senior Brother, this disciple... did not mean to conceal anything!" Xuanwei wore just the right expression of lingering fear and shame. "It is simply that... this disciple does not know what that thing underground is either!"

He began his performance, mixed with a great deal of truth. "While sorting out the earth veins earlier, this disciple accidentally touched an ancient sealing node deep below and discovered this object. It was wrapped in an incomparably pure mass of Chaos Qi, resembling a light cocoon, with an ancient and powerful aura. This disciple tried to make contact and found that it seemed... to respond to this disciple's cultivation art—he vaguely indicated the Chaos Heaven-Opening Art and the Chaos Bead—and could absorb the Chaos Spiritual Energy converted by this disciple. In exchange, it would occasionally return a trace of 'Chaos Source Gel' to aid this disciple's cultivation."

He emphasized "accidental discovery," "ancient seal," and "mutual benefit," while saying nothing about the Chaos Bead possibly being related to the thing or about how he had actively fed it.

"This disciple coveted the benefits that 'Chaos Source Gel' brought to cultivation. Seeing that it had remained dormant, I... I privately kept it and fed it daily with spiritual energy converted from my own mana, thinking I might nurture an opportunity of my own... I never expected it to suddenly stir today and cause such trouble! This disciple was greedy and reckless. Please punish me, Senior Brother!"

With that explanation, he painted himself as a somewhat greedy young disciple who had stumbled into an opportunity through good—or bad—luck, then found himself unable to control the situation. He perfectly avoided the core secret while taking all the blame upon himself, lowering his stance to the utmost.

After hearing him out, Daoist Duobao's face remained as still as an ancient well, revealing neither belief nor disbelief. He only looked at Xuanwei with deep eyes. "Chaos Source Gel? Do you know what it is? It is the essence condensed from Chaos Origin. Even Grand Unity Golden Immortals rarely encounter it! Yet you can cultivate with it?"

"This disciple would not dare deceive you!" Xuanwei hurriedly "verified" his claim, forcing out a nearly undetectable trace of Chaos Source Gel aura from his immortal-energy body—it was actually what the Chaos Bead had previously stored. "This substance can indeed nourish one's origin. This disciple has benefited greatly from it. That is precisely why I... I could not bear to report it..."

The incomparably pure Chaos aura, containing the power of creation, could not be faked. A flicker of surprise passed through Daoist Duobao's eyes when he sensed it. Even the San Xiao beside him were moved. Chaos Source Gel was something of legend!

"In that case, it may indeed count as one of your opportunities." Daoist Duobao's tone softened slightly, though he remained stern. "However, fortune is where misfortune lies hidden. This object's aura is ancient and vast; it is certainly no ordinary thing. There must be a reason for its sudden disturbance. Have you encountered anything unusual recently, or visited any special place?"

Something unusual? A special place?

Xuanwei's heart stirred, and he immediately thought of the three Black Tortoise Eggs he had just acquired! Could their aura have stimulated this light cocoon, which was extremely sensitive to Chaos Origin? Like the ruler of a territory sensing newly arrived competitors with equally extraordinary potential, it had declared its dominance in advance—or perhaps suffered an... stress reaction?

He did not dare conceal this point. He quickly explained his encounter with the Mysterious Female Ink Turtle in the Eastern Sea and how he had been entrusted with caring for the three eggs of its Black Tortoise descendants—naturally omitting key rewards like the Black Emperor Water Sovereign Fist and the Black Tortoise Dao Pattern Armor. He then took the three miniature jade-green eggs, which emitted a Chaos wood-element aura, from his Mustard Seed Space.

"Black Tortoise descendants?!" Even Daoist Duobao was moved this time. The Mysterious Female Ink Turtle was a Primordial Remnant Species. How precious must its bloodline descendants be! And they had actually been entrusted to Xuanwei? This little junior brother's "karma/fate" truly was... inconceivable!

The appearance of the three Black Tortoise Eggs seemed to confirm Xuanwei's guess. The pure Chaos wood-element aura they emitted vaguely formed a strange resonance—and... confrontation—with the fluctuations from the underground light cocoon.

Boom!

The ground of the Medicine Garden shook violently! A solid beam of Chaos light, mixed with countless profound law runes, burst through the Low-Tier Chaos Barrier Xuanwei had set up. It even struck the azure light barrier formed by the Island Protection Array, sending violent ripples across it!

Within the beam, the light cocoon, more than a person's height tall, slowly rose into the air. The Chaos Dao patterns on its surface flowed at an unprecedented speed, its radiance blazing! A clearer, more active life fluctuation—even carrying a trace of... innocent curiosity—spread from within!

"Is it... is it coming out?!" Bixiao cried out.

"No!" Yunxiao's gaze sharpened. "It is not hatching. Rather... the spirituality inside it is awakening! And it has formed a connection with Golden Ao Island's Myriad Immortals Array..."

As though confirming her words, the soaring Chaos light pillar did not damage the array. Instead, like a stream flowing into the sea, it began forming a marvelous cycle with the enormous array energy enveloping Golden Ao Island! The Dao patterns on the light cocoon's surface even began to vaguely mimic parts of the Interception Sect's array-operation paths!

[Warning! High-concentration Chaos laws and the laws of the Interception Sect's Myriad Immortals Array are attempting to fuse!]

[Analysis: The spirituality of the target "unknown light cocoon" has just been born. It is instinctively drawing upon external Dao Rhyme to complete itself. Its current locked energy source is—the Interception Sect's Island Protection Array!]

[Risk: Unknown! It may cause an array imbalance! It may catalyze the premature maturation of the light cocoon! It may... give birth to an unknown life-form?!]

The system's warnings made Xuanwei's scalp go numb! That ancestral light cocoon either stayed silent or made a colossal mess the moment it acted! It had gone straight to "snacking" on the Island Protection Array?! If it drained the array's energy dry or caused some kind of bug, wouldn't Master Tongtian toss both him and the light cocoon back into the furnace for remaking?!

Daoist Duobao's expression was graver than ever. His hands rapidly formed seals as he tried to stabilize the array, and he said in a deep voice, "This object's spirituality has just awakened. It is instinctively drawing upon the array's Dao Rhyme to shape itself! It must be isolated from the array, or the consequences will be unpredictable!"

He looked at Xuanwei with sharp eyes. "Xuanwei! Since you are connected to it, can you communicate with it and guide it to stop drawing on the array's energy?"

Communicate? How was he supposed to communicate with an egg? Xuanwei complained inwardly, but he knew this was the only option. Bracing himself, he fully circulated the Chaos Heaven-Opening Art and released his immortal energy, Earth Element Origin, Wood Element Vitality from the Remnant Seed of Jianmu, and most importantly—the origin aura of the Chaos Bead—without reservation. They transformed into a gentle, pure stream of Chaos Spiritual Energy that cautiously reached toward the radiant light cocoon like a bridge.

Hey! Buddy! Wake up! Stop sucking! That belongs to everyone. If you take too much, you'll have to pay for it! I've got private savings here—Chaos Qi! As much as you want!

Perhaps it sensed the same-origin yet purer Chaos aura, or perhaps Xuanwei's call as its "long-term meal ticket" had worked. The light cocoon's rotation slowed, and its absorption of the Island Protection Array's energy visibly weakened. It instead began greedily absorbing the Chaos Spiritual Energy Xuanwei sent it.

At the same time, an incredibly faint, blurry thought—like that of an infant who had only just learned to speak—entered Xuanwei's mind in fragments.

Hungry... Dao... tasty... more...

Xuanwei: "..." It could actually communicate?! And it was a glutton?!

He hurriedly increased the "feeding" while trying to send a thought back. Don't absorb the array! Absorb mine! I'll raise you!

The vague thought seemed to understand. It conveyed feelings of "happiness" and "more," completely ceasing its draw on the Island Protection Array and wholeheartedly absorbing Xuanwei's Chaos Spiritual Energy instead. The towering Chaos light pillar slowly receded, and the Island Protection Array's fluctuations gradually calmed.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Daoist Duobao watched the light cocoon, whose glow was gradually becoming gentle under Xuanwei's "feeding" while the life fluctuation within grew clearer and more active. His expression was complicated. He could sense that an extremely close connection had already formed between the object and Xuanwei. The peculiarity of its origins and the enormity of its potential far exceeded imagination.

"This object... may bring either fortune or disaster. Watch over it carefully. Do not let another mishap occur." In the end, Daoist Duobao merely gave a grave reminder and did not probe further. Some opportunities could not be forced. Since it had fallen to Xuanwei, perhaps it was heaven's will—or perhaps Master Tongtian had tacitly permitted it.

With the crisis temporarily resolved, Xuanwei looked at the light cocoon before him, which seemed full and content and radiated a lazy aura. Then he felt his rapidly depleting immortal energy and the Chaos Bead's reserves, and he nearly burst into tears.

One light cocoon and three Black Tortoise Eggs at home—every single one of them was a bottomless money pit! He could not go on like this! He had to hurry up and earn "formula money"!

However, before he could plan his next "income-generating" venture, one of the primary Dao patterns on the light cocoon's surface suddenly lit up. A miniature array phantom containing a complex fusion of Chaos and Heaven-Severing Sword Intent flashed above it and vanished!

At the same time, that blurry thought came again, carrying a trace of pride.

Look... what I learned... does it look alike...

Xuanwei, Duobao, and the San Xiao: "!!!"

In such a short time, the light cocoon had actually simulated and initially grasped part of the essence of the Interception Sect's Myriad Immortals Array?! Though it was only superficial, its learning ability and growth speed were far too terrifying!

What kind of monster would hatch from this thing?!