The Eerie Boulder

Looking at the Spirit Field filled with Spirit Rain water, he was overcome with emotion. This Spirit Rain water would be enough to replenish it this time. He had cast the Great Perfection Realm Spirit Rain Technique precisely to irrigate it with the Spirit Rain.

It would enrich the Spirit Field's spiritual energy and make it more abundant, which would benefit the next harvest.

After dealing with that, Lu Wanyuan immediately headed home with Baili Qiuyue.

"Several months have passed. How are the Spirit Fish fry in the pond doing?"

This had been on his mind even before he entered seclusion. After all, these Silver Moon Spirit Carp were immensely valuable. Not only could the family eat them, but they could also be sold. Silver Moon Spirit Carp fetched the astonishing price of twenty Spirit Stones per jin.

If they all survived, he would truly strike it rich. That was why he cared so much about this matter.

Before entering seclusion, he had also carefully instructed the others to take good care of the Spirit Fish.

"After you entered seclusion, we followed your method and harvested some leaves from the Yellow Barley Malt Grass here, scattering them into the Spirit Pond for the fish to eat!

"We thought that with so many Spirit Fish fry, there might not be enough food later on. After all, there were tens of millions of them.

"But for some reason, the fry kept dwindling. By now, there are only around a few thousand left."

Baili Qiuyue looked at Lu Wanyuan and spoke with a hint of guilt.

"No way. Back then, they were packed together so densely—there had to have been tens of millions of fry. Now there are only a few thousand?"

Lu Wanyuan found it hard to believe.

"Yes. Go take a look if you don't believe me. We don't know why it turned out this way either."

"Then I'll go have a look. Why don't you rest first?"

Lu Wanyuan suggested as he looked at the heavily pregnant Baili Qiuyue.

"Alright, you go ahead. I'll rest first. My whole body aches, especially my waist!"

"Mm. I'll help you into the room to rest, then I'll go check the pond!"

With that, Lu Wanyuan helped her into the room before heading out toward the Rain Pavilion.

After leaving the room and passing through several corridors, he arrived at the Rain Pavilion and stood within it.

In the Spirit Pond, a school of Silver Moon Spirit Carp swam about leisurely. Aside from five relatively large Silver Moon Spirit Carp, the rest were only the size of little fingers—at least several thousand of them.

He had originally thought the fish in the Spirit Pond would fill the entire pond. Who would have thought it would be like this now? Lu Wanyuan found it rather unbelievable. The entire estate was covered by a formation, so safety should have been guaranteed, and they had Yellow Barley Malt Grass to feed them as well.

Yet of so many fry, only this tiny number had survived. He was intensely curious—which deity had devoured all his Spirit Fish fry? He had originally hoped this batch of fry would bring him enormous wealth.

But now, it was uncertain whether even these thousands of Silver Moon Spirit Carp fry could survive.

If he could not find the true culprit now, the remaining Silver Moon Spirit Carp fry might soon have to say their goodbyes as well.

With that in mind, he began carefully observing the pond. Ever since he had opened the Spirit Spring outlet and cleared away the filth from the pond, he had never thoroughly inspected it again.

Yet after two hours passed, there was nothing in the calm, windless pond—nothing unusual happened at all. Only the pure white Spirit Spring water gushed continuously from its source. The entire pond was clear to the bottom, silver ripples occasionally shimmering across its surface. It left him deeply frustrated.

Still unwilling to give up, he followed the Spirit Fish fry as they swam through the pond.

Then, he suddenly noticed several small fry becoming so engrossed in foraging that they fell behind the main school, remaining there to search for food with single-minded focus.

The moment he noticed this anomaly, his interest was piqued. What kind of food could make a Silver Moon Spirit Carp fry ignore the main school instead of chasing after it?

The main school had already swum far away!

At that moment, Lu Wanyuan's head began to buzz. After his gaze had swept over the distant school, he turned back to look at the little fry that had fallen behind—only to discover that it had vanished.

It had simply disappeared out of thin air. He was certain that the little fry had not rejoined the main school.

Seeing this, he immediately scrutinized the place where the fry had just been foraging.

He had to find out why it had disappeared.

He had already fixed the spot where the fry vanished in his mind. In the blink of an eye, the fry had disappeared.

And he had not seen any birds in the sky. Any creature trying to enter the pond would first have to break through the estate's warding restrictions, yet the restrictions around the estate remained completely intact.

That meant there was no external cause. The culprit had to be inside this pond.

Specifically, in the place he had just marked.

He then looked at that spot, picked up several small stones from the ground, and threw them toward it!

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

Two of the stones merely created faint ripples. There was only a trace of silt in the pond, and not even a bubble rose to the surface.

But the other stone encountered something extremely eerie—it vanished without a trace. No silt stirred in the pond either. It was as though the stone had abruptly disappeared.

Seeing this, Lu Wanyuan immediately grew curious. He stepped into the pond and walked toward the place where the small stone had vanished.

Before long, he reached the spot. Yet he found nothing special about it, except that he seemed to be standing atop a massive rock.

It was a huge boulder, with a surface area at least as large as three four-person dining tables.

The rock's surface was uneven and jagged, leaving him rather embarrassed. He had cleaned this pond before and had never discovered such a massive stone within it.

Yet now, such a boulder had appeared. He did not know what to make of it. Baili Qiuyue, Lu Wanshan, and the others surely would not have placed such an enormous rock into the pond for no reason.

It had to weigh at least ten thousand jin!

Just as he stood there speechless, he suddenly felt his body moving. He jumped in fright—he had not taken a single step in this pond!

He immediately focused his eyes and saw that the rock beneath his feet was actually moving rapidly!

This—

Damn it, this thing was alive! He was scared out of his wits. It had to be some kind of Demonic Beast. Thinking this, he hurriedly leaped up. With the situation still unclear, one bite from this thing would surely leave him seriously injured.

When he came down, he suddenly saw a massive object beneath the pond's surface speeding forward. It shot through the water like an arrow, and before long, he saw that huge rock surge into the spring opening along with the water.

What was going on? He had personally opened that spring outlet, and it was only a hole about a foot wide.

Yet such a huge rock had actually squeezed inside!

This defied all common sense!

There was no need to think about it—it had to be some Demonic Beast, and one capable of changing shape. Otherwise, there was no way it could have entered!

He had originally wanted to see what was going on inside, but after seeing that creature dart in so quickly, he grew somewhat worried. Mainly because his strength was still insufficient; if he rashly entered now, something unforeseen would definitely happen.

Now he knew why the Moon Spirit Carp Fry had disappeared—they had been eaten by that strange Demonic Beast.

But he could not enter the spring cave to investigate right now. He could only wait until his cultivation and strength had improved before going in to take a look.

What a pity about the Moon Spirit Carp Fry. Who knew how many would be left in the end, if that thing kept coming out to wreak havoc on his fry.