Chapter 179: The Black Market
The so-called spiritual spring objects are those things upon which a spiritual spring depends during its formation.
Constantly nourished by the spiritual spring day and night, these objects undergo a transformation from ordinary materials into spiritual spring objects and remain in the world as the foundation of the spiritual spring.
For example, if a spiritual spring forms on a tree root, that root will transform into a spiritual spring object. If it forms on a rock, that rock becomes a spiritual spring object.
Of course, there are also spiritual springs that form in the void without any specific spiritual spring objects.
If a spiritual spring is destroyed or depleted for some reason, its spiritual spring object may still survive.
Though spiritual springs are rare, countless years have passed, and it’s inevitable that some spiritual spring objects have been discovered. Indeed, a few of these depleted spiritual spring objects still circulate within the realm of immortal cultivation.
While these depleted spiritual spring objects can’t be used in artifact refinement or alchemy, they’re often considered curious relics due to their unique formation, and many people are interested in collecting them.
The author of Secret Dragon-Searching Techniques speculated that such spiritual spring objects could help accelerate the formation of a new spiritual spring. Unfortunately, though he managed to acquire a spiritual spring object, he never found a spiritual spring that had yet to fully form.
Because it’s challenging for spiritual springs to form, yet they reach maturity relatively quickly, most cultivators have the patience to wait. Moreover, from the moment a spiritual spring begins to form, the spiritual energy within a cave dwelling becomes exceptionally dense, more than sufficient to sustain a cultivator's training.