Chapter 13: [Could It Be a Treasure?]

Chen Yan was studying his own courtyard, stepping in strange patterns, muttering incantations, moving from the numerology of the Eight Trigrams to the calculations of the Thirty-Six Heavenly Spirits and Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends, and finally to the eight directions of the Bagua.

"Qian, Kun, Li, Kan, Zhen, Xun, Gen, Dui..."

Chen Yan wandered around the courtyard, holding a compass in his hands.

Hmm, this compass thing was bought, not a magical artifact he crafted himself.

You can find it on Taobao.

The one in Chen Yan's hands cost over one hundred and eighty, with free shipping.

The merchant sold crafts, claiming it was pure copper, but Chen Yan wasn't stupid.

One hundred and eighty yuan for a pure copper compass? Dreaming of peaches.

But the material didn't matter; the compass was just for calculating directions, as long as the markings were accurate.

He was a complete newbie who had just entered the realm of cultivating strange arts.

Currently, he mastered only four spells.

The basic cultivation method: "Heaven and Earth Qi Transport Art".

The versatile cultivation method "Fortune Cycle Algorithm", considered one of the basic skills.

Then there were the two spells "Open the Third Eye" and "Intercept Fortune Technique"—both were bottom-tier existences in the manual.

Magical artifacts were impossible to have, even though the "Artifact Identification" section contained many instructions and material descriptions for crafting them.

But after looking at it a few times, Chen Yan temporarily gave up.

Those materials that he could understand belonged to the mundane world and were purchasable—his one million in the bank account was simply not enough.

And those materials with names he couldn't understand were obviously not easy to find.

Without magical artifacts, setting up arrays meant he could only look for those with low thresholds.

Forget about arrays that could attack and defend while also possessing killing or trapping functions.

Chen Yan could only choose some auxiliary arrays to try and break into the field.

These past two days, he had been studying a Spirit-Gathering Array written in a manual.

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The reason that attracted Chen Yan was: the Spirit-Gathering Array had high flexibility, a low threshold, and a high ceiling.

If materials were abundant and the Qi was strong, a top-tier Spirit-Gathering Array could create a fairyland on earth for you.

If materials were insufficient...

A Shanzhai version, a poor man's version; many mundane materials could be substituted—though the effect would be equally Shanzhai.

But Chen Yan didn't mind; after all, practicing his skills was the primary goal.

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The Spirit-Gathering Array's effect could enhance the circulation and gathering of Heaven and Earth Qi within a certain range.

Cultivating the Heaven and Earth Qi Transport Art within the range of this array could improve efficiency.

As for the effect... it depended on the grade of the array-setting materials.

High-grade materials were currently out of Chen Yan's reach, so he would start with the simple ones.

He went to the Stone City and bought a very ordinary long strip of bluestone—to replace a material called "Five-Color Jade Disc" in the standard version.

Speaking of which, what "Five-Color Jade Disc"? Chen Yan had never even heard of it.

Bluestone strips were much cheaper; he went to a stone yard for renovation materials and had someone deliver a few pieces to the villa courtyard.

Next came cleaning, polishing, consecrating, and carving runes...

First, he used a water hose to spray the bluestone, then took a large brush and scrubbed it for a long time.

Then he started carving the runes...

The manual had several types of rune seals, which Chen Yan had practiced... he had even specifically bought cinnabar back.

First, draw on the stone with a brush, then use a carving knife to engrave it.

After working all morning, Chen Yan began to feel speechless.

【What the hell, is this cultivating immortality? Or is this doing hard labor?】

Looking at the stone cutting machine, grinding machine, and the full set of carving tools laid out on the ground in the courtyard, all bought by him these past two days...

And the industrial dust masks and other things nearby.

Chen Yan sighed.

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At noon, Chen Yan was too lazy to cook, so he ordered takeout: an egg fried rice with an egg, a small stir-fried yellow beef dish, and a pickled vegetable and shredded pork soup.

He made do with a meal.

While eating, Chen Yan calculated in his mind.

Using ordinary bluestone for the other array materials was one thing.

But for the artifact at the array's core, such cheap stone would definitely not work; a magical artifact was required.

He couldn't make magical artifacts himself, nor did he know how.

However, the manual also had a Shanzhai method:

Obtain a high-quality jade or jadeite, and every day infuse it with Heaven and Earth Qi to nurture it.

Over time, the material might absorb a trace of spiritual nature.

Although it couldn't compare to a true magical artifact, it could store a certain amount of Heaven and Earth Qi.

It could serve as the main material for the core of a low-level array, barely enough to make the array function.

The problem was that an artifact serving as the array core would consume Qi. And since this substitute was not a true magical artifact, its Qi storage capacity was limited.

It was equivalent to a small-capacity rechargeable battery.

Low power output meant the formation's grade was inevitably low.

Small capacity limited the endurance time; it would be short, requiring frequent thoughts of replenishing and infusing Qi at the formation's core.

Chen Yan calculated the object to serve as the formation's core...

If high-quality jade and emerald would do...

He had actually brought back an emerald jade ring from Port City.

At that time, there were many pieces of jade in the storage, yet he had singled out this trinket at a glance; it felt like a destined connection.

Other items remained untouched in storage; only this emerald ring was brought back.

However, since returning these past few days, he had been busy daily practicing Qi-transporting techniques, busy learning spells, busy moving house and finding a place, and busy setting up the poor man's Spirit-Gathering Array.

He had actually forgotten about that ring.

Thinking of this, Chen Yan was just about to rummage through his suitcase.

Suddenly, his phone rang.

Chen Yan glanced at it; an unfamiliar number, and a landline at that.

He answered...

"Hello, may I ask if this is Mr. Chen?"

Chen Yan was stunned.

Oh my.

That voice was quite sweet.

That little voice, soft and delicate, with such a naturally perfect coquettish tone!

"Yes, who is this?" Chen Yan spoke, even coughing once.

The stir-fried beef at noon had been a bit spicy; his throat was too tight, and after speaking a few words, he couldn't help but cough.

The person on the other end fell silent for a moment, then their tone became more solemn.

"Mr. Chen, I am a family friend of your paternal clan... entrusted by someone, I have come to..."

Chen Yan hung up directly!

My paternal clan?

What nonsense!

According to Old Grandma, my biological mother was a white fox!

As for what species my biological father was, that was still uncertain.

Moreover, hearing that little voice so sweet and pleasant... perhaps it was just an AI-synthesized voice after all!

In the real world, he had never heard such a naturally perfect coquettish voice.

In this current age, phone scams are becoming more and more frequent!

Personal information protection, privacy protection—the government isn't cracking down properly!

Hmm, I'll download an anti-fraud app later.

Chen Yan muttered his complaints internally, then casually set his phone to reject all calls from unknown numbers.

He then continued rummaging through his suitcase to find the ring.

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On the other end of the call, standing beside a public phone at a street-side newsstand, the girl looked utterly bewildered at the receiver in her hand.

He hung up?

He actually hung up on me?!

No good, call again!

Hmm...

Hmm?!

Why won't it connect?

After a moment of silence, the girl, her face pale as death, put down the phone and silently took out a one-yuan bill for the newsstand owner...

The owner took the money, stunned first; someone still paying with cash?

And this money... hmm?!

Instinctively, he glanced at the girl, whose beauty was somewhat eerie.

Such an old-version bill; it's been a while since I've seen one. Moreover, this currency is no longer in circulation; nowadays, it is used only as a collectible.

Whose family is so generous as to spend a coin that should be kept for collection?

Alas, what a pity.

A very pretty Miss, yet a fool.

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Chen Yan dug out the emerald jade ring he had hidden in the suitcase's inner compartment.

Before returning from Port City, he had taken a square towel from the bathroom sink in the hotel, carefully wrapped it, and placed it in the suitcase's inner compartment.

He had originally worried about potential issues during customs clearance, but unexpectedly, everything went smoothly.

He supposed he had overthought it before. After all, Port City was a shopping paradise; the volume of travelers entering and exiting daily to shop was enormous. As long as it wasn't that kind of blatant bulk smuggling, customs simply couldn't manage such small items.

Retrieving the ring again, Chen Yan held it in his hand; the touch was cool, yet that emerald-green color made one feel joy upon seeing it.

Following the artifact-nurturing method in the manual's artifact identification section, Chen Yan circulated Qi and first attempted to infuse a wisp of Qi into the emerald ring.

After the Qi was injected, the originally emerald-green hue of the ring seemed to react; it was as if the green luster suddenly gained a touch of liveliness.

Seeing this, Chen Yan felt quite satisfied in his heart, judging that the nurturing method was effective for this item. What was there to hesitate about? Naturally, he increased the intensity and continued to infuse Qi into it.

Just like this, a few minutes passed; a trace of fatigue gradually appeared in Chen Yan's eyes, yet he felt a bit surprised.

He had been pouring in Yuan Qi for several minutes straight, yet why did it seem bottomless?

According to the Nurturing Method, ordinary mundane jade materials, even top-grade ones, could only absorb a small amount of Yuan Qi per day during nurturing and infusion—because the material quality of mundane jade was limited; too much infusion on the first attempt simply could not be absorbed.

Then, by inputting a little bit each day to continue nurturing, only over a long period could the quality gradually change.

But this ring in his hand seemed... its capacity had already exceeded what the Nurturing Method described, hadn't it?

Of course, Chen Yan wasn't entirely sure, because the Nurturing Method in the booklet was too vague.

It stated that ordinary Hu Yuqi could only absorb a small amount of Yuan Qi during the first infusion.

But just how much was this "small amount"?

Deep down, Chen Yan felt this was on par with some idiotic recipes.

Adding a "small amount" of salt, a "small amount" of soy sauce.

Just how much was "a small amount"?

How would someone who had never cooked know how much "a small amount" was?

Only those who could cook knew how much salt to add, how much oil to pour!

Two types of people: those who could cook, and those who couldn't.

Which type was the primary target audience for recipes?

For many years, Chen Yan hadn't understood how the brains of those who compiled recipes were wired.

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So!

Was the material of this ring simply too good, meaning the Yuan Qi he had input had not yet reached its limit?

Or... was his own strength too weak? After all, he was a newbie who had only entered the sect a few days ago. Could it be that despite his earnest efforts to input Yuan Qi, he still hadn't reached the "small amount" mentioned in the Nurturing Method?

In other words, either the material was too good, or he was too useless.

A thought stirred in Chen Yan's heart, giving rise to another notion: this item was left by the Old Grandma in the vault; since it belonged to the Old Grandma... could it be a magical artifact?

With this thought, Chen Yan's spirits instantly lifted.

In the "Artifact Appraisal Chapter" of the secret manual booklet, there was a recorded method for identifying and recognizing magical artifacts.

Previously, Chen Yan had no magical artifacts in hand, so this strange technique was of little use to him and he hadn't paid much attention; now, he hurriedly pulled the booklet from his chest—he valued the booklet highly, having personally sewn a small cloth pouch, threaded it with a string, and hung it around his neck, carrying it close to his body every day; these past days, except for bathing, he had kept it close to his body.

Even while sleeping, he placed the pouch under his pillow.

He flipped open the secret manual booklet, read the appraisal technique twice again, and attempted to activate Yuan Qi according to the incantation, injecting it into the ring.

According to the book's record, this strange technique utilized resonance; if the object itself was a magical artifact, it would be stimulated to react using the Yuan Qi inherent to the artifact.

But after performing the entire set of spells, the ring in his hand showed no reaction whatsoever; Chen Yan watched until his eyes ached, yet he could not detect even the slightest anomaly.

Reluctant to give up, Chen Yan thought of another possibility: some magical artifacts had restrictions set by their owners, making them unactivatable by outsiders; only the owner's exclusive secret technique could activate them.

With this faint speculation, Chen Yan actually dared not continue using the Nurturing Technique on this jade ring.

If he rashly input too much Yuan Qi and destroyed the original internal formation array of the magical artifact, it would be ruined.

Chen Yan pondered for a while; his heart was truly itching, yet he devised a method to identify it.

To see if this thing was truly a treasure, one only needed to distinguish it by its Yuan Qi capacity.

Find a piece of ordinary jade, input Yuan Qi; if its capacity was similar to this one, then there was no need to fantasize.

If the Yuan Qi capacity of ordinary jade was much smaller than this one, then it truly might be a treasure!

Chen Yan was a man of action; with this thought, he immediately changed into his outer clothes, stuffed the ring directly into his pocket, and went out!

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【Requesting collections! Requesting follow-reads!

Let me explain something: some readers asked why gifting and monthly votes aren't available...

I've also seen trolls gleefully saying this book is doomed, with no one gifting or voting monthly votes to date.

The truth is actually that the status of this book is: not yet signed.

Therefore, gifting and monthly votes are not possible.

I myself delayed the signing process.

Old readers from my previous book know that a few days ago, my father suffered a serious accidental injury while traveling out of town and underwent a major surgery to replace a prosthetic joint there (a level-four surgery). As the only son in the family, I had to drop everything I was working on at the time, travel two thousand kilometers to handle matters, and was delayed out of town for quite a few days.

This incident caused me to be absent for several more days before stabilizing the ending of the previous book. At that time, being two thousand kilometers away, I ran back and forth between the hospital and the guesthouse daily; I had no time to write the ending of the old book, let alone the beginning of the new one, because signing the new book required submitting the beginning for review first.

This delayed my submission of the new book for review and the entire process.

It was only when I published the first chapter of this book that I handed the manuscript to the chief editor to take to Qidian's review department for review...

So the signing process has been expedited, but we still have to wait a few days.】

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