Chapter 12: Could It Be a Treasure?
Chen Yan moved through his courtyard, his footsteps tracing a peculiar rhythm. His lips murmured arcane incantations, shifting from the Mystic Sect Calculation Methods to the Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend Art, and finally to the eight cardinal trigrams.
“Qian, Kun, Li, Kan, Zhen, Xun, Gen, Dui…”
He roamed the yard, a bronze compass clutched tightly in his grasp.
Yes, a compass—not a treasured artifact of his own making, but a mass-produced item. Purchased online. The price? A mere one hundred and eighty silver pieces, shipping included.
The seller claimed it was solid brass, but Chen Yan wasn’t foolish enough to believe such a tale. A true brass compass at this price? A dreamer’s delusion.
But materials mattered little. What mattered was precision. A compass’s sole duty was to mark the correct direction. As for Chen Yan himself—he was but a fledgling, only just stepping onto the path of the Mystic Arts.
At present, he had mastered merely four techniques:
Vital Energy Circulation Method – the foundational technique for gathering worldly energy.
Fortune Circulation Technique – a general-purpose method of energy alignment.
Heavenly Eye Qi-Observing Technique – allowing him to perceive the unseen forces of the world.
Fate Severing Technique – a minor technique, ranked among the lowest in the manual.
As for Magical Artifacts? An impossibility. The Artifact Appraisal Technique detailed many methods of crafting such wonders, alongside lists of required materials. Yet, after perusing it several times, Chen Yan had resigned himself to reality—
Anything he could recognize was obtainable in the mundane world, but his current wealth, even a million silver pieces, was far from enough to gather what he truly needed.
As for the exotic materials with names he couldn’t even decipher? Clearly, they were beyond his reach.
With no Magical Artifacts at his disposal, complex Spell Formations were equally unattainable. Those deadly arrays—capable of both offense and defense, capable of trapping and slaying enemies—were beyond imagination.
Thus, Chen Yan settled for something more practical: Spirit-Gathering Formation.
—
This formation intrigued him for several reasons.
Firstly, it was adaptable—accessible to even the most meager practitioners, yet with limitless potential. Given an abundance of resources and a sufficiently rich energy field, a grandmaster’s formation could turn even the most barren land into a paradise of celestial energy.
If resources were lacking?
A makeshift version could be cobbled together using mundane materials. Crude, yes, but effective enough for practice.
Chen Yan held no illusions—this was about training his hand, not perfection.
—
The Spirit-Gathering Formation functioned by enhancing the natural circulation of energy in a designated area. Within its bounds, the effectiveness of the Vital Energy Circulation Method increased substantially.
As for the strength of this enhancement? That depended entirely on the materials used.
High-grade materials were beyond Chen Yan’s reach for now. Instead, he ventured into the stone market, purchasing the most ordinary long-cut greenstone. A substitute for a mystical component known as the Five-Colored Jade Bi.
Whatever that was. He had never even heard of it.
Greenstone, however, was abundant and affordable. With a quick trip to a construction supplier, he had several blocks delivered to his villa courtyard.
Next came the tedious process of purification, carving, and empowerment.
First, he took up a water hose and a sturdy brush, scrubbing the stones clean. Then came the carving—a painstaking process requiring symbolic engravings. The manual listed several types of arcane runes, so Chen Yan practiced diligently, even purchasing cinnabar ink to sketch the markings before engraving them with a chisel.
A full morning’s work left him feeling more like a common laborer than a cultivator.
[Am I training in the Mystic Arts, or am I merely working as a stonemason?]
He glanced at the tools scattered across his courtyard—a stone cutter, sanding machine, a full set of engraving knives—all newly purchased.
Nearby sat an industrial-grade dust mask.
Chen Yan heaved a sigh.
—
By noon, he had no patience left for cooking. He ordered a simple meal—egg-fried rice with extra egg, stir-fried beef, and a pickled mustard soup.
As he ate, he pondered his formation.
Using ordinary greenstone for the structural components was fine.
But the formation’s core, the central artifact that anchored the energy flow? A mere common stone wouldn’t suffice—it needed a Magical Artifact.
Which he didn’t have. And couldn’t make.
The manual did, however, offer an alternative: a high-grade jade or emerald, imbued daily with vital energy. Over time, such an item might develop a faint trace of spiritual resonance.
Not quite a true artifact, but enough to store and channel energy.
A makeshift core, akin to a small energy reservoir. Insufficient for great power, but enough to sustain a lesser formation.
The only downside? This substitute core drained energy over time, requiring frequent replenishment.
Chen Yan mentally reviewed his possessions.
An emerald thumb ring could serve the purpose, so long as it was of sufficient quality.
And, as luck would have it, he had brought back just such a ring from Harbor City.
Among all the jade treasures stored in his vault, his gaze had been inexplicably drawn to this particular ring.
Everything else remained untouched in storage. But this emerald ring? He had carried it back himself.
And then promptly forgotten about it.
Realizing this, he set down his chopsticks and moved toward his luggage.
—
Just as he reached for his suitcase, his phone rang.
An unfamiliar number. A landline.
He hesitated, then answered.
“Hello, is this Mister Chen?”
A pause.
[Oh?]
A soft voice. Sweet, delicate—its clarity exquisite.
“Yes. Who is this?” he asked, coughing slightly.
The stir-fried beef had been spicy, his throat tight from the heat.
The voice on the other end fell momentarily silent, then turned solemn.
“Mister Chen, I am an old acquaintance of your paternal family… I have been entrusted with—”
Chen Yan hung up instantly.
Paternal family?
Ridiculous!
According to his grandmother, his mother was a white fox.
His father? An unknown entity.
Moreover, that voice—so impossibly refined, so perfectly sweet—could it have been AI-generated?
Scams were rampant these days. And wasn’t it about time the authorities cracked down on them properly?
[First thing tomorrow, I’m downloading an Anti-Fraud App.]
With a scoff, he blacklisted the number, set his phone to reject all unknown calls, and resumed his search for the emerald ring.
—
Meanwhile, across the city—
A young woman stood beside a street-side telephone booth, holding the receiver in stunned disbelief.
“…He hung up?”
Her delicate features twisted in frustration.
“Impossible. I must call again.”
She dialed once more.
—
Beep—beep—beep.
An error tone.
Her fists clenched.
“…He blocked me?!”
After a brief silence, the young girl set down her phone, her face as pale as winter frost. Without a word, she reached into her sleeve and retrieved a crumpled one-yuan banknote, offering it to the newsstand vendor.
The vendor hesitated, his brows furrowing in surprise. Who still paid in cash these days? And this bill—hmm?! His gaze flickered to the girl, whose beauty carried an eerie, otherworldly charm.
This was an old edition, a relic from days long past. Such banknotes had long since faded from circulation, now sought after only by collectors. Who in their right mind would spend something of such value on a mere newspaper?
What a waste.
A shame, really. A stunning young lady—yet an utter fool.
—
From the hidden seams of his luggage, Chen Yan carefully extracted the jade thumb ring he had concealed. Before leaving Harbor City, he had plucked a soft towel from the hotel’s washroom, wrapped the jade within its folds, and secured it within his suitcase’s lining.
He had worried about customs, wondering if he might encounter trouble. Yet, his fears had been unfounded. Harbor City, after all, was a merchant’s paradise, where travelers came and went laden with treasures. As long as one did not blatantly transport goods en masse, such minor trinkets rarely drew attention.
With the jade ring now cradled in his palm, Chen Yan felt its cool, soothing touch. Its verdant hue shimmered, alive with an ethereal glow, stirring a quiet joy in his heart.
He turned to the sect’s secret manual, flipping to the section on artifact cultivation. Following its prescribed method, he guided a thin thread of vital energy into the jade ring.
The moment the energy seeped in, the jade’s luster seemed to awaken, its emerald glow gaining an almost sentient vibrancy.
Seeing this, Chen Yan was pleased. This cultivation method was effective, then. Without hesitation, he pressed forward, channeling even more of his energy into the artifact.
Minutes passed. A faint weariness crept into his gaze, yet he found himself perplexed.
Why had he not yet reached the ring’s limit?
According to the manual, mundane jade—even of the finest quality—could only absorb a minuscule amount of vital energy each day. Such materials had a natural threshold. The process of refining them required patience: a slow infusion, allowing the energy to gradually alter the jade’s composition over time.
Yet this ring—its capacity defied the text’s teachings.
Had he miscalculated? Or was this jade not so ordinary after all?
But the manual’s instructions were vague, infuriatingly so.
It simply stated that “mundane jade can only hold a small amount of energy at first.”
Small amount?! What exactly did that mean?
It reminded Chen Yan of those absurd cooking recipes—adding “a pinch of salt” or “a dash of soy sauce.” How much was a pinch? How much was a dash?!
Those who knew how to cook didn’t need such vague instructions. And those who didn’t—well, how were they supposed to guess?
For years, Chen Yan had puzzled over the minds of cookbook authors. Now, he found himself equally baffled by this so-called artifact cultivation technique.
—
So—
Was this jade ring an artifact of remarkable quality, capable of holding more vital energy than he had yet supplied?
Or was it simply that he himself was too weak?
After all, he was but a novice, only recently stepping into the path of cultivation. Could it be that even pouring all his effort into it, he had yet to reach what the manual called “a small amount”?
Either the jade was extraordinary, or he was utterly lacking.
A sudden thought sparked within him:
This ring had belonged to the Old Madam and had been kept in a vault. If it had been her possession… could it be a magical artifact?
His heart quickened.
The secret manual contained an entire chapter on identifying magical artifacts. Until now, he had never possessed such an item, so the knowledge had remained unused, tucked away in his mind. But now, he wasted no time, reaching into his robes for the manual.
He cherished this book greatly. To keep it safe, he had sewn a small cloth pouch and strung it around his neck, keeping it against his skin at all times—save for when he bathed. Even in sleep, he placed it beneath his pillow.
Now, he turned to the pages detailing artifact appraisal techniques, carefully reading through the method twice before attempting it himself.
Following the prescribed formula, he channeled his vital energy into the jade ring, using a technique designed to resonate with an artifact’s internal energy. If the object was truly enchanted, the energy within should respond, stirring to life.
Yet, despite his efforts, the jade ring remained utterly still. His eyes strained from staring, but he could detect no sign of abnormality.
Still, he was unwilling to accept this conclusion.
There was another possibility: some magical artifacts were bound by restrictions, locked away by their original owners. If this ring had such safeguards, then no outsider—no matter how skilled—could awaken its power without the proper secret technique.
With that thought, Chen Yan grew hesitant. He dared not continue using the nurturing method on the jade ring.
If he recklessly poured too much vital energy into it, he might disrupt the intricate formations hidden within, potentially damaging the artifact itself.
He deliberated, his heart itching with curiosity, before devising a simple test.
To determine if this jade ring was indeed a treasure, he needed only to compare its energy absorption to that of ordinary jade.
If a common jade piece could hold the same amount of vital energy, then the ring was nothing special.
But if this ring could absorb significantly more…
Then it was no mere ornament.
Once the thought took root, he did not hesitate. Chen Yan was a man of swift action.
He dressed, tucked the jade ring securely into his pocket, and stepped out into the world, ready to find his answer.
This novel is translated and hosted on Bcatranslation