Chapter 80: Clear Heart Jade Pendant, Advancement
Around midnight, Zhao Zuo first took a bath to relax before returning to his bedroom.
He took the Clear Heart Jade Heart, the Gathering Spirit Jade Heart, and the Soul Nourishing Jade from his Storage Bag and placed them on the bed, his eyes filled with unconcealable excitement. He was finally about to possess an Upper Grade Magical Artifact of his very own.
Among them, the Soul Nourishing Jade was emerald green with a warm, smooth texture. Currents seemed to flow within it. Although it had a Soul Nourishing effect, it was classified as a One Tier Spiritual Material because its effect was too weak.
However, because it involved the mysterious realm of the soul, its price remained consistently high.
Zhao Zuo took the Clear Heart Jade Pendant from his robes. In addition to these materials, the advancement required twenty Creation Points. Once again, he chose the "High Level Advancement" option.
"Advance."
Zhao Zuo lightly tapped the "Advance" option. His experience points, which had been maxed out, were instantly drained by a full ten thousand. Immediately after, a gray light enveloped the advancement materials and the Clear Heart Jade Pendant. Zhao Zuo noticed faint golden sparks flickering within the gray light this time, illuminating the surroundings.
CRACK, CRACK, CRACK.
The Clear Heart Jade Heart reacted first. Under the influence of the gray light, it shattered into countless fine particles. The particles that resembled impurities immediately separated from the glowing mass. As they fell toward the bed, a faint breeze swept them away, leaving no trace.
The remaining portion, like a pure essence, was devoured and integrated by the Clear Heart Jade Pendant. As time went on, the Qilin pattern on the pendant seemed to come alive. It began to writhe and snarl, like a king among beasts issuing a silent roar. The pendant’s color deepened to a dark black... somewhat like the obsidian Zhao Zuo remembered.
After the Clear Heart Jade Heart was completely devoured, it was the Gathering Spirit Jade Heart’s turn. The process repeated itself, with the only noticeable change being that the Clear Heart Jade Pendant expanded slightly, growing thicker as well.
The Qilin pattern on the pendant’s surface became more three-dimensional and vivid, as if it had truly come alive. It seemed to possess its own life, radiating a mysterious and dangerous aura.
Finally, the Soul Nourishing Jade dissolved into a streak of Spiritual Light. Most of it was absorbed by the Clear Heart Jade Pendant, which then began to undergo a peculiar transformation. The originally black Qilin was gradually suffused with an emerald green color. Every scale and strand of hair rapidly changed color.
The entire Jade Pendant now displayed two colors, creating a unique visual effect.
This series of transformations made Zhao Zuo marvel at the wonder of his Golden Finger. It had taken his once-ordinary Clear Heart Jade Pendant and advanced it to its current state, transforming it into a powerful and precious Upper Grade Magical Artifact.
Although the advancement wasn’t over yet, Zhao Zuo was certain that the Clear Heart Jade Pendant, now an Upper Grade Magical Artifact, would become a significant aid on his path of Cultivation.
’A month of saving up was worth it!’
Finally, the Golden Light representing the Creation Points detached from between his eyebrows and merged into the Clear Heart Jade Pendant, penetrating deep inside. Golden patterns continued to spread, grow, and extend, forming a complex and mysterious design. At this point, Zhao Zuo was sure... this was a High Level Spirit Pattern Path.
A Spirit Pattern Path so complex it would require over four hundred strokes to inscribe. Unfortunately, the speed at which the golden patterns spread gradually slowed, and in the end, the Spirit Pattern Path still wasn’t completed.
"Just one-fifth left to go!" Zhao Zuo lamented softly. The golden patterns had now stopped spreading completely. The gray light around the Clear Heart Jade Pendant dissipated, and the pendant fell back into Zhao Zuo’s palm.
Its weight had roughly doubled, and at this size, it hardly resembled a Jade Pendant anymore.
Immediately after, a notification appeared on the transparent panel.
[Upgrade Description: Greatly increases the effects of Nourishing Meridians, Body Protection, and gathering Spiritual Power. Moderately increases the speed of Divine Thought recovery.]
Zhao Zuo froze for a moment as he read the text. Through these words, he confirmed one thing: the Soul Nourishing Jade didn’t have any soul-nourishing effect at all. Its function was to speed up the recovery of Divine Thought. In other words... that book which detailed over four hundred types of One Tier materials was wrong!
’But why would it be wrong?’
Then it occurred to him—it was the same principle as diamonds in his past life. Someone had attributed the ability to nourish the Soul to the Soul Nourishing Jade, hyping its price far beyond its actual worth.
Every Artifact Refiner and Alchemist wanted a stronger soul to improve their precision and stamina during Artifact Refining and Alchemy. Nearly all of them wore an accessory carved from Soul Nourishing Jade, yet they had no way to discern whether the jade could truly nourish the Soul.
After all, it was effective for Divine Thought recovery. When buyers noticed their Spiritual Power recovered faster, they would certainly assume it was the effect of their Soul being nourished. Naturally, no one would ever suspect the Soul Nourishing Jade’s true effect.
Zhao Zuo sighed softly. ’Things like this really do happen in every world.’
Currently, the Clear Heart Jade Pendant still had 90,000 experience points. Zhao Zuo lightly tapped "Upgrade."
Experience Points -20,000, Creation Points -4
A few minutes later, the Clear Heart Jade Pendant finished upgrading.
[Upgrade Description: Greatly increases the effects of Nourishing Meridians and Body Protection.]
Zhao Zuo keenly observed that this upgrade hadn’t changed the golden patterns inside the Clear Heart Jade Pendant at all. He suspected they would only evolve to their perfect form once the pendant advanced into a Magical Treasure.
Seeing that he still had enough experience points, he tapped "Upgrade" again.
Experience -40,000, Creation Points -4
[Upgrade Description: Greatly increases the Spiritual Power gathering effect. Moderately increases the Divine Thought recovery effect.]
The next upgrade for the Clear Heart Jade Pendant would require a full 80,000 experience points, but he only had a little over 30,000 left. He probably wouldn’t be able to upgrade it again anytime soon.
Zhao Zuo tucked the Clear Heart Jade Pendant into a hidden pouch against his chest. A sudden shiver ran through his body, and a groan of pure comfort escaped his lips. He felt as if he were immersed in an ocean of Spiritual Power.
Even without meditating, he could clearly sense the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Power all around him. Zhao Zuo immediately closed his eyes, sat down, and began to absorb the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Power.
The night passed quietly. It wasn’t until ten o’clock the next morning that he opened his eyes.
This time, he cultivated continuously for twelve hours before a stinging pain in his Meridians forced him to stop. He used his Mana to soothe them while checking the progress he’d made overnight.
The moment he checked, an ecstatic expression lit up his face.
He had known the Clear Heart Jade Pendant wouldn’t disappoint, but he never expected the boost to be this incredible.
Last night, twelve hours of Cultivation was roughly equivalent to his usual progress over two and a half days. Based on his current rate, he calculated that, without it interfering with his other training, he could break through to the next level of his Cultivation by the end of the fourth month at the latest.
This might not sound fast, but the body’s original owner had only managed to break through four layers in ten years. For the other Loose Cultivators in Moyun Market, breakthroughs were always measured in years, not months.
Zhao Zuo was very satisfied with this speed.
......
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