The Pure Origin Pill left by Zhao Yanran had been sitting on the wooden table in Chen Yang's humble room for three days.
Every time his gaze swept over that exquisite jade vase, the scene from that night would flash in his mind: the collapsed wooden bed, scattered clothes, and the mingling scents of musk and osmanthus lingering in the air.
These associations made his heart ache, and the bottle of pills became particularly glaring.
It was compensation, charity, a reminder from Zhao Yanran of the humiliation of that night.
Whenever he thought of this, Chen Yang wished he could throw the pills out the window.
But reason told him that this might be his only chance to break through to the second level of Qi refining.
On the third night, Chen Yang sat cross-legged on the cold ground, with the mysterious clay bowl in front of him.
The bowl was filled with clear water, which gradually emitted a faint glow under the dim light of the oil lamp.
He lifted the bowl and drank it all, feeling the spiritual fluid transform into a warm current flowing through his meridians.
After finishing his cultivation, his gaze once again fell on the bottle of pills.
After a long internal struggle, he finally reached out, picked up the jade vase, and pulled out the stopper.
A gentle herbal fragrance immediately wafted out, and inside lay three pills the size of large grapes, smooth as jade, with a faint luminescence swirling on their surface.
"Pure Origin Pill..." Chen Yang murmured to himself, recalling Zhao Yanran's words that it could help him break through to the second level of Qi refining.
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Just as he hesitated whether to take one, the scene of Zhao Yanran and Yang Tianming entwined on his bed that night once again invaded his mind.
Her hands around Yang Tianming's neck, whispering softly, that sound still echoed in his ears.
"Ugh!" Chen Yang clutched his chest abruptly, a wave of nausea rising to his throat.
As if scalded, he threw the jade vase onto the table, and the three pills rolled out, bouncing a few times on the rough wooden surface.
One pill accidentally rolled off the edge of the table, landing precisely into the clay bowl that still had some spiritual fluid left.
"Damn it!" Chen Yang cursed under his breath, hurriedly reaching out to retrieve the pill.
However, just as his fingertips were about to touch the pill, something strange happened: the remaining spiritual fluid in the bowl seemed to be attracted by some force, quickly converging towards the pill, forming a tiny vortex.
In the blink of an eye, the spiritual fluid in the bowl vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed.
Even more astonishing, the bottom of the bowl did not just have one pill left, but two identical Pure Origin Pills!
Chen Yang was stunned, almost unable to believe his eyes.
He rubbed his eyes and leaned in for a closer look—it was indeed two pills, identical to the one he had just placed in the bowl.
"What... what is going on?"
He murmured to himself, carefully taking out the two pills and placing them in his palm for comparison.
In terms of size, color, fragrance, and even the faint luminescence on the surface, the two pills were exactly the same, indistinguishable from each other.
A bold hypothesis arose in his mind: could this bowl not only transform ordinary water into spiritual fluid but also duplicate items?
To test this hypothesis, Chen Yang eagerly began experimenting.
He first poured clear water into the bowl, watching it gradually transform into spiritual fluid, then placed a low-grade spirit stone inside—one of the stones Zhao Yanran had given him as compensation when she returned home.
Yet nothing happened this time.
The spiritual fluid remained, and the spirit stone was still the same, with no change whatsoever.
Chen Yang frowned in thought for a moment, then suddenly had a flash of inspiration.
He removed the spirit stone, drank the spiritual fluid in the bowl, then poured in clear water again, waiting for it to transform into spiritual fluid before placing the spirit stone back in.
Still, there was no reaction.
"Could it require specific conditions?" Chen Yang muttered unwillingly.
He recalled the scene of the pill being duplicated: there was still a small amount of spiritual fluid in the bowl, and after the pill fell in, the fluid disappeared, resulting in two pills.
His eyes lit up: "Could it be that the spiritual fluid was used as the 'price'?"
This time, he first placed a low-grade spirit stone into the empty bowl, then carefully poured in a small amount of spiritual fluid.
The moment the fluid touched the stone, a strange phenomenon occurred again: the fluid was rapidly absorbed by the stone, and then with a flash of light in the bowl, the original one spirit stone became two!
"Just as I thought!" Chen Yang was so excited he nearly jumped up.
He suppressed his inner joy and continued experimenting.
After numerous attempts, he finally figured out the bowl's duplication rule: duplicating items required a corresponding "price," usually spiritual fluid or spirit stones.
The more valuable the item, the greater the price needed for duplication.
To test the value of the Pure Origin Pill, Chen Yang began attempting to duplicate it.
He first placed one Pure Origin Pill in, then added spiritual fluid.
When the amount of spiritual fluid equaled the spiritual energy contained in two low-grade spirit stones, the bowl flashed, and one pill became two.
"Zhao Yanran was right, this Pure Origin Pill is indeed precious," Chen Yang murmured.
One low-grade spirit stone was equivalent to a servant's monthly income, and duplicating one Pure Origin Pill required the spiritual energy of two low-grade spirit stones, meaning a single Pure Origin Pill was worth a hundred low-grade spirit stones, equivalent to eight years of his income as a servant!
What shocked him even more was that this bowl could use spiritual fluid to replace spirit stones as the price for duplication.
This meant that as long as he had enough clear water and time, he could endlessly produce spiritual fluid, thereby duplicating more Pure Origin Pills.
This discovery made Chen Yang's heart race.
No longer hesitating, he placed the remaining two Pure Origin Pills into the bowl, beginning mass duplication.
He used up all the spirit stones in the bag, converting them into spiritual fluid to pay for the duplication price.
When the spirit stones were exhausted, he continuously produced spiritual fluid.
Pouring clear water into the bowl, waiting for it to transform into spiritual fluid, then using the fluid to pay for duplication, and so on in a cycle.
That night, the oil lamp in the humble room never went out.
Chen Yang tirelessly operated the magical bowl, watching the number of Pure Origin Pills grow from three to six, then to twelve, one after another being duplicated, eventually reaching twenty-six.
***
When the sky began to lighten, Chen Yang finally stopped.
He looked at the twenty-six Pure Origin Pills laid out before him, as if in a dream.
The value of these pills far exceeded all the wealth he could earn in his lifetime.
Carefully storing the pills, Chen Yang felt an unprecedented sense of hope.
With this bowl and these pills, he might truly carve out a place for himself in the cultivation world, no longer at the mercy of others.
Just then, a gentle knock came from outside the door, accompanied by Liu Yiyi's familiar voice: "Brother Chen, are you awake?"
Chen Yang hurriedly hid the bowl and pills, took a deep breath to calm his excitement, and then got up to open the door.
In the morning light, Liu Yiyi stood outside, holding a food box, a gentle smile on her face.
Proofreader & Editor: Peter Pan