Chapter 2: Natal Artifact
Seeing this situation, Little Fatty is not shocked but instead overjoyed, because he has read up on books regarding this affair. He knows that only Artifacts which are able to readily absorb blood essence are able to become a Natal Artifact, treasures without this ability either are too low in quality, or already have an owner, and are thus unable to be refined. In other words, since the Artifact was able to absorb his blood essence, this proves that it can be refined into his Natal Artifact.
Little Fatty was excited to the point where he did not bandage his wounds, instead hurriedly taking the pearl and started to circulate the XianTian spiritual energy within his body to refine the pearl. As his spiritual energy entered the pearl, Song Zhong felt a connection being established between the pearl and him.
4 hours later, Song Zhong opened up his eyes and the pearl on his hand had disappeared. However, he was not worried in the slightest, because he can clearly feel that it has already entered his DanTian, integrating with his body as one.
With a thought, the black pearl immediately appeared on his palm, slowly spinning. On the surface, there are no visible changes to the pearl, and Little Fatty was very sad to find out that he was still unable to fully grasp the usage of the pearl.
In desperation, Song Zhong could only channel his spiritual sense into the pearl. But when his spiritual sense came into contact with the pearl, he suddenly felt a burst of dizziness to his mental state, and in the next moment, he was shocked to find out that he had actually entered a strange dimension.
The space wasn’t large, only 10 feet in diameter, the surroundings forming a perfect circle. Above, there were a few little starry like lights twinkling weakly, and beneath his feet were several feet of yellow soil, and right in the centre is a plot of black soil which spans up to 2 feet in diameter.
Standing in this dimension, Little Fatty felt devastated. Forget about unique treasures, there wasn’t even any spiritual energy, making this space completely unsuitable for cultivating too. The only thing which stands out is the black soil, but when Song Zhong picked up a handful, he realised to his disgust that apart from the colour there was nothing different, it too does not even possess a single strand of spiritual energy.
‘What a big joke!’ Little fatty laughed bitterly and thought to himself, ‘This must have just been a random dimensional storage item, but because it was too much of a garbage, it got casually disposed of. But it was brought back by my parents thinking that it was a treasure and took the chance to completely fool me as well. I actually refined such a garbage to become my only Natal Artifact! Is my luck really that bad?’
It is also no wonder that Little Fatty is this dejected. The most common dimensional storage item is also about 10 to 20 feet wide, which, when compared to Song Zhong’s Natal Artifact, had no difference at all. This meant that our Little Fatty had assimilated the simplest, most garbage dimensional storage bag as his Natal Artifact. Of course, he would feel this depressed.
“Sigh, having a dimensional storage bag is better than having none!” Since things have already progressed to such a stage, Little Fatty can only console himself by saying that. “At least, the most garbage of dimensional storage item is also worth a lot of spiritual rocks that, with my current ability, I will never be able to buy it in my lifetime!”
Although Little Fatty comforted himself, but a decade of anticipation, painstaking cultivation pf 16 hours a day, only to find himself in such a plight where his road of cultivation had been abruptly and mercilessly cut off still came as a big mental blow to him, making him lose the heart for further cultivation but instead lie on his bed and sleep soundly.
As Little Fatty woke up the next day, he found out to his surprise that it was already dusk. To think that he actually slept a full day, even to the extent of not waking up for lunch, all just because of the bad hand he was dealt with.
Even though his road of cultivation was ruthlessly cut off, Little Fatty did not harbour any suicidal tendencies because of that. He must continue living on with determination. If he wanted to continue living on, he must not give up on his job to pick up rubbish. Thus, even though he is starving, he cannot only think of satiating his hunger, he had to first complete his job. If not, his steward who is already biased against him would definitely make use of this opportunity to throw him out of the mountain.
Thus, even though he is exhausted physically and mentally, Little Fatty can only grit his teeth and hastily head towards the Talisman Hall. After he reached the Talisman Hall, he realised with horror that he forgot about to bring his empty baskets.
In accordance with the procedures, he had to leave empty baskets before bringing the rubbish away, if not, he would have to return the baskets back after he throws away the rubbish, and that would mean an extra trip was needed. Every trip is over a hundred miles worth of journey. Including the other 2 halls, that would mean 300 miles of extra travelling! In this case, by the time he is done with his job, it would be too late, and there would not even be scraps left in the canteen.
Little Fatty does not wish to starve even after running for hundred of miles, and as he was panicking, he suddenly remembered the Magical Artifact which he just refined. No matter what, the dimension size within the pearl wasn’t small, and it could easily fit 10 baskets of trash without any problems.
As he thought of this, Little Fatty’s eyes lit up, and he immediately tried taking a basket full of discarded talismans, with just a thought, the basket of trash disappeared. With the special connection he has with his Natal Artifact, Song Zhong immediately sensed that the trash basket went into that dimension.
‘Haha, success!’ Little Fatty excitedly went into his Natal Artifact and then emptied the rubbish onto the floor, following which he brought the empty basket out.
After transferring the 2 baskets of trash into his Natal Artifact, Little Fatty left the Talisman Hall and sped towards the Elixir Hall. Along the way, he thought to himself, ‘Even though this Natal Artifact is a little lousy, but there is still some use for it. Previously, I had to make 3 trips from the TianGou and the 3 halls respectively. With this, I just need to empty the trash of the 3 halls into my Artifact, then I only need to go once to the TianGou. This would save me a few hundred miles of walking.’
As Little Fatty immersed in his thoughts, he had unwittingly finished running around the 3 halls, and it was already nighttime. According to his normal procedure, he should be going to the TianGou to empty out the trash. However, if he went there now, there would not be any food left for him once he got back. Since his job was just to clear the trash of the 3 halls, he can be said to have already finished his job and going to TianGou at a later time would not matter. Who would bother about a servant going to throw out the trash?
Therefore, as Little Fatty left the Weapons Hall, he did not go to the TianGou, but instead hurriedly ran to the canteen, He managed to get the last bit of food which his buddy left for him, and being famished for the whole day, Little Fatty wolfed down all the leftovers. Because he was too hungry, he ate until he was a little stuffed, along with the fact that he ran so much, he was also feeling rather tired. After thinking about it, he did not go to the TianGou in the end. Instead, he bid farewell to his brother and went back to his hut to rest. Since the trash had already been cleared, even if it stayed in his Natal Artifact for a while it wouldn’t matter.
After returning to his hut, Little Fatty started meditating out of habit. Using an hour, he filled his body up with XianTian spiritual energy and finally felt more refreshed.
Following his usual habits, he would have already started cultivating, but since he already knows that he has no hope, why would he be willing to engage in boring meditation? But now that he is free, he also does not know how to kill boredom. 10 years of cultivating alone made him a guy who was secluded from the world, he has a small social circle and does not even own a pet. Thus, he cannot even find anything to engage.
Out of boredom, Little Fatty thought of his Natal Artifact again. ‘Is this thing really trash? Did my parents really get tricked by a piece of trash? Is my future so screwed up, that it’s my fate to get bullied by people my whole life?’ Every time Little Fatty thought about this, Little Fatty felt even more reluctant to submit to his fate.
‘No, I must search again, for all I know, there could be a treasure hidden inside which I have not found!’ Thinking about this, Little Fatty appeared inside the dimension again with a thought.
The moment Little Fatty appeared, he sensed a wave of Spiritual Energy rushing towards him. Although the Spiritual Energy was not dense, it could not even be compared to the density of spiritual energy in his hut, it was indeed a wave of spiritual energy.
Wait a moment, it’s spiritual energy? Song Zhong was astonished after sensing spiritual energy. After all, the last time he came here, he did not feel any Spiritual Energy, not a single trace of it! Why is it such that after a short period of a day, Spiritual Energy could suddenly appear? Could it be… that this place can generate its own Spiritual Energy?!
Thinking about this, Little Fatty immediately settled down to meditate, releasing his spiritual sense to scrutinise this strange dimension. Because this was his Natal Artifact, it was linked to Little Fatty consciousness and everything in this dimension was under his control. If he wanted, he could even penetrate his divine sense into the soil to feel the changes within.
After exploring the dimension, the true form of the dimension gradually began to display itself in front of Little Fatty. This dimension was actually a perfect sphere, with a little more than 10 feet in diameter. A third of it is made up of soil, the black soil in the centre is actually a column 2 feet in diameter and about 3 feet high.
Spiritual Energy filled the air of the dimension, and as Little Fatty’s spiritual sense swept through the dimension, he quickly located that the Spiritual Energy was permeating from the middle, which was the region with the black soil.
Having identified the source, Little Fatty opened his eyes and saw that the middle region of black soil was completely covered by the rubbish he collected earlier on. Since he now knew that the black soil was a treasure which could emit Spiritual Energy, how could he allow it to be covered by rubbish?
Without delay, he swept all the rubbish aside, revealing the black soil underneath. Using his spiritual sense to scan the soil again, he found out this time that there were a few objects which constantly emitted Spiritual Energy. Unable to contain his excitement, he plunged an arm into the soil and immediately felt a soft and slippery item.
Little Fatty was overjoyed, and he said in his heart, ‘Haha, so there was a treasure here. Let’s see where you can run to this time!’ He hastily began to exert strength and pulled out the item in a single attempt. But after investigating the item, he was dumbstruck as the so-called treasure was just a used talisman.
Talismans, one of the commonly used equipment for a practitioner, it can be used directly to release a strong spell, eliminating the middle casting process, thus making it convenient to use. Thus, practically all practitioners carry it along with them. When using the talisman, the majority of the latent Spiritual Energy would be released, leaving small residual portion that would dissipate with time.
The talisman in Little Fatty’s hands was a used talisman, which was collected from the trash baskets of the Talisman Hall. It seemed to have been forced into the soil by the subsequent rubbish which was piled above it. This talisman then became the source for which the Spiritual Energy was being emitted from.
This scenario made Little Fatty very confused; even though a discarded talisman’s Spiritual Energy would eventually dissipate, but the speed would not be this fast, at least not to this extent within 2 hours. The residual energy within it was almost all gone. Moreover, after observing closely, Little Fatty realised that the talisman in his hands was very tattered, with holes all over. It looked as though it had been buried under the soil for hundred of years, but wasn’t this the rubbish which was just collected today?