Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 348 Rewards for the Top Three

Spiritual energy surged into the exquisite [Gourd-shaped Pavilion] like a tide, and the surface of the architectural model-like pavilion immediately shimmered with a warm, flowing light, as if it had come alive.

There is a play!

Zhang Chengdao's heart stirred, and he held his breath and focused his mind, carefully sensing the changes within.

At first, the attic only trembled slightly, emitting a more intense spiritual energy fluctuation.

But as spiritual energy continued to be injected, a sudden change occurred—

The [Garden in the Pot] that he had to look up at suddenly shrank, turning into a stream of light that disappeared into Zhang Chengdao's outstretched palm and appeared in his "spiritual palace"!

At the same time, he could clearly feel that he seemed to have established a connection with a peculiar "magic weapon", as if the magic weapon had been equipped in his equipment slot!
Zhang Chengdao subconsciously closed his eyes, and his consciousness entered his spiritual palace, where he saw the familiar [Gourd-in-Heaven Pavilion] standing quietly in a pure white world.

So, one can store the magical treasures they've refined in their spiritual palace!
Zhang Chengdao suddenly realized that he had indeed seen similar concepts in some cultivation manuals he had read sporadically, but they were mostly mentioned in passing, so he didn't know much about them.

This is the downside of not drawing three copies of the "Book of Alchemy".

Although obtaining a higher-level cultivation book automatically unlocked the cultivation realm limit associated with the cheat, Zhang Chengdao was completely clueless about the various basic cultivation knowledge belonging to the corresponding realm.

For example, although Zhang Chengdao gradually understood the concept of "spiritual mansion" through various trials and tribulations during this period, he had no idea about its "advanced usage" and therefore did not understand that this thing could "store" refined magic treasures.

As for why I didn't consult He Yu...

Even He Yu doesn't know such basic knowledge, yet Zhang Chengdao doesn't know it either!
In short, due to his lack of basic knowledge of cultivation, Zhang Chengdao only realized now, at the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul stage, that the basic knowledge about the Spiritual Mansion, which should have been learned during the Core Formation stage, was something he had to figure out on his own. It was quite a dismal situation.

Anyway, having finally figured out what was going on, Zhang Chengdao first withdrew his divine sense from his spiritual palace to regain his composure. Then, he "took out" the "magic weapon" at will, and sure enough, the [Gourd-in-Heaven Pavilion] appeared in mid-air before him.

No, it's a miniature version of the "Pavilion in a Pot"!
The "Pavilion in the Pot" that he hadn't set up was like a model, only a few inches in size, floating in front of him, slowly rotating, and shimmering with golden spiritual light, with special effects maxed out.

Immediately afterward, with a thought, the "model" of the [Gourd in the World] flew into his palm, hovering and rotating slightly.

Hmm... Luckily, this "Heaven and Earth Pavilion in a Pot" isn't designed like a pagoda, otherwise I could cosplay as Li Jing, the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King.

With a casual remark in his mind, Zhang Chengdao once again controlled the [Gourd-in-Heaven Pavilion] in his palm, which flew forward and gradually grew larger until it was the same size as before Zhang Chengdao refined it. Then, with a thud, it crashed to the ground.

"what?"

As soon as the [Pavilion in the Pot] landed, Zhang Chengdao sensed something strange.

This building seems to have its own barrier, with the air and environment inside being independent of the outside world. The concentration of spiritual energy inside is much higher than the surrounding area, and it is comparable to the concentration of spiritual energy near Xunmu!

Zhang Chengdao even had a premonition that outsiders would not be able to easily enter the [Gourd World Pavilion] without his permission!

"As expected of a legendary gold item!"

Zhang Chengdao couldn't help but exclaim, both surprised and delighted.

So it seems that this [Gourd-in-Heaven Pavilion] can not only store things, but also house living things... No, it's basically a portable miniature cultivation chamber. You can use it to smash people or hide and save your life. It's simply an essential magic treasure for home, travel, and cultivation!
It could even be said that the value of this [Gourd of Heaven and Earth] far exceeds any item he had drawn before. In fact, it is probably second only to the Seeking Wood Branch that he planted in White Stone Mountain, and far surpasses other red flash items whose uses are not yet known!
After all, for a cultivator, such a small cave that provides safety, privacy and relatively rich spiritual energy is extremely practical, whether for cultivation in seclusion or as a temporary base for certain special missions!
Thinking of this, Zhang Chengdao's previous anxiety vanished.

With this [Gourd-in-Heaven Pavilion], the reward for the sect competition champion is finally secured, which is far more valuable than a weapon with high attack power alone!
After all, weapons are eventually replaced, but the value of a personal sanctuary for assisting cultivation and for special purposes is long-lasting and irreplaceable!
He carefully put the [Gourd in the World] back into his spiritual abode, and looked at the remaining member red envelopes with great joy.

Perhaps it was a stroke of good luck, because although the next few red envelopes didn't yield any more gold-quality items, the rewards were still quite plentiful.

Aside from the familiar low-level trash items, Zhang Chengdao first obtained a blue-quality blueprint, the "Cloud-Stepping Boots Crafting Blueprint," and then, just as he was about to finish drawing all the member red envelopes, he obtained a purple-quality blueprint, the "Seven Star Cauldron Crafting Blueprint."

Although the former is only a blue-quality item, it not only increases movement speed but also has built-in defense attributes, making it much more effective than the blue-quality [Zouwu Bell]. As for the [Seven Star Cauldron Crafting Blueprint], it's quite strange.

Zhang Chengdao already possessed the Seven Star Cauldron; it was a "structure" that had to be built when his cheat system was upgraded.

That's right, although it's called "Ding" (鼎), the Seven Star Ding is actually a building.

In the original game, the Seven Star Cauldron was used to synthesize various gems, which could then be inlaid into the equipment or weapons worn by characters in the game, providing bonuses such as attack, defense, health, critical hit, and life steal. This kind of setting actually exists in many games, and the original game Peach Blossom Spring 3 is no exception.

However, after Zhang Chengdao transmigrated, the Seven Star Cauldron became a beautiful but useless thing.

The gems needed for synthesis are rewards obtained from various monster invasion events, but there are no monster invasion events in reality, so there is no way to obtain these gems.

Of course, Zhang Chengdao did try placing a ball of strange fire under the Seven Star Cauldron to see if it could be used for alchemy. After all, the real world isn't like a game where items or buildings are set up to have specific functions. You can see that he even demolished the Ancestral Hall used for sacrifices in the game and transformed it into student dormitories for White Stone Immortal University!

The results of the experiment were okay; it was usable, but not very good.

Zhang Chengdao commented that it was not as good as the furnaces that came with the pharmacies, Huichuntang, and Jishetang, which were specifically designed for producing medicines.

However, the Seven Star Cauldron isn't without its advantages. For example, it looks quite imposing and can be moved around freely. To show off, he specifically placed that thing on Spirit Medicine Peak, and it has now become the iconic "mascot" of Spirit Medicine Peak...

and many more!

After using two blueprints, Zhang Chengdao suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

The blueprints for the Seven Star Cauldron...

It looks like the blueprints for an ornament?
After all, buildings can be built by drawing blueprints in the first place, so there's no need to draw a separate blueprint. If the developers add another unnecessary blueprint to the member bonus lottery pool, in addition to the buildings that can be unlocked by default upgrades, thus lowering the acquisition rate of rare items, then they're really asking for trouble.

Zhang Chengdao quickly opened the "Crafting" section and sure enough, he saw the flashing [Seven Star Cauldron] icon in the ornaments.

A flashing icon indicates a newly learned recipe.

And this Seven Star Cauldron is indeed just a decorative piece!
Since it's a decorative item...

Zhang Chengdao's smirk was almost harder to suppress than an AK-47.

Couldn't that [Gourd in the World] ornament just now be refined?
If a gold-grade [Gourd in the World] can be refined, then it makes perfect sense that a mere purple-grade [Seven Star Cauldron] can also be refined, right?
"【The Pavilion Within a Pot】, 【The Seven Star Cauldron】, plus the 【Mysterious Pine Cold Peak - Mortal】 that I drew before..."

Zhang Chengdao stroked his chin, pondering to himself: "Although the [Gourd of Heaven and Earth] is only a gold-quality item, which is slightly inferior to the red-level [Mysterious Pine Cold Peak - Mortal], it feels much more practical. Why not make the [Gourd of Heaven and Earth] the reward for the champion?"

"No, no, no, this won't do. It can't be my opinion, it has to be the system's opinion. Since the Golden Finger has determined that [Mysterious Pine Cold Peak - Mortal] is of Red Flash quality, there must be a reason for it. Let's set the champion's reward as [Mysterious Pine Cold Peak - Mortal], and the second place reward is [Gourd in the World Pavilion]!"
"Third place is even simpler: the Seven Star Cauldron. It's the 'mascot' displayed on Spirit Medicine Peak, so it's not bad as a reward for third place!"

"As for the rest, let's leave it to Huang Wu. If the quality of Huang Wu's crafts isn't high, then the top ten will each receive another pair of [Cloud-Stepping Boots]..."

With the new arrangements in place, Zhang Chengdao didn't delay any longer and hurriedly returned to the White Stone Immortal Sect. He first took back all the purple-grade trash he had given to Xu Ying and said in a deep voice, "Steward Xu, I think these magic treasures are really inappropriate. Although they are quite powerful, they are only Xuan-grade items after all. Using these as rewards for the sect's grand competition is not an incentive."

Xu Ying, who was in the warehouse counting the newly arrived spiritual materials, looked at her sect leader, who had a righteous expression, with a puzzled expression: "Then, what does the sect leader mean..."

"Manager Xu, I've decided to take some good stuff—"

Just as Xu Ying heard his sect leader finish speaking, a large cyan cauldron suddenly appeared before him with a thud. The cauldron was surrounded by spiritual light and looked like no ordinary object, but its appearance seemed very familiar...

(End of this chapter)