The backyard.
The stone table. The center of the Spirit-Gathering Formation.
Chen Lin opened the huanghuali wood box, took out the Peace-and-Safety Disc Pendant, and laid it flat in the very center of the stone table.
He sat cross-legged, rested his hands on his knees, and fixed his gaze on the Jade Pendant.
Three seconds later, a faint glow, almost invisible to the naked eye, rose from the Jade Pendant's surface.
It was absorbing the spiritual energy in the air.
Like a bone-dry sponge tossed into water, the Jade Pendant greedily, silently swallowed every trace of spiritual energy around it.
It was slow.
But it was definitely absorbing it.
Chen Lin turned his hand over.
Twelve low-grade spirit stones fell from his Storage Ring, settling around the Jade Pendant.
The change was instantaneous.
The faint glow on the Jade Pendant suddenly brightened. White threads emerged from all twelve spirit stones at once, drawn toward the Jade Pendant in the center as though guided by an invisible hand.
Its absorption speed increased more than tenfold.
Chen Lin leaned back against the chair, folded his arms, and watched quietly.
Fifteen minutes passed.
The first spirit stone cracked and crumbled into powder.
Half an hour passed.
Four more crumbled.
An hour later.
Only one spirit stone on the table remained intact. The other eleven had all turned to grayish-white powder, which the evening breeze sent drifting off the table.
The Jade Pendant stopped absorbing.
Its light withdrew, leaving it softly lustrous and unadorned again, as though nothing had happened.
Chen Lin reached out and picked it up.
He probed it with his spiritual power.
This time, the structure of the formation patterns inside appeared clearly in his perception.
This was a Core Formation defensive magic treasure.
Its quality was at least equal to