Treasure-Gathering Basin

Biodata

Power Progression

The basin's enhancement strength depends on He Pingsheng's cultivation and how thoroughly he has refined it. Although it initially produces only middle-grade spirit stones, the narration confirms that it can eventually produce supreme-grade ones 46.

Appearance

• Ordinary exterior: A battered, dark earthenware basin whose appearance does not reveal its value; Hao Yun overlooks its nature while inspecting He Pingsheng's belongings 1 7.
• Hidden patterns: Previously invisible markings become apparent when the basin absorbs He Pingsheng's blood, accompanied by flashes of golden light 24.
• Summoning form: Transforms into golden or purple-gold light when entering or leaving its owner's body 24.
• Adjustable size: Expands from an ordinary basin to a maximum width of three chi 24.

Abilities & Functions

Duplication and Enhancement

The basin increases the quantity and quality of objects placed inside it, generally doubling them overnight 9 13.

• One enhancement per object: An already enhanced item cannot be enhanced or duplicated again. Returning the remaining supreme-grade Golden Bone Pill produces no further change 8 9.
• Preserves the underlying type: Ordinary rice does not become spirit rice, and an ordinary axe does not become a magical artifact 21.
• Works on batches: Twelve ruined pills become twenty-four usable pills, while forty batches of refined pills become eighty batches 13 39.
• Can restore defective materials: Ruined pills, an incomplete manual, and fading pollen all yield useful enhanced products 13 33 35.
• Can alter written content: An enhanced manual may produce two different methods rather than two identical copies 21 33.

Moonlight Essence Gathering

The basin draws in moonlight essence and applies it to its contents. He Pingsheng directly observes this process with water and an axe head 8 9.

• Moonlight essence passes through a thick wooden cover without interrupting enhancement 13.
• It also passes through closed stone doors into a completely dark bedroom, so direct illumination of the basin is unnecessary 33.
• With clean water inside, the basin gathers lunar essence until the water turns emerald green and increases in volume 8.

Blood Binding and Internal Storage

After absorbing repeated drops of He Pingsheng's blood, the basin settles beneath the crimson qi vortex in his dantian 24.

• He can summon it into his hand and return it to his dantian by directing his divine sense 24.
• Objects placed inside accompany it into his body; his first successful test uses two jade pill bottles, followed by two books 24.
• He later uses it to carry his belongings and spirit stones 25 37.
• Using it for enhancement requires him to empty out his stored belongings first, making it less convenient than a dedicated Storage Bag 33 37.
• Summoning it openly would risk exposing its unusual nature; he therefore carries a sack of spirit stones through the market rather than storing them in public 36.

Size Adjustment

The basin responds to He Pingsheng's wish for a larger container, expanding until it reaches three chi across 24.

• At its original size, it holds only a little over ten jin of spirit rice 24.
• Its expanded form is large enough to accommodate the sack of more than one hundred jin that previously would not fit 24.
• Further requests to enlarge it have no effect once it reaches its demonstrated limit 24.

Green Water Production

Water placed in the basin becomes jade-green, increases in quantity, and gives off a fresh scent that leaves He Pingsheng feeling refreshed 8.

• He Pingsheng attributes Mountain Spring's formerly crisp, sweet taste to green water produced while the basin lay in the pool. Removing the basin ends that effect 7.
• He initially mistakes the green water for spoiled water and pours it away 2.
• Its safety as a drink is not established in his early tests; he considers testing it on a squirrel rather than drinking it himself 8.

Documented Enhancements

History

Discovery on Bamboo Peak

While fetching water after dark, fourteen-year-old He Pingsheng notices a faint reflection at the bottom of the spring pool behind Bamboo Peak. On approaching, he sees a battered earthenware basin and initially dismisses it as worthless 1.

Its unusual properties become undeniable when a Golden Bone Pill left inside becomes two pills bearing four markings each. He connects this result with the increased green water and doubled golden Spirit Rice, leading him to identify it as a Treasure-Gathering Basin 6. Further experiments establish both its broad usefulness and its inability to enhance the same object twice 9.

Concealment and Blood Refinement

He Pingsheng conceals the basin's products to avoid attracting attention. Before moving to the Alchemy Hall, he disposes of his golden Spirit Rice; Hao Yun subsequently searches his belongings without recognizing the basin's significance 7. The powerful scent of its supreme-grade Qi-Gathering Pills creates another exposure risk, forcing him to bury them beneath his floor 13.

After Hao Yun receives an enhanced Golden Bone Pill, Jade Virtue questions He Pingsheng about its origin. He fears that discovery of the basin would endanger his life and gives a false account of the pills he received 18.

Back at his family home, concern about theft prompts him to attempt blood refinement. The successful binding allows him to keep the basin and its contents within his dantian rather than leave them unattended 24.

Cultivation and Alchemy

The basin supplies He Pingsheng with methods and pills that help him overcome his five-element spiritual root's slow cultivation. He uses the enhanced Lihuo True Method and supreme-grade Qi-Gathering Pills to advance through the first three levels of Qi Refining 21 22.

Its ability to purify failed pills also reduces the waste from his early alchemy attempts, though it does not replace the practical experience required to learn pill refinement. He continues studying his failures and first succeeds on his seventeenth batch 38. The basin subsequently turns forty batches into eighty supreme-grade batches, supporting his further cultivation 39.

His spirit-stone experiment reveals that its output does not always reach supreme grade. He identifies the resulting stones as middle-grade and chooses not to spend them openly or draw attention to them 44 45 46. Later applications extend to purchased magical artifacts, talismans, and the components of his Seclusion Formation 46 48.