Strongest Replication - C3 Unbelievable Ability (Part-2)

“This is bad! STOP!” Chu Zhongtian felt his body getting weaker with every passing millisecond. As he felt his life force depleting, his expression suddenly changed, and he roared in his heart.    

However, the “program” that had been activated in his mind did not stop because of his roar. It continued to run. Chu Zhongtian looked at his body, which was getting skinnier and skinnier, and he did not know what to do.    

If he wanted to stop a program forcefully in his previous life, he only had one choice: cut off the power. However, he was connected to no power source, so he had no idea how to proceed. For now, he could only watch as the process continued without his approval or consent.    

Before long, his body resembled those skeletons that were everywhere on Halloween: a bony body with a pale face. When he was at death’s door, the Meridian Herb in his hand finally took shape, and the suction force stopped.    

His entire body was weak as he softly crawled on the ground. As he breathed heavily, he secretly rejoiced. “Fortunately, I only duplicated a five-year-old herb. Had I duplicated a ten-year-old one, I’m sure just my husk would’ve been left in this attic.”    

Never did he expect that to use “copy-paste,” he would’ve to sacrifice his own blood, bones, and life force. Wasn’t this ability a bit too useless?    

What happened just now made Chu Zhongtian was quite the deterrent for him. He made his mind never to use this again; when faced with the prospects of throwing away a seemingly godly ability, he couldn’t help but feel conflicted.    

He had spaghetti for meridians, squat for status, and he was as valuable as dirt. The cruel reality gave his resounding slap, telling him that if he wanted to live a stable life, he had to make use of that game-breaking ability.    

After carefully thinking about what had happened, Chu Zhongtian realized that things weren’t as bad as they looked. There just might be a solution to his problem.    

‘Now that I think about it, those other protags also had to use a ridiculous amount of spiritual energy or Qi to use their ability.’ Thinking of this, Chu Zhongtian’s eyes lit up. He quickly got up and went to retrieve some items.    

However, maybe due to his excitement or for some other reason, Chu Zhongtian wholly forgot that “copy-paste” had left him with a severely weakened body. His bony, powerless legs failed to support his entire body; in the end, he fell heavily onto the ground. The searing pain traversed his body, making him groan.    

‘Ah… Damn, it hurts! Looks like I’ve to wait for my body to recover before doing dangerous stuff like walking.’ Chu Zhongtian comforted himself.    

After he recovered some strength, Chu Zhongtian slowly crawled toward his bed and struggled to move the pillow away. Under the pillow, there was a bag wrapped in cloth.    

He slowly opened the bag. Other than a pile of gold and silver coins, there were seven dim stones.    

“Okay. Whether it’ll work or not depends on this.” Chu Zhongtian picked a stone with a slightly brighter color and held it in his hand. He then silently said in his heart, ‘Run the program.’    

As soon as the program was activated, a suction force appeared again in his mind. His arm began to absorb the stone in his hand. In less than a minute, the originally bright stone darkened. Then, it became soft and eventually turned into powder, slipping away from in between his fingers.    

Seconds after the stone had turned into powder, five identical Meridian Herbs appeared in his hand.    

“It really works!” Looking at the five identical Meridian Herbs in his hand, Chu Zhongtian’s eyes immediately burst into tears. He could also smell the familiar but unique fragrance that a Meridian Herb carried.    

Thanks to the experiment, he was now certain of one thing: his life was about to change. He now had a hold over his destiny.    

Once he calmed down a bit, Chu Zhongtian looked at the Meridian Herb in his hand and thought, ‘Looks like my guess was correct. Next… it’s time to ascend the heavens.’    

Thinking of this, he grabbed the other six slightly darker-colored stones and restarted the program. Finally, he was left with a heap of dust and 24 Meridian Herbs.    

‘From this, the obvious deduction would be… The greater the spiritual Qi, the greater the number of herbs replicated.’ Chu Zhongtian calculated in his heart.    

After that, he looked at the pile of white powder under his leg. The seven stones he used just now were no ordinary stones. They were a specialty of Eternal Continent—inferior spirit stones.    

What was an inferior spirit stone?    

Places with abundant Spiritual Qi, especially places with unique terrain, absorb and store large amounts of spiritual qi within them. After years of accumulation, these places give birth to spirit veins (something like a mine). Within these veins were spirit stones that were saturated with Spiritual Qi.    

Based on how saturated the spiritual Qi was within a spirit stone, they were divided into ten levels. Just like cultivation talent, they, too, went from one to ten, with Level-1 being the best and Level-10 being the worst.    

Apart from spirit stones, spirit veins were also home to inferior spirit stones. If spirit stones were saturated with spiritual Qi, inferior spirit stones were saturated with spiritual Qi’s aura. It was the same difference as naturally smelling good and using deodorant. So, how were inferior spirit stones formed? Spiritual Qi would constantly wash over some ordinary stones within the spirit veins; over time, a thin layer or aura of Spiritual Qi would envelop them. Since they contained a minute amount of Spiritual Qi, they weren’t in the level system. Therefore, they were simply referred to as inferior spirit stones.    

The seven stones Chu Zhongtian had used were inferior spirit stones.    

Cultivators had to absorb spiritual Qi if they wanted to increase their strength. However, it wasn’t in abundance, scattered scarcely everywhere. To advance rapidly, cultivators couldn’t just rely on the spiritual Qi from the environment. Therefore, cultivators often chose places with abundant spiritual Qi to cultivate. If they couldn’t find one, they just had to rely on items like spirit stones.    

Spirit stones, pills, and such were every cultivators’ first choice.    

Although inferior spirit stones did not have a grade, the amount of spiritual Qi within them was still more than what was available for free. Thus, it was one of the most commonly used treasures.    

With Chu Zhongtian’s current status and identity, even those seven inferior spirit stones were a luxury obtained with great difficulty. Those seven stones were literally a third of his total wealth.    

The seven stones were used up in just a few minutes, but Chu Zhongtian did not feel any heartache at all. After all, what good a treasure was that had no use? As long as these stones could indirectly repair his damaged meridians, they were a worthwhile expenditure. Thanks to them, he could possibly start cultivating in the future.    

After lighting up the lights, Chu Zhongtian struggled to sit cross-legged on the bed. Then, he placed the 31 Meridian Herbs in front of him one by one.    

He took a deep breath and waited for his emotions to completely calm down. He picked up a Meridian Herb, placed it in his mouth, and gently chewed it. Finally, he swallowed it into his stomach.