The legend of nine repositories: Preparing to open the repositories!

[Number eight on the new book rankings! Calling for fire support-the enemy behind us is hot on our heels!]

Looking at the purple sable sprawled on the ground, shielding the Blood Essence Fruits and mineral marrow as it squeaked wildly, Qingyang Huan was in an excellent mood.

Although the Stone Spear had looted a burning house, making him exchange the giant ape's blood Qi he had luckily picked up for a master-servant contract, what did the blood Qi of a mere few Divine Treasure Realm fierce beasts amount to beside the Blood Essence Fruits beneath the purple sable's little body? Even without the giant ape's blood Qi, these Blood Essence Fruits would be enough for him to open his Divine Repository.

"They're all Zi'er's..."

Now under another's control, the purple sable no longer possessed its earlier deadly ferocity. With a mere stir of Qingyang Huan's thoughts, it was utterly unable to stop him from taking the Blood Essence Fruits away.

Even wreathed in purple light and flickering purple lightning, it could do nothing before Qingyang Huan.

"Good stuff."

Delight flickered in Qingyang Huan's eyes as he held a Blood Essence Fruit. It was only the size of a fist, yet the pure blood Qi it contained rivaled that of a Divine Treasure Realm fierce beast. He had no idea where the purple sable had obtained treasures like these.

Blood Essence Fruits used the blood and bones of great fierce beasts as their foundation. They had to be watered with flesh and blood every year, without interruption, before they could emerge from deep within the piled blood and bones. These fruits grew directly from blood and bones, containing the finest essence of the dead fierce beasts.

To contain blood Qi comparable to a Divine Treasure Realm fierce beast's, the Blood Essence Fruit in his hand must have been watered for at least a dozen years. Clearly, this was no chance occurrence; the purple sable had stolen it from somewhere.

"Ya..."

Moments later, the purple sable lunged at him again, baring its fangs and claws. But in Qingyang Huan's eyes, it was now like a tiger stripped of its claws and teeth-fierce in appearance, but bereft of strength.

After a final bout of scratching, the purple sable realized it could no longer resist Qingyang Huan and dropped down dejectedly. It buried its little head beneath its body and stopped looking at him.

Now, looking at the eight Blood Essence Fruits before him, Qingyang Huan's eyes shone. He knew his opportunity to advance to the Divine Treasure Realm had arrived. Breaking through would naturally pose no problem, but what occupied his thoughts was how to open his repositories!

Different warriors naturally showed different results when opening their repositories. His father, for instance, had opened two Divine Repositories immediately upon breaking through back then. However, the Qingyang Tribe's Three Yang Treasure Opening Method could only open three Qingyang Divine Repositories!

Moreover, he did not intend to cultivate his own tribe's repository-opening method, so naturally he could not inherit the Qingyang Divine Repositories.

He sat cross-legged deep within the cave, while Jin Wei sat cross-legged at its entrance. The purple sable lay on the ground, seemingly drained of vitality. Qingyang Huan paid it no attention. Now that this little thing was in his grasp, he would have time later to teach it how to respect its master.

As night fell, beast roars rose and fell throughout the Great Wilderness once more. All manner of fierce beasts howled and fought, the sounds reaching them clearly even through the rock walls.

Like this, Qingyang Huan sat cross-legged in the cave for three full days, comprehending the repository-opening method the Stone Spear had given him.

The man and spear had made an agreement back then: if he forged the Body Casting Extreme Realm, the Stone Spear would teach him a method capable of opening six repositories. Although he had subsequently undergone nine rounds of recultivation, he had fulfilled their agreement fair and square.

Unexpectedly, the Stone Spear had made no excuses whatsoever and taught him a repository-opening method, the Brown Bear Source Treasure Method. The brown bear was a great fierce beast of the Great Wilderness, resembling a bear yet a hundred times more savage.

Of course, while comprehending the Brown Bear Source Treasure Method, he had not remained idle either. He absorbed a Blood Essence Fruit into his body, bringing his entire body to peak condition, ready to advance and undergo a transformation at any moment.

At a certain moment three days later, Qingyang Huan opened his eyes as he was comprehending the repository-opening method. A glimmer of understanding appeared. He realized he had been rather foolish, pondering Divine Repositories here by himself instead of consulting a mighty existence like the Stone Spear.

After all, in the Qingyang Tribe, anyone advancing to the Divine Treasure Realm would have a Divine Treasure Realm warrior assisting them from the side. Even Jin Wei had been no exception when he advanced.

"What is a Divine Repository? Senior, please enlighten me."

The Stone Spear gave no response, but Qingyang Huan was not surprised in the slightest. He immediately continued, "This junior will naturally hunt enough blood Qi to offer to you, venerable senior."

"Brat, you promised to supply me with blood Qi back then, yet even now, what this venerable one has absorbed is less than what you've consumed yourself."

Qingyang Huan had likewise long grown accustomed to the Stone Spear's volatile temper. In his eyes, its actions were utterly contradictory. He vaguely sensed that the Stone Spear was unwilling to teach him certain things, yet for some reason had no choice but to do so.

Take the very beginning, when he had crippled his own Body Casting cultivation and lacked blood Qi: the Stone Spear had fed the blood Qi it absorbed back to him. Yet the Stone Spear itself needed vast quantities of blood Qi and all but forced him to hunt fierce beasts. That it still supplied him with the blood Qi it absorbed under such circumstances seemed somewhat inexplicable.

This was something he had never understood!

Although the Stone Spear snorted coldly, its voice soon sounded in Qingyang Huan's mind.

"The human body holds great repositories, the wellspring of a warrior's cultivation. What is called opening repositories means awakening one's own potential. The more potential one awakens, the wider one's future martial path naturally becomes. Only warriors who enter the Divine Treasure Realm can truly be considered to have set foot on the path of martial cultivation. This realm is also the foundation upon which a warrior's future cultivation soars."

"In this realm, one opens a Divine Repository containing the wonders of creation within one's own flesh and blood, then continually nourishes it with blood Qi, precious medicines, Bone Runes, and other things, until it truly becomes a wellspring of one's own combat strength."

The Stone Spear's words continued to sound in Qingyang Huan's mind, explaining the fundamental truths of the Divine Treasure Realm.

"Rumor has it that one can open as many as nine Divine Repositories within the body. Is that true?" Qingyang Huan suddenly asked softly.

"Indeed. In lands where the Human Race flourishes, and even among all the races of the Great Wilderness, warriors capable of opening nine repositories are rare, but every era has a handful."

"Then, once someone opens nine repositories, can they truly become invincible?"

A blazing light flickered in Qingyang Huan's eyes as he asked with some excitement.

All he received in return, however, was a derisive laugh from the Stone Spear.

"Invincible? Even the emperors of this age dare not claim to be invincible in this world. The Divine Treasure Realm is merely one stage of martial cultivation. Even opening nine repositories only represents the potential to reach the pinnacle. One must survive to have a chance of reaching it. Even the strongest Divine Treasure Realm warrior is an ant before a totem. Die along the way, and you're nothing but a pile of dry bones!"

"Besides, throughout history, there have been geniuses who opened nine Divine Repositories only to exhaust their talent midway, never even ascending to kingship!"

Kings stood at a level above the Totem Realm. Qingyang Huan had only heard of them; precisely what sort of realm that was lay beyond his present ability to fathom!

"The Great Wilderness holds boundless wonders of creation. Just as you tempered your Body Casting to its pinnacle and developed a tremendous strength of forty-nine thousand jin, those with powerful bloodlines in the Great Wilderness can achieve the same tempering results. Creation has myriad possibilities; nothing is absolute!"

"Then, Senior, do you have a method for opening nine repositories?" Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Qingyang Huan asked.

"No!" The Stone Spear answered bluntly.

Just as Qingyang Huan finished digesting his conversation with the Stone Spear and prepared to enter seclusion to begin breaking into the Divine Treasure Realm, the silent Stone Spear's words appeared in his mind once again.

"At the very beginning of this world, where were there any methods? Every path was trodden out of nothing!"

P.S. The next update won't be until noon.