Chapter 99

"Uncle Liu, how much did you pay for the beast bone you took out at the Nie family’s lottery gathering back then?" Nie Tian, after being lectured by Liu Yan, could no longer hold back and changed the topic.

"Oh, that beast bone? It seems I only spent a few dozen spirit stones." Liu Yan was indifferent, surprised, and asked, "Why are you asking this?"

He had never taken that beast bone seriously. Back then, he only took it out at the lottery gathering to make up the numbers.

"A few dozen spirit stones..." Nie Tian glanced at the Flame Dragon Armor peeking out of the cloth bag and asked again, "Was that beast bone also refined by a treasure hall alchemist?"

"That’s not the case." Liu Yan shook his head.

Too much time had passed, and he thought for a moment before continuing, "The origin of that beast bone is somewhat similar to the Flame Dragon Armor you bought today."

"The alchemist from the treasure hall who sold it to me mentioned that a stranger, seemingly severely injured and being pursued, was in a desperate situation and urgently needed spirit stones, so he sold the beast bone to the treasure hall."

"After receiving the spirit stones, he disappeared and was never seen again."

"But I heard from the treasure hall’s alchemists that the man said he would come back to redeem the beast bone at a higher price after a certain period."

"Unfortunately, he didn’t return within the agreed time."

"That beast bone wasn’t a particularly valuable item, so the treasure hall didn’t take it seriously and soon put it up for sale."

Liu Yan explained the origin of the beast bone in detail to Nie Tian and then asked, "What’s up? Are you quite curious about that beast bone?"

"I remember, you and that beast bone... didn’t have any spiritual resonance. Why are you asking so many questions?"

"Just asking out of curiosity." Nie Tian smiled and said, "Uncle Liu, could you please help me deliver this treasure armor to my stone room upstairs?"

"You, even you can’t twist it, I don’t know why you chose it." Liu Yan complained as he picked up the cloth bag containing the Flame Dragon Armor. "Indeed heavy! With such a heavy treasure armor, I can’t move freely, and it won’t increase my combat power; it will only hinder me!"

Feeling the weight of the Flame Dragon Armor, he glared at Nie Tian and said, "You kid, go buy a storage bracelet tomorrow. Otherwise, carrying many things will be inconvenient."

"Do they sell storage-type spirit artifacts at the appraisal meeting?" Nie Tian’s eyes lit up.

He had long heard about the convenience of storage-type spirit artifacts and knew that such items were very precious. Lower-level alchemists, unless they came from distinguished backgrounds, found it hard to possess storage-type spirit artifacts.

"Indeed, there are a few." Liu Yan thought for a moment and said, "Originally, with your current realm, you wouldn’t have too many things on you, so a storage bracelet wouldn’t be necessary. But now that you’ve bought the Flame Dragon Armor and can’t even twist it, it’s very necessary."

"Moreover, you’ve been browsing for a long time and haven’t found a suitable spirit artifact. A storage bracelet, you will need it sooner or later, so buying it in advance isn’t wrong."

Nie Tian said excitedly, "I’ll go buy it tomorrow."

As they talked, Liu Yan, carrying the cloth bag, arrived at the stone room Nie Tian had designated. He threw the bag on the ground and, without persuading Nie Tian to forgive his master Wu Xing, turned and left.

After he left, Nie Tian closed the door tightly and gently untied the bag’s opening.

The dark brown, slightly damaged treasure armor gradually revealed itself.

The reason it was described as slightly damaged was because there was a depression on the chest of the armor. This depression should have contained something, but it was now empty.

From Nie Tian’s perspective, if the armor were worn, the depression on the chest would expose his heart.

The heart is the most vulnerable part of the human body. Even though the armor had astonishing protective power, it couldn’t protect the heart, which was a significant regret.

The missing item, once embedded in the depression, could make up for the armor’s disadvantage.

Then, the armor would seem truly complete, rather than damaged.

"The missing item, if there’s no mistake, is that beast bone."

Staring at the depression on the chest of the armor for a while, Nie Tian quietly took out the beast bone he had hidden on his person and compared it with the depression.

After a few tries, he knew his guess was correct.

He could see that the beast bone, once pressed in, would seamlessly fit into the depression, restoring the armor to its original form.

"No..."

He was about to act but then stopped, thinking again.

He remembered that the beast bone, once it displayed its divine power, would cause spatial rifts, making the sky crack.

If the beast bone, which originated from the Flame Dragon Armor, were embedded and caused a significant change, all the alchemists in the treasure hall would instantly notice.

Although extremely curious, he still held back and didn’t act rashly within the treasure hall.

He caressed the beast bone, stared at the Flame Dragon Armor for a long time, and then put the beast bone back on his person, planning to wait until he left the treasure hall and returned to the back mountain of Lingyun Sect to study the strange properties of the Flame Dragon Armor and the beast bone.

That night.

Nie Tian sat cross-legged next to the Flame Dragon Armor, took out a spirit stone, and began his daily cultivation.

Soon, he felt the beast bone at his waist gradually become warm.

Noticing something unusual, he quietly used his mental awareness to sense and soon noticed that invisible but perceptible fine energies were seeping out from his pores.

He used his mental power to trace these fine energies and found that they were flowing into the Flame Dragon Armor beside him.

"Those energies..."

He pondered, using his mind to sort through the thoughts, and suddenly realized that these energies came from his flesh and blood!

According to his master’s explanation, the power cultivated by all living beings falls into three systems: spirit power, bloodline power, and soul power.

Bloodline power, also known as flesh and blood power, is a special force hidden within the flesh and bones of living beings.

This power can only be sensed and cultivated to its extreme by those with special bloodlines and powerful, large life forms.

Most human beings, even if they spent their entire lives cultivating flesh and blood power, could never compare to those with special bloodlines.

Therefore, human cultivation often focuses on spirit power, and only after reaching a certain realm, do they delve into soul techniques.

However, in the Green Illusion World, he had already sensed the warm currents from the spirit beast meat, which seeped into his limbs and bones, and knew that this was a power different from spirit power.

Later, through his master’s explanation, he gradually confirmed that this power was indeed flesh and blood power.

Now, the deep-seated flesh and blood power within his body, while he was cultivating with the spirit stone, slowly seeped out and infused into the Flame Dragon Armor...

"Beast bone!"

Feeling it again, he realized that the warm beast bone seemed to be silently stimulating the flesh and blood power within his body, guiding it toward the Flame Dragon Armor.

He became increasingly convinced that the beast bone was originally part of the Flame Dragon Armor!

"Is it good or bad for the beast bone to guide my flesh and blood power into the Flame Dragon Armor?" He pondered but found no answer. "Forget it, let it be for now."

Ignoring the subtle actions of the beast bone and the Flame Dragon Armor, he continued to cultivate with the spirit stone. After a long time, when he stopped, he felt somewhat tired.

Opening his eyes, he focused on the Flame Dragon Armor and saw that the dark brown armor, after absorbing some of his flesh and blood essence, seemed to emit a faint red luster.

"Flame Dragon Armor..."

Without touching the beast bone, he extended his hand and placed his palm on a part of the armor.

At the moment of contact, a strange sensation suddenly filled his mind.

He felt that there was a mysterious connection between him and the Flame Dragon Armor...

This feeling was something he had never experienced when he first touched the Flame Dragon Armor in the stone building.

"Nurturing the Flame Dragon Armor with my flesh and blood essence, could it... gradually gain recognition? Does the Flame Dragon Armor, like the beast bone, need a vast amount of power to truly unleash its effects?"

He suddenly remembered that when he first obtained the beast bone, it was ordinary and unremarkable.

It only began to show its strange properties after it started absorbing the fire power from the Fire Cloud Stones. When the beast bone absorbed all the fire power from the mine, a drop of blood condensed within it, making the beast bone increasingly mysterious and leading him to an unknown place, where he gained a great transformation.

The beast bone needed to absorb fire power, and the Flame Dragon Armor seemed to need to draw out his flesh and blood essence.

"It seems that if I want to truly understand the Flame Dragon Armor and know its peculiarities, I must first make a sacrifice." He muttered to himself, "This thing is best not to be exposed often; I need a storage bracelet."

Thus, early the next morning, he told Liu Yan that he would buy a storage bracelet today.

"Nie Tian, why didn’t you come to me when you came to the treasure hall?"

In the morning, after temporarily storing the Flame Dragon Armor in Jiang Lingzhu’s storage bracelet, he was about to set out when he saw Pan Tao walking out of the building, dissatisfied.

"Well, there have been a lot of things these past two days." Nie Tian smiled awkwardly.

"Oh, I’ve heard a bit about you recognizing An Shiyi as your godmother." Pan Tao sighed and said, "An Shiyi is An Ying’s sister, and I wanted to help, but..."

He shook his head and, seeing others from Lingyun Sect coming out, stopped talking.

"Let’s go! I’ll take you for a good tour. How can the people of Lingyun Sect be more familiar with the treasure hall than me? No matter what you’re looking for, asking them won’t be as good as asking me!"

Pan Tao dragged Nie Tian away, ignoring the others from Lingyun Sect, and left directly.

...