"That’s right, it’s the temporary token crafted by Wenjin. The three characters on the back indicate that you can choose any three items inside. Of course, only items below the Earth-tier. You may go now; the door is over there." The old man pointed to the foot of the mountain as he spoke.
Ye Xuan glanced over, but there was nothing at the foot of the mountain.
At this moment, the old man’s body suddenly released a dazzling light. The radiance was like the sun, illuminating the heavens and the earth, though it flashed for only a brief instant. After the light faded, Ye Xuan could see clearly that a large gate had suddenly appeared at the previously empty foot of the mountain. A row of guards even stood at the entrance. Under the sunlight, the three large words "Resource Repository" gleamed brilliantly.
"An Illusion Array!"
Ye Xuan suddenly realized that there was an Illusion Array at the foot of the mountain. What he had seen earlier wasn’t reality at all. This Illusion Array was controlled by the old man, and he had just deactivated it.
"Go on." The old man waved his hand casually, returning the token to Ye Xuan.
Ye Xuan didn’t speak as he walked up to the front of the repository. However, he didn’t enter immediately, instead spending some time feeling around his current position.
"If I sense it carefully, there really is the aura of an Array. To think I didn’t feel it at all earlier! This must be a fifth-tier or even sixth-tier Illusion Array!" he thought.
Ye Xuan closed his eyes and sensed it for a long while. Then, holding the token in his hand, he approached the entrance.
The doors of the repository were tightly shut. Ye Xuan inserted the token, and only then did the stone doors slide open. As they parted, the temporary token dissipated into nothingness.
"My lord, please follow me," one of the Golden Armor Guards at the door said to Ye Xuan. He then led Ye Xuan inside the repository.
The Gongsun family’s repository was truly massive. The first thing that caught his eye was the armory. The weapons inside were complex and dazzling, coming in an immense variety of types. There were over ten thousand swords alone. It took Ye Xuan half an hour just to finish browsing through the armory.
He had no interest in any of the weapons inside, as he already possessed an Earth-tier weapon. At this thought, he was reminded of Liu Yan once again. That woman was actually willing to spend a fortune to buy him an Earth-tier weapon. Such boldness was rare in this world. He already knew that an Earth-tier weapon was incredibly precious even across an entire city. Even as the champion of the grand competition, he wasn’t qualified to receive one. Didn’t that alone prove just how valuable Earth-tier weapons were?
He owed Liu Yan a massive favor. This debt of gratitude would have to be repaid one day.
Shaking his head, Ye Xuan moved on to the Library Pavilion. The Library Pavilion was an underground structure. It spanned four floors in total, reaching down to the 4th Layer. The lowest floor contained the lowest grades, while the highest floor held the highest grades, even containing Earth-tier Martial Techniques.
Of course, the number of Earth-tier Martial Techniques was far too small; the Gongsun family only had a dozen or so in total. Almost all of them were low-grade Earth-tier, with only three being mid-grade. This showed just how precious Earth-tier Martial Techniques were.
After browsing for a while, Ye Xuan returned to the first floor, ready to leave. Although he was about to enter the Demon Spirit Realm and truly needed Ghost-tier Martial Techniques, he still planned to explore the entire repository before deciding what to choose.
Beyond the Library Pavilion was the Spirit Medicine Pavilion. The Spirit Medicine Pavilion was so massive that one couldn’t see its end at a single glance. The Spirit Medicines inside came in endless varieties, though most of them were auxiliary herbs.
"This is... an Ice Heart Fruit." Suddenly, Ye Xuan’s gaze fell upon a particular fruit. He clenched his jaw, seemingly hesitating over whether to take it. The Ice Heart Fruit didn’t have any effect on improving one’s cultivation. It was merely an auxiliary medicinal ingredient used for Alchemy or brewing decoctions.
After some deliberation, Ye Xuan finally picked up the Ice Heart Fruit.
His action left the Golden Armor Guard quite surprised. The guard couldn’t help but remind him, "My lord, you only have three chances to select an item. Are you sure you want to choose this Ice Heart Fruit? Although this fruit emits a cold mist and looks like one of the Immortal Fruit Wonders, it actually provides no help to cultivation whatsoever."
"I know," Ye Xuan said calmly.
Hearing this, the Golden Armor Guard didn’t try to persuade him further, but instead confirmed, "Are you certain you want to take the Ice Heart Fruit? If you are, I will record it."
"I am certain."
Saying so, Ye Xuan directly stored the Ice Heart Fruit into his Storage Ring. The fruit was indeed useless for his cultivation, but it was a precious medicinal ingredient nonetheless. Among the ingredients he had asked Hua to look for, the Ice Heart Fruit was the most valuable. Although the Gongsun family possessed several other herbs Ye Xuan needed, those could definitely be bought somewhere in the city. But the Ice Heart Fruit was incredibly hard to come by! Even the Gongsun family only had ten Ice Heart Fruits in total.
If used to aid in Alchemy, the Ice Heart Fruit could increase the success rate of concocting an Elixir. The higher the tier of the Elixir, the more it required the Ice Heart Fruit’s assistance, because its juices allowed different medicinal liquids to fuse much more smoothly. However, Ye Xuan wasn’t going to use it for Alchemy.
After selecting the Ice Heart Fruit, Ye Xuan looked at the Qishan Evergreen Ivy beside it. There was a huge bundle of Qishan Evergreen Ivy, which made Ye Xuan extremely envious. He wished he could sweep all of it into his Storage Ring. But he knew that these bundles of Qishan Evergreen Ivy had to be exchanged using Contribution Points.
Shaking his head, Ye Xuan then looked at the Five-Colored Flowers neatly arranged in the corner. The Five-Colored Flowers had been planted by Gongsun Qingyue and bloomed only once every two years. Over so many years, the Gongsun family hadn’t managed to store many Five-Colored Flowers, as they were all taken by the Gongsun family’s Alchemy Masters to concoct Demon Spirit Pills. Even so, supply completely failed to meet demand.
"Can I choose a Five-Colored Flower?" Ye Xuan asked.
The Golden Armor Guard shook his head. "You can choose anything except Spirit Medicines that directly increase cultivation."
"And here I thought I truly had my pick of anything..." Ye Xuan sighed, then left the Spirit Medicine Pavilion.
Next, he headed to the Curiosities Collection. The Curiosities Collection was quite special; it was a warehouse dedicated to storing unidentified objects. For example, a hard brick of unknown purpose. Or a shattered Heart-Protecting Mirror. Or perhaps an unyielding stone exuding an ancient, weathered aura. Here, one might just stumble upon serendipitous encounters and great fortune.
As soon as Ye Xuan entered, he spotted Gongsun Yan. Clearly, she had come in while he was at the Spirit Medicine Pavilion.
"Aunt Thirteen," Ye Xuan greeted, cupping his hands in a reasonably polite manner.
Gongsun Yan said flatly, "You’ve come to treasure hunt as well. It makes sense. Neither of us has the right to choose items above the Earth-tier, nor can we obtain Spirit Medicines that enhance cultivation. If we want to try our luck, this is our only option. Let’s just look for our own things."
After this brief greeting, Gongsun Yan buried herself back in picking through the exotic items.
Ye Xuan nodded and began browsing as well.
At that moment, a Broken Sword caught Ye Xuan’s attention. The aura of this sword was far too fierce! Even though it was broken, Ye Xuan could still sense an intense killing intent radiating from it. If the sword hadn’t snapped, it would absolutely be a formidable Treasure Sword. Unfortunately, a Broken Sword was useless. The Gongsun family had likely placed it here hoping that if they ever encountered a powerful Forging Master in the future, it could be reforged.
Ye Xuan wandered around the Curios Pavilion for half an hour. Finally, the Dragon Capturing Cauldron within his Sea of Consciousness began to emit light, its body trembling continuously.
"It’s finally reacting!" Ye Xuan’s eyes immediately lit up.
The Dragon Capturing Cauldron possessed the ability to identify treasures. This was the exact reason he had entered the resource repository. The Gongsun family’s resources were undoubtedly abundant, but were there things that even the Gongsun family had misjudged?
"It’s this thing," he murmured.