The Treasure Vault of the Black-White College

The morning sun had just risen, its winter light illuminating the entire Black-White College.

Whoosh.

Riding atop a small boat, Ji Ning was flying through the air. Soon, he spotted a majestic hall below him. This was the Dao-Repository Palace, a location whose status within the Black-White College was second only to the Black-White Diagram. It was here that disciples of the Black-White College came to exchange for the finest techniques, divine abilities, and spells.

“Whew.” A burly, muscular man clad in a set of gorgeous, ornate armor was seated by a stone table, holding an exquisite wine goblet as he savored his drink.

Ji Ning landed.

“Greetings, honored uncle,” Ji Ning said respectfully.

“Hm.” The burly man glanced at Ji Ning. “You are the new disciple, Ji Ning?”

“Yes,” Ji Ning replied.

This muscular man was a guardian of the palace, a post generally held by a Primal Daoist.

“Here are six thousand Black-White Pearls.” The burly man flicked his wrist, producing a black jade bottle which he tossed directly to Ji Ning.

Ji Ning caught it, circulating his ki to peer inside. The jade bottle was densely packed with countless pellets, each one marked with black and white colors.

“And here are one hundred catties of Primordial Liquid. The quota for a third-generation disciple is one hundred catties per decade.” The burly man tossed another jade bottle to Ji Ning. “Alright. You’ve received your Black-White Pearls and your Primordial Liquid. You may enter.”

Two jade bottles, one black and one emerald green.

They contained six thousand Black-White Pearls and one hundred catties of concentrated Primordial Liquid.

“As expected of the Black-White College.” Ji Ning sighed to himself. “A newly joined third-generation disciple like me gets a hundred catties in just ten years. That means a thousand catties in a hundred years! An ordinary Earth-ranked magic treasure costs a hundred catties of Primordial Liquid, while a Heaven-ranked treasure costs ten thousand.”

A third-generation disciple’s centurial quota of Primordial Liquid from the Black-White College was enough to trade for a Heaven-ranked magic treasure. Of course, no one would be foolish enough to accumulate it; Primordial Liquid was used to increase one’s power, lest one waste vast amounts of time absorbing natural energy.

“Thank you, honored uncle.” Ji Ning immediately entered the Dao-Repository Palace.

……

The Dao-Repository Palace had three floors.

The moment Ji Ning entered the first floor, he felt as if he had stepped into a sea of books. Rows upon rows of enormous bookshelves stretched out before him, filled with a truly uncountable number of books. Just by sweeping his gaze across the room, Ji Ning dared to guess that there were over a million volumes here. On the side of the largest bookshelf, right against the wall, was a single enormous character — “Technique”!

“Technique.” Ji Ning murmured to himself. “The Dao-Repository Palace has three floors. The first floor contains techniques, the second contains arts, and the third contains miscellaneous.”

Technique referred to cultivation methods. Methods for Ki Refining and Fiendgod Body Refining were all techniques.

Arts referred to various special skills and secret arts utilized by Immortals and Fiends, such as a Fiendgod’s ‘Divine Ability’, a Sword Immortal’s ‘sword-art’, desperate ‘forbidden arts’, escape ‘evasion arts’… Every single skill for utilizing power was an art.

Miscellaneous encompassed everything not covered by the first two categories, such as constructs, formations, insect-raising, artifact-forging, pill-refining, poison…

“My master said I must exchange for the first volume of the Three-Foot Sword and an Immortal-ranked Ki Refining technique.” Ji Ning made up his mind and immediately began searching the first floor of the Dao-Repository Palace.

Ki Refining techniques were divided into Immortal-ranked, Heaven-ranked, Earth-ranked, and Mortal-ranked.

An Immortal-ranked technique represented a cultivation path that could take one all the way to the Celestial Immortal level.

“A path to Celestial Immortality?” Ji Ning felt a surge of emotion. “Although an Immortal-ranked Ki Refining technique points the way to becoming a Celestial Immortal, in the entire history of the Black-White College, there has only ever been one Celestial Immortal. Even a figure as extraordinary as Immortal Beixing failed to become one. The path to Celestial Immortality is indeed, as Judge Cui said, filled with endless tribulations.” Ji Ning searched carefully.

He soon found a black wooden table in the deepest part of the first floor. Lined up neatly on the table were twenty-eight golden books. Carved into the side of the table was a single character — “Immortal”!

“Immortal-ranked Ki Refining techniques?” Ji Ning hurriedly picked up one of the golden books. It was titled the Garan Soaring Immortal Scripture. This golden book was merely an abridged manual; after all, Immortal-ranked techniques were the foundational heritage of a sect and could never be casually leaked.

“The first volume of the Garan Soaring Immortal Scripture actually costs one thousand five hundred Black-White Pearls.” Ji Ning was secretly stunned.

He turned his head. On the tall bookshelves beside him were massive quantities of ‘Earth-ranked Ki Refining techniques’, and these were the complete, unabridged versions, not abridged manuals…

“So cheap. Only a hundred Black-White Pearls,” Ji Ning muttered.

“Senior apprentice-brother Ji Ning.” A voice suddenly rang out.

Ji Ning turned to look. The one who had just walked in was his junior apprentice-brother, the white-robed youth Mu Northson. Mu Northson said excitedly, “Senior apprentice-brother Ji Ning, there are so many cultivation techniques here!”

“With a history as long as this sect’s, how could the techniques be few?” Ji Ning said.

The two of them then focused on selecting their respective cultivation techniques.

Half an hour later.

“This is the one.” Ji Ning picked up a golden manual. It was an Immortal-ranked Ki Refining technique called the Aquatic Source Annotation. The first volume cost 1,500 Black-White Pearls to exchange for. The Ki Refining technique he had been cultivating since childhood was the Water Element Art. Now that he had opened his Zifu, a technique aligned with the element of water was naturally the most suitable.

“Adding the Three-Foot Sword, which I must also exchange for, I need a total of three thousand five hundred Black-White Pearls. That leaves me with two thousand five hundred Black-White Pearls.” Ji Ning pondered.

He still needed to exchange for a technique for Uncle White.

He also needed to exchange for a Divine Ability.

He also needed to obtain the subsequent volumes of the Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens.

“Uncle White is currently at the early Zifu stage and is in desperate need of a technique. He is also aligned with the element of water, so the Aquatic Source Annotation would suit him as well.” Ji Ning thought for a moment.

Although he had only chosen one copy of the Aquatic Source Annotation, if he wanted Uncle White to cultivate it, he would have to pay another 1,500 Black-White Pearls! If he didn’t pay, that would be considered stealing the technique. The crime of stealing an Immortal-ranked technique was severe. Just the punishment from the Heavenly Dao blood oath would likely cause Ji Ning’s soul to dissipate.

“That leaves me with only one thousand Black-White Pearls.” Ji Ning immediately felt that the Black-White Pearls were far from sufficient.

He didn’t realize that no one else would pay such a price for a spirit-beast.

……

A short while later, in the first floor of the Dao-Repository Palace, Ji Ning found the section for Fiendgod Body Refining techniques. He also found the continuation of the number one Fiendgod Body Refining technique, the Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens. It was the Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens, Volume Two.

The second volume of the Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens also had nine layers, being the tenth through the eighteenth layers.

These corresponded to the Wanxiang, Primal, and Void levels.

Once a Fiendgod Body Refiner reached the eighteenth layer of the Crimsonbright Diagram, he would have to face his tribulation. If he succeeded, he would become an Empyrean God!

As for a Ki Refiner, upon succeeding in their tribulation, they would become a Celestial Immortal!

Celestial Immortals and Empyrean Gods belonged to two completely different paths.

“One hundred Black-White Pearls? That’s really cheap.” Seeing the price, Ji Ning couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief. “Although it can be cultivated all the way up to tribulation, it only costs a hundred Black-White Pearls. It truly is the easiest technique to obtain.”

The number one Fiendgod Body Refining technique was also the easiest to obtain.

And it was also the hardest to cultivate.

……

Carrying a copy of the Aquatic Source Annotation and a copy of the Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens, Volume Two, Ji Ning left the first floor of the Dao-Repository Palace and came to the second floor.

The second floor of the Dao-Repository Palace was also filled with bookshelves.

“Arts!” Ji Ning drew a deep breath.

Arts were the secret arts of Immortals and Fiends.

They were skills in applying the Dao. Divine Abilities, sword-arts, spells, forbidden arts, evasion arts, and so forth all fell into the category of arts.

“Divine Abilities.” Ji Ning headed straight for the bookshelf that held records of Divine Abilities.

Divine Abilities…

Those were extremely rare. Even the Yuchi clan on his mother’s side only had a single Divine Ability, the Windwing Evasion.

“So few.”

“So expensive!”

Ji Ning finally located the table that held the Divine Abilities. On the entire table were only five abridged manuals. That meant that in its entire, endless history, the Black-White College had only managed to acquire five Divine Abilities! They were even rarer than Immortal-ranked Ki Refining techniques!

They were the Heavenly Transformation, Divine Thunder Eye, Ten Thousand Poison Stingers, Three Heads, Six Arms, and Blazing Heart Eye.

“Three Heads, Six Arms?” Ji Ning’s eyes lit up. Heavenly Transformation was the most common Divine Ability; generally, any top-tier sect or tribe would have it. As for the other three Divine Abilities, the Divine Thunder Eye, Ten Thousand Poison Stingers, and the Blazing Heart Eye, Ji Ning had never even heard of them. Only the Three Heads, Six Arms was something he had heard of.

Both in his past life and his current one, Ji Ning had heard of ‘three heads, six arms’. It was a Divine Ability said to be used by some of the truly mighty figures of legend.

“Three Heads, Six Arms may seem like a simple ability, but in reality, the later your cultivation level, the more effective this Divine Ability becomes.” Ji Ning thought to himself. Humans only had two arms. Even if they used divine power or elemental ki to manifest extra limbs, these couldn’t compare to actual arms.

But Three Heads, Six Arms…

Once this Divine Ability was activated, it truly gave you four extra arms and two extra heads. These extra arms could unleash the same power as your real ones. It was as if three ‘Ji Nings’ were united in attacking a single opponent! Just using twin swords had already allowed him to compound his strength; with six swords attacking in concert, the increase in power would be even more astonishing.

……

After reading about the five Divine Abilities, Ji Ning coveted every single one.

Three Heads, Six Arms was famous for a reason. Just its first volume cost three thousand Black-White Pearls.

Heavenly Transformation was the most common, but it was also a Divine Ability that could produce astonishing results when cultivated to a high level. Its first volume cost five hundred Black-White Pearls.

Ten Thousand Poison Stingers was a lethal assassination technique, and just its first volume cost a full five thousand Black-White Pearls.

The Divine Thunder Eye cost two thousand Black-White Pearls for its first volume.

The Blazing Heart Eye cost five thousand Black-White Pearls for its first volume.

“This is…” Ji Ning could only clench his teeth and pick up the abridged manual for the Heavenly Transformation first. As for the other four Divine Abilities, he simply couldn’t afford them right now. Their exchange requirements were all far higher than those for Immortal-ranked Ki Refining techniques. But that made sense; after all, these were Divine Abilities, incredibly precious.

……

Carrying several abridged manuals, Ji Ning continued searching the second floor of the Dao-Repository Palace for more specialized ‘arts’.

He searched for a long time.

“Found it.” Ji Ning finally discovered a table with three golden books placed upon it. The entire table only held these three books, making them seem no less important than the Divine Abilities.

Ji Ning picked up one of the golden books. On its cover were three words — the Soul-Shattering Art!

This was precisely the rare, soul-based attack technique Ji Ning had been searching for.