Ancient trees with gnarled roots filled the entire mountain range, clear springs flowed, and the outer edges of the mountains were secretly lined with bunkers and traps. In some hidden places, sharp glints of light could be faintly seen, flickering in and out of view.

At the center, several ancient mountains had already been hollowed out, and there were three small valleys where rows of stone houses could be vaguely seen, all appearing extremely rugged.

Crossing an old stone stele with some cracks, on which the two ancient characters for Qingyang were engraved in a cloud pattern, this was erected when Qingyang was founded, and it has stood for thousands of years.

Returning to the tribe, he first saw his mother, who scolded him for a while. Afterwards, Henry Brooks returned to his own stone house. About an hour later, the burly man from before, standing over a zhang tall, arrived holding a black clay jar in his arms.

"Young master, this is the essence of blood and energy extracted from the ferocious beast at the Divine Repository Realm that the eldest young master hunted!" the burly man said in a deep, booming voice.

The burly man turned and left, and Henry Brooks, holding the clay jar, returned to his stone house.

As the young master of the Qingyang clan, his room was actually quite simple: a stone bed, a stone table, and a large bow made from a wild ox horn hanging on the wall.

Sitting cross-legged on the stone bed, he once again gripped the stone spear. Unfortunately, ever since it had quieted down in the ancient forest, the stone spear had shown no further signs of activity.

The Extreme Body Tempering Realm—this was his trial, and also the opportunity he had fought for.

If you want to gain, you must give. Even though he was only a youth, he still understood that there was no such thing as fortune falling from the sky. In a grand era, one must fight—for fate, for survival.

Simply put, the Extreme Body Tempering Realm was the process of tempering the skin, flesh, blood, bones, and marrow, with each step producing a unique phenomenon: the skin wrinkling, the flesh glowing, the blood radiating with rosy clouds, the battle bones etched with marks, and the marrow brimming with vitality!

This represented the ultimate in tempering.

In the Great Wilderness, martial artists at the Body Tempering Realm, after completing the five steps of body tempering, would develop immense strength within, enough to rival the power of an adult dragon-horse.

With each of the five steps of body tempering, nearly two thousand jin of strength would be gained. Now, as his battle bones had begun to be refined, the strength in his body was already close to seven thousand jin. Once he completed the body tempering, his strength would definitely surpass ten thousand jin.

Yet even so, there was still a great gap between him and the Extreme Body Tempering Realm!

It was said that at the Extreme Body Tempering Realm, after merging the five-step phenomena, a blood-qi wolf smoke would be born, manifesting the power of a flood dragon—this was a force surpassing even a dragon-horse!

However, this was the opportunity given to him by the stone spear. If he could not achieve the extreme realm, perhaps it would be impossible to keep the stone spear and gain another chance in the future!

Chapter 4: Entering the Great Wilderness Again, Slaughtering for Bone Marks!

Under the shroud of night, the Great Wilderness was enveloped in endless darkness, yet the roars of ferocious beasts could still be heard. Torches had already been lit within the Qingyang Mountains.

Teams of Qingyang clansmen, clad in leather armor and gripping iron spears, patrolled the mountains with intense blood-qi emanating from their bodies, their eyes sharp as lightning, constantly scanning for danger.

The night was already half over, yet Henry Brooks felt no trace of fatigue. Having absorbed less than half of the ferocious beast's blood-qi essence from the clay jar, his internal injuries had almost fully healed. The rest, naturally, was completely absorbed by the blood spear.

This was one of the prices he paid to keep the stone spear. Even so, excitement still shone in his eyes.

Absorbing the precious blood of a Divine Repository Realm beast caused the dormant stone spear to once again emit a faint purple glow.

"Your cultivation method is crude and careless. Most of the blood-qi essence you absorbed was wasted, and as for the condensed Qiongqi bone mark within your body, that is an even greater mistake."

The stiff voice once again echoed in Henry Brooks's mind, but he didn't care. Although the Qingyang clan had been passed down for thousands of years, its strongest members had only reached the Totem Mirror, and the sky they had seen was limited to the ancient land of Lushan.

Now, with an unknown existence before him explaining things, what else could this be but a stroke of fortune!

Ignorance is not frightening; what is frightening is being blindly ignorant, unwilling to seek the truth. That is truly hopeless!

"Bone marks are the manifestation of the great Dao of heaven and earth. In those ancient great clans, powerful figures would enter the endless wilderness to hunt true beasts and exotic species, extracting their blood and bone essence to build a foundation for the clan's children, so that they could comprehend the Dao of heaven and earth from a young age!"

"True bone marks should not be separated from the body in the slightest. When blood and bone move, the bone mark should resonate, and even the Dao itself should manifest!"

"Bone marks should merge with the body, truly comprehending the power of the bone mark, and using it to master the Dao of heaven and earth. With the bone mark within, the body can be tempered on a deeper level!"

"Your bone mark is merely imprinted on your blood and bones, yet you treat it as a treasure to be worshipped. Even if it were the wind, rain, thunder, and lightning marks of a true dragon, if it cannot be used in battle, what use is it!"

...

By the time the stone spear quieted down again, two hours had passed. Yet in Henry Brooks's eyes, a burning light remained.

The path of martial cultivation is arduous. Though most can enter the path, achieving true accomplishment is extremely difficult. The entire Qingyang clan had about thirty thousand people. Even the women of the clan had stepped onto the first stage of martial cultivation—the Body Tempering Realm—but most remained at the initial stage of tempering skin and flesh.