Yao Shen stood before a reinforced obsidian door, cycling Qi through his body in preparation for his first true challenge after reaching the Soul Emperor stage. His Human Dao Domain had already been activated, silhouettes of mortal farmers harvesting illusory stalks of wheat scattered across the broad stone hallway that comprised the second layer of the Solaris Keep.

“Are you sure these defenses will suffice?” Yao Shen’s tone was tinged with dubiousness as he placed his hand upon the obsidian door’s surface in order to get a measure of its defenses. The Five Origin Treasures in possession of the Sacred Flame Palace each had their own ‘containment wards’ that seemed to be forged out of pure obsidian— undoubtedly the work of a skilled Flame Cultivator, however, that alone was not enough to provide much reassurance.

If these Origin Treasures had truly survived from the Era of Turmoil, their strength could not measured by banal scales like cultivation stage or artifact rank.

“Do not worry, Grand Patriarch Yao Shen. These containment wards were left behind by my ancestors. Even if the Flame Division were to be reduced to ash on the morrow, these wards will survive.”

Yao Shen raised an eyebrow at that statement.

“Obsidian, in itself, is not a particularly valuable material. For Flame Cultivators, its true value lies in its proximity to our element and its ability to withstand heat. Runic engravings cover the interior layer of the containment wards, accentuating the material’s desirable properties like it’s heat resistance and conversely, downplaying, or outright eliminating undesirable properties like the rock’s brittle nature,” Lei Weiyuan explained, answering the unspoken question.

“If the rune-script is so effective, why not utilize it in a defensive formation?” Yao Shen asked.

Patriarch Lei Weiyuan shook his head wryly, “We can only decipher basic rune forms. There are entire sections of the script whose purpose we cannot comprehend, their complexity such that even mimicking them is pointless. All we can do is maintain the small-scale formation and hope that someone capable of deciphering them is born one day.”

Yao Shen nodded in understanding.

“Very well. Is there anything else I must know before making my attempt?”

Lei Weiyuan seemed to take a moment to think about it, before responding, “I would not attempt to breach the Origin Treasure’s defenses by tunneling underground. Not only is the Origin Treasure likely to have countermeasures for such a ploy, but… this is pure speculation on my part… it is an extension of heaven’s will and therefore…” Lei Weiyuan left the last part unsaid, his face paling slightly at the thought of a heavenly tribulation being brought down upon the Flame Divison.

Yao Shen’s expression turned serious at Lei Weiyuan’s implication. Based on his understanding of the Heavenly Dao, it was certainly capable of such a measure if scorned.

“I did not expect it to be that simple, either way,” Yao Shen gave Patriarch Lei Weiyuan a nod, before applying strength to the obsidian door. It slowly swung open, and he slipped inside.

A piercing silver glow illuminated the small room, making the rune-script upon the uneven obsidian walls legible to even mortal eyes. However, Yao Shen did not spare the complex script even a glance, his attention captivated by a metallic strongbox that rested upon a stone dais at the opposite end of the room.

The ambient Qi in the air swirled around the strongbox, releasing a light thrum of power that was audible only to the ears of a cultivator. Yao Shen did not know if the original inheritance had been sealed in such a form or if the Heavenly Dao had reshaped it after it became an Origin Treasure, but it took only one glance at it for him to know that no attack he was capable of could pierce its defenses.

The silver metal comprising the strongboxes’ exterior had been seeped in such a magnitude of Qi that Yao Shen could barely distinguish it from a Qi-Construct.

Nevertheless, he took a step forward. Followed by another.

There was no response from the Origin Treasure.

Only when he had reached the half-way mark, did the Origin Treasure finally respond.

Yao Shen’s reflexes went haywire as they screamed at him to evade, but the time-lag between the fluctuation in the ambient Qi and the attack was far shorter than he had expected.

His Wind Qi flared to life, as Yao Shen swerved to the left as fast as his reflexes allowed. A beam of concentrated light qi shot out from the Origin Treasure, it’s radiance so strong that it stung at his eyes.

His eyes narrowed in shock as the Patriarch of the Modern Sect realized that his right arm was gone, vaporized.

Fear, true fear, welled up in his heart, as he hurriedly retreated. He was not a stranger to the emotion, but even his ascension had not been this ruthless. Surprisingly though, there was no followup attack, even though Yao Shen would be hard-pressed to evade it in his present condition.

“Interesting,” Yao Shen muttered aloud, channeling his Earth Qi and forming a small rock in his hand. First he tossed it a few meters in front of him. The Origin Treasure remained inert. Next, he tossed another rock directly at the origin treasure at a curved angle. A beam of light shot out from the origin treasure, incinerating it once again at the halfway mark.

To rest his hypothesis, Yao Shen stretched a thin thread of divine sense forward. His goal was the small opening in the center of the strongbox that was too circular to pass as a conventional keyhole. This time, he got a bit further than the halfway mark, but he had chosen to approach from the sides; before he winced out loud, his divine sense shattering.

That confirmed it.

The Strongbox possessed what Yao Shen mentally termed as a ‘sphere of perception’. The Origin Treasure would only retaliate when he trespassed into the spherical layer of divine sense, and only when he survived its onslaught and passed through the restrictive layer would his own divine sense function outside his body.

Or atleast Yao Shen hoped it would.

He charged again, this time holding nothing back. Yao Shen blazed forth with the wind aiding his cause, his movement completely erratic and patternless. He evaded the first beam of light, followed by a second and a third, his attempt to confound the Origin Treasure working surprisingly well so far.

Until the Origin Treasure released five beams of light simultaneously and Yao Shen, who had accelerated so much that he would never be able to slow down in time, could only watch on helplessly for a few moments before he was vaporized instantly.

“I died,” he spoke, after one of the silhouettes outside the containment ward morphed into his likeness.

Patriarch Lei Weiyuan attempted to hide the surprise he felt at Yao Shen’s blunt statement, but failed to do so. The cultivator who had subdued the entire Flame Division had only managed to last a minute against an Origin Treasure?

How terrifying.

“What was it like?”

Staying true to his word, Yao Shen spent the next ten minutes narrating his first attempt, which Lei Weiyuan meticulously noted down.

“It would not be nearly as difficult if the Origin Treasure could be located to an open field. The small containment ward makes evasion far more difficult than it ought to be.”

“Why do you suspect the ‘keyhole’ to be a part of the solution?” Lei Weiyuan mused aloud.

“I don’t see any other reason for the Origin Treasure to restrict my divine sense otherwise. Besides, if all it took to access it was speed, then the Amadori would not be nearly as respected.”

“I see.”

A day passed, and during that time Yao Shen ‘died’ another four times. He had informed the delegation from the Sky Division that he was studying rune-script, for there were another seven empty concealment wards that had likely housed other inheritances or volatile artififats at some point in time, now utilized for his ‘study’.

As far as excuses went it wasn’t the greatest one, for Yao Shen had never really displayed an inclination or strong interest in the formation path. However, compared to his other shifts in his personality, it was far less noticeable. So much so, that he doubted that even Meili Zhu with her keen senses, would suspect anything.

After all, one did not simply challenge the monopoly of an ancient clan on a whim, like Yao Shen was currently attempting to do.

He would select a few scrolls and tomes from the Solaris Keep at random, as long as they vaguely had something to do with runes or formations, before venturing back into the second layer to further give credence to the ruse.

Once he was finished replenishing his reserves of Human Qi, Yao Shen was ready to tackle the Origin Treasure again.

He had cobbled together a makeshift movement technique, spending hours between each death to mediate upon his shortcomings and find a way to mitigate them.

The end result was a movement technique that required that he dedicate too much of his concentration to be useful in a real battle. The one time he had attempted to fly over tothe origin treasure, eight rays of light qi had viciously pulverized him and it was safe to say that Yao Shen did not desire a repeat of that experience.

So this movement technique would be limited to the ground, which actually played to his advantages.

Yao Shen stepped inside the containment ward, and the moment his foot landed upon ordinary stone tiles they began to partially liquefy, until they had transformed into quicksand. The ground was the only part of the room that wasn’t layered with obsidian, and Yao Shen was thankful for it.

The reason why this technique was so tricky was because he was utilizing his Earth Qi to transform rock into quicksand only with the small surface area his feet was making contact with. If he tried to turn the entire floor into quicksand and destabilize the second layer, the artifact would instantly kill him. He knew, for the one time he had tried, or rather, attempted to try, he felt an unmistakably vast presence weighing down upon him, upon his soul— the Heavenly Qi that was concealed within the artifact making its presence known.

Thankfully, this clever compromise did not prompt any such retaliation. Running or even diving away from the light qi attacks, even with the wind at his back, had proven to be too slow. So Yao Shen, utilizing his knowledge from Earth, sought to eliminate the friction generated from his feet making contact with the ground as much as he could. If a surface without friction existed, an object would simply slide forever, to the lowest point. While he could not create such a surface, he could borrow from its concept.

Wind Qi would guide his movement, and instead of running he would slide across the floor’s surface like a marionette controlled by another. The only question remained, if his reaction time was fast enough.

Yao Shen propelled himself forward towards the Origin Treasure. The first beam of Light Qi shot out not long after and Yao Shen swerved to the left, missing it by a little more than a hair’s breadth. The next thirty seconds passed as Yao Shen’s silhouette rapidly blurred, weaving through the beams of light qi with a maniacal fervour.

His heart hammered in his chest, his senses stretched to their absolute limits as his surroundings faded into the background, leaving behind only the anticipation and fear brought on by the next incoming beam of light.

A beam of light punched through the side of his torso, causing a burst of warm blood to pour out. But the wound wasn’t fatal, and Yao Shen could sense that the onslaught would not last much longer.

He willed himself forward, fighting through the pain and….

The attacks stopped.

Yao Shen cauterized his wound, standing ten meters away from the artifact. Even he seemed surprised that he had succeeded, which was a testament to the nightmarish difficulty involved in even getting to this point.

This close to his goal, Yao Shen didn’t dare to hastily approach the Origin Treasure. Instead, he decided to test his hypothesis.

He extended his divine sense a meter ahead of his body and simply waited.

It didn’t shatter.

Almost completely convinced now, Yao Shen directed his thread of divine sense into the small circular opening, guessing that it was the proverbial key to the lock.

Yao Shen’s eyes lit up as he knew he had made the correct gamble.