Yao Shen carefully examined the mottled gray bell that lay inert in the palm of his hand. Though the artifact’s physical weight was negligible, his hand trembled under a different kind of pressure as it weighed down upon his soul instead.

He drew solace from the fact that there was no foriegn divine sense brand imprinted upon the ancient bell, which made the task ahead significantly less challenging. Nevertheless, from his experimentation so far Yao Shen knew that there was one, final hurdle that he had to cross before he could claim the bell artifact as his own.

Time seemed to stretch on endlessly as he fought to overcome the bell’s resistance to his divine sense, forced to continuously apply pressure or risk losing his entire progress thus far.

Two gruelling days passed by before Yao Shen saw the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. It would have likely taken longer, but rather ironically, it was his prior attempts at unlocking the Shadow Origin Treasure and repeatedly contesting himself against the ‘meteor shower’ Divine Sense Brand that had made the task less trying. Though his Divine Sense Brand was no more powerful than before, it had gained an additional degree of refinement and flexibility that aided in his cause.

Yao Shen let out a defiant roar as he pressed his Brand forward, aiming to conquer the bell artifact in its entirety. A final burst of resistance from the artifact attempted to hinder his cause, but he would not falter this close to his goal.

He had surmounted the Origin Treasure’s combat trial.

He had proved himself worthy of this artifact.

He was Yao Shen, Patriarch of the Modern Sect and he would be denied no longer.

A light chime rang out as he felt the last of the bell’s resistance sputter out, his Brand coalescing in the form of a radiant sword that lay nestled comfortably within the bell’s clapper.

He reeled a few steps backward as an influx of knowledge flowed through his mind, the additional strain causing his Human Dao Domain to flicker in and out of existence. Though the scrolls Yao Shen found within Origin Treasure were too damaged to be of any use, the artifact still had the ability to communicate its purpose through instinct.

Yao Shen’s eyes widened in surprise as he roughly translated the sensations and instinctual reactions he felt into merely two words. His voice was barely a whisper as he spoke,”....Refine… Soul.”

There was also something more, something far more… potent that the artifact was capable of but the sensation cut off before it could form into a coherent message.

Yao Shen did not resist as he felt the strength drain out of his legs, falling backwards onto the ground. His Human Dao Domain collapsed seconds later, a reminder that his domain, as clever as it may be, was a far cry from true invulnerability, if such a thing even existed in the first place.

Then he began to laugh in jubilation.

After eliminating the possibilities, Yao Shen had reached a singular conclusion. One that even a man as composed as himself took a few seconds to digest— The artifact Yao Shen had obtained from the Origin Treasure belonged to an arcane path that few in the Azlak Plains could claim to understand, namely, Soul Cultivation.

Unfortunately, this was neither the time nor the place to test his newly acquired artifact. Not to mention, Yao Shen had already resolved not to divulge its existence to a single soul unless absolutely necessary. Lei Weiyuan would naturally suspect the truth, for the Heavenly Dao, as ruthless as it might be, followed its own twisted notion of ‘fairness’ rigorously. Yao Shen’s reward could not be limited to tattered, illegible scrolls, no matter how much the Heavenly Dao disliked him and his Human Dao.

However, so what?

As long as Lei Weiyuan did not know the specifics of the artifact Yao Shen had acquired, he had no way to prove anything to the Amadori, if they were ever to fall out. Not that he could, without sharing in the consequences.

If anything, this short excursion had managed to serve an unintentional purpose by drawing Lei Weiyuan closer to his camp. Both parties had benefitted from the arrangement and both parties now risked offending a greater power that neither one could afford to. Shared secrets did not bind as well as shared blood, but the present situation was more beneficial to Yao Shen compared to the shaky foundations their professional relationship was based on before.

Now, before leaving the containment ward, he had one last problem to solve.

First, Yao Shen attempted to store his bell artifact in his spatial ring, albeit very slowly. He winced when his spatial ring started to quiver under the pressure, unable to withstand the pressure exerted by a bonafide Soul Emperor level artifact. If he continued to force it through, the spatial pocket would likely shatter and its contents, forever lost.

When that line of inquiry failed, Yao Shen only saw one reasonable solution. Once an artifact was branded with divine sense, it became an extension of the soul, in a manner of speaking. Whilst Nascent Soul cultivators did not have souls that were corporeal enough to support physical artifacts, the same could not be said about Soul Emperors— since the bell artifact was an extension of his soul, Yao Shen could naturally store it in his soul lake.

He did not wish to rest to this option for he did not fully understand the artifact’s capabilities yet but at the same time carrying the artifact on his person was an even worse option.

Resolving to be cautious and ready to react to any irregularities, Yao Shen placed the bell artifact within his soul lake, stilling the waves in that region.

The final hurdle crossed, Yao Shen swung the containment ward’s door wide open and stepped out.

“Grand Patriarch!” Lei Weiyuan’s tone did not bother to conceal the surprise he felt at seeing Yao Shen walk out unscathed.

A fair conclusion, given his domain had failed.

“It is done,” Yao Shen stated with an unnerving calm, as if he had not just flipped an age-old convention upon its head.

Lei Weiyuan’s eyes shot open in shock, his gaze wandering past Yao Shen and into the containment ward which had been partially left open— upon the stone dais, where he knew the Origin Treasure ought to be kept.

He involuntarily flinched when the realization crept up on him. The Origin Treasure was…. gone.

Yao Shen too had been surprised to see the strongbox missing when he woke up from his meditative trance two days later, but it did not take him long to figure out what had happened. The metal that comprised the strongbox had been so heavily seeped in Qi, that it dissolved not long after he had unsealed it, likely converted into topsoil. Only three illegible scrolls remained, with large chunks of papyrus decayed beyond repair and some parts missing entirely. What little writing remained was smudged so badly it was impossible to recover the original characters.

“Those scrolls…..,” Lei Weiyuan muttered aloud.

“Unfortunately, they are damaged beyond repair. You may examine them if you wish to do so, but do not touch them,” Yao Shen offered, mainly because he knew Lei Weiyuan would receive nothing of value from the scrolls.

“Why is the Qi density so high?” Lei Weiyuan asked as he gingerly approached the scrolls.

“A byproduct of the unsealing process, I suppose. Who knows how long the Origin Treasure has been accumulating Earth Qi for.”

“I see,” He replied, but his attention was partially taken up by the damaged scrolls.

“Is this the reward for unlocking the Origin Treasure?” Lei Weiyuan shook his head, no longer bothering to examine the scrolls.

Yao Shen just offered him a simple nod in response.

Tactfully, Lei Weiyuan chose not to delve upon that topic further, choosing to shift his focus to the unlocking process.

Honoring their agreement, Yao Shen truthfully explained the process from the beginning to the end, only omitting the part where he acquired the bell artifact.

Six days had passed since he had stepped foot upon the second layer of the Solaris Keep, short enough that there should be no suspicion, yet still longer than he would have preferred.

Both cultivators returned aboveground, each of them walking out having gained something beyond their wildest expectations.

The containment ward was sealed to make sure that the Earth Qi did not leak out. Yao Shen would return, for such a high density of Earth Qi could benefit his cultivation, another unexpected gain from his actions.

Meili Zhu did politely inquire for the reason behind his absence, but she had no reason to suspect anything. His new-found interest in rune-script too would make sense after what he had planned came to fruition.

For tomorrow, sharp at noon, Yao Shen planned to hold a joint-conclave where he would reveal the the next phase of his plans.

The Mortal Capital, All Haven.