“Are you certain about this?” Yao Shen asked the Flame Patriarch, a rather perplexed expression on his face.

“Grand Patriarch Yao Shen,” Lei Weiyuan’s tone conveyed the seriousness of the matter, the tension in his voice all but palpable. “Would I be correct in assuming that you are familiar with the Sky Division’s records upon the Amadori?”

Yao Shen had studied the records decades ago, not long after he assumed the mantle of Patriarch, but his near perfect memory allowed him to recall its contents in a matter of seconds.

“Yes.”

“Is there any record of the techniques the Amadori employed to unseal the Origin Treasure? Failing that, is there even a passing description of their methods?”

Yao Shen’s eyes widened, as he once again parsed through the contents of the record in his mind. The record only contained a log of the resources the Sky Division had obtained from trading with the Amadori, but there was not even a passing mention of how they had managed to unseal the Origin Treasures in the first place. There was little else Cultivators feared more than the unknown, and there was little more they sought out than to demystify it. He could not believe that the ancestors of the Sky Division were not interested in the Amadori’s methods… then why?

Yao Shen locked eyes with Lei Weiyuan, seeking an answer. In truth, part of him wondered how he missed it, but as a newly appointed Patriarch back then, a distant, secretive faction wasn’t exactly high on his priority list.

“The Amadori Clan does not allow outsiders to pry upon their methods,” Patriarch Lei Weiyuan explained, but his answer alone was not enough to satisfy Yao Shen’s curiosity. “Strength determines many aspects of life on Ionea, Grand Patriarch Yao Shen. But from my understanding, based upon the ancestral records my family has left behind, Origin Treasures are an enigma that defy traditional norms. Though a supremely powerful cultivator could simply endure the backlash of the origin treasure and force it open, he is as likely to destroy its contents in the process. Or atleast, that is the strongest conjecture I can offer you.”

“So the reason you do not want a share of the spoils is…,” Yao Shen trailed off, his expression hardening.

“Make no mistake, Grand Patriarch Yao Shen. If you wished to eliminate me, you could do so now. If you acquire another treasure, it does not significantly affect that reality. Fueding over something I could not obtain in the first place does not serve my interests,” Patriarch Lei Weiyuan’s eyes shone with a steely glint, his implication obvious.

“The knowledge,” Yao Shen muttered aloud.

“Is far more valuable than any artifact you may find,” Lei Weiyuan completed his sentence.

“What makes you think I have the slightest chance at success?”

“Admittedly, the thought did not strike me at first. The second layer has been abandoned for decades; for only the seniormost Elders are allowed to venture this deep into the Solaris Keep and they have little interest in an unobtainable treasure.”

Patriarch Lei Weiyuan took a deep breath to calm his unsettled nerves, before continuing, “Only when I saw that you were unperturbed at the sight of an Origin Treasure, did it click in my mind. Had you been an ordinary Soul Emperor, your reaction ought to be have one of fear or caution. However, your methods are… bizarre and unpredictable and you are likely the closest the Flame Division will ever come to unlocking this mystery.”

Yao Shen processed the new information he had been given, realizing that there was still too much he didn’t know about Ionea. Even Patriarch Lei Weiyuan was far more well-informed than him, and these lapses in intelligence was a flaw Yao Shen had to correct before they proved fatal.

“Why tell me this?” Yao Shen asked, his eyes narrowing. Lei Weiyuan was no friend of Yao Shen, and if he had withheld this information and let him succeed in unsealing an Origin Treasure…. From what he now knew of the Amadori, they would come after him. For evidently, there was more to their methods than divine sense and qi control, and they would go to lengths to protect their secrets.

What lengths, was the real question.

Patriarch Lei Weiyuan shook his head. “The Amadori Clan is not limited by the Pact. Though they do not confront either Path, if slighted, I fear they would rather level the entire Flame Division rather than risk the creation of a faction that could mimic their achievements.”

“I suspect that is not all,” Yao Shen retorted calmly.

“Grand Patriarch Yao Shen, you said it yourself; The Azlak Plains have been in decline for centuries now and I find myself at the end of the road. My chances of ascending to Soul Emperor are… implausible, at best. We must adapt, and we must adapt fast if we are not to be swallowed by the inevitable change of tides. I am not as ambitious a man as you are, Grand Patriarch, but the flames of passion yet burn in my heart,” Patriarch Lei Weiyuan replied, his eyes shining with the intensity of a Flame Cultivator.

“You would risk alerting the Amadori Clan?” Yao Shen’s words were communicated via divine sense, for some things could not be said aloud.

“The creation of the Modern Sect has already offended the conservative forces among the Righteous Path, who especially despise coups. The Demonic Path will quake in fear at the idea of old Righteous Path sects setting aside their differences and banding together, and whilst the Pact will prevent the situation from devolving into an all-out war, they will find ways to retailiate. Insignificant the Azlak Plains may be, but it is the idea that cannot allow to spread. You play with fire already Yao Shen and if you fail, it is not you alone who will burn,” Patriarch Lei Weiyuan’s words echoed in Yao Shen’s mind and the gravity of his statement was such that Yao Shen did not object when he dropped the honorifics.

Confronted with the truth, Yao Shen could not deny it. Change could not exist without risk, and the risk was not something that only he bore.

“How much do the Amadori know?”

“They know that I have atleast one Origin Treasure in my possession, but that is the extent of their knowledge. In their eyes, I am probably a country bumpkin holding on to it purely for sentimental reasons and….perhaps they are not far from the truth.”

“The Elders?”

“The number of Elders that know about the origin treasures, I can count on one hand. They are old and rigid in their thinking, and provided I take certain measures, will not suspect anything.”

“I still do not think that the Amadori alone can monopolise the knowledge pertaining to Origin Treasures,” Yao Shen replied, after much thought.

“Perhaps not, but if other factions know how to do so they do not advertise it, and they likely have the strength to defend themselves against the Amadori Clan. We do not.”

“If I succeed, the contents of the Origin Treasure will be mine. In exchange, I will provide you with a comprehensive account of the unsealing process, but you will not share it without my permission. If I suspect you have, I will kill you. In return, I will inform you before I share this information with a third-party. Is that agreement acceptable to you?” Yao Shen asked Patriarch Lei Weiyuan via his divine sense.

The latter seemed completely unperturbed with the death threat, no longer concealing the excitement in his gaze. These were the only Origin Treasures that the Flame Division possessed, but how many such existed across the Azlak Plains? How many such Origin Treasures existed across the entirety of Ionea?

“I accept.”

Yao Shen did not say anything for a few seconds, knowing that he was venturing into completely unfamiliar territory. If he accepted, he would have a closer tie with Patriarch Lei Weiyuan as a result of their shared secret. It was a risk, but that knowledge would implicate Lei Weiyuan as much as it would do him, and he atleast, had the power to defend himself. And in all honesty, there had always been the possibility of a hegemonic power coming after him to extract the secrets of Human Dao— The Origin Treasure might be one possible source that could allow him to resist, to fight against forces far stronger than him.

There were only two options before him— either kill Lei Weiyuan here and now, and gamble if he could identify the Gatekeeper that possessed the ‘killswitch’ before he blew the Solaris Keep to smithereens or simply accept the proposal. The former would mean destroying the foundation for the Modern Sect, so it wasn’t much of an option at all.

Yao Shen chose to accept.

Now came the real test.