Some thought of the Heavenly Dao, the mighty heavens, as an existence akin to a deity. Others respected the heavens, for it was heaven’s tribulation that judged if a cultivator was worthy of ascension or not. That respect may have been born out of fear, for most would find it prudent not to slight a being that had the ability to decide their fate. A few, like Yao Shen, refused to bow under Heaven’s mandate.

But if there was one matter upon which all three groups would find themselves reaching an agreement upon, it was the Heavenly Dao’s inclination to present the denizens of Eliria with trials and tribulations.

A cultivator’s inheritance, in elementary terms, was a communion between the past and the present, a method for a dying cultivator to pass on the culmination of a lifetime’s study, be that in the form of a martial technique, a forging method, an alchemical pill or even an ancestral weapon. Of course, these were only one type of inheritances, albeit the most valuable type as well. There were other inheritances that had little to do with one’s own understanding of the Dao, simply resources or knowledge that a cultivators wished to pass on to his descendants.

Some inheritances required the inheritor to possess the ancestor’s bloodline, but Ionea’s past was a rather perilous one. One would wonder why beings that tended to be as self-absorbed as Cultivators would leave behind inheritances at all, but the reason behind it was rather banal— A powerful cultivator may have the ability to cheat time, but they were not timeless existences.

Thus, in a compromise between their pride and a desire to live on, if only in the form of their created techniques, they would leave behind inheritances that one could access only after a series of trials that measured the quality the deceased ancestor valued the most. Flame cultivators tended to value strength above all, thus Yao Shen would not be particularly surprised if he encountered a vicious beast in the inheritance trial of a Flame Cultivator.

However, this lead to an interesting conundrum. What happened if an inheritance trial lay unclaimed for decades, if not centuries? What happened if an inheritance trial lay dormant from the Era of Turmoil? Only the inheritance trial of a remarkably powerful cultivator could stay intact for thousands of years, leaving the rest unguarded.

Normally, the answer would be simple— the lucky cultivator who stumbled upon the unguarded inheritance would claim it.

However, the Heavenly Dao could not allow a qi-refinement cultivator to easily obtain a supreme treasure. Or atleast, that was the leading hypothesis. If one wished to claim the knowledge of the ancients, they had to prove themselves worthy of it,

Thus, the Heavenly Dao would allow the artifact spirit or divine sense embedded within the artifact to absorb a sliver of Heavenly Qi, reinforcing its defenses to a frightening degree and preserving the inheritance within, even enhancing it in some rare cases.

This lead to the creation of Origin treasures, one of which Yao Shen presently stood before.

“These are what remains of the inheritances the Sacred Fla-....,” Patriarch Lei Weiyuan lightly coughed, taking a breather to correct himself, before continuing, “... inheritances the Flame Division had acquired in the aftermath of the Era of Turmoil. The records indicate that originally there were dozens, if not more, of such inheritances, but either they were successfully unsealed or the contents of the inheritance were lost in the process.”

“Why do only these remain?”

“I suspect it to be a combination of a bloodline lock and a tricky self destruct mechanism, though they transformed into Origin Treasures far before my time.”

“So you are speculating?”

“Yes,” Patriarch Lei Weiyuan replied, quite truthfully. “Though the contents of the inheritances ought to be quite valuable, considering that my ancestors were not willing to part with it.”

“What about the Amadori? Did you reach out to them?”

Patriarch Lei Weiyuan let out a wry chuckle at that. The Amadori Clan belonged to neither the Righteous nor the Demonic Path. There were a few factions on Ionea that could truly claim to be free of influence from either side, and each of those had proved their might beyond reproach. Though, perhaps, “Clan” was a misnomer—- anyone who met the Amadori Clan’s strict criteria and passed their trial could take up the surname “Amadori”, but in doing so they would renounce any previous ties they held with the two Paths.

The reason why they were so feared was because they specialized in unsealing Origin Treasures, implying that each member of the clan possessed frightening control over their Qi and Divine Sense, but that was not all. Who knew what manner of potent artifacts, forgotten techniques and Domain Concepts had they amassed across the centuries?

Their true strength was unknown to the Azlak Plains, but what they knew was already enough to know that the Amadori were not a foe they could make.

“I did,” Lei Weiyuan bitterly replied. “They wanted everything found within the Origin Treasures, and offered to compensate us with Natural Treasures and if the find was valuable enough, even Pseudo Soul Emperor treasures.”

Thankfully, the Amadori did not take refusal as an offense. They simply did not need to. Origin Treasures were incredibly potent, naturally meaning that the risk involved in unlocking them was incredibly high. Trading an Elder’s life for an unknown reward was not a worthwhile gamble.

In Earth’s terminology, the Amadori ran what was essentially a Monopoly.

“Why didn’t you accept?” Yao Shen asked. The Heavenly Sky Sect possessed its own Origin Treasures, but Yao Shen’s predecessors had traded them to the Amadori, and were generously compensated for the same. Back then they hadn’t been of particular interest to him, and Yao Shen would likely have done the same— it was trading dead weight for a far more tangible benefit.

“Perhaps, it is because I am a Flame Cultivator, but as you are well aware my kind can be… stubborn. A trade where the opposing party is willing to easily offer such lucrative resources is no trade at all, it is a robbery. My ancestors preserved these Origin Treasures for a reason, and I will not be the one to trade them away.”

“A bold decision. Shall we see if it paid off?” Yao Shen asked, his tone carrying an almost unfamiliar emotion, one that he hadn’t felt in a long time.

Excitement.