Information flowed into Yao Shen’s mind through his Divine Sense, more in the form of instinct over language.

Before him lay a solitary archway, the only opening in what seemed to be an impenetrable wall of foriegn divine sense, it’s density far surpassing his capabilities to pierce through. The archway’s diameter was identical to the circular keyhole, however it’s semi-circular structure meant that he would have to shrink his Divine Sense’s thickness by almost half.

Sweat trickled down his forehead as he slowly siphoned off excess Divine Sense, his attention devoted to thinning down the thread of Divine Sense he had slipped inside the Origin Treasure.

A minute passed before he believed himself to be ready. Yao Shen’s eyes flashed with determination as he willed the thread forward, his curiosity demanding he know what lay ahead.

The moment his Divine Sense passed through the first archway, he felt a presence weigh down on the thread. It did not hinder it’s movements, the intention more to inform Yao Shen that he had crossed the point of no return. He could no longer siphon off Divine Sense without the archway closing down upon the thread, eliciting a grimace out of him.

He now understood what attribute the Origin Treasure wished to test, namely, Divine Sense Control. For before him, there were now two archways in place of one, albeit having halved in diameter.

He couldn't siphon off any more Divine Sense and there was no room to wriggle another thread through the first archway, leaving behind only one possible solution.

He had to split the thread of Divine Sense into two smaller strands and pass through the two archways simultaneously.

Yao Shen held his right arm forward to help him visualise the process, but if one were watching closely they would realize that his hand was trembling from the strain. After his ascension to Soul Emperor, the strength of Yao Shen’s soul had ballooned rapidly whilst he lacked the proper technique and method to harness or even control its potency.

The fact that his soul far exceeded the realm of an Early-Stage Soul Emperor did not help his cause.

Thus, it would be no exaggeration to say that Divine Sense Control was amongst his greatest weaknesses, even though Yao Shen did not yet fully understand its significance.

His head throbbed from the exertion, a long, trying hour passing before Yao Shen finally managed to split the thread into two perfectly circular strands. This was exactly the level of difficulty he had expected from an inheritance that had survived from the Era of Turmoil, but even Yao Shen’s face dropped when he saw what his reward for passing the second stage was.

This time, there were four archways.

Pressing himself beyond this point was futile, more likely to damage his own soul in the process.

Letting out a weary sigh, Yao Shen retracted his Divine Sense and gave the Origin Treasure a withering look. A blend of curiosity and mild frustration drove him forward, as Yao Shen decided to experiment a little.

He simply meant to force the Origin Treasure open with physical strength alone but the moment his hand landed upon the surface of the Origin Treasure, a light qi attack that Yao Shen could only describe as a ‘solar flare’ vaporized him without the slightest possibility of resistance, the heat he felt in that milisecond beyond what any Flame Cultivator he had ever met was capable of.

Lei Weiyuan patiently recorded down every word that Yao Shen uttered, occasionally interjecting to seek clarification or ask a question.

“....to conclude, rather ironically, if you were in my stead when it came to the actual ‘unlocking’ process, there would be far greater odds of success. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if you outright succeeded,” Yao Shen concluded his explanation with a rather wistful sigh. To be so close and yet so far away, the Heavenly Dao was truly a fickle mistress.

“But I would have died a hundred deaths before reaching that point,” Lei Weiyuan remarked with some humor in his voice, shaking his head. “At the very least, we have established the basic process of unlocking an Origin Treasure. This knowledge alone is easily worth a Pseudo Soul Emperor artifact. It also….,” Lei Weiyuan paused, locking eyes with Yao Shen before he concluded the sentence, “...tells us that the Amadori Clan is far more powerful than our estimations.”

Yao Shen grimly nodded at that assessment.

“How much longer can we stay down here without drawing suspicion?” Yao Shen asked, unperturbed by the findings. The die had already been cast the moment the two Patriarchs delved into the secrets of Origin Treasures. Now, there was nothing else to be done but moving forward.

“I would not risk spending more than a week down here,” he replied, after giving it serious thought. To mortals that might seem like a long time to seclude oneself in study, but for cultivators who could spend years, or even decades in seclusion, it was far too brief a time for Yao Shen to derive anything of value from the ‘rune-script’, which was his cover story.

“A week? That will have to be enough.”

The second Origin Treasure was easier to deal with, atleast in the initial phase. Whilst ‘Light’ was not an Esoteric Dao, very few cultivators were able to cultivate it to the Major Dao stage. The reason was its volatility; the element equally likely to liquefy one’s own internal organs as it was the enemy’s. Only those with a natural-born affinity for the element could cultivate it to higher stages without prohibitive risk and Light Cultivators were known to guard the purity of their bloodline quite vehemently, making the likelihood drop even further.

Thus, Yao Shen was rather relieved when the Origin Treasure utilized Shadow Qi, a known quantity, to assail him.

The concept behind the attack was similar to Lei Weiyuan’s Domain, as shadow blades, spears and arrows honed in on Yao Shen from multiple directions, able to reorient themselves and sweep in for a subsequent attack upon missing their target. Thankfully, the individual attacks were far slower than beams of Light Qi and Yao Shen was able to retaliate, even shatter a few shadow spears that came too close for comfort. Coupled with the new movement technique he had created for evasion in cramped quarters, Yao Shen managed to close in on the Origin Treasure.

It had only taken one ‘death’ and besides a long gash running across his back, a surface level wound, Yao Shen was more or less in one piece.

Part of him was relieved that the mechanism for clearing the first phase hadn’t changed, meaning that the information he had recorded earlier held real value but at the same time Yao Shen was desperately hoping that it had a different trial for him.

Trepidation filled his heart as he threaded his divine sense forward. An inky black strongbox rested upon an identical stone dais that was seemingly absorbing all light in a one-meter radius, shrouding itself in a cloak of shadows. It was only Yao Shen’s Divine Sense that allowed him to make out its features in the darkness, for the strongbox was just a splotch of pure darkness in an already dimly lit room otherwise.

His Divine Sense snaked forward, hoping against hope that he would be able to unlock the mechanism this time.

Once again, information flowed through Yao Shen’s mind. His confidence rose, but he did not allow himself to slip into conceit.

Even if the Origin Treasure hadn’t hinted at the solution, it wasn’t a particularly challenging one to reach. He had felt this sensation before, when he had shattered the Divine Sense Brand on Elder Yongliang’s spear and replaced it with his own, a battle dictated by one’s soul strength, visualization technique and willpower.

An artifact, at its core, was designed to be bound to a cultivator. However there was a limit to the amount of Divine Sense an artifact could hold, a physical law beyond which there was simply no room left for further encroachment. The same way if an empty bucket were to be filled to the brim with water, the water in itself would not harm the structural integrity of the bucket, divine sense in and of itself could not damage an artifact.

However, the water in the bucket could be evaporated, and then replaced. The same way. If one coveted ownership over another cultivator’s artifact, they had to destroy their divine sense brand and replace it with their own.

The strength of one’s soul did give a cultivator an indelible advantage, however, visualization techniques, which were essentially the crystallization of one’s willpower were what dictated victory or defeat when confronted with a foe that possessed similar soul strength.

Elder Yongliang’s divine sense brand was visualized in the form of a phalanx of spears that clashed against a solitary, radiant sword, which was Yao Shen’s visualization technique. It also reflected the difference in their ideologies, for whilst Elder Yongliang was a ‘product’ of his legacy family, his tutelage and his own determination, he had seen himself as a lonesome cultivator whose merit and self-worth were determined by the strength of his blade for far too long.

Yao Shen took a moment to compose himself, before willing his divine sense forth in the shape of a radiant sword that would slay all those that dare stand in his path. It was a domineering visualization technique that hurtled forth without hesitation, ready to confront the unknown.

The retaliation was almost instant.

Yao Shen gasped in surprise.

The soul strength was identical to his own, undoubtedly a machination of the Heavenly Dao. That however, was not the surprising part.

Were it any other cultivator, he would describe the scene as if… the stars in the sky were hurtling down towards Ionea. Yao Shen however, knew that the phenomenon had a term— a meteor shower.

His sword hurriedly attempted to evade, destroying a few meteors in the process. His radiant sword dwarfed any individual meteor in size, but that wasn’t much of an advantage when thousands of meteor’s were raining down towards it, the scene as captivating as it was shocking.

Yao Shen dodged, swerved and retaliated as much as he could but… soon, the scratches in his sword turned into cracks and chips, before the sword cracked altogether.

Blood dribbled down Yao Shen’s chin as he stood in awe of the most powerful visualization technique he had ever witnessed, questions running through his mind.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye and during that time Yao Shen challenged the Origin Treasure three more times. Victory at this point was an impossibility, for he had been mistaken— it was not his ability to shatter Divine Sense Brands that was in question, but his visualizaation technique.

He hoped to derived some insight from the Origin Treasure, to meditate upon it and steal its secrets. However, despite his efforts all he could manage was a shoddy imitation… he knew he lacked something crucial, but he couldn’t put his finger on what.

Finally, Yao Shen gave up, knowing that he wouldn’t derive anything from the Origin Treasure in the short term.

His luck further took a downturn when Yao Shen attempted to unlock the third and fourth Origin Treasures. Though perhaps ‘attempted’ was too strong a word.

Yao Shen’s Human Dao Domain essentially made his physical body invulnerable as long as he kept his domain active, but the same protection did not extend to his soul. He did not truly die and ressurect himself, his methods were nowhere near that profound.

The Soul, his Soul, possessed its own defense mechanism. Just like a spiritual beast could instinctively sense danger, when Yao Shen entered the containment ward his Soul started to send warning signals, which such intensity that he immediately retreated, without even attempting to unlock the Origin Treasures.

His face had been pale as a ghost, for Yao Shen knew what the warning meant.

Certain, no, instant death.

Of course, he chose to withheld that bit of information from Lei Weiyuan, instead claiming that the two treasures were at the Soul Paragon level.

That left one last, final treasure, that would decide if the risk of offending the Amadori had been worth it.

He stepped inside.

The final encounter went differently than Yao Shen expected.

The Origin Treasure was the least remarkable of the four he had laid his eyes on, though two of them had been mere glimpses. A mottled, unassuming grey metal strongbox lay upon a stone dais, much like the other five.

When Yao Shen approached it, thankfully, there was no flurry of attacks this time. He noticed a fluctuation of Earth Qi and in the next few seconds an Earthen Rock Golem was shaped from the dirt, stone and sediment that laid beneath them.

Surprisingly, the fight in itself wasn’t a particularly challenging one. Yao Shen had feared a cave-in when the Rock Golem’s mighty fist struck the obsidian wall, but thankfully the runes flared to life and prevented such an outcome. The strength contained behind those fists was easily enough to kill Yao Shen in one shot, but with new movement technique, which he had begun to call ‘Earthen Weave’, he danced around the Golem, leaving long gashes across its body with his sword.

Normally, he wouldn’t be able to damage such a construct easily, for it was clearly at the Soul Emperor level. However, Yao Shen had reached the Major Dao stage in Earth Cultivation, allowing him to disrupt the Golem’s natural regeneration and amplify the effects of his attacks.

A mindless puppet ultimately could not contend with the cunning of a cultivator, as Yao Shen drove his sword through the Golem’s rock eyes, causing it to crumple onto the ground with a final whimper. His own Earth Qi prevented it from piecing itself back together, and he calmly walked past it.

The fight could have been much simpler if Yao Shen used his offensive domains, but he did not dare drop the protection of his Human Dao Domain.

For if he had learned anything, it was to never, under any circumstance, underestimate what an Origin Treasure was capable of.

The moment of truth drew nearer as Yao Shen willed his Divine Sense forward, for the last time.

A loud click rang out in the concealment ward, and he immediately pedalled backwards suspecting a trap.

He detected a massive fluctuation in Earth Qi the next second, but no attack followed.

Yao Shen’s facial expression changed, from caution to absolute joy as he realized that the Origin Treasure, rather, the strongbox that contained it had swung open, releasing all the residual qi it had amassed over the centuries.

Within seconds, the Earth Qi in the room had reached saturation, and the spot had become a haven for Earth Cultivators.

Yao Shen had done it.

He had unlocked his first origin treasure.

Within the Origin Treasure lay an ancient, mottled grey bell that was roughly the size of his palm and three withered scrolls that had degraded beyond recognition.

Though Yao Shen suspected that the treasure was of much inferior quality to the other four Origin Treasures, in that moment it didn’t matter.

For he knew, from the moment he laid eyes on it—-

It was a Soul Emperor Level Artifact.