Chapter 50.
The trip to the Hailstorm Temple took barely two days on their new flying ship.
“Good to see you again, Master Fox.” The Elder Jussa Joen smiled as he waited for them at their sect’s dockyards. “You brought a much larger group, this time around, and quite an impressive new ship.”
Tundra clasped his hand respectfully. “Ah, it is just a small boat, don’t think too much of it. We truly thank the Elder and the Hailstorm Temple for accommodating our request.”
“Small matter, small matter. It’s a trade, after all.” Jussa Joen nodded, as a group of Hailstorm’s disciples were waiting for them. The rest of his group followed suit. His three children, his core disciples, and the three new elders were all present.
Tundra nodded. He agreed to help the Hailstorm Temple produce a set of seventh-realm pills with some of the unique materials within the Hailstorm Temple’s treasury, and in exchange, the Sect Master Saljuk agreed to give his briefing and knowledge of the royal treasure realms.
***
“It’s a pleasure to see you again, Lord Saljuk. I hope we didn’t trouble you too much.” The two old men gave each other a respectful hug, much to the amusement of his family and disciples.
“It’s nothing.” Lord Saljuk answered in the same receiving room. “So, these are the poor souls selected for the royal opportunity?”
Tundra chuckled. “It’s an opportunity, is it not?”
“Hah. If you think I intend to scare you, then you are all wrong.” Lord Saljuk laughed. “Think about it, what is a treasure realm? A treasure realm is usually the final or close to final works of a cultivator approaching it’s dying days. You may not know this, but for our 9th and 10th realm royal families, their lifespans are significantly shorter than other cultivators. Do you know why?”
Yavin answered confidently. “Because the gift of the Golden Dragon consumes a portion of their lifespan.”
“Yes! The royal family’s incredible power comes at the price of their lifespan. Unlike the rest of us who enjoy much longer lives, the royal family’s lifespan feeds the Golden Dragon, and in return, each and every royal family is able to challenge those two full realms above them and win. It is why a Prince in the 8th realm dares to order 10th realms around, because the Golden Dragon is truly a monster of an existence. Many Great Sects have searched the world for inheritances and artifacts that could do the same thing, but it is few and far between. Those that could were not the types of power that could be inherited and spread among so many members.”
Those present gulped.
“But they die. The Royal Family, no matter how powerful, all know that their lives are shorter than the rest. That is why they act with an urgency the rest of us lack, and the Royal Family’s members have a tradition to leave behind the treasures collected throughout their lives in special Treasure Realms, crafted by the special spatial powers of the Golden Dragon.”
The Sect Master of the Hailstorm Temple paced the room.
“Each treasure realm created by, and thus, locked by the Power of the Golden Dragon, and can only be unlocked by those wielding the assigned key of the Golden Dragon. The strength of their creator often defines what sort of treasures, opportunities and resources are held in them. Princess Luharl likely has access to the treasure realms, granted to her by the Emperor, with treasures up to the 8th realm.”
Tundra was never close to the royal family, so much of this information was something he knew in limited detail, and he wasn’t sure enough to rely on his own knowledge.
“There are common features of the Royal family’s treasure realms, all because they are made with the power of the Golden Dragon. One, they are usually special areas that only those with the Dragon’s blood can enter, so that’s not relevant to all of you. Two, for the rest, it’s usually a mix of cultivation puzzles and challenges, with some occasional battles with spirit beasts generated from the stored power of the spatial realms. From what I know, the Golden Dragon is particularly fond of individual trials, and thus, even though a hundred people enter the Treasure Realm, for the trials, you will all be alone.”
At that very moment, Tundra saw his children turn pale. So, he asked the question in their minds. “Can you die in treasure realms?”
“Yes. Those entering the trials should listen to the Golden Dragon at the very start of the Trial itself. It will usually mention when failure could result in death. As far as I know, failure in some stages of the trial will eject you out of the Treasure Realm, but not all stages are like that.”
Larian raised his hand, as if trying to ask a question. The Hailstorm’s Temple Sect Master nodded, and so he asked. “Could we just eject ourselves in the first stage?”
“Usually no. As far as I know, for lower tier treasure realms, the first few stages are usually not lethal, so you are free to try it, and if you fail, then you will be ejected. That’s not true for the stronger treasure realms.”
The color on his children’s faces returned, all of them were relieved. In some way, Tundra was relieved too.
“Will we know how everyone performs?” The regressor decided to ask.
“The one who holds the key will know the performance of those who entered the realm, it is whether the Princess or her representative wants to share.”
“Ah.” Tundra nodded.
“Now, do you want to know what are the common challenges? There are a few types, such as the puzzle challenges where one’s comprehension of the soul. There are the spirit beast challenges and cultivation puppet battles, from what we know, the puzzles and challenges often match the challenger’s realm, so that each battle takes a little bit more out of the cultivator.”
Tundra rubbed his chin, a little impressed that the royal family’s treasure realm were designed to hone their capabilities, rather than allow for a simple overpowering of the challenges by being of a higher realm.
The Hailstorm Master then went at length to narrate the types of challenges, and gave a few examples. Everyone listened, and visiting Sect Master found it amusing that his three children were thoroughly focused, though he noticed all three of them were still nervous as hell.
This went on for about tree hours, and then Lord Saljuk finished his explanation.
Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
“Well, amusingly enough, a few former Sect Masters before me were invited to treasure realms, and we’ve made our own little copies. Unfortunately, Sect Master Fox, there will be a price to pay-”
“Eh. We agreed-” Tundra interjected.
“We agreed to share information, Master Fox. Now, to use our own private treasure realm replicas, that is a different set of services.”
Tundra grinned, a little amused that he fell for the typical marketing tactic. “Well, well, I suppose you put me in a difficult position. What do you want for it?”
“Now, I need a favor of some kind, let’s talk about it in private.” Lord Saljuk grinned, and escorted Lord Fox once more up to the quiet gazebo up in the ice cold mountains.
Lord Fox looked back at his party. “Get some rest, or if you feel like it, be friendly and mingle with our gracious hosts. Exchange pointers, if you must.”
***
It was strange to visit the same place again so soon, it was a sensation between familiarity and foreignness that came from going somewhere new so often. Once more, rice wines and yellow wines were spread on the stone table, and weirdly enough, there was a handsome young man waiting for them.
“You’ve waited long, Azin.” Lord Saljuk smiled. “Lord Fox, my favor from you is very much related to this young child. Azin’s heritage is fairly sensitive- are you aware of the bloodline of the Heavenly White Ice Serpent?”
Tundra paused and his eyes inspected the boy. There was nothing about him that revealed anything about the bloodline of one of the ten great progenitor beasts.
The Ten Great Progenitor Beasts were an ancient legend of the world, almost all of them are extinct. Only two, the Golden Dragon, which survives as the royal family today and the Eternal Phoenix, that still exists in a withered form and is a small, protected family within the Flaming Phoenix Sect.
The other eight were extinct. One of those was the Heavenly White Ice Serpent.
“Now, I have not been able to reawaken the bloodline, but from what I can tell, I am fairly certain Azin’s blood contained fragments of the Heavenly White Ice Serpent’s essence. If you can figure out a way to awaken his power, he will be a true monster in the cultivation world.”
“I’ve heard tales like this a thousand times.” Tundra said. It was a common scam within the cultivation world that often talked about some long forgotten bloodline or treasure. If it was true, well.
“Maybe, but I think I’m right, and I want you to reawaken it.”
“That’s a big resource commitment. I say it’s worth way more than the simulated treasure realms.” Tundra said.
“Now, what if I have access to a real, but long forgotten royal treasure realm? An ancient power my old predecessor received from a Prince thousands of years ago.” Lord Saljuk countered. “One where the treasures are intact, because the treasure realm regenerates from the latent energies of the world. And I can ensure your children and disciples will be safe, since, I can pull them out before I do.”
Tundra smirked, a little amused at how well the man played him. “So I must reawaken his bloodline? Surely there are other masters you can find-”
“If you can, yes.” Lord Saljuk said. “The only other master alchemist I know isn’t in the best state, and the greater sects- well, let’s just say I am not friendly enough with them to trust them with such a task.”
“Interesting.” Tundra approached Azin. “Young man, give me your hand.”
Azin bowed, and put both his hands and palms for inspection. Tundra took out a small silver cauldron, then he grabbed the boy’s hand, and with a small knife, pricked his finger. A drop of his blood entered the bowl.
It swirled, and Tundra frowned. His own energies entered the cauldron, as the blood itself separated in the cauldron, pulled apart by Tundra’s forces. At first, he didn’t see or detect anything.
But Tundra’s eyes widened. It may have been absolutely miniscule, but once he focused deep enough, he found a really tiny, tiny fragment of some kind of ancient spirit beast. Such a tiny bit of an ancient beast could’ve passed through the generations without even showing any signs.
But there are millions, billions of mortals in the world, and the likelihood of spotting who held a hidden, unawakened bloodline was akin to finding a needle in an entire world’s worth of hay.
“You found it.” Lord Saljuk grinned. “Now, do you think you can awaken it?”
“Young man, how much blood are you prepared to bleed?” Tundra said. That made Azin’s face pale.
“Also, would you like to arrange for some kind of- arranged marriage? Unfortunately, this young man, despite his good looks, is just a regular mortal and so far has not yet married anyone or sired any children of his own. I’ve looked at my own disciples, and I’m afraid none of them would want to have children with this man if he’s just a mere mortal.”
“Did you not try to teach him cultivation?”
“I did, of course. But progress is slow, and I am not the best teacher.” Lord Saljuk said. “My elders don’t have the patience, and some of them didn’t believe his hidden bloodline.”
“I see.” Tundra frowned. He didn’t think he was that much better, but his hidden bloodline. “How many blood-restoration pills do you have?” He would have to draw out a lot of the man’s blood, and find ways to concentrate the hidden bloodline to the point where it could show some effects. But even that would only be a partial reawakening. A true bloodline reawakening often required finding strange, unusual potions and cultivation methods to experiment with.
“A lot.” Lord Saljuk smiled.
***
While their father discussed the details with the Sect Master, the rest of them were brought to meet the Hailstorm Temple’s disciples, and as with almost all Sect Visits, it started with an exchange of pointers.
“Thank you for your time, Lady Anna Fox.” The disciple was polite, even though she just beat her up. Well, it was a fairly quick battle with the Hailstorm Temple’s inner disciple, and Anna thought her opponent, also a lady, gave her a lot of chances.
“Likewise. It is enlightening.” Anna answered. She saw some of the flaws almost immediately from that exchange. Still, her own inexperience was so apparent that it didn’t take long for her to lose. She may have the cultivation. She may understand the techniques, and understand the theoretical aspects of applying them.
But her real life application of them was lacking.
Her spars were also usually with just her own family members, and occasionally members of the Verdant Snow Sect who clearly gave her a lot of face. Often, spars with the lower ranked disciples were just plays where they pretended to lose.
But it was not all bad. Now, she saw a glimmer of where she should go.
Edison lost his battle too, and when the Hailstorm’s elder declared his loss, he stomped his feet in frustration. Frustrated, he walked over to Anna.
“Hmph.”
“I lost too.” Anna said with a sigh. It was not a good sign for their preparations, but mainly, the sigh was to comfort her fellow half-brother that he was not the only one who lost. Even the core disciples were evenly matched with their opponents.
Elder Jashen came over and tapped the two on the shoulders. “You two did your best. You’ll get better when you face enough disciples. Our experiences are built upon a mountain of pointers before us.” Elder Severian had other diplomatic affairs to attend to, and so it fell on Jashen to guide the three new elders in their affairs.
“I had not realized the gap in our strength was so vast.” Anna said. Edison seemed reluctant to admit it, but somehow, he looked back at the sparring area. He ate a healing pill, and walked back to the sparring square for another round. Anna could vaguely hear him say ‘again’ from where she stood.
“It’s a good thing that young master Edison is seeing the error in his ways.”
“I’m not sure if he’s seeing what he’s supposed to see, or he’s just frustrated.” Anna said. Edison didn’t look like he learned anything, instead, he was just taking out his anger by fighting more.
“Well, a good beatdown is a lesson of it’s own.” Jashen smiled. “Now, Anna, you too, should go again. I believe whatever the master is up to, it might take a few days.”
That evening, many battles and spars later, the Sect Master of the Hailstorm Temple returned.
“Sect Master Fox is assisting with a special alchemical process, so in the meantime, let me fulfill my end of the bargain. Come with me, disciples of the Verdant Snow. I have a Treasure Realm to show you.”
***