Inside the bottle was a true mountain soul! A soul was a miraculous aspect of existence, often containing memories, emotions, and instincts of an individual, but mostly this related to living and breathing individuals. A mountain, sword, and other objects can develop a soul, but it wasn't truly a 'soul' but moreso a spirit like Pinaka.
It wasn't artificial, however. These spirits could only be born naturally by chance and oftentimes they could even cultivate and grow as independent individuals. Unfortunately, the chances of that being possible was abysmal.
This true mountain soul wasn't conscious, but it was a spirit of a literal mountain. Yan Zaizen recalled the laws of this location and couldn't help but grow excited.
A mountain spirit could be used as material to produce an absolutely heaven-toppling treasure or as a source of comprehension into the heavenly law of mountain. The Xiao's City Lord in Xiantu Realm had refined an actual mountain as his treasure, attempting to tap into a trace of potential of that mountain.
However, that spirit was artificial using the Spirit Form Path as its foundation and not born from the heavens.
As for the pill in the second bottle, Yan Zaizen briefly glanced at it but swiftly ignored it. A mountain soul, an authentic one, was as rare as a phoenix feather! The greed in his heart was rather strong, but he didn't immediately reach out to grab the soul.
The fluctuations on this mountain soul was odd yet mighty. The two bottles weren't simple either. After experiencing his earlier minor setback, his heart grew cautious towards the unknown.
Witnessing the flash of greed in Yan Zaizen's eyes, the three women had their own individual thoughts and emotional upheavals, but as he didn't reach for it, their emotions became even more turbulent. They each had their own reasons, but they only remained quiet.
For quite sometime, the four simply stood there in silence. Yan Zaizen's eyes bore a hole into the two items, Eshe remained with a calm expression and sweet smile, Iceborn and her fiery companion grew anxious.
This lasted for quite some time before Iceborn spoke, her delicately soft lips and pleasant voice drew everyone's attention, "Daoist Ascension, these two inheritance treasures weren't the only treasures we obtained. There was another, however…" Her eyes displayed a faint trace of reluctance and her expression left him feeling pity for the beauty. If anyone saw her expression, they would think Yan Zaizen was viciously eyeing her maiden's chastity.
When Eshe witnessed her actions, she grew inwardly nervous, but her eyes flashed mysteriously.
Yan Zaizen felt like he was playing a game of 'catch the cues' and it felt nauseating. He wasn't sure of what to do at this moment. His instincts told him that danger and fortune of immensity was nearby and these three women would lead him to it.
No, to be accurate, one of them will. The other two was danger of the highest. Yan Zaizen couldn't deduce which, but this feeling caused him to urge his mental prowess to its fullest.
"Another item?" He calmly inquired, his gaze moving away from Eshe and on Iceborn, a hint of lust, interest, and desire within.
"Mhm. May I move to show you?" Iceborn cautiously asked.
Yan Zaizen didn't respond verbally but with his actions. The chains that restrained her movements were loosened. It was like her shackles had been unlocked and her body experienced a long-awaited freedom. However, she could feel a spatial force lingering invisibly around, warning her.
With a soft sigh, Iceborn touched her forehead. A soft light flickered within and a hexagon emblem appeared. The hexagon object was flat and had six clearly divided portions. Two of these six portions were brightly lit in a red and green glow.
The hexagon emblem seemed mundane at first glance, but Yan Zaizen felt an odd sensation from it. There was no aura emitting from the glows. This was what caused the oddity in his mind. In all things, of all things, there existed an inherent aura. Regardless of what it was or who it was, they all had an aura. However, the emblem's materials nor the light that was lit had an aura.
This was where sensation stemmed from.
Yan Zaizen used his spatial force to wrap around the hexagonal object, but his eyes widened soon after. "Does this thing even exist?" He couldn't help but think as his spatial force exuded no force on the object as if it didn't exist. If it wasn't for his control over the surrounding space, he would've thought this entire event was an illusion.
Iceborn warily smiled. "Daoist Ascension, this object has fused with my existence and thus it is only a projection of my mind. It does not exist in this realm outside of visual representation, that is my limit." Explaining this to Yan Zaizen, she couldn't help but feel a little bitter, but also more secure.
She continued, "This item contains two parts of a full legacy. I obtained one of the parts here and the other elsewhere. If I can obtain all six parts, it will become a key to open a domain. Unfortunately…" Iceborn turned to Eshe, her eyes flickering with murderous intentions.
Yan Zaizen pondered on her words and the implications. He wasn't unfamiliar with inheritance keys. Lang Xue, Tao's wife, had used one to access an inheritance trove when they had first met in the Deluge Realm. At that time, her mission was to travel across a vast distance to obtain the inheritance, but there was also a trial within before she could obtain it.
When experts leave their inheritance, they typically don't leave it for strong cultivators, but weaker ones with sufficient lifeforce and potential to pass along their legacy. He wasn't shocked that two-floor experts had access to an inheritance key. But he was curious about what it held.
Eshe suddenly spoke, "Daoist Ascension, I also have a piece of the hexagon. Please allow me to show you." After saying that, she waited patiently but her eyes were quite decisive.
Iceborn kept her eyes honed on Eshe, her gaze effusing killing intent, but she didn't interrupt. Yan Zaizen loosened Eshe's restraints with a thought, quite intrigued by Eshe's words. In truth, he had some idea of that after realizing this place held an inheritance key piece.
How else was Eshe and Iceborn capable of arriving at the same location at the same time? It was because they were after the same thing from the start. As the respective leaders of their groups, they recruited helpers to help them obtain this piece, likely promising them a reward if obtained or they may have been unaware.
Eshe touched her forehead in the same manner and an emblem similar to Iceborn's appeared, but three portions were filled with a purple, blue, and yellow. When Yan Zaizen saw this emblem, his eyes brightened with an intense light. This light contained deep excitement.
They already had five portions of the hexagonal key, no wonder they wanted to kill each other. Chuckling softly, Yan Zaizen waved his hand and withdrew his arts. He wasn't entirely sure if killing them would drop the emblem, but it wasn't likely. Perhaps Iceborn or Eshe knew the method to snatch the other, but neither would or should give it up.
If they did, wouldn't Yan Zaizen just kill them all and take it all for himself? In reality, he would. If he could safely soul search them, he would also take this route as it was undeniably easier.
Unfortunately, he also knew that these types of inheritance trials had cultivation base limitations to participate and obtain. If his natural cultivation base was higher than a two-floor, he felt that a trap within this mountain likely would've happened. This could also stop powerful cultivators from taking advantage of weaker ones.
After all, Eshe and Iceborn likely recruited top-tier experts to help their pursuit and the trove drew them without fail, yet they only recruited two-floor experts and not three-floor experts. This was very telling. Bronzelion and the two black knights could reach near-fifth-floor prowess and a formation capable of bewildering even Yan Zaizen was set near instantly.
All these members were experts, even the one who set up trap on a corpse and the individual who set a trap on his own corpse. It's possible they all were elites of their cultivation level, specializing in grand areas and had deep influence in the Dusk Zone.
"What do you suggest we do now?" Yan Zaizen smilingly asked.
With the binding removed, Iceborn immediately responded, "If you allow me to kill her, I can obtain the portions and, together, we can find the sixth portion."
Hearing this, Eshe was calm. "I can offer the same deal, Daoist Ascension. I would even be willing to allow you to obtain ninety percent of the contents." Her words caused Iceborn to tremble slightly, but she didn't send a counter offer. Firstly, she knew that Yan Zaizen was used as bait and knew it.
She did the same with the same unfortunate chap from earlier, so she didn't believe Yan Zaizen would believe her. Not to mention, Eshe must know this too. If a situation like that did occur, Iceborn was willing to send them both to their deaths, revealing the method to obtain the emblems and portions.
The fiery-redhead was silent throughout. She was just an expert invited by Iceborn, her life and death was inconsequential in this matter, so she hoped to avoid Yan Zaizen's intent. After all, she had never offended him once. He even killed the other group, likely because they used him as bait, so she decidedly remained absolutely silent. She even wished she were a ghost so her presence would be lesser.
"Hm." Pondering, Yan Zaizen considered the situation. He shook his head in refusal, once more tracing Eshe's body discreetly enough to be somewhat hidden, but keen eyes could see. "That simply won't do. First, we'll find the sixth portion and then...we'll decide on the situation then. Agreed?"
In truth, his words and suggestion was very fragile. It didn't solve the situation and the question of if the sixth portion needed some special requirement or one of their deaths was still unanswered. However, the two didn't argue as expected or scheme with their actions or expressions but decisively nodded in agreement after a bit of thinking.
Outwardly, he revealed a proud expression, but inwardly, his heart was dropping in temperature. These two girls were profound schemers, but he would play their game...for now. The allure of a treasure trove in the Fortune Cemetery, where resources were endless and miraculous things such as Celestial Orders, second lives, and true mountain souls existed was far too tempting.
He had a deadline and a goal. He needed to rapidly increase his cultivation base, and what better way than this?
"Where is it?"