2 Checking the Treasure Vault

<<<Fire Lotus City, Shin Akagawa>>>

"Yoru send a message to all patriarchs telling them the details of the deal I made with Ye Mo, Daisuke please fill a report on all information we got from his standing on Glory City to any other information he may have revealed indirectly. Taishiro, go open the treasure vault, I will be there shortly."

Quickly giving them orders he saw them nod their head once before going to complete the task that was assigned to them and with that finally done he only had to brace himself on the answers the other patriarchs would give toward his decision after all he didn't even consult them before going forward with this plan.

'At least Yoru and Taishiro agreed with me… So that only leaves Katashi, Eiko and Ryunosuke. Out of the Three Ryunosuke is still comatose while Eiko is most probably still tending to him so I won't hear their answer anytime soon.'

The one Shin was most worried about was the Beast Tamer Clan patriarch Katashi, while the others clan may not have much problem in moving the Beast Tamer Clan mainly dealt with Demon beasts so having them move not only would be difficult but it will be the most time consuming.

Walking in an empty corridor he didn't even flinch as he heard the sound of footsteps suddenly appearing behind him along with the sound of wings flapping at the air.

"Naoki any new on Ryunosuke?"

Naoki Getsumei, one that was called the best talent in the last five centuries, was the identity of the person behind Shin. With long black hair and golden eyes he seemed a weak young man but that couldn't be further from the truth as he reached the 3-Star of the Black Gold rank before even reaching 25, a record that even Shin father fell short of.

"He still hasn't woken up yet and while his life is safe he lost his right arm and his cultivation is rapidly dissipating as he just fell to the 2-Star of the Legend rank."

Shin furrowed his brows at that but continued to walk, 'no matter as long as he was still alive that's still good news.' Even if Ryunosuke woke up, Shin wouldn't count on him to protect the city, instead he already is preparing for the change of patriarch for the Lightning Dragon clan.

"Go tell Kuro to take control under my order and to meet me at the doors of the treasure vault as soon as he can. What about Eiko?"

Entering his father's office he quickly walked behind the desk as he pulled out a small red pendant with some inscription on it.

"Eiko is currently making some elixir to try and stop or slow down the dissipation of soul force of Ryunosuke, at the moment Keiko his daughter is taking control of the clan as they are quite short on pills after using them after the attacks."

Nodding his head he opened another drawer as he took out a similar looking pendant this time golden in color before giving it to Naoki.

"Tell her that she can take all the herbs she may need from the Akagawa gardens. Also, I want the alchemist to make Heaven Gathering Pills and Blood Recovering Pills."

"How Many?"

"As many as they can."

With that he left the room as Naoki seemingly disappeared leaving behind only the sound of feathers touching the ground. The walls were in no condition to help them and there were still some demon beast roaming the outskirt of the city so he wanted to finish all preparation to leave as soon as possible but they were all humans at the end even if most people where high ranking demon spiritualist they would still feel the fatigue so he needed as many recovery type pills as possible.

'I may have to leave a small group behind so that I can bring all White, Bronze and Silver ranks to Glory City as soon as possible.'

Finally arriving in front of the treasure vault he saw Taishiro already waiting for him.

"Young Master, may I ask something?"

Taking out the red pendant he gave it to Taishiro as he started to open the vault, unfortunately since he didn't even start cultivating soul force it was impossible for him to activate the inscription in it even if he knew exactly how to do it.

"Sure, Go ahead."

The pendant started to shine brightly as various lines appeared in front of the two slowly forming some kind of pattern.

"What will you be doing as you get to Glory City?"

'When I get there huh….' Thinking that he absentmindedly looked at the inscriptions floating in the air as he thought about it.

"Well for started we should get all type of information about the various clan in the city and the current state of the city, then we'll have to look for any way to consolidate our position in the city either by selling pills or inscriptions scroll, if necessary I plan to sell any treasure we may not need at the moment, but for that I'll have first to check what's ins..."

As the door finally opened his voice fell deaf as he saw what was inside, except for a shelf with a bunch of scrolls there wasn't even a single weapon or armor inside.

"Have we been robbed?"

As Shin turned from the almost empty vault to Taishiro he could see almost an ashamed expression on the normal expressionless face.

"As per the orders of the previous City Lord we have already taken out all treasure and given them to the high ranking demon spiritualist of the clan… Your father never liked the idea of having all these treasures here and not using them."

After hearing the explanation he calmed down as he decided to change his plan, while they already made a deal with Ye Mo to be able to sell their own Pills and Inscription it didn't mean that the people of Glory City will actually buy their products, right now they didn't know a single think about their level in alchemist or inscription so they could only hope that Fire Lotus City was actually more advanced if not they would have to find something else to use to gain a foothold in the city.

"Taishiro, what is this?"

Looking toward the end of the vault one could see a shelf with various books, each book was a special technique or cultivation technique of the clan but this wasn't what surprised Shin as he already saw some copies of these cultivations techniques in the past what caught his eyes was a small book put on a stand above all others books, it had a red cover without a title with a glance one could see that it was the most important in the vault simply with how it was kept.

"That's the Spiritual Book left behind by the founder of the city, it is said that only people who shared his bloodline would be able to read it but so far each and every family member failed to even decipher one single page…"

Opening the case that was holding the book, Taishiro didn't hesitate to give the book to Shin, who first passed his hand over the cover, feeling the hard but smooth cover seemingly made of metal but light enough to be held by even a child.

"Why were they unable to read it? Is it written in an ancient language?"

Taishiro simply shook his head as he made a gesture with his hand as if saying 'Open it and you will see'.

Opening the book Shin almost groaned out loud as he felt a sharp pain in his head then he felt his eyes being overwhelmed as he myriads of lines swimming through the pages like fish on a pond but that didn't end there as the more he looked the more those lines tried to actually come out of the book.

"It is said that if you resonate your soul realm and soul force with it those lines will reveal the inscription that was first place as the way to unseal it will naturally come to you but so far we haven't had any success in that."

Shin hummed in acknowledgement as he tried to touch one of the lines with his finger tips, only for that line to actually sting his finger drawing a drop of blood.

"!?"

Quickly lifting his finger he saw the small drop of blood being quickly surrounded by those lines as they formed something akin to a small inscription pattern but just as Shin was expecting something to happen all lines stopped while the drop of blood started to shine.

"Is this normal?"

Taishiro who was looking over Shin's shoulder was silent while deep in thought, Shin slowly turned from the book to Taishiro who finally seemed to exit from his daze as he cleared his throat.

"I think I read something similar happening once but I'm not sure, for now how about the young master keep the book close to you and see if there are any changes?"

Not having anything against it he nodded his head as he gave one last look at the book before closing the book, looking at the various cultivation techniques he couldn't help but wonder which one he would practice in the future.

When choosing a cultivation technique a demon spiritualist first had to look at his own Soul realm, Soul form and Soul attribute. The soul realm for a demon spiritualist was something akin to a Dantian and it came in seven different classes, each classes was differentiated by the color of the soul realm as they represented the person unique personality and talents and while it is widely accepted that some soul realms are far easier to train with than others it is also known that by using the right cultivation technique even a red soul realm, the one known as being the hardest, will easily reach the same level of an Indigo Soul realm, the one known to being the easiest and fastest.

As for the Soul forms and attributes that would depend on the person, unfortunately there was no book that listed all types of Soul forms as that would be almost impossible as most of the times they weren't even hereditary and as each family member could have a totally different soul form from his closest family member.

'Except for our clan…'

The Akagawa clan was one such exception, nobody knew why but all Akagawa members would always have a variant of the same soul form and for the main line, that being the city lord line, they would almost always have a red Soul realm.

Because of that Shin already knew his choice would depend on what soul attribute he will end up with.

"Taishiro do you have a soul crystal on you right now?"

Taishiro looked a little confused for a second before understanding and taking out a palm sized crystal azure in color before giving it to Shin who only looked at it for a second before starting to inject his soul force in it.

'Since I've already become a city lord I guess I should also start cultivating.'

As the crystal started shining the color changed from azure to red before a blood red line appeared in the center seemingly cutting through the soul crystal and at least nine small orbs of red lights appeared all around the line.

"From my memory that should be the Sharp River Soul form as for your attribute it seems like you've inherited the Fire, Water and Blood attribute from the founder, congratulations Young Master."

The founder and first patriarch of the Akagawa Clan was said to have a Endless River Soul form with several different attributes.

"As for your cultivation technique I suggest the Blood River cultivation technique along with the Blood Lotus Special Technique."

Taking two books from the pile Taishiro handed them out to Shin who took and started inspecting them, the Blood River Cultivation technique was limited for someone who had both a variant of the endless soul form and the Blood attribute so out of all previous City Lords there shouldn't have been more than a couple who practiced this and the same could be said for the Blood Lotus Special Technique but just the fact that they were once also practiced by the founder should give them enough credit.

"Alright, for now let's leave."

Putting all remaining Cultivation Technique and Inscription Scroll in a separate ring he gave one last glance at the vault before leaving and at the door he found a young man with short spiky black hair and bright purple eyes.

"Kuro Raijin greet the patriarch!"

Shin smiled slightly at the antics of the young man before him, Kuro Raijin the next heir of the Lightning Dragon Clan and son of the now only Legend rank Ryunosuke Raijin was one of the most talented people of his generation and while he was certainly not comparable to Naoki he was still pretty good as he reached the 3-Star of the Gold rank just at 24 years old, his Spearmanship skill were unrivaled in Fire Lotus City.

"Kuro I want you to take over as a patriarch until your father wakes up, also I want you to stop all plan on repairing the walls and houses as we will be leaving this city in the next week, tomorrow there will be an official announcement for now don't tell anything to the other just make them increase the guards on the wall and make sure no demon beast enter the city from the broken walls."

Kuro was visibly confused and while he wanted to ask a lot of questions Shin didn't wait for him as he gave a little wave to him before going back to his father office, he definitely won't be able to sleep tonight but he just had to persist and work hard at least until they get to a safer place.