Soul Emperor Awakening

After returning to Unity City, Lin Xuan rented a room and began carving. His top priority was to finish these so they could help him out if something unexpected happened.

After several days of carving, Lin Xuan finally finished his statues. The main one was a Phoenix, and with the extra material, he primarily carved figures like the Demon Evil Monarch. He had originally wanted to carve the Fox King, but decided that would be too ostentatious, so he opted for an ordinary human instead.

’Tsk, it’s a shame the materials aren’t of a higher grade, or their Cultivation would be higher.’ Lin Xuan looked at the three statues before him: a Phoenix, a Demon Evil Monarch, and Qing Liuyun. He had originally wanted to carve the Martial God, but with its soul being incomplete, it was impossible to carve. The most he could do was briefly channel its power.

He had already considered the Fox King but decided against it as it would attract too much attention, so he had to choose the more low-key Qing Liuyun. The Phoenix was just as conspicuous, but he reasoned that by the time he needed to use it, it would be a matter of life and death. Would he really care about drawing attention then?

They were all uniformly at the Peak of the Essence Pill Stage, without a shred of improvement beyond that. Even with several-hundred-year-old Five-Colored Spirit Wood, the Peak of the Essence Pill Stage was the limit.

He was already quite satisfied with this outcome. To create a Core Formation Stage Level guard, he would need thousand-year-old Five-Colored Spirit Wood. The Spirit Wood itself was rare, to say nothing of a thousand-year-old specimen. Some hundred-year-old trees had already been chopped down. More importantly, there wasn’t a significant improvement when it came to the effectiveness of the carved patterns.

Thus, the effects of the hundred-year and thousand-year wood were the same, so there was no point in letting it grow for too long. The Demon Race could also use the Five-Colored Spirit Wood for carving patterns, and even setting up Arrays with it posed no problem.

Just as he finished putting his things away, a knock came from the door. "Brother Lin, we have a huge problem! Zhang Bin and the others are back, and they’re spreading nonsense everywhere, telling people we found the Demon Fox Race’s Secret Treasure!"

Wei Song’s voice came from outside the door, causing Lin Xuan’s brow to furrow. ’So it happened after all.’ He had always considered Zhang Bin a liability. When they escaped, they must have found the place picked clean. They might not know what the Demon Fox Race’s Secret Treasure is, but knowing that Lin Xuan and the others were still alive was more than enough.

Given the Liao Brothers’ personalities, they would never have let them leave alive. In their minds, it could only mean one of two things: either Lin Xuan’s group escaped with the treasure, or they killed the Liao Brothers and escaped.

’No matter what, they were certain to pin the whole affair with the Demon Fox Race’s Secret Treasure on us. Since they couldn’t get it, they’d make sure we couldn’t keep it either!’

Lin Xuan walked out of the room and saw not only Wei Song but also a crowd of people pointing at them, their eyes glinting with greed. They wouldn’t attack—fighting was forbidden in Unity City. For the most part, they were just here for the drama.

"Well, well. I can’t believe you actually escaped from the Liao Brothers. You were the first to enter the Demon Fox Race’s Treasure Chamber, so you must have gotten it, right? Everyone knows what the Liao Brothers are like; even if you handed over the Secret Treasure and begged for mercy on your knees, it would’ve been useless. The only explanation is that you got the Demon Fox Race’s Secret Treasure. How about you take it out for all of us to see?" Zhang Bin stepped out from the crowd, looking at them with a relentless sneer.

When they had escaped their room, they found everything outside had been looted. Re-entering the Treasure Chamber, they saw two pools of blood. They had no idea whose blood it was and had originally suspected it belonged to Lin Xuan and Wei Song. Clearly, that wasn’t the case. It might have belonged to the Liao Brothers.

He was shocked by this possibility but didn’t really believe they were capable of the deed; someone else must have killed them. In any case, Lin Xuan’s group had at least entered the Treasure Chamber. Nothing else mattered.

"We didn’t get the Demon Fox Race’s Secret Treasure. Believe it or not!" Wei Song snorted coldly.

They could never admit to obtaining the Demon Fox Race’s Secret Treasure; doing so would only attract more envy.

"Oh? You didn’t get the treasure? You went into the Treasure Chamber, and now you’re telling me you didn’t find the Demon Fox Race’s Secret Treasure? Are you joking?" Zhang Bin looked at them with a mocking expression, clearly not believing a word they said.

"And what if we did get it? We earned it. What business is it of yours?" Lin Xuan retorted coldly. ’So what if I obtained it through my own hard work? Do they want to split it evenly?’

’Even though this place is called Unity City, that doesn’t mean everything gets split equally. If it really were, the vast majority of people would refuse to do any work.’

"For other things, we certainly couldn’t butt in. But the Demon Fox Race’s Secret Treasure is a different story. That has to be handed over! Don’t tell me you don’t even know that?" Zhang Bin sneered at him, mocking Lin Xuan’s ignorance.

Unity City had a rather strict rule that particularly important treasures had to be handed over. The reason was simple: cultivators at their level lacked the strength to protect such items. In return, they would be given a massive reward and a large number of Contribution Points; it was not a demand without compensation.

Lin Xuan’s expression darkened. ’Hand over the Yulan Pearl? After everything I went through to get it? What a joke!’ He had only just recalled the rule. Technically, with his current strength, he couldn’t protect the Yulan Pearl. So, to prevent the treasure from being stolen, the best solution from the leadership’s perspective was for the higher-ups to take it.

As the saying goes: a common man is blameless, but his treasure is his crime.

Was this really an act of goodwill? Lin Xuan didn’t think so. The pearl was extremely important to him, something he had earned through blood and sweat. If it were stolen from him, he could only blame his own lack of strength to protect it. But to hand it over? He’d never see it again. It would mean they could just sit back and reap the rewards while his life-and-death struggle was all for someone else’s gain.

’This stuff about Contribution Points was meaningless to Lin Xuan. If the items he could exchange them for couldn’t even compare to the Yulan Pearl, what was the point?’

Of course, they wouldn’t care about any of that. They would only care that you weren’t qualified to have such a good item, so you’d better just hand it over. Even if they couldn’t use it, they would take it, because who’s to say it wouldn’t be useful one day?

"Dad, you’re here just in time! They’re falsely accusing us of obtaining the Demon Fox Race’s Secret Treasure!" Wei Song said, quickly walking over to his father upon seeing him arrive.

"If you really didn’t get it, then there’s no need to hand it over. If you did... you should hand it over..." As Wei Jun said this, a look of helplessness crossed his face. This was the only way to maintain stability in Unity City; he was considered a relatively neutral party.

"Dad, are you really saying that?! Even if we did get the Demon Fox Race’s Secret Treasure, it belongs to us! We shouldn’t have to hand it over!" Wei Song suddenly grew furious. He had thought his father would say a few words in their defense, but to his dismay, that hope was in vain.

"The Vice City Lord is here!"

Someone in the crowd shouted the phrase, and when it reached Lin Xuan’s ears, he couldn’t help but clench his fists. His gaze turned cold, wondering what decision these authorities would truly make.