Fates Parallel Chapter 420 - Treasure

Yue, Dae, and Jung exchanged confused looks before Yue cleared her throat.

“Um, could you elaborate on exactly what you mean by ‘Sovereign of this world’? I didn’t think you were the world conquest types. Well—Hayakawa, maybe.”

Yoshika shook her head.

“Not like that, no. I was thinking about Sovereign Chou’s story—how he was fighting against the gods before he ever even ascended. Our problems with the divine realm aren’t going to end when the seal is destroyed. In fact, they might even accelerate.”

Yue bit her thumbnail.

“That’s true. Without the seal in place, they’ll be free to send as many xiantian lackeys as they wish, instead of sneaking in small groups led by avatars. A war at that scale...there might not be any mortals left at the end of it.”

“Exactly. I don’t want that to happen, but the seal can’t stay in place forever. We need to remove the seal, while still remaining independent and isolated from the divine realm. That’s why we’ve decided to become a Sovereign deity.”

Jung cupped her own cheek and frowned.

“I’m afraid I’m a little lost in all this. I struggle to keep up with all these immortal affairs. What’s a Sovereign deity?”

“A god who hosts a living Soul Realm within themselves. I was only given the basic concept by Chou, but now that I’ve assimilated his Soul Realm, I think I understand. Right now, my domain has a foothold in this world. My Soul Realm has merged with Jiaguo and the surrounding area to the point that there’s no practical difference between the spiritual realm and my actual soul.”

Yue furrowed her brows.

“So then it’s not just a superficial resemblance. We are actually physically present inside of your soulscape right now.”

“Yes. And as I cultivate, my soulscape is going to grow. The Soul Realm will expand, encompassing more and more of the world until it is the world. Then, I think, we’ll ascend as a new Sovereign.”

Dae leaned forward and adjusted his glasses.

“Just to be clear, is this how so-called Sovereigns are normally created?”

“Probably not. The way Chou described it, Sovereignty is a step above a typical deity. Maybe not as extreme as the difference between houtian and xiantian cultivators—or maybe more, I’m not sure. A xiantian cultivator ascends to godhood, then becomes either a Sovereign or a High God.”

“And a High God is...”

Yoshika frowned.

“I don’t know. Not a Sovereign, I guess. Chou didn’t seem particularly interested in explaining more than I needed to understand the context of why he deemed me a failure. I know that The Void is a High God, but I don’t really know what the distinction is, aside from the lack of a Soul Realm.”

“So then your plan is to ascend to godhood—something nobody from this world has ever done with the possible exception of God-Emperor Qin—and to do so using an untested method that you theorize will allow you to match the greatest powers of the Divine Realm.”

“I don’t know about matching them, but if I can get them to leave our world alone, that would be enough.”

Yue chewed on her nails anxiously.

“This plan has a lot of assumptions. Even if we assume that it’s possible, that you will succeed, and that it will indeed grant us independence from the Divine Realm—then what? Once you ascend, what’s to stop the powers that be from simply crushing you directly once they can bring their full power to bear?”

Yoshika shook her head.

“I don’t know. But I’d rather chase that uncertain possibility than resign ourselves to being caught up in some divine war.”

They sat in awkward silence for a moment before Jung spoke up.

“I don’t know about gods and immortals, but I do know Yoshika. I trust her to do what’s right, and that’s enough for me. If that’s the path she wants to take, then I’ll do everything I can to support her.”

Yue and Dae exchanged glances before nodding.

“Agreed. That’s a long-term goal in any case—something to keep in mind, but we have more pressing concerns at the moment.”

Dae grimaced at Yue’s words.

“We really do. You said you’d be relying on our help to build this nation from scratch, but speaking frankly, we have no resources. The academy and Yoshika’s living leyline nexus are a start, but we need more than promises.”

Yue began counting off on her fingers.

“Infrastructure, foreign and domestic policy, labor, trade—the list goes on. We don’t even have a legal system yet. We have a great number of connections, but those are useless without the capital to put things into motion. You’re going to need a lot more than a borrowed sack of my father’s gold.”

Yoshika chuckled.

“I don’t think we need to worry about that. I promised I’d show you the treasury, right? Sovereign Chou’s tomb wasn’t without its vaults...”

She focused her mind, and another door appeared on the far wall. Though there was a window leading outside right next to it, it opened to reveal a long staircase leading down. Yoshika led them down the steps to a small room where she had preserved the forge from Chou’s throne room, then finally through a pair of hinged double-doors leading to the vault.

Yue’s eyes widened as she stepped through.

“By the emperor...what is all of this?”

The ‘vault’ was a seemingly endless hallway with regularly spaced alcoves on either side. Each alcove hosted one or more artifacts, each and every one of them radiating with divine energy.

“If I had to guess, I think it’s all of the wealth Sovereign Chou accumulated over billions of years. He didn’t seem to have any interest in mortal matters, but when it came to cultivation...well, you can see for yourself.”

Dae adjusted his glasses, glancing around with a deep frown.

“Is it...sorted in any way?”

Yoshika shrugged.

“I don’t know. I get the feeling that Chou preferred to use artifacts of his own making, rather than prizes he won from others. The way the artifacts here are arranged, they almost seem like trophies.”

Yue shook her head incredulously.

“A single one of these treasures would be a prized heirloom in any of Qin’s sects, and you think that he was using them as decor?”

“Not even that. Before I took over, his personal quarters were beyond spartan—intentionally stripped bare, as if to make a statement. This is just a collection.”

Dae chuckled.

“And quite a collection it is. Our problems have reversed. We’re going to have to be very careful how we use these treasures. Beyond just the matter of potentially arming our enemies, treasures like these risk destabilizing immortal economies.”

The Lee Jia part of Yoshika’s mind reeled under the weight of the concept Dae had just introduced.

“Wha—are you telling me we’re too rich?!”

“In so many words, yes. For now, let’s stay quiet about it. The Sovereign’s Tear took up so much attention that everyone forgot that The Bloody Sovereign was a powerful and highly successful warlord who’d been alive for eons. Let’s not rush to remind them.”

Yue nodded.

“Indeed. This is a powerful asset, but not one which we should be too eager to use. It does mean that we have a potential safety net, however. Knowing this, I’d like to discuss some riskier economic strategies with Kaede.”

Kaede shook her head.

“Another time. I’m sure you have some fascinating ideas, but I’d like to wait until things here have settled down a little bit.”

“I suppose that’s fair—it’s been awfully hectic lately. We could all use some rest, I think.”

Yoshika led them back up to her home before returning everyone to the physical realm. Heian followed, manifesting herself with a simple avatar much to Narae’s delight, while the moon spirit stayed behind. Unlike most spirits Yoshika had met, it was either unable or unwilling to project any part of itself in a way that could be physically perceived—perhaps owing to its lack of a physical vessel.

Yue let out a sigh of relief.

“Ah, free at last. Come to think of it, Yoshika, if you’ve got an entire armory tucked away inside of your soul, does that mean you’re like a living dimensional ring?”

“Kind of. I can’t preserve things in stasis like the ring does—at least not yet. We’re going to try studying the time-altering formations that Chou left behind. It would be really useful to control the flow of time within our soul realm.”

Dae shook his head.

“I think most college mages would suffer aneurysms if they heard you say that. ‘Really useful’ is a dramatic understatement, and time magic is widely considered to be completely impossible.”

Yue smirked.

“When has that ever stopped our Yoshika? Jia alone would do it just so that she could preserve unlimited quantities of food—not that she needs it with that ring of hers.”

Yoshika produced the ring in question, holding it between her thumb and forefinger. It was an impressive little artifact—having managed to survive the complete obliteration of Jia’s body while she was wearing it.

Since then, she’d just been keeping it close to her core so that she could keep using it, but for the first time in years, she was no longer attuned to the artifact that had seen her through so many adventures.

“Actually, Yue, we wanted to give this back to you.”

Yue blinked.

“Back to me? I’ve never so much as touched it before.”

“We took it from your brother, and as invaluable as it’s been—for all the trouble it caused us—it doesn’t really make sense for us to keep holding it anymore. So we want you to have it.”

“I—I don’t know what to say. Are you sure? That’s a very valuable item, and it could still be useful as a bargaining chip with my father.”

Yoshika shook her head.

“I doubt that. The most important part was the Awakening Stone, and we destroyed that during our ascension.”

“You what?! Yoshika, there are less than a dozen of those in the entire world. Each one is hand-crafted by the God-Emperor himself! What do you mean you just destroyed it?”

“We needed Jianmo, and they had been sealed by the emperor’s essence. We needed his power to break that seal and the stone was the only source we had.”

She left out the part where doing so might have drawn the direct attention of said God-Emperor—she didn’t want poor Yue to faint.

“Sometimes I wonder if you do these things on purpose. Well, if you’re offering it, then I will gratefully accept your gift.”

Yue took the ring from Yoshika and wasted no time placing it on her finger, where it vanished from sight once it was attuned.

“So aside from plans of world-domination, a cache of divine artifacts, and the casual destruction of a priceless heirloom, was there anything else we needed to discuss?”

Yoshika crossed her arms, grumbling.

“It wasn’t casual...our life depended on it...”

Yue just raised one eyebrow and waited.

“Nothing pressing. Actually, there was one thing—”

She gestured towards the bedroom doors.

“Would you like us to keep your room available, or do you think we should give it to Meili?”

Yue stared at her in blank incomprehension for a moment before bursting into laughter.

“Oh, by the emperor, you’re actually planning to live here, aren’t you?”

Yoshika frowned.

“Yes? This is our home. Where else would we live?”

“Of course it is. I shouldn’t be surprised. Well then, Yoshika, let me be the first to properly say it—Welcome home.”

Yue’s words filled Yoshika with an unexpected sense of elation. For the first time, it finally sank in.

She was home.

Yoshika gave Yue a wide smile.

“It’s good to be back.”