The Chiba Young Master took out an old papyrus canvas over which was the image of an imposing creature. This was an ancient painting. The papyrus felt like it was on the verge of falling apart, but the image of that beast was like a glue that stopped the painting from disintegrating from old age.
The creature was extremely domineering and looked very powerful. The image was only of the creature with no context or text of any kind. The young master spoke out.
"As you are all aware, I am a collector of treasures. In my adventures, I came across a mysterious cultivator from whom I obtained this painting. I believe this painting is a key to some secret and I would like the help of my friends present here in deciphering it."
"This painting is quite marvelous. But if even with your astute eyes you couldn't have discovered something, how could we?" Princess Rin remarked with a sigh. She was truly in awe of this painting.
"If I am not mistaken, this must be the painting of a Supreme Beast. For someone to even capture the essence of the Supreme Beast so clearly, it can only mean they had encountered it personally and survived to tell the tale. The painter is no ordinary person." One of the youngsters poke in awe.
The Chiba young master nodded. "Young Master Azai is very well learned. This is indeed a painting of a supreme beast."
Yui who was also shocked by the painting looked at Princess Rin and asked innocently. "Elder Sister, what is a super beast?" When the Chiba Young Master heard the question, he smiled and answered. "Little Princess Yui, In this world like humans there are many alien species. Most of them have many people in their species, but there are certain unique species in this galaxy. Their species population numbers only one. A single being is born in their species and they are always extremely powerful and can live forever. Those special creatures are called Supreme Beasts."
Princess Yui thanked the young master for the explanation, but then suddenly pointed at the picture. "The eyes of the Supreme Beast just moved." When others heard that, they curiously looked at the eyes of the Beast again.
"There is something wrong with the eyes!" One of the young masters said. "They feel real." Realizing that everyone began focusing on the eyes with intense concentration to notice anything they missed in the profundity of the painting.
When Yui pointed out about the eyes, Red had already looked at the eyes and realized he could see a wisp of an intent within the eyes. When like the others, he focused on the eyes, he suddenly disappeared and appeared in front of the actual Supreme Beast.
The Supreme Beast was extremely huge and in front of it, Red was like an ant. It's eyes were glowing with a dangerous power that felt like it was going to tear him apart from the insides. He was trapped and there was no way he could face this powerful Supreme Beast or even escape. He realized that he was going to die. Yet, at this moment, he felt a warmth from his pant pocket that went through his body and the feeling of his chest being locked released and he could close his eyes away from the beast. The moment he did, he was pulled back to the Chiba Young Master's room.
He saw that everyone in the room was in a trance looking at the painting with the exception of the Chiba young master.
"The painting is a soul treasure that traps souls! I can't believe my luck, I bought a random soul defensive treasure from that shop, or I was a goner!" Red thought, however, he continued to act as if he too was in a trance.
The Chiba Young Master had gone and returned with the Chiba clan leader who looked at all the people in a trance.
"You managed to find a really fierce treasure this time. With this painting we can brainwash all the young masters to implicitly agree to the rule of the Chiba." The Clan leader spoke. The young master nodded. " Father, the first and second prince, like the idiots they are, have already begun a war for the throne, blood is spilling across the planet. The third prince is already our soul slave. He is organizing the sacrifice and then I can marry the princess and take over."
The Chiba Clan Leader nodded. "I don't care about the fate of this small country, with the sacrifice I can demand the soul boon, then we can have the rights to enter the core family!"
Red, who heard all this was shocked. The Chiba Clan had schemed far too deep. From their talk it seemed they were prepping for some kind of sacrifice. Red knew he was out of his league here. The Chiba Clan leader alone was Nascent Soul Realm, which was the realm after Core Formation. There was no way in hell he alone could do anything, but then he remembered someone who could help him.
The two Chiba clan members walked off. They had said that it would take five days in the painting to become a soul slave. This was a major drawback of the painting, though it's disguise as a harmless painting puzzle was certainly a terrifying prospect.
When he saw that the area was left alone, Red completely hid his presence and made his way to the dungeons. He had across several Chiba clan members and their strength wasn't weak. Most were in Foundation Establishment and a few were in core formation stage. Seeing this only fortified the need to get help.
Inside the dungeons, made his way and discovered to his horror, the number of prisoners were very large. Red had changed clothes into that of a dungeon guard to evade suspicion. These prisoners seemed to have been heavily tortured, but their vitality was so strong, Red knew he wasn't a match for most of them. Even the ones who didn't look too strong gave off a dangerous aura that Red didn't dare underestimate them.