Wei Huoran was back in his workshop, working on a large artifact that filled up a third of the room. He was working on inscribing runes and arrays on the component in front of him when he heard Quanliyan's voice.
"Xiao Ran", Quanliyan called out, "The translation of the images sent to us is complete."
Huoran finished the rune he was currently writing before he stopped, "Let me clean up first and gather the relevant guests before you brief me."
"Understood", Quanliyan acknowledged.
Huoran proceeded to secure all the components that were awaiting inscription, close all screens containing the project in work, and left the room.
He request Secretary Lui, his second secretary he had hired so that Su Yun could take time off, to contact the ministry.
"Secretary Lui, please inform the ministers that they all do not need to attend", Huoran said to her, "Just one minister is required and they can brief the rest."
She nodded her head, "I understand, Boss Wei."
As she walked away Wei Huoran sent messages to the four chiefs, 'Good news, the translation of the images that Chief Ironclaw has been completed. Since it's impossible to meet normally, might I suggest that we discuss this over a holographic conference meeting.'
Crimson fox's Lady Auburn replied first, 'I'm available in ten minutes, is that acceptable?'
The wolves replied, 'Same for me.'
Razortalon also said, 'I also had the same thought.'
Chief Ironclaw's message came a few minutes later, 'I'm currently at Snowfur Village, can I invite Chief Snowfur to the meeting?'
Huoran typed, 'It would be my honor to have Chief Snowfur attend, I will send an invitation in ten minutes.'
Ten minutes later, Wei Huoran walked into a small meeting room, took a seat, opened a chat room, and sent invitations to the twenty-four people that could join. A few seconds later, all invited members joined and Huoran laughed before setting down his tablet and pushing the holographic meeting option for the chat room. His tablet began to scan the room he was in and after a few minutes, guests appeared either sitting or standing in the room. As each guest became aware of their surroundings, they turned towards Huoran, offering a greeting. He returned the gesture each time and soon everyone had entered the room.
"Chief Snowfur, I welcome you to our little gathering", Huoran told the large burly beastkin, "I heard about your recent troubles and hope we can assist your tribe in any way."
"Thank you Daoist Wei", Chief Snowfur replied, "I must commend you on the artifact you have created. It's amazing what I'm seeing here today. I'm afraid I can only be a burden today."
"I can't take full credit for these artifacts", Huoran responded, "It was thanks to my master that it was possible to create them. I could never think of you as a burden, so feel relaxed. I believe you're already familiar with the chiefs present, so let me introduce the others. These eighteen here are the ministers of Sun & Moon island, and this young lady is one of my secretaries. She is only present to record the minutes of the meeting."
Chief Snowfur nodded to everyone before Huoran spoke up again, "I haven't watched this presentation myself yet, so we will discovering the secrets of this stone together."
When Huoran reached over and activated the tablet, a holographic image of the stone came into view.
Quanliyuan started speaking, "The 'Stone of the Rooster' is an ancient artifact that dates back millions of years and was created by ancient beastkin clan patriarchs. The material of the stone is a very rare material known as Genesis Orgin Stone, and these thirteen artifacts are the only known fragments of this material. One of the stone's capabilities is its ability to absorb, store, and distribute blood essence, Qi energy, and soul power."
Some of the audience looked on in astonishment, others had shrewd eyes, and a couple even exhibited greed for a moment before adjusting their attitudes.
Quanliyuan continued the briefing as the images that Chief Ironclaw appeared, "The murals found by the Snowfur Yaks is both a record of the past and a trap."
Several members including Chief Snowfur was shocked and immediately raised their voices in protest.
Huoran held his hand up to quiet the room, "Please continue to listen before you complain."
The room went silent again before Huoran reached over and restarted the presentation.
"The murals tell the story of the creation of the world and the beastkin. It narrates how the ancient beastkin came into power and ruled the world until one day, a 'heavenly rock' fell from the sky. All the animal clan competed to possess the stone, but in the end, twelve clans each took a piece. For many years, everything was the same until the day new races began to appear in the world.
War broke out across land as the beastkin battled to protect their lands from the invaders. Even though they had superior body strength and the power of their bloodline, the other races still remained and eventually became powerful enough to conquer parts of the beastkin's lands. Some of them practiced body cultivation like the beastkin, often using magical beast or beastkins to cultivate. Other focused on Qi energy or Soul power to establish a foothold on the land. This continued until one day, one man rose to a level above all others, and put each race into a passive state.
The leaders of each clan came together to decide how to counter against this threat, and the twelve clans decided to use the heavenly stone to make artifacts to strengthen their tribes. It was discovered at this time a small piece of the stone had broken off and fallen before the impact of the larger stone and the clan of the cat had found it.
The best artisans of the tribes came together to craft artifacts that would strengthen the bloodlines of their most talented members. Before the beastkins had a chance to raise an army of superior warriors a big event happened. Tired of all the war and conflict, the one know as the strongest cultivator attacked the land with one strike. The one great land was broken by the attack and broke into three lands with each race claiming one for themselves. The land that the cultivator struck was pulverize and the ocean rushed in to fill in the crater created. The man created a new island in the center of the crater and went back into his secluded cultivation. Acknowledging the strength of the man, the beastkin stored away the artifact, waiting for the day that the beastkin race would use them to rise to the top again."
The beastkin chiefs felt their blood run hot as Quanliyuan's voice disappeared.
"So our ancestors left us a way to grow stronger", Razortalon muttered.
"I don't believe it's that easy", Houran replied, "There is more to this briefing after all."
"Do you intend to prevent us from using the stone in your possession?", Ironclaw asked.
"Let's finish watching the video before we decide how to handle affairs afterwards", Huoran responded.
Everyone quieted down as Huoran activated his tablet again, but it could been seen that some of the beastkin were disgruntled.
"Let's begin the discussion of the artifact", Quanliyuan said, "According to the arrays and inscriptions on the artifacts, the artifact will refine and purify the body and bloodline of the holder of the stone but there are restrictions. For example, this Stone of the Rooster will only activate if it senses the blood of a chicken, peacock, quail, or turkey."
When they heard this, many of the beastkin chiefs immediately lost some interest in the stone.
"This aside, the number of inscriptions seems to be higher than necessary for the function of the artifact. Once you investigate all the runes and arrays, the purpose of the stone becomes clear, but this is not a particular good thing. There is one array formations carved into it that when the user is in danger, it will activate and make the user many times stronger than their peak strength. The cost of doing so will ruin the body and bloodline of the beastkin to the point they will die. I theorize there is a chance to live but the holder of the stone would never be able to cultivate again or activate the stone anymore.
The other formation on the stone is much more sinister and the reason I stated earlier that these artifacts are possibly traps. When the beastkin with the stone cultivates using it for long enough, they will eventually reach their perfect state. When the stone can no longer refine the body or purify the blood, the other formation activates, absorbing the bloodline essence, Qi energy, and soul power of the user."
All the beastkin listening went from disgruntled to fearful when they heard what was said.
Chief Snowfur spoke up, "How is it possible for our ancestors to create such a thing?"
"Because", Huoran replied, "I don't believe your ancestors were interested in raising the strength of your tribes. This world is unbiased, the strong rule and the weak suffer. It's not unheard of a lion throwing its cub off a cliff or a master pressuring his disciple to acquire materials or opportunities."
As much as Chief Snowfur wanted to refute Huoran's claims, he knew he would be lying to himself.
Huoran started the video again, "The final array formation inscribed appears to distribute all the essence and energy to the original owner but there is a caveat. If the original owner is dead, the stone will store their soul inside, and once the stone has collected enough, it will initiate a process to rebuild a new body.
But this isn't the most troubling aspect of the stone, because it's designed to absorb souls upon death of the user, it contains high amounts of Yin energy. It's possible that the souls of the original ancient beastkin reside inside the stone, and have become corrupted over time by absorbing the energy of their tribe in such an unorthodox manner. Eventually, once enough blood, energy, and power has been collected, they will be reborn and free to rule over tribes again.
Unfortunately, the ancestor will no longer be the same as before due to the extended exposure to Yin energy. It would be disastrous for the beastkin tribes if a single ancestor was reawakened. With new bodies and corrupted souls, the revived ancestor would most likely harvest the bloodline of all the remaining members of the tribe that are compatible with it. Once it collected enough, it's possible it would challenge the senior of this island again or just rule over the few survivors with an iron fist. This is speculation at this point, but it should be noted that anyone that picks up the stone will probably experience a horrible ending. This ends this briefing at this time, thank you for listening."
With the presentation done, Huoran asked, "Any questions?"
"How accurate is this information?", Bloodclaw inquired.
"I believe it to be very accurate", Huoran answered.
"Why?", Lady Auburn wanted to know.
"Two reasons", Huoran replied, "The first is because my master was alive back then and is familiar with the situation and language. The second is that we already observed one of the array formations when Chief Ironspurs tried to escape containment. I would be happy to send that video to your inbox, it's also a good reminder that is you meet a stone holder, do not engage unless you are sure. You will most likely die or lose a large portion of your forces if you try to corner one unprepared."
Now that the meeting was over, a few people had left to get back to their duties, but everyone else was still talking with each other. Once Huoran had to leave, most of the guests decided it was time for them to leave as well. Chief Ironclaw and Snowfur had just exited the meeting and were discussing some other business when a loud noise was suddenly heard. A series of screams and the sound of combat caused the two beastkin to jump up and run in that direction. When they arrived at the scene, there was several bodies strewn across the ground and a large beastkin was hovering over one of them.
When Chief Snowfur approached the man, the man turned to face them, prompting the chief to say, "Elder Datak?!?"