"Matriarch, I, your servant, will now report what I have gathered."

Everyone curiously leaned forward, interested in listening to what came after from the supreme minister's mouth.

"Everyone, last night, a heavenly treasure surfaced after absorbing qi for a long period. The phenomenon that occurred yesterday matches with the previous descriptions of the phenomenon that have occurred whenever a heavenly treasure has surfaced."

Even though the ministers had a lot to react to, they kept it in instead of murmuring among themselves.

Until the matriarch permitted it, they weren't allowed to discuss it among themselves.

However, they still couldn't help their eyes that had just increased in size due to the sudden news of a heavenly treasure appearing in their region that could become theirs.

The supreme minister continued his report:

"According to the witnesses who are present, it has been confirmed that the location of the treasure is inside the forest of beasts. And that too, in the exact center. Meaning, it is deep into the territory of the four emperor realm beasts!"

It was the same forest where Ashen caught his tiger kings. It was truly massive, almost 4 million square kilometers in area, located to the west of the Zhuji tribe.

The Zhuji tribe considered it inside the Western prefecture; however, the other tribes didn't acknowledge it.

Similar to the Zhuji tribe, the Tian Jian tribe of the righteous tribes also faced the forest in their western prefecture.

Even they claimed that the forest was in their territory.

Moreover, the four emperor realm spirit beasts ruled the forest from the deepest circle. It was their territory.

From the pillar of golden light, they could only get an idea of where the treasure may be, but not the exact location.

The supreme elder mentioned this next:

"We don't know the exact location of the treasure, but we have a general idea. We have marked it on a map, which will be passed to everyone present."

As he said this, servants rushed to pass the map to each and every minister. The matriarch, on the other hand, simply rolled her fingers as a map flew straight to her from the pile that servants were using to distribute.

After everyone looked at the map, the supreme elder continued:

"As you all must have noticed, we speculate that it is somewhere in the shaded area, which is around a hundred square kilometers. But I'm sure it will be easier to find once we get there."

He said this because there will be qi emanating from the treasure that will help cultivators find its location.

Now, his tone turned serious. It was time to come to the main point of the meeting.

He continued: "As many of you must be aware, there are rules specified by His Majesty, the Emperor of our great Primordial Dragon Empire, regarding the acquisition of heavenly treasures. I will still recite them to the ones who may be unaware."

As he said this, he glanced at Ashen and smiled.

He was talking about him since Huan Tian, in their eyes, was a villager who only received an inheritance and not any proper education.

Moreover, he was young. He must not be aware of the rules in place.

The supreme minister then took out a scroll and began reading it aloud, skipping the useless part of the scroll:

"In case a heavenly treasure appears, the empire will not interfere or try to acquire it. Even if the empire desires the treasure, it will only be acquired by paying a proper price in return to the one who becomes the owner of the treasure."

"The treasure will belong to the part of the empire wherever it emerges. Only if it emerges in the capital can the empire claim it for itself."

"For example, if it emerges in the south region of the empire, only the cultivators, clans, sects, and other powers belonging to the south region can compete for and claim ownership of the treasure."

"The emperor realm cultivators cannot personally participate to compete for the treasure. They must choose their representatives who are at the utmost of the king's realm if they desire to compete for the treasure."

"There is no limit to the representatives one sends to acquire the treasure. It only proves the risk you are willing to take to acquire the treasure."

"Killing is allowed."

"The period to acquire the treasure is three days after it emerges. Until the period of three days is up, no one will be recognized as the owner of the treasure. The other competitors can try to take away the treasure from the one who has it by any means desired."

"The owner will be the one who has the treasure in their possession once the three-day period ends!"

"Hiding the treasure in space rings is prohibited! If found, the empire will annihilate the responsible party and their affiliations!"

"If the treasure emerges in the spirit beasts' territory, the spirit beasts are allowed to defend using the king realm and below beasts! No emperor realm spirit beast is allowed to take action!"

"If the beasts are able to defend the treasure till the period of three days is over, the treasure will belong to the spirit beasts!"

"These rules must be followed under all circumstances!"

"If any rule mentioned above is violated, the Empire will invoke its authority and exact punishment on the offender."

As the supreme minister finished reading, silence took over the hall.

Everyone already understood what was to be done. This meant that they only had two and a half days to go after the treasure in an attempt to possess it and become its owner.

However, there was also a need to identify what type of treasure it was.

Was it worth the effort?

There have been treasures in the past that didn't have any particularly useful function.

For example, the teapot of the Xia Kingdom of the southern region of the empire. They spent a lot of effort to acquire the teapot that appeared as the heavenly treasure a hundred years ago.

This teapot was a treasure that only helped cultivators of the origin realm gather qi faster and reduce the time it took to advance to the core-formation realm normally.

Yes, it was a great treasure; however, it was not great enough to bear damage to themselves.

To acquire the treasure, many king realm experts known as generals of the Xia Kingdom were killed, greatly reducing the influence and power the kingdom had.

It even lost a lot of its territory. The top ten sects of the south were actually inside the Xia Kingdom's territory; however, losing the territory due to its diminished strength, only three remained inside the kingdom.

The supreme elder mentioned this issue next:

"We need to identify the function of this treasure..."

-----------------------------------

(A/N - Thanks for reading. ^..^)