Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1047 - 1046 - Ramped up War

Lind let his glowing hands manipulate the weaving flowing over the prone woman. His suspension pillar was helpful to keep her floating without using more of his Qi.

It was bad enough what it was taking to heal her!

The woman, the mother of Jur apparently, was not just injured in the body and meridians, but in the soul. The last part was troubling as he did not recognize it as anything like the Fiend techniques he was used to.

It was more like a defect that had been exacerbated by stress.

It was only when he sensed something shift in her essence and resonated with Jur that he grasped the issue.

The race memory had been weaponized to intentionally shred the descendents of the beast kin tribe's stolen true bloodline.

He had gotten angry and bullied the spiritual ancestor but in the end even the Heavens affirmed his authority. It seemed karma was neutral so far as the mother and daughter were concerned.

The other woman, however, was problematic. She was a beast kin and even his progenitor blood revolted looking at her. It was his own will the ignored it as he saw her clear love for Jur.

He could give her a chance but that was all.

The rest of the village had no remorse at all but he left them alive. It was up to their own effort if they lived or died now.

Jur was now sleeping near the pillar artifact but he let her be. The brief contact with her soul had shown him her life. The woman she called Auntie Nana had been the only warmth in her short life.

The weavings were carefully restoring and nurturing the ravaged body of Priestess Chu. The Jade Dream Sect had been using her flesh for something and barely keeping her alive.

"Jur! Jur!" A panicked voice came from deeper in the cavern Lind had brought them to. He quickly isolated Jur from the room before she could wake. Her mental state needed to stabilize before she could wake up.

"She is here but be silent." He was stern as the woman came running into the room. She froze as she saw him working over Priestess Chu's body but did nothing else. It was only now that he realized how voluptuous she was.

In Jur's memory, she was mostly smiling and hugging the girl so that was all he saw aside from the day she begged him for mercy while kneeling next to Jur.

"Do not interrupt me and let Jur sleep. She is recovering from her own ordeal." He did not elaborate as he was suppressing his body's desire to kill her. It had been some time since draconic instincts tried to settle on him and he refused to be a slave to any of them.

She wore simpler clothes compared to Jur but they were practically luxurious to the rags Priestess Chu still had. The cloth shirt and pants made for easy movement and allowed her bestial nature to be easily seen.

Most humans would slice their feet open on the rough stone floor but neither child or woman had any such issue.

She sat where she could watch, concern etched into her similarly violet eyes. He had no idea why she alone had that color where the other villagers did not. It was the same color as the panther he had faced in the race memory.

Time seemed to be lost to him as his senses had to ever so carefully guide the healing as the tainted Qi actually seemed embedded more than normal into Priestess Chu. A dark thought came to him at that moment.

"Why were they taking them?" He spoke and the woman jumped. She quickly took a breath before looking at Jur with tears.

"Their blood could be refined into a pill. It could temporarily remove the tainted Qi and allow great increases in cultivation. However–" She looked at the floating woman and he nodded. The subject did not last long, clearly.

"There were once so many but those cowards sacrificed them! They took from them and forced the changes on us but when it came time to use our strength, they abandoned them!" The venom in her voice surprised him. The information also clarified a few things.

"What role does a Priestess play in the village?" Guilt now flashed across her face.

"The Priests and Priestesses choose those worthy of becoming elites or that is what they tell the others. Really they just use them as figureheads to do what they want and steal more blood from them to try and make more of us." Fiends would not do that. It was literally useless to them.

It was purely a human endeavor.

"Why are your eyes the same but you are a beast kin?" She looked down at the stone floor but his pressure spiked enough she flinched.

"My body was human when I was born. They tried to restore my bloodline but I only became a beast kin." Lind nodded. The restrictions enforced by the ancestor would not allow artificial restructuring of a descendent.

They just compounded their errors over the years it seemed.

"You are not going to beg for forgiveness?" She flinched hard that time. He was surprised when she shook her head.

"I do not deserve it. I am like the rest but Jur is a baby! They were going to sacrifice a baby! I may have relished my power but I will not sacrifice a baby for it!" He slowly nodded.

He could feel the truth flowing from her like a wave.

Her eyes also darkened slightly but he doubted she noticed.

"What do you know of the sect war?" He now knew he was still near it despite being flung so far. The maps he recalled did not expand that far away but perhaps they simply only cared about the area around the Ruin.

Nana actually calmed herself before answering him.

"For a long time, it felt like it was a dance. One would move and others would cancel out whatever was done. Back and forth with no end in sight, but something happened 10 years ago. Something caused a big battle that even we felt this far away." Lind paused but then resumed his ministrations.

He knew exactly what she had felt. His battle against the bloodline array.

"After that, it was like a long suppressed flame burst to blood life. Allies turned on each other and enemies took no prisoners. Blood was thick in the air for a year until some reorganization was done. After that, it became a bloody war that has claimed millions of lives in the last 5 years alone." Lind reached a stopping point and stepped away from his creation.

He turned his back to the woman as his emotions threatened to explode!

They were killing people to punish him for interfering! What would they do when the Ruin was gone?

He calmed himself as he had more direct goals at the moment.

Priestess Chu was healing but she needed far more power than his weaving could pull out even without the tainted Qi. The issue was she was already so weak that if he used his elixirs, she could die.

"Does she love her daughter?" His question seemed to spark anger in her but then she seemed to understand something in his eyes as sadness passed through them.

"Yes, very much. I tried to hide her but they found her a month ago. It was her last wish that Jur not be used like she had been. I failed but she loved her that much!" Lind felt something shift as his desire to kill her vanished.

He had not successfully mastered it, something simply made it go away.

His eyes narrowed but he slowly nodded as he was going to ask a much more difficult question.

"Does she want to live?" Nana's head shot up as she was about to shout but then froze. She slowly looked at the mangled form of Priestess Chu and then at Jur. She shrugged her shoulders.

"I no longer know. If she knew she was free, perhaps but not the world as she knew it." He slowly nodded before kneeling down and tapping the ward around Jur.

The bubble broke down into motes of light as she moaned before slowly opening her eyes. She saw him looking at her and she did not run away.

"Your mother needs a reason to live. Will you help me?" Jur looked confused and worried but he waited. He did not use his aura or anything to influence her at all. She then seemed to come to a decision.

"Will you protect Mama? She will be safe?" His heart tightened at such an innocent question before he broke into a smile.

"I sweat to Heaven and Earth, I will keep her safe." Nana sucked in a cold breath as she no doubt felt the powerful flicker of Heaven at his words. It was not a small thing for him to promise it but he had seen the life Jur had been forced to live.

Nana had confirmed it but it had been a test for her.

"Mama! I am here! Jur is here! Please come back! I love you!" Jur's voice suddenly filled the cavern as her aura flared as much as it could. Lind looked on as the displays finally showed a positive movement.

He had been fighting an uphill battle but he could not win with his usual methods. There was but 1 way to save her life but she had to want to live.

"Your daughter is here, alive and well. I am called Lind Frey. I am a dragon. I am a True Lord. I am a Divine Progenitor. My word is true." He looked closely at the readouts and saw a further spike. She was listening!

His intent was moderated for the little girl but the woman could perceive more as she was much stronger.

"I can save your life but you will be changed. I do not know exactly what will happen but you will live. Do you accept?" The readouts flickered before ever so slowly her head nodded!

"Nana, take Jur and wait outside. No matter what you sense, do not enter this place again until I allow it." She took Jur by the hand but he smiled at her as he waved. Once they left he sealed the entrance and took a calming breath.

"This is a very bad idea but I made a promise." He was going to have Hell to pay for this.

Lind pulled back the weaving a bit and orientated Priestess Chu face up. He then took out a knife and slit his arm. There was only one way to overcome all that was done to her. He was a living deterrent to the tainted Qi and further, he could restore her body with his vitality.

The result, regardless of what it was, led to the same conclusion.

He was getting a new mate. He was in deep trouble.