novelraw Chapter 1061 - 1060 - Lost Refugees
Chapter 1061 - 1060 - Lost Refugees
Lind saw many battles after the reunion. He was stunned that Failed Awakenings could be resolved but he suspected his extreme situation was the cause. Heaven and Earth were trying to assist him it seemed.
He was not a fool nor some self deluded being. The world had been severely broken and he had acted directly to restore it. He had risked life and limb to undo the serious threat to the Celestial Fields and by extension all life in the lower realms.
His karmic restitution was bordering on the ridiculous far too often even with all those actions. His wives, friends, and others had fought just as hard against the Fiends or their machinations.
None of them had even come close to having similar incidents.
He had seen Inheritances and realms where people sacrificed so much to help future generations fight so why was he getting all the help?
"Bastard really pissed Heaven and Earth off it seems." The Great One had violated something long ago to become a Fiend. He took a whole race with him somehow too.
The mystery of that completely eluded him but it seemed to Lind that direct actions against the Great One were drawing more luck to him on top of everything else.
"Wish someone could fill me in on where that thrice damned facility is!" He voiced his biggest concern but focused on his current task. People. He needed to find people.
He had left the city limits far behind him as all the life he could detect was in the forests around it. The ravine had life as well but it was powerful beasts or plants from what he could tell.
The other factor was stability. The ravine hardly shifted but lives were being snuffed out even as he tore through space!
Just how vicious can the damned bloodline array be?!
He found several powers fighting it out but left them to their fate. He did not have time to sort out power struggles plus none of them were friendly powers at all! Based on the rundown he had been given, the vast majority he had come across were wicked sects and criminal organizations.
Decreasing their numbers was hard to argue against even if they were being manipulated. Besides, he was in a race against time at that point for those that did need saving.
It took the better part of a week to find signs of something other than battles. It was not pretty either. Corpses left to rot on the ground or clearly used as bait for some kind of beast were not uncommon but it left a trail.
He followed it before his eyes narrowed.
Fires were carefully lit to not draw attention but he had a view from above thanks to his platform. It was the largest camp he had yet to come across but his senses told him things were off.
The amount of life he sensed should have been much smaller, so why was the camp so large?
His eyes glowed as a frown spread on his face.
"Cages." The word was a curse in his mouth but it explained much. He had come across either slavers or perhaps simply a prison transport. He would need to get a closer look.
[Haro, can a bloodline array interfere with Annabelle's formations?] He honestly did not know but knew the information would fall under the exception to Haro's restrictions.
[Honestly Master, she is most impressive so I would side with her against it but I do not have a reference for such a widespread array either. It is possible any absence of the array could trigger a violent response without intending to.]
Haro's words made him look grim. He knew his own Arts would not allow him to infiltrate so easily and his new detection Art was likely to give him away too.
The more he learned about the skills of the Immortals, the more he realized how lucky he was that they were ignorant of 6 elementals.
It was the sole reason he had been able to slip by their defenses and detection ability but it would only take him so far. His harmony would allow him to see where he wanted for certain but acting on what he saw was an entirely different matter.
He would need to grasp the layout of the camp and what he was dealing with while not alerting both the residents and the ever present bloodline array. It was a foregone conclusion the controllers of the array were aware something was opposing them.
Still, he had to take a chance.
He slipped to the very edge of the eastern side of the camp. The only reason he did that was due to the fact they had no fires on that side but did have formation traps. It was the easiest way to test his infiltration while still pawning it off on an animal if he needed to.
For some reason they had not erected a repelling ward.
Likely they were taking any beast they could as well as not all the beings in the cages were human or demons.
He had noticed a complete lack of Elementals and aether children. According to Delenn they were more rare to manifest but their progress was as monstrous as any genius. It was also possible the Corruption had wiped them out entirely.
He was able to safely use his aura and sneered at the level of formations around him. While living cultivators could pose an issue, it was clear their tools were suffering from exposure to the Corruption.
Rather than use an Art or formation plate, he was able to slip through holes made by the tainted Qi itself!
"Arrogant pricks." Lind mumbled a few words but donned a worn cloak that was a bit ragged at the edges. He also darkened his hair to make it harder to see how fine it was. If anyone had the ability to see in the dark, it would be possible to notice he was too clean for the camp but a cursory examination would miss him entirely.
He easily penetrated the last line of defense but held still. Unlike the formations, he sensed someone was on watch actively. He carefully let the night blend around him but it did not seem to be enough.
A flash of silver was all the warning he got but he did not even budge as a sound of shattering glass was heard next. A figure seemed to condense out of the night air as an older man was shocked.
He was about to shout when Lind ripped out his throat. He had no mercy for these people. His eyes saw perfectly well at night and what was going on enraged him!
He propped up the body near the farthest cart and covered the scent of blood with some simple herbs. It would do for what was to come.
He was grim faced as he moved deeper into the camp. The first thing he noticed was the cages were actually peak grade 6 artifacts. The people inside were across the spectrum of Soul to Sky Realm.
They had no chance of escaping the cages.
He frowned at what he was seeing too. It was not just the clothes style he recognized from Crescent City. Some were from sects of course but a larger part were civilians with styles he did not recognize on sight.
He realized this group had been gathering up all the refugees they could find!
The Immortals and any Heaven Realms would have been elites either sent to war or fled on their own.
Some people, no matter how weak, would be untouchable to such a weak band too. Even with the bloodline array, the severity of crossing certain lines was still similar to what he remembered.
Dying in battle was fine, but being captured for abuse or slavery was inviting destruction.
He noticed the children were segregated from the adults but the only other division was to keep the beasts from eating each other or the people.
He sprinkled a few things into the fires he passed. He realized cultivators had strange blindspots in the higher realms that mortals were well guarded against. A paralyzing agent dispersed in flames for instance was a well worn tactic among mortal powers.
Immortals, however, seemed to discard such tactics and believe no one would be able to use them against them. He sneered as he moved through the camp with ease. He had to suppress his rage as he heard a few tents or even groups he passed by that held sounds to make his blood boil.
The night was waning as he finally finished his circuit of the camp. He did not make any grand attack as there was no need. As he moved back the way he came, he found people staring around in horror as their bodies and Qi refused to respond!
A handful of Immortals were in far worse shape as they could not even sense Laws!
It was a rather potent poison. It was made from the normal paralytic herbs most mortals knew of but he had added weavings onto it to add some effects.
The weaving was broken down into the powder and transformed it from a grade 1 poison to grade 7! The main reason was it was not the body that was attacked but the soul itself!
He was unsure why he had never come across the application before but it worked wonderfully!
It took very little time to round up all the members of the caravan. He noticed a few had the marking of Shandor Syndicate on their arms but there were other groups too. It was clear several groups had come together at once.
It made him also realize his search was likely over but he would not stop. First though, he would be clearing out some scum!
The silence of the morning did not hide the spreading scent of blood. The beasts in the cages made not a sound as the aura of the being nearby terrified them to their core. The people were mentally too far gone to realize what was happening.
Lind made a bonfire of the corpses he had created and then began the long work of moving the cages to the safe zone.