Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1081 - 1080 - True Sword Disciple

News spread like wildfire in the rebuilding Crescent City.

Maester Taren Cord was going to duel the newly arrived True Maiden Nissa!

Duke Petryn would be observing the duel but he was currently in his office as Lind sat across from him. Teegan was back in her city at the moment so even that support was not there for the man.

Lind felt slightly bad about that but it was not his fault!

"So basically, she would not even reason with you nor your wife?" Lind nodded. "War Maiden Katara has no authority over her?"

A sad smile spread on Lind's face.

"Since the sect wars and the Divine Ruin are gone, the war towers were only here to help defend while we rebuilt the city. It made the Fionan Empire indebted to the sect so there was only upside to leave them here." Petryn slowly nodded as he grasped the situation.

"So the towers were left under a War Maiden I knew as a courtesy but her authority was rescinded?" Lind nodded.

"Her condition aside, War Maidens are only invoked for the duration of the war and its cleanup. Since all powers involved were decimated heavily, clean up was not much really. Rebuilding is the focus of everyone." Petryn nodded. The areas around the Divine Ruin were not the only ones waging war.

He had reports of battles in the shadows and in the light of day coming constantly. It was only now that he fully grasped how nefarious the bloodline array had been. It had consumed countless lives!

"Surely as a guest elder you have some rights?" Lind shrugged.

"It is not the first time my status was rescinded. Further, True Maiden Nissa is within her authority to take it from me. Her rudeness is immaterial to me." The more he talked, the more Petryn looked miserable.

The duel was unable to be stopped.

"What are the rules? I have never dealt with the Heavenly Maiden Sect with this." Lind frowned as he did not like what he had to say.

"She wants to do a duel of life and death. It seems she is under the impression I enslaved one of my wives. I also suspect she had a deep distrust of beasts or men in general." It was only a guess but her attitude did not make it hard to discern.

Petryn actually summoned a jade slip and tossed it to him. Lind sunk his senses into it and felt a vein pulse on his forehead.

"Why would they make such a fool a True Maiden?!" The slip was a concise report of Nissa's history.

There were various instances where situations were needlessly escalated due to her personal point of view. She had angered several sects simply by killing their disciples on sight over perceived slights!

Valkyrie would have killed such a fool herself!

"I do not know the reason as such a title is a mystery to all outside the sect, but I do know her power is real. She is quite capable of killing up to a dozen Crystal Tiers without suffering more than minor injuries." Lind could believe it.

The brief skills he had seen were impressive.

"The duel will take place in that arena I used before. It is more than strong enough to withstand the worst she can dish out." Lind bowed to Petryn before leaving his office. It seemed he needed to take a different stance in the upcoming duel.

He had been going to fight her directly but that seemed it would backfire from what he grasped. The techniques she used were but a drop in the bucket based on the record he had been given.

He appreciated Petryn getting it for him. Clearly, the Duke would like to avoid things going awry in the duel. The more knowledge Lind had, the better his chances in Petryn's eyes.

Not the most unbiased of judges in his consideration!

Lind left the central citadel to a cloudy day. He was surprised to see Nana and Jur waiting for him.

"Why aren't you 2 training or on a mission?" They had been outside the city patrolling the last he had heard.

"Papa, Mother said you are being bothered again. I want to help!" Jur swished her tail and ears nervously but she had a determined look in her eyes. Nana nodded with her.

His frustration lessened somewhat in front of them.

"Sadly, you cannot help me with my current foe. I would appreciate your help with Katara though. She is close and I may need to get to her quickly. Here!" He summoned and tossed a jade stone with a sigil encased inside it.

Jur caught it easily and smiled as she felt his aura in it.

"Crush that if I am needed. I will come." The pair bowed to him and sprinted off far faster than any human could hope to match. The Maidens would not stop them as he was still a guest elder at the moment.

They also were known to the current Maidens to be helping the city. He sighed as he wished things could be simpler but life was rarely that fair.

He was about to continue down the street when a man in a gray robe caught his eye. Nothing stood out too much from the crowd but the sword did to his eye.

It was rather plain for a Sliver Tier to have on their hip. Lind also felt a danger from the man. His slim body belied the power in his movements. He was death on 2 legs!

Despite inspecting a stall with skewers frying over a flame, Lind was certain the man was observing him.

[It is impolite to stare, Divine Sword Sect Elder.] The man did not react but his hand drifted to his hilt. [I will not out you but I am not the only one that can recognize you. The Maidens are currently in power here aside from the Fionan Empire.]

Lind left it at that and chose a different street. He quickly sighed as the man bought a skewer and followed him as if he was just walking randomly. Was he about to have a fight before his duel?

He did not recall doing anything to the Divine Sword Sect. In fact, they were one of the few sects that had not bothered with the Divine Ruin beyond trying to contain the battles.

He was curious how they had not been pulled in more but they still lost a lot of people.

He had only gone a few streets before he realized 3 more people were following him. They were all Immortals but no greater than Sliver Tiers.

Even the most basic information on him confirmed his Crystal Tier status so why were they following him?

He contemplated simply tearing through space but the newly restored wards included things to prevent him outside of certain buildings. Inside the towers he could jump to any floor he liked but outside of it, space had been made stable.

It could not be traveled through unless Petryn allowed it.

Normally, that particular effect would be ignored but Lind had insisted it be restored to full strength. His demonstration of his skill made his case.

If there was anyone that could move through space like Immortals were supposed to aside from him and Chu, it would leave a city open for attack!

Thus, he could only walk or fly. Flying was a bit easier inside the Law Binding once more but it was still heavily Qi intensive or would drain his stamina like mad as a dragon.

He was shopping for a bit but observing the 4 people. They were not bad but clearly not trying to attack him either. Just what were they doing?

"Sigh, enough of this." He summoned a simple black sphere of steel and tossed it upward. It whistled as it sailed upward but that was all it could do. It was purely a toy.

It did the job though. The 4 looked up in surprise and he blurred to all senses as he vanished from sight! He used all his skills to get up to the roof of a new building nearby.

No one saw him move nor could they find him afterward as he enacted several Law Grade weavings quickly. He then sat down and cultivated while observing the fallout.

The 4 panicked as they realized they could not find him! They swiftly met up and summoned some tablet shaped artifacts but whatever they saw frustrated them.

"How did he slip away so quickly?! I thought production Maesters were not warriors?" One of them spoke but the other 3 looked at him in pity.

"How could any Crystal Tier not have some combat ability? Also, the fact he is a Forger alone would mean he has many artifacts to elude us." Lind nodded at the excellent observation but his senses suddenly reacted to a new presence he nearly missed!

She had 2 swords on her back and seemed to appear from thin air! It was not tearing through space but the sword aura was clear as day on her!

A peak Shard Tier!

All 4 knelt to her. Her robes were of higher quality but the mark of the sect on her breast was crimson. What did that mean?

"True Sword Disciple, he has eluded us." The woman nodded but he could not make out her face nor anything other than that she was a woman. A Law Grade robe?

"We will see him in the duel. Note everything about him then. We will report back to the sect after that." Lind wanted to lie down! Just how many nuisances were coming for him?!

He waited until they were gone before flying far enough to get to the war towers without issue. It seemed his audience would likely be full of interested parties. He had to make sure not to reveal everything but he also knew his life was going to become more annoying than ever before!