Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1100 - 1099 - Immortal Ruckus

It was supposed to be a piece of good news spreading across their kingdom. Marquis Song had been proud of his city for millions of years. He was a low Crystal Tier but it had only happened before the fall.

If not for that, he may have died as the Corruption swept the world.

Still, their kingdom came out better than most as it seemed to take the Corruption longer to permeate it. Only when the land itself fell from the sky was there a lot of panicking but their ancestors did not let them down.

Ancient formations activated at that moment to protect the kingdom even as the land failed. Thus, while the impact still devastated the lower world, the Rubyfire Kingdom came out relatively unscathed.

Marquis Song was extremely proud of his lineage more than before on that terrible day. The founders had planned for such an emergency where many did not. It showed how broad their horizons were!

Thus as they settled in their new reality and reduced abilities, the kingdom began to expand as it never could before.

A million years later, the world suddenly changed dramatically. A single Immortal revealed a horrific level of bloodline array used on everyone! Even their kingdom was not exempt!

It had hidden crimes and anything that allowed more cultivators to die in service to its master's plans! Wars had been waged far beyond reason with whole sects and powers being wiped from the maps and no one cared!

Resources were not taken but expended to the point treasuries were severely depleted. Entire generations were lost from the lower realms that could have had powerful experts to help their respective powers.

The sins were unimaginable but Marquis Song took heart when his mind cleared that his city was relatively clean. He still did his due diligence and found some troubling things but corrected them immediately.

Due to the widespread chaos, he was not even punished but praised for his swift action. Thus it came as a rather stunning surprise when War Master Gilgamesh came out of retirement to put down a rebellion in the lower kingdom!

A count dared to raise the flag and it was only then the Marquis truly scoured his lands to be entirely sure no such seed had taken root.

The news of a rogue Immortal turning Sheref County and the related viscounties around in just 2 months was insane but proof had come in the form of Gilgamesh himself! The withered old man was healthy, hale, and ready to serve the kingdom once more!

So, when the rogue Immortal accepted a royal invitation, Marquis Song had been overjoyed as they would come through his city!

A joyous and likely profitable moment if he did things well.

Instead, one headache after another ripped the serenity of his city apart. A powerful Immortal aura swept the entirety of the city and surrounding lands a few days before the caravan was to arrive.

That should have been impossible! Even though Immortals enjoyed some of their abilities at the fallen land, they still could not fly, scan very far, nor tear through space. The defenses were still active as there were beasts that could fly naturally and pose a threat to them, but that was all.

The Immortal aura did no harm but it did trigger formations in response to a powerful beast threat! So an Immortal beast was able to freely observe them?! He had felt centuries pass through his heart yet nothing else happened.

Then Baron Valeri did precisely what he should not. He took a heavy handed approach for some reason when recruiting a potential formation master and the boy had an unremarkable brother that wanted to stay with him. Perfectly natural and it should not have been an issue but Valeri chose to hurt the child and kidnap the brother.

It was not only witnessed by the special guest but he thwarted it! Marquis Song would normally punish such a rogue but even he was incensed when his spies reported the whole altercation. He would smack the baron himself!

Not even a day passed and the bestial aura swept out but in rage. It was angry but no one could find it! It was in the city but none of their formations could pin it down!

A voice as cold as ice and full of rage demanded an Oathbreaker come to them and once more the Marquis was left with little to do. Oath breaking was far more serious between Immortals. If some damned fool had done so then they deserved the Wrath of Heaven but why was it in his city?!

Not long after that, an entire orphanage disappeared! It did not help matters but if that was the price of placating an Immortal beast of such power and compensating a broken Oath, it was cheap!

Yet, as if to mock him, Baron Valeri was found dead in his office! His face was not serene and the clear signs of battle showed he did not die of his own hand.

Sadly, it was very human in nature, not a beast.

Marquis Song had silver and white hair neatly tied back with an obsidian tong as his maroon robes marked his office and blood relation to the royal family. It was quite distant in his generation but still a mark of pride.

His dark eyes and smooth face showed he was far from the grave but the aura of grim tidings hung on him like dead weight. The reports of a count and his men being near the orphanage prompted a deeper look and what he found only made things worse.

"The Minister of Finances is missing, my lord. There is no sign of when he left and his assistants were covering his work but that was normal if he traveled so no one noticed." A robust man was reading a report from one of many jade slips.

The entire conspiracy had been well hidden but the fact remained that a citizen, a very decent one by all accounts, had been abused due to his lack of care. An Immortal did not care about World Realms normally but the orphanage system was created by his ancestors to prevent loss of talent and to allow the production masters to benefit from trained help.

The protector had risen to her task admirably and made no complaint about reduced resources. She made do and even kept up the training of her charges.

"We can assume those that benefited from his connections were not limited to this one incident. Such a complex crime of hiding a gifted physique from us is treason, thus he must have had assurance of escape. Dig deeper into him and found out more about Baron Valeri. The clouds vanished when he died so he was the Oathbreaker." The man nodded and left to perform the tasks.

Marquis Song sat behind an ornate white stone desk. It was normally organized with jade slips and scrolls to review or simply a meeting of a minister to address issues in the lands around the city.

It had been going so smoothly but in the course of a few days, Immortals had torn it apart!

It showed he had been lax as the more they investigated the more darkness they found. It was subtle and carefully hidden away so as to not affect the lives of citizens but still, it went on. Crime was impossible to destroy entirely but the sickening revelations of one so high in his city made him feel like a failure.

"Who are you, Immortal beast? What did Baron Valeri do to you and Emerald Immortal?" He knew the Emerald Immortal had forced an Oath from the baron but the man had kept it so far as anyone could tell.

So why break one to a powerful monster after that?

He picked up one of the jade slips and reread the report.

[A dormant Yin Nurture Physique was discovered in a Stone Tier World Realm by the Minister of Finances. He buried the report and then organized nobles to try and activate it and benefit from its effects. They could only arrange a meeting by obtaining orphans under her care and she would come to collect them…]

A rage rose in him as he read it again. Such a person should have been a treasure not a toy! They should have enjoyed the protection of the kingdom and not be abused by it!

The Marquis failed to see that the orphanage did not matter to him at all but he did not have the greed in his eyes as others would.

A jade stone lit up that was embedded into his desk. He hoped it was not more bad news.

[My Lord, another Minister has gone missing.] Curse the spirits! [The Minister of the Treasury has not been seen for 4 days. Due to current orders, we looked into it and she was acting strangely before all incidents occurred. She then vanished and it seems the Minister of Finances began to make more aggressive appointments compared to the cautious ones before.]

A dark frown passed over his face. If the report was correct, it was possible his Minister of Treasuries had noticed something and paid the price. Her death would be inevitably discovered so the traitorous man tried to compensate by activating such a rare physique and put a noble as his backer to protect him.

It might have worked as the nature of a Yin Nurturing Physique could overcome the current issues caused by the Corruption. It was only known due to a Yang Nurturing Physique that had lived at the time of the fall.

None of his related partners suffered any cultivation issues at all!

The man himself, however, did not live as long as he should have. He had to dual cultivate to work his power and it took a toll on him, none suspected until it was too late. His partners had sworn not to know and were truly saddened at his death.

The fact another such physique was discovered would have been cause of celebration but the damnable man tried to profit from it alone! The Marquis knew he himself would have only gotten a commendation from the king as the woman was taken to the capital so the Minister had to have known it as well.

[Assign forces to track her steps and if possible, recover her.] He held no hope but was glad he had such a loyal subordinate still. He prayed she was alive but if dead, her family would be taken care of.

Seriously, why did all this happen in his city?!