Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1114 - 1113 - Soulmancer Rises

The metallic hallways were a bit claustrophobic. To some of the guests but Lind had dealt with worse. There had been the very simple skyship he had built in the Barren Realm. It had no frills nor much more space than he could get away with so it had been fairly tight.

Compared to that, the Strider was enormous.

He was cultivating in his room when Nana let him know his guest had arrived.

The violet robes and blindfold were as high quality as ever but the skin was paler than just a few weeks ago.

His Eyes confirmed her soul was disrupted but unharmed.

"Greetings Lord Emerald Immortal. I seem to have found an issue in a backlash I could use help resolving. His Highness would appreciate all efforts to resolve it." He nodded and waved her in. Chu came inside and sealed the room.

Lind reverted to his true body and engraved sigils until a weaving went up around them. It was not a warding of silence but healing.

She showed immediate improvement.

"Cultivate first, it will help." She smiled and assumed a lotus position. He observed the flow of Qi into her and nodded at no issues showing up. It took most of the morning before her complexion returned to normal.

"I thank you, Lord Emerald Immortal, for that healing." He dismissed the weaving and returned to his old human shape. He found it harder to maintain it at first and realized he had to take some time to recuperate himself!

"I have some experience with what hurt you but it was new having it happen with such a technique." Piercer of the Veil Immortal became interested at his words. "Do you know what a Soulmancer is?"

She cocked her head to the side but then shook it.

"It is a term for a kind of weaver but not a good one. It may have started out with the best of intentions or maybe simply a point of pride for some powers but it is far too tempting to fall on that path. I assume you know the risk of weaving?" She nodded quickly.

While a respected profession it was often marred by corrupted users who used other people's souls to exceed their limits without risk to their own. Ironically, the price incurred doing that does more damage than pushing their limits ever would.

"A Soulmancer is essentially weaponizing weaving. A formation master needs flags, plates, and mediums to do their work but a weaver needs no such thing, only the power of their soul limits them. Soulmancers take advantage of that fact to fight and perform risky rituals. You can see why it is far more dangerous than weaving alone?" She nodded quickly in understanding.

Lind recalled the brief brush his harmony had with the being known as Nest. He described him that way because the Soulmancers he had encountered were normally wasted physically with only a few exceptions.

Those 2 exceptions had a Fiend controlling them and forcing them to follow specific methods to prevent their bodies from wasting away.

He also had never seen a Soulmancer touch on the Laws of Time. It did not mean such a being did not exist but while Piercer of the Veil Immortal used visions of the past to determine the future, it did not make it the same as reading a scroll or jade slip about history.

She was touching on Laws of Time to actually look at actual events in the past and touching on the future possibilities. Lind may not grasp such Laws but he knew they existed.

So for a Soulmancer to have an equal stance with her, they also had to have a grasp of Time Laws. The odds of a single cultivator being both a Soulmancer and a master of Time Laws was ridiculously low but not if a Fiend thrall was involved.

Fiends, by their nature, had a natural inclination to grasp the Laws of Time in various aspects. The issue was the current world did not allow them to act as freely as they usually would. It was actually a comfort that only their agents or the buried lairs were their only active forces.

So how could a human, even a skilled Soulmancer, also have access to Laws of Time?

Lind contemplated several possibilities as he asked Piercer of the Veil Immortal if others with her gift could do anything similar but she was emphatic it could not be done.

If 2 seers looked at the same events in the past, that was all they would see. Even if they tried to interfere with the visions it would only lead to a blocked attempt, not a confrontation like that.

Lind pondered and then a thought occurred to him.

"I give you permission to look into this room before you arrived." She looked at him as if he was insane but attempted a very simple glance into the past.

Lind also let his soul uncoil unlike normal. He let it flow freely as if he was about to engrave sigils into the air. The instant he did so, he felt a tug on his soul!

He followed it and found himself standing in his own room. He was cultivating but now Piercer of the Veil Immortal was there! Further, her eyes were glowing visibly! He could actually move his present body in the past?!

No, it was not like that. He felt like he had misunderstood how her ability worked. She looked shocked as 2 Linds, one human with dirty blonde hair and the other with reptilian emerald eyes and a long mane of vibrant emerald hair stood in front of her.

The pressure of Heaven suddenly fell over them as Lind grasped it! The vision shattered and both were rocked back to the present. Piercer of the Veil Immortal was only slightly shocked but Lind was in awe!

Soul Laws transcend time! He felt his comprehension exploding as if he had been slowly accumulating the revelation for a long time! Weaving and Soul Laws went hand in hand after all.

Still, he did not know that they touched on Time as well! He then felt extremely stupid!

He was a reincarnation. He knew for a fact souls cycled through one life to the next and that they could endure past a physical existence in several ways. Soul Laws were not wholly independent of Time Laws!

Blood suddenly spurted from his nose as a larger revelation shocked him to his core. He was a massive idiot! Just as his elemental theories changed the cultivation world, he had fallen into the old mentality for Laws!

Laws did not exist in a vacuum! His dantian strained as all the Laws incorporated into it began to reform its structure from a frozen flame to a flowing emerald crystal! The elements seemed to glow like suns inside it as the Laws enhanced them!

His professions, Arts, and all aspects of his cultivation became more profound and more powerful without advancing his foundation! His foundation suddenly required massive amounts of Qi and comprehension to advance!

Still, the quality of his foundation had multiplied compared to before. If he was to try and use his aura at that moment, it would likely smash aside the formations around him like they were made of paper!

"Lind, are you all right?!" Chu had been calling his name for some time but he stabilized his body and nodded.

"I was unprepared for that enlightenment. I think I learned something dangerous but beneficial. I will try to safely teach later." It was very dangerous compared to combining elements together versus Laws.

An Immortal could wreck their foundation if they were not careful!

His 18 elements had aided him in avoiding such a fate. He took a breath and reconsidered what happened with Nest.

"I think I know what has happened. Nest is a weaver, more likely a Soulmancer with the skills he attempted, but he does not understand the danger he is in." The pair looked at him in surprise when an emerald glow filled the room.

Lind closed his eyes and did something he had not had to do in thousands of years.

Instead of using his aura, he used sigils to extend outward into the world. The Corruption presented an issue with all of his Arts, techniques, and 2 of his professions but weaving was not impacted at all!

It was composed of his soul and thus it was laughable that a diluted tainted Qi would even slow it down!

Still, weaving was not all powerful, merely another method of using Qi and Laws to achieve effects. One of which Lind had learned about in his war against the Soulmancers.

He could find them!

The sigils were strung together to spread deftly outward. They would glance off of most wards and formations without issue. It was both delicate but nearly unbreakable as his limited soul sense spread out across the land.

Lind was sweating until a sneer came to his face.

So, there were more Soulmancers! Weavers and Soulmancers felt very different to him. He had found a group of them to the north and west. He frowned as he barely felt a city very near them too.

He then narrowed his eyes as the sigils broke apart and shot down in faint emerald streaks. Unless they knew of his exploits inside the isolated land in the Heaven Realm Lands, they would have no defense!

"Found them. If my rough estimate is correct, Nest, or at least compatriots of his, are north of the capital of Rubyfire Kingdom. It seems a simple trade will become something more dire." His natural emerald eyes glowed with a fierce bloodlust that neither had ever seen in him before.

The former Emperor of the Sanctuary Empire had surfaced!