Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1115 - 1114 - Rubyfire Volcano

Lind spent the weeks after finding the group of Soulmancers consolidating his gains. He had to spend days in isolation just to solidify his newly expanded foundation. If before his foundation was like a mountain, now it was a whole range of mountains.

It made his abilities far more potent, he could not quite quantify them due to the Corruption's effects on the 2nd layer's Qi. Still, he found his Laws were drastically more efficient.

The Laws of Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Light, and Darkness were already so close so he mastered the new relationships easily but his Demonic and Celestial Element Laws were truly difficult. Compared to blending elements, it was like moving mud vs concrete!

Mud was semi liquid but still required effort to mold or make into what one wanted it to do. Solid concrete was heavier and solid. Unless it was already in the right shape and placed correctly, it could crack and shatter!

It could also weigh in tons!

The remaining weeks allowed Lind to comprehend and challenge his preconceptions about Laws and their relationships. He found not only flaws in accepted theory but in his own approach.

Ironically, Laws regarding Souls and Time helped each other immensely for him. Laws he struggled to even touch on regarding Time became much clearer as he added Soul Laws to his study of them!

Compared to how it was supposed to be done as he comprehended new Laws as he grew in cultivation, it was far harder to deal with the storm in his dantian all at once!

He did learn a few tricks after a few days but he had to test them and refine them before safely sharing what he had learned. The basic principle was the same as his elemental theory.

Laws do not exist in a vacuum. Treating them as a single and separate piece of reality could achieve results but reality is not so clean.

Gravity Laws were a good example. Many grasped the Law of Attraction or the Law of Heaviness but they treated them as the sole cause behind those concepts. The reality was just like when he was mimicking weather with his elements before.

He applied science knowledge to create an effect far more powerful than he could generate on his own. It required the knowledge behind what caused phenomena rather than just combining elements in his dantian and moving them along his meridians.

Laws were the same but very different. Science helped in part but only in merging how things worked. For instance, Laws of Earth and Gravity could now enhance each other! Lind could combine them not only in Arts but purely as Laws themselves!

Simple ones like that were easy but applying Laws of Gravity to all the elements at once with their associated Laws was far more difficult! Especially when he had already laid the groundwork for so many millennia without realizing he was closing in on such a dilemma.

His scientific knowledge from Earth and his cultivation expertise combined to unleash the new powers of Laws in his crystal. He had been in seclusion for so long, he wondered if he had missed their arrival but the feeling of motion was clear to him.

Jur was tucking Katerina into her tiny bed they made. It was basically a portable crib but Lind noticed she was already outgrowing it! A gentle smile was on her face as her tail swished in joy.

"Mata!" Katerina saw him and pointed with her tiny hands at him. Jur lit up and waved at him as he passed by. She had grown up so much in the short time they had traveled together.

He saw a note from Oz for him and reviewed it. It seemed the rumors were getting faint. No new sightings and no more disturbances. He worried if that was good or bad but it could simply be they were isolated in the Strider as it traveled to the capital.

They had passed a few cities on their way but did not stop for any of them. It was the main purpose of the Strider to head outward and drop off supplies and resources to the cities before heading back inward.

Carrying guests was not normal but if people are requested by the royal family or nobles leading an area, they can convey them for safety. All other methods were fairly normal but required at least 2 Immortals as guards. It showed the terrifying difference between the 1st layer and the 2nd layer that Sliver Tiers can be just guards!

Lind left their rooms as the others seemed to be resting and he noticed the metal hallway was dim. Night mode was in effect. His eyes, even in his disguise, easily saw in the dark.

He made his way up several floors without making a sound until he saw a brighter light above and emerged into what seemed to be a tavern! There was a bar along the far wall from the steps he had just ascended and tables with chairs spread across the area.

His eyes narrowed as he saw arrays inscribed on the legs of both sets of furniture to keep them on the floor but still able to slide! Such a simple solution if they got under attack. He tried to recall if he heard any alarms when he was in seclusion but there were none.

Had they not been attacked at all? He found that unlikely.

As impressive as the Strider was, it was not impervious to beast senses. There were no soldiers but he did not feel like a ward was put up to keep him away. He also stepped onto the deck and saw one wall was glowing with Qi.

A formation was inscribed into it and he slowly approached a confluence of lines that wanted light Qi infused into it. He pushed some light Qi into it and the whole wall lit up until it became transparent!

A starry sky became visible as he saw dark clouds floating across in a picturesque landscape rolled by at a steady pace. A wagon would be left behind but not by much from what he could see. He was looking across the dark forests when he realized there was a glow ahead but it was too soon for sunrise from what he could see.

His eyes shimmered as his vision was enhanced. A sprawling city that could easily swallow the entirety of the old Darkmoor Kingdom with room to spare but it was what was at the heart of it that made him surprised.

A glowing mountain loomed over the center of the city only it had no peak. It was truncated partway up but glowing at that point! It was not Qi, it was what was inside it that lit up the sky!

A volcano! The capital was built around a volcano! Why had that never come up in any conversation or text he read?! He then saw a beam of crimson briefly flare upward and cast a few more enhancements on his eyes.

Inside the glow was something floating that made him smile.

"So, your kingdom's emblem was not just random. You founded it around a damned rare thing." A man with black hair and simple robes one might wear for sleep stepped down from a different entrance that had not been visible before.

"Your senses are very keen, Lord Emerald Immortal. I was simply restless but did not expect to find you in the mess." Gilgamesh stepped up and both men looked out at the approaching city.

"Rubyfire Kingdom is a bit colorful but I supposed Fire Law Crystal Kingdom is a bit of a mouthful." The conditions for them were extremely difficult to find let alone claim for a foundation of a kingdom.

Laws, like elements, could coalesce into a physical form in the Celestial Fields. It was so rare, however, that it was essentially a legend if not for the handful recorded by supreme powers.

They could be fought over as much as a Divine Ruin or Relic but only by those that could actually use it usually. The founders of the Rubyfire Kingdom must have had the blessing of the spirits, Heavens, and maybe a few Gods to be able to build their entire power around one of those items.

Law Crystals were not simple aspects like cultivators usually worked with as they grasped Laws, but all of it. A volcano would be the perfect incubator for one but it would need to be in the state of not erupting but not dormant long enough for one to form.

Once it did, the Fire Law Crystal would start a virtuous cycle of empowering itself and the volcano with all aspects of Fire Laws!

"Legend says the royal family killed a dragon to claim the volcano but no one knows for sure." Lind doubted it. His blood did not react at all to the 5th Prince nor being that close to the volcano. There were, however, other races that would be just as terrifying that would lay claim to such a resource.

"I doubt a full blooded dragon is right, but a phoenix could be likely. They would thrive in such a place." Gilgamesh nodded but then frowned.

"What would have scales but wings of flames?" Lind froze. He slowly turned to Gilgamesh and saw he was serious. He was describing a damned rare creature.

Despite its lineage, it had serious weaknesses that humans or demons could easily abuse to defeat one.

"The wings are still aflame and the scales are harder than anything but dragon scales?" Lind wanted to be sure and Gilgamesh looked surprised and nodded.

He paled before looking sharply at the volcano once more. The kind of luck needed bordered on impossible in his mind right then.

"Depending on a few factors, it has a few names I know of. They are shunned by both dragons and phoenix bloodlines but Scorch Scaled Phoenix is the most likely one to live in a volcano. Also known as a dragon-phoenix." It was a being like Chu.

A mix of the Divine Bloodlines. Unlike her, likely due to her being demonic Qi in nature, the Scorch Scaled Phoenix suffered from one serious weakness. Resurrection was not as easy as it would be for a pure blood phoenix.

The other major weakness was water and darkness became lethal to them at the same level. Humans could easily kill them if only 2 or 3 Immortals came together unlike pure bloods that would have numbers on their side.

Lind sighed and wondered at the misery of the poor beast but it was millions of years too late to help it.

The Strider moved on through the night and the pair looked until the sun rose before seeing black smoke rising to the south of them.

Of course a peaceful final stretch was too much to ask!