Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1126 - 1125 - Cracked Crystal

The battles still waged which surprised Lind. His party had gotten in contact with Ranger and there had been more than Soulmancers running rampant in the capital.

It appeared that agents of the Fiends had all risen up to breach the innermost security of the palace. Many people were dead or missing but the culprits were suddenly being ripped out of the shadows.

Chu was now very angry. She and Ranger were slipping from one shadow to the next while Bori either finished off or evacuated the civilians. Lind was cast aside back at the Strider with Mills and put into Lan's care.

Jur had lectured him but there was little else to be done. He began to cultivate and recover naturally as he had been warned harshly about pushing it. It was damnably slow but he began to appreciate the issues he found.

His body was fairly ok, just very tired. His meridians, dantian, and soul on the other hand were clearly stressed and showing signs of wear he had been ignoring.

Elixirs and pills were perfectly fine in a pinch or at need but he had been downing them like candy lately. The more profound the grade, the longer it took to let the side effects fade. Even his fairly pure versions were still able to cause such issues in the amounts he had been taking them.

His expertise told him he had been close to minor deviations but it would quickly become a major one if he did not resolve it in time. He let his Laws and Qi flow into his crystal as his body recovered.

Days passed before the battles finally ended. Chu and the rest returned looking exhausted but she was smiling ear to ear.

Mills was now in their quarters as well as he observed her stabilizing her own foundation after the extreme experience they both had.

Crown Princess Fyre confirmed their party had returned and gave perfunctory thanks as chaos still ravaged the capital. Many guards and functionaries were dead. The Fiend agents had gone for chaos and they had succeeded.

It would have been much worse if not for Delenn wiping out almost all the Soulmancers. Still, the final tally was bad enough.

The Fire Law Crystal at the heart of the volcano caldera was cracked.

Even Lind was impressed as such a thing was nearly impossible to get near let alone hurt it. He might be able to withstand it but damaging it was far beyond him. He suspected the culprit was Nest.

That thing inside him had more than enough power even as a fragment! The only thing that mystified Lind was why do it at all? It was a lost resource certainly but ultimately not a loss for the kingdom.

They had already fallen out of the sky and the Corruption was weakening everything. The Fire Law Crystal was not immune to it either. It had only been a matter of time or opportunity for an issue to arise.

So why hasten it? He had no idea and knew there was information he was missing.

He focused on his recovery and finally had his crystal back to nearly 20% full after 2 weeks of cultivation. The slow recovery was in part resolving the issues he had discovered.

He had to take his time and do it right. By his estimation it would be close to a year before he was back at his peak strength. Even then, he would take another half a year to a year to fully resolve all the remaining issues in his body.

He had made a right mess of it.

A knocking drew his attention as Oz answered it and took a scroll from someone before heading to his room. Lind swept his hand to the side to let the door open.

"I am glad to see you are better, Master. King Risselle has finally calmed the capital. The Strider is fully repaired and will be heading in for the final stretch tomorrow. He sent this for you." The scroll was sealed by an imprint.

Lind examined it carefully but nodded before sending Oz away. The old man was crafty but knew better than to pry into things beyond his ken.

Lind broke the seal and words appeared as if written freshly on the page. He had not seen that particular trick before but likely it prevented important messages from being read by the wrong person.

He read it and frowned deeply. He had been right, there was a reason behind attacking the crystal.

The damned volcano! The Fire Law Crystal was nurtured inside it but then it controlled the location to make it safe for habitation. Now that it was broken, the volcano would awaken! It would eventually erupt rather spectacularly.

The King wanted Lind, or rather the Emerald Immoral or Taren Cord, to come and take a look at the issue. The crystal was cracked but it was not destroyed. The instability was only in a nascent state.

He had no idea what the King expected of him. He was not a god!

Sighing he made some plans but then stopped. He was already falling back into the habit of trying to solve everything by brute force. He had been planning on downing elixirs and seeing what his harmony or other abilities could do.

He laughed at himself before summoning Chu and Jur.

The pair came quickly but saw he was just meditating like always.

"Up for a trip?" The pair looked at him sternly but he smiled and let his aura leak out so they could see he had not used elixirs.

"You are still recovering, Husband. Further, you need to face–" He held up his hand as he glanced into a corner of his room. There were 2 well worn warhammers resting there and a few personal items.

Delenn's body was wasted but he preserved it inside his ring. The items were kept out as a kind of shrine. Only Lind knew she left in peace at the end but he did not share it.

An instinct warned him not to reveal it. Chu and Jur thought he was suppressing his grief but he had mourned her death.

His Master was still gone forever but seeing her leave so peacefully had given him closure. It was a strange feeling.

"I have mourned and more but I will not pretend I am fine. This is a serious issue as if that volcano goes off now, it will destroy the fallen lands. It will rip it apart." The massive volcano was the heart of the land. If it ran out of control, it would not just be the city that died.

"Are they holding back the information?" Jur asked a good question but he shook his head.

"On the contrary, they just gave me the location to find it and some references. It is in the library of the King normally but he had it moved as we approached. That worked out for us since they scorched the entire library." It was but one of many areas attacked.

If not for the actions of the King, the information would have been lost. It seemed it was not all a trap but also to stop him.

"Get ready, we will be heading to the city regardless soon." He could already feel the Strider moving.

A cry came from another room that made Jur run off. Katerina was getting cranky but Jur usually calmed her down.

Lind also followed and saw the baby wailing despite being rocked. He did not sense any other issue but then a thought occurred to him.

He summoned an actual weaving plate and dropped it in the room. The ward went up and Katerina instantly calmed down.

"Interesting, she can feel the change despite only being a Body Refining Realm." Could it be a side effect of his helping her birth and cultivation? He had no idea but he took her in his arms and she became happy.

Only Ranger could get a better result. She knew her father on sight and the pair inspired a lot of happiness in the group.

Ranger had several recorded messages from Katara as did Lind. They were hopeful Katerina would understand why her mother could not be there in the future.

"Everyone, prepare for an audience with the King. None of us will stay on the Strider although I do not know where we will stay. Oz and Nana, get the wagon ready just in case." The pair bowed and left.

Bori and Lan were likely off training again. Bori was obsessed with getting stronger. The massively chaotic battle had shown that even Crystal Tiers could barely survive in such a direct assault.

Being stuck at the Heaven Realm was not acceptable.

After what happened with Lan, everyone knew Chu would somehow put Bori through a trial.

Lind felt it would be soon. The group packed up but Mills joined them and simply sat near Lind on the couch in the shared area.

"Master, what will happen to the orphanage?" She was focused on her former charges but he patted her head.

"The building may be lost but the kids will be saved, I promise." Song City was far enough away that he was not too worried about evacuating it. The greater concern was the center.

The beasts would sense it first and begin to run outward. The beast tide would wash over all the directions and anything in its path would be crushed.

No matter what, Lind had to see if he could do anything about the crystal. He could not let innocents die if there was a solution. He hoped there was.

Why was nothing ever easy?