Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1143 - 1142 - Unexpected Lead

Lind became a temporary guest of Maester Atla but the truth was they were like peas in a pod when it came to elixirs. The derivative professions were part artistic skill as much as having the right ingredients.

The other human and beast Maesters that were connected to the Stonelight Guild eventually heard the legendary Triple Maester was within their reach! It had cause a storm of emergence from seclusion or research but also fighting!

Older men and women with millions of years of experience were practically acting like teenagers! Becoming a Maester in 3 professions, regardless of which, at one time made someone able to grasp complex connections between them!

Alchemists could do little to help refiners or formation masters but weavers could help all 3! The same with Forging and elixir masters. They were the bridge between the 3 standard professions and they had access to a being that used all 3 of them!

Lind felt extremely glad Maester Atla had her own spatial chambers as only she could let people in or out normally. His aberration was not possible to account for at the present but one day his advantage would be gone.

The more 6 elementals that rose up in cultivation realms will lead to discoveries to level the playing field.

Still, that was the future and at the moment, Lind was looking at his own scales on a sample slate.

They were arranged for 1 scale to a slate on the hardened stone table. The control slate was as expected, happily absorbing and allowing natural Qi to flow with ease.

There were 2 more for each elemental set but the results were strange. He had expected resistance or perhaps issues with demonic Qi but it seemed to only cause the usual shimmer to dim even after months of testing.

The Celestial Qi, on the other hand, changed the very nature of his scales. They shifted from emerald, to gold, to all the colors one could think of until it broke down into dust after a month of exposure.

There were 3 more sets of such slates. As expected, his harmonic Qi protected his body with ease. The flickering emerald light around 3 scales did not even budge as all 18 elements flowed peacefully through them.

The last set of scales were being treated by the elixir he could make, one for Atla, and one they procured from the guild to fuse demonic Qi into his scales.

His failed spectacularly as there was no blood in his scales. It revealed a weakness in his elixir process. Maester Atla's could not even put a scratch in his scale and if they artificially cracked it, it turned to black before crumbling.

The last elixir was a bit different. Rather than slowly fuse from the blood or rebuild the structure, it saturated the scale with demonic Qi anchors. It had some surprising results in that his scale integrity did not fail but it hardly succeeded.

It was more like it made pockets of demonic Qi in his scale.

It was the 5th round of tests and the results were consistent enough to confirm a few things he had already known while there were a few he wanted to tinker with.

He had already known his body would be highly resistant to change and that his harmony was both buffer and facilitator of all 18 elements.

Without it, he would have died long ago after he integrated demonic Qi into his dantian.

He had a cold sweat form as he truly realized that his harmony was the only reason he was alive!

The tribulations only cared if you could overcome them, not if your body was properly attuned.

There were clear signs that his body was demonic Qi tolerant but Celestial Qi was a much higher hurdle.

So far as transforming his body, only the guild elixir really had anything close to an effect without destroying his scales. That was severely limited though.

Making pockets of Qi did not really make him compatible and only weakened his body if he thought about it. Still, it gave him some avenues of thought.

"I see that Celestial Qi is as aggressive as ever. This emerald Qi is so fascinating. I wish I could replicate it for my own needs." Maester Atla was wearing a heavier robe as experiments had a nasty tendency to blow up when doing anything new.

The more subtle breakdowns were actually quite welcome to them both.

"I think I need to take a different route with that entirely but demonic Qi is not as bad as I feared." His words elicited a frown from her.

"You should not underestimate this result. Lost luster on a dragon scale is often an indication of ill health." He knew that but compared to what was expected, it was far better.

"I hope to solve this before I look deeper into the surviving archives for the inverted mountain." Lind mumbled his thoughts aloud as he leaned back on his oak stool. The creak of wood covered the sudden ruffle of Maester Atla's movements.

Lind felt a grip on his chest before he was unceremoniously slammed into the shelf behind him.

"WHY DO YOU KNOW THAT PLACE?!" Her eyes blazed with rage but Lind was more surprised by her left hand holding a darkly sparkling vial of poison! Poison pills and elixirs need not be demonic but the one in her hands most certainly was.

Green Death Elixir was aptly named as the body was consumed until all that remained was a green powder where the body once was. The grade was obvious to him at a glance as well. Mid Law Grade!

It was the peak of her skill!

"It was why I came here. In exchange for information leading to that place, I would teach my skills in the capital. The King gave my a journal–" He felt her aura slam into him. At such a close range it would be normally damaging but his harmony protected him.

He was almost having deja vu after what he experienced with Piercer of the Veil Immortal. She was a seer so it was related to her visions but why would an elixir master have such a reaction?

"Show me that journal right now!" With a thought, his ring summoned a very worn and frayed leather journal. Its color was faded but he had felt some symbol once adorned its cover.

Maester Atla quickly took it in her right hand and backed off. Her face lost all color the moment she saw it.

"The Founder's journal still exists–" Now his eyes narrowed. The King said it was part of the royal record but there was no demonic blood in the man. None of his children had any nor any of his ancestors.

Demons and humans could have children but some traces would remain in the form of characteristics not normal to either race. A blonde demon, for instance, would be quite impossible normally.

Her own hair likely showed human ancestry but the color was natural not harmony induced.

"Which Founder?" Maester Atla looked up and seemed to be considering something before she came to a conclusion.

"Why do you want to find the Altar of Souls?" The moment the words were spoken, Lind felt pain lance his chest. Maester Atla showed no reaction but he swiftly erected emerald wards all around them.

It was a soul attack!

She was confused until the wards washed over her and her Qi flowed much faster than before. Further, she felt something shift in her crystal. It was hard to pin down but the dark lightning crystal seemed to gain further glimmering from her Qi as she observed it.

"What–what just happened?" She felt slightly dizzy but Lind was trying to find the source of the attack. They were in an isolated space, already heavily guarded by formations, but something easily breached it!

"Do you remember what you asked me about the inverted mountain?" She slowly nodded and was about to speak when he held up his hand. "When you gave that name, I felt an attack on my soul. A weaver is very sensitive to those but the more disturbing part is there was no warning at all. It was a triggered attack." Her eyes became pinpricks but then quickly she turned to a safe on the far wall.

She waved her arm and clicks were heard as the dark metal door swung outward and she saw a glowing red crystal!

"It was not a soul attack. It was a spiritual attack. A fine difference but much harder to defend against. The recent bloodline array was such a nefarious existence but I swept my rooms for such further threats!" Lind examined the glowing crystal as he found it interesting.

It was a refined artifact but its principles were spiritual as she had stated. It was clearly why she felt nothing as it had protected her. He needed to study it!

"Can a dormant array be missed?" She shook her head.

"The bloodline array was so widespread because the flags made connecting lines everywhere. So long as even a spatial fold was in the way, it would only need to open the doorway to anchor inside it. For something like this, it would have to be anchored to something we brought in ourselves." Lind was confused until he grasped what she meant.

[Haro.] He had collected many things so he assumed it was him but his spirit answered quickly.

[It was not from us, Master. It was from the journal itself.] Lind quickly raised his hand and the leather journal flew to his hands. Emerald flames engulfed it to the dismay of Atla but then both froze as a faint scream was heard.

[STOP! STOP BURNING ME!] The feeling of a spirit was suddenly clear to them both and Lind stopped his flames. A flickering old man's face began to float above the cover. He looked irate. [There was no need for that! I was only doing my job!]

The journal was an artifact but Lind still could not tell despite being in his hand! How did it work?! Why was it able to hide?!

"Great Guardian, we meant no disrespect! We have kept to the Oaths!" Maester Atla was on her knees now and speaking with her face to the floor. The floating head seemed to preen a bit but then Haro appeared.

"Brat, my Master is not some villain as you must know. Explain quickly or you will be killed by me!" The dark skinned man was cold and the floating head shivered.

[Senior is unfair! I just did what I was commanded to do. If anyone knew that name, they had to die! I am barely working as it is but I could not stop it!] Lind understood. The spirit was lower than Haro and far more limited.

"Everyone calm down. Let's start from the beginning and go from there." Lind brought the attention of all to him. He began to talk about his journey and why he wanted to go to the inverted mountain.

As he spoke, both Atla and the floating head stared at him as if he was mad.

[You want to go into that accursed Fiend stronghold and destroy it? Boy, I hate to break it to you but the inverted mountain is not a natural place, it is a massive sacrificial artifact. Anyone not a Fiend will die the moment they go inside, never mind destroying it!] The spirit's words brought pin drop silence to the room and Lind actually deflated.

He finally got a good lead and it spelled the doom of all. What would he do now?