Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1179 - 1178 - Celestial Barrens

Lind felt like he was a fool sometimes. If he could just ignore the cold world around him, his enemies would never find him! Of course, if he was not how he was, he doubted he would be coming up on the dangerous border ahead.

His near year journey after leaving the Rubyfire Kingdom was mostly laying low and gathering any local information he could. Some of it was useful as he learned how lawless things became the closer he got to the northwest territories.

The destroyed area was also massive. It spanned an area larger than all the mortal realms he had walked! Added on to that was the Heaven Realm lands he had lived in too! The size of the Celestial Fields always left him in awe as he grasped it once more.

A single region could fit billions upon billions with room to spare!

The various routes had fallen into disuse and abandon. Many were dead entirely as nothing existed down those paths anymore, but the Blood Talon Peak path held the last few civilization centers.

The former Scar Village was the end.

He had left it 3 months ago and found sparse copse of trees and brush until he finally came to a clear demarcation.

One one part, grass still lived with some brush, but beyond it was just ash gray dirt. Nothing lived past that point.

A simple brush with his arm confirmed it was Celestial Qi not Fiend Qi. How?! He looked it over and could not understand why it still existed in one place out of the rest of the world.

He then took a breath and stepped over the line. The moment he did, his crystal shook but that was all. He could breathe and move normally without issue. Unlike before in the Ruin where his harmony had strained to protect Cyntilla and himself, he felt at ease now.

He could have continued on the known path but confronting the dragons was low on his agenda. He could have also followed the routes he mapped out but only an idiot would not think those were not under observation.

So he had to approach from where they least expected.

Still, he was not suicidal. There was literally nowhere to hide. Despite being saturated with Celestial Qi, the ground was just stone dead. It told him the fall of the Celestials was still in effect even if their Qi was present.

He began to explore but there was not really much to see. He noticed there were not even stone formations as one would expect at random in a given place. Stone could jut up and be overgrown with moss or simply be exposed by the loss of plants, yet only a thick layer of ash was what he found.

There was a total lack of Qi in any of it too. He scooped up a few handfuls but it was totally dead.

"Not like the Ruin where it was converted. Strange. The Ruin retained the Qi but here it is just dead." He spoke aloud and his voice seemed far too loud. He looked around but nothing happened.

He shook his head and spent a month exploring the region. He thought the map would be wholly inaccurate as no one could safely investigate the barren region but oddly it was spot on.

There was just nothing!

He had dug through the loose soil and found it went quite deep. Once it was nearly a kilometer down did he finally find stone again but he frowned at what was in it. Fiend Qi. It was stone infused with Fiend Qi that shattered once exposed to air.

The ash soil collapsed to fill the space and he had to fly up to save himself from being buried.

"Fiend Qi material below but dead ash above and nothing on top. Intentional or a happy side effect?" He slowly dropped back down and decided to test a few things.

He used purely Celestial Qi and was shocked to see it work perfectly! He could finally practice it once more but the other 12 elements failed spectacularly.

Natural Qi was instantly turned into demonic Qi but demonic was turned into Celestial like it was nothing.

He tried using his harmony to isolate them but for the first time his harmony failed him.

The emerald Qi was consumed at 2 to 3 times the rate of before just to exist outside his body. It made him confused as he was clearly fine without a strain so why was pushing it outside so draining?

It took him 3 months to finally grasp it.

The Celestial Qi was indeed around him but it was not the same as the one he held. His Celestial Qi was alive but the one in the air around him was dead. It simply existed to destroy with an intent he could not combat!

"So intent is why it endures. This is not an accident at all. Someone unleashed a Relic or maybe an artifact survived somehow. Grade 7, or Law Grade would not be enough." A chill went down his spine as he grasped the possibilities.

Even a peak item of either grade would still not suppress him so easily.

Grade 8 was powerful but even with the massive leap between realms, Lind felt it was not enough. Only one grade could endure the Fiends.

"Dao Grade." Just what insane item had been unleashed in this place?!

He had grasped such a grade existed but to really experience it made him feel a tinge of fear. He could not resist it at all!

It also meant it was likely beyond the control of whoever unleashed it.

He was about to try a few more experiments to confirm it when he felt a change in the air. He glanced to his left and above.

A shadow flickered in the gray clouds above. He narrowed his gaze as he recognized the shape but his soul rejected it instantly.

A dragon but not one he could accept.

He quickly slunk down and waited for it to leave before slowly making his way over to where it had been.

One moment he was neck deep in the Celestial Qi but then suddenly it was gone! He looked down and noticed the same ash gray debris but there was a difference.

Natural Qi existed within it!

"I got close to a path it seems." He quickly tried to determine his position but the gray skies above gave away nothing. He actually did not know where he was!

The dragon had gone to his right so he went left.

It was all he had.

He crossed in and out of the barren lands but was able to map out the route as he moved. It felt like weeks had passed but maybe it was just days? Time had become a harder concept to track as there was no night or day cycle.

He was not sure how that worked but kept on until he frowned.

Qi had returned in greater density as he walked but he did not think that would be true if he was getting closer to the center.

He had chosen incorrectly.

He masked his presence as he emerged from the barren lands and plant life returned sparsely. In the distance a mighty mountain cut into the sky.

It was massive but its aura was dark and foreboding. He could feel blood and death thick all around it yet also desperation. His emerald eyes narrowed as he picked out several flying figures in the sky.

Their wingspan was decent but that was not what bothered him. Flying was very hard in the rest of the 2nd layer yet there were dragons flying as they should be.

He floated briefly and felt shocked. There was no strain at all!

He dropped back down as he could only hide so much from his fellow Crystal Tiers. A dragon, or any Divine Aether Beast, could easily find him if he exerted himself even in such a minor way.

He carefully made his way towards the mountain but froze as he felt a chaotic aura sweep the lands. It was powerful, on par with his own!

Peak Crystal Tier!

There was only 1 dragon like that in the area. Blood Talon himself.

Lind held still as the aura washed over and he felt his harmony react. He felt the vile trace in it he had not felt in quite some time.

"You damn bastard. You gave up your soul to live longer!" No wonder he was banished!

A theory began to settle in his mind and he sat down carefully to not draw any attention until the aura retracted.

The Celestial Qi was filled with an intent of some kind to destroy all that was not part of its system. It protected the Fiend material far below, likely part of the inverted mountain or simply more defenses.

The area nearby did not suffer from the Corruption but in exchange, life was sparse. It was not like when he purified the air with his harmony, it was simply a powerful intent greater than the Corruption unleashed on the 2nd layer.

"Clever bastards." Lind slowly understood. By creating an area few to none could enter safely, it made it damned hard to find them. On top of that, they set up a perfect guard race by tempting a weak dragon to betray their core principles.

The dragons could never leave due to their status but conversely they would be more willing to accept the Fiend bargains. Lind found no holes to exploit but looked at the mountain with grim determination.

His soul was demanding action and he could not ignore it. Lind had to fight!