Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1200 - 1199 - Knife Edge Bazaar

The sky bridge was a kind of trial to many cultivators. Those used to flying or teleporting felt like Heaven was punishing them. No one knew when it had been built exactly either.

It was one of those ancient artifacts someone made and was abandoned or never really used as more convenient inventions existed.

Lind theorized it was someone like him that was testing an idea for use later but regardless, it was a mercy in the current situation.

The sky bridges numbered only 30 or so and of those only about 10 were still intact or close enough to be quickly fixed. When running for their lives, the Immortals stumbled on them and realized the Soulless could not see them if they walked inside an intact one!

All the bridges stretched far into the sky and somehow avoided natural predators like rocs, dragons, and so forth. Aether beasts were normally more aware of changes in the wind but even Lind, standing right next to the base of one he could see with his eyes, felt nothing!

All the bases of each bridge were in remote and desolate mountain peaks. It was places few would bother visiting as well. That did intrigue him a bit but not enough to dig into it. There was simply no time and it would not increase his power.

That last part was becoming more common in his considerations. He began to have new appreciation for the arrogant bastards he had to deal with in the past. Still, he now knew they did not have to be so idiotic in their interactions.

He did not seek out conflict nor impose his will. If it helped him grow, he would pursue it, but he would not trod over innocents to do it.

The steps were sturdy and without a window or other marker to denote how far he had come, he just kept climbing. The interior brought in the sun and moons' light depending on the time of day but it was likely part of its camouflage feature.

Days passed before he finally felt a breeze from above. Relatively speaking, he should be seeing people coming the other direction yet he saw no one due to the flight restriction.

The rules were rather simple. Every other half a month, each direction would begin the march up. After a week, the line would be cut off and another week would pass before the others started the opposite side.

The one thing Lind truly was curious about was the stairs. Right now, the silverish stairs were circling up the wall in a curve but gravity was clearly oriented from the Icy Path.

So how did the other side with the Bazaar not fall to their deaths?

Once the last person left, something happened where the doors closed on the sky bridges and when they opened once more, the stairwell had shifted. He really wanted to know how that worked as it shifted gravity, layout, and even the atmosphere directions without even a ripple outside.

It frustrated the Immortals that spatial disturbances and flight were not treated similarly but the lost history could not be found so easily.

The next day Lind saw a doorway looming open above him and tensed his muscles. Flight was not allowed, but he could leap the distance it would take half a day to ascend walking!

The world blurred before he stumbled to a stop just outside the base. It took him a moment to orient his senses as now a pillar stretched up behind him into the sky once more even though he had just been walking up it from the Icy Path.

Noises intruded on his ears but he was still some distance from the Bazaar itself. The demons bowed low the instant they saw his hair and eyes. He ignored them and marched forward.

The smooth hall gave way to rocky terrain. Blue sky and a strong breeze flowed over him and he felt his dark robes react by activating his defenses a bit. The wind was biting enough to affect him.

Still, he looked out at the sprawling chaos that was the Knife Edge Bazaar. If the Icy Path was a refuge for weaker cultivators and their families, the Bazaar was the place Immortals desperately funneled materials to production masters to repair and create all they needed.

Just like the sky bridges, the location was not a known place. There were no known floating land masses yet he was clearly standing on one. Some of the peaks did have soil and stone between them for small islands or even a very small continent if one stretched the meaning of the word.

The Bazaar had been built on the ruins of an unknown city and now it was thriving but all knew the soulless could find it one day. Radiants were too thin to keep it safe on their own yet whatever hid the bridges was just as effective on the Bazaar.

There were a handful of differences. No Immortal could tear through space because of some restriction that even Radiants could not violate. Further, flight was impossible, even with artifacts, by some other restriction.

Lind actually wanted those restrictions but even he had concluded the same thing other Maesters and Masters had determined. Sovereign Tier. Peak of grade 7 or Law Grade that only they could pull off.

Lind could get close but the chasm between high and peak grades were startlingly large now.

He pushed his thoughts aside as he made his way down the path from the sky bridge. He could see a dozen more as he got closer to the city.

The towers were not centralized but generally the taller the more powerful the Maester or Master in charge of it.

Various scents of ash, herbs, and chemicals reached him first but then the distinctive sounds of metal clashing and shouts for more fuel were not long after.

It was named Knife Edge Bazaar for a reason. The desperate struggle to survive pushed everyone to their limit. There was no escape for anyone anymore as the Sovereign Tiers had cut off the 4th layer after the initial evacuation.

Supposedly, the same issue when that idiot woman ascended occurred and the soulless tried to flee upward to the next layer.

As their propagation was a complete mystery, no one was taking such a chance.

Their recovery explained why their numbers did not fall the way many wished but Lind's arrival changed that. Once he killed them close up with his harmony, they stayed dead so long as their corpses could be found.

The demons respected him for that very reason. They finally saw hope but he never accepted any invitation or offers from them.

He was done with adding more chains to his life.

The figures of rushing messengers and couriers came into his sight at last but Lind merely pushed onward. He needed to find a quieter area of the Bazaar.

A bit of nostalgia still filled him as he saw the open markets of Cimmeria around him. He did miss his old life. It was not wrong to understand that.

He did not hate anyone from the past as he just saw them as being used by Heaven as well. Now that he was picking apart his life, there were far too many coincidences but he had labored enough on it.

It did not help him aside from firm his will to stay away. He needed to get stronger and he needed to kill his current obstacle as swiftly as possible.

A few of the sprinting demons and humans noted his presence and quickly opened a path. He smirked at that as it was unintentional. His first visit to the Bazaar had a stereotypical arrogant bastard trying to assert his authority over a newbie.

Lind had sent him flying into the small hills around the Bazaar without breaking a sweat.

The total lack of aether beasts bothered him but many of those clans were gone. Either death or escape claimed them. Humans had left en masse as well but aether children still lingered here or there.

He realized they were totally absent in the 2nd layer which angered him anew.

There was no formal road exactly but space was created to keep several professions from interfering with each other. The formations were considerable but stable. Immortals could endure the pressure but Heaven Realms and below would struggle even to walk the path Lind was on.

He swiftly left the shouting and running to a quieter area. A massive tower loomed ahead of him but unlike the others, it was not held by a Maester or Master of production. It was an auction house.

It was the only auction house left in the entire 3rd layer. Unlike other auction houses he had dealt with, it did not hold the usual activities and did not have impossible items found by ancient experts like others.

What it did do was hold auctions for materials and production slots. There was simply that much business that the refiners, alchemists, and so forth had auctions to buy things in batches.

He had snatched up a few of the high grade 7 herbs but beast cores were next to impossible to find. The only reason they could find a few was that some had held onto them or found an old cache from the fallen powers that could not evacuate in time.

The soulless could still consume them as well but if the treasuries or storage treasures were missed, a cultivator may find something useful for Immortals.

The Icy Path was one of the few places with natural beast packs living on the ground. The only other aether beasts left were those that could fly and move when the soulless came calling.

It also had a booming business as the information hub for the demonic forces. Lind stepped up to the stark stone steps but did not advance as he waited. He had learned the hard way what happened if any Radiant Tier tried to enter the place.

Everyone assumed said individual would be bringing treasure and would swarm them even if they were a peak Radiant Tier.

Lind may be cold to others, but he did not underestimate the depths of a frenzied crowd!

After a short time, a young man and woman came marching out. They were both human which surprised him but they were only Sliver Tiers.

"Welcome so Golden Auction House, Lord Emer–" Lind flared his aura to stop the man from fawning over him. His pale hair and eyes spoke of some bestial ancestry but the girl was still bowing without saying a word.

"I am here for Evie." The man's eyes widened before he looked nervous.

"Ahem, I am afraid that Lady–" Lind frowned at the incoming excuse when the woman glanced up at him and smiled.

"She has been expecting you, please follow me." Lind sighed at the theatrics as the young man was left frozen. Evie was annoying due to that but he cared little for her antics.

All he cared about was the information.