Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1206 - 1205 - Warnings

A single week.

That was all the time that had passed since the soulless fled and now Lind sat in a small room in the central tower with only 2 other towers' worth of personnel. The one he had been at when it happened and oddly the one he first encountered when he arrived at the Whisper Peaks.

They easily fit in the massive tower as it was meant to be a last bastion if needed. Yet, the halls did not feel crowded at all even at midday. People were grappling with the fact they were trapped in the Whisper Peaks.

Scouts had been sent out and never returned.

A few artifacts had also been attempted but they had never done well in the strong winds. Lind had thought the lack of whispering voices would improve his condition but his harmony was reacting more oddly as time passed.

He had never encountered such a thing before. He had faced Fiends and even the Great One without an issue. He had been outclassed many times by cultivators looking to kill him as well but his harmony had always seen him through.

Yet now, it seemed like something was affecting his harmony alone. It made cultivation impossible but it was also making him nauseous to an alarming degree.

Elixirs and healing Arts did nothing.

No one else seemed affected but that did not bring any relief. It left a mystery of what could wipe out whole towers of cultivators as easily as breathing and also affect his harmony directly.

It had to be the source of the whispering voices all knew of before but just what was it?

Lind paced inside his room but he had no more answers than when they arrived. They were soldiers fighting for survival and he had ignored his usual practices to get stronger.

Reality was giving him a harsh reminder why he had persevered when so many others failed but he did not regret his choices. He still stood by his resolution.

He would sacrifice all for his strength!

He swiftly left the room and nearly stumbled into the little fox girl from before. She jumped at his sudden appearance but he had not meant to scare her.

She made a squeak before running off in a puff of shimmering illusions. He let her go but made his way to the commander's offices. Hopefully they had some good news.

After moving up the massive tower, he came to an area like a market. It was an open layout intentionally to allow for both storage and trade for new arrivals as old ones left. No one really needed silence wards once they left the Whisper Peaks after all.

Lind ascended past it quickly but he noticed rampant trade with pills and formation plates going on that drew his eye.

"Sleeping aids? Why?" Everyone else should be easily able to sleep but it seemed that was not the case.

After a few more floors, he finally reached the officers' rooms. There were guards there but they only bowed low as he passed them. They knew him of old.

He stopped before a black door inlaid into the pale stone. He waited as his aura was likely already noticed. The door slid aside and the demon inside was sitting behind a desk with reports like always.

"It is unusual for you to come to me, Lord Emerald Immortal but we are not in usual times." He ignored the sarcasm and strode in. The leather couch was facing the desk so he took it as a seat uninvited.

The demon was not overly muscled but he was giving off a powerful aura as his arms were exposed with daggers strapped to each bicep.

Lind knew he had several more throughout his body but the 2 on his arms were peak grade 7 weapons. An impressive set to have.

The demon, himself, was peak Radiant Tier but he treated Lind as a superior despite being a higher cultivation.

"I know we discussed the history of this place, but did anyone have a lead?" Lind decided to broach the topic directly but the demon sighed in frustration.

"Not a blasted thing. Even a children's tale would be welcomed at this point. We already knew the towers did not exist until the soulless were found to be using such remote places as ambush points." Lind nodded as he knew that much.

"I know there are no resources here, but why has no one claimed it for those inclined to air Qi as their primary element? It is a superb environment for that alone." His words were reasonable but the demon commander had no answers.

Once they all gathered and grasped the seriousness of their situation, the Immortals tried to recall any story or legend of the Whisper Peaks but there was nothing. Part of it was frankly the local powers had been wiped out long ago with no survivors.

The very reason the demons set up towers was to prevent the soulless from having a place to recover and plan offensives uninterrupted. It spread them thin but it kept the hordes ever moving so each place could recover.

"There are many inhospitable places in the Endless Peaks. You have heard of most by now, I am sure but the Knife Edge Bazaar reveals we still know so little about the world." The demon commander lamented it but Lind found it normal.

No matter where he had gone, there were always places being discovered or long lost Inheritances showing up. Cultivators lived long lives but assumed because of that, everything worthwhile had been discovered long ago.

His experience showed people went out of their way to keep secrets. He had been quite strange sharing knowledge the way he did.

"So there is no indication of why not even a remote outpost was here before?" Lind brought it back to the main topic but the commander pondered before shaking his head. It made him surprised.

There was something?

"As you know, we employ fox aether beasts at the Heaven Realm and above at each tower. Their sensitivity to Qi and other factors made them ideal with the wards we had to use." Lind did not even bother nodding. Everyone knew about that.

A rather smooth pale white jade stone appeared in the commander's hands. He tossed it to Lind who sunk his aura into it.

It was not much at all, but it did mention that part of the negotiations with the Immortal foxes revealed their discomfort in coming to the Whisper Peaks.

[It is not so much knowing something but the race memory warns us. It is like a shadow on our minds and a feeling of avoidance. Other beasts too do not go there. It is a forbidden place.]

Lind's own race memory was useless as he was a progenitor, but there were a few other aether beast races still around the tower. He looked up and the demon commander nodded.

"While not the same, all the beasts agree they have a disquiet that had nothing to do with the whispers from before. It was like the race memory knows there is a danger but not the shape of it." Lind recalled many of the messages from the voices but could only slowly nod as none of them meshed well.

The only thread was about something hungry but that could apply to just about anything or everything. All life must consume to live.

It was just a question of what was being consumed.

Lind was about to stand up when a wave of dizziness slammed into him. It was much worse than previous times. It also felt wrong to the east. So very wrong but unlike a Fiend at all.

His harmony felt like it was about to be snuffed out!

It was only when a pair of firm arms caught him that he realized the demon commander had been calling out to him for some time.

"Emerald Immortal! What is wrong?!" The panic was clear as he was already known as a powerful warrior in the war against the soulless. Lind tried to get his elements to cycle through his body but they were sluggish!

He reached deep to get his mind to project outward.

[DANGER TO THE EAST!] His mental message slammed outward. The demon commander took the brunt of it but he was fine. His higher cultivation protected him.

Lind could not get his body to obey him but the commander quickly left and he could only hope it was enough. He heard some voices outside the door but could not concentrate enough to grasp what was being said.

Darkness closed in and he had no idea if he would ever wake again.

⬧⬧⬧⬧

Lina slowly walked in to see the powerful dragon passed out just as Commander Eren said he would be. Her ears wilted as her tail drooped but now that he was unconscious, his face looked so kind!

She was not scared of him at all.

She was about to simply sit next to him when she saw the black ring on his right hand. It was very pretty with a faded emerald sinuous shape on it. Her tail began to wag as she touched it carefully.

Her finger shot back like it was on fire! Pain! Unbelievable pain!

She whimpered but before she could back up, the temperature began to drop! She felt fear unlike anything she had felt in her life.

When those mean humans had turned against them and used her for venting their anger was terrifying but at that moment she would happily go back!

What was going on?!