Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1227 - 1226 - Lina

She shivered to see the ash gray being. It was not just his strength, but every aspect of her race memory down to her very cells rejected what was before her. She felt deep loathing and terror in equal measure.

She had heard the stories about Fiends but the soulless had seemed far worse as she had experienced them. Now, she knew how foolish that thought had been.

The soulless were just tools. They were scary but without commands, they were just puppets without an ability to move on their own.

The Fiend seemed to have the world trying to reject him. Her senses felt like Heaven was looking for him but could not find him! He was beyond its power somehow!

She also felt the glance at her nearly steal her soul but Lord Lind Frey stopped whatever it was. The soulless had to physically touch someone to consume them.

"Ants should know their place!" His voice made her ears pained but emerald flames suddenly covered her. All the strain on her soul and body vanished.

"Get back." Lind warned her off and she backed off as the 2 shot into the air. Radiant Tiers would level an area and the Fiend clearly did not want that anymore than they did.

The sky tore open as space was shattered when the battle began. She thought she had nothing else to contribute but then her ears swiveled to the west. The empty stretch of deserted land was red toned sand and nothing else to her eyes.

Still, her golden eyes narrowed as her instincts told her something was there. She moved behind a broken stone outcropping to hide her body from any observers while keeping an eye out for the soulless.

Their dark forms flitted across the skies but it seemed like they were no longer as organized as before. The Fiends had to be controlling them directly but now Lind was fighting them directly.

Could there be an artifact she could steal?

She did not know but carefully picked her way down a craggy gap between 2 large gray rocks as she came to an edge of the land the Knife Edge Bazaar called home. She saw only an empty expanse but the edge shimmered to her eyes.

It was like the bridges and clearly hid the landmass from detection. Still, she ignored it as she focused where her instincts told her something was missing.

She looked around and found some loose stones. She first tossed them across to the other side and after the impact checked for any reaction. The area remained calm and empty.

She then infused her spirit into a small stone before throwing it straight ahead. Her senses followed the stone as an extension of herself. She dropped behind the looming slab next to her and closed her eyes.

She saw the world from the stone as it flew until the world warped around her. She felt a little nausea until her vision cleared and she felt shocked.

A dark pillar appeared but unlike the bridges, it was vile in sensation! The stone hit it and her connection broke!

Pain lanced through her until she could cultivate long enough to repair it. Fear filled her but it was what Lord Frey had been looking for! That was the source of the soulless army!

She wished she could tell him she had found the Fiend entrance but the battle above was sundering the blue sky into the void. She saw a storm of soulless storm up but they were seemingly only flies to the 2 fighting.

She was unsure if it was an automatic response to the Fiend being in danger or actual orders but she snapped her head back to the empty expanse as a massive force of soulless emerged!

She held her breath but they did not seem to sense her or had orders to prioritize other targets. She shivered but then settled as she realized the truth.

It was up to her. No one else knew what she did and no one could be spared. The soulless were coming and according to Lord Frey, there were billions to come!

She suddenly realized something.

Why had they not streamed out continuously? Why was it such a small number of a few thousand compared to the millions it should be?

"Same rules–" The bridge worked on the same rules! It meant there was a way to stop them. She quickly ran forward and her body seemed so slow until one of her tails lit up with air Qi.

She was pushed forward by a strong draft until she crossed the illusion and felt ill. She saw the yawning opening was slowly closing so she quickly rolled inside.

As she expected, she found a stairwell curving downward to infinity so far as her senses were concerned.

The door was now opening again just like it would in the other bridges.

They were stuck by the same rules. She also hoped the barrier would work the same but it stayed up. She frowned as she knew she only had a couple weeks to maybe occupy the bridge before it spat her out forcefully.

She looked at the interior wall and realized it was no longer as vile feeling as the exterior. Could it be simply a defense they put around it to lock it to their kind?

She brought a few of the loose stones from outside and fused her spirit as little as possible before she tossed it at the pale smooth walls.

It bounced off loudly to her ears but that was all! It had no effect on her connection!

She quickly put her hands on it and felt the formations react to her spirit but it was far more profound an artifact than her cultivation. She could not even put a wisp of her spirit inside it but she could stretch her senses farther than her aura by using it.

She only found more stairs and other smooth walls just like the other bridges. There had to be more! Why could the soulless fly without being detected by them?

There was no way she believed they walked given the sheer number that emerged all at once just before she entered. It was only at the very edge of her new senses she felt something odd.

She looked down and swallowed as it was a few days down if she walked. There was another option but it was very dangerous.

She took a breath before she leapt into the hollow space in the center. Wind whistled as she fell downward with how gravity was currently orientated.

The stairs whipped by until she swiped outward with her right arm and her claws extended as she used earth Qi to enhance them. She heard a loud pop and pain flooded her body but she held on as her claws had snagged the steps.

She could not damage them but she had been going fast enough to catch them firmly with her claws. She could not use her right arm but her left one swung up and grabbed a lower step.

She quickly pulled herself up as pain spiked from her dislocated arm. She summoned a pill and swallowed it. Soothing waves were followed by a sharp pop as her shoulder was set back in place.

She slowly sat up and saw a difference from the other bridges to the current one. An intricate formation glowed with demonic Qi.

She analyzed it before she got a grasp on what she was seeing. The formation actually dispersed the Fiend Qi! It allowed for flight without causing a ripple!

She imprinted a rough cut jade stone but then realized there was little else she could do! She was no formation master nor anything else! She relied on her instincts and more recently her status as a Spiritwalker.

Her eyes went wide as an idea came to her.

She could not make formations, but she could break them! It was a grade 7 formation but that did not matter for what she needed. She traced the inscriptions quickly until she found what she needed.

It was a swirl of patterns circling a beast core. It was an anchor point but the important part was the beast core.

She conjured her spirit once more and touched it. A flash of pain and death nearly sent her reeling but she bit her cheek to shock her brain back to the present. The lingering memory was not what she was after.

The aether beast was long dead.

Her spirit traced the dormant areas of the core not used in the formation until she smiled. She found it!

A massive ephemeral shape floated at the heart of the core. It was the original vestige imprinted when the core formed in a beast. It was dead but her ability let her do a trick.

She infused her spirit absent her own intent and the center lit up. A massive winged shape shivered until silver eyes snapped open before the call of a bird of prey shook the interior of the core.

The once stable formation strained but Lina could only start to run back up. It was not going to be gentle when it broke. The flow of Qi began to become unstable and not even 3 breaths later, the core shattered.

The inscriptions flared like the sun before explosions began to occur. The bridge was hardly bothered but the formation once running smoothly collapsed. She smiled in relief as she had made her escape until a flow of air came from above.

Terror crossed her face as she knew what that meant! It was too soon! The bridge was going to eject her!

She began to sprint back up but she had no idea if it would let her back out at the entrance or the exit. If she was sent to the exit, she was worse than dead!

Tears formed as she felt gravity increase and knew her fate. She was going to be turned into Fiend cultivation resources or fuel for the soulless creatures! Either way, her soul would cease to exist!

Her desperate scramble came to an end as the force pushing down on her forced her to fall down the steps. She actually hoped she died before reaching the end but she knew the stories.

The bridge would not let anyone die. They would just be forcefully ejected.

"L–l–lord Frey, I am sorry." All she had learned about him would be ripped from her. They would know his name and with that, the danger to his loved ones would increase.

She started to feel the flip one would at the exit of a bridge and closed her eyes against the end of all she was.