Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1240 - 1239 - Soul Among Spirits

The cultivation worlds were always divided up into realms. The mortal realms were numerous, fragile spheres that held the majority of all life. They were born attached to the Heaven Realm that acted as a buffer between the incredible power of the source of all Qi and life.

The Heaven Realm was generally one gigantic land that encompassed many connections to the mortal realms below and the Celestial Fields above. It was not possible to map it out as shifts in natural and artificial events reshaped it constantly.

Further, drastic changes to the Celestial Fields could also affect it across wide swaths of its lands.

Still, the birth of Immortals began there for any cultivators.

After that came the Celestial Fields, the true place of Immortals divided among the 4 layers.

Many assumed the Celestial Fields was the true source of all Qi and Laws that disseminated down to the mortal realms but that was wrong.

There was one more world. The Divine World. It was hardly understood nor even grasped by those below the 4th layer of the Celestial Fields. There was no point until a cultivator reached the Sovereign Tier to even begin to touch on it.

That said, even the Sovereign Tiers knew the Divine World was not the source of Qi either. The Divine Realm cultivators spoke of another world beyond them. It was the true source of all of their worlds.

It was the home of the spirits often invoked when referring to Heaven and Earth.

It was not a place cultivators could ever go as it was not a place in the same sense as the other worlds to each other. It existed alongside them but never truly intersected. All the phenomena of cultivation was due to its existence but maybe not its intervention.

The rules of Heaven and Earth were sometimes obscure but not immutable. It made the cultivators aware of an intelligence behind the rules yet that intelligence seemed as bound by the same rules.

Many wondered what that world of spirits looked like but none had ever heard of anyone seeing anything like it no matter the disaster or boon from Heaven.

A place of golden skies and silver clouds had a breeze gently blow through it. The wind seemed to have the song of all life in it as it moved but that was not the most amazing sight. There was a world of wonders in that sky!

It was not an orb or flat stretch of land as it never held a consistent shape, but it was a place. Orbs of color zipped across it and outside of it at varying speeds. Pure elements had a physical manifestation like an Elemental but no intelligence behind it.

Still, the solid objects seemed to have Laws as physical appendages rather than a mental concept as cultivators had to learn them. Further, there were profound mountains that loomed at times or became objects like a golem at others.

Nothing was fixed or kept in place. It was inconstant flux aside from existing!

Sometimes there was a sudden whirlpool of elements and Laws coming together that would pop away to places unknown but happiness permeated each time it happened.

A new life was born somewhere!

In this place of constant change, a fixture had arrived. It was not the first time but it had been a very long time. The last time a fixture had arrived was a dark day for all life but the current fixture was different.

It was a man with long emerald hair and eyes. He was young, so very young but had aged considerably before his body died. It should have been a normal end but he had been in direct contact with Heaven and Earth compounded by a bolt of judgment.

Now, he slept on a slab of pure white stone created for him to rest. They waited. A soul was not affected by the passage of time like a true body. It had no needs or demands so long as Qi flowed into it.

Normally, that was enough, but the current figure was pulling in more than any other being they had known. All 18 elements flowed happily into his soul as well as a storm of Laws that seemed insane for any single being to pursue.

How had such a greedy man become an Immortal? They knew, of course, but few cared. A single life was nothing to them.

A select few, however, were deeply concerned.

[This was not supposed to happen. He exhausted his vitality but his soul had some time left. He should have been able to enjoy his twilight years.] The voice had no gender specifically as it shifted from male to female to neutral. They were all like that.

[He had hardly been conventional but in the best way! He solved the puzzle of 6 elementals several billion years early! We all assumed the cumulation would take at least that much longer before someone figured it out!] An excited voice spoke on the other side of the slab.

[He was pulled over as compensation for the One that Desecrates. He has undone much of the damage in that realm with his own effort. It is not unusual that the bolt of judgment would deem him worthy to come here but this result was outside our expectations.] A third voice spoke up.

The revelation was not shocking. Some cultivators had come to the source but only as souls. Usually, that is where their story ended, but one had changed that.

It was the darkest day for all life.

[We should send him back to the physical world! He does not belong here!] A prickly voice spoke up but the others admonished it.

The gist of all Lind's achievements could not be denied, especially the end. He freely burned his life to let Heaven and Earth enforce their rules. The bridge, or Heaven and Earth as the cultivators called it, was not infallible.

It required tending and modification at times but the Fiends had become a dangerous addition to the worlds. The original Fiend, the One that Desecrates, was the worst offender.

As the spirits spoke, various events occurred where other souls passed through. They were not cultivators but from the greater universe beyond theirs. Life was not solely born there, only Qi.

It was, however, an integral part of life and death in all places. Those souls that touched on cultivation, even just barely, were qualified to be reborn as cultivators. Not all had their memories intact but some did.

It was a variable due to the rules they could not fully control. It was a grim problem ever since the Fiends were caused by such a soul but the imbalance only increased such people being reborn.

Lind, in that regard, was quite welcome. He had done much to balance the scales unlike others that made things worse or ignored it entirely.

Others had also made a dent but died by the Sky Realm or sooner. The handful that made it to Immortals usually died to the Fiends at that point.

Technically, so did Lind, but only his body. He had enough vitality left to endure as a soul for a million years or so. It was plenty of time to create or find a body but they knew he would likely be unable to do either.

He had made his soul too damned unique! He could use all 18 elements. He was a Triple Maester. He was a dragon soul and a True Lord for a time. That last was lost at first but now it was in limbo.

If he had stayed in the physical world, it would definitely have been gone, but the bolt of judgment had stopped that process. Even the spirits did not know why.

It was not like a computer where they could look at the code. The rules all cultivators lived by were largely the ones they had to live by. It seemed only fair!

The birth of the Divine World had not been their intent, it was simply how pressure was relieved. The Qi, Laws, and Dao had to go somewhere and thus the profound worlds were born.

The spirits did not care about the why, they simply understood it. There were no secrets from them where Heaven and Earth were concerned. They could tweak it too but the rules enforced could not deviate from their own.

As time passed, they saw the strange life forms that were born give shape to intelligence that rivaled their own. They were small minded at first but then the battles began. It was something new.

Something they disdained but the rules revealed it was not so simple. Not all the battles were driven by greed or simple bloodlust. Some fought to protect.

Some fought for love. Some fought for reasons not entirely clear but it was not a dark feeling. It was like battle made them feel alive.

The spirits did not fully understand but enough came through that they saw karma at work. That was a new thing too. Karma did not exist for them. They were always in flux and always as they had been.

They did not interfere nor did they judge. Karma, however, was very powerful!

The being in front of them was a good example. The reason for their concern was that golden sparks appeared on his soul as he recovered.

The vitality he lost was being restored! Anywhere else it would be impossible, but the world of spirits had no need of it despite it existing in abundance after uncounted epochs had passed.

It was not only restored but surpassed his original limit! His soul was on its way to live for billions of years or more!

It should not have been possible but the Celestial Qi changed the equation. Natural and Refined Qi, what the cultivators called demonic, would not allow eternity but Celestial Qi could. It could transform the very foundations of its host.

The spirits understood why limits were inbuilt to the Celestials by Heaven and Earth. If it did not, that race would wipe out all the others in no time! The decision of how long they lived was uncertain but it had to do with the souls.

The spirits were reminiscing when a groan drew their attention. Even the previously disinterested spirits slowed to pay attention.

Emerald eyes blinked slowly as a grimace of pain flashed before confusion replaced it.

[I–I am alive? I think?] His voice was weak but steady. A gentle aura spread outward but stopped short as pain returned. He grasped his head but the spirits understood.

[You should not do that young man. Cultivators are not built to understand the world currently around you.] A rather older sounding voice spoke as all the spirits backed away.

An old woman walked firmly out of what had been a forest but was now an upward flowing waterfall. By the time she arrived, the mountaintops were broken.

The ever shifting world did not stop but the 2 figures were now fixed. Lind just seemed more confused to the spirits but the old woman smiled gently as her robes kept shifting colors.

[None of you are cultivators. You feel almost like Elementals but that is not right either. The closest I have felt like this was when that salamander manifested on the Fortune's Way.] Surprise spread among them.

After all, he had only been a mortal back then. How could his senses have felt that connection?

[Not bad, Lind Frey. We have much to discuss.] The old woman sat in mid air like it was normal and thus the first meeting between Lind and the spirits began!