Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1262 - 1261 - Rage of the Great One

There was no grand fortress. No sprawling empire or sect. No sign of civilization at all. The fierce winds kept searingly cold temperatures year round in the peaks that dominated the region.

Over the billions of years, ice had grown until it became the deepest black for unknown reasons. The few cultivators that ventured there, never found a way to survive on their own for long.

No plants or even beasts called it home. At least, none now.

Long ago, a single man entered those peaks and forever made it his. He spent a billion years engraving his mark into the very ice itself.

After that, he simply returned to rest at times and try to progress on the path of cultivation.

He had short cropped white hair with ash gray skin. It shone with a healthy luster but unlike any other of his race, he was not impossibly beautiful. His clothes were a simple leather vest and dark cloth pants.

The boots were made of an animal hide directly but all of it was rather mundane looking. Many cultivators made the mistake of thinking he had no defenses because of that but none of them lived to tell how horrifically wrong they were.

His eyes were closed in serenity until a wrinkle formed on his forehead. At first it was just a passing moment but then the frown deepened on his fast as a vibration began to spread in all directions from him.

"Cough!" He suddenly coughed hard and blood as black as death seared the stone floor. The life inside of it was instantly given to him but the blood rotted into nothing!

"What–?!" His voice caused the ice outside to shatter as he did not control it. He refocused as he tried to find what had injured him. What was left aside from his fellow cultivators that could?

His body healed quickly but he frowned as he felt something wrong. Something had shifted ever so much and it took him but a breath to notice.

Emerald Qi was in his body! It was a very familiar emerald Qi! He instantly quashed it but the fact it got to him terrified him! How could an ant possibly touch him?! Heaven and Earth always played favorites but even it could not break the iron clad division between the Divine Realm and Immortals.

A Divine Realm, paying a price, could reach down to the Celestial Fields and take limited action, but Immortals could never assail the Divine Realms in their own lands!

"He is dead! He is supposed to be dead! How is he alive?!" A certain ant flashed in his mind and the peaks were riven with cracks instantly. The ice was powerful but it was still just ice.

The only thing that withstood him was the base mountains themselves. It would take a lot more power than he currently had to even scratch them.

He soared into the sky as he would be using such a level of power to find his enemy.

He would not let that ant remain! There was only 1 place he could be to reach the Divine Lands!

His vile aura was revealed and the very sky bent under it as all life in every direction was suddenly turned into fuel for him. Unlike weaker Fiends, Divine Fiends had no need to touch their targets. Only other Divine Realm cultivators could resist and even then, there were limits.

The man did not even notice the death he caused with his aura. He was long past being affected by such massacres.

The blue sky was bending even more as he forced his aura to look in a direction few cultivators knew existed. Thunder rumbled but he dismissively waved his hands at the sky.

The gathering Heavenly Wrath could not resist him!

His old enemy was getting weaker every day! Soon, it would be time to make it pay!

The man, who had long discarded his old names, flashed open his disturbing eyes as a smile crossed his face.

[Found you!]

The sky was torn asunder as a tear was opened. It felt like the rules of Heaven and Earth clashed against a force it had no power against. The concepts of gravity, wind resistance, and other natural forces were upended and a nostalgic smile came to the man's face.

It felt like it could make a soul leave its body just to see that smile.

He looked down on a world of chaos made manifest. A golden sky with silver clouds and a single spinning orb inside of it. He had once contemplated killing the spirits with his current strength but in a way, he owed them.

While many concepts were discarded by him, there was one he could not ignore. Karma. Its power did have a hold on him from that last moment. The karmic debt to the spirits could be used as a weapon if he acted against them.

So, he left them alone. It would not matter in the end. He would break all the world that had killed him twice and was content to let him disperse as a soul at the end.

The various tiny orbs were now so transparent to him but there was one being that was at the center of an intricate weaving even he could appreciate.

[And here I thought there was nothing left to surprise me.] His thoughts slammed outward as he took a single step into the spirit world once more. He could not close the tear behind him but he could exert his influence just enough to snuff out the source of his irritation.

A mere Radiant Tier made him move! If others learned of it, he would be a laughing stock to allies and enemies alike!

He saw the Divine Mark on the soul was intact but it could not help him in the spirit world. Ironic. The one place the fool could reach him for an attack left him the most defenseless!

Spirits swarmed him but there was nothing they could do to him anymore. He was almost beyond them!

Still, there was one that appeared that even gave him pause.

She was as wrinkled as ever with pure white hair and robes. Her eyes were pale and no longer as full of life as he remembered.

"You are not welcome here. You will leave." He sneered at her powerless bravado. They both knew she had no ability to stop him from doing a damn thing.

[I used to think you were all so wise but you are just tools of that pathetic sham of a god. I will become a true God! I will never be forced to kneel ever again!] He let his anger get the best of him but before she could respond his hand chopped down and vile black Qi slammed into the world.

It was over. That ant was finally dead! The spirit world was damaged even further but he did not care. It was no longer important to his needs.

"Elder–no–" He was about to leave when the old woman's words made him pause. He slowly turned and was in shock!

Where the ant had been standing was a gloriously beautiful woman. She was in ornate violet robes lined in gold but he never recalled a spirit with that form before. Her dark hair and eyes looked at him coldly.

"Humans are fond of saying this but I never understood it until today. You should not have done that." She smiled as her body began to disintegrate before his eyes! Horror filled him as recognized that voice!

The little girl! The little girl that always pestered him to play! He was about to send out another attack when an emerald dragon appeared far away in the sky! The damned ant had been saved!

He had forgotten the cause and effect itself was rendered moot in the spirit world.

[Come and embrace death, any.] It was a minor delay. There was nothing the ant could do to him directly. An egg had a better chance to hurt a stone it was thrown at.

Yet, something unexpected happened the instant the dragon came into direct contact with the aperture's flow of Qi.

Lighting and black clouds gathered in the blue sky behind him. He tried to wave it off but it was like he was powerless all over again!

The words of the little girl suddenly flared in his mind! He looked back at the world and saw a tiny sphere at its heart! It was black and white! He recognized it!

He prepared for a true battle but then lightning blasted past him as if he was nothing and slammed into the ant! He was actually totally confused as he thought the ant was on Heaven and Earth's side.

Why was it killing him?

He turned only to find something shocking! Instead of killing him, it was fusing with him! It was only then the man noticed an oddity.

He had barely grasped what the ant was capable of but now he saw it with his own eyes and rejected it!

True Qi! True Qi was flowing in the ant's veins!

It was like he was a True Cultivator but that was not right! He saw demonic, natural, and True Qi happily flowing into the ant. The heavenly lightning was joining in but he did not dare let it keep going.

[END!] Vile Fiend Qi exploded outward and everything that touched it was reduced to ash. Silver clouds withered that were only touched by the very edge but a massive emerald flare stopped it cold.

CHEATING! The Heavens were cheating! The lightning gave the ant enough power to resist!

Worse, he saw something he did understand happening. A body! The damned man was getting a body. He was about to act when all the hairs on his body stood on end. The nature of the black clouds changed!

It was no longer some kind of Heavenly Wrath or Blessing. It was a tribulation storm! As strong as he was, tribulations were the one form of power he could not resist!

The damned power allowed to Heaven and Earth during tribulations was without limit!

It could kill him if he interfered!

Rage built up but dispersing or dismissing the clouds would only bring his doom. He looked at the tiny snake writhing as flesh returned to him. He sneered as he knew what the bastard was going to face.

[Even if you survive, you will die by my hand. No more holding back. All Fiends everywhere will exterminate your bloodline in all worlds. You better hurry back if you want to say goodbye!] He then left the spirit world.

He had to move. Heaven and Earth played favorites so he had no doubt the bastard would survive. He wanted to be sure there was nothing left to welcome him when he returned.

Time meant nothing to the Great One before but now he was under the knife. The spirit world was touching the outside so from that moment forward, time was in concert with it. He would kill them all! He did not care what it took!

The ant would have nothing left by the time he was done!