Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1322 - 1321 - Homecoming

Lind awoke in a luxurious bed with silken covers fluttering in the fresh breeze from the open balcony. A young girl with dark hair was sleeping with a smile on the edge of his bed on the left side.

She held his arm tightly but he smirked at her.

"You young girl was ecstatic when you returned, Lord Frey." Lind's eyes narrowed at the old man coming in from the sunlit balcony. His wrinkled face was smoothed out by the smile on his face but Abby kept sleeping away.

He let her sleep as he took in the room he was in. The ornate stone was much more profound so he knew where he still had to be. Yet, he did not recall such a facility at the entrance of the Inheritance of Creation before.

His confusion must have been apparent.

"You have been unconscious for close to 3 months, Lord Frey. A month before you appeared, the children suddenly acted together and began to create a strange array I had not seen before." Now Lind really had questions but the old man continued.

"After weeks of inscribing, I finally recognized it as a spatial bridge array. Once it was completed, they escorted my Master to you here." While that answered some questions, it left a vast sea of others.

It was only at that moment that he noticed something.

"Why are you calling me Lord Frey all of a sudden?" Junior Frey, Lind Frey, or just Lind was all the spirit had previously called him but he was suddenly 'Lord?'

The old man was about to answer when a blur crossed both their vision followed by several more.

"YOU'RE AWAKE!!!" Small forms slammed into him but somehow missed Abby. She jolted awake and then saw his open eyes and joined the pile of hugs. Lind simply allowed it to happen but narrowed his eyes at the shaking shoulders of the old man who was conveniently turned away.

""Play with us, Lord Frey!""

The chorus of children's voices made him smile but then he froze as he swiftly glanced at the old man.

"Ahem, as I was about to say. You are not an Inheritor but the remnant soul of our maker has acknowledged you as his equal. As such, you are now a Lord to us." That was not a small thing at all! Lind looked around quickly but noticed only spirits around him.

The children laughed as they tugged at his robes but the old man smiled at him calmly.

"My Master could not follow us here. There is some kind of lock or filter. Only spirits could come." He found that interesting but the children could not be denied nor Abby.

He was pulled outside and froze in shock once more as he saw the valley he had fallen into from the maze! He was still inside the Inheritance.

The kids pulled him down into a massive courtyard but he did not recall seeing anything like it near the mountain he had escaped to.

They played tag and then some other games. They seemed far more playful with him all of a sudden but he did not know why.

"Master, we are going to be together forever like this, right?" Abby suddenly asked a difficult question. She had asked it before but he had gently explained it was not so easy. He thought she had grasped how that would not be possible but that was when he realized something critical.

There was no sign of either artifact they were tied to! The children were part of the Inheritance so they could go anywhere so far as he was concerned but the old man and Abby could not go far from their body core.

How were they there?!

"True Lord." A voice that made a cold sweat break out on his body called out gently and he swiftly moved to stand between the spirits and the woman from before. The tree was far more powerful than him but now she was kneeling to him?!

"Would someone explain what is going on exactly? Where am I and how are those 2 here?" The woman stood up and looked at him but unlike before, there was deep respect in her pale eyes.

"To make it short, the remnant soul commanded you to be allowed to recover here. This is where our maker lived as he created the Inheritance." Lind felt surprised but then understood. His theory about the valley was true!

It really was a slice of the Divine Realm lands!

"And Abby?" The old man might be explained since his origin was the Inheritance but she was not from it at all.

The very tall woman pointed at him. He was confused until he pulled back the sleeves of his crimson robes. A mark had appeared on both! The sigils and inscriptions of the cylinder were now part of his flesh.

"The nascent spirit is very attached to you. You have nurtured her far more than you know. You should be careful of that in the future, True Lord." The revelation made him concerned but the other spirits only laughed normally around him. "These spirits are different or imprinted on others. It is not that easy, True Lord."

He was getting tired of the respect they kept heaping onto him. He sighed and just let it go. He would have to study exactly what had happened to him later but while his left arm was the cylinder patterns, his right arm was familiar as well but the old man was not bonded to him.

He could tell there was nothing between them. The question was obvious in his eyes but it was the children who answered.

"Uncle got excited when Abby merged with you. He took a blank that was like her and it merged with you too!" Consent you damned Divine Creator! He should know about consent!

Lind infused his aura and both lines lit up. Abby giggled like she was being tickled but he felt them.

The 6 Laws were vastly improved inside him but he frowned. His left arm was alive with the bond between him and Abby but there was nothing in his right arm.

He would have to study it later.

"I am free to go then?" The woman frowned and shook her head.

"Not yet. You understand what you have become?" Lind was confused but then shock flashed over him as the last vestiges of his exhaustion was burned away.

"I can open the 3rd Inheritance?!" He had become a living key! He brought his hands together but nothing happened. It was perfectly normal.

"You must be in front of it to trigger the effect. You will also need to invigorate a soul for the other merged artifact. Once that happens, you will be able to unlock it. You will also always have guardian Divine Spirits until such time as you wish to separate from them again." Those words made Lind narrow his eyes as he looked up at her face.

"What will happen to them when that moment comes?" He knew it would come. An instinct told him it would come.

She looked down at him and then shrugged.

"You are walking down a path none of us ever explored but once the Inheritors are chosen and the 3rd Inheritance conquered, they would go dormant anyway." He frowned at that.

While tool spirits served a purpose, weapons and armor could pass on to other cultivators but actual specific tools like Abby had that drawback. He looked at the markings and made a choice.

"Yes, Abby, we will be together forever." His sincerity came through and she leapt into his arms happier than he had ever seen her before. While she was raised by him and an artifact, she was not like Haro.

Haro was important to him but they were only friends. Abby was more like a child to him if he was honest but now what were they to each other as in a real sense, she had become a part of him?

It would take some serious thought as he refused to become a shackle to Abby and the new spirit he would have to invigorate in the future.

"You seem to have recovered, so you are free to go. Once you leave, the children will seal the bridge behind you." The woman knelt once more and vanished to his senses. Why such a powerful cultivator would show him such deference made him intensely curious.

He doubted she would ever tell him but he was glad. He could go home!

"Come on Abby, the others are waiting for us." She laughed and nodded as she ran ahead of him.

The children tried to get him to stay but he only promised to return later. He did not even notice when they were at the foot of the golden stone steps once more.

He was surprised to see Qing and Kora waiting for him with Rejuvenation Immortal. The aether child Radiant Tier leapt to her feet and ran over as the old man appeared next to her.

Qing was examining him to within a centimeter of his life but Kora swept over and physically checked him with her hands.

"Stop scaring us!" He smiled at her words as the warmth had fully returned in the last few centuries between them.

Qing gently pulled him into her arms as Abby hugged her on the other side.

"You have much to tell us but for now, let's go home, beloved." He nodded and they left the Inheritance grounds to board a starship they brought with them. A sudden premonition came to him and he had to quickly stop them!

He was no longer alone!

Divine Creator would pay for that! He would resurrect the bastard and make him pay with his own claws!