Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1347 - 1346 - Cultivation Foundation

Lind was cultivating as he pondered the revelations given to him by the Divine Soul. He thought he had been doing well thanks to the evaluation results but he had lost 3000 years!

Fey was also apparently tearing through the Inheritance faster than him! He was not sure how they could compare as he suspected he was facing a penultimate path where she was likely having to compile what the 2 artifacts brought together.

It did not surprise him after he tempered her with what elemental Dao and harmonic Dao he could muster. The changes were barely understood by him and he had no time to analyze her before he passed out.

When he woke up, she was gone and had unlocked the 3rd Inheritance.

He pushed his ruminations aside as he tried to recall how he lost so much time. Normally, he was fairly good about keep track but it seemed in facing his origins, he had completely lost all sense of time.

Both the evaluation and the soul said he had done well, so it should have taken far longer but the Divine Soul was right, he had no time to waste.

Nearly 3000 years was more than enough to change the landscape in the barely settled 3rd layer. The issue was the rising generation of 6 elementals and Celestials. As their numbers increased, they would cause a disruption to all established powers.

The Celestials especially would cause issues with how closely they were related to the Fiends. He could not hide it but it was clear to all the golden skinned people were nothing like their vile counterparts.

It would not stop people from abusing that relationship but they could stand on their own when he entered. He also worried about their closest allies, the Elementals.

Next to aether children, Elementals were likely the most abused race in all worlds. Their nature and abilities were a tempting target for various powers. Even righteous powers would not move to help them without good cause due to the extreme strain it would put on their resources compared to letting things fall where they would.

Only his own legacy powers had acted in recent history and proven it could be done. It was not a fair comparison as being an upstart, he had only feathers to ruffle but they could do little during the active Fiend War and later the resettlement of the 1st layer.

That era allowed his Sanctuary Empire and Frey Clan to make robust advances and alliances with both of those races.

They did not stand alone at all by the time clashes became more commonplace.

He wondered how things had changed in the time he was gone. His Frey Clan was well established and had already set up land for both races in the Icy Path. Only a handful had arisen in his tenure.

He was broken from his thoughts by a new prompt.

{Body Refining Realm Completion: Begin}

The glass pane vanished as if it never existed and a hellish landscape lay before him. It was not just magma and rocks, but gravity was at least 5 to 7 times what he was used to. His eyes quickly scanned the area and noticed a rather peculiar path through it.

The techniques for Body Refining Realm were relatively similar but the higher realms did have far more efficient versions. Still, the basics did not change. Push the body to its absolute limit and then go beyond.

Muscles, skin, tendons, and so forth were all pushed forward in that first realm. A nostalgic smile graced his face as his time with Kor and his fellow batch mates came back to him.

The instructors pushing them forward through sweat and tears every day for years had been all worth it at the end.

Now, he was seeing a path that pushed those basics to an extreme. He sighed and thought it would be easy but his first step proved him wrong.

The stone path moved! It was not stable!

The increased gravity and dangerous feeling from the magma made it clear he had to utilize his body to the limit. His Qi, Laws, and even his harmony was sealed away! He only had his body alone!

The improvement in his soul seemed to make a difference though. He felt like the power flowing through his body was under far better control than before. His body was revealed to him and he only now appreciated the power he could apply in simple movements.

The delicate balance needed to stay on each stone path as he executed the moves he knew so well were far harder than anything he had attempted.

Worse, after a few moments the gravity changed direction just as he was doing a thrust leap with his right leg alone. He was midair when he was shifted sideways over pure magma!

If had had only been human, it would have been the end but his draconic strength appeared as he slammed his right fist directly against the flow of gravity. He barely flung himself back with the air pressure to land on his target.

The instant the ball of his left foot hit the surface gravity shifted back from above and he had to act quickly to achieve balance.

His bones creaked and his muscles screamed in his left leg up his back trying to resist the push.

He was quickly understanding the point of the trial. The very basics were sometimes left behind as a cultivator advanced. By necessity, Body Refining Realm was the foundation to prepare the body to withstand the formation of Soul Cores and the opening of the dantian.

Once that began, even beasts generally stopped improving their bodies outside of the benefits of cultivation. Soul Realm and above generally improve the body and purified. Tribulations did even more.

Lind had rebuilt his body so it was in much better shape due to that as well.

Yet, he understood he had not plumbed the depths of it at all. It was not just about cultivation but truly mastering the body to the extreme. Every muscle group did not act in isolation from the rest.

It was a basic fact but he had never truly understood how profound the body was. It was not just refined to prepare for the next realm but the foundation of all that came after.

He began to see how Qi flowed in his body in finer ways than ever before. His soul, despite now being able to exist without it, fueled the perfection of his body as he resisted gravity with his dance of death.

Impurities deep in his marrow were actually found even in a constructed body!

His control improved but it was his mind that was being broadened. He was seeing how limited his testing of each cultivation realm was. His focus on his harmony did help have a broad foundation but he realized there were fundamentals to each realm he discarded once he advanced but could have continued.

He did not even notice when his body became a fine dancer compared to before. He was able to feel the shift in gravity before it began and applied force with his arms or legs as he needed.

His restrictions slowly lifted as he maximized Body Refining Realm, Soul Realm, World Realm, Sky Realm, and Heaven Realm were a breeze. He had been forced to explore those realms to the near limits due to his status as a 6 elemental.

No stone could be left unturned as it was not just his path but his entire sect and later Empire resting on his shoulders.

When he got to the Immortal Realm, however, his progress ground to a halt. He came out of his trance to find himself in midair surrounded by streams of elemental Qi all around him. His feet were barely standing on a disc supported by Laws.

He vaguely recalled leaving the hellscape behind and entering a place of all 18 elements. Question had been spawned in his mind at that Celestial Qi but it was possible the Divine Lands still had records from before the time of the Fiends.

After that, he had to infuse Qi into his body but that had been child's play as he had already done that trick over almost all his cultivation realms.

He then recalled leaving the surface behind as the Sky Realm was about freedom. It was about leaving the mortal world behind at last. He recalled smiling as the feeling of wind and sun washed over him.

He then breezed through the Heaven Realm. Of all the cultivation realms, it was the one he had explored the most. Adding new elements had been his own idea and thus he had to know every facet of that particular realm and the 3 tiers.

Now, he realized he had followed the more standard route as an Immortal. Only when confronted with it did he realize why it was so important to refine the soul. Only with that nuanced sense could he find the weakness in his dantian and meridians.

He had to carefully refine both body and soul to permeate Immortal Qi in all aspects. Laws were incorporated into his Arts, techniques, and conjurings. He began to float on his own up into the sky until he came to a vast island of crystals.

He recognized what he was looking at. An Elemental graveyard. The cores were floating or laying in pieces everywhere he looked.

He doubted he would have noticed before but with his refined soul, he understood what was expected of him.

He assumed a lotus position and began the hardest thing in his life. Refining the Radiant Tier to do what it was named to do. Radiate his aura with Laws into the world and let it change it.

It was like he became a new sun after a time but only to that which could sense his aura. The crystals began to sing as their various souls appeared. Old, young, and in between looked at him as they bowed in reverence.

Lind was sweating and looking pale but he realized it was not so simple. It was not just about his current realm but going all the way back to the beginning. A foundation was not just about the starting line but about the moment he stood in.

He felt his foundation all the way back from Body Refining Realm becoming a solid beginning as he solidified each realm that followed.

It was at that moment that a path opened before him. Not just becoming a source of Laws and Qi but commanding it. He could see the final Tier!

The moment that happened the reserves of his body were exhausted and he collapsed heaving on the shattered crystal bed in the sky. The ephemeral Elementals were all looking down at him in approval as another doorway appeared with an irate cloaked figure storming over.