Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1359 - 1358 - Defying Heaven

Why did 6 elementals form a harmony?

It was one of the oldest mysteries of cultivation. Until a handful of demons came to him, it was thought to be a human problem only.

Once it was revealed there were demon 6 elementals, Lind had begun investigating. Despite claims of the Blood Empire having the first, there had been far more. The only reason she was considered first was his lessons allowed her to be stable.

Demonic Qi, despite being derived from natural Qi, was a harsh mistress to its cultivators. Their mental state and physical abilities were not just because they loved the lifestyle of battle.

They had to be harsh to survive. The instability of 6 elementals became lethal in that situation. Instead of partial success in reaching the World Realm, the vast majority died in the 2nd or 3rd tier of the Demon Soul Realm!

Lind had learned a lot, but it still left the basic question unanswered.

No other set of Soul Cores triggered a harmony. There was no trace of harmonic Qi even in 5 elementals. The aether children and actual living Elementals also had nothing like it in their constitutions.

Beasts, he could at least theorize the bloodlines were the cause. Beasts were transformed on a fundamental level physically as they advanced. Their food was literally their cultivation.

As stronger prey refined their bloodline, they advanced. It was a tradeoff especially for the unintelligent mortal beasts. It gave them a fighting chance against cultivators.

Heaven and Earth are fair. It was a bedrock principle and he had yet to find a verified way to contradict it. Fiends, for all their violation, had to act before being punished.

Their mere existence was a violation in the lower worlds but he had noticed they did not need to invoke the Void of Heaven as much as before in the Celestial Fields. They used far more standard techniques compared to that extreme one.

He pushed it aside as they were a separate issue. What was the final piece of the puzzle for part of the mystery were the Celestials themselves.

They were also referred to as True Cultivators as he well knew but he now had a new thought.

Celestials, like aether children and aether beasts, were not born in the usual way. They were almost always reborn souls. They may not retain all their memories but they retained most.

The direct manipulation of the world was how they advanced as they got direct feedback via the Celestial Qi.

He had felt it himself but far less than they did. He opened his eyes and looked at his life. He saw snippets of all his research and especially when he branched out in the Heaven Realm.

He incorporated the various elemental systems and learned over time the intricacies and nuances of each.

He also saw the relationship between them even better as time passed, but one aspect evaded him no matter how much he grasped the elements.

Harmonies.

He had been alive for close to 10,000 years with all the time differentials included. He had an entire sect founded on improving 6 elementals so he had lots of cultivators to compare and contrast to.

Some harmonies seemed simple but the more a cultivator advanced, the more impressive even the simplest became. The Rubyfire Empire was proof of how even an incomplete harmony could become something unbelievably powerful.

Why was it so different? Why did it only appear in demons and humans despite all races essentially sharing the same begin–

His eyes shot open and he stood up in the darkness.

"We are not the same!" His thoughts raced as he covered the most basic knowledge on cultivation he had gathered.

The old lessons from the Frey Clan came back to him. He compared it to the demonic methods and they were essentially similar.

The Body Refining Realm was considered one of the few universal Realms. Yet, both beasts and aether children bypassed if they manifested. Elementals condensed their existence in the higher lands. Celestials could only exist naturally in the Celestial Fields.

Those last few requirements meant they were more profound right at the beginning as well. There was no such thing as a Body Refining Realm for Celestials! They manipulated the world right off the bat!

The techniques to harness Qi to refine the body were clearly taught after someone figured out ways to make it more efficient.

Qi was absorbed by all life in all lands. The food, radiant energy, and just living would allow the body to improve. Without any techniques, a human could easily live to 100. Depending on how much Qi was absorbed, they could be as hale as their prime or simply in need of minor assistance at worst.

It was only when specialized techniques were applied that a person could cultivate fast enough to not waste their potential. The younger someone was, the better the chance they could breakthrough.

The trick he had never pondered before was the Soul Realm. He had almost fallen into it but why? Why did pondering the elements allow him to breakthrough? It was such an accepted part of life that he had not really questioned it.

Aether children manifested in the Soul Realm so it was not even a question. Beasts reached a saturation point that their bloodline would push them over the limit. The other races were born in higher lands and thus bypassed the restriction he was examining.

Plants were perhaps the closest in that they simply absorbed Qi. Their breakthroughs were not as dramatic until the Sky Realm. While they did not gain sentience on par with other races, they did change at the step.

The tribulation awakened the spirit inside them. It made them start to exceed their existence yet he could not be sure about their elements being determined by their origin more than the cultivation path they followed.

Humans and Demons were the only races that had to work to even reach the starting line!

Heaven and Earth were fair, so why did 2 races have to fight for every centimeter other races took for granted.

He looked inside and a new thought came to him. Celestials were restricted. He thought he could overcome it but he had run into wall after wall. It was like all the power they enjoyed came with a hard limit.

"A powerful race that knows the limit of their path, races that naturally progress, and races that have to fight for every step." He had never looked at it that way before. It also led him to a revelation.

Defiance of Heaven and Earth! Humans and demons refused to take it lying down. They must have scavenged for every scrap of knowledge. The incorrect elemental theories made more sense as they had scraped it together.

The step to the Soul Realm was defying their fate but how did it work? He had studied the elements but clearly there was more to it than simply thinking about it. He recalled the trance-like state he had fallen into.

Many described a similar state. It was usually dominated by the element or elements they focused on. Could every human and demon be a 6 elemental?

That was wrong and he knew it. Some people were better at battle, strategy, and so forth. Some elements complemented specific points of view but 6 elementals fell outside that paradigm.

He realized to defy Heaven and Earth meant changing something fundamental. Thought was a catalyst but the source was the Qi that refined the body. So where else could the bridge be between the 2?

He looked at the flickering emerald flame and saw his answer as he looked at the flowing streams around him. It was in the name. The Soul Realm. He had had the revelation before but it was his time in the spirit world that made him understand something critical.

Humans and demons were never meant to naturally cultivate. The spark to rise up came from the glimpse of the spirit world each soul had before it was born. They knew on a fundamental level they could be more and had never given up!

His Qi flowed like thunder in his veins as his meridians expanded. His dantian hummed with power and he felt like a certain clarity came to his mind. He looked at the flowing streams of his life and frowned.

The threads branching off made far less sense. The large branch did fit but then why did no threads split off from that?

"This is not my life but what Fate allows me. The Future Trial is not about choosing my future but realizing Heaven and Earth have a plan and if I follow it, these are my choices." He understood finally why the Great One could affect his threads where he could not.

The Great One had completely defied his fate and stepped outside of the system trying to constrain him. Lind followed a similar path but his Dao of Defiance was still a part of Heaven and Earth.

He looked towards the end of the main stream once more he frowned even more deeply.

"You wanted me to choose and finally conform. You have shown me versions of myself that are now dead. You are trying to force me down a path to return balance. Heaven and Earth are fair but that does not mean they give a damn about me." Anger filled him but at the same time he realized what Divine Incarnate had set before him.

The Future Trial was about understanding the restrictions placed on his life. It was about showing him how his path to the present was not so simple or safe as being behind him. The past could be destroyed and wipe him out but Fate would also try to conform him.

He looked at the happily glowing streams and then into the darkness. His choice was before him and he realized what made the split.

Down one path lay where he conformed to Fate at last and accepted his death to stop the Great One. Down the other was him walking away from it all and likely still dying. Fate would allow him to become a Sovereign Tier like it had other cultivators before but defying it would lead to punishment.

"I refuse to walk into the trap. I will make my own way." The bottleneck fell away. His harmony had protected him and now he was ready. Ready to break all chains and command the world around him to his will.

He was ready to become a Sovereign.