Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1368 - 1367 - Defiance Tribulation

Power built in the sky as the black clouds shot outwards. It was no longer contained to the peaks!

[ANYONE IN RANGE OF MY TRANSMISSION, RUN AWAY NOW!] He broadcasted his thoughts but any sane cultivator would recognize a tribulation when they saw one.

"This was never meant for the Immortal Realm." He could just barely perceive the kind of power being built up. It was beyond the Immortal Realm!

Lind tried to wrack his brain for any possible way to survive what was coming but none of it was good. A Divine or Dao level tribulation would literally vaporize all he was. Even his soul would be gone!

He was about to use all his pseudo-Dao artifacts when an odd sensation washed over his body. It was like he felt a separation from his physical existence and his soul.

His body also seemed to shimmer as it froze out of sync with the rest of reality.

[Haro?] No answer came but none of the spirits appeared either. They seemed as frozen as his body.

What was going on? He looked down and saw only emerald flames where he had once been flesh. It was not a projection of his soul but he was actual flames!

[My harmony, huh?] He realized what was going on. Heaven and Earth were fair. He was not able to face a Dao Tribulation but his harmony was. Further, his soul was fused to his harmony at the foundation so he too would face it.

His body, however, was kept safe. It must be some kind of rule or balance due to him being a 6 elemental. It was something he would have to hope he could understand if he survived it.

It was critical for those whose harmonies were tempered beyond their realm like him! Kexin was like him in that regard!

The rumble of thunder drew his vision back to the sky only to see something stunning. He could still see the black clouds but his current state let him see something beyond.

A massive tear in the fabric of the Celestial Fields reached to a place that burned his senses just to glimpse it. The tribulation was from the Divine Lands directly!

Pressure spike but it was not a lightning bolt that came. It was a damn plethora of them!

Dao infused lightning battered down on all sides with no way to avoid it or even hope escape at the last moment!

Heaven was not screwing around. An Immortal dared to defy the natural order and would see the insurmountable wall between realms!

[Cute, but not enough.] His flames roared and the echo of a dragon came with the burst of light.

He did not use force as he had no body to even do it. No elements nor other Laws answered his call. It was just his soul and harmony so he used it with all he had learned.

Given the lightning coming from all sides, it was clear he was meant to resist on his harmony's Dao alone.

His aura spread out and he nearly staggered from the power in a single bolt! He steeled his resolve and refused to bow! Emerald flames became as solid as any metal in the world.

He had never used his harmony directly like that but it was all he had! The myriad emerald blades were not just corporeal but infused with his Dao. The Dao to never yield, to never accept what was given, and to carve its own path!

The 2 forces clashed and the lightning was severed in many places but pain lanced through Lind unlike anything he previously felt. His soul burned as the power of the tribulation ravaged it.

He was not sure what pattern the current tribulation would take but he bet along a single strike was not going to be all.

Indeed, the clouds rumbled with greater power but he noticed it had shrunk from its massive size. He also saw no devastation at all, strangely.

It was as if everything physical was spared.

Realization struck him at the same time a different form of attack came. Instead of a myriad lightning bolts, a single massive bolt zoomed down. He dodged to the side but it changed direction midair to follow him!

It also shifted from blue to green at that moment. Each dodge only increased the power but Lind did not stop. He knew even if he took the weakest version it would just continue to build and follow him.

He also noted it passed through a peak as if it was not there at all. He was right!

It was not that his body was separated nor that the spirits could not hear him, he was in a different phase of existence!

He continued to hop from one peak to the next but the tracking lightning bolt never let up. It also increased in speed as its quality improved.

It finally became pure white and he thought one more dodge would do it but it did not do it all! It began to shimmer with elemental power!

Lind was feeling the strain of only using his soul and harmony. His body could recover with elixirs or its own natural traits but his soul was like anyone else's.

[Defiance cannot be easy, huh?] Dodging was not going to be enough.

His trick against the all around attack would fail too as the power of that single bolt had grown far beyond it. Lind sighed before he reversed his course and engulfed the lightning bolt rather than face it head on.

His flames flared up at that point as he screamed in pain. If he still had a body, it would have spattered to the edge of the 3rd layer! The lightning was trying to make him conform too. He could feel the weight of fate pressing down on him.

[I REFUSE!] His soul actually manifested wreathed in emerald flames. He felt like something had changed but he had no time to contemplate it as he overcame the current round.

His projection collapsed on the plateau next to his body. He wondered what would be next but then was kicked in the side! He looked up to see his body staring down at him with cold eyes.

[You thought you could stop me from reaching you? You thou–] A vile voice came from his throat but Lind did not give him time to speak. Emerald covered fists slammed into his own face.

He felt pain on 2 levels at that point. His normal body hurt but his soul also burned as vile Qi attacked him. He narrowed his eyes at the dual feeling. He was still connected to his body and if that was true, then he was not seeing the real Great One.

[You are not fooling me. I will kill him for my own reasons, so leave my body out of this!] He controlled his flames to cover his physical body and the scream of the Great One was just ignored until he found the sliver of lightning nestled in his dantian.

He changed his flames into delicate extensions of his will. He removed the spark and a blast of lightning sent him flying backward as his body was restored to its original state.

Three rounds were done.

How many more were left? He tried to analyze if there was a pattern but he felt a shift in the sky. He was not going to be given time.

First an encirclement, then tracking, and finally a mental challenge. What was next?

The sky was torn open by tendrils of crimson lightning. It was the void but it felt wrong. It felt like something else.

{You defy the natural order of the world. You must be expelled.} A voice thundered across the layer. Lind did not know if it was a tribulation or a true attempt to kill him but the result was the same.

He looked up at it in anger and said but one word.

[No.] His body changed and his body became larger as claws and fangs appeared. His soul was that of a dragon long ago but while it had changed his body, it reverted to a human shape.

He took the best of both worlds now and made it work for his needs. The adaptability of a human form with the power of a dragon!

The stone beneath his feet was changed to a shimmering emerald substance by weaving in an instant as he turned the entire peak into a part of himself.

{You are not allo–} Pillars of emerald shot up all around the plateau and pierced something in the void opening.

Screams were heard before cracks formed and the environment shifted.

True Fiend Qi was felt by his senses as his harmony went wild and he realized he was truly facing an enemy! The tribulation had allowed it!

[DAMN YOU, ANT! YOU DARE RESIST MY DESTINY!] An all too familiar voice grated on his ears as a massive shadow appeared in the sky.

The glowing white orbs were incensed but Lind could tell, that was as far as the Great Bastard could go. Still, it was enough as a massive set of armaments appeared around Lind.

They were not just projections, but solid harmonic Qi imbued with his Dao. Exhaustion filled him as Battle Aura of Defiance Dao activated. Surprise flashed on the Great One's face when it struck and a shock wave dispersed the black clouds to reveal the tear to the Divine Lands.

A scream that made ears bleed not only in the 3rd layer but the entirety of the Celestial Fields shocked everyone. Wars paused as all participants were incapacitated.

Even Lind, the source of the attack, was slammed into the now fractured stone surface. The platform was long gone entirely so not even a trace of containment remained.

It was a miracle the mountain foundation had not collapsed like the others. Maybe facing previous ascensions had strengthened it.

Lind was heaving as he lay back in his body looking up at the gathering clouds. The tear was closed but he recalled getting a direct strike on his enemy at long last. He had nibbled at the edges against the Fiend forces or faced an avatar at best but he truly struck a blow that time!

Oddly, he felt like he had done it before but the memory would not come.

Either way, the tribulation would continue.