novelraw Chapter 1391 - 1390 - Sifting Fanatics
Chapter 1391 - 1390 - Sifting Fanatics
Lind did not sit still after learning Ethry had been taken. While he did not know why someone had taken her, the fact other dragons had done so told him all he needed to know.
Anyone that defies a True Lord is an enemy of the race. Lind could not arbitrarily alienate an entire Clan without a damned good reason even with his Authority, but there had been those in the past that had.
The records of most True Lords was spotty at best after the Fiend Cataclysm as it had come to be called. All those generations of cultivators lost or record halls sacrificed to hide behind the Law Bindings that were too expensive to include.
The Endless Peaks had not been a total loss but there were massive gaps either by intent or accident that was impossible to tell.
Banished beast clans from any True Lord, however, were one of the few kinds of records retained as it usually was a heinous crime to cause a whole Clan to fall.
Blood Talon was a good example of such a thing but not all crimes were tied to Fiends.
Still, given the description he quickly zeroed in on the particular faction and felt his anger boil over.
Some dragon clans had what would sound like fringe beliefs if not for the results they produced.
The Divine Ryuu Clan was one of those.
They believed that mates were meant to be if they shared characteristics. Ethry could be considered a princess of that Clan but her branch was very distant if not for the fact she had 6 primary elements.
If they took her, it was possible another prismatic Ryuu had been born. Yet, that did not align with what he knew of them.
He only had records as none had descended to the Endless Peaks as some other dragon clans had.
He knew they held that belief but they would never take a dragon with a living mate let alone one connected to the True Lord.
He had no up to date information on their members but that would change quickly.
Once he was sure he would not destroy any artifact he used, which took an agonizing year to do, he summoned his personal communication jade.
It was engraved with a weaving tied to several people close to him but it had a unique function he never shared.
It could tell him if someone was on the same layer as him by their soul alone!
Several lit up which surprised him as the number was much larger than he expected but that reassured him.
He focused on a demonic sigil and his mind called out.
[Cyntilla, can you hear me?] He waited as he had no way to know if she was in the middle of battle but the response nearly deafened him.
[LIND! WHERE ARE YOU?!] His head was ringing but he smiled. Her tone was a mix of excitement and exasperation. She was in the middle of something irritating rather than dangerous and he had fortuitously interrupted.
[I am safe but still consolidating a recent breakthrough. I just now became safe enough to use my communication stone. Are all of you safe? I have heard about Ethry but there was nothing on anyone else.] He truly had not even a hint about them aside from the Frey Clan siding with the Under Lands.
Before he could hear an answer, his communication stone lit up and a storm of voices called out. It was chaos, but it calmed his heart to hear their voices.
There was worry but they were not broken or cold. It meant nothing serious had happened in his absence.
[STOP! Focus on your tasks. He needs to be updated.] Cyntilla's voice finally cut through it all and the voices became muted.
[I will be on the move soon, but I love you all. Survive and continue to dominate as I have heard you have been.] A swell of emotions were conveyed but then the connections broke off until it was just the 2 of them again.
[The 4th layer is strange, Lind. We are at war but Sovereign Tiers can only watch over the others unless it is a sneak attack. The initial attack had been devastating but tightly controlled.] Barbatos told him that much.
The restrictions between Sovereign Tiers meant if the initial attack failed, all other attacks ceased. It was why the battle was taking so long.
Attack was not allowed but defending was not.
It was a question of who got exhausted first so a war of attrition but it would take years.
Kidnapping was a viable alternative at that level, thus few reacted until it was too late when Ethry was taken.
[I know about her actual kidnapping but that was all. Bring me up to speed on all of you too.] He then felt information flow into his mind.
The communication stone had clearly been connected to a jade slip. He quickly parsed it and frowned deeply.
The battle was more stagnant than he had realized. The Sovereign and Radiant Tier Immortals were essentially sidelined.
The Under Lands could not withstand full out war at that level even in its recovering state.
Three forests had fallen but it seemed like they had been simply sold off by their leaders. They had then been stripped of resources in short order until only barren strips of land were left.
The action had made others possibly leaning towards giving up to completely abandon it. The 3 had been made an example of how foolish it would be to surrender. The Sovereign Lands had come to crush them.
The thrice cursed spiders were more like opportunists. Rather than direct combat, a fighting force would suddenly realize their supplies were gone or whole platoons were missing. The spiders were simply hunting!
The Frey Clan was actually keeping things from turning against the Under Lands with pills, elixirs, and so forth supporting the native forces.
It caused a major faction to form against them but the number of 6 elementals and Sovereign Tiers was insane!
His theories and final updates had unlocked a tsunami of Sovereign Tiers!
He also suspected that the Fiends had accidentally caused it by the complete and total suppression of 3 layers of the Celestial Fields.
The 1st layer had recovered at an insane pace once Qi flowed freely across the land. Those places that had survived had retained their power but new treasures and locations of power had sprung up relatively over night.
The 2nd layer had been freed from the Corruption and it was like a wave of natural areas exploded with life where none had been able to survive before.
The Endless Peaks was the one with the worst of it in many respects. It was already a fairly restricted area and any artificial satellite had been destroyed. The 3 Divine Inheritances actually revitalized it as the 4th layer had heavily invested in it.
All those resources and natural treasures had allowed an explosion of cultivation even he had not fully anticipated. He knew his theories improved progress but the Sovereign Tier was a massive step for all Immortals.
Having faced his own, he truly understood why so few succeeded.
Yet now, Cyntilla was telling him not a single one of the Frey Clan that attempted it failed! They had 36 Sovereign Tiers!
That was nearly a fourth of all current Sovereign Tiers he had known of before he ascended!
That kind of success rate was insane!
After that update came the part he wanted. Ethry had indeed been taken by the Divine Ryuu Clan. Cyntilla, however, did not recognize all the dragons involved.
Ryuu were sinuous in all varieties. Some would have manes, fins, or even spikes, but the lack of wings and perhaps even limbs marked their race.
The dragons that took Ethry were clearly winged as well. They were of darker colors yet she had been unable to identify them. Lind also could not but Haro suddenly intruded.
[Please describe them, Master.] His voice was deadly serious for some reason.
Cyntilla gave more detailed descriptions that he relayed and Haro suddenly appeared!
His figure was faint as the Under Lands could not fully support him but it had clearly improved from before when he could not.
"You must get to Lady Ethry immediately. That is a fallen dragon clan. There are a handful of beast Clans that decided long ago the righteous powers were too weak to win the war with the Fiends. They even used Fiends at times if it helped their cause. They also deny Beast Souls fervently." Lind's eyes narrowed as he understood.
A trap. Blind him with rage and by the time he realized what was happening, 3 or more Sovereign Tiers would easily reduce him to ash.
They would erase his soul for good measure too.
"A name, do they have a name?" Haro looked angry for some reason.
"They certainly do. They are the Stone Hide Dragon Clan. Denounced by True Lady Astra Starhaven of the Divine Golden Lightning Clan after they sacrificed her son and his family to destroy a Fiend fortress." The rage in Haro told Lind something.
Haro was a guardian and he had been left in the memory of Lord Skinwalker. The soul that trained him knew about True Lord candidates as well but the ring had been there. A previous wielder had to have left it behind.
"She used up her vitality?" He asked it quietly but Haro looked up and misty eyes were clear even in his faint form. He returned to his ring without a word, but none was needed.
[Cyntilla, the war is over. End it now.] His voice was ice and left no room for argument. The fervent hunt for him was somewhat normal but now he saw a sinister side to things.
Fiends and others were using the war to enact their own agendas and the idiots just kept fighting!
He had to control his aura better before he could move, but when he did, it would be a real war. The Stone Hide Dragon Clan would cease to exist once he moved.