Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1470 - 1469 - Disruption

The upper echelons had been called to an emergency meeting at the tournament meeting hall. They had been given messages that rocked their world already.

Mass deaths in strange but identical ways. Lind Frey and the Frey Clan were being called out but others saw the hand of a more serious enemy.

The Fiends.

Proof had even been found by some that left them shivering at how deeply the Fiends had risen in their respective powers. Some had better results than others, but a common theme had been found there too.

Those powers closely allied with the Frey Clan seemed to mitigate the penetration of their powers. The reason was well known.

Harmonic Qi was able to rip apart most tricks the Fiends used to get close but it seemed a new countermeasure had been brought to the battle.

"What happened?! My competitors were suddenly taken from their rooms and I hear some have died the same way!" A member of the Silver Lake Sect spoke up. He was a wizened old man but his vitality was strong as an ox.

His arms were well muscled and his staff was stained with the countless foes he had felled in his long life as a Crystal Tier.

"The reports we each have seem similar. Further, Senior Lind Frey has passed along all they gathered about the exterior incidents. The recent deaths, however, is why we are all here." The old Vice Sect Master of the Heavenly Maiden Sect spoke up.

She did not stand up nor speak loudly but her voice covered the room. A supreme power was not ignored ever.

"Of course you would be on his side! How do we know this is not some scheme to take everything for yourselves?!" A younger looking man but with gray wings in his hair slammed the table in front of him. His golden robes marked him as an elder of the supreme guild Archeron.

They were powerful alchemists and refiners with strong ties to formation guilds. His sea green eyes were bloodshot as one of his children had been found dead just like the others in the reports.

Such a death meant no soul to recover which was harder to accept so suddenly. No pity came from the Maiden, however.

"Do recall we lost our alchemist contestant and her assistants as well." The cold words made the man pull back and calm down. To a Maiden, every Sister was family regardless of senior or junior.

"Enough, Lind Frey is soon to arrive, we will discuss his security fail–" A demon in pure black robes was cut off as an oppressive aura slammed into them all.

A feeling spread across the room to every figure but they had never encountered such purity.

Rage. Rage at the Fiends, at the deaths, and failure. It preceded the arrival of Lind Frey. His normally calm features were gone. In their place was a being of rage incarnate.

Yet, all knew it was directed at himself, not them. It was also directed at the Fiends. They all felt a chill to realize they had yet to see the full power of the man and he was considered too injured to do the weaving competition?!

Lind seemed to realize he was letting his aura run wild and took several calming breaths before he slammed a black box onto the dark wooden table in front of him.

"I hate to put it like this, but this tragedy has possibly led us to enlightenment on how the Fiends are doing this. I take full responsibility for the deaths but please note that to prevent the method used, I would have to search every item someone carried in any storage treasure or ring." His words were devoid of their usual energy.

He was considered a fair orator and mesmerizing teacher, but the being in front of them was a hunter. He laid out several more items. The signature of a famous elixir guild was on the box but all felt disquiet looking at it.

"What–what is that?" A young woman with pure white hair and violet robes spoke up. She was from a middle power but all were shocked when Lind Frey smiled kindly at her.

"Lady Jessica of Serene Peak Sect, these are the completed set of an attack on one of our contestants. With her permission, we have made them available to be examined once we confirmed there was no danger." He pointed at the golden medallion, a simple scanning artifact for herbs, and finally a jade slip.

"These were both anchors and triggers for the box. They anchored a small pocket dimension and triggered the box to arrive next to the target. If not for our security measures, she would be dead." Many murmured at this but knew it to be true from their own reports.

"And the box?" The demon in black robes spoke up and Lind looked at him coldly. It was clear they did not see eye to eye for some reason.

"Krag of Broken Tooth Empire, the box is the clue. Inside it is something I have never seen before and infinitely more dangerous than any attack a Fiend might usually make. They consume our souls and cultivation for their own life and progress. We know the horror of that, but imagine if they simply wished to snuff you out? Could you stop it?" His question was moot as they all knew the answer.

Many times, the Fiends' desire for resources allowed victory against them. If, however, they simply wiped out a power, there was usually very little they had been able to do. Only the harmonic Qi had finally changed that aspect.

"I thought your vaunted 6 elementals were able to combat that problem?" A man with crystal glasses spoke up. His cold blue eyes and starkly rigid blonde hair marked him as easily as his red robes.

The Supreme Heart Sect was a sect of logic supremacists. They would enjoin with other powers for their own ends but that was all. Logic was supreme to them and they would not allow emotions to ever sway them.

Lind bowed to the man.

"To an extent we have not been able to fully explore, that is correct. Mine is the most damaging to them as I can convert Fiend Qi to natural Qi but other harmonies seem to inflict damage as well. Yet, nothing is impervious to change." Lind then carefully opened the box but all saw his harmonic Qi flare around it.

Inside was a small Fiend elemental crystal. Possibly their version of darkness, but it was hard to tell, and attached was a sphere of energy. It was that sphere that made the room shift.

Fiend Qi was vile but the feeling from the sphere was horror. They all felt their dantians desire to flee from it.

"What you are feeling is the soul of a Fiend." The bomb of Lind's words could not be overstated.

The Fiends consumed souls, they did not share them! What was that artifact?!

"Why would they do this, Fellow Daoist Frey?" The Vice Sect Master of the Heavenly Maiden Sect suddenly spoke up but it was not Lind that answered.

"It is obvious. Our defenses are against Fiend Qi. Everything, even friend Lind Frey's efforts, are focused on purely Fiend Elemental Qi. While we have treasures and skills to protect a soul from the Qi, do any of us really have protection from an actual soul itself?" A hooded man spoke up. He was in the Divine Sword Sect and some bowed in recognition of him.

Lind Frey was among them.

"Senior Crom is correct. The Fiends have found out a weakness even I, with my current approaches, cannot stop. My weavings are an effective barrier but they are not unlimited. Further, as you well know, they can be breached with enough power. The soul seed attaches to the dantian and then waits. It is similar to a thrall in that regard. Once the Fiend triggers it, it cannot be stopped." Everyone in the room felt afraid.

All their security measures and all their efforts to weed out Fiend Agents could now lead to mass deaths! If the agents snuck in even a handful of those artifacts, they could use them to blackmail truly innocent people into horrific things.

"That is not all." Lind drew them back and pointed to the box once more. "This is a direct effort. In other words, I do not believe this is the normal process they use. It was implemented as a contingency for this tournament and someone triggered it in their human allies."

Murmurs started by Crom pulled back his hood so all felt the pressure of his sword Dao.

Once silence returned he pulled his hood back up.

"Why do you say that, Lind Frey?" It was clearly important but why did the man take such extreme methods?

LInd then held up his hands. Fine emerald lines spread from him and touched certain members in the room. Many began to panic but no reaction occurred aside from that. Lind seemed to nod as if in confirmation.

"Apologies for any panic, but all this means is you have come in contact with someone already infected with this particular soul. Do you understand now?" Everyone looked around the room and frowned.

There was no pattern. The powers represented were lower to supreme but the quantity and quality of the people marked were all over the place. Some were very important while others were just servants.

"Does that mean we are in danger?" Lind shrugged at the Vice Sect Master of the Heavenly Maiden Sect.

"It means only that a faint echo is on these people. If they were infected, they would already be dead." A shiver went through them all before shouts to check were incoming but Lind Frey pointed up at the ceiling. All glanced up and saw a glowing set of sigils were gently covering the room.

"I already checked everyone here. It was a hope to save as well as to discover. The issue, however, is the implication. No longer is it just Fiend agents we need to fear. We need to check everyone we can until a countermeasure can be created." He then became grim before looking at them. "The tournament will pause to redo the brackets but it will not stop. It is too important to bow to them! Further, we need to become stronger! If you wish to withdraw, I will not stop you but future participation will be denied."

Shock flowed over the room. Several hundred contestants and others were dead but the tournament would go on? He then left them and the group began to argue but the temptation of power and safety won out.

Fiends were strong, but not infallible. The fact they had made such a strange method to combat Lind Frey's efforts showed a level of desperation they actually found hopeful. It meant other methods had failed!

A wounded animal was never more dangerous when cornered but that went both ways. They were the wounded ones now. The Fiends had the upper hand but that was the normal situation not too long ago.

There was hope to overcome this hurdle and they wanted to be as strong as possible to face the battles that came.

The disruption would not go unnoticed but they would not stop advancing!