Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1478 - 1477 - Shift in Goals

Due to his need to be outside the Throne, Lind had misinterpreted the words the Immortal Berserker said to him. Instead of boring fights, he came back to a shocking scene.

The Sovereign Tiers were actually using their Daos!

They were fighting, but now they realized they could help each other refine their grasp of the elusive Daos each had touched on.

Some were very compatible while others were too volatile to do much more than clash gently.

Some might think the Dao of Fire and Water would clash like that but the elements do not exist in a vacuum. Even without Lind's modified elemental theory, Immortals had lived long enough to grasp the deeper relationship between the elements when it came to the final step.

Still, it was impressive to see a geyser of lava turned into obsidian by a river. Steam billowed out on that platform that would kill anyone below the Sovereign Tier.

Conversely, 2 different Dao of Fire repulsed each other or tried to consume the other. It was not a matter of strength on the cultivator nor their grasp of the Dao, but the Dao itself.

Fire and water were generic terms. Dao of Tides, Dao of Searing, and so forth were the most likely to be held by most Sovereign Tiers.

True Fire Dao was the complete ensemble but the trigger for that could take millions of years.

The 6 elementals were so terrifying because their harmonies were stand alone Daos. They were not simply one piece of the puzzle but the entire Dao manifested!

Once that revelation was made clear, the difficulty in the Soul Realm made far more sense. If they did not struggle to fully master their foundation and harmony before even reaching the World Realm, they would quickly lose control of their power in devastating ways.

The most interesting fights to Lind were the demons vs other races. Blue Fire Dao vs Fire Dao did not repel nor react violently. Instead, it was like each fed the other and both cultivators seemed to grasp critical aspects of the greater Dao they were looking for.

Lind dropped off the Immortal Berserker in the yellow segment. Once away from the tribulation, he came back to himself. He also looked enlightened! The man assumed a lotus position and it was so shocking even the judges froze!

Battle quickly resumed but Lind understood why the battle maniac was bored. It was no longer just about victory.

They still fought to win, but the greater goal had now been grasped! Lind's revelation for Dea Arc has inspired them to reconsider the approach.

Fighting on the edge of life and death was a good catalyst to make progress, but Dao was deeper than that. It was not just about combat, but the entire truths hidden beyond the Laws they had mastered.

A smile began to spread on his face. If the most powerful fighters of the tournament had figured it out, then the leaders would quickly follow. The true worth of the tournament he held would become clear!

Seclusion would still be needed for almost all, but some could be like Dea Arc and take the final step at long last!

It also explained the need to wait 50,000 years in between. The resources needed to contain such battles could not be cheap! The investments and betting also made far more sense. The auction was not as straightforward either.

Profit was a side effect. The true purpose was to use greed to bring them back! Such fine items hardly ever could gather in the same auction across grade 6 to nearly peak Law Grade!

"Spirits bless their greedy hearts." Lind whispered the words and none heard him. They were either focused on grasping what they could from the current fights or like the Immortal Berserker and trying to solidify their gains.

The blue segment finally wrapped up and the red segment began. One leg of it was now dark with the Immortal Berserker literally waiting at the end of the segment.

Lind sighed as it made it less exciting in one sense but waited for his fight.

He entered his platform and saw the demoness with her bow. It was a magnificent item. Lind recognized an item from a Ruin when he saw one. The craftsman ship exceeded anything the tournament could produce.

She had no quiver but he suspected she needed none. The bow was not wood as it shone like metal but it bent as if it was wood.

He itched to examine it but felt the spirit inside it glare at him.

"Now, now, no peeking at Eldritch. He has been my partner for close to 6 million years now. You will see soon enough how good we are!" Lind blinked at the name. Why? Why would anyone name anything with that word?

It had been a long time since he came across anything so blatantly from Earth but that name could not be from anywhere else. It also made the jewels embedded in the bow stand out more as he quickly grasped the surface level at least.

Qi was not the only thing flowing into that bow but Laws and maybe even Dao!

[Reminder that if the fight goes too long, we will end it.] The judge's last words snapped him out of his reverie.

He focused on his opponent and noted her leather armor was almost black but had crimson reflections from the sunlight on it. Her boots were suspicious to him as well. They were tight looking but he picked out a few hidden slots for daggers or perhaps special artifacts.

Her hair was long but tied back neatly into a dark cobalt blue cord. Her eyes were odd though. They were not normal.

He felt like they were neither demonic nor human but something else.

They weren't targeting sensors by any chance? Lind felt a slight headache if that was true. Any expert able to make such a bow could grant an enhancement to its wielder. Such a gift could be devastating if he could not dodge at all!

[BEGIN!] The judge dropped his arm and 3 arrows appeared! Lind had no time to analyze them as they were not the only thing! The damned boots launched flying daggers! She had not used those before!

The string of the bow was pulled taut as he flipped to avoid being pierced by the daggers. Poison was on them and his instincts screamed at him not to let it even touch him!

The whistling in the air was his only warning as an arrow pierced his left shoulder, right thigh, and left foot! The pain was incidental but what he felt was stunning.

Laws were strongly flowing from the arrows but a touch of Dao too! Her lavender face broke into a wide smile and he understood she had hit what she planned to. One arm and both legs were now injured.

Even with his healing ability, there was no way he could keep up with avoiding the daggers at that rate!

Lind did not dare transform as that would only give her a larger target too!

"Direct approach it is, then." Emerald flames suddenly engulfed him. Scales appeared as the arrows were consumed. Shock spread on his face as he realized his injuries were not healing!

{!@$#^&&%^&!}

A voice suddenly spoke in his head but it was garbled. Lind narrowed his emerald eyes as he understood he had severely underestimated the bow!

His harmony and nodes flared in an attempt to purge anything that did not belong but pain lanced his soul the instant he tried to do that.

It was that powerful?! No, something else was going on!

He quickly scanned his harmony and crystal. Shock filled him as the injuries of his body reflected on his harmony!

His soul had been injured!

Eldritch was an appropriate name!

"I am surprised. Most can barely take one of our arrows but you took 3 and are still sane." Her voice reminded him of her previous fights. One arrow, she only ever shot one arrow!

"His creator seemed to be inspired by creatures from beyond the abyss of madness. He is very well made but unfortunately, my mind has been broken and rebuilt so many times I am not sure I could be called entirely sane anymore." Afterall, was it sane to challenge a Divine Realm cultivator when someone was barely an Immortal? Was it sane to believe the entirety of existence rode on the progress of his cultivation?

He really doubted it. The fact he questioned his sanity at all was a good sign according to Qing but it did not change the fact he was essentially an ant trying to challenge a Sky Realm to a duel.

Lind focused on the fight at hand. If he fell there, he had no right to think he could succeed in the future.

An arrow suddenly pierced his back! He had heard nothing!

Where did it come from?! He scanned the platform and felt the space was strange. It was like there was something beneath the surface of the world around them.

"Oh? You are still standing after that too? I guess I will get serious then." The aura around the demoness changed. Shadowy limbs grew from her as a creature faintly appeared in his vision.

It was difficult to look at as it made his head nearly split in two. Lind knew it could not really be one of those creatures. They were pure fiction but cultivators could make many things real that attacked the mind, soul, and body at their level.

If the creator had a good imagination and access to the Daos needed, they could make something no Immortal could hope to face safely.

Lind knew the goal was madness but he tried a different tack. He used his own memory and saw the 2 white orbs in darkness looking down at him. The terrifying aura as the Great One took Lanbao and his Master from him.

The power he had begun to truly grasp behind that projection. The horrific crime committed in the spirit world and how close the world was to losing everything. He grounded himself in a far more terrifying madness than the bow could produce.

When he opened his eyes, the demoness actually flinched.

"If you want that kind of battle, then let us see where the abyss takes us." Lind spoke before a shadow started to grow from him!