Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1507 - 1506 - Unintended Results

Lind had been in many Ruins in his life. Inheritances had entrances that allowed a smooth transition between the normal world and the interior but Ruins were a violent jump between dimensions.

While some could be rougher than others, generally it was a feeling of strained teleportation.

The Ruin he had stepped into tried to keep him out! He felt strong resistance but once he was safely inside he exerted his full power. His half-step Dao Cores lit up like suns and his harmony covered his body.

The resistance shattered like glass.

Lind then stepped into a stone structure but unlike any other description, it was heavily damaged and full of debris. He also felt strong traces of multiple Daos.

There were signs of burnt imprints of bodies in several places. Those that had died were in the same hallway?

"Haro, what am I seeing?" He tried to ask his ring spirit for clarity but silence greeted him. He glanced at his right hand and the black ring was there as it should be but he noticed a shimmering barrier around it.

"Abby, Ember, can you hear me?" The 2 girls answered instantly. It seemed Haro was targeted specifically.

Either it was a restriction or the spirit that made the threat sensed Haro was dangerous to it.

"Senior spirit, I am called Lind Frey. I am a Divine Progenitor True Lord 6 elemental. May I ask to meet with you about your accusations?" He exposed his entire self in those words but it had the desired result.

A figure shimmered into being in front of him. It was a slim woman with long pointed ears and silver hair. Her pale amber eyes looked him over before slowly nodding.

"You truly are all those things. I can also sense powerful Daos on you. You should not exist in the Celestial Fields." He smiled at that and shrugged. He had not intended to become a walking danger to all life!

"Am I allowed to ask about the context of your accusations? I admit I came to try my hand to progress as you can see I have a high hurdle to face. Is there something wrong with how people use this place?" He chose bluntness over probing.

The spirit in front of him felt a lot more powerful than Haro. He also felt his instincts screaming at him from some pathways going away from the hallway.

The elven woman looked at him harshly before seeming to reach a conclusion.

"Anyone else I would have killed like the others but you are different. I can feel pure curiosity coming from you and you did not hide your intent. My creator would have liked you." Lind bowed at the praise.

"I am honored. You started with 'thieves.' Please enlighten me." Lind was being overly polite but his loved ones hung in the balance if he did not have answers. In response to his question the spirit looked enraged before their location shifted.

A huge auditorium was around them now. He was on a simple wooden stage but the rising rings around them were full of spheres. Many were cracked but others were whole. They had all sorts of colors flowing through them yet Lind frowned.

It was not simple yet it felt simple. He looked at the spirit who only nodded her head. He used his Eyes, Touch, and senses to examine the room. He never moved from the spot and an approving glint entered her amber eyes.

What he felt shocked him!

He looked at her wide eyed in awe as he realized what he was seeing.

"Dao Guides?! These are all thousands upon thousands of guides to unlock any path?!" The intact spheres were varied but he quickly realized what he found. They were the Dao foundation for just about any path he could imagine!

The broken spheres made more sense but then he frowned. Why were they broken but others intact?

Slowly he realized what had happened.

"This structure was meant to be paired with something else? The effects of cultivators in this Ruin is an unintended result, not its original purpose?" The spirit looked impressed at him.

"Indeed. Each sphere is a condensed world of Dao. Those bastards have plundered them and broken them to cheat their way ahead!" Lind slowly understood. The various descriptions began to make sense.

It also explained the lower realms facing similar settings. Anything below the Heaven Realm was essentially a mortal world. Dao could be anything given form and demons, humans, or others all started in the same environment.

Immortals, however, began exploring Dao as they progressed so it would be more specified for them.

Each sphere was a world unto itself made up of Dao!

"Truly impressive and I am sorry it had been abused in such a way." He was reminded of the Relic that taught him Battle Aura. It had likely also been paired with something else but he had broken it to achieve his results.

"They looted my creator's archive and then tried to grab more! Those bastards!" Lind was confused on the last part but she pointed to 2 spheres farther up the incline. He felt traces of something that finally clicked in place.

"The 2 Sovereign Tiers sensed each other and realized the truth?" She nodded.

"They left their respective worlds and tried to take more but it killed them! Pure Dao ravaged them and all the other thieves! I cannot allow this to continue!" Lind understood many things at that moment.

The Ruin was useless to him. He was walking a path no Divine Realm had ever conceived. Thus the many spheres were related to the known paths and enlightenments he could not apply to his own.

The other realization was what was actually happening.

It was likely that the creator of the Inheritance meant to use the spheres to test the paths each entrant had. In other words, it really was an archive but now that it was a Ruin, it was unintentionally being plundered to let others advance.

He felt saddened by it, but also he could not condone the spirit.

"The greedy ones are dead. Why are you trying to threaten innocents? They did not know. Ignorance is not a defense but why have you never explained?" There had not been one mention of a spirit in charge of the Ruin but it would hardly be the first.

The spirit pouted at first but then sighed.

"I was not allowed to reveal myself so long as they acted in the spheres. Now that they tried to violate the rules, I can act." Lind nodded in understanding.

The damned bastards that tried to grasp more had allowed the spirit to vent her rage!

"You know they did not understand. A Ruin is always a gamble but you have brought hope to so many. So why go so far?" She could absolutely collapse the entirety of the realms. There was pure Dao all around him!

A single sphere could shatter the 4th layer. If she unleashed them all, she could truly destroy everything!

"They are all evil! They only think of themselves and destroy what my creator entrusted me with!" Lind understood then. She had watched as the carefully crafted sources of Dao had been consumed by millions of cultivators.

He looked at the auditorium in a new light and knew he would be frustrated when his Inheritance fell to a Ruin. There was no way to know what would survive and it likely would collapse when it was plundered to its fullest extent.

Still, he could not allow her to continue.

"Did your creator make you do this, or is it something you want to do?" His question seemed to make her conflicted before she eventually answered.

"It was me alone. There were no protocols for when I became a Ruin." Lind nodded and then looked at his ring. He held it up.

She shook her head. It seemed Haro was sealed by her power too. Lind then changed.

His aura reached his peak and she looked shocked as all the restrictions vanished! His ring was freed!

Haro then appeared looking aggrieved.

"You restricted a Guardian Spirit?! You dare?!" He was looming over her but she stood up to him!

"You are only meant to guide True Lords to–" Lind felt his head nearly split open. The words they spoke were beyond him at the moment.

He still took the chance to examine the Ruin in truth. It was just the massive auditorium. It had no other locations. He also found something the spirit had left out.

It was a door to another room. He moved quickly and she tried to stop him but Haro interfered. He entered the room and was floored by what he found.

Maps, scrolls, jade slips, and generally a messy room! He then smiled as he saw a single plaque at the center.

{Cultivation is not done alone. We are always with each other.}

He looked back at the pair of spirits.

"Your creator was a good one." His words made the elven woman blush with happiness. "I think I can help but I need you to stop resisting me. Will you let me help, senior?"

She looked surprised but then glanced at Haro and he nodded with a smile. The restrictions on him vanished and Lind got to work!