Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1573 - 1572 - Death Layer

What was that phrase?

Time flies when having fun? Yet, what was it called when doom looms over someone and it still goes by too damned fast!

Lind had spent the last century honing his skill and exploring his Death Layer. Death is but a Door led quite nicely into his next Mystery.

Death is not Equal. Heaven and Earth are fair but only in regards to possibility, not the actual statistics of the whole world.

If someone walked off a cliff with no way to save themselves, they were going to die.

If someone stepped into the charge of an earth dragon enraged, they were on the menu.

Death did not care for the rich, poor, weak, or powerful, it came for everyone, but it was not equal. The powerful and rich could stave it off. Access to more resources bred more options, yet they could not elude it forever.

Life could be going horribly and death would be denied as a release or it could be the climax of everything when it struck.

Simply wanting to live or even wanting to die was not enough. Death would come in its own time and in its own manner.

It would strike billions or just 1. There was no way to know but Lind had seen it both in person and remotely.

Saints were struck down cruelly while villains never seemed to get taken down. All across the spectrum of life, death lay in wait without warning or prejudice.

Just like the first Mystery, the second had been a powerful condensation. Lind had felt more of an improvement in the quality of his abilities rather than pure strength. He could now better grasp how to Forge and weave but elixirs needed more materials for his practice.

His Arts, harmony, and other aspects showed remarkable improvement as well. His Art of Defiance was far more profound as he incorporated more of his new layer's energy into it.

Lind also noticed his Eyes and Touch were changing. Before, it was like he could grasp more details in relation to how things worked or lived but now he could perceive weakness and ways to destroy like never before.

Haro had no reference for such changes to Talents but he would not be surprised. Talents were not as common as other aspects, even harmonies far outnumbered those that had Talents.

Still, Mysteries changed each person differently depending on what they condensed.

Lind could appreciate that but he took detailed notes with the jade slips he recovered from the cultists camp.

Another 50 years passed before he finally locked in on the final Mystery for his Death Layer.

His speed was terrifying but very few Divine Realm cultivators had the opportunity to be so secluded that nothing bothered them at all!

Further, Lind had a vast foundation of knowledge and experience from blazing the trail for all the 6 elementals that followed him. Compared to even an elite raised from the mortal to Divine Realm in a supreme power with no limits on resources would still have far less need to explore dead ends to advance like Lind had.

Those previously useless paths of research now came back to be of immense aid! It was like he had laid the groundwork for the Divine Realm all along!

Haro could only marvel at it but both of them knew Lind was a rather unique existence. The likelihood of someone repeating his path successfully was abysmal, yet they both thought the other 6 elementals would also advance remarkably in the Divine Realm as well.

The breakdown by elemental combination had once been a single primary element with the highest success to the 6 elemental with none, to the 6 elemental leaving all in the dust!

Lind truly wondered if the massive success threshold of his fellow 6 elementals would peter out or only continue as time went on.

The power dynamics of each major realm had been changed because of them, yet he truly wondered what they would look like as Divine Realms.

He focused on the final mystery of death and the idea solidified like before until the words formed in his mind.

"Death Destroys the Illusion." It was actually a bit complicated but Lind had seen far too many cultivators live in denial. Walking the path of cultivation was kind of like extending that feeling of being a teenager. There was a reason armies on old Earth and his current world recruited them.

Young beings had a very difficult time grasping they could die. A kind of mass hallucination envelopes young people to the point they do not conceive of death as a consequence until it is far too late.

Expand that problem to young masters and mistresses of elite powers. The rich and powerful are not wrong entirely to think they live in a different world from others, but they forget that death does not care about their delusion.

Further, many cultivators act as if death cannot touch them but it strikes regardless and shatters their belief in invulnerability without remorse.

Lind chose it because his reckless actions had resulted in his near death each time. The fact he still lived had nothing to do with death missing him but fortune and interference of others sparing him at the last possible moment.

Relying on such events was the height of foolishness and losing his body had finally sobered him to how dangerous he had been living. It was one thing to think he had grasped it but another to actually lose his body and almost his soul!

The events in the Path of Rebirth Flames also hone that aspect of death to him. He had nearly been obliterated there.

The 3 Mysteries combined and he spent another 30 years polishing his strength but now he hit a real bottleneck.

He had expected to be able to advance in the Samsara Layer as a person that was reborn but he found a feeling of loss when he tried to articulate it!

Haro affirmed it was normal plus it was dangerous to advance layers so quickly. Adding Mysteries can be spread out over years in the Apprentice Tier in relative safety but the Journeyman Tier should expect a massive slow down as at least a century was needed between Mysteries!

He was shocked but focused on refining both Death and Life Layers. When he did that, he made a happy discovery.

He could conserve his strength by focusing on one layer at a time or explosively increase his power at the cost of stamina by combining the 2 layers. The former was swiftly under his control but the latter was a bit chaotic.

The main issue was he had nowhere to really cut loose!

Basic strength, flight, and refinement of his abilities was one thing, but pushing the limits required a full facility or somewhere no one would mind disappearing from the face of existence!

The island did not qualify at all!

He did fly up and cut loose with his flames at least. It exhausted him far too quickly but yielded good results! His dragon breath was not to be trifled with!

It was at the 115th year since the last invasion that he paused and looked out over the Void Ocean. He did not see anything that time but his newly fortified Death Layer reacted to something.

He quickly hid all evidence of his camps that he could and retreated to the cavern. He knew he was going to be in a fierce fight if he was not prepared. He also sent out a warning to the kraken he knew was camped out off the coast.

Why it was there, he did not know but he felt it now. A vastly more powerful life form than him.

Lind was used as a dragon to be the awe inspiring terror but the kraken was far more powerful than him in the beast hierarchy it seemed!

Lind saw 3 dark specks appear but there was also white pyramid trailing behind them. He relayed the information to the kraken but he did not expect an actual response.

[Defend the spark from any that get past me.] A deep voice rumbled deep in his mind but he quickly acknowledged it. The kraken moved off a bit before all hell broke loose.

A storm of white tentacles ripped out of the Void Ocean but it struck the white pyramid, not the 3 cylinders approaching.

Lind instantly knew the bastards had shifted to give away their trailing rivals! The kraken shifted a bit once Lind corrected it.

The defenses of the vessels clearly outclassed the last ones.

They lit up like fireworks until the pyramid cracked like an egg. Three streaks tried to fly away but 2 were snared by the kraken while the Immortals fell to their death.

One of the dark cylinders suddenly opened and an oppressive aura flared to draw the kraken to it as the other 2 escaped to the island.

Compared to the last 2 parties, the 2 Journeyman Tier auras were far more potent than before. The survivor of the faction artifact was injured but hardly looked back as they safely landed inland on the island.

The other 2 vessels did not wait and opened their hatches to escape. The full cultist parties had just left when the kraken tore their vessels apart like tissue paper. A dark roar shook the Wild Sea and all of the cultivators, Lind included, stumbled.

It was angry, damned angry but it could not exert its full power inland for some reason. Lind had a suspicion suddenly bloom in his mind and looked at the red stone in awe.

He quickly had to dismiss it as battle broke out below. Compared to before, there was no holding back! The 3 Divine Realm cultivators were going full force! He could not allow that!

Lind chose to strike as his instincts roared in him to move!