Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1584 - 1583 - Demon Fox

The large group moved through the silent forest with ease. Lind noticed the beasts around him, despite clearly far from mastering human form, seemed very at ease with moving silently through the underbrush.

Even looking right at them, he heard nothing at all as they moved! How had they been able to achieve that without the use of Qi?

He sensed nothing from them in regards to Arts, skills, or anything aside from their cultivation.

It was damned odd. He should be able to plumb the very recesses of their abilities but it was like his senses just slid off of them!

Their items, however, were a far easier tale. He found various storage treasures, artifacts for analysis, defense, and so forth in conditions that ranged from barely functional to appalling damage.

Nothing was in good shape and he itched to fix them! He also noticed a total lack of Forged items. No signs of weaving anchored into their clothes either.

It was all primary progressions and the quality was excellent from what he could tell, just in disrepair.

"How long have they been here?" Some of the items, like the spear, were far above the current owner's realm yet they could make it work since it was in such bad shape. Further, Immortal items did not degrade so quickly to be in the state he saw them in.

The kraken seemed to ponder for a rather long time before its limbs split into several million tiny shapes.

A quick scan made Lind's eyes go wide.

"100 million years?!!!" That was insane! Any Immortal was possibly long dead and thus their possessions had gone to their descendents. The beasts flinched as his voice was extremely powerful for them and he quickly healed anyone in range.

Such skill without pill or elixir shocked them but they only looked at him with more reverence.

The kraken did not see the big deal but likely their race was extremely long lived naturally and thus a 100 million years while not insignificant, was not something to be concerned over.

The amount of questions Lind had were pushed to the side as their group finally came upon a rather out of place object. If the Purple Forest was a piece of a mortal world, the object in front of him did not belong there at all!

A ruined wall stretched to either side of a smaller gate but it too was nearly falling down. He could see several structures rising above that looked something similar to other beast powers making towers or areas to play for their young.

The current arrangement had small cubby holes dotted with flashes of white, black, and all kinds of colors moving in and out.

Despite the dilapidated state of everything, Lind doubted he could even put a scratch on anything.

It was grade 8 at least material!

A lithe human woman waited at the gate with a massive sword. It was easily a good meter or more longer than it should be relative to her height and had to weigh tons but she flipped it as if it weighed nothing.

Unlike the other items on the group with him, the blade was in far better shape but still in clear need of repair.

Her eyes were burnt orange as her tanned skin made her blonde hair stand out against her darker robes.

"Who are you and why have you captured our scouting party?" She correctly guessed he was the strongest but jumped to entirely the wrong conclusion. He was about to correct her when her eyes went wide at the demoness among them.

"Hmm, you seem familiar. Could you be related to little Nu?" The name caused all to flinch save Lind and his guide. Who was Nu?

"T–t–the great elder Nu is bedridden and cannot be disturbed, but are you Lilith?" Lind jumped at that name! Seriously?!

The demoness smiled before the spear floated up above the youth's head and she pointed at it.

"I have been repaired by the great Lord. He has been sent by our ancient benefactors. Let him pass." The words made the woman pale immediately before she seemed to vanish between one moment and the next. It was not the shadow jump the others had demonstrated nor tearing through space.

Lind was intrigued. He also suddenly realized he could not place the cultivation realm of the woman!

What was going on?

[Master, I was right. There was a legend regarding the kraken race that one of their young was captured long ago and rescued by another beast race at great risk. It was one of the rare demon fox tribes.]

Lind perked up but then tilted his head. The timeline was wrong. Only 100 million years was well within the lifetime of a Divine Realm and Lord Skinwalker had lived for billions of years.

Lind acquired Haro in that Inheritance so how could Haro know about such a legend?

[Master, the legend was from long before Lord Skinwalker met your predecessor. I do know why they are here but any errand with the land regarding krakens usually deals with those tribes. Although, I heard there were issues in their native lands but not the details.]

Haro's words cleared up the confusion.

He waited patiently while looking over other items. He was about to start a mass repairing session when an all too familiar aura of a Divine Realm finally reached him.

It was powerful, but nothing compared to the last few he encountered. A figure partially materialized and all the beasts, including the kraken, bowed low. Lind followed the example and cupped his hands in respect.

[So, our benefactors finally decided to send us someone. My ancestors simply helped a fellow beast child so long ago, but that karma came back to safeguard us in our time of need. Not all could be saved but many were.] A woman's voice spoke in his head.

He frowned at how it wavered between strong and weak. She was pushing herself!

"Senior, I am a healer, may I examine you?" His words interrupted hers but the figure seemed to sigh with a smile from what he could perceive.

[There is nothing to heal. I barely have an interest in holding on anymore. Life seemed so vital to me long ago but it had become tired and endless. I am only hanging on for a singular purpose. I have a successor that needs to return to free our people.] Lind glanced at his guide and finally saw a flinch at his glare.

The mission seemed a lot more complicated than he had been led to believe!

"Senior, I would still like a chance to examine you, if that meets with your approval." Lind knew Divine Realm cultivators did not die in the traditional sense. Even if the main existence passed, pieces could survive like it had with Lord Skinwalker.

It was entirely possible for a 'dead' Divine Realm to return much later if the conditions were right from what Haro told him.

A sigh left the projection before it vanished and the guard returned.

"Grand Elder Nu welcomes you to our village." The term village for what was clearly a fortress left Lind a little amused but he bowed and entered. The small party returned to their job now that he was there.

Inside, Lind was shocked at the variety of foxes all around him. It was not just demonic but natural foxes as well!

He even thought he saw an Elemental at one point but they quickly hid away. The skill of the structures to hide things from him was humbling. He was so used to piercing defenses with his harmony or better elemental control that he was reminded how far down the totem pole he was despite being a Divine Realm cultivator himself.

The various structures he had seen outside were as broken down as expected but he saw new buildings in far better shape lower to the ground. They were made of well varnished wood or logs and looked quite relaxing to live in.

There was a mix of beast and humanoid figures yet he noticed many of the better transformed beasts retained their fox ears and tails for some reason. It was only when he saw the multiple tails once more that he grasped what he was seeing.

"By the spirits, are they Nine-tailed foxes?" He blurted it aloud and many smiled at him indulgently. His guide actually chuckled.

"You are both right and wrong. Many here are indeed of the lower varieties of nine-tails but there are 3 Divine Bloodlines safeguarded here and one Progenitor." He froze on that last word.

As if reading his mind, his guide affirmed what he suspected.

"The Progenitor is why you have been called. They are far more powerful than a normal Divine Realm and perhaps can end the enslavement of their race." Lind frowned at that. While he did not align with slavery, it did not take a special racial bloodline to resolve it. His face was clear as he did not hide it but the kraken did not elaborate.

They finally came to a small palace at the heart of the old fortress. Unlike the rest of the original stone work, it was well maintained and functional. He noticed the stone was seemingly black was but was actually a demonic stone. He could not place it right away as it seemed to be a constructed form not base form.

At the entrance were 4 individuals. Three of them were quite old Divine Realms in the Apprentice Tier with very bad injuries but the last one was a petite young woman with snow white hair and robes.

The ends of her hair ended in black tips and her eyes were gold and burnt orange mixed together.

He had no need to tell who was the Progenitor as she had her own eyes widened at him.

"Dragon Progenitor!" The group froze and even the kraken jumped. It was often overlooked with everything else he was so he simply smiled and bowed low.

"Junior greets seniors and junior sister. I am Divine Dragon Progenitor True Lord Lind Frey to be precise. I am here to examine your Grand Elder and to talk about the particulars of the mission I have accepted." His words brought a silence that could leave a pindrop thunderous.

The group stared for a time before he sighed and simply locked on to the highest room in the fortress. It had the most defenses and likely held his target.