novelraw Chapter 1585 - 1584 - Fading
Chapter 1585 - 1584 - Fading
****Warning: Chapter may be triggering, proceed with caution.****
Lind was about halfway through the main hall of the fortress when the 5 beings he left at the gate came running after him. He had noticed it earlier but no one flew at all here.
He had tested it briefly and his cultivation ability to fly was restricted but his dragonic flight was not.
It seemed some mortal rules still applied.
He did not feel the differential but he could not gauge that accurately as a Divine Realm. It was not so much Qi being forced out of him at that point that was an issue anymore after all.
Yet, the Heaven and Immortal Realms he could confirm with his eyes did not seem to suffer either. It was a piece of a mortal realm but did not seem to work under the same rules.
The group tried to get him to slow down but an instinct made him move quickly. He could not sense the foxes easily, even when right in front of him but he was detecting the decline of something higher up.
He followed that feeling until he was in the tower he expected to be and 2 guards were facing him down with sword and glaive.
His emerald eyes flared before the door simply opened! He had not done it but it seemed the occupant did not want a ruckus.
"Just a little longer, and I could have left this world." An emaciated woman lay in bed propped up on several pillows. Despite her delicate condition, Lind felt power from her that could crush him with a snap of her fingers.
He frowned as he went to her side and examined her. Her eyes were dark red and vital still but her gaunt pale face and limbs told a different story.
She also had normal human features rather than the mix of fox and human he had seen in the village below.
Even the Divine bloodline elders retained those features.
He took her hand from the dark blue cover and found no resistance as his aura flowed into her. The kraken caught up and bowed low while staying at the threshold.
Lind found a true enigma inside the woman's body. There was nothing wrong with it at all. It was totally uninjured, her dantian thrummed with power he could only partially perceive, and her meridians were like swollen rivers of Qi.
The Mystery energy far exceeded his in both quality and quantity.
In essence, the woman on the bed should be hale and out of bed right at that moment but she was slipping away.
"I told you, there is nothing wrong with me. I am simply tired. I am ready to let go." Lind looked up into her dark red eyes and saw it. She was exhausted not physically but mentally.
He then glanced at the 4 behind him and the 3 Divine bloodline elders looked sad but accepting, it was only the petite girl that was openly trying to hold back tears. Her body shook now and again.
Death was not avoidable. Eventually, in some form, it would come for them all but Lind found the concept of just giving up irritating.
"Am I to understand you are walking away after waiting for someone like me to take up the slack?" His words were harsh but a thin smile crossed her face looking at him.
"Nice try, but I am too old to be goaded into living. I had planned to let go before we were attacked by those damned humans and demons. I warned those fools to not be complacent but in the end, nearly all I loved was killed or enslaved." Lind frowned again.
"What does escorting her to the mainland have to do with freeing your people? If that is all you want, I will lay waste to the bastards myself!" He was not joking. Lind knew many powers used slavery as a punishment and he could accept certain limits in that regard, but by and large it was an abusive system that needed strong regulation to keep it in any way moral let alone useful.
His question actually made the old woman glare at the kraken who shrank in on themselves. It seemed something had been left out of his briefing entirely but Lind had no idea what.
She then turned to him and some of her face filled in with a tired sigh.
"I will hold on a little longer as I am one of the few to properly know the tragedy of those days. First, do you know what it takes to enslave a Divine Beast at all?" Lind cocked his head but knew she was not asking about anything below the Immortal Realm.
Immortals could be enslaved so long as the Laws infused into the binding artifact or cultivator surpassed them. A Sovereign Tier was damned difficult but not impossible.
Given that knowledge, a Divine Realm cultivator must be even harder to enslave.
His thoughts revealed themselves to the old woman as she smiled at him before patting his head like a child!
"I like smart ones. They save so much time. Yes, enslaving a Divine Realm is near impossible for most save one race, the beast race." She took on an aura of anger briefly before resuming. "The issue is our bloodlines. If someone has enough of our bloodlines they can create artifacts that bind not just an individual but any beast in range that shares a trace of the familial markers."
Lind stood up in shock!
He understood! Cultivation did not give a damn about bloodlines but only beast races advanced with them! If some kind of suppression or snare was made that reacted to resonate with the bloodline in a beast, the more powerful they were, the stronger the reaction!
A Divine Realm beast actually was weak to such a simple attack?! His face was like an open book as the old fox laughed at him.
"We protect them of course but cultivators live a long time and they are always trying to increase their samples." A flash of the island came back to him and an entirely sinister slant was added to the harvesting teams.
They were after the kraken bloodlines! They were trying to command them!
"Now, what do you suppose would happen if a Progenitor were to mix their blood with the control facet of such an artifact?" Lind grasped it but frowned deeply. Theoretically, a new bloodline would be exempt from control and if that bloodline insinuated itself into the artifact's matrix, it could shatter the bondage laid on an entire race.
The fact the old woman knew it though, meant it was a known fact. It meant people were wary of it and it added a whole layer of danger to the mission they wanted him to attempt.
"The fact I am a Triple Maester is key, isn't it?" Her dark red eyes went wide before he produced an example of his best works. She carefully examined them before her shoulders shook.
She then began to cough as her color left her just as quickly.
"No wonder they took so long! They knew the best shot needed someone like that!" The 4 other foxes were confused but the kraken bowed low once more.
"Grand Elder, my majesties have hunted high and low for one they trust but it has not been fruitful. Many have the skills but their spirts were tainted by the normal vices of their races. While some had pure spirits, they did not possess the skills or connections. It has vexed them all this time." Lind finally understood why the King Kraken had extended the invitation. He had proven his character in defense of the island and his personal motto.
His skill had also been demonstrated by what he could make already. He just had to learn and advance his skills to the next step but if it was only grade 8, he had a strong chance of working it out quickly regardless.
The old woman laid back on her fine pillows and sighed in contentment.
"You were right, little dragon. It was worth living to see you and hear that. I can go without regrets now." He frowned but found he could not move one millimeter. No one could. "You should grasp this sooner than later but life loses its flavors eventually. You see so much repetition over and over that the thought of watching it cycle one more time is just not worth it."
Her words were heavy. It was impossible to deny as even in his old world, humanity was not just a slow learner, they suffered convenient amnesia one generation to the next. Even cultivation powers that had centuries old rulers could not avoid it!
Stagnation was not the only issue but the sheer weight of how each generation could repeat the mistakes of old in new ways or the exact same ones because they did not listen or learn from the old!
How much of that could one take over billions of years? Seclusion would just isolate them from the world and emerge to find it had not really changed. Lind felt a serious thought settle in his mind.
If he was successful and killed the Great Bastard, what was he going to do? There was a lot on his plate and if he lived, a lot to explore but that was not the same as having a goal.
A flash of recognition appeared in those dark red eyes as her body seemed to become translucent.
"It is good you have that kind of thought while young. Too many wait until it is too late to really do anything about it. Whatever goal you are striving for, look around you on the way. You may find other goals that you can come back to or see what the main goal hides from you that you gave up so long ago." Her voice was getting thin and he could hear weeping in the background but Lind was focused on what he was sensing.
It was like her very existence was being undone a piece at a time. Her dantian was dissolved and then her body with it. Her mind and soul were carefully carried in the air until only a spark of something remained.
Even that eventually broke apart and the sensation of a powerful Master Tier left the room entirely. Lind felt cold.
He had seen death in many ways and in many conditions, but nothing like he had just witnessed. Souls eventually dispersed but the cohesion could hold until the next life and he could perceive that chance when it happened.
Fiends ripped out souls entirely and wrecked the vessel left behind to prove the violence of their act.
Sudden death or obliteration was possible at any realm, just a question of power or means, yet even then, the chance for a return was clear no matter how remote.
Yet, what he just saw was a complete and total rendition of life done voluntarily. It was not simply the end of a life, but the deletion of it! There was no other way for them to go and it was a common thing in the Divine Lands according to Haro!
He wanted to deny the reasons but her words rang so true in him. Life was not just about existing but about living as a part of it. It left him disturbed on many levels and a lot to think about yet there was one thing he held true.
No matter what, giving up was not acceptable. Options existed so long as he drew breath, ending gave him none. He clung to that as he left the room and went to find a place to meditate for a time.