Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1602 - 1601 - Hopeless Futures

In the end, Lind got extremely lucky. The Victory Sect had truly been nightmares but it was not from any Fiend influence.

There were agents to be sure but it was just a purely arrogant set of leaders that saw a chance and took it. They killed an entire village because they wanted no one to know what they had done.

It was their greed and cowardice that brought ruin to so many. His exposure of it so publicly gave the Eternal Flame Guild and their allies carte blanche to wipe them out and claim the prizes for themselves.

On top of that, the Eternal Flame Guild were close friends of the Sylvan Alchemy Guild. They had rescued who they could from their fall as well.

He had known none of that but exposing those vultures that stomped on their corpses and further harmed innocents tied to the lost guild were seen as the most vile creatures in the eyes of the 2 women he had invited to the teleportation platform.

So how could they not treat him and his 2 companions well afterward?

Further, the Master Tier woman ordered all his information sealed. The teleportation guild members were included in that order and they had not argued. What sane person would to her face?

Even if their own guild had a Master Tier or other Divine Realm, the Oath was already given. It could not be broken save with the unique methods Lind employed. His Authority was needed for that as well.

So when he reached out, he was quickly ushered to a meeting with those in charge of his current residence. They were Radiant Tier Immortals essentially relegated to maids and servants! Such a contrast was insane!

Even in the 4th layer such a thing would be absurd for even the highest supreme power!

It hammered home how powerful the Eternal appellation was to Lind even more.

He found Karu looking refreshed in her own rooms as well as Misham actually back in the Sovereign Tier! He had sacrificed his foundation to protect life and had already overcome his tribulation so he was simply regaining what he had lost.

He would still face a tribulation to return to the Divine Realm, but that was his issue far in the future.

The man also confirmed his desire to part with them. The things he had seen Lind due and the loss of so many friends wore on the old man. Lind was sad to see him go but would not stop him.

He wished he could do more for the man as he had done so much already. He did give a few peak Law Grade elixirs for him to solidify his foundation and stabilize any lingering injuries. The wide eyes of Misham almost became dinner plates in size.

Lind then secured a room with Karu. She looked nervous but he took a moment to gather his thoughts before he began. Once started, he was not going to stop.

"Have we come to this guild in the other timelines?" His words were calm but his emerald eyes locked onto every iota of information coming off of her. Her gold and burnt orange eyes widened slightly before a sigh left her.

"You have become more observant as you changed. This version of you is vastly different in ways I do not understand." Her small frame seemed unchanged but her eyes became not just incredibly old, but deadened.

It was like all hope had been ripped from her.

"Why?" He asked one word but she did not need elaboration. It was the final proof he needed. She KNEW him. She knew him well enough to hear all the intent behind a single word.

"There are some things I cannot touch on. Think of it like the restrictions against Immortals and learning about the Divine Realm." He nodded. "How much do you know? How many times did you see yourself?

Lind revealed the sparse encounters as well as the feeling of being guided along a rail as he got stronger and progressed in his cultivation.

Karu nodded but froze briefly at the mention of his future encounters.

"So few. Why so few? She mumbled something but then shook her head.

"First, I will explain that I have 2 abilities tied together. I have the Dreaming. It is something a bit more powerful than anything an oracle or seer uses to see events from the future. It is my memory from the future given to me in my dreams." Lind nodded at that.

Such detailed reactions could only be explained that way.

"There are things blocked from me but to give you perspective, the vast majority of events were unchanged over hundreds if not thousands of variations." His eyes narrowed at that. She held up her hand though to stop him.

"Not all deal with us. In many versions, I died or was enslaved until death without ever meeting you. So rather than thinking of me as a prophetess, it might be better to think of me as the beneficiary of dead time. The reason being is that the only memories I inherit are from the Divine Realm upon my ascension." Lind then felt like thunder struck him.

Tal and Kora. They had originally died in the Divine Lands but as Immortals. Lord Skinwalker's Divine Inheritance recreated his memory and a Divine Realm memory was reality!

Lind changed their history and via his power, they were able to live again with both sets of memories intact!

"Lady Kora is likely going through your mind and it is not wrong. Divine Memory is terrifying in its power. All I knew was death. No matter how the giants of the Wild Sea helped us, my fate was abysmal. So long as it was just me, I could vary things as much as possible over and over but by using my Talent, it erased that future forever for everyone." Lind felt his blood go cold.

The Dreaming was not kind. Karu could learn of the future but the Divine Memory then erased all that came after its awakening. It was the only way to re-open possibilities. The Divine Lands had some flexibility with lower realm beings, but once at the Divine Realm, the path was set.

The only way to change it was to erase it and the power of her Talent meant no one could stop her.

She then shivered.

"At some point, the Great One found out about me. I am not sure why but he became aware of the shifting timelines. Something about being a Fiend altered his Divine senses from other beings." Lind knew why.

The Bastard had broken the rules of Heaven and Earth to escape his own fate as a Celestial. Thus, if the rules of Divine Memory operated on those same rules, a Fiend like him would be partially separated from the consequences.

His damned memory was not wiped!

"He began hunting for me in several timelines but I died only hearing about it, then, finally, you came." Lind perked up. He wondered how it began. "You were much darker that first time. The Fiends had killed your Clan, friends, and so many. I think your Celestial Fields were nearly refined before you stopped it barely at great cost."

That lined up thus far but not quite. Someone else had betrayed the Great Bastard and made it possible to save his Celestial Fields but then he froze.

If the Bastard remembered, he too could change the future! He was older than either of them!

It seemed like she could see his thoughts.

"You are partly correct. He has tried to alter things in the lower realms but Heaven and Earth restrict him there. Thus, no matter how he changed things, those events could not be altered drastically from what he did previously." Still, Lind suspected the Realm Refiner might be a product of multiple failures across timelines.

"Regardless, once you found me, something changed more than ever before. You seemed to grasp my Talent far deeper than ever I could and realized that your Dao of Fusion could incorporate part of its–" His head nearly split open.

Blood flowed from all his orifices as flashes of something tried to suddenly seep into him. His body shook as he roared in rage. His Dao of Defiance flared its full power and the chains of fate trying to ensnare him were burned to cinders.

Karu looked pale. She seemed unaware of what happened.

"Skip to the part where this is our last chance." His words made her swallow audibly.

"After many battles, you confirmed one thing. The Great One has been using his existence to cheat. Because he exists partially outside the rules, he learned of his failures by directly shredding oracles and seers of their powers by consumption. He stole their gifts." Lind felt rage rise as he slowly recovered.

Did the Bastard know no limits?!

"He then pierced the veil of the future to such an extent that he was able to learn of his failures before they happened in detail. No hidden warnings or obscured destiny that would only be revealed in the moment, he literally altered his future by contacting his future self." Such a brazen breaking of the rules was not possible normally.

Only someone who scoffed at Heaven and Earth would dare to do it.

"With that advantage, he killed us all." Her words sealed the futures he knew to be gone. He suddenly stared at Karu as understanding came to him and she nodded. "My Talent is the main reason we still exist. He can consume the future but not the past. Only I have been resetting things and thwarting his final success. You never survived."