Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1620 - 1649 - Arrival

The vast tracts of the Divine Lands were not uniform in quality. Just like the lower realms, some areas were excellent for cultivation, resource gathering, or simply conducive to raising beasts while others could be entirely barren.

The biggest deciding factor for a power establishing itself was the ability to condense Daos faster to facilitate condensing Mysteries. Such areas were highly sought out by Divine Realm cultivators for obvious reasons and any known area was long since claimed one way or another.

Taking from a native beast race was always a vicious war but generally the beast races were always competing against each other to rise in power. Only the rare alliance between say an entire forest or mountain range could keep outsiders at bay.

Still, there were new areas rising in unknown to all. Plant filled areas generally are impossible to hide as animal life goes hand in hand with them so word spreads if powerful beasts are tracked back to such loci of power.

Deserts, mountains, and any subterranean area were much harder to know about. The lack of outside travel can hide hidden gems but ascenders were the ones that were pushed to try their luck finding those if no one would take them.

Those that had been ascending from the Celestial Fields home to Lind Frey had found an antagonistic reception or at least colder compared to any other ascenders. While some could find a home as they had previous connections like the Heavenly Maiden Sect, most were left out in the cold.

The chief reasons were powers that were becoming desperate in the century since the Night of a Million Assassinations. It was the name given to the day the Great One demonstrated how little defense they had against him.

The older Master Tiers that survived understood there were limits but what was the interval in between? That key factor was left in limbo as the Fiends returned fiercer than before.

Defense lines nearly collapsed as they were caught off guard!

Billions died.

Various reports of ascension also came through the spy networks and all grasped the endgame was closing in. The Great One really was going to reach the peak of the Divine Realm!

No one was sure what that was but the ancient powers knew that was not the true terror to come. There was another realm very few spoke of. It was nearly impossible to reach and the conditions were murky at best.

The Great One clearly needed an amount of life that terrified them already. What would he need to reach that mythical realm?

It was at that moment that the Eastern Continent brought hope in the form of both an entire race of beasts and a rare breed of cultivator.

The Harmonic Dragons began to ascend to the stunned awe of many. The last reports known barely put them in the Immortal Realm as a race but it seemed they had some kind of racial trigger that caused them to explode in strength.

The other was long expected based on those powers in contact with a certain lower Celestial Fields realm.

The long standing issue of 6 elementals had been solved and it was found they were very effective against Fiends! They were finally ascending but due to the reactions of various powers to the offer of the Great One, they were being imprisoned at first.

The dragons could not be bound as many ancient dragon races had more than sufficient strength to safeguard them yet no one could foresee the terrifying power of those dragons.

Their ability to fight above their realm became clear as a small number of them raided in conjunction with others known to be associated with Lind Frey to free the imprisoned 6 elementals.

The grade 8 defenses most had seemed like a joke when freshly ascended cultivators shredded them with ease. The issue stemmed from the artifacts they wielded. It was like they possessed more profound Qi and Laws than should be possible for grade 7 or Law Grade!

No existing expert could explain it right away until the faction in charge of that realm affirmed the ability of Lind Frey. He had solved the issue of 6 elementals, true, but also revealed how flawed all creations were previously for the same reason.

In other words, while current grade 8 items remained powerful, if they were still flawed, the purer creations from the new elemental theories exploited those flaws to the fullest.

It was like using cracked glass, no matter how sturdy it had been before, it would shatter to the right strike.

Desperation filled many at that revelation. Yet, the very source of such items were against them all!

The Harmonic Dragons did not shun their kin but brought that wisdom. Combined with the prismatic Divine Ryu Ethry, a new area was staked out in the Wasted Valley. It was a barren area few bothered with save bandits or other unsavory figures.

It was wiped clean often by sects or other powers looking for training, but otherwise, it was considered useless.

No one understood why they took such a land until strange artifacts and construction began. Immortal artifacts, resources, and other things were seemingly set up in designated areas. Some experts recognized creating areas of resonance to nurture herbs or crystals but scoffed at the foolishness of using such a barren area.

Yet, things did not unfold as expected.

In just a decade, the area around the Wasted Valley transformed from a useless waste to a lush haven for Immortals! The key was a set of 6 strange areas with Qi and Laws none recognized right away.

The demonic and natural areas were not uncommon but the third set felt unique. No one could place it until the first golden skinned figure appeared from the same lower realm.

They were impossibly beautiful and the world seemed to dance around them. Further, they could negate anything thrown at them!

Celestials were gone from all memory. Even the oldest Master Tier no longer remembered them but the Fiends did.

The Fiends saw them and a change came to the various battlefields. Where the Fiends ravaged defenses, the Celestials transformed their Qi into a weaker version.

Their 2 races were like fire and water. The collision of their energy was so violent no one could be nearby.

The Fiends showed a level of hatred they had never before expressed also. Where they were once methodical and cold, they were now chaotic and visceral.

It gave openings to finally curtail the Fiends. It was at that moment, the Wasted Valley power exerted its true influence.

The Celestials and they moved in such perfect harmony, all could tell it was long ingrained instinct by both!

The dragons were the powerhouses with the cultivators working in tandem with the Celestials to dismantle the Fiends as if they had done since the dawn of time.

They were so much weaker than the Journeyman Tier Fiends but their weapons and artifacts with the power of the Celestials negated their advantage!

Still, there were limits. The power to affect the Fiends drained their stamina and power very quickly. The Fiends could not overcome them easily but they could not push them back anymore than a stalemate.

It gave the other powers suffering breathing room to recover and join forces. The threat of the Great One did not fade from anyone's minds but faced with being reduced to cultivation resources or fighting, fighting was far preferred.

The arrival of a new age was clear to some but it was flickering. The age of the Great One was not over and was close to fruition. The weak ascenders proved the fight was not pointless!

The other continents, however, had no such hope.

The Southern Continent had seen some pockets of resistance but nothing like the Eastern Continent.

The Northern Continent had the worst of it. The vast stretches of frozen land isolated both beast and cultivator from each other. They never had a unified front to begin with not lack of desire but logistics.

They were too far apart from each other.

Just as both were about to be ripped apart and swallowed piecemeal, the Void Ocean spit forth the races from the deep.

The one area of the Divine Lands beyond both Fiend and land dweller found salvation from the fierce residents. The krakens and leviathans were the most numerous and all saw the many residents bow to them in the Southern Continent.

The Northern Continent was led by the Void Dragons and Phoenixes. They were 2 races unique to the Void Ocean that had been the undisputed rulers of all the Void Ocean until the rise of the krakens and leviathans.

The Fiends were initially disdainful but the Southern Continent got a shock as emerald harmonic Qi appeared in many artifacts used by them! They recognized that Qi!

LIND FREY! The thrice cursed Lind Frey finally played a card directly against the Fiends! The Northern Continent was a brutal battle but the frozen land seemed to fight back there so now a stalemate existed

Over 3 centuries have passed and another assault came from the Great One but a difference was noticed. Those areas employing harmonic Qi defenses were defended! They were not immune, but those attacked survived and could heal!

It was the final push many powers needed.

The once Wasted Valley now became the Infinite Combinations Valley. In the 2 centuries since it was established, any cultivator or beast could find a place to improve their foundation or cultivation speed.

It was still costly as resources were limited but with the influx of trade, a qualitative change came over the valley and Divine Realm cultivators felt like condensing Mysteries became easier there!

The newly ascended founders had already reached the Death Layer as Apprentice Tiers but the profound quality far surpassed their equals in the outer world.

The current world reached a kind of equilibrium when everyone began to ask a question.

Where was Lind Frey?