novelraw Chapter 1633 - 1632 - Unstable Reality
Chapter 1633 - 1632 - Unstable Reality
Words were a powerful thing. The right words could raise armies or shatter souls. Words conveyed ideas and could transform a stumbling fool into an unprecedented scholar. Words, however, were ultimately limited.
Sometimes, there were no words to apply to a situation or sequence of events that could truly convey the reality of it.
When Lind had been told by both Sun and Karu what the Ruined Islands were like, he equated it to a blasted land barren of life or maybe extreme environmental conditions clashing unnaturally due to forces pushing them against each other.
Something he could view mostly as natural disasters without end but he had been incredibly underestimating things.
The Ruined Islands were not just powerful natural forces unleashed without end but unnatural forces as well!
He saw an island that was in a literal state of quantum flux. At times it existed while at others it became a fragmented sphere and all the associated forces were twisted even more in parallel, against, or completely independently of orientation perceived externally.
He saw the sun and moons at the same time in the sky as well as pure white moons of various shapes with dual or more suns flickering across the entire area.
Parts of the Void Ocean were in the sky as well as condensed into a tiny space no larger than a fingernail! He saw beasts that absolutely should be dead as they were turned inside out but not only lived, they thrived!
Schools of aquatic beasts swam in sand and air as well as the Void Ocean. He saw a massive stone temple imposed on something like a steel and glass skyscraper!
Nothing was constant and nothing was in any pattern he could discern.
Even above the clouds, the airspace was dangerous in the extreme. Whatever restriction was imposed could not stop the forces unleashed when the Western Continent fell.
His detection arrays were going haywire so he just shut them down. Nothing he could design could ever hope to cope with the influx of information.
"How did you ever get in there?" Karu whispered but he had no answers for her. The failures were evident. If there were intact Inheritances in that chaos, it was going to be a literal stroke of luck to find an entrance.
Further, how would he get out?
Lind knew his other selves had to have been as desperate as he to gain power but what drove them so hard when they had far more possibilities compared to his current circumstances?
Karu did not have all the answers. She only knew that once he found her, he always found her afterward.
It might vary by a few centuries but not by much so it told him that his ascension was not constant.
He had to have sometimes arrived in the Western Lament or had to go there by circumstances. The Bastard must have closed off a vital resource before and it led to his other selves attempting the insane lands ahead.
At one point, a massive stretch of land appeared across the whole thing but it was in various states of seasons but it had to have been the original Western Continent.
Lind realized time was in as much chaos as space!
"We will-" He was about to start planning when something caught his eye. A tiny black cylinder was flying right into the chaos. It was a flying artifact!
He scanned it but it was not a Fiend artifact. It had a grade 7 aura which made its being there even less likely but it was odd. He did not feel an active feed of Qi or Laws into it but it was flying.
He then directed a deeper scan and saw only a single being on board. A Heaven Realm?
He had to get closer to get more but then it began to tumble. Lind realized the border of the chaos was not fixed! Gravity had been negated entirely!
Flying artifacts used several fundamental forces to move but defying gravity was the most basic. If that was removed, the formations might interpret it as being on the ground and deactivate!
He quickly slammed a lever forward and the ship dove.
"GAIA! Prepare to latch onto that artifact! They are too weak to save themselves!" She nodded and Karu kept an eye on their defenses. She understood without being told the risk they were taking.
The fact a Heaven Realm was fleeing in an Immortal grade artifact told him they were in danger and had no options left. Someone sent them on their way and used all their power to do it!
Lind did not need to know more to act. If they were a criminal, he would deal with it but he would not stand by and let them die!
The ship groaned but they quickly caught up and Gaia perfectly ensnared the artifact in a beam of emerald Qi.
He leapt out of his seat as he could not risk the beam snapping!
He appeared and saw the top was actually transparent on the artifact and a young girl was passed out inside. He also felt his instincts scream at him the instant he met open air.
He did not risk tearing space and just launched himself like a torpedo at the artifact.
His hands turned to claws and ripped a hole in the transparent top like it was paper. He grabbed the girl then put the whole artifact in his ring.
He then sped directly back over the open Void Ocean as his ship followed.
The instant they left, a tear directly into the Void opened and Lind felt something horrifying.
People! He felt the people in there! Yet, they were not there at the same time! He could perceive they were still at the moment of the collapse of the Western Continent and also dead while stuck inside the Void all at once!
He had no idea what he could do and the tear snapped closed before he could analyze the complete state inside.
A shiver passed over him as the true danger of the area hit home. His ship could not go in there at all!
Once he was relatively safe, he flew back up to the deck and went below.
"Get us back above the clouds but away from that place by at least a day at best speed!" He was taking no chances.
Gaia and Karu went to work flying as he carried the far too light girl below. Heaven Realms cultivators did not really need food but if they did not cultivate, they would need something to sustain them.
He could tell she had neither eaten nor cultivated in months at least. The tears and puffy red face spoke of grief. Her murmurs were incoherent but full of pain. He regretted nothing saving her now.
He turned at the only set of double doors in the corridor and they slid aside to reveal a bare minimum area for alchemy or elixir mastery.
Lind laid her on one of the 3 beds and secured her with some straps. Formations and weavings needed Qi to work but in case that was a luxury, he had installed physical straps. They were engraved of course but to just hold her down, the straps themselves were enough.
He felt a sudden strain on the ship and knew something else had happened but no alerts began and neither woman asked for him so he trusted them to keep going.
"Stabilizers need work but maybe they are good enough so others know something is going on?" He mumbled to himself as he examined the girl.
Her robes were very fine but had seen better days. The protection inscriptions had clearly activated so much that they broke down and were dead. The fine golden thread and silver linings were dulled by sweat and some blood but not from the owner.
Her skin was sweaty and pale but no sign of illness. Her pupils responded normally so no concussion he could tell. Her pulse was steady but weaker than it should be. Her dark hair had silver streaks in it but not from age. Her vitality put her in her first century at most.
It had to be a natural state as no dyes were going to last that long in her state.
Her dantian had a barely stable moon inside it. Her foundation was still stable but only just as well. It could be worse but it was on the cusp of deviation or crippling without being addressed.
He had plenty of Immortal Grade elixirs he could apply but they would be too strong so he would have to whip up some peak grade 6 to be safe.
He moved with ease and gave her Recovery, Foundational, and Cleansing Elixirs. Her body, cultivation, and general state recovered but not too fast nor too little. She was in much better condition yet it was best to let her awake on her own.
[Haro, does that artifact have anything to tell us who she is?] He let his ring spirit analyze the new artifact while he kept an eye on his patient. A short pause was followed by a snort.
[Master, she is from what you would call a high power. There are far too many to be sure which but given the state of this artifact, I assume she was a noble or core disciple at least.] Lind found it odd for Haro to be so dismissive.
[Something you want to share?] There was a longer pause before Haro spoke again.
[The girl is innocent but her power is not. There is a partial record from the owner left behind. He reveals their ancestors plundered an old ally to destruction. Now, they are being wiped out by a group called the Broken Tower.]
Lind nodded. Haro had little patience for that but a single record was not gospel. They would wait for the girl to wake up but a less than a century old child certainly was innocent until proven guilty.
Haro did not want to color his opinion but better to have it all now and time to digest it before being blindsided by it.