Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1655 - 1654 - Back to the Beginning

Lind looked up to find that he was now in a rather humble study. He had no recollection of arriving and only shook his head at the low fire flickering in the cracked stone hearth. The wood beams were a bit rough but sturdy as the thatched roof let the smoke out as much as the chimney!

The decent furniture was a contrast to the structure but that had always been easier to procure or make compared to a full home.

Had he come to another trial? He doubted it.

He stood up and brushed off some dust from his shoulders only to freeze. His hand was callused and very tanned. His muscles were far more pronounced and his woolen vest and simple cloth pants answered his question.

He was in a trial.

He likely had transitioned the instant he finished consuming his last prize.

He was confused though. The previous trial was about how many he could save and gain further knowledge but he was most definitely not himself again and a mortal.

At least, he thought he was until he went to open the door. The handle crumbled into dust as the nails gave out easily to his far superior strength.

He looked in shock at the small pile of materials before he actually sensed it.

He was an Immortal!

"First thing out of seclusion and you break the door? You are fixing that later." A voice that made him freeze in place echoed in the single floor structure. He then raced to the large living room with a much more modern hearth and chimney setup that was happily consuming logs of wood as a slim woman with unkempt hair was tied back simply.

Her dress hugged her and revealed she was deceptively strong compared to her appearance. Another Immortal?

Yet, it was not that that shocked him. The narrow face and and fierce eyes were the wrong colors but that voice he would know anywhere!

"How are you here?" Anger was simmering in his soul. It was impossible. Flat out impossible. She was reborn and not part of the Inheritance!

A smile so similar spread on her face before she blurred to his vision. He easily caught her hand as the other dropped fresh logs on his feet! Yet, he did not even flinch as it broke his skin and blood began to flow.

She went from playful to serious but he did not let go.

"Answer me. How are you here, Cyntilla?" She looked confused and he felt an aura attempt to wash over him but he kept it out. He wanted answers!

Concern was etched on her face.

"You are confused. I am Leeta. I am your wife from the mortal realm before it collapsed. I know your technique pushes you harshly but you need to stay anchored to the present." The voice and features were the same and Lind would not just dismiss them despite her being human.

He reached for his harmony but it was blocked with most of his power, yet he was not the same as before. He tolerated a lot of things but this was not something he would allow!

Pain began to spread across his body and the woman finally broke free as blood flowed from his orifices like rivers.

She was yelling something but Lind was not listening. He was deep inside past the illusion laid over him. Divine Memory was powerful but he was also a Divine Realm being.

His harmony could not reach but his Mysteries, fused and dancing to his command, shattered the chains on his existence. The rough looking man was discarded and the looming emerald haired face of Lind Frey replaced him.

The woman calling herself Leeta froze before she snarled and summoned a pair of damned short swords! They were far inferior to the ones he had once made but he summoned them now.

The pair danced across the house, destroying it. Lind was far stronger than her now but he was struggling to pull out all his power.

The Inheritance was fighting back!

Lind felt it was all too familiar. The struggle to maintain balance against the desire of implacable forces trying to advance as he wanted to simply move forward at his own pace.

His state of mind became odd. The phantom of his dead wife exacerbated it but her skills were nothing like Cyntilla.

The Wolf Fang Art was nowhere to be seen but she was still very good. It was more about feints and then strong strikes when the enemy was overextended but Cyntialla had drilled him into mastering her specialty as part of his Battle Aura.

His mind was then free to work on the web locking down his harmony. Anything not refined and advanced was being held back from him with ease. His harmony was critical to unlocking his full power and ending the sham of a trial.

[Whatever you meant for me to learn or be tested by, you have only made me very angry!] Rage filled him but he did not let it control him.

He thought he had understood how everything was going to work yet the Divine Realm humbled him over and over in how he had to craft his own path forward. He was back at the beginning of his journey.

No 6 elemental had ever become a Divine Realm. There were no parallels to draw on and it was locked at the Immortal Realm power with Dao to enhance it.

Something blocked him every time he tried to advance it or fuse his Mysteries into it. That left a rather slow process to refine his Mysteries with his harmonic energy to use it.

Just as he had to stumble blindly tempering Soul Cores at the right pace to not be imbalance, he could not do the 3 condensed Mysteries 1 at a time. It had to be all at once.

His eyes closed and seemed to infuriate the impersonator but he no longer cared. Voice and looks aside, she was not Cyntilla.

The old lessons of balanced tempering were woefully incomplete for his needs but the base concept still applied. Life, Death, and Samara layers shimmered in his dantian as small traces of emerald light flowed into them.

Life was very compatible. He had to restrict that flow to keep it in line with the others severely. Samsara was also right behind it. Death, however, was the least compatible and his major hurdle.

He was starting to be struck but his body's superior defenses were hardly fussed by an Immortal.

Still, he kept fighting as it helped him. His body demanded energy and it was fused to his harmony on every level.

If he could not get it directly from the source, he would get it from the rest of him!

His once youthful figure began to slowly wither yet there was no sensation of horror or danger. It was not something that was difficult for him to recover.

His Mysteries kept trying to throw things out of whack but Lind kept a strict control and appreciated his old lessons from so long ago.

Suddenly, a cracking sound resounded inside and outside his body. His harmony flooded back into him and his body returned to its peak instantly. The destroyed forest vanished and a fractured space replaced it.

He saw scenes of a life of barely holding on and fighting to preserve the legacy of elixirs in the face of alchemical dominance. He began to understand the trial was not being hurtful. It had tried to be accommodating.

It was a scenario, not a memory. Cyntilla was lost but in his heart, she lived because he knew she made it to Samsara intact.

It seemed he owed an apology but he was fascinated by what was between the scenario world shards. He saw an intricate system of formations and weavings far above his current abilities.

He quickly made several imprints in jade slips before he was extracted from the trial space to the golden one.

A rather ruffled pair of Twins were staring at him.

"Explain." His Master spoke in an exasperated voice so Lind sheepishly did. When he explained about his dead wife being used as a character, the pair flinched. They bowed in apology but he waved it off.

Now that he understood the source of information was the issue, not the Inheritance. His mind was too powerful when it came to his family!

When he explained what he had down to his current Mysteries, however, both twins began to interrogate him so he showed them.

Where once the energies retained pure gold, black, and silver colors, all 3 were now interconnected by emerald light. Lind noticed it was still growing but slowing down.

The patterns were forming but they felt profound and even the Twins looked fascinated.

"Well, I cannot say you passed the trial exactly but you did not fail either. Given this discovery, I will say you achieved my recognition so you may continue, but do not break any further trials again. If you tried that in a Divine Memory, it would have annihilated you." Lind felt a tremor of their aura then.

Unlike before there was nothing he could do! He understood then that he had been very reckless and his anger may have been stronger than he thought.

The Older Twin then waved his hand and the previous space reset but just before the end, Lind reacted to her face when it appeared.

All 3 Mysteries flared like the sun and a very real projection appeared next to him. All 3 men were in shock as she felt very much alive and Lind knew what was happening.

A powerful force shattered the projection before the process could complete and Lind was sent reeling as his dantian was put into chaos.

Blood flowed like a river from him as his organs burst. He was not in danger of dying but he had suffered severe deviation.

"What–cough–what happened?" The pair of men looked at him grimly as Younger Twin quickly went to work healing him.

"You cannot manifest a living person. Heaven and Earth will not allow it. It would rip the soul apart or cause severe issues across realms. While she may be living a new life, that is still the same person's soul. That was a warning. Do not do it again." Lind nodded and knew he had to tame his mind and heart.

Then it sank in. Cyntilla really was alive! Her soul at least! He might get to meet her again one day!