Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1668 - 1667 - Broken Palaces

The boy, Arlen, helped draw a stark picture of life on Maw Island. It was called an island in comparison but Lind knew its size would take in the entirety of old Earth! That was an island to the Divine Lands!

The sheer scale of the place boggled him but it had survived the destruction of the Western Continent due to its distance and isolation. So it was the most intact stretch of the western lands left but the worms had left it just as devastated if not worse than the rest of the Western Lament.

It was far to the north and west and unlike a planet, the Eastern Continent was truly far away. Only the endless Void Ocean stretched out to the west.

While Arlen had not been too far from his birth place, it was not exactly the safe haven Lind had imagined a community would need.

There had been floating structures at one time. That was quite normal with enough wealth as it acted as both defense and ego boosting in one move, but the worms were drawn to them even as they floated above the surface!

For Immortal worms it was not a problem. They were too weak to do much of anything to the formations and other defenses but the Divine Realm worms were a much bigger problem.

The Apprentice Tiers were able to overpower most structures in a few months. A single Journeyman Tier could do the same. A Master Tier? What palace?

They were swallowed whole!

Some were severely damaged and stopped working as intended but clung to the skies. Once they were stationary, the active flow of Qi dropped below the threshold that drew the worms.

Without a direct connection to the ground, the worms lost interest in the weaker waves. Only something foolish like communication jade stones or other powerful artifacts would draw them up out of the soil once more.

It took another 50 years of tragedy to figure that out.

The floating partial structures were not 100% safe but they offered the best haven to sleep and at least attempt to grow stronger. One just had to accept the formations might finally collapse and they would all come tumbling out of the sky!

Transmission arrays were not allowed at all anymore so more natural gliders and simple improved ladders or ramps depending on position of the floating wreck were used to get up and down.

Crops were still needed but very few structures could be trusted with them as there were other beasts on the island. A few rocs held some mountain passes along with golden crows in the plains or forests.

They were the strongest but even they were careful. The worms were always listening and the true masters of the island.

Lind realized he was right. The cycle of the island had to have been disrupted despite surviving the destruction of the Western Continent. Such a stark cycle of death and desolation to rich resources could not have been hidden from the epoch spanning lifespans of Divine Realm cultivators.

It was far more likely the Master Tier beasts woke up in a certain pattern, gorged themselves causing chaos but not complete destruction, and then returning to slumber before the next cycle began.

Even if there truly were only a handful, the aura of the other 4 would ensure a rich environment for all living beings as their fellow Master Tier rampaged for a time.

Now that all of them were awake and consuming, there was not enough. The island was doomed for who knew how long. Killing a Master Tier was not so simple a thing, even he knew that.

Even if 2 Master Tier cultivators chose to do battle, it was not simply about power but about the Mysteries and all aspects coming together. The technically stronger one by raw power was not the most likely to win.

Further, the devastation from the battle would make any victory pyrrhic by nature. Even the Divine Lands could not withstand the sheer power of Master Tiers going all out.

Just a glance at the devastated lands was enough proof of non-combat ability of Master Tier beasts.

There was nowhere that did not show clear signs of being previously consumed or patches of recovery at different rates before being consumed again!

The worms clearly had intelligence but it seemed their desire to consume could override it. Otherwise, things would not have such contradictory results. Why the worms had not attempted to leave on their own was a mystery to him too.

The situation should have made it clear there was not enough food by now, so why did they stay? He then recalled his long battle to master his draconic instincts.

Starting out as a human gave him time to adjust and carve out his path as a future dragon. Yet, he had met many dragon races that had no thought but to indulge those very instincts to the point of self destruction.

The true measure of that example parallelled what he was seeing now. The worms did not need to consume to survive but they had clearly never tamped down their lifecycle even as they advanced and were now slaves to it.

"Arlen, is there a place to go we can attempt to recover?" They could stay still for long. Lind was the problem.

His unstable fluctuations were like bait. It was not too bad if it was just Immortal worms but there were other Divine Realm beasts that would see it as a weakness and come to challenge him.

The rocs especially might actually come just because he was a dragon in their territory. His True Lord Authority might drive them off but if they had one of their own.

Arlen looked serious for his age and slowly nodded.

"The Broken Palaces is to the south. It is over the Metal Flats inside the southern ranges. If we go there, even the rocs will not follow. It is a hard–" Lind and Haro did not wait and simply took to the air with their passengers.

The vibration was much stronger and told them either 2 beasts were coming or the Master Tier was moving faster. Either way, they had to go once more from their safety.

Arlen looked chagrined as they flew. While avian races were a bane to his people, Lind was as much of the sky as the other beasts. They would also be far less likely to challenge him in the open sky where his vision and aura were unobstructed.

They flew at the boy's directions before a looming shadow of the mountains came into view. Lind noticed immediately they were not natural mountains.

They had been made by cultivators via Arts! The arrangement was an imitation of a natural formation. It was likely meant to work in conjunction with more artificial structures and formations to enhance the security of the land itself.

Not a bad idea but it seemed to have not spared them.

Who would think to look out for giant Master Tier worms in the soil?

They crossed the range's border and quickly saw the glow of the sun brighter than it should be ahead. The towering peaks gave way to a metallic slab perfectly in the heart of the mountains.

Lind was confused when he saw this. He expected a giant hole in it or the mountains but there was no sign of either yet the slab was littered with debris and broken structures like the rest of the island.

The only difference was that floating above it were several platforms. They were all tens of kilometers apart and barely large enough to contain a formation to let them stay in the sky but he could just barely make out that they were once the same structure.

It was much larger yet the amount of debris did not correlate to what was missing.

Arlen had called it the Broken Palaces but Lind only saw 1 overall structure broken down into several floating pieces stretched across the massive metallic slap.

Maybe 2 to 300 square kilometers at most which, relatively speaking, was more than enough for a main palace and its supporting city to exist.

So, where had all the rest of it gone?

"I do not know, senior. All I know is it is a safe but rough place for those without a home. It is too big to hold all of the pieces but no one knows why the worms never come here." Haro had been looking at the metal slab for some time before he seemed to realize something.

"Master, do you have any raw ore or anything on you in a pouch?" Lind nodded and gently picked out a silvery metal stone. He tossed it out and it fell without any issue.

Just as it was about to hit the surface, the metal slab rippled like liquid and the ore vanished!

Arlen was shocked but Lind narrowed his eyes. That was not a formation nor weaving. It was also not artificial!

It was natural Qi flowing off of it at that moment.

"Haro, is that–?" Lind glanced at his ring spirit who slowly nodded.

"It is a beast, Master. If I am not mistaken it is a different kind of worm. I believe it had to originate from the Quicksilver Worm race. A very rare and valued species by blacksmiths, refiners, and Forgers all over. It is because their very skin can absorb and transform raw or refined materials into their purest form for their skin." Lind was stunned as he had only ever read about them.

They did not exist anywhere in the Celestial Fields anymore nor anywhere else he had been!

Somewhere in the Heaven Realm lands they might exist but there was a reason they were damned hard to find.

"They absorb more than that, they consume anything that touches them until they take on the characteristics of it. That thing could absorb other worms!" Lind knew why the Broken Palaces were safe!

It was far too dangerous so get near the place! They were over 1 gigantic Master Tier beast!