Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1692 - 1691 - More Questions than Answers

The sudden jump in progression seemed good to Lind but also made him frown. There was no way one of the True Lords had not stumbled onto the truth before now.

Why was the progress so low when he arrived?

Could it regress?

Was there something where he might get to a wrong conclusion and be penalized?

He roared back to the surface and slammed into the soil. A plume of dust shot upward but he was less harmed than he expected. It was clear that there were differences between him and the other beasts.

The differences were too great. The dragon with violet hair had been injured and in danger from those energy weapons.

Yet they hardly bothered him. It became clear that they were not energy weapons in the conventional science sense but some kind of derivation of cultivation energy! He knew what kind too.

It explained his near invulnerability to them. Anything Fiend Qi based was next to useless on Lind.

Where did the heat come from then? Was it some kind of conversion process? More and more questions but the answers lay in the east.

He calmly climbed out of the hole he had made. The 2 beasts looked confused at his lack of injury.

Now that he had some guesses, he needed to start testing.

"I have an odd request for the 2 of you." He explained he may have found a key lead but he had to confirm if he was right. They had no problem with that until he said what he wanted to do.

"You want us to let you bleed on us?" The Shen woman looked ill but the dragon was insulted!

"You are a True Lord! You should know that–" Lind did not care as he knew how they would react and moved before they could.

His hand was cut and he touched them immediately. It was just two slaps of his palm. The dragon had his upper body exposed by choice but the Shen woman only had her head and hands free.

He was unsure if the robes were part of her or not so he had to go for the certain result.

He hit her cheek as it was the best target. He also used force as he had to have the blood even a little bit absorbed.

Both were shocked and about to get angry when pain seared through their bodies. The Shen woman was not too bad but the dragon was in agony.

Lind calmly stood by them as faint black trails of smoke emerged from them. Their color improved and while it was hard to gauge the woman, the dragon clearly got stronger.

His instincts also recoiled as dark fluid began to be flushed from both. What was that?! The steam he understood as the trace of his harmony raced in their bodies, it would destroy the Qi but no natural Qi existed to be converted into.

It would simply be destroyed.

It added more questions. How was the Fiend Qi being preserved without destroying the entire world even accidentally.

He took his roundabout method as it had not only a high chance of success but it also prevented any unexpected fallout.

The sun was about a quarter of the way to sunset when they both finally passed out. Lind calmly waited until the sun was gone and the stars came out.

The pale moon was revealed and Lind used his powerful eyesight to examine it. He had not really looked at it before but he did notice new craters.

That was all he could perceive from the surface of the Earth yet he noted it. Anything related to the Shattering was now key to his getting the trial completed.

The dragon woke up first and looked shocked at his own body! He flexed his hand and the power was indeed far greater than before. He slowly looked up and a clarity was in his eyes that Lind had not noticed missing before.

"What do you remember?" Lind asked before the dragon could start his own questions. The words made him freeze in the seated position before true rage flared!

"That damned Kun betrayed us all!" Lind had not expected that but then the man lunged for the Shen. Lind beat him to her and easily stopped him. Lind was still stronger physically.

Yet, Lind did notice his instincts were warning him. There was a threat of some kind that had not been there before.

The violet eyes glared at him but Lind calmly pointed at the woman and at him.

"You were both infected. Do you know what was inside you?" The revelation made the man calm down but then confused.

"Infected? With that?" Lind glanced at the rancid fluid and pointed at it. The instant the dragon saw it, he recoiled. Lind then cut his hand once more and the instant he dripped blood into it, emerald light appeared and vaporized it. It confirmed the fluid was different and had been forced out rather than destroyed by his harmony.

"Wh–what was that?!" Lind looked at him before he had a thought.

"You should remember. You went to the east." It was the tiniest thing. Beasts that assumed human form often made a mistake they would not in their natural bodies. A human face is very expressive compared to most beast races.

Thus, a subconscious flash could be reflected even in a being as strong as a Divine Realm cultivator. The dragon's face flinched just barely.

It was enough to admit terror to Lind. It confirmed whatever affected their minds had been removed with everything else. It also contradicted Lind's hopes.

If they suffered the same attack he did, were they made to go east or did something happen that the Fiend or whatever used it remotely to avoid drawing any more attention.

Regardless, it did not change his immediate plans but he would have to go alone. It was clear only 6 elementals could resist whatever was happening on Earth.

He then glanced at the prone woman and his eyes narrowed.

"If you think I will lower my guard, you are mistaken. Both of you faced something in the east and it sealed your memories while setting all of you here on a course of self destruction. In essence, it wanted to keep you here to eat later." Her body shivered as she slowly sat up.

Her hair was now so vibrant it seemed to glow. In fact, it was glowing!

Her dark eyes were full of fear that mirrored the dragon. She looked at him in disgust as well.

"The Kun betrayed us but so did you! You were supposed to protect us and he was the scout! You both turned on us!" Lind frowned at that. Turned on them? True Lords were not like other beasts.

Their Authority could conflict but they could not, as a rule, fight without a reason or Heaven and Earth would intervene.

One of them would lose their status for certain.

So how could they betray anyone? For that matter, why? What benefit could they achieve from it?

"Hold on, explain the sequence of events clearly to me." Lind's words made both look at him but they knew he was far stronger than them in many ways.

His resilience was already clear to both as well.

"At least 8 of us arrived together. The chance to ascend and become a Divine Lord is very tempting. We would be on par with a Master Tier with our Authority then." Lind snapped his head up at that.

Only on par? Not above?! The power of the Divine Lord Quicksliver Worm was indeed terrifying but he had assumed simply a stronger Master Tier came along to ensnare him.

Now, it seemed a Divine Lord was only on par with the Master Tier. What was the point? More vitality? Divine Realm cultivators already lived for billions of years. More Authority? Surely getting acknowledged was enough.

So what exactly was the benefit? He did not understand.

The Shen woman moved on as he contemplated the role they were all vying for.

"This world is barren, as you have said but unlike a Divine Memory or other realistic illusions, it felt too detailed to be cobbled together to me. Others agreed and we investigated. It became clear that even with the fragility we had seen, the level of destruction did not match the stated cause." Lind nodded.

So, even without his familiarity, they grasped the inconsistencies of the current Earth. She then spoke of the strange atmosphere in the dark fog. It felt like an entirely different realm but as she spoke, her skin began to go pale.

The dragon shivered as well.

"There are things in the fog. Things that made us feel small and like we would find worse than death in their claws." The dragon's voice was hoarse but the Shen nodded at them.

Things in the fog? Not beasts or projections, but things?

"Did you feel like your existence thinned at all?" The pair snapped up at the same time at his question.

"YES!!" Their voices boomed but Lind only nodded. That settled it. Regardless of what attacked them or the strange actions of the Kun and the dragon, a Fiend force of some kind was in the east.

It did not seem stable but its power was undeniable.

"Very good, I will head east then." The pair were shocked as Lind was clearly dismissing them before the Shen woman firmly grasped his left arm.

"DON'T! There is only death or worse there!" He smiled at her but then did something a bit dangerous.

He called on his harmony. It was only for a moment but the world bent around him. The Shen was sent flying and the dragon felt awe as his blood sang.

Both were stunned but Lind quickly put it away. He had felt the strain of just containing the natural flow of power inside his body. The small tears in space stayed there for a long time before they sealed up.

It proved he was right but left a final mystery.

What kind of force, Fiend or not, could successfully subdue and restrain Divine Realm cultivators but not break the world? He leapt away and headed to the east.

He had to find answers!