Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1706 - 1705 - Sin of Pride

It had been months since that strange dragon rescued her from the humans. She had come to the trial with bright hopes of ascending to the next step only a True Lord could grasp.

A True Lord was relatively rare, but a Divine Lord was like a human finding out they had a Divine Bloodline inside them. It was nearly unheard of outside of a handful every epoch.

The lifespan of a Divine Lord also left others in the dust. Unlike other Divine Realm cultivators that could lose their desires and fade into nothing, Divine Lords were in tune with Heaven and Earth.

A loss of motivation or connection was nearly impossible. However, in contrast, they could exhaust their lifespan when using their Authority.

Unlike a True Lord, a Divine Lord supposedly paid a far higher price to invoke their Authority.

Divine Authority could rewrite reality according to legends but very few Divine Lords had exercised that power.

The Shen, Astriossa, had ruled her little corner of the Northern Continent for billions of years. The western ice shelf hid an underwater world from prying eyes but many beast races made their home there.

She had risen up and become a True Lord after many battles. Her race was rather straightforward once candidates were found. Still, she had thought she had not fallen into the trap so many of her predecessors had.

A True Lord became arrogant without a challenge to their rule. It was true of all cultivators, but True Lord beasts were notorious for it the longer they existed.

A few exceptions existed, like the dragons and even the phoenix races, but those usually still only were humble to their own kind.

Speaking of, she disdainfully glared at her companion. The violet haired dragon man had been very quiet and subservient to her after both confirmed they had been mentally affected by something in that fog to the east.

They had headed west as they had no desire to see the humans or that fog area again. They had found little of interest directly west and so began to head north. It was only after about 6 months that news reached them of changes in the world.

Lind Frey had come back like a storm of vengeance.

He found a Fiend from somewhere and seemed to kill other True Lords randomly. She had no idea how many were in the trial by now but it was more than 10 for certain as they had all arrived together back then.

Considering how long the trials can go, it was completely possible it was twice that or more if enough were called. The war with the Fiends had caused many True Lords to rise and fall in quick succession over the billions of years.

She saw her companion flinch at those rumors. She wanted him to go away but losing a dragon, even in the highly restricted state they were all in, was unlikely to occur. Further, she knew the humans could harm and capture her far more easily than him.

It was only as the rumors of battles spread that she learned the true reason he was guarding her.

They had become in need of sleep for brief periods and during a watch, she heard him mumble over and over one phrase.

"--give me! Please forgive me! Please forgive me! Ple–" Her anger only rose at that but then they reached the cities near the northern borders between the 2 continents.

It was a very short distance, yet they saw the city burning in the distance.

It was like Hell had been unleashed yet they found people outside the burning city celebrating.

"What happened?" She spoke aloud but a voice made both jump as a young woman was found sitting on a rock just to the left of them.

"The great Emerald One freed us. He killed the thrice cursed beast that forced us to dig. The beast took most of his guards with him so we are free. We burned the city to start over." Her gaunt features made it clear she had not been eating well.

She was so calm but she had to know what we were. Yet, Astriossa felt nothing from her but disinterest.

The young woman only glanced at them as she drank from a dark brown glass bottle. The scent of alcohol was strong from it.

"We are all guilty. I was barely living before in the city. The admins just did whatever and pretended we were rebuilding but the truth was we were just dying out. The beasts just exposed the truth." She did not know what to say to that but the dragon suddenly butted in.

"Did–did True Lord Lind Frey have any message?" The young woman tilted her head before a weird smile spread on her face.

"The man dragging that strange woman did have a message. 'I am coming for you all.'" Astriossa felt her spine freeze. The look in the human's eyes was disturbing all of a sudden.

It was not the visage of a mortal looking at an Immortal but a being that knew all the sins of the past had finally come home to roost for the monsters that ravaged their world.

The dragon stumbled backward from her despite being far stronger than her. His memories no doubt flashed in front of him but Aristrossa was not much better.

She had not gone out of her way to help the people much yet she had not hunted them either. She was mostly indifferent and discouraged the others from being abusive. The trial had been the goal to her.

She was about to move on when the world began to shake. A tremor filled her heart and the very city on fire became dwarfed as an emerald plume of flame shot skyward from the quarry not too far away.

That was shocking enough but she felt her Divine aura awaken! Her powers were coming back! That was very bad! The world they were on would shatter like glass if she so much as sneezed!

She was about to warn the dragon when he suddenly began to bleed from all his orifices! Black smoke emerged from his body as his eyes changed.

"THAT BASTARD DID SOMETHING! IT IS ALWAYS HIM! WHY IS IT ALWAYS HIM?!" It was no longer the dragon's voice and it made her skin crawl. She was about to leap back when emerald light blasted from his eyes, mouth, and cracks in his skin.

"DAMN YOU LIND FREY! I WILL WIPE YOU FROM EXISTENCE THIS TIME! I WILL FINALLY BE FREE AND TRULY LIVE FOREVER OVER YOUR CORPSE AND ALL YOU LOVE!" Aristrossa felt the life almost drain out of her at that moment but then something emerged from the plume of flame.

A massive sinuous dragon made of pure energy filled the sky. It felt far more powerful than anything she had ever encountered and the danger around her suddenly fell away.

[I have heard that so many times now, Bastard. I am long gone but not left to rest. I will maintain the seal until he is ready. You and I will dance until then. Your pride blinded you to what I could do but it also made you careless of the rest of the world. We will defeat you and break the cycle!]

Aristrossa watched in shock as the transformed dragon was dispersed into particles of emerald light that returned to the soil. The human girl was unconscious but unharmed.

She then looked up and gulped as the massive dragon loomed over her. It seemed to be fading too as the flames dispersed in a similar fashion.

[I know you, or rather what you would have been. It seems I have affected more than planned. You need to find me, Aristrossa. It is important Lind Frey goes to your home. No matter what he believes, his power is far from sufficient. He got lucky to touch on both myself and the Bastard's prison. I won't be able to help him next time.]

She trembled as the feeling of a command settled in her! She tried to shake it off but nothing worked! What kind of soul or spirit was that thing?!

The flames slowly vanished but only when she looked around did shock settle in! The city was no longer burning and the young woman next to her was healthy and hale!

Just what was going on?!

{WARNING! TRIAL HAS BEEN BREACHED! SUSPENSION PROTOCOL WAS INITIATED AND TRIAL STABILIZED. 100% Completion has been reached. Evaluation will begin.}

She barely registered the notice as she took in the world. It had been barely reclaimed by the humans but now it was different. The temperature was dropping and the ravaged land was gone!

She turned and saw mountains appearing without a ripple as if all that had happened before was a mirage.

{WARNING! INTERFERENCE IN SPIRITUAL TEMPORAL LEYLINES HAS BEEN DETECTED BUT UNABLE TO PREVENT REVERSION!}

That caught her attention. There was no way a Divine Realm below Master Tier perfection that could affect an artifact of one of the Twins.

Even then, it should not be able to reverse time! How was that even possible?

{Native override detected. No issues found. Heaven and Earth backlash minimal.}

Aristrossa nearly felt her mind collapse at those words. Native soul was evident enough. Souls entered samsara and were reborn over and over. Sometimes the memories were retained or preserved depending on methods used but it meant it was totally feasible for a soul to return to its origin if it lived long enough.

The rest, however, shocked her rigid. No backlash from Heaven and Earth? No issues found with reversing time?!

What insane power was that?! Even the ancient legends always spoke of the harsh rebuke Heaven and Earth could inflict on Master Tiers. Violating time should cause a massive backlash and Qi deviation to the point even a Divine Realm would fade.

Her mind then locked onto an impossible thing. It was impossible because there was no way for them to interfere in the lower worlds! It was forbidden!