Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1721 - 1720 - Origin of All

As Lind felt his foundation settle, he realized the garden had changed as well! As he looked around, the once lush garden had become overgrown with ancient plants of legend!

He saw Mystery Grade herbs, Divine Qi had flooded into every nook and cranny of each plant and bestowed sentience!

The dryad senior smiled wide at him yet even her tea had been changed! He could tell it had become more potent than before!

"It is fortunate you were inside my home in the palace before having that happen. If it happened in the wider world, I doubt it would have been limited to what happened here." Her words made him quickly scan Karu with his aura.

Shock flooded him as he saw her foundation had been improved! Her body was far more powerful as well but he did not recognize the flow of it at all. The only thing unaffected by whatever happened was her dantian.

Her Mysteries felt the same so far as he could grasp them. The dantian of Divine Realms were still unclear to him even at his current power level.

He then vanished as he appeared next to Qing but unlike anyone else, she was perfectly fine and still in the midst of her enlightenment. He breathed a sigh of relief but confirmed he had accelerated her process considerably.

"Now that is unexpected. You clearly have never held back on your revelations granted by that origin harmony of yours." He had not felt the dryad move at all but her words made him whip his head around.

"Origin harmony?" He had suspected for a long time that harmonies, like all else in the cultivation words, had levels to them but they simply lacked the complete spectrum of success and failure to have a true data set to begin to catalogue them.

Also, how did she have such knowledge?

Her aura shifted and once more, he saw a flickering flame of white appear in a being's hand that was never a 6 elemental!

She saw he was not totally surprised and nodded at him.

"Have you ever wondered about one of the factors to try and go to the next major realm?" Lind's eyes went wide. There was no way?!

She nodded and then waved her slim arm. A profound barrier snapped into place but it was unlike any array he had ever encountered. Just like with the palace, he had no inkling as to how it was made!

[It is called a Condensation of Origin. Even I cannot grasp the truth of this palace as my old friend was the only one that could create it.] Lind was trying to keep up but the instant she spoke, his mind throbbed with pain.

She smiled and he felt a soothing wave of energy take the pain away.

[Too early, it seems. Regardless, when you become a Master Tier, you must condense a harmony.] Lind went wide eyed. What?! By the spirits, what?!

The denigration of 6 elementals since the dawn of time and the Divine Realm Master Tiers knew the truth?!

Rage flared in him as he glared at her but she only smiled back. They both knew he had zero chance of even harming her.

The sheer difference in power was only clearer to him since he improved his foundation.

[Do you understand the frustration of us? We came so far, believing we were superior, only to have Heaven and Earth humble us at the very end. I have a harmony, but I can only claim to have refined it 30 to 40% in the last epoch.] Her words made Lind nearly stumble before he realized what she was saying.

The flawed elemental theory he had corrected and replaced with what was needed to correctly temper Soul Cores on up the realms had drastically improved everyone that grasped it.

Now, he understood why! An improvement was expected but it had been too drastic when he had the comparison in the Heaven Realm lands or Celestial Fields.

The difference in potency of Arts, skills, or raw power was like Heaven and Earth. If the end of the journey was where 6 elementals began, of course a corrected foundational process would unlock the full power of every path!

He had unwittingly created the path to the Master Tier! Whatever else he needed to understand the set of Mysteries, Lind realized the hardest part would be forming a harmony!

The dryad seemed surprised but he proceeded to explain what he had done. She was in isolation essentially and his direct involvement in the dispersion of the new elemental theory had been essentially lost as more and more 6 elementals spread across the realms.

Now that some had made it to the Divine Lands, the other lower realms would likely begin to benefit in order to tap into the currently disused resource of 6 elementals.

She slowly smiled warmly and they began to talk.

Lind learned that Master Tiers had rated their harmonies. Not all of them could condense one, but those that did had chasms of difference between them.

It seemed just barely making one ensured holding off fading for an epoch. Something about them reinvigorated the desire to live.

Yet, they were not enough to advance.

The dryad did not know for certain the threshold but the basic grading had been decided long ago.

{Essential: The lowest grade and has no discernable power aside from reinvigoration of vitality}

{Aspect: Some facet of cultivation forms the foundation and can be nurtured but starts at the lowest rung in the mortal realm of power. Very low chance of being anything more than a slight enhancement.}

{Singularity: Starts at a much higher threshold but far more difficult to cultivate. It would require a long investment in meditation and research to grasp it and advance it to improve their power.}

{Divine: Rare but best result. Divine Lords always grasp it but still have to delve deeply into it and master it to advance. If they do, the odds of ascending to the next major realm is about 50/50.}

{Mystery: Like all things of the Divine Realm, it is the 2nd most rare version. Unlike others, however, it does not need as much study as to be a Mystery, the concepts and other facets had to be well understood to condense at that grade.}

{Origin: Only a handful existed in history and all the Master Tiers had learned from them. The horrifying part of these harmonies was it changed the foundation entirely of each cultivator and attained the peak of power possible under Heaven and Earth. No one knows if they advanced but assume it had far greater odds.}

Lind understood most of it and saw some similarities but he frowned as it was all geared to how it was useful to Divine Realm cultivators. He felt there was more to harmonies than that but it was a good starting point.

[So you believe I have an Origin harmony?] She nodded and held up her white flame. He summoned his emerald one and was shocked once more. Despite being far weaker than her as a Divine Realm, his harmony was far more profound than hers!

Suddenly, both of them flinched in pain as knowledge flowed between them. Lind had never felt such a thing and worse, he could not stop it.

Lind began to see things he had never experienced but it was not her life, but her path of cultivation.

He saw the Laws, Daos, and Mysteries were even revealed!

Horror filled him as he worried the reverse was true, yet he looked up and saw she was crying. Tears flowed down her face as she looked so sad it pierced his pain.

His Mysteries did not gain strength, yet he did feel his harmony had improved and his Origin Seeds also advanced! They could advance?!

He was not any closer to the next Mystery but his harmony drew his mind. He had always wondered why 6 elementals had them but now he knew they were in everyone! Everyone had to grasp them when they reached the pinnacle of the cultivation realms.

Harmonies were the origin of all!

The instant that thought filled him, the pain faded and he smoothly understood what he had to do. Emerald and white flames intermingled as he saw the flaws in her harmony at last.

He had to understand where she came from and he understood the Master Tiers had gotten it partially right.

There were Origin Harmonies and he had one! Had he always had one or had the changes in his timeline allowed him to grasp one?

If harmonies were a requirement, how had the Bastard gotten one? The errant question had to be pushed aside as he finally felt the end of the process and stepped back.

The dryad felt stronger to him but she was still looking at him in misery.

[Senior?] The barrier was still up so he could not speak aloud. Yet, his question seemed to wake her. She now stared at him before she very gently patted his head.

It was an odd act until she spoke.

[How–how can you endure all that?] He tilted his head until he realized that she must have seen more than just his cultivation path. She was a Master Tier on the cusp of the next major realm.

She had seen the truth.

[I do not remember it. I have met the other versions over my life but I am me, not them. I do what I must as I will kill the Bastard.] She slowly nodded before dismissing the barrier.

They both had to digest what happened and consider what to do going forward to improve both their strength for the war to come.