Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1734 - 1733 - Defiance Qi

Lind sealed his room and put a weaving on top of it for safety. He was dealing with a bloodline that could literally rewind time. If he underestimated it, he would pay a heavy price.

The slip seemed so innocuous. Its pale green color nearly matched his current skintone. Yet, even without using his aura, he could feel a pressure he had never felt from any slip or scroll in his life.

He had met insanely powerful beings both ally and enemy, yet none had ever made him feel so small by just an impression alone.

Karu had likely bent rules that Heaven and Earth would normally punish. The fact she hadn't been harmed nor anything other than exhaustion told him things were very bad.

It was also possible that all her lifetimes had karmic debt and restitution that shielded her too. He had no way of knowing as her Talent was beyond him.

"Before I do this, if you are listening, thank you for being kind." He simply spoke aloud but nothing reacted. He had no inkling if Heaven and Earth heard him as he had not forced a connection via his Divine Authority.

He sighed and assumed a lotus position. He then reinforced his position with more weavings. The glow of emerald light looked like a net around as the sigils settled in place.

All safeguards in place, he sunk his aura into the slip.

Reality shattered. Lind was falling into darkness before he even grasped what happened. All his preparations felt useless.

He had just fallen out of the world when a new one surrounded him. He was covered in sweat and blood flowed from all his orifices. His dantian was drained completely.

"Wha–cough–what the hell was that?" Lind hacked up more blood and quickly got out elixirs to speed up his recovery. He slowly felt his mind clear and he looked around at a place he had never heard of.

The sprawling forest was so pristine and vital it nearly overloaded his draconic senses. The towering pines, gnarled oaks, and so many varieties but none of them were in a cultivation realm.

Despite the mortal appearance, he knew for a face he could not put a scratch in any of them. The contradiction mystified him.

What was this forest?

He tried to fly but a very odd sensation washed over him. It was not a restriction or simple gravity, it was like he was not a dragon at the moment despite no change in his internal sense.

He could feel the movement of his flames if he wanted but the moment he tried to use them, the flames vanished!

"What is this place?" His voice was soft but the noise drew his attention to an oddity. Despite the varied forest plant life, there were no birds, foxes, or any animals at all. He could sense a single insect.

The complete lack of life made him think he was on some kind of plant world but even dryads would nurture insects. The symbiotic relationship was normal throughout all worlds.

How could a diversified forest exist without pollination?

He began to walk when once more he slammed into a disconnect from expectations. He did not move, the forest did. Was he in an illusion?

He continued and had the surreal experience of holding still as the world moved around him. He could speed up with his pace but it never blurred. No matter how hard he pumped his legs, it remained crystal clear.

He thought it might be a memory yet it felt normal no matter how he tested things. He put his hand on the bark and the rough features were clear as day. The leaves flickered in the breeze while the sunlight pierced between them.

It was surreal to see perfectly unbroken branches on the ground yet they did not bury the surface.

Where did they go? There should be more of them over the passage of time. He saw the sun lower in the sky eventually but it was just more forest. He did not even find mountains or plains.

It was not until the 3 moons rose that he had confidence he was not in a realm he knew of. He looked at them carefully. They were relatively the same size but something about them tugged at his mind.

He let his instinct take over and emerald Qi emerged quietly. It was not suppressed like everything else. The instant it appeared, he felt it.

It was so clear unlike anytime before. His harmony became solid. It was no longer just energy but a physical object. He carefully held it and realized something. His eyes went wide when he looked up at the moons.

His emerald eyes narrowed as he used hit Talents to look at the world he was in. It was not a world at all!

It was Qi, all of it every form of Qi he had ever encountered! The 3 moons were the 3 systems with the sun being the fusion of them all.

"I am standing in a harmonic world?" The words caused him to stumble. He felt like a massive force had narrowed on him and was now measuring him.

{Unexpected. You do not belong here, yet you are invited. You carry something new, yet older than everything. Very odd.} A gravelly voice rumbled all around him and the forest finally changed.

It reformed into a massive palatial residence with sprawling gardens, fountains, and beautiful pavilions. The golden stone pillars supported a 3 storey structure that reminded him strongly of Roman construction.

The flared tops and bottoms certainly looked like the pictures he had once seen in history books or on television.

Still, the scale made the Romans look like children playing with blocks. It was extending to the horizon making walls and archways that let water flow to the places it needed to.

"Where am I?" Lind asked but instead of words, the palace shifted under his feet until he came to a central hall. There was no opulence nor wasteful decorations. It was all simple and functional.

It was not cold at all, but felt like simplicity was the goal. True power need not flaunt, it just was. That was the feeling Lind got.

He slowed as he came to a simple stone throne. It had no high back but was raised up on a platform to overlook the entrance and the rest of the hall. The golden stone was contrasted with simple blue banners.

There was something on them but Lind could not make it out. It was the first true sign of a restriction he felt since arriving.

{Now, you were brought here by the Eternal Seer. Let me take a look at you.} Lind felt a slight tinge of pain with the name. He also got a flash of a massive white nine tailed fox but with golden tips instead of black like Karu.

He felt the pressure once more with higher intensity. He had had about enough of the mysterious act. There was little he could do about it until it touched on his dantian.

For the first time in a long time, his harmony rebelled against his control. A massive storm of harmonic Qi flared and his dragon body appeared in energy form. It had been a long time since it had done that.

Rather than anger, he heard laughter as a broad shouldered figure appeared. Lind could hardly make out more detail than that and his eyes throbbed the instant he appeared. A brief time later, the pressure vanished and a vibrant old man was now on the throne.

He had full white hair that glowed with power. It grew down to his mid back and a neat beard was tied with a simple ribbon. The robes were loose but hid nothing of the powerful physique Lind felt.

The robes made his soul shiver as he knew a single strike against it would blow back on him with certain death the result.

They were not constant in color yet they seemed solid at the same time.

{So, a human who became a progenitor, eh? A 6 elemental as well before that? Now you have made something new after living and dying millions of times. Honestly, it has been a long time for me. No wonder she sent you here.} Lind looked at his ephemeral dragon projection and frowned at it.

The old man smiled as he stroked his beard as if understanding the issue Lind was having.

"This is not elemental Qi fused together, my harmony was born from that I thought but I was wrong again, wasn't I?" The old man smiled wider as he nodded.

{To be blunt, every 6 elemental is the hope of their respective Heaven and Earth to nurture Qi that is impossible to be born otherwise. Very few succeed but you go and solve the problem entirely! HA! Those old coots will be rolling in their graves!} Lind was confused on many levels.

He looked at his dragon body and then at his own before a thought took hold.

[Defiance Qi is my Soul] The old man's smile vanished as a storm of Mystery energy poured across the hall. Lind was caught off guard but unlike any time before, the color born in the finally Qi layer Mystery was pure emerald.

There was no pain nor difficulty, it was as if he had long waited for the Mystery to come to him.

The roots previously threading through all the other layers transformed and his power skyrocketed. Lind calmly reached out and the ephemeral dragon collapsed back into him. He looked up at the old man and for a brief moment recognition flared in his face.

{Ah, so it was you. I have wondered about those corpses and the black fog. The Eternal Seer remains so wise after being gone for so long.} That made Lind suddenly react. A dead being gave him permission?!

His question was clear but the old man put a finger to his lips.

{You are pushing it as it is. This is not a place you can get answers, not yet. If you win, then answers will be available. You need to go back now. You got what you needed.} The man flipped his hands and Lind found himself back in his quarters.

It was as if nothing had happened but his weavings were destroyed, only the door seal remained. The wood deck was also distorted in a way he did not completely understand.

His power surged and he smiled. The race was still on! Now, he needed one last thing before confronting the Bastard. He had to grasp what he could do and if he was strong enough or not. If not, then he would need answers about the Master Tier.

Hope bloomed in him and he left to find the others. They had to begin to prepare.