Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 207 - 206 - The Dying Village

Lind had left in the early dawn light from the Frey Clan.  Only his future wives and Fey saw him off as his mother could not stand to see him leave.  He assumed many of the others were the same.  He left them behind to safeguard his family and that time no one could claim the Heavenly Maiden Sect was interfering anymore.

A wife would of course stand with her husband's family and vice versa.

Lind had to journey back north on foot as he knew there were many eyes watching him even if he could not feel them.  He had to lose them in the wilds between cities.  He had not taken long before a massive stretch of forest was in front of him after only a few kilometers from the high walls of the Southern District.

Lind then used some formations that replicated Annabelle's distortion barrier if only in a limited way.  He only needed moments to summon the disc artifact and slot in the peak World Stones into each array to get its formations to trigger.

The artifact had several formations he could not come close to turning on but the ones he could were enough.  He used his own Qi to guide it and disappeared as he flew above the treetops.  He kept going up and they stayed put to see what would happen.

Not even a few breaths passed and the barrier collapsed as the formation plate was limited in use.  Annabelle's illusion ability was clearly far above the World Realm as grade 3 plates could not use it more than once.

Once the barrier was gone, several figures appeared quickly and then froze.  None of them had distinguishing markings but Lind could see with his Eyes that all of them were at least peak Iron Tiers to low Gold Tiers.

No words were spoken but several jade slips appeared that he was sure were communication jades.  He smirked as they clearly did not trust each other but Lind was curious about the ones near him in the sky.

A Sky Realm was floating near the artifact and Lind knew they were looking for him but the artifact seemed to hide from anyone in the mortal realms.

He had thoroughly tested it with the assistance of Senior Tyr and others at the Heavenly Maiden Sect in Cimmeria.  No one really understood everything about it, but what could be made to work was Qi intensive.

Holding still was the best efficiency.  Even though he was floating, it barely consumed his Qi while the Qi stones were slowly draining for the hiding function.  Frustration was clear in the aura of the dark cloaked Sky Realm but it was a human, not a demon as he expected.

There were no demons at all which was strange to him.  Darkmoor should certainly be interested but could one of these be their proxy?

After half a day, the figures began to move directly towards the north for the World Realms while the Sky Realm headed towards the moderate mountains that made the natural border between the southern Lotus Empire and the Kingdom of Altair.

Lind waited for hours until nightfall before he risked replacing the Qi stones.  He was visible but still in midair on a moonless night.  It was why he chose today to leave as the lack of a moon was difficult for cultivators to overcome without knowing they needed to.

The artifact array flared as he disappeared.  He then moved the disc slowly to the east but not in any hurry.  He felt an instinct telling him he was still being watched but not directly.  It took another half a night before the figure appeared.

Lind slowly changed his direction and waited as the dark cloaked figure floated in midair and flared their aura everywhere.  It was a demon at last.  It was a dual elemental from the elements used of shadow and acid.  He assumed the shadow element was how this particular Sky Realm flew but he had yet to learn how flying worked outside of artifacts.

"Come out!  I know you are here little boy!"  Lind arched an eyebrow as he slowly drifted away from the Sky Realm.  Acid attacks flared out randomly but he was not worried about them.  The same array that made him vanish also deflected all attacks.

It would give away his position but that was why Lind kept drifting back to the south as he moved east.  The demon's attacks were mostly directly east or north.  Lind took no chances and moved lower as well.  Sure enough, a 360 degree attack of acid shot out but hit nothing.

It grazed over his head and he smirked as the demon began to rage in midair.

"I refuse to let a child get away from me!"  The demon shot off into the darkness like one of the many shadows of the forest.  Lind did not change his speed but continued to vary his direction and height for the rest of the night.

He slowly crossed the mountains as another day passed.  He swapped the stones once more but no one appeared that time.  He sped up at last and hoped there was not a patient hunter looking for him.

The mountains beneath him were pathetic compared to the Silver Peaks but they were no less dangerous for that part of the world.  Lind knew there were easily Iron Tier aether beasts living in packs inside those mountains.

The greenery of the Lotus Empire slowly vanished save a few trees as rocky land came into view at last ahead of him.  The mountains fell away completely but the land below still seemed very rocky to Lind.

He frowned as he realized the maps had been far more kind than expected for Altair.  It was not barren exactly but it was not a very good place to set up a kingdom.  He knew why it was here and how it had begun to thrive but he still felt the greed of cultivators made them very dumb.

He had a firm notion of how the powerful lived but he was curious how the commoners made do in such a harsh environment.

As if to answer his question, he saw a cluster of buildings appear on the horizon.  He noted a few scraggly fields but they did not seem capable of producing crops in any quantity even a Soul Realm could survive on.

Lind landed far enough away not to frighten them and pulled in his aura before swapping out his crimson robes for simple gray ones.  They still seemed too fine for a commoner but they were far less eye catching than his chosen robes.

Lind pulled his hood low as he began to walk towards the short and squat buildings past the sad fields.  He saw that a cultivator had ground the stone to allow dirt to be placed in squares like it would be done in the Lotus Empire or other richer lands.

He frowned as that was not the best use of the terrain.  Whoever made this field had no understanding of how to live in the rocky terrain like a mountain.  There were plants that thrived in caves that could be grown more easily and then supplemented with trade or perhaps some herbs he could think of that could only be found in mountainous areas.

He pushed it aside as a frail child was quietly sitting to the side of the road.  There was no sign of older children or adults at the edge of the village but the child did not even glance at him.  His Eyes told him there was no Qi in their body.  They were a mortal.

He knelt down but the vacant gray eyes never even flickered up at Lind.  He felt a tightness in his chest as he carefully picked up the child.  They did not resist and he carefully guided water and light Qi within their body to heal it a bit.

Their body absorbed the Qi like a dry sponge dropped into a bowl of water.  Lind's extreme control with Sky Touch allowed him to be very delicate with his abilities as a mortal could be destroyed very easily by a cultivator's aura.  He was saddened to not see any reaction in their face despite the ease of breathing and return of some vitality to the body.

"Do you understand me?"  Lind had studied the language of Altair but it was basically a variant of most human languages on Sarth.  It was how European languages had similar roots and then became diversified as time passed.

The child did not even glance at him and he sighed as he moved farther into the village.  The frail child was not unique as he saw more children and adults barely surviving on the no doubt tasteless food.

Lind was surprised at the number of children but then noticed what was missing.  Women.  There were no women in his sight.  A deep foreboding came to his heart as he followed the flow of traffic until he came to the largest building in the village.

It was hardly a hall, but compared to the simple huts, it was a grand construct.  It was only a single storey but the stone was of much better make.  Lind also felt a cultivator inside.  They were only at the Soul Realm but they were there.

"Next."  A bored male voice came from the draped entrance.  Unlike the other huts, it had a drape for a door versus the directly open huts.  Lind looked and saw a frail man slowly stand up to enter but he used his aura to stop them.

Despite the interference, the spindly limbed man only sat back down.  The completely hopeless look never flinched.  Lind held the child as he entered the larger building.

The first thing that assaulted his senses was the smell.  It was not something he could immediately identify but his training under his mother told him there were incense burners for medicinal effects spread out.

It was a highly ineffective method but to fill a room of horrible smell and filth, it would make it tolerable.  Mortals would hardly notice for certain, but a World Realm would find it difficult to withstand it.

"The third room to the right is open.  She is not pregnant yet so do your best."  A very bored slim man sat at a desk writing in a scroll.  A glance told Lind enough to barely contain his rage.  It was a tally!  A tally of whether a woman had a partner or not.

There were 8 rooms visible but Lind could see a turn at the end of each hall and based on the dimensions outside, there had to be at least 4 to 5 rooms he could not see.

"What are you doin–"  The man froze as he saw a stranger in front of him holding a child.  He was about to use a jade slip when a powerful aura slammed into him.  He bonelessly fell to the floor and was unable to move.

"I give you one chance to explain this hell to me or I will snap you in 2!"  Lind was barely holding on to his sanity.  How could anyone let their people live like this?!

"S-senior!  I apologize.  I did not know you were coming.  This village once thrived but the drought the last few years has made it fall below standard.  I was sent to correct it and there was so much to fix!"  The slim man was talking quickly but Lind never let up his aura.  So far as the slim man was concerned, an Iron Tier had come.

"Explain."  The single word contained all of Lind's rage and the slim man paled as the pressure increased.

"They allowed the women to work next to the men.  They also allowed them to have a say in how the village was run.  It was antithetical to our ways.  Women have but one use–"  The pressure multiplied but Lind did not kill him.

"I did not ask for your opinion.  They are dying.  Why are you not moving them somewhere else?"  The slim man looked confused but then his face cleared as he understood.

"Ah, you think we can simply send them on.  That is not allowed.  They must produce until the soil becomes useless.  Only then, can we allow them to die."  The small child in Lind's embrace finally flinched but it was only a flinch.  He saw they were still alive and focused on the low level functionary that was happy to run the village into the ground.

"How long?"  Lind had to know.  It would take time to get so bad as what he saw but the slim man had to think before he came up with the answer.

"I think a century or so.  I am the third administrator sent and we rotate at 35 year intervals."  Lind felt his rage finally flow in his veins.  A sharp crack was heard and Lind realized he had killed the slim man with his aura alone.  He thought he would be disgusted with himself but he felt nothing.

He likely would feel something later, but there was no time.  He had to do something.  He could not simply walk away from this nightmare of a village.  Lind set the child down and started with the greatest victims.

He braced himself but he knew nothing could as he entered the first room.