Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 210 - 209 - The Broken

Lind was beyond rage after 3 months.  His prisoner had been crippled after he tried to take one of the mortal women.  Thankfully, Lind had kept an eye on him and prevented any harm instantly.  His pure rage had barely been stopped from killing him, but his dantian was shattered.

After that, the mortals were far more trusting of him.  They were unstable at best, and hysterical reactions were quite common.  Lind badly wanted to summon help from Qing but he was not sure there was any help for those poor people.

Time may help them but considering what had been done, only the children had a hope of achieving any kind of normalcy.  The women had recovered long before the men but the men had slowly withdrawn again as well after talking to others.

Lind was not sure what had been done to them to withdraw once more into their mental worlds, but he did not pull them back out.  The children made sure to spoon gruel into them as he had taught them.

He held out little hope for many of them to recover.  They had been broken and he came to understand it was not just that village but pretty much all of them.  Mortals were used as backbreaking labor.

The cultivators treated them as simple replaceable components to producing food needed for Body Refining Realm and Soul Realm cultivators.  Mortals were left with scraps.  It kept them malleable and useful for making more food.  They were bred like animals!

A few villages that had been established were left to their own devices if productive but if they dropped below that threshold, an overseer was dispatched.  Lind knew they set them up for failure with the crops they demanded.

The soil's fertility would be consumed within a few harvests without any renewal or realistic expectations.  The herbs he had planted were very different.  Rather than consume the soil, it would renew it as well as feed the mortals easily if not very appetizing.

Beasts were not plentiful in Altair.  Only the hardy underground variety existed but they were mostly harmless.  Birds were the most plentiful above ground but their nests were in very high places.  It was also known that they were powerful Stone Tier often so it was difficult for anyone to hunt them in large numbers.

Lind had no such restriction.

Once the prisoner told him a direction to go, Lind found them.  Their dark feathers were quite beautiful but he noticed there was a low Iron Tier guarding the eggs.  Lind did not touch them and only killed those birds that came at him.

Once the flock figured out he was not actively attacking, they swiftly left him alone with the 10 he had killed.  The birds were a mix of a turkey and an eagle to Lind's eyes.  The bodies were fairly large but the beaks were sharp and curved.  The large female stared at Lind but she refused to leave the eggs.

"I do not know if you understand me, but I came to feed my flock.  These are enough.  Thank you."  Lind bowed to the mother bird and saw it bow back.  They may not possess true intelligence but Lind understood he was allowed to leave.

When he returned with the 10 corpses, he noticed his prisoner was missing.  He did not have to search far to find his remains.  Lind was not bothered as he had gotten most of what he needed anyway.

He then prepared the birds for preservation.  Not everyone could handle the meat so he would have to disperse the cultivation before they could enjoy it.  The upside was that very little meat would be needed to fill their bellies.

The little children watched drooling as he cooked and preserved the meat in pieces.

"What is that?"  The pale amber eyed woman spoke to him once more but was far warmer than previously.  Constantly watching Lind care for them had made them less afraid of him.  He still saw their guard was way up.

"I went to get some meat rations for when I leave.  I have to go to the capital soon.  I have an appointment I cannot put off forever."  Lind used his Qi to manipulate the stone to create different barrels from before.

He then incorporated several formation plates any cultivator would carry.  The problem was the mortals could not use storage treasures he could make.  He had to accommodate their lack of cultivation.

It was possible to Forge something but Lind was not sure he wanted to draw that much attention to a village of mortals.  The changes were bad enough.

"These are mostly Body Refining Realm birds but they are dangerous if too many strips are eaten.  I have made them safe to 1 strip and there are enough strips to feed this entire village for a year."  Lind was using conservative estimates but then he held up his hand before she could ask a question.  "Under no circumstances are children under the age of 5 to eat these.  They cannot handle it.  I am not joking, they will die."

His firm look made her nod and she ate one of the strips.  She barely got half done before she was full and surprised.  It was far tastier than the gruel.  She also felt much better.  Lind smiled as saw Qi flow in her body.

She was now a cultivator but only in the respect the meat pushed her into the Body Refining Realm.  Unless she practiced a technique, she would not progress no matter how much meat she ate.

It was why he warned about the age limit.  Body Refining Realm was the very first step but a child at 5 was the lowest safe age to start due to being able to control their bodies properly as well as the explosive growth period allowed excess energy to be burned up safely.

It would be the same with the meat but thankfully in a less intense way than cultivation was.  Lind made sure the arrays to preserve the meat were working before he toured the village and began to make some more changes.

Now that the women were caring for the children and the catatonic men, he could improve the last thing in the village, the huts.  Stone vibrated as he commanded it to reshape at his will.  It took considerable Qi to do a single row of huts but Lind was able to accomplish a transformation in a week.

Instead of huts, he modeled the homes after Native Americans on Earth that were made of stone.  He had no lumber but he made due with it as the design allowed air to flow easily inside each structure.

The tallest building was still the massive hall he made first but the new homes were 2 storeys tall and had very solid protection.  He used up all the feathers from the birds to make the mattresses as well.

They were not ideal for the purpose but far better than stone slabs.  The children laughed as Lind did his work while the women were in awe.  He knew it would solve their problems but it would reduce the list by a lot to have such places.

As he finished up, a man emerged from the large hall.  It was the first time any of the men had recovered enough to venture outside.  Likely the commotion had drawn the attention of one and he looked haggard despite his body's recovery.

"W-what is this?"  He had pale white hair but seemed quite young.  Lind assumed the stress of their lives had drained the vitality from him even with his recovery.  He made sure the structures were settled before turning to the man.

Lind's once fine robes were ragged and he looked nothing so much as a very robust member of the village now.  World Realms did not need to bathe much compared to the lower realms but Lind still wore out his clothes with all his attention on the work.

"I am leaving so I have ensured your children have the knowledge to harvest the fields and preserved meat for you all for the next year."  Lind stood calmly while the man digested that information while looking around the now rather neat village.  It looked far more inviting but his pale gray eyes bulged to see the women holding babies and guiding the children.

His eyes turned lustful and Lind frowned but then was shocked when the man grimaced and looked disgusted.

"I am in control!  I am in control!"  The sentence was mumbled over and over again until the obvious signs of lust faded from his body.  Lind was stunned and saddened.  He suddenly understood how broken the men were.

They worked the fields and were told to procreate at every opportunity.  Essentially they had only 2 functions and now their bodies were reacting without any control on their part at just the sight of women.

That would be a problem.

"I can make it easier."  Lind spoke softly and the man looked at him in actual hope.  He stumbled forward and knelt at his feet with a pleading look.

"Please, please make the pain stop!"  Lind looked down and sighed slowly before he made something he had only learned about in theory.  It was not unusual to punish criminals in cruel ways but there were also only a select few ways to counteract aphrodisiacs.

The poor bastards of that village were too heavily treated to the pattern of Altair's demands and he could not leave them like that.  Lind coalesced an elixir which was a very dark color.  It was an appropriate color for its purpose.

"If you drink one does of this, it will take away your ability to lust and feel desire for sex.  The functionality will remain but without external help, you will be unable to do it on your own anymore."  Lind held the vial and was reluctant but the man seemed to brighten instantly and held out his hands eagerly.  Lind realized the man was too far gone.

Lind pointed to the mark on the vial and the man sipped at it.  There was some pain but Lind had been very careful.  Essentially the elixir treated the area of the brain that produced the hormones for attraction and sex to cease functioning.

It would not affect their mental faculties overall but it would leave a void in their minds where that sensation should be.  He was never releasing that elixir to the public for obvious reasons.  Thankfully, it could be easily reversed but the chance for abuse was too high.  Also, it could be used as a guide to make the opposite kind of elixir that made the subject hyper sexualized.

"Please, give it to the others, they will need it."  The man was crying as he now looked out over the village but there was no lustful response that time.  He was simply looking out over his village and seeing life returning.

Lind contemplated for a long time but he finally nodded and made a few more of the abominable elixirs before proceeding inside the hall.  It took him most of the day but the change in the hall was maddening to him.

They thanked him.  All that could speak wept in gratitude and Lind swiftly left the place.  His hatred for Altair had been personal for a long time but he truly came to understand how broken the place was.

It was a land of the broken.