Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 228 - 227 - A New World

News was tumultuous in Sarth but it touched even the Demon Empire in Rith and the Stardust Emporium in Indelia.  What stunned many of the merchants and other powerful cultivators was it was a backwater power that normally hardly drew attention even if it was wiped out.

What most knew was Lind Frey had returned, stronger than ever and made waves that spread quickly in less than half a year.  He planted seeds of new elixir masters and Forgers across Darkmoor Kingdom by teaching the basics to the Lotus Academy students.

The Heavenly Maiden Sect also now had 3 peak grade 3 elixir masters that had begun to teach others.  The smattering of others that had been self taught or nurtured by powers to try and replicate the explosive rise of Lind Frey, were eagerly seeking further education if it was possible to get it.

Forgers were damned rare but now new ones were spread out and low to high tier powers had at least 1 if not 2.  That surprise had hardly spread across the 3 continents when it was found out Lind Frey had laid claim to the throne of the Kingdom of Altair.

The various witnesses at the Relic's collapse had spread word of it far faster than the Lotus Academy incident.  It was clear that Lind Frey had benefited greatly as a low Gold Tier attack left not a scratch on him despite only being at mid Iron Tier.

The dust had hardly settled when the major powers announced the dismantling of Altair.  While it was not openly discussed, many information brokers made a fortune revealing the complete elimination of the nobles of Altair.  Some were found dead the day after the banquet but many were suddenly mortals or simply miserable cultivators no longer holding any kind of power.

If someone dug deep enough, they would connect the sudden executions in Darkmoor's capital were tied to the fall of the nobles in Altair.  One man had made it happen so fast heads were nearly twisted off their necks metaphorically.

As quickly as he announced his official return and made bold moves, Lind Frey vanished from the public eye.  No information broker could be bought to reveal his location but that told the message itself.

Great powers had put pressure out to leave Lind Frey alone for a time, thus those that clamored for his audience paused and prepared for when he next surfaced.  The chaos unleashed was not as bad as some would expect from the fall of any power.

Backwater powers were generally ignored but their neighbors and overlord would have headaches to take care of.  That time, however, Lind Frey somehow controlled it and made sure no people were sacrificed in his clear revenge on Altair.

The thoroughness of Lind's planning left some with more caution than they previously approached meeting him with.  The level of understanding how to dismantle a country, even one so minor, was not a small thing.  It showed how much confidence he had in himself and the kind of resources that were at his disposal just a year and a half after returning from being trapped in a different Relic.

While cultivators were impressed, cautious, or wary of Lind Frey, the mortals of Altair were transformed.  The broken villagers had a long road ahead of them but many stayed growing herbs or plants that actually thrived in the rocky soil they used.

Children were slowly laughing and playing while women watched over them and were protected by Maidens and some demonesses from Darkmoor.  The Maidens were professionals while the Iron Tier demons were there to make sure no one abused the freshly freed mortals.

What was startling was Lind's plans for the villages were working incredibly fast.  The Maidens saw the hand of their techniques being modified for the mentality of the mortals in Altair.  They appreciated how hard Lind must have worked to figure out what did and did not work.  His warning of how broken the men would be had been incredibly helpful.

Many demanded to be 'fixed' but there were signs of recovery and accepting what they had been through.

The rest of the mortals, the ones that had been certified to live under their own power, had been accepted in the Eastern District in the Lotus Empire but where the funds came from to start their new lives was hardly a mystery worth asking an information broker.

Lind Frey had the ability to summon the winds and ride the starlight it seemed to many.

The man in question was currently standing outside a set of dark iron doors he had only crossed once before in his life.  It seemed several lifetimes ago since that day when he was barely 15 and struggling to cultivate with tempering his cores.

"Are you sure you want to go in alone?"  Mira stood behind her son but he only smiled at her and hugged her tight before nodding at the Stone Tier guards.  They bowed low to him as he walked through the doors and down the dark steps to the large chamber below.

It was a prison but it was not meant as a punishment, simply to contain the person inside.  Male acolytes of the clan saw Lind arrive and felt the power of his aura before they bowed deeply.  An Iron Tier in the Frey Clan was the highest power possible.

There was a weak old man with splotchy skin having some soup and water on an oak table.  Lind was nearly stunned at how weak he had become.  His once arrogant father was now a completely broken man, but his eyes, those eyes burned with rage.

The man looked up and after a moment sneered at him.

"So, the ungrateful son returns at long last.  I had heard you died an ignoble death but it seems it was not so easy to kill you.  At least you got that from me!"  Lind felt nothing.  He had expected rage, hate, or something, but there was just nothing.  He felt nothing for the man in front of him.

"How are you?"  Lind was as surprised as the man in front of him.  They were not words either expected to be spoken between them.  A short laugh left the heavily wrinkled face before he set down his soup bowl.  A cane was used to pick himself up out of the wooden chair.

Lind's trained eye could see that his father suffered from injuries that had accelerated his degradation after his cultivation was shattered.  Unlike what he did to the Altair nobles, Jia Teng had ravaged his body by shattering his dantian.

"I am just a husk, boy.  I have been left to suffer because some silly twit had a thought in her head.  If I still had the ability, I would teach her her proper place in the world.  Is that what you wanted to hear?!"  Coughing wracked his body as one of the servants moved forward to support him, but he violently waved them off.

Strangely, Lind felt no rage, no bile.  It was as if his heart had no room for anything concerning this man.  Sudden inspiration came to him as he saw the man hobble over to his bed to lay down.

"I see, I no longer care.  I achieved what I wanted and never wanted anything to do with you."  Lind spoke quietly but the old man turned harshly to him in anger.  It was clear if he still had his cultivation, he would try to suppress Lind where he stood.

"Did you just come to gloat at my misery, boy?!"  Lind shook his head as he pulled the free wooden chair over and sat down.  His dark green eyes had no pity but he had to speak now or there would be no more chances from the look of his father.

"I came to tell you, I destroyed Altair.  It no longer exists.  The nobles have been crippled or scattered far from any support.  All the mortals that were suffering have begun the long road to recovery and as of this moment, I renounce any royal claim in my blood."  Lind's words seemed to cause very little shock to his father but he clearly believed Lind.

"So, you did come to gloat, but just about your revenge.  Do you feel like a God now, boy?  Do you feel superior to us?  Tell me, you came to rub the salt in my wounds like this?"  The man in front of him began to seem so small and hollow that Lind finally grasped it for sure.  He really understood his old heart demon and pressure vanished from his soul.

"I was wrong about what I was angry about, actually.  I was angry that you pushed my mother to sacrifice herself to stop you.  I was incensed that my siblings suffered because they came from you.  The thing is though, I was only ever angry for others and not for me."  Lind leaned forward and his father seemed afraid of him.  "You see, I was angry at myself for existing.  I was a living proof of what you did and I extended that to Altair as a whole."

Confusion was on the old fool's face but Lind only felt light in his heart.

"I wanted your kingdom to be the source of evil in my life so I could blame you for my differences.  I wanted to blame you and your people for how I was treated in the Frey Clan by so many, but I have seen a lot of the world now.  I know people are generally selfish and arrogant as they get more powerful."  Lind had worried he would be the same but he had good women and family to ground him.  They reminded him what he strove to be and what he needed power for.

"You spout nonsense!  You just wanted revenge and hated us!  Admit it!"  Lind could not deny some truth to his words but he felt it completely in his heart.  He understood it when he saw the villagers.  He understood it when Reya was pulled in front of him.

"I do hate Altair.  I hate what it does to its people and how it treats women.  I hate the waste of life more than anything.  Cultivators comprehend the world and the Qi but we get lost in that pursuit the farther from mortality we move."  Lind stood up and looked down at the bed as the man that helped bring him into the world curled up.

"I will no longer let the memory of our former Kingdom have a hold over me.  I don't feel anything because I am done.  I have accepted that I made a change in the world and I am ready to move on."  Lind had let it go.  The anger, hate, and drive to destroy all that connected him to this man in front of him no longer mattered.  None of it ever mattered, he only made it matter.

"I will learn from this experience and I will use what I have learned about myself to move forward.  I will not stop here."  Lind turned and headed back to the door.  The sound of a clattering cane made him turn to see the old man reaching out to him in a begging way.  Lind only smiled and waved as he left that room forever.

His father understood that Lind would never return, but there was no bond between them.

When he emerged, he found his mother pacing but a gentle smile spread on his face until she noticed him.  He pulled her into an embrace and hugged her tight.

"I love you mom.  You created the world for me and I am ready to really live in it."  He felt tears fall on his shoulder as she hugged him tightly back.

"You were always my world, Lind but you made it so much bigger!  You better treat those girls well!"  Lind laughed as he pulled his mom behind him and left the darkness of his heart behind.

Facing a heart demon was but one part of the battle, accepting the lessons completed the war with it.  Lind had accepted the lessons about himself and the chapter of his life came to an end to open the door to the next.

End of Volume 3