novelraw Chapter 300 - 299 - The Gathering
Chapter 300 - 299 - The Gathering
A change had come to the village.
First, 6 rods were replaced at equal distances from each other, then an intense flash of lightning crashed onto the walls unlike anything in the history of it. What followed was a feeling of intense pressure until something wondrous happened.
The chaotic flow of Qi seemed to vanish and was replaced with a fantastic swell of high quality Qi! It permeated all corners of the village after nearly a week since the phenomena occurred.
Many that had struggled most of their lives to keep cultivating so the village could thrive felt no pain for the first time ever! If that was all, it would have already been enough to raise the spirits of the populace, but then a revelation spread like wildfire.
The Great Savior had come!
Lind Frey had been staying at Katie's for close to a month! If it had been anywhere else, it would have been swamped by the residents but Katie and Beth were directly related to the ancestors that watched over the village.
Only a suicidal fool would tempt fate to get a glimpse of their hero.
The many unconscious bodies showed the mercy of Lind, more than Katie outside her place. Lind did not show himself often but once the strange changes solidified, he held a town meeting.
All the cultivators came to listen to the Dao of the elements he had mastered but he also began to examine everyone. He repaired the Qi deviation of most of the Soul Realms. So long as they were not 6 elementals, it was fairly easy.
The 6 elementals were worshiping him like a deity. Lind was stern with them about that and even sent out a message by caravan to the Moebius Sect. Only World Realms could make the journey, but he had some ideas to help the other villages after studying the damage to the ones in front of him.
There were many elixir masters that needed challenges and Rakathi would provide. Of course, Wyndam would treat it as a mission with restrictions of at least 5 cultivators at the Stone Tier to be safe.
Lind also outlined herbs, beast cores, and a few other items to try out. He also put in an immediate request for a Forger to come and take a look at the Salvation crystal quarry. He had no safe way to go himself because while one group had been eliminated, it was not a wild stretch that there could be more out there.
"Beautiful." Lind was looking at a rather rare harmony in a young woman. She was sickly but his elixirs were doing their work. Most of the harmonies were red, orange, or yellow in the village but there had been blue or turquoise like the Gu Clan too.
The current one was a rich violet color. It was vibrantly bright where some had pale colors. Vibrant harmonies often indicated high quality cores. Lind had seen that if the cores were at least Sky Realm in quality, it could produce a very bright harmony.
The current young woman was a mix of Heaven and Immortal cores which he had never seen before.
It took a week to figure out it was a kind of Qi deviation unique to 6 elementals. It was something he noted down to be careful of in Body Refining Realms breaking through even if it might be Rakathi Wastes' unique environment causing it.
"Maybe that is why 6 elementals can't be born in the higher realms." Lind had confirmed with senior dragon soul that only mortal realms could birth 6 elementals. Lind realized that trying to form a dantian was not only a matter of birth and comprehension but also the ability to withstand the pressure of that formation.
There might be those like him that comprehended all 6 elements until they aligned into the 6 positions, but if the Qi pressure was too high, he would suffer deviation. He made a note in a jade slip to reach out to Starfire House if they had any such information on the subject.
Sadly, he doubted anyone did. They would dismiss the crippled or the useless without looking at why they were as they were.
Lind carefully guided the Qi through her dantian from his elixir and was glad to see the Dantian Restoration elixir could be adapted to repair her cores. The violet harmony seemed to dance as all 6 cores became Immortal Realm.
"How do you feel now?" He looked to see a much healthier glow on her face as she weakly sat up with a smile.
"The pain, the pain is gone!" She was weeping as a young man ran forward in joy. Their similar looks made it clear he was her younger brother.
"Big Sister! You look so much better!" He was crying too. Their parents had died some years ago, an all too common story. It was yet another reason the Heavens likely forwent the requirement of tribulations in Rakathi.
He kept that particular detail to himself and Nolan had assured Lind it was not something they would willingly reveal.
They both discussed the likelihood that tribulations could resume under the protection of the shield but Lind doubted it. The shield only worked with the energy provided by lightning strikes of punishments from Heaven. He suspected there would still be complications to prevent tribulations from resuming.
The only way that would happen is if the storm was dispersed and even then it might still favor those that suffered Qi deviation for the rest of their lives.
Lind saw the 2 young people off as he felt tired. It had been another long day and his dantian was exhausted. Despite the advantages of stamina and recovery his dragon soul gave him, it still had limits.
"You need to rest, sonny." An old man seemed to materialize out of thin air next to Lind but he summoned the strength to bow in respect. Nolan shook his head covered in long white hair.
Since Lind had explained what the rods did and demonstrated it, the ancestors of the village had been in true awe. They had traveled the world for a time as all World Realms wanted to see outside the villages. Some left but most came back as their families were there.
Also, their foundations were so damaged that they feared facing tribulations in the outside world.
What the boy had done in only a month was frankly stunning. Nolan knew the rumors and of course the teachings with elixirs had been proof of a lot, but to see it in person was vastly different.
In their experience, outsiders were greedy and looking only to corner an opportunity or lost resources from long ago. As Lind cultivated to recover, Nolan nodded his head at the decision their small council had made.
They already trusted Lind Frey with their secrets, but there was something they protected from the very first days of coming to the Wilds nearly 100 thousand years ago.
⬧⬧⬧⬧
Lind was looking at the strange surroundings he found himself in. After refilling his dantian and even polishing his foundation to perfection, he found Nolan still waiting for him. The old man made no noise but turned and beckoned for Lind to follow.
They simply moved through the town but Lind suddenly realized he had no idea where he was. Since reaching the World Realm, it was nearly impossible to get lost. World Realms were innately aware of their path in the world.
He should have been able to map out his location as he had been everywhere in the village yet he did not recognize where he was then.
Before he could ask, a cave appeared. Lind looked around in shock as he realized they were still within the village as he could feel the effects of the shield but the stone opening was the first non-wooden object he had seen in some time.
Metal was reserved for weapons or lightning rods, but stone had been nonexistent in the village.
"Where are we, senior?" Lind was truly curious but Nolan only smiled before he began to touch certain spots on the entrance way. Arrays lit up that stunned Lind! Formations could not withstand much from what he had seen in any structure in the Rakathi Wastes, but this stone cave had arrays that could?!
A field shimmered before Nolan pushed Lind inside. They had only made a few steps when the shimmer returned to show the shield went back up over the entrance.
Instantly, Lind felt all external sensations he had gotten used to as a World Realm were cut off. The only place that existed was the cavern around them that seemed to go down into the earth.
"Apologies but it takes a lot out of me to get here on my own, let alone guide you." Nolan cracked his back and looked tired. Even so, Lind now knew where the Sky Realms lived as he had never gotten a whiff of them with his Eyes or Touch until the day he met Nolan.
They walked down into the tunnel as there was nowhere else to go but Lind's senses felt in awe. The stone around him was heavily protected with profound arrays that he estimated were in the Sky Realm. Peak grade 5!
How was that possible?!
Even he could only hope to get to low grade 5 until he reached the Floating Isles. Every record, jade slip, and even the Starfire House experts assured him that his gifts simply topped out at that due to the limits of the lower world.
They reached a large cavern but despite the calm feeling inside, Lind also felt a lack of Qi outside the formations.
Why would such powerful formations not allow a good flow of Qi?
The cavern was not natural, unlike the tunnel they came down that was rough like a stone cave could be, but was perfectly oval shaped with the large flat end making the floor while the top was flat but not empty.
Lind looked up and saw a map of a very different Indelia.
Cimmeria was a much smaller city in the west with the names of powers he had never heard of.
"Welcome to the gathering place, Lind Frey." Nolan's voice drew him back when he realized there were more Sky Realms, a lot more!
Many nodded at him with respect while others looked on curiously but Lind saw many tunnels heading off of the cavern as a realization came to him.
"All the villages in the wilds are connected?!" His voice echoed but the seniors around him simply smiled as their rail thin limbs and white hair showed how near the end of their lives they were.
"Not quite all, but a large portion. We have already discussed using this system to help others in our villages as you have proven the healing you do is incredibly resilient even outside the shield." Nolan mentioned such a miraculous thing but then Lind was confused.
"Shouldn't the Heavenly Wrath be able to reach here?" The others became solemn as they looked up at the ceiling. Lind looked back up and noticed that the name "Rakathi" was still on the map but it covered a large swath of the eastern landmass.
It was on par, if not greater, than the current Stardust Emporium reached in the west.
In the far east, there was a structure magnified with what looked like gray squiggles encircling a citadel. He also saw what looked like several black marks connected thin lines that all lead to that citadel.
"We did not make these tunnels, but they appeared millions of years ago, before the Wastes came to be. We think they are part of it, as the formations around us are Immortal, grade 7 level." Lind felt shocked as he had been around such powerful formations but these felt on another level. He used his Eyes and saw fissures faintly glinting.
He suspected the grade of the formations were higher than grade 7 but he had no idea how far.
"Why have you allowed me to come here?" Lind was gratified to see such a thing, but the solemn faces told him there was more to it.
"We have studied these murals anywhere we found them and would like to give you a chance only a few others have had." Nolan pointed to the citadel on the map and smiled. "An Immortal Inheritance, a true Inheritance as recorded in all we can find. What do you say?"
Lind felt floored and excited. He had a regret from the tournament that he had not been able to enter a true Inheritance. Despite earning the right, he was unable to try again until 500 years passed. He would be long dead if he was still human but he would certainly have to stay in the Iron Tier if he wanted to wait now.
He wanted neither. He wanted to advance and an Inheritance could really help him.
Still, he was not a fool.
"What is the catch?" Lind looked at them and saw a few glance at each other before Nolan scratched the side of his cheek and stepped forward.
"Ah, about that. We don't know. The few that have gone returned with no memory save that they were not qualified. They could never return. After a few tries we could not figure out the conditions, so we stopped sending all but volunteers." Lind was confused.
No one died, no one was crippled, they just returned knowing they were not qualified?
A desire to go arose in him and he looked hard at the map as a near feral grin spread on his face. He absolutely would go!