novelraw Chapter 308 - 307 - Divine Will
Chapter 308 - 307 - Divine Will
Lind had woken up in varying states of exhaustion, pain, and downright feebleness, but to the best of his knowledge, he had never awoken completely healed without any issue after a horrific battle against powers beyond his level.
The bright sunlight streamed in through the sides of a canopy that seemed to be layered with more above his head. The bed he was on was quite comfortable and the familiar heat from Tal snoring away next to him was a comfort.
His robes were gone but they had been destroyed by the lightning and his own dragon soul. He was in several bandages that seemed to be imbued with arrays to assist in healing.
It was not a bad idea, actually. Rather than using pills or elixirs that could increase impurities depending on their quality, the use of formations to assist healing could have a wide range of use.
Lind sat up slowly and was happily surprised to feel no pain or even a twinge. His Qi had also been recovered neatly. He did not know how long he was out, but at least a few days would not surprise him.
He checked his fonts and dantian for any damage but was thrilled to see no signs of cracks or deviation. He was at the very peak of Iron Tier, he could go no higher and if he did something like that again he would be forced to watch his fonts cross the chasm to Gold Tier out of his control.
"Someone saved me at the end, but who?" Lind remembered a large shadow and dispersing the punishment clouds like they were dust on a shelf, but his exhausted body claimed him at that point.
"You recover quickly, human." Lind instantly felt his head throb in pain as words came from above. He used his Qi to protect himself as he looked up.
"Senior, please moderate your intent as I cannot withstand it yet." A flap of wings was followed by a large shadow blocking the sunlight but was quickly replaced by an impossibly beautiful woman.
She was very tall, at least 2.5 meters, but elegant with a flowing dress of silvery platinum. Her skin was a healthy glow as her face was angular but awe inspiring in its beauty. Her eyes were a familiar molten gold but the coldness was very different from the set he knew.
"I greet the mother I have heard so much about. Your daughter loves you very much." Lind cupped his hands and bowed. The being in front of him felt similar to Skinwalker which spoke volumes for her power.
"You are not an ascender." Her words no longer hurt but the coldness increased. Lind was confused. He could only be categorized as one from the stories he had read about the Floating Isles having an ascension pool to the Heaven Realm.
"I assure you, I am from a mortal realm." He was being very truthful, but the tall woman blurred to his sight before looming over him. Her aura was oppressive but not to the point of making him bow under it.
Her eyes seemed to want to peel back the layers to find the truth but Lind was actually unsure how to reveal how he had arrived or what that reality actually was.
"You do not need to hide it, little human. We are in a Divine Memory, a shard of reality manifested by a deceased Divine Realm cultivator. I know." Lind was shocked. Skinwalker had said it was reality but separate from the rest of the realms.
It was not created in the sense of a special or secret realm, but instead was the memory pulled from Skinwalker's memory.
"I was not told if I could reveal that information, but may I ask how senior knows this?" He was truly curious as it could help him understand what he was doing inside the Inheritance.
A huff of breath nearly bowled him over but Lind stood firm.
"I was an Apprentice when Lord Skinwalker came to our jungle. The place we are in is called the Sacred Scar. A mighty battle between overlords of 2 tribes destroyed what once stood here and replaced it with mountains and ravines. The only place that survived was a deep valley cut into the earth." She backed off as she summoned a massive couch to sit on.
Lind was offered nothing and remained standing as he had not been invited to sit. He got the impression she did not like him, but he did not know why. He had corrected her error, and the fact he was alive meant the girl had survived.
"I am afraid I really am from a mortal realm. I only know what senior Skinwalker told me. This place is his memory and it is reality yet separate." Lind put his cards on the table as the woman nodded. Each of her movements were elegant and seemed beyond human perfection.
"You are not able to truly understand but I am both my old self and connected to my current self. If I was still alive, anyway. I died long ago." Lind felt a little put off as it was the same as Skinwalker.
He freely stated he had died yet also said he was still alive inside the Inheritance. The woman in front of him was full of life and power, so how exactly did it work?
His confusion was clear which seemed to amuse her.
"I do not expect you to grasp the concept, little human. Reality is not as fixed as the lower realms believe. Creating a special realm separate from the rest of space is as easy as snapping a finger for me, but taking out a strand of my memory is far more difficult. My memory is no longer a simple storage of information at my realm." He took her words and had a sudden thought pop into it.
"A Divine Realm cultivator is not just their Dao advancing but rising above Heaven and Earth?" A deriding sneer crossed her face but it was just as perfect as the rest of her. He was finding her beauty disconcerting, as if she was manipulating his senses to achieve it.
"Only a pathetic attempt to grasp something far beyond your ken. I am below Heaven and Earth but far above you. Suffice to say my existence is more complex than yours." Lind was troubled as he thought he was on the right track but then recalled a feeling he once felt long ago.
"Will, our will as a cultivator becomes inseparable from our memory?" Shock flashed on her face for the first time as her eyes narrowed at him. A chair finally appeared and she motioned for him to sit.
"How did you come to such an unlikely conclusion?" Lind was unsure if he should reveal it but decided to be forthright. He had a chance to get answers to many questions in front of him.
"I was facing my heart demons when an artifact was used to help me. I triggered a hidden effect that propelled my consciousness to my future. I met, in a way, myself. Ever since I gained my dragon soul, I feel like something shifted. I feel like my once possible future is now certain, like a piece of me is waiting for me to catch up." It was something he had told no one.
When he awoke back in the special realm after the tournament, he felt a faint pull. It was vague at first but as senior dragon soul guided him to control his new state, it became far more solid.
His future was literally calling him.
A look of surprise passed over her face as she now smoothly stood up and examined him closely. He got the impression she was looking for something else entirely that time.
"I can feel it. Something vague, but definite has touched you beyond my ability to grasp it firmly. I have heard of such artifacts, but never one with such an usual effect." She resumed her seat as tea suddenly appeared steaming between them.
Lind noted that only one cup existed that she sipped from.
"Have I offended you in some way, senior?" Lind had a limit to his indulgence and he had reached it.
"I am not sure you can understand, but my memories are open to me from my original self. My daughter died facing her tribulation due to having that accursed darkness element inside her. You ruined my plan to save her." Lind finally snapped.
"ARE YOU INSANE?! You endangered her far more than I! I have had to repair enough dantians to know you implanted something harmful in her due to your actions!" Lind was unaware that his harmony flared with his words as his skin changed to scales and his eyes became slits yet retained their dark green color.
He stood up and sent his chair flying which awoke Tal but seeing he was awake she brayed in joy before nudging him lovingly. Lind patted her head out of instinct but never broke eye contact with his host.
"I have struggled to advance the cultivation of 6 elementals and succeeded but before that I saw and read the horrible theories so many had about 'incorrect' elements or the 'only way' to properly cultivate that was a load of hogwash!" Lind had learned as he advanced that the assumptions of what was right for cultivation was just what worked.
Heaven did not ordain cultivation techniques so far as he had found. Even his discoveries were no better, simply a better result. He pulled it off and advanced but was now stuck at the key threshold.
He could push through by force but it would ruin his foundation as 6 elementals used to do when they went from the Soul Realm to the World Realm.
He was heaving breath as he felt a little tired before he realized his harmony was rampaging a bit. Lind got it under control as the woman's look at him changed. Her eyes glowed for a moment before shock really passed over her whole body.
"Peak Iron Tier, Divine Fonts, and all 6 elements! How?!" She was no longer cold but earnest. Lind had to lean back as he calmed himself.
"A lot of luck with Ruins, teachers, and being damned stubborn. I refuse to hold back my loved ones and I did not want to accept the future all believed was possible for me." He remembered his depression on what all expected to happen to him back in the Frey Clan.
His host now looked at him in a new light. Hope bloomed in her.
"Did you help my daughter integrate darkness into her correctly?" Lind slowly nodded. He had helped many work with disparate elements in their dantians so integrating darkness with fire was easy.
Air combined with most elements well it was just a question of how much.
Lind was about to go into detail when he was picked up like a child. The cold and arrogant woman was gone, replaced by a laughing girl in joy!
"Thank you, thank you, thank you so much!" Lind was then kissed deeply on the lips before he knew what was happening. A sudden chill went down his spine as 5 sets of eyes appeared in his mind.
Not his fault, none of that was his fault! What was going on?