novelraw Chapter 318 - 317 - Divine Progenitor
Chapter 318 - 317 - Divine Progenitor
Lind felt sick. He could remember clearly the last time he was sick. He had been barely 7 years old and had a severe fever. His mother had worked tirelessly to make pills for him and also his favorite soup.
He later understood she used a healing Art on him very gently to make sure he survived. Despite his innate cultivation talent, Body Refining Realm was still susceptible to illness as much as a mortal.
Since he became a Soul Realm, however, he had never once felt ill or under the weather. Exhausted, sore all over, and near death, but not sick. The lethargy of his body and the wish to keep sleeping rather than being awake was familiar yet foreign.
"Qi deviation." He mumbled what it had to be but if that was the worst of it, he was lucky. Qi deviation varied greatly depending on the cause, but considering he had been on his way to facing his tribulation, it should have been severe.
He should have been set back decades but from his experience, he could recover in a few days.
A tiny cool hand was pushed against his forehead as Lind opened his now very human eyes. He smiled up at the worried face of Tal as she had clearly been crying. She smiled wide as he looked at her.
"I am all right." Tal nodded as she hugged him tightly right after that. He patted her head but he noted his feverish body. It was clear that his cultivation had degraded a bit but not too badly. He could repair the damage with a cultivation session but first he had to address his physical body's needs.
A peak grade 3 Cure Elixir appeared and he downed it. The results were stunningly fast as his body was purged of all disease instantly and he felt a lot better, but more tired than before. He would need to sleep again after he cultivated.
"Lind.." A voice came from a very clean doorway. Lind finally noticed not only Kora, but the very clean room they were in. They were no longer in the crumbling citadel but somewhere else.
Why, how, what happened?!
Kora saw his confusion but she seemed unsure how to proceed. Tal looked afraid but the orb he noticed was in the corner yet it was dead. All the Qi in it was gone!
"Ah, you are finally awake, junior." A deep voice shook his bones but it was like senior dragon spirit in feeling. It was not a spirit nor an impression left behind, but a living soul. A dragon!
"Junior greets senior, please forgive me but my body is suffering from Qi deviation." Lind spoke from the fairly simple bed but booming laughter filled the room shortly after.
"Of course you are, I made sure to control it as you are not prepared. You are only entering Gold Tier, but you have no idea what awaits you." The voice started to come from one corner of the room as a massively broad shouldered man appeared there.
Lind suddenly had an impression of the actor from the Terminator series or Conan. The bulging muscles were packed with power and terrifying in strength even as a living soul. Lind could imagine that being was also once a Divine Realm dragon, but why was he in the Inheritance?
"I was already dead when that brat Skinwalker snagged my essence for his Inheritance plan. As it aligned with my goals, I had no objection as I knew a troublesome artifact of our race would jump at the chance to use an Inheritance as well." A sharp gaze looked at Lind's right hand where his new storage ring resided.
A sudden memory of the ring stopping him came back as Lind stared at the ring in shock. What was that ring?!
"Exactly what is going on, senior?" Lind looked to the soul but the grim faced being stayed silent as he was clearly examining Lind's condition.
"Restore your cultivation to the peak and we will talk. You will face your tribulation here. Also, these 2 children must stay out of the way." The man then dispersed his projection and no amount of calling produced any result.
Lind sighed but first addressed what was going on since he passed out.
"That man called out after passed out and the orb obeyed. He–he is a Divine Lord!" Lind did not know the term but could guess it was a very highly placed cultivator. Given his soul could give such a powerful impression, it was well deserved.
"So the orb exhausted itself bringing us here?" Tal and Kora both nodded. He glanced at the orb and felt mixed feelings about it. It gave him a lot of information but the mystery of its Celestial Qi and the difference from the current Fiend Qi was something he wished to understand.
He felt it was very important.
He pushed it aside as he had to correct the deviation in his dantian and foundation.
"I have to obey his orders, as it seems Lady Dierdra knew something when she sent us this way." Kora nodded as Tal only looked confused. Still he patted the little girl's head while Kora finally guided her away from him.
He assumed a lotus position and began the work of fixing his cultivation. Days passed and he finally recovered to the point he had been at before with a razor thin barrier between him and the Gold Tier.
His body was exhausted and he only wanted to sleep but he used an elixir to keep it going. He then let the elixirs restore his stamina to move out and found himself in a rather austere kind of temple.
It had simple fixtures and while profound arrays were everywhere, it was clearly meant for some kind of worship or even a place to distance themselves from the world. The temple felt safe to Lind unlike any place he had ever been in.
"Finally, you took your time." The divine dragon soul appeared at the altar at the head of the temple. Lind looked up and saw a relief of a massive dragon with gigantic wings and limbs. Its body clearly rippled with power so far beyond any being he ever encountered before.
"Is that you, senior?" Lind pointed to the relief and the soul frowned deeply but nodded.
"Blasted brats built this place and put my remains here long ago. While those could not make the transfer, my soul did. Skinwalker was crazy but he was at least committed to his insane Dao. His obsession with understanding us is fruitless but he never gave up." Some respect was in his tone but Lind felt there was a large denial in the first part.
Still, he was too tired to argue on that front.
"Senior, I am still exhausted and only my elixir is keeping me going. Please enlighten me on why you nearly killed me?" Interfering in a near tribulation was not only dangerous but a clear attack.
"If I had allowed you to give in to your little tantrum, you would be dead. Which do you prefer, charred corpse or minor Qi deviation?" The dragon soul's face brooked no argument but Lind did not understand the reasoning.
"I have seen many Gold Tier tribulations. While the complication of my situation threw me off, I feel confident." Lind was not lying. He had over a century to carefully study Iron Tier and Gold Tier fonts so he had a firm theory that seemed to work. Harmony was a big stumbling block but he knew that going in.
His dragon soul was the thing he truly missed and would admit so readily. What else could there be?
"Bah, another impulsive idiot. You humans all think you know so much but you never really understand the dangers of your 'fortunes.' Have you not understood what you are, boy?" Lind was not really confused. He knew what he was but his confidence only irritated the soul more.
"Don't speak! I can see your idiocy from here! I don't care about your origins, but that ring does not just recognize any member of our race. It has a condition that only a Divine Progenitor or their direct line can inherit it." Lind now had a clue.
"I am not a direct descendent, so I am a progenitor?" Lind recalled his senior dragon soul had called him as such. It seemed it was a bigger deal than he realized.
"Ah good, you are starting to think. Entirely due to my influence of course! Now, a divine bloodline usually has an easier time with tribulations. What do you think happens to progenitors?" The large being seemed to enjoy irritating Lind but a sudden apprehension filled him.
A progenitor was the first of their line, divine or not, Lind could grasp that Heaven and Earth would test them more than other cultivators. He really had been a fool not to grasp that possibility.
"Is there a restriction on beings telling me about it?" Lind asked due to senior dragon soul but the large one in front of him looked at him as if he was a very dull man.
"Are you truly stupid?! Of course there are restrictions! All of cultivation is how much you understand but this is basic. How you passed your Soul Trial is a complete mystery to me. What did you even do?!" Lind felt his anger rise at the constant criticism.
"Well.." Lind then narrated in extreme detail all that occurred to him in the Cannibalistic Inheritance. Ethry's sacrifice and his refusal to allow it. His eyes returned to being slits as light emerald scales appeared on his skin.
The eyes of the large soul did not even flicker but the pressure lessened considerably.
"Perhaps that is worthy but the spirits clearly did not choose you based on brains. A progenitor will face tribulations unlike any other cultivator. Your other issue is no concern of mine but will make it more complex too, I am sure." The soul then lifted Lind as if he was a feather with his spirit Qi.
Lind could do nothing as he was taken outside to the dark mountain that had been his destination.
"I don't want that annoying temple destroyed. Gold Tier is usually a formality but you will face something Diamond Tiers usually face when they ascend." Lind felt all the blood drain from his face. Was this being serious?!
If that was true, he was ill prepared. In fact, it would be suicidal to attempt Gold Tier with his current understanding.
The divine dragon soul was right, he was an idiot, as ignorance was not an excuse. He would be dead even if he did not understand.
"This junior understands. Please assist me if you will, senior." Lind bowed as he cupped his hands and the soul finally nodded in approval.
"At least you understand, now we have little time, so let us begin!" Lind sighed as he hoped he could rest a bit but the pressure on him increased beyond anything he felt before as the divine dragon soul began to educate him on what was to come.
As he spoke, Lind began to appreciate his idiocy. He had narrowed his view too much and it was as if a final piece fell into place in his mind. It was the same for 6 elementals! He had closed off too many possibilities and made it more complicated than it had to be!
Lind absorbed the information like a sponge and the barrier to his tribulation thinned the whole time until a single line stood between him and the next step.
After only 3 months, black clouds began to gather and Lind stood at the base of the mountain looking up with slitted eyes. He was ready.