Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 320 - 319 - Divine Power

Lind woke up feeling fantastic.  His body was refreshed, his meridians were at least twice their previous size thrumming with Qi, and his danitan had drastic changes.  A tiny emerald gold sphere was being fed all 6 elements for rather fantastical fonts.

Each font had its base color as before but were now gilded in what looked like living dragons encircled around their bases with the head of the dragon on the top of the open half facing his harmony.

It seemed like he had a dragon of each element putting Qi into his harmony.

That was all fine and wonderful, but he should be exhausted, bloody, and frankly in desperate need to cultivate to recover from his tribulation.  It had been far more brutal than the divine dragon soul had described.

Lind suspected he did that intentionally.

Still, none of that explained his current excellent state of health.

He opened his eyes to a large space.  It was not a room nor a building with no walls, but black space.  He was currently laying on a soft surface but there was no actual bed under him.  He was essentially floating in a void.

There was no discomfort, in fact it was the perfect temperature and pressure for him.  He tried to stand up and found no issue with gravity either as he easily got to his feet.  He suddenly realized something was not quite restored about him.

His robes were in tatters.  He was essentially naked with some cloth strips hanging off of him.  The only part of his clothing intact was his storage ring.  He also noted his body was covered in dried blood that flaked off of him as he moved.

It did not collect on any surface, it just vanished into the darkness.

"Senior Skinwalker?"  Lind took a leap of logic and was rewarded with a doorway appearing.  Before he took a step through, he used water Qi to quickly clean himself and then pulled out a spare set of robes.

He discovered a small problem.

His robes were usually loose on his joints for ease of movement and combat but now they were quite tight.  His muscle mass had increased as had his height slightly.  A tired sigh escaped him but he would make do for the moment.

He walked out of the void into a well furnished room.  It had scrolls, books, and slips neatly arranged on golden colored wooden shelves.  The wooden floors were covered by several dark rugs that were very soft.  Lind turned and saw sunlight streaming in and saw a familiar landscape.

The panoramic windows looked out on a gigantic wasteland but in the middle of it was a vibrant swath of green.  The Sacred Scar from far away looked amazing.  It showed life thrived in the midst of death.

A sudden scent of tea reached his nose caused him to turn to find 2 couches set in a depression in the middle of the room.  He suddenly realized there were no doors as well.  He looked all around but not a single door was apparent.

There were no arrays he could perceive nor even feel with his talents.  There were only the shelves, windows, and the floors.  The ceiling seemed to extend to infinity with even more shelves beyond the reach of Lind's senses.

"Is the tea not to your liking?"  A familiar voice brought Lind out of his reverie.  Skinwalker was calmly sitting in his human form on one of the couches.  He looked older, however, compared to when Lind met him in the Inheritance.

There were swaths of gray hair as well as signs of moderate wrinkles on his skin.  His robes were still profound, but Lind's sharp eyesight noted they were becoming frayed.  The stark difference spoke volumes about what Lind suspected.

"You are deteriorating as the Inheritance is breaking down."  Lind took the other couch as the tea smelled wonderful.  It soothed his throat and felt like it invigorated his thought processes.

The old man nodded but his aura flared to remind Lind his power was far beyond him.

"It takes longer than you can imagine, but time is the one thing none of us can fully escape.  Even in my own Inheritance, this last part of me wears away."  Lind wondered about that.

As cultivators advanced, through the Sky Realm at least, aging slowed but when all potential was burned up, time would accelerate once more.  Delenn had been alive for over a million years but she was unable to cultivate in her current state.

She would start to lose lifespan compared to what she could have had in the Celestial Fields.

A sudden thought came to Lind.

"Senior, could a Divine Realm cultivator retrieve a trapped Immortal in the mortal realm?"  Skinwalker looked surprised at his question but he shook his head quickly.

"Our power is vast and able to do many things, but Heaven and Earth put restrictions on us reaching to the lower worlds.  For obvious reasons, if we could easily reach mortal realms, it would be far too easy to wipe them out by accident let alone intentional actions."  Lind could only accept that.

It made sense as an Inheritance was a clear distinction.  An Inheritance was severely limited to an area and could not affect the outside as it broke down.  Ruins often fell in desolate areas or at random but it always avoided regulated areas of Qi.

Some theorized that formations and the normal actions of large numbers of cultivators caused areas to become too stable.  Controlling a vibrant area of Qi was a necessity for kingdoms or sects so it held some water to Lind's mind.

Ruins would appear in open areas where no one or few lived.  There was almost no record of large cities being wiped out by the arrival of a Ruin.

Inheritances were much more regulated by the rules they were created by.  Obviously, most cultivators would not want to invite karmic retribution by causing mass death and destruction.

It all came down to operating within the restrictions of Heaven and Earth as Skinwalker just mentioned.

"I see, then could I ask why you healed me?"  A smile spread on Skinwalker's face as he held up his tea cup.

"It was partially in thanks for the enlightenment you shared as well as it seemed the only polite thing to do after being allowed to see something only known in legends."  Lind realized the tribulation of a progenitor had to be very rare.

Despite the records he had seen inside the Inheritance, they were ancient.  He had no idea how vast the Divine Realm world was.

"So, will you be able to become a dragon?"  Skinwalker became grim at Lind's question.

"It would be more accurate to say I have seen a new way to approach it, but sadly it is too late."  Lind looked up and was shocked to see Skinwalker had aged in the few moments they had spoken together.

"Senior, what is wrong?"  Even as he watched, wrinkles spread and hair turned white.  The once filled out muscles deteriorated.

"Nothing is wrong, simply that my Inheritance was never meant to withstand a true tribulation.  It is not your fault, neither of us could know until it happened."  Lind recalled the warning he received about facing tribulation again when he emerged from the Inheritance, but now he understood that was no longer the case.

His tribulation had transcended the limits of the Inheritance.  Lind breaking through to the Gold Tier had broken the Inheritance.

A feeling of guilt still passed through him but then he worried about what he knew was supposed to happen.

"Will everything die?"  Skinwalker smiled at his concern but could only shrug.

"What is death?  We all die eventually, junior.  The real question is will we surrender to death or fight it?  Will we welcome death or deny it?  There are no right or wrong answers, but this Inheritance will become a blessed mortal realm thanks to you."  Lind was confused

Skinwalker waved his hand and the view in the windows changed.  The skies were becoming turbulent but Lind saw Dierdra looking up as several of her clan dispersed into Qi with smiles on their faces.

Golden light flooded the Sacred Scar and Lind understood.  Karmic restitution!  They had helped a progenitor survive his tribulation!

"I am glad, senior.  Do you know what will happen to my friends?"  It was his final concern as unlike the ones that dispersed, they were natives as well.  He was sad he would not see them again, but hoped they would have lives in the new world to come.

A giggle stunned Lind as he turned back to find Skinwalker actually looking like a little boy in a way as he laughed.

"Funny you should ask.  You reaped a great deal of resources, but you underestimate the power of Divine Realms.  Come."  The room around them vanished as a room of stone took its place.

Unlike the last 2 locations, Lind actually felt like this place was real.  It existed in his world as the stone resonated with his Qi.  At the heart of the room were 2 crystal caskets pulsing with Qi in ways that made his Eyes hurt.

"Junior Dierdra was clever but short sighted.  If not for you, her plan would have failed, but you changed things.  You need to appreciate how powerful you could become, junior."  Skinwalker waved his hand and Lind felt shocked.

Inside the 2 crystals were aether beasts he was very familiar with.  A stone dral in the Sand Tier was sleeping with a young woman in platinum and gold robes but she was in the peak of the Diamond Tier!

Tal and Kora!  How?!  The question must have been clear on his face as Skinwalker smiled down at him.

"Divine Realm, at a very basic concept, is about understanding Heaven and Earth.  As such, reality is clay to us if unobstructed.  My Inheritance was real, it had always been real, but the beings inside once lived in the past."  Skinwalker then pointed at the 2 crystals.  "Those 2 exist solely because of your actions.  Because you have passed my Inheritance and broadened my horizons, the reward was to manifest your bonds in your world."

Lind wondered if they were clones but then he recalled what both Dierdra and Skinwalker had said.  Divine Realms were very different from any cultivator realm he understood.  It was clear that the limits he knew were nothing to them.

"They are the original beings?"  He still asked as he had to know and Skinwalker nodded.

"I cannot create souls, only Heaven and Earth can, but I can give souls forms.  In this case, I am giving them bodies that can survive your realm and I had to maintain their cultivation levels due to that as well."  As they spoke the crystals cracked and 2 people woke up in confusion before they saw him.

"LIND!"  Kora yelled as she flew across the room and Tal brayed as she nuzzled him.  Tears began to fall from Lind's eyes as he looked to Skinwalker who was now so frail.

"Time to go, tell my children, I have my answers."  The room faded as Lind suddenly found himself back in the blasted landscape of Rakathi Wastes at the dark stone citadel.  The feeling of profound aura was fading but he was not alone like when he entered.

Kora and Tal were with him.  He was now in the Gold Tier but far from any communication method to reach the Moebius Sect.  He was home but sadness filled him as the citadel began to collapse.

He could not look away as something wonderful was lost before a bolt of Qi exploded upward into a tear in the void.  He knew it was going to become a new world but he truly wondered what kind of world that would be.

He turned around and found the gray scaled aether beasts with yellow eyes looking at him expectantly.  Senior dragon soul was squirming but he took a breath before starting his story.