novelraw Chapter 361 - 360 - Birth of an Era
Chapter 361 - 360 - Birth of an Era
"Papa…" Tal was misty eyed as she hugged Lind. They were at the teleportation array to Sarth. Lind could have set up one straight to Cimmeria but the resources to cover such a distance were prohibitive.
Tal could fly farther than some other Sky Realms since she withstood all 9 bolts of Ascension but it was still too far to safely cross the open water for her. The fact there were Sky Realm aether beasts everywhere in the deeper waters.
"We both knew this day would come. You have grown up wonderfully and now it is time to fly, literally." Lind smiled as Tal nodded. She hugged him tight before joining the group heading to Sarth.
While many had made a slot to go, all knew there was a special person on that particular moment. Lind stepped up to the podium that controlled the arrays and looked at Tal as she waved at him.
No words were spoken out of respect as Lind was well known and now loved by even the demons that lived in Rith.
"Safe journey, Tal. I will see you soon." He infused his Qi into the podium and the array lit up. Space distorted as the pressure increased, then the group vanished. Several Qi stones crumbled as well as some powders of elemental crystal laid out on the teleportation pattern.
Lind's face lost all warmth once she was gone. The few officials running the array saw the change but made no comment.
"200 years, I have been alive for almost 200 years and it is time to say goodbye." Lind spoke words that the others heard but did not understand. He turned and left the building and began to walk through the sect.
A lot had happened in the 5 years they arrived in Rith. Namely the rebuilding of homes but also the expansion of their defenses. The mainland of the sect was taken from Sarth but now the border extended beyond that.
The lowlands had become a mix of ruins and still a few bandit groups. It was impossible to catch them all but their activities had been severely curbed. Settlements had been set up farther out as they expanded their area of influence.
There were also towers being set up at the borders of the former coast of the Demon Empire. Unlike what some might think, they were more of remote branches being set up for the sect in the future.
Lind imagined several branches both safe guard and local places for natives to come to. Demons were the primary residents but Lind had already opened the border to aether children, humans, and even those considered less than human with beast bloodlines awakening.
Rakathi had a vast increase in that group in the last 20 years but he was happy to learn more from them as so many others. The open door policy had faced criticism, especially from the Saint Kingdom, but Lind did not care.
Many bowed or parted for him but he smiled and checked on stall owners while he picked up a few pieces of food on his way. He was taking it all in and truly realizing what he had helped to build.
"The foundation is set, it is time to move on." Lind felt it. Tal leaving was inevitable but Lind had also been feeling an itch in his heart. It was time to move on. For a World Realm, he could be considered close to middle age but thanks to his dragon soul, his body was still young as ever.
No one noticed as he was still a decade away from when most humans would start to show aging at all. Even then, it would be 50 more before people became curious. Lind did not care but he knew he had to take steps.
He continued to walk through the sect and saw the various Halls and residences that were happily churning out productivity or simply enjoying everyday life. He had been to many sects, kingdoms, and even studied more but something missing from those places were the smiles.
He had noticed it among the demons since they were known to be more grim to most races but Lind had seen Cyntilla smile easily. It was not wrong that they were more grim, but it was because they were more used to other races fearing them.
Even if that fear was desired, it had an effect of making demons keep their distance. In the Moebius Sect there was still fear but also acceptance. The sect integrated the various races in education, missions, and so forth.
Lind had structured classes for different races to work together. The results had surprised even him.
Demon Qi could be enhanced by normal Qi, which was not too surprising, but what stunned many was when a demon metal Art seemed to resolve the conflict between darkness and fire in an aether child.
It seemed that despite the differences in the nature of the elements, there was a balance few had truly grasped. Lind had already been studying the 3 kinds of elemental Qi and it had helped his progress explode until it reached his present proficiency.
Now, he walked through the sect and realized he was ready to lay down the mantle of sect master for good. At least so far as the lower world was concerned. He looked up and wondered if he could make a place for Moebius Sect in the Floating Isles.
It was much harder to carve out a place there from what he understood, but it had been hard here as well. He would not have the support he once enjoyed and starting from scratch but he had some ideas.
The core area of the sect came into sight as the disciples bowed to him in passing. None stopped him and Lind only nodded to them as he passed. A few ideas cooked in the back of his head but the looming mountains seemed to truly focus the metaphor.
He had cast a shadow on the world as he changed it. It would always be there, whether rejoiced or cursed, but the old era was truly at an end with the fall of the Demon Empire. It was a unifying enemy for many powers so how would the new chaos unfold?
A new era was being born and his sect needed a strong hand to guide it.
⬧⬧⬧⬧
"ME?!" Kexin was staring at Lind as if he had grown another head. She was just now reaching the peak of the Soul Realm but Lind had made an absurd suggestion. Wyndam was next to him, smiling wide.
"Yes, you. I talked to the other elders and hall masters to explain my choice. I think the Moebius Sect should not stay in the hands of a single race for more than a century. I am human, with some draconic features clearly, but while another human would be expected and likely welcomed, I hardly follow the normal path." Lind smiled as both Kexin and Wyndam could only nod at his words.
"Master Frey made an excellent idea that the sect master would cycle from one race to the next. The Elders could choose to stay or rotate as well but he did not require that from them. When we asked who he had in mind, many were surprised but few opposed it." Wyndam had been surprised, and worried, when such little rejection cropped up.
Kexin was only in the Soul Realm, but her unique existence was something of a bragging right. Lind also would remain for the next few years until she safely broke through to the World Realm.
It was only a matter of time as the research into demonic Qi had started long ago for different reasons, Kexin simply presented a larger challenge to those theories in confirming or modifying them.
"I am not simply choosing someone random. You have taken Demon Hall and transformed it not only into an effective part of our sect but welcomed open discourse far more than other hall masters." Lind had not brought up that particular point, but the biggest reason was the next one. "The largest reason you make a good successor is your familiarity with these lands we now hold."
Lind infused a jade slip that projected the map of the former Empire. The part near the Demon's Teeth was colored in green but the vast majority was in black.
"We have covered a lot of territory to save natives and bring them under us, but the work has a long way to go. You have been instrumental with your subordinates to make things efficient. The demons also know you are the last living royal of the old Empire which made things a lot easier to settle." That last fact was very true.
While the ones they personally saved were happy to work for the Moebius Sect, the demons that were able to defend themselves were far more reluctant. Kexin had been traveling with Lind when her harmony flared in rage at their stubbornness.
She may as well have lit a flare as her resemblance to the old Emperor was clear in that moment. According to some rumors, her existence was also legendary since she was not killed by Emperor Yor either.
"But I have no experience running a sect!!" Her objection made both Lind and Wyndam laugh. Her lavender skin darkened but then Lind held up his hand placating her.
"Do you think I did? I was born in a backwater Clan as such things are measured by the world and basically shunned most of my life as useless." His frown flitted across his face as the Lotus Academy came back to him but he dispersed the old ghosts.
"You were a born scholar, Master Frey, but your administrative skills did leave a lot to be desired." Lind rolled his eyes at Wyndam's words. It was all true but he could have stated it better.
"I had a lot of help and I am not simply walking out that door this instant. I am going to teach you and leave you with the best advisers I trust. You will appoint your own, of course, but we will work all that out in the future." Lind then stood up and walked towards the demoness.
He knelt down and saw the worries and fears being born in her obsidian eyes.
"You can do this, Kexin, truly I believe in you." The worry faded a bit as they looked at each other before she slowly nodded. "Excellent! First order of business is to get you to break through!"
Before either Wyndam or Kexin could react, Lind summoned his artifact diffusers to change his Qi. His eyes changed into vertical slits as a pressure filled the room but it was not crushing them.
Emerald flames joined with the demonic Qi and suddenly the black flame of Kexin emerged as if happy to face its old foe. Wyndam could only stare as he felt a familiar pressure from when he entered the World Realm.
Inside Kexin, each core was cracking open like eggs to become fonts that turned inward. The dominance of her flame seemed to roar in defiance of the pressure but her obsidian eyes became determined as the black flames came under her control.
Wyndam felt his heart freeze as the authority in her face suddenly seemed impossible to defy. The black harmony slowly disappeared as it transformed. A wave of demonic Qi raced outward from Kexin as Lind retracted his own harmony.
It worked, she broke through! The aura of a Sand Tier was coming off of her and stabilizing as Wyndam looked on.
"The new era begins here, brother-in-law. I have one last contribution to make to it, but not here. You understand?" Wyndam felt his eyes glisten as a weight came over his heart.
"I do, Lind. You will go on a journey to break through to the realm none of us have ever reached." Lind slowly nodded as they looked at Kexin stabilizing her cultivation. The next couple years would be a bit tedious, but after that, Lind would leave the sect forever.
He would never see it again once he left for that journey.