Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 404 - 403 - Tiger's Shadow

Incense burned over several grave markers.  Most of them showed great care but the passage of centuries was clear.  All of the symbols varied save one part.  The venomous snake engraved below each.

Some had black etching, a few silver, and only a handful gold.  It marked at what level they died.  Black was in the Soul Realm, silver the World Realm, and gold for Sky Realm.  A new marker had been erected for over 6 years.

An old but hale man was currently drinking from a shallow ceramic cup.  It was a tradition to honor the dead once a year by being with them.  The old man was bitter but his power was unquestioned at the low Star Tier of the Heaven Realm.

He was the only one of his clan to reach that height but he could already tell he was at the end.  Ascending to the world above was pointless but his clan had founded the Sword Breakers.

It had been almost a billion years and now he was the last.

Baihu had eyes the color of steel.  It was said he had gained his title after becoming a Sky Realm.  His hair and beard were neatly cut and it was the last thing most of his foes saw.  Blood drenching him from head to toe had left a deep impression on younger disciples.

His victims were sliced up as if a beast tore them apart but the man forged his legend one decade at a time.  In that time, his enemies had gone after his family.

His sons, daughters, and even his brother were all killed while he was out in the Floating Isles working for the sect.  He was enraged and swore to take over the sect to stop the incompetence forever.

His rise was brutal and a bloodbath.

The Divine Sword Sect actually intervened on behalf of a few clans to moderate his response.  They understood the need to avenge family.  Still, Baihu had risen and taken over as he swore he would.

The corruption exposed had been met with death.  Many praised Baihu and respected his ability to correct a powerful sect rife with weakness.

All of it was for his last remaining relative, his grandson.  The baby boy had left all innocence behind when he witnessed his own father's death.  Baihu then made sure he received the best instruction.

All reports of the boy's lack of talent were ignored.

Pills, elixirs, and even the best artifacts were given to him until he barely got into the Sky Realm.  It was then that Baihu could no longer ignore the shaky foundation his son had.  He would die a Sky Realm.

Baihu could accept that.  He could accept the end of his family in that fashion, but to have him taken.  To have the one that killed him be declared untouchable by even his own men!  It was unacceptable.

Still, he had not risen without wisdom.  He knew Lind Frey was being carefully watched but every cultivator had their secrets.  They had parts of their techniques, Arts, or even just themselves they wanted no one else to know.

It was in those moments they sought isolation and would go somewhere either heavily guarded or work to lose any eyes watching them.

Lind Frey had broken many bonds that could have protected him and refused help from others to find isolation.  Instead, he seemed to evaporate into the very air, but Baihu was methodical.

He looked at words, actions, and intent.

Lind Frey had stunned them all with his actions, but his words were overlooked.  Many took his intention to expand his sect to the Floating Isles seriously, but Baihu looked at it differently.

It was a message to others.  A message that had been received as many 6 elementals and his wives had vanished from the fact of the Isles.  No one knew where they went and even Baihu could not find them.

It was impressive and missed by many but he was sure the Heavenly Maidens and other supreme powers were as blind as him.  It was interesting and terrifying.  There was no way all of them could reach out to each other without being on the same island or using high quality communication stones.

Such stones were very expensive and very difficult to create.  Thus they were well tracked since they could only be purchased from mid to peak grade 5 refiners.

While his wives had a couple, the recently arrived 6 elementals certainly did not.

Yet, within a month of Lind Frey's announcement, it was as if they all knew where to go and how to evade detection.  The information brokers were going broke trying to find a leak!

Baihu then knew the man would go to ground.  He would also vanish but unlike the others he stayed with the Babylon Guild caravan.  So long as he was with them, even Baihu would not dare touch him.  The Guild's oath bound him as much as anyone.

If he attacked them, the Sword Breakers Sect would be left with no allies.  All would watch as they were destroyed.

Thus, his spies and contacts had tried to keep an eye on him, but at the teleportation array had been used and no one knew where they were.  The hubs were heavily protected for the very reason no one would use them if their information could be procured easily.

Still, there were few areas cultivators could go that actively kept eyes away.  Baihu knew them, they all did, but there was nothing worth finding there.  They were the places of last resort for many cultivators stuck in their current tier.

Baihu had met many people that had risen up the ranks of the organizations that controlled such places.  It was not well known but several high ranking criminals were close to Baihu.

They did things for him to stay in his good graces but also to get the resources their locations could not provide.  The arrangement had been nothing to Baihu but now it cast a net to catch his prey.

Sitting in front of his grandson's grave, Baihu waited.  A messenger was coming.  The jade communication stones were good, but they could be intercepted.  A messenger need not be discovered since many legitimate trips could cover such clandestine arrivals.

The graveyard of his clan was sacrosanct.  No one should enter but a slim man slowly broke away from one of the corner shadows.  Much like the snake symbols around the walls, the man moved as if he slithered across the stone paths.

He made no sound nor did he hurry as he slowly came to the back of the mighty Baihu.  He stopped a short distance away and waited.

"You are late."  The old man's voice carried his power.  The slim man shivered at it.

"I dare not come too early to this place.  Besides, we did not get all we hoped for."  The sudden feeling of oppression filled the cemetery but the slim man barely noticed as he had prepared.

"Speak."  The simple word was laced with enough anger to drown the realm in blood.  The slim man did not dare to hesitate.

"Yinande.  We have confirmed he went there but then unexpected complications came up.  He apparently covered his tracks well, likely given tips by those people from the Babylon Guild."  Baihu nodded as Frey would be a fool not to take advantage of such a resource.

"So what did you fail to do?"  Baihu never turned but his command was obvious.

"We failed to account for whatever bloodline he has.  We did not believe–"  The slim man was sent flying.  Several bones cracked but it did not stop him from rising again.  His breath was shorter however as the pain in his chest was sharp.

"Even an idiot could identify that bloodline!  Was there some confusion by the large shape, the fangs, or the scales?!  Were you perhaps doubtful of my word?!"  Baihu now stood at his full imposing height of over 2 meters.

The aura coming off of him was not that of a human, but a beast!  The steel cold eyes had no mercy in them but the slim man held up his hand.

"We did not doubt you!  We simply could not take the display as fact, if Lind Frey was hiding the true bloodline or skill behind a facade!"  It would certainly not be the first time but Baihu was not in a forgiving mood.

He did not move, but the slim man's arm broke in 2!

Pain raged but he dare not oppose the White Tiger!

"So you tried to ensnare him with beasts and it failed!  You thought to overpower him with the one race that will always capitulate!"  Baihu was angered but did not kill the man as he was not the one that failed.

The slim man carefully regulated his Qi to stop from passing out.  He looked into those eyes and saw the question.

"The men are already dead.  Most by Lind Frey's action and the last by your sworn martial brother.  We entrusted it to a junior as we were only dealing with a tier 2."  Baihu wanted to march to Yinande himself but it was not necessary.

"Ren, clean up this mess."  The slim man wondered who Baihu was talking to when the world tilted.  Darkness closed in as he had no idea how he had died.

Blood spilled but oddly the stones seemed to absorb it.  It all vanished and left only the desiccated corpse behind.

A distortion in the air resolved into a large man kneeling with a bloodied sword laid on the ground.  He was not the only one.  Three more appeared, all kneeling.

"We hear and obey."  The men then vanished to join the other forces.  Just as Baihu had rebuilt the sect, he had rebuilt the personal forces of his clan.  They served him and were supposed to protect his grandson.

The ones with him felt no danger in the Ravaged Isles.  Their deaths had been very slow.  No one knew of the Tiger's Shadow as they called themselves.  They left no proof and failure was met with death.

"Your life is mine, Lind Frey.  You will die where no one can blame me.  Your soul will fuel my grandson's rebirth!"  Baihu smashed his cup into pieces as he cursed the spirits for taking all his family.  He would make the Floating Isles a smoking ruin before he died.

Revenge first, then war.  All debts would be paid.