novelraw Chapter 406 - 405 - Power vs Planning
Chapter 406 - 405 - Power vs Planning
Lind was growing tired. He had only been in the Floating Isles for almost 16 years, a very small amount of time to a cultivator in the Sky Realm, but he was growing sick of seeing the suffering on the islands he had been to.
The 3 continents were hardly innocent but there was a feeling of always looking for talent and investing in the mortals with that in mind. The Floating Isles had no such mentality. Resources were limited to the point that trade was the major source of them.
Some came from the lower world but most seemed to come from the Heaven Realm. Auctions were held to gather Sky Stones and other resources to be sent to the respective owners of the auctions.
There were also occasional Ruins that were pillaged into Relics or actual dead ruins. The few Inheritances and other special regions were heavily regulated by the powers in control.
Everyone else was left to fend for themselves. Lind wished he could wave a wand and make it all better but he could not solve the bigger problem. Resources really were limited. The Isles were not like the continents in several respects.
Qi was more highly concentrated so natural veins of stones, crystals, and other precious materials could exist there but the islands could not be gutted to completion like in the continents.
Eventually, the continents could regenerate if enough time passed but if the islands were gutted too much, the balance that kept them in the air would be destroyed. It had happened before. The Ravaged Isles were lower than most due to the very act of picking them clean.
So it was not an issue of a convenient truth being abused, but actual limitations enforced for survival. Without the Floating Isles, it would be impossible for Sky Realms to advance. They could not fly forever at the elevation that had the Qi they needed to cultivate.
"Big Brother, the forest is too quiet." Lind was broken out of his reverie by Fey's words. He had already noted it but knew the cause was him. He had let out a trace of his soul due to his frustration and brought it under control.
Just as he was about to proceed, his instincts suddenly went off.
It was not critical, but he knew he was being watched. It was not like before where that shadowy figure observed their arrival. It was hunting. The forces he had expected had finally arrived.
All he had learned about Baihu of the Sword Breakers Sect spoke to a single trait all agreed on.
The man never let go of a goal once he determined what he wanted.
Publicly, Baihu accepted he had to step down, but not even the most naive child would believe he gave up. His last family had been killed, justified or not, and he would get his revenge.
How he would do it, even Lind was unsure, but he would rather control it than be ambushed ever again. He had left a deliberate trail for them to follow. He did not reveal his identity directly, but his actions would be clues people could follow.
Yinande struck him as a place with people always looking for profit, so handing over information to eventually get to Baihu was unavoidable. Even so, it was quite fast!
"Fey, I need you to listen to me very carefully. I am going to be doing some work in this forest it seems but I want you to keep going and set up the inn in the next town." Panic crossed her features as she suddenly seemed so vulnerable but he pulled her into a hug. "I promise I will meet you there. I swear it!"
He hoped he would. He had a good chance of escaping but he had to assume his enemies were well informed about him. At least the broadcast of his fight with Ryu and Callisto had to be something they studied.
While Lind had advanced, if he was facing Tier 4 Sky Realms, his chances of coming out unscathed were very low. If he faced a tier 5, even with all his strength, he would lose his life. The difference between tiers in the Sky Realm were just that vast.
Still, he had no intention of fighting fairly.
Fey clung to him but he patted her head and saw her off. He made sure she was out of his range before he began. Despite her deep reluctance to fight, the warrior in her could still tell he was preparing for battle if she sensed him start.
Lind then began to summon some of his new artifacts. Weapons were posing a problem for him in the Sky Realm, but armor and artifacts were not. He still could only reliably make low Heaven grade 5, and only then if he had the materials, but it should be enough to see him through.
The forest once returning to life now became dead silent as Lind went to work.
⬧⬧⬧⬧
"So the girl left the forest but the target did not." Ren did not like it. His dark eyes narrowed over his mask. His body was no longer covered by the distortion as he sat and looked at the woods now covered in the darkness of night.
It was an ideal time. The moon was only a sliver in the sky and the forest should be their ally, but all his instincts screamed of danger just looking at it. Part of it was that the observers had lost all sight and sense of Lind Frey.
They were peak tier 3 Sky Realms. They should not have lost a tier 2 in a thousand years, yet this one had slipped away. All their scouting in 100 kilometers confirmed he had not left the forest as only the girl had been found.
Her teary face and clear signs of distress were enough for Ren to confirm they had parted ways. He had no interest in a broken warrior, but he kept 2 tier 4 Sky Realms on her just to be safe. He would not brooke fate's whims in the coming encounter.
"I want the 2nd brigade to carefully sweep the forest. If there is so much as a leaf that does not belong there, I want to know about it." Ren's orders were obeyed without question.
Ten distortions slipped into the forest and began their search. Time seemed to stretch longer as each breath was an eternity of waiting.
Ren suddenly stiffened!
He quickly pulled out a rectangular artifact and saw 10 slots had gone dim! It was a rather expensive and compact version of the life tablets. Their missions for Master Baihu often hinged on accurate details, including the life and death of a group.
Thus, they had commissioned the artifact. The artificer was killed to keep silent on the existence of it also.
Now, Ren stared at it. There had been no screams, no Qi auras blaring, and no tremors at all. Just silence.
All 10 were dead without making a single sound or ability to warn the outside!
"I want the 3rd, 4th, and 5th brigade to go now. Assume hostile fortification and artifacts are in effect. Take no chances, burn it down." Ren knew the Syndicate would turn a blind eye to what he did but burning a whole forest might push their luck.
Still, a forest could be nurtured back in a century, so it should still be acceptable.
The 30 figures moved like mirrors of each other. It was terrifying how in sync they could be but Ren took pride in his men.
The forest was quite large but once started, the fires could be fanned across it. Sparks flew and the outer edges began to burn until suddenly they stopped! Only about a meter had burned and even then it had not really started.
The trees and brush were only darkened, not truly burnt. What had happened?
Ren's eyes narrowed as he was about to give orders when all 30 men collapsed. They made no sound but 30 more slots went dark! How was a tier 2 doing this to tiers 3 and 4 of the Sky Realm so easily?
"Sir! I checked one of my artifacts for detection of formations and traps but the reaction was for Fiend!" Blood drained from Ren's face. While it was a fact that Lind Frey had a beast bloodline, it was also known that he somehow could wield demonic Qi for his elixirs and Forging.
It took some apparatus, but he could do it. Would it be so strange if he could not do the same to Fiend Qi?! Worse, he seemed to know how to use it as a weapon!
That thought was terrifying.
Fiend Qi was a voracious thing and could kill cultivators but eating away at their very foundation and souls! If Lind Frey found a way to make traps using it, he had just become infinitely more dangerous.
Ren was tempted to retreat when more slots went dark!
He had given no orders but quickly looked to the side of his camp. Lind Frey was on the move! He had killed the observers!
"Enemy attack! Defend against Fiend Qi now!" While most powers would not have an option for that, the Sword Breakers Sect was on par with the Divine Sword Sect and other supreme powers.
As such, they had procured materials to defend against Fiend Qi for those that advanced to the Heaven Realm. They would be ready and prove the worth of the sect to the Alliance.
Agents of the Fiends also existed everywhere. It was possible to face a similar attack even in the Floating Isles but Ren had not considered it when hunting Lind Frey!
Again, his people were efficient as golden glows started to cover them. It revealed their positions but the trade off was they were no longer so easy to kill. Ren scanned the darkened landscape.
"Activate formation 5!" Ren's words barely echoed before the glow of a dome shot across the sky and covered most of the forest. It also would go deep into the earth. There was no escape!
"Lind Frey! I underestimated you, but your tricks no longer work! You will die here!" Ren then unleashed his full tier 6 aura. He was the strongest by far, but he could not advance. Tier 7 Sky Realms had to be registered as they were how the strength of a supreme sect or power was measured.
Hiding them was not allowed, but advancing after that was not recorded. It was simply a watershed for the Sky Realm and something the Sect Treaty enforced on them all. It allowed for clear estimates of what someone was getting into.
Ren expected a final assault or maybe even a desperate gamble to escape.
What he did not expect was for 13 slots to go dark! That was over ⅔ of his men!
"Defending against the Fiend Qi made things easier for me. I can't use it to save my life yet it has. I give you a final chance to retreat or you will join your men in death." The voice came from all over and Ren finally understood.
"AIR! He is controlling the air!" It was devastatingly clever. He set up artifacts or formations to set off Fiend Qi then simply made a vacuum somehow that they could not detect. There had to be a trade off but it clearly worked.
They were looking for traps, attacks, or Arts, but all Lind Frey did was suck the air away until people could not breathe! He could see their Sky Cores! Anyone without an air element could not save themselves!
Sky Realms could defy the limitations of the world but they still had to breathe!
Ren sneered as he summoned an artifact. All the Qi in the immediate vicinity trembled. It was of all elements and he could finally see the flow of it in the air. The air Qi was making strange patterns but he traced it to a single point just inside the barrier!
"There, kill him!" Auras flared as angry shouts filled the night. Elements flew forth and hit something but it was not alive. The tinkling of glass and clang of metal made Ren frown. Before he could realize what happened, the next 20 slots went dark.
"I gave you the chance to flee, you did not take it." Ren slowly turned around. He knew why he was alive. He knew why, despite being the biggest threat, Lind Frey did not kill him.
It was because he couldn't. Ren had the air element. It was impossible to suffocate him, but he was the only one. The Tiger's Shadow had been killed by a tier 2. Even if Lind died, he would be a legend.
"I will enjoy this." Ren saw Lind Frey emerge from the very air. There was no distortion, he simply appeared. He was over 3 meters tall, covered in emerald scales, and had vertically slit emerald eyes. The real battle began between Ren and Lind.