Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 412 - 411 - Spirit Lord Festival

Lind took some time to recover but Fey only felt the general pressure before.  She looked irked but even her most reflexive defense was swallowed by the feeling of that pressure.

"He was a meanie!"  Fey spoke out loud but then Lind giggled.  She looked at him in confusion.

"That was not a he, but a she."  He could not explain how he knew but at some point his draconic side informed him it was a female.  Many questions had sprung to Lind's mind from that encounter but the aether beast seemed very disinclined to talk about it.

They moved on and no one even challenged that at the first ring of buildings.  Unlike other layouts, the city was quite nice from what he had seen.  The streets were decently clean and no one seemed to be mistreated.

It confused him as all the information he got about East End was of a dilapidated and rundown kind of place.  It was the literal end of the road.

White stone was topped by dark tile and there were signs of several formations to purify rainwater collected in by barrels.  It was quite advanced even compared to the Lily Sect that he thought was very inventive uses of plants!

It filled him with nostalgia for Earth.  It was the feeling he got looking at it that it finally clicked.  There were hardly any cultivators above the Soul Realm.  In this place, he was unrivaled as far as he could tell but that made no sense.

The twins had confirmed Delenn's old information that the Circle was based near East End or at least a contact could be made there, so why were there only Soul Realms?

Before he could think to ask, a firework went off.  An honest to god firework!

The scream of the rocket was ended by a bloom of bright red sparks.  Children and adults were laughing while the smell of food began to fill the air.  Compared to every other city he had been to, East End was the most lively.

It reminded him of festivals in the Frey Clan.

He even found himself smiling  before the sound of glass shattering echoed in his mind.  He felt dizzy but then narrowed his dark green eyes quickly.  Something had been trying to affect his mind but his harmony flared and broke free.

"Little Fey, did you feel that?"  Lind asked a question but there was only silence.  He quickly whipped his head around and his jaw dropped open.

"Welcome to East End, senior.  Please enjoy our festival!"  Fey was still the same as she had been.  Light brown hair with heavy streaks of white and unearthly beauty looking at him with amber eyes.  At the same time, it was not Fey at all!

She was only at the Soul Realm!

Her smiling face and innocent eyes were not the hardened warrior and broken soul he had come to know in the last few months.  It was as if she was back when he first met her!  No worries or heavy comprehension of the brutal cultivation path, just the innocent little girl!

"Fey?"  The eyes blinked in confusion for a moment but then the face cleared to smiling again.

"Yes, senior, how may I help you?"  Lind saw a few more oddities.  She was still wearing the robes she had on before but her sword was gone!  He swept the area but there was something impeding his abilities!

Instead, emerald light lined his body and once more, he felt like something broke around him.  His Eyes lit up and more shock flooded his body.

His normal vision still saw the clean advanced city but his Heaven Eyes saw an entirely different situation.  The people were the same, but everything else was vastly different.

The pristine white walls were broken and shattered stone work with thatched roofs.  Hearths flickered with fire but it barely warmed the rooms.  The people were not just Soul Realms but their cultivations were sealed heavily by something.

Lind realized it would not work on any 6 elemental, not just him.  Further, he felt something familiar about whatever force was working on him.  He then stopped using his talent and focused on Fey.

Her sword was still there but it was now concealed by whatever illusion was woven over them all.  The reality matched up much more closely with what Lind expected so what was going on?

"Fey, could you do me a favor?"  She sweetly smiled but then looked in terror as a fist came right at her!  She instinctively stepped back and the sound of glass breaking happened again, only that time Lind heard it outside his head.

He tried to zero in on its location but then dismissed it as peak tier 4 Sky Realm aura rolled off of a very angry Fey.

"Calm down, I needed to break you free and you learned all about the elements from me.  Whatever is doing this uses the old knowledge to bind the cultivation realms."  His Eyes and Touch could tell that something was manipulating the whole city but it was not a formation.

Lind had never felt anything like it until his heart froze.

Emerald light began to glow on the tips of his fingers but just as quickly he stopped.  He could not force it.  He remembered the words of the beast.

Freeing Fey was likely as far as he could go.

"Seniors?  Please enjoy our fair city!"  A young man suddenly stepped out and seemed to fill in the role vacated by Fey.  That was highly adaptive which reinforced Lind's hypothesis.

A weaving.  The whole of East End was under some kind of weaving, but why?

They followed him but Lind now used his Eyes to pierce the truth.  He found an oddity.  The food was not only real but seemed as good as it appeared.  He carefully studied it and confirmed it was perfectly good mid grade 5 meat made into a dish.

No one in his sight could make it so where had it come from?

"Big Brother, we are being watched."  Lind was stunned.  He had not felt anything yet Fey was looking certain.  He closed his eyes and tried to sense it but there was nothing.

"Where?"  Fey scrunched up her face but could only shrug.  So it was an instinct.  She was far more versed in combat than Lind.  So he accepted her words and began to simply enjoy the festival.

It actually was quite fun and no one was being harmed.  Good food was fed to them and a variety of wines and ales were set out as well.  Lind examined them but found nothing wrong.  Even his barely there weaving ability noticed nothing.

Still he had Fey drink an elixir with him to be safe but no reaction occurred.  The fireworks were part of the illusion but it was hard to figure it all out.  It almost seemed like a trap but it was really a festival.

"What is the festival for?"  The young man was dancing with a woman earlier but was not relaxing and Lind moved to ask him.  The man jumped but then smiled.

"It is for the awakening of our great Spirit Lord.  The last time she awoke, it was over 50,000 years ago.  A great fortune came to us then so we celebrate her once a year.  It is a few months early but we felt the island move so we moved it forward."  Lind narrowed his eyes.

A Heaven Realm could not live that long!

Even his own new situation had severe limits.  He could live for over 1500 years as a World Realm, and now in the Sky Realm he could possibly reach 5 to 7 thousand years before he started to lose his strength.

Heaven Realm was a question mark but certainly under 50,000!  If a dragon could not live that long, what could?

He narrowed his eyes as a very short list came up.

Lind was a progenitor so he had a bit more leeway in lifespan than any descendant would but still, there were bloodlines that if awakened could exponentially increase the lifespan.  However, they were not native to the realm!

"Fey, give me some time, I have to confirm something."  Fey nodded and simply gorged herself on the good food.  She could pack away food unlike anything Lind had ever seen but she never gained weight.

Cultivators had an advantage to be sure, but still a mountain of food had to do something!

Lind quietly stepped away from the main thoroughfare and examined things from a different perspective.  The aether beast seemed to know dragons and was clearly still vital, but had long periods of inactivity.

That indicated a couple of possibilities but of the 2, only one would be friendly with dragons.

"Senior is a Black Shelled Tortoise.  My humble apologies for not recognizing you sooner."  Lind spoke out loud but there was no response.  "If you saw what I am, then I am honored but I need an answer before I proceed.  Are these people safe?"

A rumble made the earth move but Lind's eyes simply became vertical slits.

"Understand, I know I am weak, but I will not let people be used.  People are not tools, not even if they are my enemy."  Surprise suddenly filled his head and Lind knew she was listening.  "I say all this because if you need the people here to be in squalor but not know it, I will be changing it.  If you are not involved, I may not have a peaceful end here.  Please understand, it is my Dao."

The Heavens rumbled and there was silence for a moment before 2 words were spoken.

"I understand."  Silence then returned and Lind bowed once more in respect.

Now that was out of the way, Lind began his work.  Something was inhibiting his senses, his ability to weave, and likely other skills, but there was clearly something it did not work on.

Careful concentration was used as his hands became claws.  It was harder to only do a part of his body as the rest wished to follow but he only needed his hands.

"Now, let's see what I can find under the illusion."  He put his claw out and it sank past the white surface as he had suspected.  Whatever the weaving affected, it did not work on his dragon soul.

Lind smiled as he closed his eyes and used his Touch to guide him as the claws felt the truth.  He would find the source the old fashioned way, even if it took years.