novelraw Chapter 418 - 417 - Fiend's Enemy
Chapter 418 - 417 - Fiend's Enemy
Lind had been carefully studying sigils of grade 2 when the children of the village came running for him. He was worried Fey had been hurt but the chaotic shouting quickly made the adults blanch as silence slowly descended.
Lind then was told to go to the eastern grasslands and follow the border markers to the north. He was assured Fey was fine and followed the directions until he stopped at one spot that looked much like the rest of the open grassland.
"Clever." His hand glowed as the air rippled to reveal a weaving was in effect. However, unlike any he had seen outside of Delenn's alley, the one in front of him was far above grade 4.
He stepped forward and found himself underground. He glanced back and saw a blank stone wall but it looked wrong. He ran his hand against the stone and shock filled him.
"Shell, this is a shell." His awareness of his position gave him an estimate of how deep he was in the island and the grade of the shell could give him a rough size of the beast.
Lind suddenly felt a tremor in his soul. A disdain tried to surface but Lind frowned.
"I am me, not my instincts." As quickly as the disdain appeared it was wiped from his heart. Lind focused on his previous thoughts as if nothing major happened but shock filled the air.
"Interesting, you are indeed a progenitor." Lind recognized the voice but it was no longer just in his head. He nodded and bowed before proceeding down the tunnels. He was worried about Fey.
It only took him a short while to hear the waterfall he had seen with his senses over a decade ago. The massive opening was just big enough for the head he saw at the back of the cavern.
"Junior greets senior." Lind bowed and saw Fey sitting to the side looking pale. He could not see anything wrong with her but it did not seem like a relapse either. What had happened?
"Explain to me how you taught this child. She says you are the one that initiated her on the cultivation path." Lind was confused. How did that matter? He was hardly unique in teaching others, but as a Star Tier was insisting, he could hardly refuse.
"It started on a boat on the Fortune Way…" Lind started with how he met Fey and was not interrupted until the Starfire Auction.
"YOU DID WHAT?!" The stone shook as the whole island moved. Lind now confirmed he was correct. Yinande was not an island, it was a massive Black Shelled Tortoise. The entire island was a cover over the aether beast!
"I created my first peak grade 4 elixir to save her life and cultivation. She had been–" A pressure unlike anything before made Lind quake but his dragon soul rose to challenge. Emerald scales and slitted eyes quickly appeared but just as quickly was suppressed.
"You said 3 bolts came down to stop you and you stopped it! Did you ever think to wonder why?!" The Star Tier pressure was crushing but Lind had faced much worse and glared up at the large head.
"I did not care. Fey was hurt and I would not let that pass! Even Heaven would not stop me!" A rumble of real thunder was heard then. "Shut up!"
The pressure vanished as the beast was shocked and then began to giggle. The laughter was soft but then began to reverberate across the gap of the islands. The Circle had never heard the Spirit Lord laugh like that before!
"You were only human but still a dragon! No wonder you became a progenitor! They like that kind of defiance." Lind was not sure if he was insulted or praised. Still, he bowed but then a little tug made him look to see a teary eyed Fey looking up at him.
He gently embraced her and patted her head as she cried onto his chest.
"That explains many things. You do not understand and even that Immortal in the lower world would not know, but my bloodline and yours would balk at what you have done." Lind was curious. He had no race memories, but he did have the ancient instincts of dragons there.
He would shape what his bloodline would become, but that was the future. From what the aether beast was saying, even dragon instincts would have warned him off from saving Fey, why?
His confusion was clear and the beast sighed deeply.
"I hate long stories but it is unavoidable. As a divine beast, I know more than my cultivation level normally allows. I do not get to pierce the secrets of the universe but I know dangers few would perceive until much later." Lind sat down as Fey lay on his shoulder. He still wanted to know what was going on.
"Senior, I am aware there is more to the world than is known because we are not advanced enough to safely grasp it." An approving nod was given but then the large eyes focused on him.
"It is good you know but that did not stop you from violating the order of existence. You are not the first, and certainly, Heaven is more lenient with offenders from mortal worlds. Likely you have done things others in the Heaven Realm or Celestial Fields would face punishment for if they tried the same." Lind was stunned. How aware was Heaven?
He invoked the word Heaven as it was the word used but he now began to wonder if there truly was a mind at work behind it. Was there a true deity or something else? His mind began to wander down a line of thought but was broken by the Star Tier pressure.
"Sigh, you are one of those! You are too damn gifted in comprehension! No wonder you broke the boundary!" Boundary, what boundary? Lind now paid more attention and filed away his previous thoughts for later. A sharp glare from the large eye seemed to be aware of his thoughts.
"Fine, I will explain the problem. While it is possible to restore a Soul Realm hurt like that, it is not possible in the mortal realm." Lind was confused even more. If it was possible, why would it not be possible in the mortal realm? He could make Heaven grade long before he reached Gold Tier, so why would it be impossible?
"You are equating apples to oranges as they say. Both are fruit but have vastly different characteristics. The reason you so easily reached Heaven grade at such a young age was because of the same incident that saved her! You broke the boundary between the mortal and the Divine!" Lind let his mind go back but all he could recall was holding nothing back.
He was only a Soul Realm back then but he also went to severe extremes unlike any time before. He just wanted to save Little Fey. Who wouldn't give their all to save a child?
Lind tried to recall any sensations but there was nothing until he felt the pressure from above. Instead of simply ignoring it, he challenged it! He refused to bow to it but since that moment, he never tried to make that elixir again.
Even trying to remember it was difficult but he realized he had not even tried. It was like something prevented him. It was as if his mind could not hold onto the knowledge despite the fact he did make it.
"It glowed. It was lit up at first, but that is all I can clearly recall." Lind murmured and the large head seemed to relax.
"That is correct, because a mortal cannot retain or accept the Divine, but your pure desire and skill breached it. It happens and Heaven sends a tribulation to stop it. The consequences are unknown and dangerous. You could have destroyed the continent you were standing on." Shock flooded Lind's body.
All those innocent lives had been endangered by him? Making an elixir could do that?
"It is not the specific action, boy. It was the breach. You somehow grasped knowledge far beyond your entire realm! You must have been exposed to something profound to do it, but that is all a cultivator would need coupled with an insane drive to push beyond. Since it was to save a life, I am more inclined to give you the benefit of the doubt." Lind instantly pictured a mirror in his memory.
He had a unique experience far beyond anything even an Immortal could give him at that point. Younger Twin had impressed him but he only taught Lind the foundation of his elixir master path.
The close brush with the Immortal Artificer had exposed his soul to the knife edge of existence and oblivion. Could the 2 incidents have combined inside him?
"Senior, I must ask an oath before I speak next. Please put Little Fey to sleep too." Before Fey could object, she was unconscious and the beast was staring at him.
"I swear before Heaven and Earth to never reveal what you are about to say." Lind felt the pressure far more from Heaven and Earth once the words were spoken.
"I met my future self…" Lind spoke of the end of his heart demon trial and of the Immortal Artificer. He relayed what people had witnessed and all of it while the aether beast closed its eyes.
"You are indeed their enemy." Lind tilted his head but the beast opened its eyes once more. "You are correct. A soul that had gone through such terrible trials is no longer as tethered to the mortal realm as before. It is likely why Heaven did not try harder to stop you. It understood you meant no harm and also, that you are not without potential."
Fey then woke up. Lind smiled at her but she pouted at being put to sleep.
"I will have that girl explain what happened to her mind's protection later, what is important is what I felt in her and now Fiends have as well. They felt you." Lind was confused but then recalled the elixir.
"You said I breached the Divine, did I infuse a part of myself into that elixir?" Surprise was clear in the beast's aura.
"Have you experienced the Divine Realm? How?" Lind quickly relayed about Skinwalker and the beast stared hard at him. "What kind of luck do you have?! Sigh, is the world ending because I am not ready to die!"
Lind was hurt by the accusation but the beast continued.
"My point is that I have battled with the Fiends long ago and I learned they have a criteria for enemy rankings. Something I know is that any soul enriched by Divine energy is seen as a mortal enemy. Still, they just prioritized killing them more." The beast then looked at Lind hard then. "Someone that defied Heaven and lived, however, is seen as absolutely not allowed to exist. They disperse their souls and for beings that eat souls, that is not a small thing."
Lind did not understand. Why would those kinds of people be treated differently to Fiends?
"You don't get it. Be glad that you don't, but that little girl is the youngest being I know that cannot be eaten. She is immune to Fiend's consumption." Shock flooded Lind's body but then he understood the larger problem.
"I made her like that, so they want me too?" The beast nodded.
"They will be coming. They will send their best agents and they will not care about the normal etiquette of cultivators. They will send Heaven Realms if they can, but more likely peak Sky Realms." The beast then looked sharply at them both.
"Leave the village, now. Do not return ever or all the lives around you will be reduced to Fiend fodder. Good-bye." A feeling of dislocation came over them before they found themselves and all their items piled in front of them from the village at East End.
"Big Brother?" Lind wanted to be angry but he recalled the area under Cimmeria. The caged aether children and the terrifyingly empty husks that still breathed but there was nothing inside.
"We have to go. We have to be seen leaving too." He did not want to bring troubles to the village. The Star Tier could protect them but Fiend Qi was a danger. Lind had seen it for himself, but his harmony could only counteract it to a point.
The 2 collected their items and left while the wails of children could be heard. They loved Fey and she had been suddenly sent away. Daphne and Aon looked to the west and wished the pair the blessing of the spirits.
"Forgive me." Faint words were whispered on the wind but even the great aether beast could not transmit them to Lind Frey. It's old injury throbbed as it recalled the terrible day it fell. The screaming of billions as they were consumed and the death of the very land.
The Celestial Fields had burned. It would never forget that day and never wanted to see it again.