novelraw Chapter 423 - 422 - Trace of Skinwalker
Chapter 423 - 422 - Trace of Skinwalker
Lind was unsure how to react to Lady Oba. She was very powerful, techniques to hide cultivation realms were fairly common and even his Eyes could be fooled, but he did not even sense a formation breaking or any other usual reaction when revealing the truth like she did.
She was still a changeling but she referred to her current shape to her chosen form. It was not something he knew about from the literature on changelings but he recalled a conversation with Senior Skingwalker.
[Changelings seemed like a solution to many of my problems but they weren't. They can change their external form, but inside they remain the changelable aether beast as before. I had to find my own path to understand all life but I feel they were very instructive in looking at different perspectives.]
Still, the woman in front of him no longer shifted her features and was currently rubbing her hands over each aspect of her robes and body to see if all was where it should be. It would be enticing if it was not done so clinically.
"I cannot begin to express how good this feels. It might be akin to your kind waking up and stretching after a good nap. It is like your body is raring to go!" Lind slowly nodded but was still processing but Fey was shaking.
"Little Fey?" Fey snapped out of her tremors and moved towards Lind. She seemed to be shutting down which made him frown.
"Ah, the Fierce Fairy still doesn't like me?" Any warmth in Lind's heart died at that moment. The Maiden seemed to sense his displeasure but was confused. "What? What did I say?"
"Big Brother, she did not do what the others did. She just–she just did not stop it." Now Oba looked truly confused.
"Did not stop what? The hazing? That always happens with ascenders. It happens all the–" Oba was sent flying across the room. She suffered no damage but was caught off guard and Fey stared in shock as Lind's draconic form loomed in the room.
"YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU DID?! She had a damned heart demon and none of your elders or senior sisters did a thing but make it worse! Do not speak to her again!" The sigils burned and the voice was clearly projected with rage.
Oba no longer smiled but looked sinister.
"Little children should not misbehave." The right arm changed into a reptilian tail that whipped at Lind but he sneered with his dagger-like teeth. Lind let his soul aura flare but was shocked when Oba hardly flinched.
Her whip did shift but only barely. It missed him yet the power was just as great. The table shattered into splinters and the floor cracked open. The body that had been on it was turned into a mist of flesh and bone.
"You are weak to rely on your bloodline! A true cultivator master's their bloodline and can make it their power! Just flashing your superior quality is the act of a true child." Lind was conflicted. She was not wrong but her scent was the greater issue.
She was angry but not that angry, if anything, she was indifferent. It was more about her honor that she seemed to be attacking him. The attack was also a tier 5 level at most which would hurt him, but not much.
"I do not like to use it as it causes havoc if I do. I would paint a bullseye to my location for anyone to find." Oba sneered at his words but then the world changed.
The wood creaked as Lind seemed to become more profound in front of her very eyes. Sweat broke out on her brow and her shape began to destabilize.
"I only said I do not like to use it, not that I would not use it." Lind knew outside the village every beast was either burrowing deep into the earth or moving as far away as possible. Plants were trembling and even the Qi in the air would be excited more than normal.
A progenitor bloodline was not like any other. It was the birth of a new line of life. It was something celebrated and even the Heavens began to rumble as if to draw all eyes to show off proudly a new life.
But the anger in the air was felt by all as well! Fear made all run far away as a divine progenitor was not to be crossed!
Fey was wholly human but she felt the awe so close to Lind before it all faded away as if it never existed. Unlike usual, when Lind exerted his soul, there was no sign of exhaustion. She suddenly understood.
He was always restraining it! The more he used it for battle, Lind had to restrain it just as hard to not cause chaos for the innocent lives around him.
Oba slowly resumed her shape, but all her playfulness and arrogance was gone. She looked exhausted.
"W-who taught you so much?" Oba knew Lind Frey had not just comprehended his bloodline but fully mastered it. She had never felt anything like it from any of her Sisters or friends that had beast bloodlines or were actual aether beasts.
Humans that awakened a bloodline had to struggle against their human instincts and bestial instincts clashing, but there was none of that in Lind Frey!
He was in complete harmony!
"Lord Skinwalker granted me an opportunity, so I graciously accepted it." Lind used the sigils to relay only a vague reference but the effect on Oba was odd.
Her eyes became pinpricks before rage flooded her face.
"LIAR! You could never meet that legend! He is far beyond these lower worlds!" Lind turned his head but then summoned something from his ring. It was not an artifact nor anything truly profound but it was inscribed with a leaf that went from a new bud to a full bloom and then withered before the cycle began again.
He had no clue how it worked, his Eyes and Touch could sense nothing.
The effect on Oba was instantaneous. She knelt like she had met royalty. The token also faintly hummed before going silent once more.
Lind released his transformation and returned to his human form.
"So you are not just a changeling, you are one of the descendents of those great beasts. They could also change their form but I understood that to be a Dao comprehension, not a natural gift." The massive Divine Realm beasts could change their shape but it was far different from changelings.
Changelings were like their parents, a manifested ability that used Qi to work.
The Divine Realm beasts' change was instead a comprehension of the Dao of Life much like Skinwalker. They were not as good at it, even the changeling looked better than them but there was a key difference.
Their change was pervasive down to the smallest cell whereas the changeling wore shapes like others wore clothes. The outside was all that mattered as the inside was constantly in flux.
The fact he knew about that proved even more that he really had found the Inheritance of Skinwalker!
"I humbly apologize for my rudeness, Master Frey. Please, let us put this ugliness behind us." Lind normally could change tracks quickly but too much had happened too quickly in the last few moments. He prioritized his own desires at that moment.
"I care little for your disdain for me. I want to address your failure as an Elder." Oba frowned but looked at Fey.
"Ascenders face hardships adjusting to no longer being on top. They have to be grounded or they will become complacent in their cultivation." They were good words but Lind knew better.
"Really? Then explain to me why constantly undermining her confidence was necessary. Telling her she was only so highly regarded due to my allegiance to the sect. Emphasizing each and every mistake no matter how small. Isolating her and treating her like she was invisible once my break with the sect occurred. Does that sound like 'grounding' to you?" If she had looked surprised or given off the scent of it, forgiveness might have been in Lind but there was nothing.
There was no reaction.
Fey looked ill as he spoke but Oba merely looked calm in front of him.
"In order to forge better weapons, we need to break them of their old ties. Too many ascenders cling to the past–" Oba spoke calmly but Lind had enough.
"Dantian was cracked, meridians were frayed, driven to the peak of her potential before she could handle it at the expense of her life span. It was plainly obvious to the many experts of your sect as I know you specialize in such healers but not one Elder ever even suggested she get examined!" Now Oba paused. She glanced at Fey's current condition and simply shrugged.
"I do not babysit anyone in the Sky Realm. They are not children in need of guidance, if they need help, they should know it themselves." Nothing, just nothing. The entire interaction was a waste of his breath.
"So the Floating Isles branch is just a falsehood is that it?" Oba finally got angry. She looked with rage and her tier 7 aura flared. Lind felt his bones creak but he knew their situation. She needed him.
There was something related to Fiends and the only teleportation array was at least 3 days flight away at her best speed. That assumed the demons even let her get that far.
"I met many Maidens in the lower world, very many. I was always impressed how they guided and taught the young women that joined them. They were firm, even harsh at times, but fair. No one was ignored and they always stood by each other." Lind actually looked in pity at Oba. "Up here, however, all you seem to care about is some petty hierarchy. Anyone from the lower world not taken to the core area is worthless by default."
Lind kept hoping he was wrong but each and every time he was met with the cruel reality of the Floating Isles. They disdained the ascenders unless they were special. Genius was treasured but only if it could not be suppressed.
Lind was one of those beings. Organizations were fighting over getting close to him so much he had to make special arrangements to reach the Isles. Fey, a bright gem of a cultivator and very talented by any measure, was broken simply because she ascended from the lower world.
"We are all one family. A Sister is always a Sister. Do not dare–" He had had enough!
"We are leaving." LInd turned and grabbed Fey's arm. Oba was shocked. She expected a lot of reactions, but his leaving was not one of them.
"Wait! Master Frey, come back!" Lind did not stop but shouted as he came out ot the front area.
"Did you forget? I am not welcome by your sect at all. You are to ignore me at all times and never help me. There was no condition attached to that decry as I recall!" Oba froze. She had hoped he would not bring it up but the Sect Master had done that. Her explicit wording tied Oba's hands the moment it was invoked.
"These demons are monsters! Don't you understand what they have done here?" Lind finally stopped but he was sneering as he turned around.
"You don't get it, do you? I do understand, more than you know. With that technique, these Nightfalls could be millions of years old, not just thousands like they are supposed to be. Further, they are after Fey. You have what you need and so do I. I suggest we leave the island and never come back." Lind turned once more and moved to leave but froze.
The young girl in the too big armor was in the road. The shouting had brought a large audience. All the villagers looked as if hope had died once more. Their savior was leaving!
"S-senior, did we do something wrong?" Tears were forming on her dirty face but Lind felt his heart break. He had almost made the same mistake as the Heavenly Maiden Sect and so many others.
He almost abandoned the innocent because of his anger and his worry. He wanted Fey safe but he could not sacrifice people to it. As if reading his mind, Little Fey squeezed his hand and smiled.
"We will fight?" He smiled back and nodded.
"We will fight." He looked harshly at Oba but she was not happy. "Don't you have somewhere to go?" She looked hurt at his dismissal but with the edict invoked, she could no longer stay. The oath would hurt her cultivation if she did.
"You will regret this, Lind Frey! All this for some useless little girl!" The mask finally fell off and Lind saw the true Oba beneath. Cold, calculating, and indifferent to all but her mission goals.
"Perhaps, but I will never abandon myself again. Now, leave." He returned to the hall as Oba left. The villagers were unsure who she was but if she angered Lind, they wanted her gone. Oba's rage at their looks was suppressed under a false smile as she took to the skies.
Lady Chyou would berate her for her failure but that was all. Oba expected Lind Frey would never be heard from again once Lady Xin found him. She smiled for real at that thought as the rising sun crested on the horizon.