Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 465 - 464 - Power of Intent

Fey calmly solidified her foundation as she settled at the low 8th tier of the Sky Realm.  The massive battle and pushing herself in the trap that her Big Bro–Father setup had given her a flash of insight on her Dao.

Ethry was not far behind her.  In fact it was simply a matter of resources in her case.  She had to consume beasts of comparable or greater strength of each element she needed to advance.

Kora and Sister Tal were the same.  The more they advanced, the more they needed but it was simply luck Fey reached the 8th tier after only a few decades since her heart demon.

She exhaled some fetid air from her body and stood up before going through her battle stances.  Anyone watching would be left in awe at the profound moves flowing seamlessly one into the other.

She had an alchemy lesson later that day but she missed her Master.

Mira, Grandmother, was well established and heavily protected in her sect but now Wild Heart Isle was cut off.  She was sure they would meet soon as no doubt former friends and family would be used as envoys to reach out to Moebius Sect.

It was a safe approach and Lind would actually be happy to meet the people if not the powers behind them.

Still, the focus was on all they had revealed to the world.

She felt an itch.  Her instincts were warning her something was wrong but she could not bring it into focus.

The actions after the recorded message went out were fairly normal for low level pawns but the disturbing silence from other powers told her things were not going as planned.

Severis Island also had no issues as many cultivators left it enmasse after being examined carefully.

There were inexplicable caravans found with empty caskets but no bodies.  The caskets were of Fiend make but no one could find the lair they came from.

It seemed like bait to her but the powers were not simply mid to high grade but the 3 supreme powers were bringing down the thunder and lightning to rip away the mask of Severis Island.

Yet, nothing was found save a few traces here or there.  If that was all, the powers would move on to try and follow leads back to the source but the traces all seemed to indicate Severis Island was the source.

Where were they?

The more time passed, the more her instincts were warning her.

As she moved down the sunlit halls to the auditorium holding the alchemy lecture, she saw a few Illusion Pythons moving swiftly along.  Their top halves were no longer simply projections but the snake characteristics were still strong.

They were only Sky Realms as Tal and Kora had been able to have a breakthrough helping beasts learn to transform.

The faster they could transform, the faster they could study other elements more effectively even if they could not add them to their cores yet.

She smirked at how terrifying her Father's effect on beasts was.  Compared to humans, demons, and aether children, he was getting far better at piercing the bottlenecks holding people back.

The words she just thought made her smile wider.

She had always called him Big Brother but as time passed, she felt at home only with him.  It was not like the Big Sisters, but the heart demon incident sealed her feelings.  She had never really gotten to know her father before he died.

Her grandparents made a point of spoiling her a bit and only Lind had come to her in her darkest moment and reprimanded her.  He had not pitied her nor made life easy for her after either.

Tal had been so happy when Lind announced his adopting of Fey that a few of her ribs had cracked due to the hugging.

She was almost to the auditorium when she saw Lady Gua floating above it.  It was an open air one to allow for Sky Realms to arrange themselves above if the seats were full but Lady Gua could be where she wished.

Fey knew she was getting very close to the Moon Tier but she was now working on light elemental Qi as it seemed to be a real problem for her.

Darkness had seemed like a breeze compared to fire and earth but water had been annoying from what Fey heard.

"I wonder why she is here?  Perhaps she is simply hoping for inspiration?"  Fey knew the feeling as many cultivators did.  When dealing with the addition of new elements, it was always an uphill battle from what she had heard.

The primary elements were named as such because they were the elements the cultivator was most familiar with while the secondary elements had to be grasped from the beginning and integrated into the current understanding the cultivator had.

Fey was about to continue when she saw Annabelle examining a formation plate intensely.  If there was anyone that had a massive leap forward since their reveal, it was Annabelle.

She leapt from tier 5 to tier 7 in a very short amount of time thanks to the Matron working with her for that Floating Isle wide projection.

Having direct access to a Star Tier and their insights in her specialty had made a lot of questions clear for her but the plate in her hand was one of the Fiend items they found with the bodies.

Unlike the Matron, Annabelle had the teachings of Lind on all 3 sets of Qi elements so she could actually examine the formation plates of demons and now Fiends on her own.

Fey felt pulled toward her but the deep concentration on the gold and sapphire colored face made her keep silent as she looked on.  A diffuser sphere was in Annabelle's other hand as she used her counterparts in Celestial Qi to trigger the plate but neither of them saw anything happen.

"It takes the Qi but does not trigger, why?"  Annabelle spoke out loud but Fey was not as adept at formations as alchemy and swordsmanship.  The deep pools of gold wrapped in sapphire looked up at Fey and smiled.

"You are not going to the lecture?"  Fey nodded but pointed at the formation plate.

"Could it need another element?"  Annabelle shook her head at the question.

"Lind has tried all 6 but it does not work.  It might be because we are using Celestial Qi rather than Fiend Qi but it is not breaking it either.  We are unsure why it is so unresponsive."  Fey took the dark metal plate.

It was slightly larger than her palm but it was only a simple rectangle about a finger width thick.  It felt lighter than most formation plates she had used but what was odd were the sharp markings making the arrays were just strange to her.

They were swift, deep, and harsh compared to the elegant curves used in most arrays she had seen.  Fey was about to hand it back when the sun glinted off one of the surfaces in the cuts.

Her instincts found it familiar.  She summoned her sword aura and the plate instantly lit up!  Before either could react the bushes around them were severed as if a sword had sliced outward but since Fey cut her connection it stopped instantly.

Both women were shocked.  It was not Qi that triggered the formation plate but intent!

"Follow me!"  Annabelle pulled Fey along.  Alchemy was important but understanding what they could about the Fiend's plans was far more vital.

It was a short run to the central tower where her Father and his wives lived.  The core Elders took up the ground floors but the higher floors were being taken up by Lind and his family.

Annabelle's room was a place of simple joys.  She had laid out several crystals and artifacts that helped her test her illusion ability but Fey also saw several well cared for spears of peak grade 5 quality.

They were only refined but she knew Father had procured them for each of his wives.

On one stone desk were more dark metal formation plates and Fey did not need to be told what to do.  Once the protection arrays were erected, Fey tried her intent one at a time.  Some reacted, but not all of them.

After a short time, they saw similarities that aligned with sword intent and Annabelle tried to use her own intent for spears but not a single plate reacted.

"Lind has many intents so why did he not sense it?"  Fey heard her question but frowned.

"Father learned much from that Relic but while his foundation is powerful, he does not specialize.  He has not reached the aura stage so far as I know."  Annabelle brightened but then frowned.

"If that is true, then these plates were offensive in nature.  It makes me wonder how those isolation formations worked.  We never did find the plates for those but they likely shattered when Lind broke them open."  Fey was nodding when she froze.

If Fiend formation plates worked on intent and not Qi, they would be completely undetected!  Only damage or a mistake would cause the issue that led to how Lind found the cashes in the first place.

"Annabelle, how would you find an intent based illusion?"  The question made the aether child woman scrunch her face before it turned pale.  They both understood the issue quickly.

If all Fiend formations worked off intent, then to find it would take someone with an equal or greater grasp of the same intent!

Both took off for Lind's office while Fey used a stone to call for him.  The forces investigating Severis were in mortal danger!