novelraw Chapter 484 - 483 - Gone?
Chapter 484 - 483 - Gone?
Nearly 200 years had passed since the invading cultivator had slipped through her fingers. Lian was currently sweaty and bloody as she was hung but her wrists.
She had engaged the Raptors, the greatest flight power they had in the spirits forsaken realm, but they found nothing. There was not a single trace of the Sky Realm cultivator and his strange artifact.
They had found some of the wayward villagers but they were useless. They had been turned into resources once it was confirmed they knew nothing.
All the wasted personnel and the lost village to raise local resources was actually not bad since most of it was trash, but the Sky Realm cultivator was another matter.
She had hidden his existence and let him get away. She had clearly been lax since none of the villages under her control had any standing orders about such things.
The fact other districts were just as lax meant nothing. She was the one that an invader had entered and escaped as if on a stroll.
Lian had then been punished but then the Overseer decided to make an example of her. She knew it was his petty desire to get back at her for scorning his affections.
She loathed him.
He had toyed with her body and mind to his heart's content but had not broken her. Her heart only had one focus.
That oddly shaped artifact and cheerful voice stoked her rage.
She had not seen the sun in over 150 years by then, but she no longer cared. Her emaciated body was a result of torture and not feeding.
Fiends did not simply eat for the joy of it. Heaven and Earth rejected them from the first refinement. They had to constantly continue to cultivate or they would be attacked by the world itself.
They would not die but they would be weak and helpless given enough time.
Lian's body was frail and useless but her eyes were pools of rage without end. Even the Overseer could no longer look into her eyes.
Arrays flared before a loud thunk came from the dark metal door at the head of the stairs to her cell. She did not care except that the time was wrong.
The Overseer was fairly busy so his intervals were fairly regular.
It was too soon.
A cloaked form slowly came down the steps before looming over her. Lian looked up but could not pierce the hood. There was no fear in her eyes, nor resignation. She would either suffer more, or die.
She had no illusions about how Fiends lived. Strength was the only way to be safe but she had accepted the consequences of her failure as she focused her rage on the cause of her fall.
"Answer my questions truthfully. If you lie, I will know." A feminine voice spoke but Lian knew that meant nothing. Male or female, Fiends were vicious bastards. Still, her curiosity was piqued. She nodded.
"The cultivator used a weaving of the 2nd circle and all elements?" Lian nodded. It was clear as day once she had analyzed it later.
"The artifact has never been found but used Fiend Qi to launch after converting it to normal Qi?" Lian considered for a moment but then nodded. Her anger at that realization had flooded her for a moment.
The figure knelt down and looked into Lian's eyes. She saw it was a fairly young girl, no more than Iron or Gold Tier at best but she was gorgeous even by Fiend standards.
"The name the villagers gave you was Lind Frey?" The question was fierce but Lian nodded quickly. It was the only piece of information they could get but none of their connections recognized it.
The girl's aura flared and Lian suddenly heard the clink of her shackles open before she collapsed. The wails of a young man made Lian look up as a teenager was tossed onto the cell floor as if he was a hog.
"Recover and report to me. You have done well." The woman turned around and Lian then saw a stunning sight. The Overseer was flayed open alive at the top of the steps. He was weeping and clearly terrified but made no other sound.
That alone raised her spirit and she began to cultivate at last.
"I..am…coming…for…you!" Lian rasped out her voice as her body slowly recovered as the human youth withered.
⬧⬧⬧⬧
Celeste moved through the backwater fortress. Her lithe body was lethal just to watch, but she ignored all looks of fear or desire equally. She was assigned to investigate any issues in their operations in the mortal realms of her area but the incident 200 years ago had snagged her attention.
The time matched up to the failure that led to her father's execution.
She had just gone through her ritual so was allowed to live, but her parents, brother, and elder sister were all killed as they were in the Sky Realm and above. Failure was extended to all active members of a family.
When the initially ruined plans had been revealed, her father had come up with a solution that seemed to work. A lot of resources were harvested as well as luring Star Tiers with little loss of life to their forces!
It was all going so well when a single man destroyed everything! Lind Frey!
His name was known to her but the greater forces did not concern themselves with a Sky Realm ant. His effects from a single mortal realm were even less relevant but she had lost her whole family due to him.
He had somehow lived where her brother died!
She knew it was some 50 years between when he destroyed the Void of Heaven and suddenly appeared in that barren realm, but he was alive! The 6 elements, the name, and finally the strange artifact all led to her hated enemy!
Her eyes were so cold that even other Fiends that happily killed children shivered under her gaze. The fool of an Overseer had only submitted a report 10 years ago.
He had paid for his lax attitude. She found many other legitimate issues to kill him the way she did.
"I will find you, Lind Frey. I will find you and your death will be slower and more tortuous than any other. I promise you!" She finally emerged into the sunlit day but no warmth was felt near her. Only cold anger.
She saw her adjutant going over some reports but it was simply perfunctory at that point.
"Anything else I should know about his incompetence?" Celeste had already found many Fiends indulging too much in their resource farms. She had been praised in the last 250 years for increasing efficiency.
"My Lady, there are only a few abuses we already knew of but the decline in quality is a direct result of the mismanagement unlike others that simply tried to take more under the table." The man was disinterested in her emotions but it made him help calm her.
"Do the usual and also, he is here." He glanced up at her but for once he could not argue. Since being assigned to Celeste, the man had known her obsession. He approved.
Fiends were not like cultivators. They did not need serenity to advance but unbridled desire.
"I would point out that while human names are not so unique that one might share his name but given all the rest you carefully confirmed, I agree. However, he is gone." All the facts pointed to the intruder leaving the realm.
He was nowhere on the continent since 2 centuries had scoured the entire place. They had ruled the barren realm for over 70,000 years. There were few places anyone could hide, let alone a Sky Realm of Lind Frey's caliber.
Further, he was a tier 4 or 5 so staying on the surface would ruin his foundation if he stayed there. Leaving was his only choice in his mind.
"Gone? No, he is still here. And I suspect I know where." Celeste then put an ancient jade slip on the metal desk. He arched his eyebrow but reviewed it before frowning.
"While there were 3 dragons here, there was no proof they were Immortals. They died easily, afterall." The history of each conquered realm was recorded and some barren realms had oddities like the 3 dragons but they lacked a transition level most mortal realms had.
None of their forces had ever found such legendary things like Immortal mountains or lagoons. They never existed.
"There is a difference. When we conquered this place, our forces reporte a mountain off the southern coast but no one could ascend it. They all died." Celeste then put out an old report she had found in the archives.
Her adjutant examined the map and the report and frowned. She was right, a mountain was noted off the southern coast but it was gone? Where did it go?
"The Sky Dragon attacked, then the mountain disappeared. It was not connected to any land mass but a floating mountain. The legends are a bit much to swallow but at the very least, this may not be a barren realm." He could only nod slowly as her conclusions made sense.
If there was a floating mountain, then Lind Frey was out there. The question became where it was?
"He is here, we will find him!" Celeste smiled and it made even the adjutant shiver. She never smiled! He almost felt pity for Lind Frey but he had cost them a strategic advantage. It only extended to the waste of resources before he resumed reviewing the ledgers of the realm.
The whole time, Fiends were reorganizing the flow of humans, demons, and aether children to the teleportation platforms. Hell never stopped despite a change in management.