Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 489 - 488 - Rules of Heaven

Lind dismantled his prison shortly afterward.  He brought the Raptor to the mountain and had no issues since all the Fiends were dead.

Now that he knew what had been done to the people kept by them, he had some ideas to help but it would take years.  He doubted he had that long anymore.

Now that a Raptor had gone missing, the Overseer would know where to focus her efforts.  Still, he did not think she knew death was all that awaited her if she came.

That fact made Lind think about many things.  He had been cultivating for close to 550 years.  He had many encounters with powers far beyond his realm and lucky chances that expanded his knowledge base farther than most at his age.

Even with all that, the way Heaven and Earth worked still eluded him.  It was no doubt a limit to what he could understand but Fiends seemed to help define a certain aspect to it.

Limits on cultivation were obvious to all.

Once a cultivator reached a certain realm, they would either stagnate or have to ascend to continue their journey.  Going back was possible in short bursts but it was clear that staying in a mortal realm was not possible the more powerful one became.

The mountain changed that.

It was more like Heaven and Earth did not allow a cultivator to stay with such power unless given permission.  The density of Qi was just a simple way to enforce that rule.

The existence of Delenn was a trick of weaving but it also showed that Immortals could be down in a mortal realm while severely restricted.  The 3 dragons here, however, had no such restriction.

It was all about permission and necessity.

A barren realm needed guardians of Immortal level to serve for as long as possible.  It also allowed for an effective screen process aside from tribulation.  If the dragons felt someone was abusing their powers, they could act as the Wrath of Heaven in its stead.

Lind had encountered many spirits, living souls and other beings that lived beyond the physical, yet Heaven did not forcibly disperse them so long as the conditions were correct.  It was again, all about permission.

An Immortal Realm did not die just because their body did, hence the term was correct.  There was a window in which a living soul could find or create an appropriate body to resume their cultivation.  They might even improve during the process.

Delenn had told him such stories on his last time with her.

It made him wonder why that was but Immortal Realm cultivation was far beyond him.

Fiends defied all the rules.  It seemed that consuming a living cultivator as they did invited not just the anger of Heaven but its desire to kill.  Their process protected them so long as they continued but it meant they could not slack off.

Still, Fiends were treated as if they did not belong in the mortal realm at all if exposed normally.  The gate in Cimmeria and the possessed that went through complete transformation had to hide from Heaven.

The Fiends here did not.

What had changed?  Rather, what rule had shifted that Fiends could walk openly in the current mortal realm?

Lind then froze.  The dragons!  The 3 dragons were the guardians of that realm!  If they were killed, it was possible the Fiends took over that position.  They displaced the order of the mortal realm and made it theirs!

The plans for the Floating Isles now made much more sense to Lind.  Why had the Fiends not simply cut off the lower world?  Because they needed to conquer the Floating Isles to actually win.

They needed the rules of Heaven to shift!  There was something in the Floating Isles critical to his realm!

The Black Shelled Tortoise had not acted when the demonic Fiends killed because she could not draw them to her precious ones but would she have acted otherwise?  He doubted it.

A Star Tier had severe restrictions on their actions simply being the level of destruction they could cause.  The loss of islands was a valid reason but the beasts still fought on Wild Heart Isle.

So there was a limit they could fight in but if they went too far he had heard of Heavenly Wrath striking then too.

Lind finally understood!

The reason the Fiends could not come to the mountain was due to its unique origin.  It was not originally part of the realm but placed there by Heaven itself!

It was from the Celestial Fields!

An Immortal level Realm!

Lind then frowned.  Why had the mountain moved away then?  There was no danger so why did it move?

He glanced at one of the female demons, now fully clothed thankfully, sweeping with a blank face as an idea came to him.  He approached and looked at her dantian and meridians over.  Even now, she was pulling in Qi but there was very little demonic Qi on the mountain.

"I want to help.  May I?"  Her cobalt eyes were dull.  They hardly ever responded but could perform simple tasks.  Mika and Kiran wanted them to move around at least so simple chores kept them safe and busy.

Lind saw no change but she did not back away.  His aura surged as he felt the profound Qi of the mountain.

He used a weaving to convert the Qi into demonic and surrounded the girl.  Her body absorbed it but Lind increased the intensity before he finally saw what he was looking for.

A very thin black gas was leaving her.  As that happened, she was sliding along the stone floor!  The mountain was moving just a bit due to her cultivating with the contaminated air!

The mountain had not moved away, it had been pushed away as it destroyed the Fiend Qi!

He stopped and the dull faced demoness stood still.  She had advanced to the peak of the World Realm right then but there was no sign of a tribulation.  How could there be?  She had not comprehended her elements or cultivation at all.

"Thank you.  I hope one day to discuss the Dao with you."  Lind bowed and turned to leave but suddenly his robes were caught.  He thought perhaps he had snagged them on the broom or something else when things shifted but he was stunned to see 2 slender fingers holding his hem.

He looked up slowly and the once dull cobalt eyes had a spark in them.  It was subtle but he had studied all of them closely when not interrogating the Fiends.

"Clarity of Heaven, of course!"  The Fiend Qi and thousands of years of suppression had broken them but Lind had just purified her body!  He quickly summoned his emerald flames and engulfed her.

The thin black fog became a stream as the mountain finally trembled.  It was short however as the demoness seemed to be waking up from a long nightmare.

Her limbs shivered at first but then a wail escaped her.

As cultivators advanced, their minds were improved like everything else.  Even trapped in the horrible conditions of the Fiends, a World Realm was more than enough to become aware.  The mind, however, was trapped by the very techniques laced with Fiend Qi.

Tears suddenly flowed with the wail as she collapsed but Lind caught her.  She grasped his robes tightly as Kiran and Mika came running.  Even the elder wyverns swooped down but all were shocked by what they saw.

The prisoners of the Fiends had been little better than dolls until then but now one was screaming and crying in the arms of Lind Frey.  Even more, she was grasping onto him like a lifeline.

No words were needed.  All understood it was the wail of terror, disbelief, and hope all mixed together.  How many years had the demoness been raised and watched others be consumed?

None could say if they would fare any better.

Lind made shushing sounds and comforted her until she passed out.  She still held onto him like grim death.  She clearly did not want the world to be different when she awoke!  He carried her to the sleeping quarters he had created for them all.

The others were still dully cleaning or other simple tasks.  The events had not pierced them at all.

Lind saw it and acted instantly.  The density of Qi sky rocketed around each of them.  It was slow at first but then it increased as black steam came from them all.  His emerald flames then lit up each of them.  The mountain spirit looked angrily at the fog before it was purified.

The result was instantaneous.

All 24 people looked at Lind holding the demoness before screams and wails came from them as well!  They all flooded toward him but he did nothing to stop them.

He suddenly felt the deja vu from going to Altair.

The small village and how broken the people had been.  It had only been a few decades for them so their recovery had been possible if difficult.

Lind was looking at centuries of such treatment and far worse in some ways.  These people had been raised as cattle, even if they did not know the term, they knew what they were being kept alive for.

Lind had freed them by using pure Qi and his harmony to cleanse them inside and out.  A headache suddenly assaulted him as he almost gasped something about his harmony.

It was too soon.  Still, he had a firm feeling that if he could advance to the Star Tier, he would be able to grasp it then.  The rules of Heaven seemed very close to his harmony.  Perhaps to all harmonies.

Lind quickly got Kiran and Mika to help get the passed out people to their bunks and prepare real meals.  He suspected the long road ahead would be hard for them all.