Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 550 - 549 - Moon Tier

Star Tier was as far as the mortal realm would allow.  It was a solid fact and only with a restriction or some other way to make a cultivation reduced to an acceptable level was what allowed those 3 Moon Tiers and Sun Tier from Babylon Guild visit him.

Such artifacts and techniques were not only rare but usually highly resource intensive.  Once used, they would maximize their benefits because they could not do it again.

At least, that had been what Owen told Lind.

The man had to leave before the Moon Tiers because the pressure restricting his cultivation used up his artifact much faster.  Before the second competition had come round, all of them had returned to the Heaven Realm.

Azylea and Huo followed not long after when they ascended to Moon Tier.

The safest path was to go to the ascension pools controlled by Hellfire, Heavenly Maidens, and now Moebius Sect on the highest island.  It was a natural path connecting the mortal realms to the Heaven Realm.

Only realms like Lind's had them compared to the Barren Realms that did not.  The only exception there were the Special Realms but the conditions for those were damned rare from what he had learned.

Still, it was possible for Heaven Realm to forge a connection but it would be very difficult and drain some resource areas dry.  Fiends could see a return but regular cultivators would not bother.

The other method was for a Star Tier to simply break through to the Moon Tier where they were.  Normally, no one would think about that being a problem, but Lind knew the truth of the matter.

Forced ascension would drop a cultivator randomly into the Heaven Realm.  There was likely some kind of resonance or other possibly drawing power for the fresh Moon Tier but no one really studied it.

The issue, of course, was that the Fiends dominated a large swath of the Heaven Realm and they were not far away from their Mortal Realm.  It was not impossible a new Moon Tier would be dropped into the middle of Fiends.

Ilyria offering to take such a risk touched Lind but he wanted to improve her odds.

There were a few things he could do.  Having studied the Sky Realm ascension pools, he grasped the nature of them a bit.

It was essentially 2 areas that heavily resonated enough in space to cause a natural path for Qi to flow.  It was in sync with the quality of the Sky Realms so a tier 1 could easily flow up across the realm to the Floating Isles.

From what Owen and the others told him, it was the same for the next ascension pool.

Lind had studied it several times for inspiration but it had simply felt more like a teleportation array made by Heaven and Earth rather than by formation.

It had some interesting aspects to it but he suspected the first teleportation arrays were made by studying ascension pools.

The part he focused on was trying to create a platform for Ilyria that would nudge her towards their ascension pool on the other side of the connection.  He had no idea what was there exactly but he knew what he was looking for.

He could not force the issue but he could make it increase her odds.

She did not need resonance rods as she had all the elements in her dantian and had been ready to ascend for a while.  The formations and weavings just increased her Qi absorption and resonated with the ascension pool energy.

It was the best they could do at their level.

Lind had made the weavings himself so they were low grade 6.  The rest was peak Heaven grade 5 so they could only hope it worked.

Ilyria, herself, looked out at the massive plains they were standing on.

"What was this place called again?"  Lind glanced back at her and smiled as he looked across the swaying grasses of gold all round them in the sunlit day.

"Elysium Plains.  It is part of the Ravaged Isles so very few people live here and plenty of space."  The few villages there were actually spared most of the chaos as no one wanted to bother them.

A few villages even emptied as many went off to the battles to try their hand at the opportunity of the battles meant they might find a way to advance!  Lind looked sadly at the empty village in his sight.

It had been lively centuries ago but had been wrecked by him in more ways than one.  The Ruin was gone and the attack by the Broken Sword Sect meant they never really recovered.

Still, it meant they had more than needed open space for Ilyria to ascend.  The platform was equally massive compared to a simple cultivator one.  Many aether beasts reverted to the natural forms which were usually larger than people by far.

He then noticed the crowd was moving in again.

"Everyone get back to the marked perimeter!"  Many quickly obeyed but a third of them grumbled about being too far away.  Kexin than flared her black flames and sent them scampering.

"They really don't understand what is about to happen, do they?"  Lind shook his head at her question but turned back to the nervous Ilyria.

"You are going to be fine.  Don't think about us or worry about holding on.  Just focus on your breakthrough and stay safe.  I want my niece to be up there to greet me when I catch up."  His words washed over her and her eyes became steady.

He hugged her hard and then lit up the weavings.  The formations were already working hard and he flew off.  Those that grumbled were quiet as they saw their sect master join them.  Confusion came across their faces as he looked down at them.

"What is about to happen will be witnessed by all of us thanks to Ilyria taking a risk.  Do not let it slip by as we will all discuss what we felt after.  If any of you, but some comprehension, break through, I wish you luck."  All of the people there were 6 elementals.

Most of them were peak tier 9 but he also included tier 8 Sky Realms just in case.  They were in uncharted territory entirely.  Any insight could be the key to confirming or changing the theory Lind had.

He landed and Kexin sat next to him as she held his hand.

"She will be fine."  He smiled at her and grasped back as they both felt a shift in the world.  Before anything else happened, the slim young woman vanished as a massive Black Shelled Tortoise appeared.

Ilyria knew how big she was but even so, he felt she had underestimated how impactful it would be for those that never saw a tortoise before.

The previously grumbling members felt they were too close as they flew back a bit but the massive head looked down with her eyes closed.  The once massive looking platform now seemed like a child's toy next to Ilyria.

Qi became massively dense and Lind felt his blood respond as Heaven celebrated a Divine Beast reaching the limit of the world.

Lind had his Heaven Eyes looking in shock at what he saw.

The vast constellations inside her dantian were shrinking into a pale sphere.  It was once all 6 colors as before but then became a faint white as patterns of craters began to form as the stars shrunk into it.

Her meridians swam with Qi as massive amounts were needed to condense the constellations into the newly made moon at the center of her dantian.

The sky rumbled but it was not a tribulation forming.  It was the sky being rent asunder, yet Lind felt his weaving finally react.  The tear forming shifted slightly which made him smile.

The sky was finally torn open to the side but unlike when Han broke through all those centuries ago, he could see a familiar face on the other side of the tear.

A prismatic majestic dragon looked up and only he could see her eyes sparkle with joy as their bond lit up for the first time in a long time.

"LIND!"  Ethry roared in joy but both of them turned as a shaft of pure Qi slammed down onto Ilyria.  The massive tortoise body was lifted into the air and Lind saw the moon inside her dantian was perfectly formed.

It was at the center of darkness but 6 streams of Qi flowed into it.  Three were very bright while 3 were dim.

That moment Lind felt a thud in his chest.

He had to quickly suppress his own dantian as cracks had formed on his Sky Core instantly!

He had mad no preparations and had only just comprehended what he was missing.

Harmonies did not need the Star Tier at all, they were the moon!

He was right!  The 6 elemental cultivators did not need Star Tier as more than a transition.  They still had to fill their Sky Core to the brim but he thought his core cracked far too easily!

"I will wait for you, Uncle!"  Ilyria spoke in his mind and he waved up as he knew she had seen he was ready.

"Be safe–"  Lind tried to talk back but the moment of distraction was enough.  His Sky Core shattered into a vast universe inside his dantian!

Ilyria was yanked away as the tear slammed shut but both Ethry and her saw he was in distress!  It was like Lind was fighting an avalanche while breathing underwater at the same time!

Kexin and others were in enlightenment so he stumbled away as he had to get away from them.  Something powerful was coming for him!  Something other cultivators never faced!  A progenitor would not ascend so easily and unlike others, a tribulation was coming!

Lind was imprinting jade slips and tossing them at the group as some looked on.

"RAISE DEFENSES NOW!"  His shout woke some from their enlightenment which angered them but then they felt the pressure of Heaven.  What was going on?  They saw Lind stumbling away and realized he was breaking through right then!

All looked on as black clouds began to gather.