novelraw Chapter 567 - 566 - 4th Circle Clues
Chapter 567 - 566 - 4th Circle Clues
"Lord Frey, thank you!" Lind internally sighed as Gravis used his new arm. It had taken 5 long years of testing and experimenting to progress his elixirs to mid grade 6. The grade 6 essence was far more profound than anything in the mortal realm.
Thankfully, he had gotten massive rewards from the Skinwalker Inheritance at that grade. He had severe limits on grade 7 and 8 but there had been none on grade 6 and below.
The storage ring had plenty of space and so he packed it full!
Unlike elixirs, he had made almost smooth progress with his weaving.
He attributed it to seeing the terrible engraving the Soulmancer did. Having seen how it was done wrong, he still got a lot of inspiration from the experience.
Unlike the first 3 circles that had him master his soul power and arranging sigils in various shapes, the 4 circle dealt with commanding the Qi into the traces and sigils. His guide, sadly, was the weaving that held his master in the mortal realm.
The more he advanced the more he picked apart the memory of his enlightenment from that engraving.
Combined with the horribly imbalanced battle he had against the Soulmancer, he had made a lot of progress. His weaving had reached the peak of high grade 6 but began to slow down despite the 4th circle loosening a bit.
His mind narrowed at the cut off but would only be able to address it once he tried to master it.
What helped was his ability to practice for 5 years protecting the bandits from any further attack. Some groups had scorned them and were now gone but the Two Rivers had become a massive town of over 1000 people.
A few stragglers sometimes were found in the wild but were carefully screened at his order. His enemy was not dumb and would notice the missing bandits sooner or later.
"How is your dantian?" Gravis smiled wide as his Qi flowed freely to the peak of the Star Tier. Being suppressed for so long had given Gravis lots of time to comprehend. The weaving around the area had several effects but condensing Qi slowly had begun to bear such fruit for many.
He had been able to create an illusion Annabelle would be proud of but he had used the aura of the bog to do it. It had strained his soul but he had pulled it off! Aside from those 2 effects, it also gave a subtle perception filter to make people stay away unless they had an emblem Forged by Lind.
His Forging was a bit of a problem but it was more due to the limits of what he could safely do. Grade 6 ores were terrifying in their power alone and working with them released massive amounts of Qi he had to control while infusing his own purpose into it.
It was a vastly different problem he had to work on but it exhausted him very quickly.
"All right, help Keke with his training then like you have wanted to." Gravis laughed happily and practically ran off like a little boy himself. Lind almost felt like laughing as Gravis was over a thousand years old!
He was packing away the refuse and powder left behind by his work when he felt a presence at his door. He looked up and found a much more hale looking Gail smiling at him. The once malnourished and damaged people were healing under his care but it was a lot of work!
"How are you feeling?" Gail was one of the first he successfully healed completely in the last year. It took 4 years of careful work and sadly the sacrifice of Old Wan to figure out how to completely restore the dantians and meridians of the bandits.
It actually was related to his 4th circle as well.
Old Wan volunteered for the final experiment but lost his cultivation entirely. He was simply too old but Lind had been able to save his life at the last moment.
Old Wan had endured for several more months but aged at an accelerated rate. He had lived long enough to see Benny and Gail healed entirely. They had celebrated long into that night before he passed away a few days later with a smile on his face.
The trick had been to carefully nudge the vestiges of the brand out of each person and the tiny traces throughout their meridians. It was a trying task but his 4th circle had flickered at one point with Old Wan and he figured it out.
The trick had been to treat the brand with the Qi of the person involved and draw it out. It seemed like he was stealing from them but the pain they endured came with the final release of their slavery to the Soulmancers.
After that, it was merely figuring out what herbs and beast cores would combine to completely heal dantains and meridians damaged by engravings.
He had to combine his own weaving into the elixir for the first time and it had been odd to see sigils floating in azure vials.
All of it had helped him piece together a vague outline of the 4th circle comprehension but it was still far from his grasp.
"I broke through." Her quiet voice made him smile as he felt her aura. She was now a peak tier 8 Sky Realm. Her body was flush with youth and she laughed as earth, darkness, and water danced around her.
"Congratulations! Where is Benny?" Gail smiled wider before nodding in the distance. He turned around and smiled as the aura of Stone Tier washed away from the young girl. Her progress was astounding to him but it seemed overcoming the damage to their bodies made all the bandits monstrous cultivators.
"Briel reported signs of movements heading towards us again. The hunting parties fell back and Glenda is out seeing what she can find." Lind nodded. Compared to the damaged bandits, an intact brand was far easier to remove.
He also suspected his comprehension of the 4th circle helped. He found the anchor points inside the dantian and Qi of each person while breaking it away. The engraving was then taken out of them.
The prisoners were unhappy they still had the brands but Lind would not reward them with freedom until they wished to join. There were only 7 of them left after 5 years. Some grumbled about keeping them alive but Lind saw no need to kill them.
Logan Olver had become a broken noble yet still defied any help to Lind's questions.
A few of the soldiers had some more knowledge than Briel but it only painted a difficult situation across the 6 empires.
He also learned of the more mundane life of commoners but it was depressing. In most powers, commoners could have a chance to rise in sects or other paths if they had a lucky chance in cultivation.
Promising seeds were snatched up wherever they came from but the jealousy of the elites seemed universal. Commoners were often enslaved for slights, real or imagined, and the exiles or slaves were offered up as soul sacrifices to the Soulmancers.
The more he learned the less things made sense.
The sheer number of souls was not needed unless they were actively weaving everyday at all times, yet such acts were common it seemed.
Logan seemed to know something but refused to budge. Lind had to give credit that he was consistent. He even admired the man a bit.
"I will check in with her in a bit. I am going to cultivate to recover and see if I can progress at all." He summoned his elixir badge and it was more solid in the prismatic coloring than before but only barely.
He smiled but then put it away.
"By the way, Gravis has his arm back. Perhaps you should see him at his full strength." Lind used his periphery vision to see Gail blush. The 2 had hit it off and while nothing official had been announced, it was clear they were falling hard for each other.
"I, ah, um…thank you Lord Frey!" She ran off to the training area set up and he laughed.
"The Great Benny shall soon rule over you all!" Lind smiled wide as Benny, now a lively teenager, showed off her new World Realm tier. He waved through his window and she waved back. The town was vital and happy.
Lind hoped things could continue but he was not a fool.
They had been lucky thus far and with a group coming, he had to plan for the worst. He quickly sealed his door and began to recover but he had barely started when his face twisted in distaste.
He snapped his eyes open and looked to the north.
His 4th circle moved again but it felt like rage. The restrictions were tests set by Heaven and Earth so what could make them anger like that?
He moved north quickly but also adjusted his weaving. The moment he touched it, he felt filthy. What was wrong with his weaving?!
How was something like that possible?!
[Glenda, are you ok?]
He sent out a transmission but nothing came back. He quickly sent out an alarm and all the residents responded.
They all knew the empires might find them so they were prepared. Formations were barely set up but were now flaring on top of his weavings. The enemy was at their door.