novelraw Chapter 574 - 573 - Imbalance
Chapter 574 - 573 - Imbalance
The Hinterlands was rarely quiet. Only when a powerful beast was on the move would the various beasts hide in their hovels and nests until the dangerous feeling passed.
Not far from the Two Rivers, there was a very different reason for them hiding and, in increasing numbers, running away.
A mushroom cloud was rising from a smoking stretch of land that would have left most in awe but after 7 years, it was basically a monthly occurrence.
A soot-covered but unharmed Lind Frey was coughing and waving the dust away as he looked frustrated at black bits that were likely the refuse of his latest attempt to reach Heaven grade 6.
His latest attempt was Forging but it did not matter which profession he was attempting, they all resulted in the same devastating failure he currently looked at. He almost destroyed the castle when he tried to separate aspects from essence in grade 6.
Just that step unleashed a level of energy he had not expected and had to fix afterward!
All 3 of his professions were safely at peak grade 6 with weaving actually at least giving some hints for Heaven grade but he was only risking simply weavings. He was glad he did as the first simple Qi gathering weaving with isolation functions had created a lethal vacuum of Qi and air!
He has assumed his previous success would apply to grade 6 but like cultivation, the shift of density was not all there was to the Heaven Realm Qi. He had thought his experience with weaving would enlighten him as well but it was currently stuck.
His Moon had not improved much but mostly due to his focus on at least being successful in advancing his professions. He felt like weaving was key but so was elixir creation and even Forging if he wanted to help others.
"What am I missing? Why do I lose control everytime?" If it was just one of his professions, it would be a simple matter of figuring out what he was missing and comparing it to his success in another profession.
However, he felt like each time he gets to separating the higher parts of each material for creating anything, it already becomes unstable as if that step itself was the issue. If he tried to force things to see if he could succeed had resulted in the blasted stretch of the Hinterlands in front of him.
Glenda had actually flown off and told him to contact her only if needed as his experiments seemed to affect beasts particularly harshly.
He was not sure why aside from the sound and Qi disruption as none of the humans seemed bothered. Lind was bothered but for different reasons entirely.
He walked out of the devastated area and dust fell off him as he walked. His black and emerald hair was now white with dirt but so was the rest of him.
He had exhausted literally all his ideas but nothing had revealed itself to show him the way forward.
It was not required anytime soon but his enemies could have curve balls where Heaven grade items could save him and his comrades.
"Lord Frey!" A large and powerful woman brightly smiled at him before kneeling at the gate. The more time passed, the more Lind wondered who was more fervent for him. Reya or Sheena.
When he got out, he had no doubt she would want to follow him and she was not alone. Despite his best efforts, apparently some of the refiners and others that shared her worship of him had made personal statues in their homes!
The first time he saw one, he had been speechless!
Thankfully they were not distorted physically but the amount of work that went into each was artisan level at least! They looked almost lifelike!
Sheena did not have one but he suspected that was only because she had become the head of the castle forces and was always nearby for reports or meetings.
In other words, she did not need a statue as she had the real thing daily!
"Anything interesting happen while I was experimenting?" It took him a few weeks to try and breakthrough his professions on each attempt but all were the same failure.
"Nothing in the city but a few of the recent arrivals spoke of old news from a few years ago in the Orwellia Empire." Lind perked up and nodded for her to continue.
They walked through the streets and many bowed as he passed but he simply smiled and waved at the crowd who kept working. He at least had been able to keep that humble of an image in the populace as they did not drop everything to cheer him or acknowledge him.
Sheena had taken years to accept that was how Lind wanted it. He actually thanked Heaven and Earth for Benny as she was one of the few that spoke frankly to him.
"Apparently, not long after the failed attack here, demons were found in the upper echelons of Owellian nobles. They were all slaughtered suddenly in a single night but no one knows how or why." Lind slowed and frowned but then resumed his progress forward.
"Anything else?" She was about to shake her head when a glow came from the bracelet on her right arm. Lind had been able to incorporate a communication jade into a storage treasure. It sacrificed some space but the convenience was impossible to ignore.
Sheena spoke with someone but Lind could not hear it as she had isolated the conversation. Another feature he added but only one of the few he could due to limited space for weavings.
Sheena frowned before looking grimly at him.
"A few dead bodies were found 5 days west of us. However, they were left untouched and no one could determine how they died. Per your restraints, they only reported the corpses." Lind stopped that time and looked grim as well.
"Where are they from?' He knew most empires, even if just commoners, had some kind of identifying emblem or color to denote their origin. It made it easier to find them in the Hinterlands but also who to avoid if ever asked but such bodies.
Lind expected to hear they were from Perot or Karridan given the loss of their personnel but Sheena seemed confused.
"They have no markings and wear gray cloaks that hide their features." Lind had never heard of such a description but decided to be cautious.
He pulled out a pendant from his ring and it lit up with a silver light.
[Glenda, strange dead bodies have been found in gray cloaks but no beasts go near them. 5 days west of us.]
He felt an acknowledgement and moved faster to the fortress. He could have flown but that often led to troubling reactions from the crowd as flying was so rare in the human race.
Sheena left him to report in and check for any updates that may have come in while he went to wash up.
Lind's quarters were simple but he noticed yet another gaudy set of decorations had covered his bed again. They kept trying to 'improve' his quarters but fighting it was a lost cause as reason did not work on them!
He was almost done when his mind nearly split open with Glenda's voice.
[SOULLESS!]
Disgust and rage filled the connection but then she calmed herself down.
[Those are not corpses, they are puppets outside of the range of their controller. They are Soulless.]
Lind frowned but had no certainty what that name meant. He asked for clarification but it took Glenda a while to get her emotions under control as she was likely heading back to the city.
He had donned new robes and opened his balcony up before a gigantic silver roc seared across the sky before she turned into a human.
She was a stunning beauty but at that moment she was seething.
"Bastards! They still practice that dark Art!" He let her get it all out. Her vulgar language repertoire had improved it seemed. He blamed Benny for that but Glenda finally calmed down.
"Have some tea and tell me what is going on." Glenda happily drank the grade 6 tea and calmed her raging emotions. She was still upset but knew Lind had to understand what was coming.
"A long time ago, almost back before the Law Binding, there was a sect that was revealed to be vile to all. They had been enslaving cultivators like living puppets. Their souls are bound and mostly extracted into artifacts to control their bodies." Lind's emerald eyes narrowed fiercely but let her continue.
"Once revealed, the once warring empires worked together to subdue them. The problem was the puppets, the Soulless. They lack a soul and this makes them harder to perceive. No sounds, Qi aura, nothing to detect unless they let you." Lind's cup shattered.
Glenda assumed it was just rage but then an oppressive aura filled the city!
"HOW DARE THEY?!" Lind recognized that technique. He had seen it before. Fiends, when invading a realm, used a very similar technique but they used living cultivators. They became thralls that could improve and live longer but became fodder for the Fiend at any time!
Someone had imitated that very technique for their own use! Fiends would not be able to take the soul but it was not any better!
"Glenda, I want the source found but do not let them know. See if any beast will help us with this particular issue." She nodded and planned out her route before setting out again. Unlike before, she felt confident that the Two Rivers would not have to sit and wait for the enemy.
They were on the hunt!