Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 662 - 661 - Political Betrayal

"After almost 5 years, there is no one left that is not actively fighting in the mortal realm."  Benny looked exhausted.  She was normally a ball of energy even all the centuries later but now the bags under her eyes proved that even for a cultivator, she had pushed her body hard.

Lind was not much better.

After unilaterally sending 2 ships into the mortal realm piloted by Sun Tiers had lit off an explosion he had long expected.  His view of life was in direct contravention of cultivators at large.

By nature, cultivators were generally selfish as they wanted the resources for their own advancement or their own power's rise.  On the surface, that was not a huge issue but in practice it had been a pile of bloody corpses in the wake of any rivals.

Lind was not innocent of that either but he was odd in that his enemies usually wanted to enslave or harm large swathes of all life so it was hard to say he was being hypocritical with the laws he chose to enforce in his Two Rivers Alliance.

The introduction of the mortal realm had not been a real massive change but an excuse several powers had been looking for to change the rules.

The chaos of war simply let it be that much better for them as Lind focused on aiding the innocent caught in between the raging battlefronts.

Stating such a point of view was fine, many leaders derided such chaos but rarely acted.  Acting, however, gave a weakness many had been searching for against Lind's authority.

He had been key in liberating them from what had been the cruel rule of the Soulmancers and later revealed to be Fiends.  Thus, no one even thought to get in the way of his unification of the former lands of the 6 empires.

It also helped that he was an elixir master, Forger, and legitimate weaver.  His knowledge helped leapfrog the recovery stages that usually followed the fall of a power.  He had quickly set up procedures in his already stable lands to supply the freshly freed lands at the end of the war.

All in all, no one really had a problem with how things ran until they found they wanted more.  More resources, land, or anything ran into the restrictions Lind had in place to keep things peaceful.

The mortals and lower realms loved those laws as it allowed them to survive in relative peace and prosperity without fear.  The Sky Realms and above, however, found it frustrating.  The Law Binding also was still over them, preventing new Immortal Realms from appearing.

While some believed the truth of being surrounded by Fiends, others feel it is simply Lind cementing his power.  They never attended the meetings with him nor did they know him, but they made assumptions on what they would do in his place.

It was these powers feeding into the higher powers that led to resentment to slowly build as no one had answers to resolve them.  Lind's laws stood in the way.

His demonstration of dominance against the blatantly corrupt Elder Jin in the Forge of Stars sect also reminded those against him that he had the power to back up his laws.  The mortal realm, however, exposed a weakness.

It took massive resources to maintain the sky ships as well as keeping the Law Binding going so combined, a lot of Wards and various powers found things getting thin to save the refugees Lind chose to protect.

Now, he was being assaulted on all sides with people demanding compensation they knew he could not give.  Some were legitimate as Lind had known he would stretch things thin but then those powers seemed to intentionally make things worse.

"Thank you, Benny.  Go get some sleep.  I promise not to wake you for a few days if that is what it takes."  She smiled weakly as she bowed and moved off.  Lind's face became grim as he saw the jade slips in front of him when a familiar aura appeared behind him.

"You should rest too, Lanbao."  The flood dragon had been helping Linghu with the Law Binding as the young man was still a baby so far as Immortals were concerned.  He had worked hard to comprehend Laws better but it took time.

Time politics was not giving them.

"You need to remind them of your power."  She had spoken of such things before but Lind knew he had no ground to stand on this time.  He had chosen to spend a lot of resources very quickly and now he reaped the consequences.

Thankfully, the refugees were left out of it.  They were all Sky Realms or lower so the resources they needed were not as severe, plus the richer environment they were slowly adapting to was far better than any they had before.

"My power was given by the momentum of my fight to live, Lanbao.  I wanted them all to live free from the Fiends and never wanted the throne.  When I took it, I assumed responsibility to them.  They have abused their positions but I gave them the opening for my own version of greed."  Lind was not a fool.  He had made a mistake as an Emperor but he would make it again every time.

The only places not harping on him was, of course, the Two Rivers Ward itself and the Ward of Hope and Peace.  Those places knew him as far more than the remote Emperor the rest came to know.

He fought personally but also worked tirelessly to help the Soulless and formerly mentally controlled citizens of Orwellia Empire.  Such actions were burned into the history of each place, but the rest only saw him as a greedy Emperor that conquered the world as they knew it.

The fact it freed them was immaterial to them as they wanted the same power for themselves.

The Heavenly Maiden Sect was not his enemy but was not supporting him either as they had been against his interference.  The descendents of their branch in the mortal realm had nothing to do with them, yet they accepted them easily.

Lind had sent a message to Valkyrie that he had found real Maidens alive so he hoped she would help Moebius Sect.

"How is the other project?"  Lind asked but he knew the tired sigh was not a good sign.

"Your theory is sound and is indeed not blocked by the Law Binding but implementing it will be impossible in the current situation." Lanbao did not sugar coat his chances.

"Ironic that the one project that would bring them out into the world safely will be destroyed by this political maneuvering."  Lind almost smiled but he almost fell over.  He felt so tired after the last 5 years of constant work.

Even a Heaven Realm could only go so long without rest, but the situation was a massive balancing act on top of all the other mess he had to deal with.

Lanbao looked gently down at him.  A true dragon would have not even bothered worrying about any other race in such dire straits but the pride of a dragon was clear in all of Lind's acts.

Still, even a dragon would have long lashed out after all the aggravations thrown their way, but Lind accepted his part in the mess.  She found the more she interacted with these beings, the more she yearned to return to her old life of isolation.

Still, Lind continued to make her stay to see what he could become.

"All right, I think I will take my own–"  He was about to head off to his own bed when the sound of feet sprinting could be heard.  A tired sigh came from him but he quickly summoned and downed an azure elixir.

A disheveled Gail stunned them as she came bursting into the room.  Her robes were much thinner than they should be even for just an informal visit but her wet eyes made Lind's heart go cold.

"G-Gravis heard one of the children was in danger.  H-he–"  Lind moved like lightning and held her close to calm her down.  He also crushed a crystal he had made into a summons.

Shi came sweeping in and her eyes went wide but quickly went to her brother.

Something had happened!

Lind tried to calm his own heart as he knew nothing.  Jumping to conclusions was very bad.

Linghu and Shi came back quickly but they did not look good.  The crystal Seal was with them and they simply handed it over.

Lind quickly saw the image displayed.  He knew the area shown like the back of his hand.  It was not far from the Two Rivers fortress, a good hunting ground.

Farms were just the other side of the wild Hinterlands, but now it was burning.  He saw men in black garb fighting with his soldiers but they were of equal strength.

It was Heaven Realms fighting!

In the war, Heaven Realms would devastate the land with their battles but now they were supposed to fly up to prevent it.  Yet, he saw them fighting on the ground.  His soldiers had to split their attention between protecting the citizens and holding back the enemy.

"The communications are being blocked.  If not for the special teleportation array, we would never have known about the attack."  Shi relayed what she knew but all of them suddenly felt the world change.

The image blew up to show a man missing both arms tied to a post next to a boy with similar features.  The boy was barely alive as well with massive bleeding from 2 nasty gashes.

"Who?"  The word spoken was so cold even Lanbao shivered where she stood, only Gail was unaffected.  A swish of cloak appeared as a glowing stone revealed a message was incoming.

"Majesty, it is a mixture of people from the merchants guilds and a few from the Forge of Stars Sect.  They also…they also seem to be from the Ward of War."  Lind frowned at the last part but realized peace was not something all wanted.

The war of the mortal realm had spread to them now.

LInd closed his eyes and began to use calming techniques.  He wanted to kill them all!  He wanted to give them exactly what they wanted but he knew that step would only make it worse.

He had one move left to try and save the peace but it had a slim hope, if any.

"Shi, take Gail to quarters and stay with her.  I promise, I will bring them home."  LInd then turned to Lanbao and what she saw in those eyes made the blood in her veins boil.  "I believe you said I need to remind them of my power.  I will need you afterward but I will do just that."

All still there felt shock as Lind rarely used his strength and certainly had not shown it since he became a Sun Tier.  What was about to happen?!