Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 676 - 675 - Progenitor's Power

Lind was floating.  He had never felt anything like it but he knew it was important that he grasp it.  Something critical was happening and it needed him to be in the current space he was in!

He slowly opened his eyes and saw strands of spiritual Qi.  They flowed elegantly and gently in a space unlike any he had ever perceived.  He had thought he understood his soul and harmony but he realized he was only scratching the surface!

He was inside his own soul!

At the center of it was a beating heart that sounded like thunder as he looked at the human and dragon standing back to back.

He had assumed he was odd to still retain a human cultivation while having a dragon soul but he saw the 2 were one!  His soul was both human and dragon!

Emerald Qi flowed all over the strange pair but the spiritual Qi was not his.  It was others he knew very well!

His mother was the oldest and the most fierce to protect him and love him despite all the pain she had endured.  It was crimson, black, and gold just like the Frey Clan.  She never forgot where she came from and still held it dear in her heart.

The virulent green was Cyntilla but he saw how powerful she wanted to seem while happy to have an equal at her side.  The demoness of his heart was sometimes difficult to handle but she was worth it.

Shoti, Qing, Annabelle, the twins, all his family and friends were all connected to him.  It was not as simple as bonds, it was part of his harmony!

He was so close but then the dragon side of his soul looked pained and Lind recalled what he had done before he passed out!

He searched for the connection and found it!  Azure and staggeringly powerful, Lanbao was alive!

He followed the connection and saw something terrifying.

Lanbao was struggling against a dark god!  A being void of all life was eating away at her and it was winning!

It had pale eyes and horns as it looked down at her.  She was only barely holding on because a tiny spark of emerald light was slowing down the creature.

Lind felt true terror as he realized something horrifying about the Fiends.  They were all thralls!  That thing was behind them all!  The very words Zerod spoke were in relation to that thing!

It was imprinted to each and every one of them.

He knew it instinctively and he also confirmed something else.  He was opposed to everything that being stood for.  He was not born to fight it, he simply arrived at a different path opposing it.

It ignored him as he was just an ant but Lind felt something stir looking at Lanbao.  She was incomplete.  She was able to be much stronger if he could help her.

[Lanbao, I am here.]  He spoke to her but she only flinched as she could not spare a thought for him.  Yet he felt her desperation increase.  She wanted him to flee.  She chose to act and would die happily to save him.

He smiled at her intention but his soul changed.

Always before, he simply mimicked his body and let his soul manifest with what was easiest but he realized that was not his final form.  It was simply what he would become one day, yet there was a step beyond.

He was not just a Divine Dragon, but a progenitor.  He decided what kind of dragon he would be.  His soul was nearly shaped in that regard but his body was still flexible.  He had potential he had not tapped into.

A sinuous form was the best for flexibility.  Wings were useful but Lind felt they were redundant in a cultivator.  Flight was as natural as breathing to him.  Legs had many uses but his were too limited.  There were only 3 talons per claw and now he increased it to the same number as his human limbs.

The 5 talons became capable of so much more now.  His mane was more than a mere decoration.  He made it stronger than any metal that could be launched from his back or tail just as easily.  His head was lacking horns.

He had 2 massive horns emerge over each eye and concentrated with his harmonic Qi.  He could use them to help or destroy in equal measure.  His harmony flared in joy as his form became unique to Lind.

The soul that had been twinned merged but he retained his human cultivation like before.  He had chosen his path and finally truly became a dragon of the first of his kind!

In that moment, he felt the Heavens rejoice and power flowed into him as he reached out to the dying Lanbao.

[You have worked hard for me and protected all I hoped to achieve when I was too weak to do it myself.  I would be a terrible progenitor if I let such a talent go to waste.]  His voice was calm and the dark God turned slowly to look at him.

Lind still felt terror but he also roared in anger.  The vile energy tried to touch him but his new form and harmony burned it all away.  Natural Qi churned as Lanbao suddenly screamed in a new kind of pain.

The emerald spark spread out and began to obey Lind's command.  The dark God may want to claim her life, but Lind had first dibs.  He was a Divine Progenitor.  Even a creature bent on taking her life, if it could not kill him, it would never take any of his lineage.

Lanbao was suddenly freed from death at that moment but she was not out of danger.  A flood dragon dreamed of shedding their old bloodline and ascending to a higher one, but it came with risks.

If the transformation was not well prepared or if the body was not compatible, she could die from Qi deviation at best or be left crippled entirely which was considered worse for a dragon.

If she was alone, Lanbao had about a 60/40 chance against success in her current state, probably 70/30 considering how badly she was ravaged, but Lind was there.  It was his blood and his desire to help her.

[Trust me, Lanbao.  Believe you can ascend and I will do the rest.]  He felt her heart thunder in fear but she finally looked at him and nodded carefully.

Lind flew between her and the vile creature that still looked on.  It was not truly alive but he ignored it as the once aquatic nature of Lanbao was being shredded from her existence.

Unlike Lind, she did take on wings and her legs lengthened to extremely powerful effect.  Her tail became covered in 4 talons as her 4 fingered claws could now crush mountains.  Her mane became ridges she could flex and likely launch but he would confirm later.

Her snout elongated and widened to allow more fearsome teeth as a single horn protruded from the center of her head.  A jewel of emerald formed right beneath it above her eyes.

It stood out on her azure scales as the transformation successfully completed but that was not the end!

A shackle on her dantian had fallen away as Lind was sent sliding back.  The next part was up to her!

Lind fell back to his own soul and became human in his exhaustion but he saw Lanbao smiling at him even in her new body.  She was a true dragon!

Darkness closed in as Lind felt he had gone far beyond exhausted but he froze as after Lanbao disappeared, the 2 white orb turned to look at him.

[Ant, you are troublesome but nothing to me.  Your world is dead, it just has not decayed yet.  Enjoy the small victory until all of your hopes come crashing down.  If that was not the case, I would kill you now.]

For the first time in his life. Lind knew if the creature wanted, it could snuff him out with a thought!  What kind of power was that?!  Lind fell asleep without being able to find answers.  How much he held onto would be known when he truly awoke.

His last thought was to give luck to Lanbao and he hoped to be pleasantly surprised when he woke up.

⬧⬧⬧⬧

Zerod had not been a total fool.  He had launched a massive, but detached attack at the center of where he felt Lind Frey at.  He had almost seen something when an Immortal aura cut him off!

He sneered as it was weaker than him.  Whoever it was, they were going to die!

He frowned and felt rage at the loss of his test subjects but he was about to turn when he felt the Heavens descend!  He quickly cast a weaving to make a Void of Heaven yet it never looked at him.

It was unlike any other experience with tribulations or wrath he had ever experienced or heard of.  His thralls let him relieve their memories but the clouds above were not angry at all, but happy.

It was clearly a happy feeling as if Heaven was welcoming something with open arms!  How could such a thing be possible?!

Before he could consider it too much, the feeling changed.  He felt a chill in his spine as something touched the Qi he had launched but it was unlike anything he had ever felt before.  It was not negated, it was not purified, it was simply wiped from existence!

The clouds became a tribulation he had only heard of before but never experienced in his long life.  The entirety of the Heaven Realm seemed to feel it too as thunder began to gather.

"Shard Tribulation!  Who?!"  Fiends did not face such a trial due to their methods but he fled from the Law Binding.  Any cultivator bringing down that tribulation could kill him with it!

The tribulation began but the Law Binding was no impediment to it.  Unlike before, it did not open up as it seemed to allow it in easily.

The tribulation would go on for some days as Immortals faced far more risk compared to other realms.  Each tier had a new trial and the person currently facing it seemed to be doing well.

A few Immortals far away felt it and smiled to know a Shard Tier had been born after the terrible battle.  All hoped to meet the new senior afterwards but had to focus on their own tasks.

The world moved on as each side licked their wounds and Lind Frey slept once more.