novelraw Chapter 681 - 680 - Influence of Grade 7
Chapter 681 - 680 - Influence of Grade 7
Far to the east of the battle lines, a deep valley surrounded by many rivers had waterfalls creating rainbows over scenic vistas.
Lush trees with large fruit and many beasts running happily around them surrounded a gorgeous city. It was the capital of Jinzi Kingdom and made its namesake even clearer.
The golden towers and soft gold stone used to make most of the buildings made it glow like a giant lump of the precious metal. The open windows and cool winds made the most pleasant place to live but the sprawling city was as packed as any great power could expect to be.
It was easily over a thousand kilometers across just going east to west while the north and south was a bit longer due to the confluence of the valley shape. It had floating defenses all around it on natural islands as well as artificial ones.
The massive towers rose in the center covering nearly 500 square kilometers alone! The rest of the city was residence, brothels, and other visiting areas kept far from the centers of power.
It was appropriately named Caifu City. Resources flowed like the picturesque waterfalls at the edges of the valley. The natural beauty was kept between the walls of the city and the edge of the valley as it showed the beauty of the city at its best.
The sheer density of Qi was one of the best in the area as well so of course Immortals were born on a fairly regular basis over many millions of years. Still, resources were limited so only a handful ever existed at one time.
At the very heart of the city was a massive compound but it was not the royal palace, but a guild hall. Rather, it was only known as the Guild Hall. It had no diversification nor exemption from the professions as the greatest experts of Jinzi Kingdom called it home.
As Lysanna suspected, it was not the official royal family that ran the Jinzi Kingdom, but the businesses behind it. The royals served as the envoys and did hold power so far as training soldiers went but the money was solely held by the Guild Hall.
Legend had it that before the Fiend War took its toll on the Heaven Realm, there had been supreme Guilds that held power over all alchemists, elixir masters, and other professions. They colluded and manipulated the markets to keep things stable but also to maintain their power over cultivators.
No power, no matter its prestige nor ability, could break them. There were some exceptions but all that changed after the Cataclysm. It only took 1000 years for those massive guilds to be destroyed and their resources scattered to the wind.
They were, after all, targeted first by the Fiends. The professions were the lifeblood of all cultivators in recovery and advancement so of course it was the first target. The Guilds had been deluded into thinking they were above the squabbles of cultivators, but they were proven very wrong.
Jinzi rose up back then along with many other support powers and the secret was the Guild Hall at the heart of it. The few secret techniques and pills taken by survivors laid the foundation for what followed.
They were unable to stand alone in a single profession but the powers built quickly rose up in the Alliance as their abilities became clear. They also fled far to places left alone due to strong beasts or simply far from centers of power previously.
In the Guild Hall, several young acolytes were serving a council of old men and women. They were the legends of Jinzi and few knew of their true appearance anymore. They were all Immortals after all.
That was the other secret of Jinzi. Officially, they only had 7 Immortals. All of them were accounted for and even served in the war as they should save the King or Queen currently in power.
None of them were more than Sliver Tiers as a Shard Tier would be suspicious.
The Guild Hall, however, had 16 Immortals all at the peak of the Sliver Tier. A Shard Tier Immortal Tribulation was too hard to hide so none of them dared advance, but anything else went.
While some were clearly nearing the end of their lifespan, their aura was stable as a mountain. None of the acolytes dared speak unless spoken to.
"So, what brought you to call a meeting, did you finally crack high grade 7 weapons?" A woman cackled at her own words as it was clearly impossible of them to reach more than mid grade 7 in their respective fields.
She wore vibrant red robes like living flames to represent alchemists but her wizened face seemed barely alive if one looked at her, yet her pale eyes were bright as ever.
The man in black and gold grunted at her but said nothing until the final acolyte was gone from the room. His lack of reaction made the woman become more serious as the others noted it as well.
"Pia, while I normally enjoy your jabs, we have a serious issue to discuss. The upstarts sent me something interesting with an offer many of us would like to hear. The brat relayed it to me as soon as he got it." The brat the man referred to was the current king of Jinzi. A barely 10,000 year old Immortal Realm.
He then placed a small stone circle on the ornate desk in front of him. Each of them examined it and the more they saw, the more shocked they felt.
It was low grade 7 but from no one they recognized! Further, the Law traces were profound, it was almost touching on mid grade 7! Who had made it?!
"What is that?!" Another old woman tried to stand up in her excitement. She was a Forger and felt inspiration just examining it remotely! She wanted to take it apart but the man held his hand up.
"This is an example of Lind Frey and his current ability. I have confirmed it compared to other artifacts we have obtained." New shock flooded the room. Lind Frey was a child! He was not even 2000 years old!
He also was not an Immortal so far as they knew but his legend of creating beyond his realm was well documented. That was not entirely unusual but he had reached Heaven Grade each time which very much was.
Yet their eldest member confirmed something truly stunning. A Heaven Realm had reached grade 7! Even if he could only do it once a year, he would be a celebrated expert anywhere!
"How has someone stuck inside a special realm sent it out?" It was the commonly held theory that when Lind Frey ascended more than 1300 years ago, he accidentally got stuck in a special realm. It would not be the first time.
"There are rumors it is not a special realm at all. The words Law Binding have been getting to my agents in their sect. Further, the Fiends recent actions indicate it is inside their territory causing grief somehow." The man spoke as if he was not delivering earth shattering information.
A Law Binding was a massive endeavor and Lind Frey just happened to breach one somehow?! In what world does that kind of luck exist?!
Why hadn't the Immortal Fiends broken it open either? Pieces were missing but it made the new artifact even more precious. The man could breach a Law Binding!
"Etigg, stop holding out and tell us all of it." A very frail old man spoke with faint blue robes. He was a formation master and had to use a special platform to move his body. He was not as old as Etigg but his life was unable to be extended due to his physique.
Etigg had been able to extend his life by nearly 50 thousand years. He was one of the few of them that remembered the chaos of the Cataclysm.
"This is an example of a larger artifact. They want it made to specifications and exacting intent to connect to a duplicate wherever Lind Frey is. If we use this small scale one at the Moebius Sect, it will actually connect if we want to test it." Those words alone were shocking but also made a few of the Forgers salivate to study something new.
New Forgers always could show new ideas and intents never seen before. Even the few acolytes had been chosen due to their results; the 16 of them want to study each of them.
"That is not all." Etigg was not smirking but looked dead serious which calmed many of their expectations. "The Divine Dragon, Ethry, has offered an opportunity many of us will want to use."
Dead silence filled the room. The slight breathing was thunderous at that moment as they all waited for his next words.
Instead, however, a prismatic scale was placed on the desk next to the stone circle. They all felt the peak Sun Tier aura and vitality coming from the scale!
"Surely not?!" A woman in golden robes did shoot up and a crack of bone was heard but she did not even feel the pain. They all joined her but Etigg held up his hands.
"They are not fools. The dragon has stayed back at the sect plus she is a key warrior against the Fiends. She is willing, to a limit, to supply us with materials from herself." His words did not cool their heads at all.
Dragons were near impossible to get any materials from until they were either dead or found vulnerable without anyone knowing what happened. It was a miracle to pull off such events but now a living dragon was willing, a Divine one at that!
Even if it was only her scales, all 16 of them could do things they only dreamed of making!
The fact she had all 6 primary elements made it all the better!
"Who did they send to negotiate?!" The same woman with a broken leg demanded as she downed a pill to heal herself.
It was at that point that Etigg's grim face finally looked nervous. Such a reaction made them all curious as he sighed and placed an emblem that made all of them sit back.
It was an emblem of a legendary warrior and alchemist. She had slaughtered Fiends while healing allies nearly at the same time, further, her sword aura was considered a gold standard by even the Divine Sword Sect!
"The Goddess of Life and Death has come as their envoy. She waits in the royal palace for now but–" The double doors suddenly opened as a young girl entered with a sword on her back. She had a pristine white battle dress on but the aura around her was nearly holy rather than dark.
"Ah, here you all are. Good." She spoke brightly as her amber eyes sparkled with vitality but none of them dared use their Immortal aura as they felt it clearly she had a high grade 7 artifact on her!
Where did she get that?!
"My Big Sister Qing should not be underestimated. She thought it odd how certain materials were hoarded at certain times that coincided with when an Immortal should die but with such materials, they could live longer." All of them had their eyes narrow. How had their spies missed such an investigation?!
"I see you have Big Sister Ethry's scale as well as the Gate of Heaven scale model. So, what have you decided?" She stood there brazenly with a smile that had no warmth in it. Many of them realized it was the last thing many Fiends had seen before they died and it chilled them.
The girl was also peak Sun Tier on the cusp of being an Immortal! How had that been missed?! So many shocks were not good for their hearts but all understood they needed to assume their authority.
Just as they were about to speak a badge appeared in her hands that shut them up. It was a low grade 7 alchemist badge! It had the name 'Fey Frey' engraved on it and all could sense its authenticity!
"The Heavenly Maidens kindly let me test just recently but did not announce it. So, where were we?" The old men and women felt fear in their hearts. It was not only Lind Frey that was breaking records. His family was doing the same!
They quickly began to consider how much they could get and what they could do. The negotiations between equals began.