Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 683 - 682 - Fractures in the Law Binding

Lind had hoped his decision to reshape the political landscape would but him more peace time, but it took very little time for cracks to form.

Small battles had always happened, but they eventually did not stay small.

It had started with the Theocracy of the Spirits.  They had suffered a mass exodus after the first few decades but had stabilized.  Due to Lind's actions, they did nothing to stop it, but their priests were becoming lethal in their reprisals of defiance of their scripture.

To be clear, Lind had only ever felt emotions when facing Heaven or a tribulation, he had never truly had contact with a spirit to his knowledge.  His memory might be missing as Lanbao had tried to tell him about her transformation but the knowledge simply caused him pain to hear.

Still, the Theocracy had become fanatical far too quickly.  Clearly, the movement had been like that from the beginning or simply quietly bubbled beneath the surface of the former Alliance.

Their priests had begun laying the groundwork for punishing 'heathens' as they defined them inside their own borders.  There were, of course, exceptions to such scrutiny and usually those confirmed from the Supreme Powers.

No Maiden would ever be stopped yet there had been clashes when a village had nearly been burned to the ground for their defiance of scripture.

Lind had stayed out of it personally but Gravis had quickly dispatched the soldiers to save the innocent.  He had reaffirmed Lind's stance that while the Theocracy could enact punishments for its laws, unilateral destruction crossing borders would not be ignored.

Sadly, it only made them more careful about their fights against the other powers.

The Council of War, as they called themselves, happily engaged with the Theocracy.  It was not about ideology, it was simply a safe target for war.

The Sanctuary Empire, in many respects, was above the Supreme Powers.  Having 2 Immortals made it very unwise to antagonize and while Lind would prefer no war at all, he had no grounds to stop them so long as they obeyed his perspective.

The Council of War wisely evacuated civilians with as little harm as possible.  Thus, he could not intervene.  The Mao Kingdom, the largest of the 3 Supreme powers, funded both sides happily as they reaped profits.

Lind was severe on any war profiteering or any sign of manipulation from them so things had become a kind of stalemate for a time, but it did not hold.

The issue was the Haven Lands and the Secret Flame Sect.

The former was under his protection but acted far too arrogantly in other lands due to that for their own good.  Nobles had been punished severely due to that.  The other minor powers under him chose to keep their heads down after that.

Still, the Theocracy had demanded compensation due to those issues as had the Mao Kingdom.  Lind had snubbed them as he punished the Haven Lands nobles as an example.

His ruthless decisions made them pull back some more but only from his empire.  The Secret Flame Sect tried to remain neutral but its elders had their own opinions from the Sect Master and Vice Sect Masters.

Lind could not interfere but he advised actions they refused to take.  The sect was likely on the cusp of a coup but he could only re-affirm he would interfere if innocents were in danger.

His actions were so consistent that many villages that would normally be ignored or simply crushed between greater powers were given deference and avoided altogether.

Lind's power was that terrifying.

The man, himself, was currently on one of the Nautilus Class sky ships walking Lua through her breakthrough into the Diamond Tier.  It had only been a few decades, but she had made massive progress in her cultivation.

She had no production skills but she was a genius in martial ability and tactical planning.

Still, he was happy to see her laugh with Lian as she learned how to fly the ships the last few weeks.  Now, she was completing her consolidation of her foundation.

Her tribulation had been terrifying to many but to those close to Lind, it was fairly normal.  Lua was going through her combat moves as she finally felt all her meridians and dantian in complete alignment.

Shi and Kin had been instructing her as well but Lind's words were gospel to her.

"Well done, how do you feel now?"  He smiled as she jumped at his voice.  She had a bad habit of not being aware of danger in safe places but Gravis was fixing that too.

He had implemented random attacks and thus she assumed a stance to defend, but he merely waved both his hands in 'surrender.'

"Master!  Don't sneak up on me!"  He merely smiled and then pointed behind her.  She moved so fast it was hard to keep up as a young man was flipped on his back and a blade put to his throat.

"Still too slow.  A physical attack is fine but conjuring or Arts will kill you before you can react at that speed."  Lind gave his evaluation and saw her frown.  He knew part of the reason she was so slow was she had only ever faced beasts which were not as sneaky as humans.

Gravis had tried to get her to face a real battle, but her skills made most opponents a joke. She could wipe the floor with 6 to 7 cultivators a tier or 2 above her with terrifying ease.

Why were all his disciples such monsters?

"Senior Gravis has tried that but I always sense the flow of Qi very quickly.  He is trying to find someone that–"  Lua suddenly trembled as death loomed over her.  She rolled away and shot out a dense water bolt.

It could shatter steel but it was shattered like glass against the crystalline flame arrows that had appeared.  They were horrifyingly powerful and she could only barely deflect them until she had run out of space to run!

"M-master!"  Lua cried out as she crossed her arms but the attack suddenly stopped as it began.  She slowly opened her eyes to see the narrow points floating barely a centimeter from her eyes!

"Gravis can find people anytime that could kill you in a heartbeat but they would hold back too much."  Lind stood across the room.  Nothing he had done had indicated he would attack and Lua felt real fear for the first time.

"I don't understand.  Why have you never done that before?"  Lua was clever but she was shaking from how close death had come.  Nothing she did could work but Lind looked harshly at her.

"If I had attacked you in the Gold Tier, what would have happened?"  Lua slowly thought over the density of Qi and the speed of the attack.  She would not have even seen it.  She would have died without knowing how.

"What level is this attack?"  Lind sighed as he pulled the Qi back.  No one else could do that like he could, but at the moment she felt it.  Diamond Tier.  It was the same Tier as her but she could do nothing to stop it!

"I want you to ponder over that attack and draw up what you could have done, if anything, to live.  I also want you to remember that no matter how gifted you are, some are stronger or have more desire to see you die than live themselves."  She nodded slowly as he left her to recover and contemplate the lesson.

"You are as harsh in training as ever, Master."  Lian was waiting for him.  She was looking much more lovely than before.  In the time Lind had been asleep, she had fallen in love but was unable to have a child.  They had adopted several children long before.

The life of cultivators left far too many orphans.

"I don't want her to die, ever."  Lind could not always be there.  He recalled his own harsh training and lessons.  He would rather Lua never face such a situation as he had, but it was far more likely she would face worse in the Heaven Realm.

"I have the update you wanted."  Lind had been using his sky ships to patrol his borders and the technology was limited to his empire due to Forgers being hard to rear that could replicate his plans.

Further, the cost to make them was not cheap at all.  He had made a handful for others but without the weaponry and power of his own.  No one complained as maintaining them was a resource sink unlike anything else.

Lind may have neglected to tell them a few tricks he had learned to save on that but it did require a 6 elemental to do it so he did not feel too guilty.

He frowned as he saw the reports.

It was just shy of open war but his Empire stood in the way of it all.  His borders cut through the Law Binding, yet it was not stopping them.  They peacefully crossed, paid fees, and left to go fight each other.

The Mao Kingdom was next to the Theocracy while the Council of War was isolated by the Sanctuary Empire on all sides.  They enjoyed relative safety as armies could only cross at the thinnest spot just to the north of the Haven Lands.

The aether beasts were not very cooperative either so all powers had to be careful in the Hinterlands.

It was simply a powder keg waiting for a match.  At some point someone, likely an idiot high on their own arrogance, would make a decision that would open the door to massive warfare.

It would draw in everyone and it would be a massive mess.  It would also make it imperative to open the Gate of Heaven.  If he could do that, war could be averted.  The Theocracy may have their ideology, but the others simply wanted resources plain and simple.

"Very well, we will–"  He was about to give the order to turn back to base when the ship shook slightly.  Alarms sounded to show it was not simply a strong wind, but an attack!

Lind closed his eyes as he realized the likely cause.  It only took a few moments for Lian to confirm a massive battle had broken out below.  They had been struck by a stray shot.  He looked grim as he gave an order he despised.

"Open fire on the source of the strike but also defend the surroundings per normal routine."  He watched as the jade displays showed the ground getting closer and smirked as the fighting slowed.  It was one thing that had become clear in the battles.

Dragging in the Sanctuary Empire was a very bad idea.  Beams of fire and light became one to blast lightning at an artifact that looked a great deal like a trebuchet.  Instead of stone, however, it launched balls of condensed Qi infused from a cultivator.

The operator likely panicked but was then enclosed in a barrier as the artifact was reduced to slag.  The message delivered, Lind left the battlefield but it would likely disperse after that little demonstration.

The passion of fighting was easy to lose in the face of overwhelming power.  It was only a delaying effect, however.  The battles were not just there, but all over and increasing in frequency.  He dreaded the day he knew to come, when true war broke out.