novelraw Chapter 685 - 684 - Greed of Dragons
Chapter 685 - 684 - Greed of Dragons
Lanbao barely kept her face neutral. For over 2 years lives had been wasted and what did the fools have to show for it? Nothing!
No territory gained, any resources recovered were burned immediately afterward to try and gain advantage. Even the Mao Kingdom, a very resource rich place, had squandered its wealth on 2 warfronts!
Battered, weak, and now humbled, they were made to be treated like little children instead of adults as they made their way down the main road of the fortress.
The simple spires were well made, even Lanbao was impressed as the skill to make them was beyond many. Lind had proven 6 elementals had skills that could be terrifying if turned to war!
The Nautilus Class ships overhead also served as a reminder to the fools following her how pitiful their wars were.
If Lind had wished, he could have crushed all 3 with little effort yet he let them fight. He allowed them to understand the futility of war inside the Law Binding.
The massive castle at the heart of the fortress lay before them as emerald cloaked soldiers now filled their visions. The former Soulless were legendary and had trained new generations that wished to join them just as strong as them!
There were also 6 elementals finally joining them as his theories spread in the mortal realms accessible to the Law Binding.
While the exterior was quite humble, the interior was far from it. All of the leaders were Sun Tiers and could feel the terrifying power of the items around them. Low grade 7! All the items were low grade 7!
Simple vases holding colorful flowers to intricate leafy frond plants to what was clearly the crimson carpet itself!
"By the Spirits of Heaven and Earth! How is all this here?" Lanbao smirked as she pointed at a painting on one wall. The men and women looked over and felt their jaws drop in shock to see a near perfect image of Lind Frey with flows of Qi in what was clearly a refining forge somewhere but the feeling from it made it clear the person had watched Lind working on his process!
There were other paintings and all were clearly showing the different facets of Emperor Lind Frey. However, a woman from the Theocracy frowned.
"I do not see the humble Emperor Frey encouraging this display of pride." She had vibrantly bright red hair and was the highest female priest in the Theocracy while the man next to her had far more frills on his pale robes in gold and silver.
Her own pale robes still had black lines around the ends of the sleeves and the bottom was the same. It marked her rank clearly as the more black lines the higher the rank. Only she had 10 lines on her robe.
The Holy Regent was the only one above her but they were technically equal politically from what Lanbao had learned.
"Oracle Xialu, you are correct. The Emperor did not even know he was being painted as he was focusing on his work, but some of our subjects were inspired as he created low grade 7 items over the last few decades." All of them froze and the Holy Regent was no longer annoyed by his companion.
The hall was not that long but they all saw various paintings of elixir, Forging, and weaving going on in each. Some were weapons or artifacts but the more ethereal elixirs and weaving were just stunning art of Qi and cultivation captured perfectly.
They proceeded but the farther they went, the more they felt small by the items around them. They were all decorative to their minds but Lanbao knew if anyone was foolish enough to use an Art or technique to attack would be in for a nasty surprise.
Lind had been playing with innocuous looking items that were actually defensive and offensive artifacts. He had succeeded far beyond anyone's imagination. Forging allowed him a liberty of form that refining could not pull off as easily without being discovered.
The more he explored grade 7, the more ideas he stumbled upon.
They finally came to a set of double doors of shining wood that were far more humble than the trip there. Still, the feeling of the doors were clear to the group as they felt the aura of grade 7 once more.
"Kneel." Lanbao's voice shook them all and they almost knelt when another aura washed over them.
"There is no need for that, Lanbao. They are rulers in their own right." The gentle voice did not fool any of them. The image of Lind taking on karmic retribution lightning and his announcement of the new Sanctuary Empire were burned into all alive.
Emperor Frey was not a simple man and when they entered the room, they were left with no doubt about that as vertically slit emerald eyes looked down at them.
He was angry. Very angry.
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Lind observed the arrivals. Oracle Xialu chose her name from what he had heard. Many of the priests and priestesses did that so it made a bit of sense. Still, she was not a seer like the demoness on his right.
Seras has sent Nyota who had obsidian eyes but they were speckled with virulent green if you would look closely enough. The peak Star Tier had proven to be on par with Seras but refused to do anything save work for Lind after her gift was awakened.
None knew why but Lind had a few guesses. Seras had told him that at times their gift hinged on some conditions and Nyota likely had such a problem with her gift. She had warned him of a few things but had been surprised he was already prepared for them.
Lind did not need a seer to know the greed and vindictiveness of cultivators. He still felt angry that if had missed even one aspect, many innocents would have died.
The Holy Regent Caltel was a human like Xialu but unlike her, he was a true zealot. Half the problems with the Theocracy stemmed from him and his followers in his faction.
The man was starting to gray as he had been already over 1500 years old when Lind liberated the 6 Empires. Now, as a Heaven Realm, he had passed the age of his best years already after the last 1200 had passed.
The Council of War was made up of 3 men who had slim forms and deadly auras. He felt the most familiarity with them as they likely had experience in various weapons as he did. One man had blue robes and black hair but his wrinkled visage showed he too was past his prime.
The other 2 were younger but wore gold and red robes to show they were aligned or below the man in blue. One was sandy colored hair and narrow faced but handsome while his counterpart was square jawed and had auburn hair. They were all sun tanned as was evident from the lines when their sleeves lifted enough to show the difference in color on their skin.
None of them were inactive, clearly.
The final group of 4 were 2 men and 2 women. Lind's senses were narrowed on them. While the others were problematic due to their ideals, these 4 smelled of greed to him. They wanted all they had seen and were appraising even the throne of stone Lind sat on.
The women wore fairly tight leathers that had deep cleavage cuts to show off their assets but Lind was not distracted at all. He felt his senses warn him of their aura and the scent of blood as well.
The men, in contrast, were a bit overweight which was damned odd for cultivators. He had met a few but they were usually tied to their technique rather than any issue but these men seemed to have stagnated and enjoyed the fact.
They wore fine silken robes with many rings and even earrings on them. The revealing outfits of their companions did not tempt them, however, which told Lind they were not as indulgent as they seemed.
"Sit, please." Lind pointed to the table in front of him but before anyone could begin to speak or object, his aura flared. Nyota and Lanbao stood behind him and no one argued.
"This is not a negotiation. I made the rules clear. If your war spilled over into my Empire, it would end." He had indeed warned them, multiple times, that if they tried to cross his borders intentionally or not, the war would be stopped.
"While we–" One of the overweight men tried to speak but Lind snarled. He was already at the end of his patience.
"You believed you could play 2 sides against the other and your mid to low level powers outed you to the Theocracy and the Council of War." The women paled as Lind revealed how much he knew. The men were not far behind them.
"You will cease all aggression for the next 500 years. Further, you will pay reparations for the damages caused by your wars to each other." Anger flared but Lind gave them no time to object. "I am not done speaking. I took no damage so there is no reparation for me, but you drove out 4,293,568 people into my Empire. They will not be coming back."
While some believed that would not be entirely true, Lind now smiled in a way that gave chills to them all.
"You will not have to worry about their families still in your territories. They are welcome to visit but will have to go through a process if they wish to join them." Lind's words left them all shocked.
"You will take our people still alive as well?!" The Holy Regent finally stood up in anger but Lind merely smiled down at them until he shrank and sat down.
"You had a chance to settle this between you a year ago but you failed to do so and struck my border. The people left you all willingly and I have taken care of them. They are mine but their families merely will be coming home to them. There will be no further discussion." They all understood then.
Lind was gutting their forces as obviously they would go to their families. After the reparations and loss of further personnel, all 3 forces would be depleted for more than a few centuries!
How greedy could he be?! His reptilian eyes left no doubt about the greed of dragons. He did not want riches or other treasure, but peace. He hoarded peace and would not let war threaten his wish.
They wanted to stand up to him but then a Heavenly Maiden walked in and they understood they had no hope. They had already exhausted many of their resources and forces. The Sanctuary Empire could conquer them without even trying!
"Good, you all grasp the situation. Let us lay out the details." Lind turned to Nyota who stared at him in shock. She had foreseen many obstacles but Lind gutted all her visions so easily! She quickly laid out the jade slips and the true end of the war was settled before the week was out.
The Sanctuary Empire gained nearly 6 million new citizens when all was said and done and the 3 warring powers were left with just enough to survive. Lind took nearly all the benefits but the Heavenly Maiden Sect also grew a bit as well.
The war taught many lessons but the one that stayed with the 3 supreme powers was the greed of dragons. Nothing they had could stand up to it at all!