novelraw Chapter 689 - 688 - Ascension Pools
Chapter 689 - 688 - Ascension Pools
For all he had heard about them and even planned to use one when he was in the Sky Realm, Lind had never actually seen an ascension pool before.
There was just so much going on and then surprise forced ascension via his cultivation realm advancing was all he really experienced. The Floating Isles was merely a more Qi dense area he had flown his first sky ship prototype to.
Now, he looked at something he felt like a fool for not studying before.
A silvery liquid rippled in front of him across what he would call a medium sized pond. It easily could let a few hundred people swim in it but the moment he put his hand to it, an invisible force stopped him cold.
"As you can see, a Sun Tier is simply blocked at that point. Unless an Inheritance, Ruin, or simply an accident bypasses the boundary between a Mortal Realm and the Heaven Realm, you cannot go back down." Lind nodded but knew that was not entirely true.
There were also artifacts that could suppress a cultivator to make it seem like they were weaker than they were. Still, those had severe limits on time and if the user flexed their true power, it was an automatic ejection out of the realm.
His sky ships were the new exception.
So long as they were sealed, the rules of the pool did not stop them and the barrier he built into the doors kept the cultivators inside safe from Heaven and Earth finding them.
Still, the ships could not recover easily in a Mortal Realm either so time became an enemy once more.
It made Lind have hope as he refined some of his Qi to examine the silvery pool in front of him. Many had explained they were channels created when certain conditions were met in a Mortal Realm but not all had them.
Barren Realms were generally stuck in their own boundary for all time unless someone tore a spatial tunnel into them or Heaven and Earth rewarded them for karmic restitution.
Lind felt his Eyes sparkle as he saw his Qi was unimpeded by the pool. It flowed easily as far as he wanted but at a certain point his senses were stopped just like his body was stopped at the surface.
Still, it was a wonderful feeling and damned familiar.
It was alive!
It was full of Elementals! He had been right! It then begged the question of what was wrong in the Barren Realms. The Immortal Mountain had been able to tell him that before she arrived there were aether beasts and aether children just in lower frequency.
Was it that a certain density had to be reached? Or was there another Law or other reason behind the creation of the ascension pools?
As he studied it, he realized something was missing. There were no sigils or any other advanced flicker of life, it was only the lifeforce itself of Elementals he was sensing!
"Osmosis and equalization." Words mumbled out of his mouth as the most likely cause. Mortal realms were born when the Heaven Realm supposedly had an excess of Qi that caused it to enter the void and coalesce around a central core or some other guess people had, but Lind began to understand something.
It might be backwards!
The Void was the beginning of all things and when Qi reached the right density, Elementals, the most fundamental form of life, were born, it caused an explosion of possibility that breached the once empty space.
If it had enough, it connected to the Heaven Realm and then the ascension pools were formed of the Elemental life force. It resonated with the Qi for obvious reasons and let cultivators follow the flow safely through the Void!
Lind felt his head explode with possibility but it left some glaring holes for him to consider.
Despite the many discrete Mortal Realms, the Heaven Realm was 1 contiguous existence from all he could tell. Why the Fiends did not try to pincer the Alliance or vice versa was due to that same fact.
The place was just too damn huge. Even after millions of years of war, neither side had been able to reach the other at their opposite end. They had enough forces to protect themselves but the few races on the other side of the Fiends were all their own to his knowledge.
It made Lind want to study a real Immortal Ascension Pool if he could but all he had was what was in front of him. He also had little time. He wanted to grasp the essence of it and apply it to his new idea.
Instead of trying to connect 2 gates to bring 1 space together, he would replicate an ascension pool. His existence inside the Law Binding proved the binding could not stop ascension entirely.
There was a slim loophole and he wanted to use it.
If ascension could breach the Law Binding, then he would create an artificial ascension pool.
He was looking to see how it moved people but there was a mystery he had not expected. There was not one iota of spatial Law he could feel at all. Lanbao confirmed it. The Void, while not technically space, still had spatial tunnels made through it by Fiends and cultivators alike.
So how could the ascension pools, connecting a mortal realm with the Heaven Realm, not move through space?
It actually gave him hope. It meant there was something else at work and he already had a lead! The Elemental life force gave him a starting point!
"I wonder if they will speak to me again or would that be rude?" Lind was in a hurry but not an idiot. He could not force the Elementals to show themselves again even if they might have his answers. He prepared himself to simply work it out on his own.
⬧⬧⬧⬧
Desolate Song was rather empty. There were no longer any floating crystals nor much crystal sand left either. Yet, per Lind's instructions, it had been left in peace. The Heavenly Maiden Sect kept watch over it but even bandits avoided the place.
Now, Lind sat with several jade slips and scrolls open around him with various diagrams. He had been there for several months with no one nearby save Lua or Kin stopping by.
Lua had finally advanced to the Sky Realm and she was learning what it meant to be a true cultivator. She still had her kindness and she stopped by orphanages as a matter of course to play with the children.
He hoped she never lost that innocence.
"I think it is not a movement in space but in resonance. A cultivator has to have enough density of Qi to float up, but that would still be spatial in movement, eh?" Lind spoke aloud but no one answered.
He did not seem discouraged as he really spoke his thoughts and contemplated the answers.
"The Law Binding reaches down into the Mortal Realms but it is limited. So the flow goes both ways yet has a harsh valve on it. Is that also buoyancy or a Law restriction? Artifacts can overcome it so I doubt it is a Law. Hmmm." He sifted through some of the scrolls and saw a diagram of a boat on water with some calculations on how it floated.
It did not make perfect sense to the ascension pool, but it had similarities. If Lind's Qi passed a certain threshold when extended, it got stopped hard at the surface of the pool, but if he weakened it, there was nothing to stop him sinking into the pool that way.
Still, there was a hard stop no matter how weak his Qi, so he could not reach the Mortal Realm. That still could not be a Law as he had met much more powerful cultivators before in the Floating Isles where they should not be.
Artifacts could be powerful but were not stopped by the ascension pool at all unless they actively emitted Qi.
Why the loophole? The artifacts could hardly be used by the natives of the mortal realms as they were too weak and any weapon that might have a spirit in it was rejected no matter what.
The rules were fairly well understood but not the reasons behind them. Like a great many things when Lind began studying 6 elemental cultivation, far too many simply accepted that was just how it was.
"Sigh, I wish I had not put this off. I am sorry but if there is any clue or hint you can give me, I just want to save my family. Is my idea impossible or is it going to work?" Lind had asked before but that time he felt truly lost.
Each day felt like an eternity and too fast at the same time. Lanbao felt calm and she was with Linghu near the special communication stone. His family gave updates but kept Lind out of it as he would only feel more pressure if they got bad.
Only if it was the end would they call for him.
Lind stopped focusing on his problem and stood up. He stretched and went through his routine for keeping his body and cultivation in sync. He let the elements dance around him as his fists and kicks seemed to cause thunder around him.
His physical power was excessive for a human body but he could control it very well presently.
He was about to strike out when his instincts screamed to stop. His fist halted like it hit a brick wall but there was nothing in front of him. Why had his instincts stopped him? He very gently spread out his senses and felt something new!
A tiny flicker of Qi was floating around him outside of his control but it was of all natural elements! An Elemental!
He let it look at him and it felt very weak to his senses. Lind still smiled and bowed at it. The little locus seemed to panic but Lind never moved nor did anything else. Ever so slowly, a tiny form flickered in and out as it danced around him.
"Hello, Little One. I am Lind Frey. What brought you out here?" Lind knew it was a child, or at least it was a child compared to the ones he met before. The sense of caution and curiosity was intense.
The little being then flitted over his research materials in a flurry of activity. Lind did nothing to stop it and stood patiently at the side. Finally, after what seemed like half a day but was only a few moments, it disappeared deeper into the Desolate Song.
Lind waited to be sure it was gone before he resumed his routine. He did not follow because he felt no invitation to do so. Perhaps it would help him or it would simply be satisfied and never return.
Either way, at least it proved the Elementals were still there.
Just as he wrapped up his routine, the feeling of being watched intensified a hundred fold. It was not malicious but Lind bowed low.
"Greetings. I am Lind Frey. I am not sure if you know of me, but I was called here once before." He waited in the bowed position but no response came until he heard something unexpected. Footsteps!
He slowly looked up and saw what he thought was an aether child at first but realized it was an Elemental. A physical Elemental!
He was completely naked but also his form was not entirely stable. It was as if he did not entirely grasp what having a body meant. Lind waited as the man with swirling colors of skin slowly walked towards him and hoped his long wait might finally have answers.