Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 727 - 726 - Forest of Gaia

The one trick Lind had long mastered was hiding his traveling.  Unlike before, however, he used a very old method.

A simple disk using all 6 natural elements allowed him to easily fly east without being detected at all!  Despite clearly only a low grade 6 artifact, its abilities far outstripped even a peak Sun Tier for detection.

Lind had long grasped the nuances of each function and modified the intent behind them to create his skyships.  Still, few knew about the disc he had obtained long ago in Indelia.  Few would suspect he would use such an old artifact either with his sky ships or other methods he could get.

He had found a few spies hiding behind 'clouds' or other false fronts but said nothing as they did no harm at the moment.  The politics of the Alliance mattered little to him as his Empire was overflowing with Immortals.

Only a suicidal fool would attack and his flow of goods also made it preferable to be on his good side.  It did not make him complacent as all of his family had Emerald Souls nearby even if they did not know they were there.

Lind, against very strong arguments, was now alone.  While his power was not insignificant, he would still be a toy to an Immortal.

His extra abilities would give him a small edge but in the long run, they would wipe the floor with him.  A Nautilus Class sky ship had better odds but the response time hinged on the pilot and crew.

If the Immortal was faster than that, power did not really matter.

The artifact he was on had not been easy for Fey to see and she knew what to look for so his plan was signed off.

Now he was enjoying being free from being an Emperor for the first time in what felt like ages.  He had missed the feeling of being in control of his own life but he had chosen to follow the path he was on.

He treated it like a vacation for the moment.

A few beasts were with him in the sky but a trace of his bloodline sent them aways without any issue.

Aside from avian races, there had been a few gryphons as well.

The speed was much slower than he was capable of but it was relaxing to travel by artifact.  He finally saw the shimmering border of his destination.

No one had a firm idea of the size of the Forest of Gaia as it has a natural formation that made the border difficult to perceive.  It seemed to move like a flexible piece of paper being waved around.

Lind studied it for a time as he found it fascinating.

The Forest of Gaia was massive, no matter anything else that was undeniable as to go around the forest took months!  Going across the forest had a varied result but no one was sure if that was more the formation than the actual distance.

Lind took himself down to a large road that led up to that formation.  There were no checkpoints nor any kind of staff waiting for cultivators as entering the forest was not up to other powers.

He put the artifact into his ring and assumed a lotus position to cultivate.  His flow of Qi was like thunder as it moved down his meridians to his dantian.  He let all 12 of the elemental flows slowly increase the size of his sun.

Time slipped away and a few other cultivators joined him at the end of the road but no one spoke as they also began to cultivate.

It was not simply passing time as each of them had to wait before they could enter the forest.

[Huntress Lia, you may enter.]

A voice entered all their heads as a lithe woman in leather armor hopped up and bowed to the boundary before heading in.

That was the key, they had to wait until they were allowed to enter.

Over the next week, a handful entered the forest or had to leave as they had things to do.  Several Immortals came that Lind recognized but none approached him.  The rules of the forest were clear that any battles would result in denial of entry.

While the size of the forest was impossible to know, the powerhouses within it were not a problem at all.

Shard Tier Immortals lived there.  They could not leave as they wished but their reach was very far!  Several idiots had tested them over the epochs and their corpses were deep in the soil they all sat on.

Lind actually felt like his dantian was benefiting from being near the forest but he could figure out why.

His elements did not flow any stronger but his sun felt like it was more profound in essence for some reason he could not pin down.  What was he absorbing to cause such an effect?

He tried to pick apart the streams before he realized what was going on.

Someone was helping him!  He only caught it due to the spirit Qi.  He knew his harmony and spiritual Qi better than anything else.  There was someone else's spiritual Qi but it was far above his power!

Sliver Tiers would not be that far away in a sense but Shard Tiers were far above him.  Lanbao was the only one he had a chance to examine up close but even she would feel like a child to the delicate control demonstrated on him.

He realized what was happening was the last dregs of the heart demon were being removed!

He carefully tested himself and noticed massive improvements.  He had already broken free from it but now he saw how insidious a heart demon could be.  It changed his Qi to exclude things it did not need.

That had effects on his cultivation, obviously, and he had to put his Qi, meridians, and dantian back on the right path.  Now, he realized there was literal cleanup he should have been doing as well!

His sun actually grew in size as he assisted the process.

No one noticed but Lind felt like he could breathe easier and his flow of Qi became as smooth as glass.  Now that he knew what to look for, he could tell it was all gone.

[Progenitor, please come in.]

The booming voice made him jump but he noticed all were staring at him as he flew into the formation.

The instant he entered the shimmering air, he no longer knew which way he was going.  He kept moving forward as some instinct told him it was fine but his senses conflicted about what direction he moved.

After an unknown amount of time, massive trees stood before him.  He could no longer make out the sky but sunlight seemed to find a way down.  He turned behind himself and realized he was inside the forest quite a ways.

"It has been some time since a Progenitor came to us."  Lind whipped his head around but did not see anyone.  He carefully looked up but even his eyes could not pick out anything but trees with giant green leaves and dark bark on the trunk and branches.

"I beg pardon, seniors, but I cannot see you."  He bowed low and the sound of creaking came from all around him.  It was not just one tree, but all of them!

"He has manners at least.  The others were arrogant little bastards."  Another voice spoke up.  The first had been kind of male but the new one was definitely female.  Did they have such a thing in plants?

Lind looked up and noticed the stress had moved slightly to let him move forward.  He bowed once more and stepped onto the open path until he came to a small clearing.  There was some fruit and herbs set out.

He also saw a cup of what appeared to be mead.  All of it, however, was easily on par with his cultivation!

"Thank you, seniors."  Lind then offered up some Qi stones that were Heaven Realm quality as it was all he had.  A rustle of leaves that he took as satisfaction told him he had acted correctly.

He found the mead wonderful and it made his blood sing as the fruit and vegetables actually helped increase the flow of his natural elements!

Lind then assumed his lotus position but instead of cultivating his elements, his harmony began to glow around him as it diffused around him into the forest.

"Aaaaaaaahhhhh, yes.  That feels wonderful.  The whispering ones invited a good one this time."  The male voice sounded much stronger but no one else spoke as Lind processed the food into Qi while harmonic Qi flowed out of his body.

After a time, Lind had to stop as his own dantian was very low on Qi.  He downed an elixir but also noticed a new wooden mug of mead was there as well.

He held it up and drank it down.  It helped his elixir recover his Qi even faster!

"You are LInd Frey, correct?  Your harmony is something new but very welcome.  Please spend some time with us when you are done with the whispering ones."  Lind stood up and bowed as he summoned the crystal slip he had been given.

It was slightly cracked but now he shattered it.

The instant it scattered on the wind, Lind felt his sensation of direction fade but that time he knew he was being moved.  The spatial flow was clear to his senses but it quickly stopped as the mist of Qi cleared around him.

He looked around and was curious.  There were more trees aware of him but there were now structures all around him.  They looked like more elemental crystals but the intent behind them was clear to what he was seeing.

Like the Desolate Song, the 'corpses' were left behind but had been made into simple temples.  Lind moved forward and wondered what he was about to see.