Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 736 - 735 - Chasing the Path

Lind had spent a year teaching.  In that time, a lot of Elementals had grown and improved at a stunning rate but he noticed a push back not long into it.

No new Elementals were allowed near him.  Compared to the total population, the Soul and World Realms were far higher in comparison to the rest, but he had no clue how many exactly there were.

Given the density of Qi and swiftly advancing Elementals, he at least had seen the ascension of each realm up close and personal so he knew the batch he taught made it 100% thus far.

Even Soltara had been stunned at the speed and quality of each new generation that learned from Lind.  She had known he had a firm grasp of his theories but being able to teach them was an entirely different set of skills.

Yet she knew the predictable backlash had come too.

"So, you are telling me that those that want me gone have been isolating this part of the village from me?"  Lind looked very tired just speaking the question but not surprised.

Politics and emotions sadly went together too well.  Logic and progress never seemed to penetrate the muck people made of both.

[Correct, you have done much for us already.  The seeds planted–]  She paused as she saw his face darken.

"Do you really think they will let them flourish?  The very powerful and the very stupid often have something in common.  They don't change their views to fit the facts, they would rather try to change the facts to fit their views."  He set down a fine tea cup on the table between them.

They were back in her temple for the moment.  Her tea set was entirely constructed by her but it seemed almost alive to his senses.

She now frowned at his words deeply but could not find a way to refute them.  She was trying to find a way back to the purest song path for her people but the others were mired in the emotions ruling their hearts.

When she was gone, there could indeed be more deaths of not just cultivators but of her own kind.

It was not impossible.

[What do you think we could do to stop that?]  He was surprised she asked him.  From what he understood from Balgorn, Soltara was essentially the ruler here.  If she gave an order, it would be obeyed but he doubted that was entirely true.

The scars left by cultivators did run deep but so did the lessons the Elementals took away from that tragedy.  Cultivators had sown the seeds of revenge on themselves and if the Heaven Realm Elementals wanted to, it would be a bloodbath.

They had no real bodies to attack and far better control over Qi than them.  He had felt it at Desolate Song.  Any idiot that tried to steal from it would die and all those connected to them would die as well.

The Immortal Realms were trapped but their range was insane.  Lind just barely thought of a few ways his own people could improve to protect themselves but if several Elementals worked together, the effect would be nearly unstoppable.

"Let me think on it.  We have time."  He had received a few messages ferried over by the 3 envoys.  His new baby boy was born!  Healthy and a bit fussy.

Eldrian was his name.  His grandmothers were fighting over who got to watch over him while he slept but he could feel the smile in the jade slips he received.

Many powers now knew he was away but none of them could find him!  Valkyrie had been irate about that but nothing compared to the more nosy members of the Alliance.

Lind knew his time was limited but he hoped to form a more lasting connection than one visit.

[What is that?]  Soltara pointed at the scrolls laid out on the ground.  She had noticed they were not words exactly but diagrams and symbols.

"Ah, I have been pondering what I learned while teaching those curious children.  I have come to understand something tragic."  Lind moved the scrolls and she saw it was representations of the 3 elemental systems but also cultivation realms.

"As you know, Elementals cultivate very differently from me.  You are a living spirit wrapped in elemental Qi that condenses experience to view the Dao in a very different way."  She nodded easily as he then pointed to the graphical representation of the other path she knew.

"Demons, aether children, aether beasts, and humans all follow this path.  Comprehend and incorporate Qi to become a stronger and more profound grasp of the Dao.  Elementals are already close to the Dao but comprehend the world to become stronger while we know the world but grow closer to the Dao."  She nodded as that made sense but she saw him frown.

[What is wrong?]  He pointed at the 3 sets of elements.

"Natural elements, demonic elements, and Celestial elements are all that should exist.  Fiends are corrupted from Celestial if I am right but something happened that made me study demonic Qi."  Lind summoned his own demonic Qi but then he conjured natural Qi that went into a black box on a post.

While the metal Qi seemed similar, she noticed the difference right away.

[Your demonic Qi feels different from the one filtered through the artifact?]  She carefully collected the 2 streams and the best she could tell was the metal Qi from Lind was pure but the one from the artifact had a taint to it she could just barely feel.

"I designed the filter artifacts to allow me to use alternative Qi for study or creation of my products.  In other words, I mimicked demons perfectly but when I later comprehended it with Celestial Qi refinement, I realized a great tragedy."  Lind then explained what happened to the demons inside the Law Binding.

She felt a deep cold in her core as he spoke.

A powerful being killed and drained the potential from an entire race with a thought?

[How would you explain that with this?]  She was confused as she did not follow his train of thought.

"It is because of what happened with Zerod and other Fiends.  They are no better than thralls yet I think a long time ago that whatever that thing did to corrupt the Celestials affected everything they touched.  Demons are not natural beings, but a creation of Celestials."  His words shook Soltara.

It was insane.  Yet, as she looked at his diagrams and patterns, it seemed to slowly come together in her mind.

[Where do demonic treasures and the like come from?]  It was a good question and Lind looked troubled as he pointed to the last scroll.

"It is the missing piece I am working out.  The Celestial cultivation path.  Given how Fiends work, I think they are like weavers based on the horrific method.  They cultivate the soul but I don't have enough to grasp it all."  He was using parallels of weaving and the Fiend methods to try and work out how Celestials could cultivate.

[You once spoke of a Fiend that had not fed on souls.  How did they cultivate?]  He nodded but then frowned.

"There was not time to really delve into it.  He simply said he could cultivate and move safely without triggering the Law Binding but the method was not known to me.  He did state clearly that once he was forced to consume a soul, he could not turn back."  Lind wished there had been more time but there was not.

He doubted he would ever find the answers in the Heaven Realm.  A Fiend was raised securely and far away from any possible invasion.  Even the most recent defeat did not expose any Fiends to be captured.

The Alliance was unlikely to allow it either.

[You want to talk about it?]  She was honestly curious but Lind was not sure.  He understood bits and pieces.  His audacious theories had no way to be proven aside from the circumstantial evidence.

Still, he decided to go for it.

"I think demons were born of a desire to teach.  Whether it was intentional to create a race, I think Celestials refined natural elements to show there was more possible within each element than others knew."  Demonic Qi was aggressive but also could create effects natural Qi could not.

Lightning, for instance, was powerful and destructive with a cultivator, but a demonic lightning bolt cut and severed like a sword blade rather than explode.  It was vicious and very little could stop it much like natural lightning.

He had never seen Fiends use much for Arts that did not capture or isolate a soul for food, but he suspected their lightning would be different as well.

He had no success using Celestial Qi in any Art but weaving he did.  Given how much of the Fiends abilities leaned towards souls as well gave him the idea.

"The best I can guess is that they manipulate or comprehend the foundation of all cultivation for Elementals and us."  Lind looked up and his body glowed with emerald light lining it.  "The soul or spirit.  I think they could see the potential in it all and explored it by changing it at will."  It was as far as he had gotten.  Knowing what they used did not give him method, realm conditions, or anything else.

She thought about it and slowly nodded.

[It might be possible but any answers are not in these lands.]  Lind nodded at her words.

"I am still chasing the path because I want to know.  I want to understand.  I think it will hold the answers to what I need to not only advance but to one day face that creature I saw when I returned."  Lind's voice went cold for a moment but Soltara felt the Laws stir as well.

She concealed her shock but such a reaction meant he really was on the path!  Whether he could overcome the obstacles and tribulations that awaited him remained to be seen, but she hoped she could live to see it!