Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 785 - 784 - Mind & Soul

The wave of Qi made his meridians burn as his sliver creaked.  The more rounds he survived, the more changes he noticed.

His meridians had become fairly resilient and a bit larger than other humans but compared to Ethry, he was far more inefficient.  Yet now, his meridians were expanded forcibly as well as his sliver.

He had not advanced one step, it had been purely transformative effects but immensely painful.  He also had no time to recover much between rounds until the latter ones.

Lind realized how terrifying the level of energy he was facing but he also finally noticed a change in the very land around him.

"It is getting fixed."  He could see a sheen of sparkling surfaces as Qi was refined in his tribulation before he understood what was happening.

Resonance.  The very thing Ulta had used to disrupt other cultivators, was happening to him and the ascension pool!

It seemed like a new aspect of himself he wanted to process but he had no time.  He desperately imprinted a jade slip before tossing it into his ring.

He noticed that aside from his ring, all his robes were shredded away to leave his naked body behind.  He was hardly the picture of health as his body was discolored with heavy bruising and blood.

The improvements to his meridians and sliver were highly destructive.

Finally, the 9th strike came down and an unknown amount of time passed before he was sure it was over.

He could see sunlight and felt sad.  He was wondering if he could do the last 2 tribulations but it seemed that was as far as he could go.

[Greedy, aren't we?]

[Arrogant as well.]

[Sshhh, we were supposed to wait to see if he noticed!]

Three voices suddenly brought a chill to his body but he tried to recover as he realized they were right.

The black clouds above his head were not gone!

They were odd, though.  Rather than boiling and scary looking, they seemed to very gently isolate him from the rest of the world.

Once the world was gone, Lind felt it all fall away.

When he opened his eyes, he was confused.  He was on a street corner with skyscrapers rising around him and cars driving along on streets.  People were walking along either too focused on their phones or talking to their small groups.

Despite being familiar, he felt no connection to it at all.

"Interesting arena for your next bout.  Of course, you cling to the past far too much as it is."  Lind whirled to find a man standing next to him but unlike his expectation, it was not his former life visage.

It was his younger self!

Dirty blonde hair, dark green eyes, and pale skin.  No muscle at all either yet the person in front of him felt wrong.  He seemed off.

"Eh, it is so dirty here!"  Another voice came but it was above his head!  It was another version of him but Lind narrowed his eyes.

Emerald scales on a sinuous body loomed over them with an elongated snout looking around in disdain.  It had no horns nor long legs.  It was closer to a snake now that he saw the comparison.

"You had a rude thought just now!"  A third voice and with no surprise had an old version of his face.

"Soul, World, and Sky Realms?"  He saw all 3 nod but his confusion made it clear.

"Not much point having a Heaven Realm version for this shindig." The Soul version spoke and his pattern of speech was damned odd.  It was full of disdain and anger.  The World version seemed haughty.  The Sky version seemed childish.

Why were their forms consistent but not the voices?

"He is slow."  The World version sneered but then Lind had a thought go off.

"9 Tiers?"  All looked at him as if he was an idiot but he understood.  A tribulation was closely tied to the number 9.  It could be a variant but it still stuck to the pattern.

"This is the Mind Tribulation?"  It seemed logical but then his vision darkened all of a sudden.

"You really do not have time to play, maybe later!"  The Sky version looked on while swaying back and forth.

Why was the most mature body mismatched with the most immature perspective?!

He had never been haughty and disparaging to the best of his knowledge either.

"You do realize we can read those very stupid thoughts of yours?"  The Soul version looked down at him as if he would rather squash him like a bug.

His vision dimmed again before coming back.  It was only then that Lind understood what was happening.

He had just been struck twice.

"Were we always so useless?"  The dragon version was getting on his nerves.  It felt like the damned instincts that tried to control him when he first got his dragon soul.

The thought made him freeze.

Another round came but he endured it far better which made the 3 past versions back off as Lind locked eyes on the dragon.

"You are the ball of instincts I had to hone to master as my own.  This tribulation is about facing the aspects of my path I discarded."  The dragon screamed in pain as it fell and cracked open the street.

The carnage caught him off guard but his eyes narrowed.

"I cling too much to the past, I see."  The very ground and people began to break down until it was only him and the other 2 versions.  Each collapse was followed by a rush of mental clarity.  He also felt like he could think faster.

It was very different from the other tribulations.  Rather than wait, he was sweeping out his own mind!

"You are all the anger I had from the trustration of tempering me Soul Cores so damned slowly while holding back my foundation.  You are all that wanted to scream back then."  The Soul version actually leapt at him as it fell apart.  His scream was bone chilling as it faded away.

The most confusing one was left.  Why was the Sky version so immature?

His time as a Sky Realm was a struggle with weaving and always escaping one force or another.  His confrontation with the Fiends also scarred him forever.  It made no sense!

He fell over as a powerful wave of darkness washed over him.  It was only at that moment he saw a flicker on its face.  If he had not been looking that way, he would have missed it, but since he was looking he saw it.

"Clever.  You hid behind a mask to make it harder for me.  I had to become something I did not like in the Sky Realm.  I had to discard my innocence and become a politician and leader in reality.  I had to trick and betray the expectations of others to achieve my goals."  The innocent look was shattered as a cold and distant face appeared.

"You have suffered much to grasp the different aspects of your past.  Do not simply move on once this is over or you will face a heart demon you cannot defeat next time."  The Sky version then shattered as the feeling of falling came over him.

Lind snapped his eyes open to find his body naked, healed, and laying on a familiar couch!  He was in the strange office he once visited when battling his heart demons.

"Was I wrong?  Was that just the first round of the Mind Tribulation?"  He was confused until he saw a woman sitting at the fire.  She had long white hair and calm gold eyes as she sipped at her tea.

He was about to dredge up his memory when tears began to fall from his eyes.  Why was he crying?

"Come, junior.  Sit next to me."  The voice made him freeze and increase his tears.  Senior dragon soul!  It was her voice!

He moved without care and sat next to her.  She offered tea and he sipped at it.  He felt immensely better the instant he swallowed it.  His dragon soul even seemed to become more profound at that moment.

"I wondered how far you could go and you have not disappointed me.  This final sliver of my consciousness cannot survive the tribulation but Heaven was kind enough to let me be here at the end."  Lind saw her smile as she looked up at him.

"You were still with me?"  She nodded.

"I could only observe and never speak.  I could not do a single thing for you either.  I am so sorry about your mate.  She was worthy of you."  Her word choice made him focus as he was very confused.

"Am I still in the Mind Tribulation?"  She smiled and shook her head.

"The 8th tribulation can be overcome as you did it.  Rather than endure the 9 rounds facing your past, you simply conquer it.  The mental path that carried us through the cultivation journey has many pieces left behind.  You have to accept, dismiss, or overcome them."  She sat back and he noticed the fine robes of black on her.

Her wrinkled hand was steady as she basked in the yellow light of the hearth.  Lind realized it felt real but not like the last time.  What was going on?

"Your soul has been tempered and judged so many times that you have already overcome the 9th tribulation by directly absorbing that tea.  I would not count on other 6 elements replicating your achievement."  He was shocked.  That was it?!

"It can't be that easy?"  She nodded.

"Normally, it would be a grueling trial of spirit Qi straining your soul but you know well how much your soul has been through.  Could a tribulation possibly do more to you?"  Lind had to admit it was a lot.

He had been resurrected at least twice.  He had switched from human to dragon.  He had refined it and controlled it.  He had fused it with his human self to truly claim it.  He had added 2 other elemental systems to it.

He really could not imagine what a tribulation could do.  All he had left was simply facing it.

"What was that tea?"  He saw her smile as she set the pale stone cup down.

"Pure spirit Qi of the Immortal Realm.  It was all you needed really.  Now all aspects of you have transformed.  Body, soul, and mind.  Congratulations, you are a Divine Immortal Dragon!"  Tears fell from her eyes as the room faded and the last thing he heard was her voice.  "I acknowledge you, my Lord."

The world turned black as Lind passed out and wondered who would find him first, his family or allies?  He had done it!  He was an Immortal!