Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 789 - 788 - Shattered Edge

Lind spent the better part of 10 years wandering before he got a rough idea of his situation.

Despite the thick curtain of Qi falling down, it was only about a 2-3000 kilometer distance to the Void.  He stood on the crumbling edge at times and tried to see if any Laws were there but he always found none.

The highest beast he had found was a tier 2 Sky Realm and that had clearly been barely stable.  He also noticed the density of Qi varied wildly in that distance.  He was on the edge of the Realm and it was still dying from what he could tell.

The battle was at a stalemate or at least a very slow death based on his observations.  Sometimes he saw the edge crumble and knew the revitalization was too slow.  If it was more robust, it might have had a chance.

He gauged from his exploration that the oldest plants were only 10 to 20 thousand years old at best.  Most of those were simple grasses and bushes with trees only really springing up in the last 5 thousand years in those areas he had reached.

The beasts also revealed that the majority were manifested, not born.  It showed that the area he stood in had been as dead as everything behind the curtain until recently.

"It is barely holding on."  Something was fighting back but he did not understand what.  He had placed simple grade 4 or below markers to chart his path and to survive the lower Qi density areas.

The dead grass area was still the largest he had found by far and only grade 1 markers worked.  It was the other issue he had come across.

Qi did not recover naturally at the same speed he was used to in any realm.  Mortal realms were lower quality but the speed of recovery was roughly the same throughout.  A single cultivator, hell even a billion, could not put a dent in it if they cultivated all at once.

If they could, the various sects and powers using Qi gathering arrays would leave barren stretches of land everywhere, but they did not.

Heaven Realm was even more apparent in its inability to be drained.  The creation of a Law Binding alone would make that apparent.

Yet, he had noticed even his simple markers causing a drop in Qi.  He then set up something very few would do.

Using elemental crystals like seeds, he created refinement weavings that gathered and released the Qi in the air via the crystals.  They already generated their element, and the refinement made the new Qi more resilient.

It still caused a thinning of the Qi, but he noted in only a handful of years a massive improvement of each area.  He also noticed how the beasts and plants protected his weavings by instinct.

They knew their very lives hinged on those.  It had no appreciable effect on crumbling areas but he knew it would take massive amounts of Qi to do that.  The only thing he could hope for was to make larger weavings later but he would not push his luck.

It was dangerous enough from what he had seen.  His elixir stock was depleting far faster than he hoped too.

He simply could not safely cultivate as he was a massive Qi sink compared to anything else currently around him.

The only beasts and plants he found could exist solely in the mortal realms.  There were no variations or mythical class creatures at all as there should be.

It just showed how long it took for such life to form whenever the Celestial Fields were born.  He had moved nearly 5 million kilometers in 10 years but there was little change to the quality of areas until his senses suddenly saw what he had wished to for so long.

A single Law Trace!  It was pathetically weak, but it was there!  Compared to the forests and grasslands he had passed through until then, it was far older!  It confused him on that front.

The curtain had been the theoretical source of Qi so why was there an area that seemed far older and active compared to the rest.

He also saw something very familiar as a large bison-like creature with a stone hide was munching on grass!  A stone dral!

It was only a Sky Realm but it was there!  He tried to stretch his senses but smirked as he was repulsed by defenses!  They were weak and could be broken as they were only grade 5 at best, but it showed intelligence!

Life!  He had found sentient life!  He did not get ahead of himself but the idiotic grin would not leave his face as his simple gray robes fluttered in the wind.  The towering trees came into sight and he could feel some of them were aware too!

They were peak Sky Realm but it was enough for intelligence to appear in them.

[I am Lind Frey, a Divine Dragon.  Do you understand me?]  He sent a message in hope but nothing coherent came back.  He felt some joy and welcoming feelings but that was all.  At least their race memory was intact enough to know what he was!

It also confirmed what he was feeling.

The forest ahead was almost a million years old!  There had to be older specimens further in!

They had survived the Cataclysm!

He had so many questions but he did not rush in.  He actively worked to suppress his aura and reel in his bloodline.  He was powerful in the Heaven Realm but the Celestial Fields could have Shard Tiers in far greater numbers as well as Sliver Tiers.  These would be experts as well.

He only took a week to cross the distance he could see before the shade of a massive tree was over him and he frowned once more.

The Qi was far more dense that he was not comfortable but the bark in front of him was cracked and barely alive.

"I see, you are alive but this close to the edge is too much for you."  They were being sucked dry of Qi to the very edge of life.

He circled around the trunk and found it to be easily 3 to 4 adults around.  The side directly opposite was a little better but still only just.

The smaller plants and a few herbs were better but they also started farther back.  There was a sharp increase in Qi just with those few steps as well.

Rather than head deeper, he wanted to see if the area was now larger from the curtain to the edge.

The curtain was in a roughly identical spot but he was able to go 5 thousand kilometers before he reached the void.  It was there he got a surprise.

A half standing stone brick wall was a good 10 meters from a crumbling stone path!

A sign of a town or maybe a village!  He hoped to find more but it was just those 2 things inside his range which now could easily take in the open areas up to 2000 kilometers away.  The blocked areas were another matter but he did not pry.

He examined the stone and found them to be once of grade 5 but had degraded to 4.  He could tell by the broken binding agents as well as the weakness of the stone.  If it was meant to be grade 4, it would be more solid.

"This refining is not bad but without maintenance it has collapsed.  The Qi had to be too thin too so it started to degrade."  It was not unusual for structures to last for billions of years but it was not a given.

A refiner or even the creator if they were still alive had to check to make sure no damage or simple wear and tear needed attending to.  The higher quality the longer natural life but it also needed the right environment to endure.

Inheritances pulled that trick off by their construction and the use of spiritual custodians with the authority or ability to repair them if possible.

"Maybe 5 to 10 million years old but the degradation accelerated in the last million for sure."  He flexed his hand and it shattered like powder.  It was too fast but understandable as he heard a crack ahead.

He watched as the stone path fractured and fell into the void.

"So, even with higher density Qi, the edge still crumbles, just more slowly.  How much Qi will it need to really thrive?"  Lind began to suspect the Celestial Fields was much larger before so likely it was not even close to what it once was.

He had tried a few times to reach out to the being that sent a warning but whoever they were did not answer.  Either they ignored him on principle, or did not care.  He leaned to the latter.

The warning had been given and he had ignored it.  Thus, the senior just left him to live or die on his own.

He took some more samples for study as he had before and confirmed the edge was indeed in much better shape than others yet it still was collapsing slowly.

He then had an idea he wanted to try before that he could not in the other areas as his Qi could not be recovered safely.

Emerald light appeared around him for the first time and he felt a change in the air.  It was not simply Qi, but Laws imbued into every facet of it.  He simply put his hand down and let the emerald Qi flow unbridled.

He did not see much of an effect until he looked at the soil itself.  It became more solid the more time passed!  It was severely limited but he did see a marked improvement.

The instant he stopped, however, the Laws did not stay at all.  They were ripped out of the soil like a Qi differential and he knew the truth then.

"The Laws themselves were ripped apart.  Only the most basic remained but it is not enough.  It is nowhere near enough."  Qi was not the problem.  Laws were.

The reason the Celestial Fields was dead, the reason it was being ripped apart, was the missing Laws.

There was nothing he could do about that!  He was only 1 cultivator!  His once hopeful heart stumbled at that fact but he steadied himself.

He was only 1 cultivator but he did not build an empire alone.  He did not build a sect alone.  He needed allies and answers. He needed more knowledge.

He got up and resumed his exploration.