novelraw Chapter 815 - 814 - Madman
Chapter 815 - 814 - Madman
Orion was unsure how he felt presently. His Empire had not only been crushed in less than a day, but his own foundation had been transformed from the corrupted version he was familiar with to a pure one while retaining his demonic Qi.
He had always believed all the teachings of the Empire about how demons were supposed to be, but his once strong violent tendencies were now far less. He found his mind clearer but still as detail oriented as before.
The greatest difference was his aura sight. His eyes were blinded since a duel in his youth but he had persevered where others simply told him to die.
His calm and cold attitude had served him well when the frustration was at its greatest.
Currently, he was mystified by what his aura senses told him about his situation. His Qi and cultivation were sealed but his body was left untouched. His base strength seemed to have increased but the rope around him was able to stop him cold.
It was not normal rope, but some kind of metallic material. It had all the flexibility of a normal rope but was as powerful as the strongest metals he had ever heard of.
As part of the Inquisition, he had often had to restrain or capture difficult targets with similar artifacts, yet they always needed Qi.
The rope did not. Once secured, it seemed perfectly fine to just exist! He could not wait it out nor detect any Qi in it at all.
His captor had tried to explain it by talking about nanomolecular bonds but it made no sense!
The current situation was even more insane to his mind.
Gel, the sergeant he had praised before all the current nightmare began, had the cursed Akashic Physique.
The Empire had taught him and all the generations of demons that it was a curse that had to be purged from their blood. It was an out of control physique that would cause unbridled chaos and death even the Empire could not allow.
Yet, it seemed, a family had hidden their members due to the benefits it had for cultivation. They found a way to control it and suppress it so their members could rise up in the Empire.
While he had little problem with seeking power, the razor's edge they danced on could not have been without serious risks.
Now, Lind Frey was attempting to unlock those restraints! Further, he acknowledged it was dangerous since Gel was a tier 7 Sky Realm!
Even a mundane bloodline could be an arduous trial when awakened let alone a volatile one like the Akashic Physique!
Mad, the man had to be mad.
"I see, the beast seems to be an offshoot of the black shelled tortoise. That makes sense as it is the master of defense." Orion could hear the whispers even restrained as he was. He had nothing else to do but his ears perked up.
A relative of the Black Shelled Tortoise? A divine beast?
He quickly filed through and was suddenly interested.
"Senior Frey, I believe the most likely beast would be the Viridian Turtle." It made the most sense to him. It carried a decent trace of the Divine Black Shelled Tortoise's power and the volatile nature of fire as well.
It could easily suppress many physiques, even the Akashic if it was not yet awakened.
"It is not. I have met many of those turtles. A bit rough around the edges but excellent drinkers." The offhand comment made Orion stunned. He knew such turtles? Weren't they nearly extinct?
He had forgotten Lind was an ascender, but it made him curious.
"It can't be a phoenix or dragon relative. The white tiger is never used for suppression either, that only leaves the black shelled tortoise. Other than the viridian turtle, what else could suppress that terrifying bloodline?" Orion felt he had to be right but Lind suddenly produced several vials of blood essence.
The contrast between fire and water would make for a powerful combo.
"Your idea is not bad, but it would be nowhere near enough. The Akashic Physique could be considered on par with a Divine Bloodline of an aether beast. Yet if another divine bloodline was used, they would clash for dominance. It does not work." Orion grasped the issue instantly.
He also felt shock go through his mind.
One of the tests used Lind's own blood! He was a Divine Dragon!
Was he truly mad?! Any common person could tell him experimenting with pure divine bloodlines was borderline insanity!
"Well what races do you know of sufficient power then?" Orion decided to be direct but the list of races exceeded his own limits! How many beasts had this Immortal Dragon met?!
Many were normal animals to very obscure races like the fire hawks!
Gel had just come up the stairs from below with an exhausted Hope riding on her back. She was clearly happily passed out while Gel looked wiped out!
"Lady Yue has stated she would like Hope to stop spoiling the pack. She was grooming them all or cuddling them over and over again!" Gel's robes were covered in loose fur all over them.
Lind smirked but took the young girl and set her on a simple hammock strung up for her to sleep.
"Orion was trying to tell me viridian turtles were the bloodline used but they are not. I thought it might be a variant of stone dral but that did not work either." Gel nodded as she knew both of those beasts were possible but too weak or too rare to be used.
"Did your clan have a guardian beast?" A new voice came from the stairs and Orion felt a headache as his aura had to pull back from the powerful Lady Yue. Unlike simple vision, his aura sense was blinded by her arrival.
Lind was courteous enough to suppress his aura to protect Orion.
Gel looked exhausted but nodded.
"We had, oddly, the xiezhi. I think it was said my clan once were considered arbiters in the time of my ancestors." Lind's head shot up as he turned to Yue in excitement.
"By any chance, is there a herd or pack of xiezhi nearby?" She nodded.
"There are several variations that have the bloodline in them. There is one that was under the power of the Starbreaker Empire in fact. The highlands to the northeast have many of them." A smile stretched fear ear to ear on his face.
"To protect an innocent life, a xiezhi would definitely offer up its blood." Yue agreed.
Orion felt they were insane!
"How could an aether beast with a high sense of justice ever help Fiends?!" His question was completely valid.
Xiezhi were known in legend for their sense of justice. Saving a child or baby would certainly fall under their aesthetic sense but if that child served Fiends, even the most insane demon would know better than to ask them for help!
"The particular variant of my clan was said to share demonic elements with us. Shadowflame xiezhi. Their fur is dark as night and the horn can conjure blue flame to purge dishonor. My father often told me stories about them when I was young." Gel suddenly spoke up and Yue seemed stunned.
"Demonic aether beasts are rare! Did you raise some of them?" Lind was the one that seemed to know.
"There are demonic resources in the highlands?" Gel and Orion nodded. He seemed to smile once more.
"Just like everything else, they adapt to their environment. Beasts need Qi through consumption but xiezhi are carnivores. They may look similar to goats but they are larger and very violent if they are crossed." Orion was confused at his confident words.
"I thought you did not mention them, yet you seem very familiar with them?" Lind nodded at him.
"I had a very good teacher about beasts that only exist in the Celestial Fields. If there are xiezhi, however, how was the Empire never attacked?" Lind's question made both demons floored as clearly a Fiend empire would be a living injustice no matter how anyone looked at it.
"They are limited by what they see in front of them. Xiezhi are beasts of justice but they are not overlords. They refuse to pass judgment on heresy. So long as it is not seen, they do not care." Lind frowned as Yue spoke. It meant to him that they could hear about injustice but would not act until it was witnessed by their own eyes.
He had wanted to meet them but such a limited scope irritated him a bit.
If they were far from the Empire, that would be one thing, but if they allied with the humans nearby, they could have crushed the Empire long before he arrived.
A thought then made him frown even more deeply.
"The humans refuse to ally with aether beasts?" Yue nodded and he felt a headache filling his skull.
Orion did not see the problem but Gel shifted uncomfortably. Lind noticed and his eyes narrowed.
"What is it, Gel?" She looked like she wanted to dig a hole in the floor to escape rather than answer the question.
Still, she took a deep breath and looked up at him.
"I think the ancestors of my clan may have planted information to make humans think the beasts were already allied with us." Orion actually had to suppress a laugh! Brilliant move!
` Anyone could tell a demonic beast from a natural one. They were rare, but easy to tell apart.
It would be easy to sway humans to believe demonic beasts would ally with demons.
Lind sighed but then waved it off.
"I will go see them and see if they know anything." Orion felt the need to scream. A man who wiped out an entire Empire in a single day was saying he was going to visit an aether beast of justice!
He would be eaten alive!
Insane, he just had to be insane!