Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 829 - 828 - Day the World Fell

Ren had thought never to see elixirs gain but the gentle feeling coursing through her veins let her feel better than she had in ages.

The tumultuous last few months had accelerated her deterioration.  She was not alone as a few other old fogies joined her in weakening.  Their foundations were just not stable enough for big shocks.

Now, however, she felt much better.

"An Elixir Master?  A good one too from what I can tell.  Getting to grade 7 is no small feat."  Lind looked surprised at her words but she was more shocked at how he had control of the citadel.

His aura had wrenched it all away from her as if the million years previously had never occurred.  She had suspected for some time it was not a coincidence that the citadel, abandoned and decrepit but still standing, had been near the entrance to the Sacred Paths.

"You know what I am, Senior?  All of it?"  She saw his emerald vertically slit eyes and could hazard a guess.

"You are an unruly dragon from the Heaven Realm somehow.  Where is that ascension pool as I know quite a few folks that would like to escape this place?"  She did not bother being polite about her desires but he actually smiled at her!

"You remind me of an old friend.  She long left the world but I owed her a great deal.  The ascension pool is sort of reconnected but it is a death sentence for all but 6 elementals."  His answer made no sense.

Ren knew 6 elementals were useless cultivators that were blessed if they got to the Stone Tier but she was a good judge of people.  The boy in front of her was not lying.

"Eh, sounds like you have a lot to share but I doubt I will last long enough to hear it all.  Give me the hard facts."  Lind waved his hand and a steaming tea set appeared.  Ren actually enjoyed the care the intruder paid her unlike any of the rest.

It made her recall a different time when there was far less desperation in her life.

The sun had cast its orange rays to fill the sky before Lind stopped talking.  Even parsed down, it took awhile as he had to give some context.  He proved he had 6 primary elements easily enough but shocked her when he could use the emerald Qi as well.

Harmonies were somewhat well known but the sheer power described by an entire segment of cultivators stunned her.  They had to struggle so hard at the beginning but then took off once they reached the Heaven Realm.

She recalled having spent nearly 3000 years to get to the Sun Tier but there was a boy in front of her not even 2500 years old and at the Immortal Realm!

She examined a few of his works as a Forger.  The last Forger died over 200 thousand years ago for them.  Elixir masters were barely holding on at grade 3, never mind the Heaven grade anything.

The derivative professions relied on Laws more than anyone realized and it was apparent they were running out of time.

"You have had it nearly as rough as us.  I will not cry any tears about those Fiends, but I am no innocent.  I signed off on our little plan because it kept us alive.  Without it, we would all likely just be dead."  It was clear he could not refute it.

"What will you do with the villages now?"  Ren shrugged at his question.

"Not really my problem anymore.  You said it yourself, I am at the end of my life and those vultures know.  Even if I gave orders, they would be ignored before my soul could even disperse."  He looked confused at her words.

She nearly laughed at how naive the boy was.

"While I am in the Immortal Realm, I have seen more than enough proof that souls cannot survive like they are supposed to.  Without a body, you might last 3 breaths before falling apart.  Yet another gift of the Cataclysm."  He frowned and nodded at her words.  It was good to know that the reliance of their realm was gone before he faced that possibility.

"So, she was trying to kill me yet ready to die herself…"  He mumbled some words but Ren could not put them in context.

"Were you there that day?"  He did not have to specify as she slowly nodded and a fear gripped her heart.

"You have no idea what it was like back then.  The vast lands of so many empires, kingdoms, sects, and just clans could not be counted.  My small corner of the world took over a year to cross even with a flying artifact."  Ren sat back as she looked into the past.

She had just been a Soul Realm back then but a member of a proud clan.

They were all gone.  Everything was gone.

She had been on a mission to what was called the Outer Lands.  It was the stretch of land still vital but the last part until the edge of the Celestial Fields.  It was a normal mission.  She was hunting the guardian of a golden lotus field.  The flowers were common enough but fields of them were not.

It was supposed to be a lion or panther but then it was up to her group to capture it.

It was all normal with birds chirping, wind moving the green leaves gently over their heads, and they were all talking about what they would do once they got home.

She recalled her maroon robes proudly as they marked her as an adult of the clan, but then the terrible silence descended.

It was like a switch had been flipped.

Birds screeched and fled away to the horizon but a few of the boys with her tried to fly back, yet Ren trusted her gut even then.  She began to run.  She had no sword to fly on but she put all the power she could and just ran.

At one point she felt something behind her but knew it was not a beast.  She saw World and Sky Realm beasts running with her.  Nothing tried to stop her or kill her which told her all she needed to know.

It was only when 2 arms suddenly picked her up that she panicked but the voice of her uncle reached her.  She looked around and saw several elders flying on their swords to the limit of speed they could achieve.

She finally could afford to look back and all hope died in her.  A white wave was consuming everything.  She saw hordes of beasts and people scream as they were consumed by it.  Flying artifacts tumbled out of the sky for some reason as hundreds screamed on its deck.

Death was coming for them and she wanted to know why.  No power could stand up to it and she saw her uncle crying even as he pushed the sword to the point it began to crack apart.

The wall of white made no noise, it just brought the silence of death.  Tears had streamed down her cheeks as she clung to her uncle as she squeezed her eyes shut.

She did not want to die.  She had only started her life.  Her uncle suddenly pried her off of him and he looked grimly at her.  His once bright blue eyes were dull but he smiled at her.

{Live.}  It was the last word he spoke as she felt his Immortal aura engulf her and launch her like a missile into the distance.  She could only look back as he was consumed by the advancing white wall.

She screamed incoherently but the Qi carried her far faster than any sword or artifact could move before she tumbled to the surface.  Beasts were long gone but the roots and branches cut her as she fell.

By some miracle she had not broken a limb and stood up to run more.  She felt her lungs burn and her vision seemed to throb with pain but she did not stop.  That final look of her uncle pushed her onward until she missed a dip in the path.

She tripped and stumbled.  A sharp crack told her that her luck had run out.  She summoned a healing pill and pushed it as far as she could but it was over.

Death was coming and her uncle's sacrifice was for nothing!  She wept openly and no longer held back but as the soothing power of the pill took her injuries away.  She slowly opened her eyes and saw the white wall looming over her into the sky.

It did not advance but the trees and shrubs partially consumed died quickly in front of her.  She crawled away and watched as it slowly disappeared to reveal a wasteland beyond the sharp line in the forest.

Ren saw the dead world in front of her before the next death came.  Laws were ripped from the world and the QI density collapsed to almost nothing.

She spent 2 years just surviving before coming on the citadel and carving out a place for herself there.  Her rise to power was due to those blue eyes in her memory that gave the last of their time to her.

Her uncle could have saved himself with the same Art but he chose to save her instead.

The wrinkled face was heavy with tears as young arms held her.  At some point, Ren had started crying but kept talking.

Lind felt hollow just listening to it.  How long had she held in that story and how few recalled that day?

"When I learned the edge of the realm was crumbling, I knew we had just been given more time than others.  Death is still coming."  Her soft words seemed to be the last of a great weight on her shoulders.

Lind hugged her tight and she fell asleep exhausted in his arms.  He picked her up and found her disturbingly light.  The staff still secured in her hands made him smile as he carefully tucked her in.

He examined her with his experienced eye and sighed sadly.  She was dying but her sheer will kept her alive.  It was not disease nor even a flawed foundation.  Her foundation was actually very stable.

She was simply out of time.

"Death is looming but I refuse to give up.  Your uncle was not wrong.  Where there is life, there is hope."  He bowed low to her and left a few more elixirs on the small night stand next to her bed.

He left quietly as he now commanded the tower and could not be stopped at all.  It was time to settle accounts for the dark history of the citadel.