Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 907 - 906 - Phoenix Prison

Cultivators gained more life as they advanced. It was one of the basic principles everyone understood.

Beast bloodlines could naturally extend life but if added to the cultivation journey it could have massive results.

A human that only lived for 2000 years in the Sky Realm could live for 10,000 if a strong enough bloodline was awakened inside them.

Some believed in taking bloodlines as well but the beasts themselves always far surpassed any mixed bloodlines.

Lind was an extreme case as a True Lord but there was one race that surpassed all others.

Phoenix lifespans were comparable to dragons but had a major caveat.

They did not die.

Once their lifespan ended, they would burn their body to be reborn in the ashes and start over with their mind intact.

Unlike other races, they only became more profound and powerful as time passed but they could become stuck like anyone else.

They also suffered from risks no other race did. The time of their rebirth was the greatest vulnerability.

If attacked at that moment, they would be destroyed entirely. It was not just death, but complete obliteration.

Also, their Qi could become contaminated which would lead to insanity as their original foundation tried to assert itself.

When that happened, they became a lethal danger to the entire realm.

Feng slowly opened her eyes in confusion. She had no idea where she was but the cavern felt odd to her. It was both familiar and alien at the same time.

She felt sore all over as she sat up. She saw a spear next to her that was as black as midnight. She was about to pick it up when a sensation of joy flowed through a connection in her mind.

Happy, the spear was happy. It was bound to her as well.

"Starlight, you are Starlight!" It came back to her. It had been a gift on the day she became an Immortal for the first time. It felt so long ago but why could she not recall coming to the cavern or much before it?

The last thing she remembered was being feeble and tired. So tired.

"Ah, I died again." It was a strange feeling to remember death. If they were unprepared it could become true death but centuries of warning was usually plenty.

Some of her kind chose to initiate it early. Some memory loss was expected but the soul would recall almost everything once the egg hatched.

Yet, she saw her body was fully grown! Her aura was also at the Shard Tier! How was that possible?!

After rebirth, even if only for a handful of years, she would have to cultivate once more.

A sensation of concern came from the spear but not for her. She glanced over and her eyes narrowed at a stranger bloodied and collapsed nearby. His hand was nearly shredded in a familiar way to her.

"Enemy!" She went to pick up the spear but was shocked when Starlight refused to attack! It sent more sensations but she frowned. It was smart enough to speak so why wasn't it?

A new feeling came through. Her limbs trembled as she realized she could not feel Time!

She looked around once more and realized where she was.

"I was insane, contaminated. They must have sealed me away to cycle through it." Feng knew the procedure if the resources existed but it was immensely expensive. A phoenix was extremely difficult to kill due to their nature but it was made ten times worse if contaminated.

The Qi that contaminated them could be light or deep and make the phoenix immensely powerful. Forcing death could be far more dangerous than allowing the cycle to repeat and let rebirth purge the Qi.

Yet, she was now whole and at the peak of the layer would allow her. She had never been so high in her cultivation before.

She did not know half the Laws that brought her so far. If she was sensing correctly, she was barely 2 million years old.

"That can't be right. I should have gone through at least a cycle as I barely made it to high Sliver Tier before." In exchange for their rebirth ability, their comprehension was much lower than other races. Still, their power was far above others in the same realm.

Why had she not awakened free of demonic Qi long ago?

The spear vibrated suddenly as she felt a strange wave of Qi from the man. He glowed with emerald light and her instincts screamed at her. Dragon! It was a vile dragon!

She went to attack again but stunningly, Starlight flew away from her! It floated and was angry at her! She did not understand. Dragons were not friends to her race and would attack on sight. Why did Starlight protect one?

"Did someone get the number of that truck?" A strange question was mumbled from the man as he slowly sat up. "Haro, can you help?"

She saw a dark ring glint before a new sensation washed over her. Shock flowed in her veins.

A True Lord! She felt embarrassed now. Of all dragons, only the True Lord was fair. They were legendary beings and would not act against others unless the realm was threatened.

A dark skinned man in tan robes appeared but his image was shaky.

"I do not have much time, but as you no doubt feel, my Master is the True Lord of dragons. While I am not entirely sure what he did, he was able to purge the heavy demonic Qi from your body and meridians. It was while you were beating the living daylights out of him too!" She found it strange a tool spirit was amused by their bonded's pain.

"Less joking, please." The man weakly spoke as he assumed a lotus position to cultivate. The Qi flowed like a storm into him!

"Ahem, to sum up, my Master found this tower and has many questions. Also, I suspect you will have many as well." The spirit then fizzled out as it collapsed back into the ring.

Feng absorbed it but confusion remained. How had she not purged the Qi on her own? Her cultivation revealed she had lived at least twice more of the lives she had before. Why was she not freed long ago?

The man downed an elixir, a good one from what she could see and recovered enough to stand up.

"I am Lind Frey. A dragon of course but by soul so human originally." That revelation made Feng even more surprised. A True Lord that was originally human?! Why would the Heavens do that?

"What happened? Why are you here and not my clan?" She saw his face twist before an old map was produced from his ring. She saw the date on it and recognized how old the map was.

It had many of the lands she recognized but others she had no idea about. It must have come from a very powerful sect or kingdom to be so detailed. She saw a mark he pointed to.

She nearly stumbled as she could sense the age of the map. It was millions of years old! Far older than her lifespan! She would have been reborn nearly 3 times at least!

How was she alive?!

"I do not know the details you need but you seemed like a demon to me at first. Haro realized what you were and I took the demonic Qi from you. It was a risk but I thought I had nothing to lose as your power is impressive." He winced as he grabbed his ribs.

She realized she had really hurt him but what was more shocking was that he felt like a fresh Shard Tier to her. She knew the difference between old monsters and a newly minted one and he was new.

The fact he could stand up to her was amazing for his current cultivation.

"My rebirth was contaminated so they created this Phoenix Prison. They are made far from civilization as they are very dangerous by design. If a raging phoenix breaks out it will cause havoc across the lands." She suppressed her instincts but then she realized a few things were wrong.

How was he inside the prison? He was a dragon so he certainly did not have the key to the wards. Why had her clan not come for her?

What had gone wrong?

"Did the Xang Clan send you, True Lord?" It was not totally impossible if there was some conflict. A True Lord stood above such things even if they came from a certain race.

He looked confused before he closed his eyes and seemed to ponder before a frown crossed it.

"I see, that explains things." When his emerald eyes opened she saw sadness in them. Her heart stilled before he sighed and then waved for her to sit.

She slowly sat across from him and he seemed to think more before speaking.

"According to the records in the Temple of Souls, a great war broke out between the Fiends and the forces of the north east. It devastated the lands and demonic attacks also increased at the same time." Feng felt her stomach churn but she did not turn away. "The Xang Clan was ambushed by demonic forces that used artifacts to poison wells and lands all over. It was not just you, but likely several reincarnating phoenixes that were caught in it."

She nearly swooned. His next words stilled her entirely.

"That was a little over a billion years ago. The phoenix roosts were devastated by the ambushes and to the best of anyone's knowledge, few survived. There were, in fact, several phoenixes that did go mad and required the intervention of an allied force to stop them while the Fiends expanded their territories." Tears fell but anger rose.

"What were the western roosts doing?! Did they betray us?!" He shook his head.

"They had their own issues and also a Fiend empire coordinated with the attacks on yours. The Starbreaker Empire." She knew that name! It was notorious for spreading its poison across the realm!

She wanted them dead, but then his final news stilled her heart.

"Before you plan your revenge, they are dead. They are all dead. Everyone you might know is likely gone. The Celestial Fields suffered a cataclysm." Darkness closed in but warm hands caught her and that was the last she knew for a time.