Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 927 - 926 - Potential of the Young

Lind was in his office for Clan business as he reviewed the disheartening reports. He had been occupied for over 50 years with his testing of his abilities and looking for an heir.

The rats hidden in the Heaven Realm lands were ever increasing in numbers. It was both a bad and good thing.

Bad in that selfish powers would disrupt the harmony that could otherwise be achieved but good in that it showed the concrete progress of the Celestial Fields recovery.

The tragic battles also confirmed that. He had actually contained the Fiends longer than he had hoped for. It was likely that like everyone else, their resources were limited by the recovery of the land.

They were investing in professions they had been unable to sustain for over a million years.

It bought him time and his allies had not wasted all of it. Frey City was located where it was for his peace of mind as much as anything. The Fiends would have to make a suicidal run to even get close!

The rest of it was a bit of politicking that he was frankly happy to be far from. He could not stop the future of his clan falling into it but he, himself, had the power to keep it at bay for the present.

The revelation that the Golden God Alchemy Sect was subordinate to a rather restrained kingdom with a rather audacious name of Skull. The strange cultivator that had a large frame was interesting but had been fooled by the Fiends like so many before them.

All the Fiends did was dangle some temptations and get them to pry open the defenses that had locked them away for thousands of years.

It was far less costly than a direct assault and gave them a much larger territory. Whole powers were wiped out by their betrayal.

The former Alliance may have pulled back from their former allies but against the Fiends they still stood firm. It had been a good wake up call for all the idiots.

He let out a tired sigh as he picked up one more report.

A man, missing an arm and part of his leg, had dragged a dying woman out of that nightmare. He had begged for someone to save her and thankfully a demon from the Hellfire Sect was nearby with one of his artifacts.

The man was crippled but survived as well. LInd had requested they be sent to Rasker to recover and he would have some of his best elixirs used by Kyren to help them and other survivors.

Sadly, there were not many. At last official count, only 500 out of millions had been found alive. The number of corpses also did not match.

LInd already knew what happened as did his allies. A fate far worse than death.

He cleared his mind of dark thoughts by turning to his own results. He had some contradictory ones that made Inheritances much clearer to him.

He had always wondered why cultivators making an Inheritance sought out fairly weak and/or young people to attempt to attain their legacy.

More powerful cultivators could not change!

By the time a cultivator got to the Immortal Realm, their path was set. The Laws, Dao, and other factors were essentially settled. At least so far as what he could create revealed that issue.

An Immortal Inheritance was only useful for those Heaven Realm and below and even then it would be better to be Sky Realm!

All his direct children had failed his tests by the halfway mark of the century he had set. Sally had lasted the longest which was surprising.

It took him a few more eliminations of the grandchildren at the Sliver Tier before he grasped why.

Sally had the most difficulty advancing but due to that, she had a larger foundation than her siblings. She never sought martial power but supported the family as she wished. She did not want to die a mortal and her natural talent was far above many.

Still, her mind was far more flexible than her other siblings. They were fairly set in their ways already at the Immortal Realm.

It was no fault of theirs or his, it was simply the truth. An Immortal Inheritance was useless to them in that sense. A Divine Inheritance would still yield something obviously but he had his suspicions about those.

One had been a recreation of a memory to explore their Dao by seeing how others interacted while the others were trials for his current status as a True Lord.

Regardless, it all led back to the same conclusion. Immortals are not able to benefit from his potential Inheritance.

As for finding an heir, he still was satisfied with the progress so far. The first few rounds were rather practical. He tested the limits of their potential to application of skills and combat.

Later, it became more about testing their ability to handle stress, historical scenarios, and theoretical scenarios.

A few of those tests were simple to start but the last one had the largest elimination.

He was now down to 20 candidates. They were all in the Sky Realm and below but he also noticed a few other similarities.

The majority of the ones still enduring had started as World Realms and advanced as the trials continued.

He also noticed that Soul Realms did not last long at all. Body Refining Realm had been banned for obvious reasons but the Soul Realm was too low as well it seemed.

Sand Tier also seemed to be an issue but he did not have as many subjects he could test there.

Now as he reviewed the latest results, his eyes narrowed in curiosity as some candidates had higher scores, so to speak, than others.

It was not a simple mathematical equation that would give him an heir, but a matter of finding someone that aligned with his desires for the future of the Clan.

"I will need to shift to the final phase. The full century won't be needed." He was glad he gave himself the room to breathe but it was clear the final 20 candidates had the mental fortitude and flexibility he was looking for.

Now, it became more about the nightmare of reality they had to face. All of them had been raised in the guild and had yet to serve their time away from the sect. It was a requirement of all members to travel the world on their own once they reached the Sky Realm.

The reason he required it was 2 fold. The first was that the Sky Realm was the current minimum level of strength to survive on their own in the wilds. The second was because cultivators could not thrive in a safe space.

He could guide all his descendents because of his extensive experiences but it would not help them on their personal journey. Theory could only carry someone so far.

The 20 candidates had not done that by his own command. He had another idea.

He had essentially used illusions and some simple virtual space to test them in the previous rounds. He now wanted to push that envelope.

"Lind?" Lysanna's voice broke his thoughts up but he smiled as she poked her head into his office.

"What is up?" She smirked as she crossed his office before pecking his cheek! He smiled and kissed the back of her bare hand.

"I thought you would want to know that the survivors that have recovered wish to join our clan branches." He was surprised.

While some of the survivors had recovered, he had not heard of that wish!

"The first branch is self sufficient but the other 2 will need help. They may join them." In the short 50 years since he started the testing, he had found others he could trust to run branches of the Clan.

Isolde took one and accepted it without complaint. Sora, on the other hand, went into it kicking and screaming.

What the branch focused on would be up to them but they would be subservient to the main Clan.

The trading of resources was still being settled but the first branch was already self-sustaining and growing.

Sora's branch was…chaotic, to say the least. She would not have been misplaced in something like the Divine Sword Sect. Wanderers that focused on their own aesthetic and would not bend to the common sense of the world.

She would fit right in with them!

Isolde was making what amounted to a healing branch which would not be a bad thing. It would require intense amounts of resources to get started.

Syrilla had actually approached him about a new branch as well.

The heir testing seemed to have honed his children's long term goals at last but it saddened him that they were moving forward away from him.

For all that he had to move on, it was hard to see them move on first.

Lysanna nodded but then noticed the reports in front of him. She quickly scanned them and smiled.

"The young will replace the old. They will catch up to us in no time but have you chosen an heir yet?" He shook his head.

"They are teaching me as much as I am hoping they are learning. The next tests will be more brutal. People will die." He looked grim as he spoke but Lysanna paled. She knew that many of their family lived in a kind of bubble the last few thousands of years.

Despite all the turmoil in the rest of the Celestial Fields, the Frey Clan stood strong and untouched. An heir of the Clan could not truly inherit without facing the harsh reality of the cultivation world.

"Will you warn them?" She looked at his emerald eyes and saw a deep sadness in them.

"It will not work if they are warned. I will save who I can but even that must be hidden from them. It is time for them to grasp the true reality of what is being asked of them." He then stood up and left his office as Lysanna looked at his retreating back.

She recalled a much kinder man a long time ago but also one that if provoked could be merciless. Such a contradiction did not exist without very harsh experiences.

She looked at the list of names and a few stood out to her. She sent her well wishes to her great grandchildren and hoped they would not be broken by the next few rounds.