novelraw Chapter 958 - 957 - Broken Qi
Chapter 958 - 957 - Broken Qi
"Do not cultivate!" Lind's voice echoed across the blackened bog they were sitting in. He summoned his harmony to cover both of them.
Only then did he feel safe to let Delenn pull some Qi in. His harmony purified the Qi but its quality was severely reduced. It was not even at the Immortal level, it was Sky Realm at best.
"What is going on?" His Master looked confused as they were both soaked to the skin and Lind noticed that while he was protecting her, her aura had dropped sharply.
His Eyes activated and saw it was not just her. The trees were not dead around them. They were Obsidian veined trees, an Immortal tree race normally, were barely at the peak of the Heaven Realm!
They were materials he had only heard about from Delenn but the aura conflicted with what he saw. There were clear signs of the trees once having Immortal Sliver and Shard Tier ability but no longer.
They had regressed? He turned his Eyes to Delenn but saw his harmony was protecting her. She had taken in some of the tainted Qi and it sharply drained her cultivation!
It was slowly recovering with his help.
"The very Qi here is tainted. It is everywhere. Give me a moment." He rifled through his ring before finding the item he needed. A black metal bracelet appeared and he quickly infused his harmonic Qi into it.
The lines on the bracelet were exquisite but merely affectation. He had made an aesthetic choice for it as it had been a prototype for artifacts he made later.
He had Delenn put it on and then retracted his harmony slowly. The bracelet lit up and Delenn concentrated on it as she understood how it worked.
"This will only last a few months unless you stress yourself. I can keep it topped off until a better solution is found." She nodded as they both tried to fly once more. Delenn instantly stopped as the bracelet's glow increased sharply.
Lind, however, could get his dragon flight to work just barely. Both sighed as they began to slog through the waist high water and plants around them. There were no beasts in range, strangely, even though he could see some signs they had been there not long ago.
"A violent ascension would send most beasts running, even if they were sentient. Even if successful, ascending to the Crystal Tier can be dramatic on both ends of the transference." He nodded at her words but wondered why that was.
He had not had time to study their arrival and was still slowly recovering. He used some elixirs but their effectiveness had decreased sharply.
"We will need high grade 7 items to be completely compatible with us. I would need close to peak high grade 7 but anything in that level can work for you." He nodded and smiled as she had long told him he was ready to burst ahead on that front for Forging.
Elixirs were also like that but grade 7 was not the limit. Law grade items were damned rare but he had some success in making them. Instead of just incorporating Laws, he actually used them directly to create the effects he desired.
It was far more difficult and his limited success showed he was far from being a true master of it.
If he ever did, Delenn had told him no power in their right mind would cross him.
It would be an assurance but for the moment they had to get out of the bog. There was a humid and close feeling he did not like being there, yet his senses told him beasts were still gone.
They could not make out the sun or stars with the darkened sky but it was light enough it should be day time. He was unsure how long they had been moving when he finally caught the scent of a beast.
He did not see them, but it was a cold blooded race. He swiftly scanned the area but frowned as his aura could not go as far as he liked.
He pushed Delenn to move faster and she did not question him. In the current circumstances, he had far better reliance on his senses than she did. She showed frustration as her return to her home layer of the Celestial Fields was not going as hoped.
"Do you have any idea where we are?" His words seemed far too loud in the silence but she quickly shook her head.
"While there are swamps and bogs both near my homeland, I have never personally been there. I was a bit more sheltered when I was younger but even when I traveled, I was with experts." He nodded.
The current circumstances in the first layer of the Celestial Fields was special. There were recovering or barely any powers rising up each day. News spread and it was not impossible to learn a few hundred names and places in that state of affairs.
Now, if it was expanded like the mortal realms to many millions of powers across vast lands it would take centuries to cross, it was impossible to know it all on sight. Cultivators lived more than long enough but Delenn had been trapped and sent to the mortal realm so long ago.
"Whatever did this, how can anyone live?" Lind nodded at her words. It was a legitimate question. If the tainted Qi ripped away the foundation of Immortals, then there would only be Heaven Realms at best left.
Yet, despite losing their cultivation, the trees endured.
Also, his instincts were warning him that something dangerous was nearby.
Only a Crystal Tier could be a threat to him at his current cultivation. Even weakened as he was from his ascension, that fact held true.
"I would not underestimate either nature or the ingenuity of cultivators. Also, it is possible there is a way to bounce back after a certain point." She nodded as they slowed at his gesture. They were surrounded.
He just barely felt them at the edge of his aura. It revealed either that the beasts could sense his aura clearly or they simply did not care if they were detected any longer.
Still, he frowned. The strongest he felt was a Sky Realm.
Why did he feel a threat?
His emerald eyes pierced the misty layer gathering and saw large lumps moving unnaturally against the waves created by the pair.
Their shape gave him a close idea.
"Crocodiles or maybe alligators. Any idea what they may be?" Delenn paled at his words. That could not be good.
"What is the highest cultivation realm?" He told her but also that he felt danger. She swallowed before speaking after that. "If I recall correctly, we are facing the Shale Strike Gators. They are aligned with darkness Qi mostly but are vicious. They show no mercy." Lind arced an eyebrow at that but snapped his hand up in time to grasp a shape object.
It was not a dagger but a scale! It was as hard as any weapon he Forged! It cut his hand! It had come from the right but he only felt a Sky Realm there. How could it cut him?!
"Immortal bodies. They lost their foundation but their bodies do not suffer the same effect!" The Sky Realm was the Immortal!
That was frustrating. He flared his draconic aura but unexpectedly, the gators did not respond! He then sneered as emerald flames shot into the sky. It lit up the bog and revealed a dozen of the creatures.
They were massive! How had they moved so quietly that even he could not hear them until they got within his limited range!
"The next attack will result in your deaths. I do exaggerate that you stand no chance." Lind was weakened but he was not bluffing. His body was completely recovered long ago.
On that alone, these beasts stood no chance.
Dark laughter filled the air as a figure loomed up out of the bog and water dripped from a dark scaled creature. It was similar to an alligator but he saw the scales flex on its body in a controlled pattern.
He understood the implication.
"Little treats come to our home. How can we pass them up? Leave the woman and you can go. That is the best I can give you." Lind narrowed his eyes at the beast. He then smirked as a different aura came from him.
"I gave you a chance." The skies rumbled which made all the beasts twitch. "Withdraw, or die."
The smaller beasts seemed to respond to his voice. The large one, however, croaked out a roar quickly. It reasserted its control but it seemed to reconsider its actions.
"A True Lord is different, but this is still our land, not yours. Heaven has not acknowledged you." Confusion flowed through Lind but Delenn seemed to understand.
"He has ascended!" Her words actually had more effect than anything Lind had said. The large beast seemed to get bigger. If before it was 10 meters tall, it now became a full 20!
"So, someone had finally ascended since the Corruption. Well, you will lose your strength soon enough. I am impressed you have lasted this long but even True Lords have fallen to it. Still, the rules stand. The True Lord may leave unmolested, but you do not have such protection." Lind turned to her but she nodded that it was not lying.
"And if I disagree? She is my Master." The beast laughed once more.
"A little Master makes no difference to us. You do not understand your place, little True Lord. Your authority has no hold here." Lind felt a bit lost as he did not feel like the beast was lying at all!
[Master, the rules may not be consistent but your predecessors may have set them up. The beasts cannot break them nor do they have to hold back against you. It depends on what was chosen.]
Haro's words did not help but Lind sighed before trying one more attempt.
"I swore before Heaven and Earth to take my Master home. I have yet to do that." A rumble from Heaven came to show he was not kidding. The beasts actually backed off a bit.
"Hmmm, an Oath from a True Lord. Annoying. Very well, in that case. Leave!" Before they could understand the waters became violent and the pair were sent flying into the distance. "Not my problem anymore. Let the bastard humans deal with them."
The large beast felt agitated but froze suddenly as it saw something. It lowered its massive hulk to where the pair had been and noticed the plants were glowing! They were alive!
The impurity all of them dealt with was gone! The emerald flames had caused it!
[Hear me! A True Lord with emerald hair as bright as a gem and the same eyes is not to be harmed if he returns to the Bogs of Darkness. Inform me immediately if he returns. Any with his blood is to be kept alive as well.]
The strange words were felt throughout the bogs but all acknowledged their Lord before the beasts began to return to their homes and the cycle of life and death resumed.