Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 959 - 958 - Corrupted Realm

Lind was having a nostalgic memory of getting sick from teleportation when he was in the Soul Realm. Qing was with him when he was sick to his stomach and he loathed using teleportation arrays.

As the wind whistled in his ears, he felt a similar nausea spreading through his body. Delenn was on her own this time as they had not been near each other before being launched by the Shale Strike Gator.

"Racial control, not Qi. Have to remember that." The reason he was caught off guard was he felt no flow of Qi. It was pure intent!

He finally grasped his racial flight ability to slow his tumbling before pain lanced across his back. He distinctly heard a crack but his limbs still answered his call. He realized he was now past the bog's border and over some sparse trees and a road was quickly closing in on his vision!

He could not stop his acceleration in time but then a formation lit up!

His fall was arrested and he was bounced off it into a massive oak! That time he distinctly felt his shoulder break! How long since he had been so fragile?!

He finally slammed into the dirt and grass beneath but the air was knocked out of him. Silence was around him but he heard another crash not far away. His Qi flowed as his bones and limbs were partially healed by his draconic vitality.

"Getting a little tired of being tossed around." His short time in the 2nd layer had been miserable but he pushed it aside as he followed the scent of blood. He quickly jumped over a rotting log to find Delenn bleeding and unconscious.

He quickly administered elixirs but had to protect them from the world as the Qi tried to contaminate it. It was annoying and making him frustrated but he was glad his artifact was still protecting her.

He found that once the elixir was inside her, all issues vanished but burned up the harmonic Qi very quickly.

He used his harmony to speed up her recovery until all her injuries were repaired. If she was not such a strong person, trained to Forge as much as she had, she would likely have suffered far worse injuries.

"In the future, do not be so forceful. We will likely have to fight our way out if you do." He smirked at her words but pulled her to her feet as they both looked around. The trees towered over them but once more, clearly Immortal plants were feeling weak around them.

There was an exception, however. The road they had bounced off of.

The formation was gone but Lind noticed that the Qi about 5 meters above it was pure! True Immortal Qi was there!

They walked over but found the way blocked. The formation flared once more and prevented them from entering.

"Fixed points of entry?" Delenn shrugged her shoulders at his question. The resources to constantly maintain a formation along a road would be massive. It could be mitigated but why do it?

"Can you perceive anything about the formation?" Her question made him activate his Talents but his Eyes gave him confusing results. It was clear the Qi making up the formation was tainted but the Qi inside was not.

How did that work? His Touch tried to brush the formation but he was repelled with power far above his own.

He narrowed his vision and could finally see how it was done.

"Law Array!" His words made Delenn stare at him in shock. An Immortal could certainly make a Law Array but it would need a Law Core to make a Law Binding! It was not a formation at all!

"Just to protect a road?!" It was absurd to both of them. Delenn tried to see any signs of a signature but it was too messy to pull anything out of it.

"Is there a way to know which way to go?" Lind felt they could not learn much more but she shrugged once more and then picked a direction. The sky was still clouded over but he began to suspect it was not weather related.

They noticed that while some beasts were nearby, they never came near the road. No traffic came by either. He suspected there was little need for it but someone was protecting the road so it had to be used for something.

Days passed into weeks before Lind picked up a smell that made him smile.

"Someone is making breakfast." Delenn smiled a bit but they kept their guard up. Everything they had seen led them to believe they would not simply be welcomed with open arms anywhere.

The entire world was corrupted and the road sealed. It did not lend itself to a happy place to live.

The sparse treeline finally revealed the curling smoke of homes on the horizon but Lind frowned as a scent of blood came with it. It was not very strong but it was not a beast he was smelling.

It was a human.

He tapped Delenn on the shoulder and she nodded at his warning. They could be watched so words were unwise. She also warned him that telepathic words could be intercepted as well.

He was not so sure with the current state of the world but better to be safe. They finally saw a structure where the road met the village wall. It was a sphere lodged into a pillar at the intersection.

It was the source of the barrier but Lind was shocked to note the Law Core was linked to something far away!

He could just barely perceive a line of Laws and Qi flowing off into the distance that dispersed into the Law Binding. Multiple Law Cores?! He had never learned of any such ability but it opened his mind to new possibilities.

The wall of the village was a bit odd too. It was not a physical wall aside from the very bottom. The grade was incredibly high too as it was behind the barrier but clearly connected to the Law Core to make the Law Binding very strong.

There was no way inside either. Lind gauged the smells as definitely food he identified as breakfast but how did they tell time?

On their journey, the sky was just dull gray or became as dark as a moonless night with no real feeling of the passage until it shifted between the 2.

The world seemed half alive to his observation but it was far better than the first layer had been.

"Any ideas?" Delenn's voice pulled him out of his thoughts but a Law Binding was a bit of a stubborn issue. Unlike a formation or weaving he could manipulate with some effort, a Law Binding was a serious application of Laws. He could theoretically break through it but it would simply shatter the protections he was reluctant to touch.

"There has to be a way in and out here. Food does not magically appear and besides, we are being watched." It was only in the last few meters, but just as before, his instincts warned him they were being watched from the treeline and near the wall.

Only beings outside the barrier could do that.

The pair made no overt sign of knowing that, but headed around the wall to the right and to see what they could find. To their frustration, they found another road blocked off by a barrier after walking for a few hours.

The size of the village was quite large but the complete lack of any alchemical or other scents told him it was mostly residences and low grade facilities.

He sighed before tilting his head back.

"We are lost. We have been walking for months and looking for a place to rest. May we enter?" He did not shout nor do more than raise his voice but his scales shimmered on his skin to let him know weapons were leveled at them.

An odd action. Why not use Arts?

Silence greeted them until a woman in worn leathers seemed to appear out of thin air. Lind was impressed as it was a physical action, not a skill or Art!

She had a crossbow leveled at them but he frowned as a tart smell of poison came from it. He had not been able to smell it until he saw her. That was not good.

His body would be fine as his expert eye told him it was only a grade 3 item. It would not even graze his scales.

Delenn, however, was in grave danger.

"Identify yourselves." Lind had no issue there as he was totally unknown, but Delenn had a bit of a problem there. She was either long declared dead or possibly infamous for being trapped by a jilted lover.

"I am called Lind Frey, Crystal Tier." He used the method Delenn told him to use and said nothing else. The rest was up to her. The woman nodded and turned to her.

A sigh left her lips but she summoned a golden medallion. It lit up instantly and showed a hammer in front of a flame. He had never seen it but the moment the woman saw it she dropped to a knee!

"Great Lady, my apologies!" A dozen other figures quickly appeared and knelt down. Lind slowly turned around and then looked at his Master. He saw no need to ask the obvious question.

"I am Delenn Ser Fionan. I am a grade 7 level 3 master Forger. I only request a place to sleep for my companion and I. Anyone with recent knowledge would be appreciated but is not required." He had heard many tones from Delenn.

He had been berated for messing up, educated with a calm voice, and many others but the current one he had dealt with when he was both an Emperor and Sect Master. Royalty. His Master was of Royalty.

The reaction to her name was even more severe as the original woman laid her face to the ground with a yelp!

"PLEASE FORGIVE OUR RUDENESS!" The others followed suit and Lind had to work hard to restrain laughter trying to escape him.

"If you laugh, I will make you fly again." Her words made his smile vanish as he realized how grim she was. She had not wanted to do that at all but they were forced to it. The strange state of the world was too much. They needed rest and answers. He sighed and nodded.

They would hopefully get a better grasp of the situation soon.