Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 963 - 962 - Sorcha and Belia

Lind was very free while Delenn ran the village. There was not much to do so really even she had not much to do but she took it seriously.

Among other things though, both of them found a lot of issues with the open punishment they had come upon when they arrived. It was learned the administrator and former village head had encouraged it to drive home the harsh penalties of breaking the rules of the village.

While frontier justice was acceptable, making a show of it was not. Interrogation could be done somewhere more effective with evidence and judgment passed in public.

She set up some basic rules but essentially she found she returned them to how they used to be.

The majority of issues she resolved in the first week of their stay and that included finding a tidy sum of World and Sky Stones hidden away that should have been used for the village taxes.

Lind had been an accountant for a short day but there was not much to delve into thankfully.

After all that, they got caught up on as much as the villagers could tell them.

The Corruption was an event that started far to the west. It spread like lightning across all lands as Fiend Qi seemed to infect the very world somehow.

Normally, Fiend Qi was created by converting natural Qi through arrays or refining a soul. It did not simply float around freely in all Qi that was.

Demonic Qi was not immune from the issue either which was odd. Fiend Qi should have been less dramatic for them but the demons seemed to suffer worse. Many might sects and kingdoms crumbled seemingly overnight!

It made Lind suspicious but he needed more data.

After that, it was apparently a dark time but another oddity came up. Fiends had indeed had their own sects and powers but all of them had vanished!

Where had they gone? What intrigued Lind more was that no one seemed to know when they vanished. It seemed like they missed the best opportunity to rule the entire 2nd layer of the Celestial Fields.

Lind also learned the Ogros Kingdom had risen after the chaos of those first years of the Corruption.

A coalition of Immortals worked to find a solution to the issues to regain their strength as they wisely feared the Fiends returning.

Law Bindings were the only thing effective and thus in an unprecedented move, the Immortals across the realm worked together to modify or created Law Bindings to protect every power that could afford to do it.

It was not only done for the upper powers either, but everywhere trade routes led. The hubs of medium and lower powers were able to benefit even though they had no Immortals at all.

He learned that medium powers also were those with only Star or Moon Tiers at their head! Medium powers!

Perhaps that would be how the 1st layer would become one day but it gave him a humbling perspective adjustment to how weak Heaven Realms were in the Celestial Fields.

Heaven Realms currently lead high powers regardless of tier down there.

Once the first supreme powers were secure, they spread a network along chosen roads but no one could fly anymore so there was no need to worry about it for the immediate future.

It made some concerns easier to ignore as previously formations and other defenses had to be constantly maintained against flying beasts and cultivators, but now no one could fly.

Only natural beasts that had wings could still fly and even then they were too weak to breach the Law Bindings.

Banditry was essentially eliminated for a time.

The false peace was then broken as some Immortals revealed their greed for their neighbors' resources to keep themselves safe or to improve their Law Bindings.

It was possible to have almost 99% reduction but it was cost prohibitive to almost all powers. The more common reduction was 60%. It made the village a bit of an exception.

Thus civil and other wars broke out and revealed how fragile the Law Bindings really were.

All of that was resolved over 900 thousand years ago.

Beyond that, the villagers only had more recent history where Ogros Kingdom had fended off recent bandit groups that had been made by Immortals seeking to build their own powers.

The limited space and lack of advancement made Immortals desire to break free as time passed.

The severe drop in Heaven Realms also meant the once robust powerbase shrank dramatically after only a few thousand years too.

All in all, it was the old story of common sense thrown away for greed.

"Master?" A voice broke Lind from the jade slip he was compiling to send down to his family. The more information the better for them all.

Intercepting the message was also not dangerous as it only painted the stark state of the current 2nd layer.

"I told you both, Sorcha, I am not your master. Delenn is. She is my Master." The young girl in front of him blinked in confusion as her sister was preparing some food for dinner behind her.

The double rooms they had slept in that first night had been comfortable but Delenn moved to the village head's home and office to administer the place until a replacement arrived.

She seemed calm about that upcoming event but they had nothing to hide after all the evidence they had gathered. The Ogros Kingdom had been writing complaints to the City Lord who passed it onto the villages under his control.

The pair had lost their parents not long after they were born. They had faced the bandits somewhere in the forest to the east and lost their lives.

It was not an uncommon incident as the villagers were still in need of food and resources they had to gather at least in part from the forest.

There was a protected field but only an idiot would attack it as any fields were protected by grade 7 artifacts if an Immortal or Heaven Realm came near them.

"Belia, let me help with that." Both jumped as he joined her in the kitchen and began to chop up the vegetables.

Neither he nor Delenn needed food but the girls did. Delenn already affirmed the pair would come with them as they could not stay in the village after the incident.

"Great Lord!" The young girl was flustered but he simply smiled as he brought the fire under the pot under his control. He was not simply cooking for enjoyment. He was testing his limits.

Even inside the Law Bindings, he found it difficult to use anything aside from his harmony. All 6 natural elements had a limited sphere of influence but he could use existing things like the fire more easily.

He guessed outside of 10 meters, any Art would be unstable unless he compensated with more Qi or Laws to guide it.

His demonic Qi seemed similar but the Celestial Qi was the mysterious one. Nothing worked. Not a spark of it!

Why? He was far more experienced but any attempt to use it failed instantly before it could even leave his skin! Inside his body it was fine but outside it just sputtered and died!

"Where did you learn to cook?" His question distracted the young girl from his presence.

"The kind senior sister that watched over the orphans taught us all kinds of things. Even a low quality cultivation technique." He nodded. The 2 girls were true sisters but unlike other siblings that could compliment each other, one had light and air elements while the other had light and earth. A difficult combination but he could help them.

"What happened to her?" He had noticed the past tense but both sisters looked down as their back length sandy colored hair. Their faces were a bit more narrow but the last few days had filled them out easily enough.

"No one stays for long. She moved on as another person took over. Currently Brother Sing runs it." Lind nodded as the stew was brought to a boil. He cleaned the stew with his Qi and felt the strain of it.

He was trying to mix Celestial Qi in here or there but it always failed even as he stood over the pot!

"Sorcha, hand me the bowl please." He held out his hand and then turned to them. "Keep an eye on what I do."

They nodded and quickly knelt down as he used light, air, and earth in various combinations to remove the stew, separate any remaining filth all at once. The wonderful smelling stew filled the bowl as he snuffed the fire out.

He knew that was why they called him master. He was seeing how much they grasped for the moment but their talent was hampered by their state.

Tainted Qi riddled their meridians and dantian. Their Soul Cores were just as bad. He was stunned anyone could cultivate even with the Law Bindings helping them.

He had some thoughts on it but wanted to get a firm grasp of their current state before bringing it up.

The pair happily slurped up the stew as he sat back and finished making the jade slip for his family.

[Lind, a messenger has come for us.] He heard Delenn's words and confirmed he got the message. It was the one thing they alone retained in the current world. Telepathic messages needed Qi but the pair did not suffer like the rest of the world thanks to his harmony.

Using his harmonic Qi in the bracelet, she could reach him easily.

"Clean up and follow me. Our replacement has hopefully arrived." The girls looked gloomy but he patted their heads. "Her Highness already stated you are coming with us. Come on!"

They brightened instantly and quickly cleaned up before following him to the village head's office.