novelraw Chapter 965 - 964 - Harmonic Cleansing
Chapter 965 - 964 - Harmonic Cleansing
The road east was winding and open with only a few small carriages crossing to the next intersection before leaving it.
On that road were 4 people setting up camp in one of the few designated areas to relax. It was already there long ago but had been expanded with the Law Bindings to protect the roads.
They only took up a small corner but it could easily hold a caravan of 4 carriages. They had spent the last week walking at a brisk pace as Lind began to experiment. The girls noticed the previous dynamic between the Immortals had vanished but Lind still referred to her as Master from time to time.
It took a few days before they understood that Lind had learned his Forging from Delenn.
Still, Lind began to leave them all behind as he tried to use tools to make elixirs as well.
He also seemed to summon a strange emerald Qi they did not understand but it was not impeded by anything.
He also seemed very frustrated.
"Nothing works right. The moment I let go, it gets contaminated. The instant I lose focus, the taint floods everything." He was watching as a cauldron made of silvery metal became spotted with black marks.
"Yet the artifacts we wear continue to work just fine. Even if I am not focused on the bracelet, it has no issue. Your weaving tools also do not seem to suffer any issue." Lind nodded at Delenn's words.
Weaving only had a few tools, mostly items you could imprint like a formation plate. He also had made a few enhancement flags to let non-weavers set up a weaving without a weaver.
Unlike anything else he had, the weaving tools did not suffer from the taint. The oddity was they may not be actively using a weaving when he tested them.
The current golden flag with silk cloth tassels remained as pure grade 7 as before no matter how long it sat there.
The only exceptions were any artifacts he had made that used harmonic Qi as they too were immune but that was due to the thin film of emerald Qi protecting them.
Lind had determined several issues with inanimate objects. So long as he maintained contact with his Qi or physical touch, the taint stayed away but if his concentration slipped or he let go of the artifact, it would be instantly ruined.
Grade made no difference either. Grade 7 was corrupted as quickly as grade 1!
He had a few spirit tools but he was reluctant to test those for the sake of things as they were living beings to him. Still, he would look into it when a safety margin could be determined.
The whole point of it was to see if he could continue to increase his proficiency but it seemed he had to set up an extremely secure facility to purify the air.
The other issue was the quality of the Qi. The tainted Qi was far inferior to the 1st layer even though it was recovering in most places still.
It was not that Immortal Qi did not exist, it was more that it was so badly corrupted as to be useless to him.
Delenn had told him there were areas with low density of Immortal Qi as well and the Ogros Kingdom was likely in such an area to begin with.
Still, without purified Qi, he would be entirely unable to progress his cultivation let alone his production skills.
Delenn was suffering from the same problem. Both of them could recover to the peak of their current foundation but advancing would be extremely difficult.
Between the 2, Delenn was about halfway to the mid Crystal Tier but she could recover far more easily compared to Lind.
He had several issues not limited to his Celestial Qi and harmonic crystal. He had to comprehend his Laws and his crystal to better understand his way forward.
He had been able to at least recover his capacity of Qi after a month but that was it!
"When we get to a city, I should have the ability to see what we can rent for some testing." He nodded at her words but he did not think it would resolve the issue.
"Lord Frey, if you want to have a perfect isolation ward, you can find one in places like the capital of Ogros Kingdom. The alchemists that traveled in the caravans would mention it when they stayed in the village." Belia spoke up and Lind narrowed his eyes.
"I will check them out if we can. For now, there is something else I want to test." He then closed his eyes and focused on his harmony.
It was integral to his entire body and meridians but he was able to retract the Qi perfectly from his left arm. The result was immediate.
Pain lanced through his arm as it began to wrinkle and die! The 3 women were shocked but after a time it began to recover. Lind watched as his draconic flesh was able to restore a modicum of healthy looking flesh but it was not tainted with Fiend Qi.
"Are you ok?" Delenn's voice was full of concern but Lind ignored her as it was not the current situation he was testing. He waited until a balance was reached.
"No matter what happens, do not interfere." He was a baseline for his procedure he wanted to test. His flesh was already compatible so if it went badly, no one else could be helped by him.
Emerald flames began to spread from his shoulder where he still protected his body. They slowly spread as pain far greater than before wracked his body.
He had to suppress his screams but that was not the only problem. His skin was being ripped open and blood was being forced out of his arm despite him protecting the blood previously!
He endured it until the process was done and found his crystal was nearly depleted from Qi! It took all he had to cleanse his own arm!
Blood, putrid flesh, and even scales now littered the ground in a small pile. Despite the disgusting smell and bloody results, a pristine new arm glistened in the firelight.
It was not all, it felt stronger to him! He examined it closely and felt shocked at something he saw.
He retracted his harmony once more but unlike previously, no taint entered his flesh!
His meridians were already tempered by his harmony but now his flesh had been cleansed!
What previously had to be actively done by his harmonic Qi was now easily done in the arm alone!
"I will recover and I want to keep going. Can you all watch over me?" He looked up and saw confusion on his companions but explained by holding up both his arms.
The 2 girls could not perceive the difference but Delenn felt shock flood her as she saw it! One arm was sheathed in Qi but the other was not!
Lind set out some weavings to protect them from any unexpected issues as he did not want to be observed by outsiders either as he recovered for the rest of the night before beginning on his next arm.
The process was faster and he found ways to mitigate the pain but the Qi consumption was just as horrific. Yet, as he progressed, he was able to feel a better understanding of his harmony and what it was doing.
His flesh became tainted but when he let the harmony flow into it, it restructured his flesh to remove not only the taint but impurities of any kind!
It made the flesh become naturally resilient! It was excruciating and he did not think anyone but him could survive it but he filed away all the changes.
He came to a large issue, however, when he realized his main torso had a lot of critical organs that he could not do all at once. He also did not know what would happen to his head!
He sighed as he planned out several organs and began to guide the tainted Qi to his various organs first before attacking his general torso.
His heart was extremely dangerous but he had to try. The pain nearly made him black out just from being corrupted! His blood began to turn which he had not accounted for but his flesh in his limbs actually helped out!
The transformed flesh filtered the blood and let him focus on his heart. It was going well until the damn thing fell apart! Blood spewed from his mouth as the world became dim but his vitality kept him alive long enough to regenerate with his harmonic Qi a new heart.
He had overestimated his skill and understanding when it came to the organs.
The organs were too delicate for the cleansing or he had to fine tune the process. His spleen, kidneys, and other organs had a few issues but still nearly disintegrated until he barely held them together. His stomach was surprising at how strong it was but his lungs shocked him.
He had assumed they would be as frail as his heart but instead they were the easiest! He examined his lungs in more depth and felt like an idiot. He was a dragon! Their lungs were critical to their fire breathing. If there was any organ constantly exposed to his harmonic Qi, it was his lungs!
His torso was not ready yet as there was one more place to test but as expected, his dantian did not need any work at all. His crystal flared emerald and no tainted Qi could ever get close to it!
He then endured a rather horrific conversion of the general flesh in his torso but unlike his limbs, it actually went much better thanks to his dantian and the organs already working to support him.
Finally, after almost 2 weeks of rebuilding his body, he allowed his head to be corrupted. It was then that a new facet of his existence roared to life.
Weaving was tied to his soul but while the soul of an Immortal was united with the crystal in his dantian, the living throne of the soul was in his mind! The instant the tainted Qi touched his brain, the process was cleansed at the same time!
His vision doubled as he felt like his skull split open. He screamed openly as he could not suppress the pain or control the process but it seemed to end quickly.
Lind was on all fours as he caught his breath and slowly looked up to see the horrified looks of the 2 girls but Delenn was looking at him carefully. Lind was about to speak when he grasped something he wanted since they arrived!
He closed his eyes as he assumed a lotus position and a storm of Qi swirled around him at long last! His foundation was consolidated as the tainted Qi was easily shifted into pure Immortal Qi for him to use.
All 3 women were shocked but the smile on his face was clear as day!
He burned away the impurities as they were vile but he then frowned as he realized his actions had drawn unwanted attention.
"We have guests coming. Please let me deal with them." Lind stretched his body and felt more like himself for the first time in far too long. He prepared for the people coming to them but was happy when he noticed his aura stretched out once more like he was used to.
He used his Touch and Eyes to confirm he could use his Arts once more and began to grasp the plague imposed on the 2nd layer. He pushed that aside as a carriage with some swarthy men sneering as they approached the rest area where the 4 of them were at.