novelraw Chapter 982 - 981 - One with Nature
Chapter 982 - 981 - One with Nature
The sun was low in the sky when the wall of the sect loomed over them. Lind took in the pale stone and could not immediately identify it.
It also felt weird to him. Refined stone, while varying in effects and quality, generally felt familiar to him, but the current one was odd.
He stopped the carriage well shy of the entrance and simply stared at the wall. The 2 girls did not interrupt him. He stepped down and heard a strange crunch when his feet touched down.
He looked down and did not see loose gravel, but bone!
He knelt down and carefully felt the smoothed over bones and realized they had been broken not by tools, but by time. Why?
Why lay out bone fragments near their entrance?
He slowly tilted his head and saw the vibrantly growing plants along the edge before narrowing his eyes. The herbs were not rare but usually found around death pits or a mass death event caused by a beast tide.
They were incredibly useful in making healing pills more potent!
"Bone Core Grass." It was still green but he could see the core of white at the center of each blade. It was the most he had ever seen even considering herb gardens! It was also far larger than any alchemist that kept them he knew could grow.
It was not a managed plot but a natural growth!
The instant that thought went through him he looked up at the wall in shock. It was not stone!
He slowly stepped forward and put his hand on it to find it was much warmer than stone should be!
"Bone and ligaments converted into a building material. Amazing." Nothing wasted. Nothing left to rot but put to use. The cycle of life and death was at the core of nature. The dead fueled the living or died simply so others could live.
The other part, though, was how beasts used the natural materials to build their nests, defenses, and other things. Aether beasts mimicked humans in part but retained their old habits.
Lions, tigers, and other predators would return to their home with fresh kills to consume or be consumed by their young. Herbivores would bend plants or gather loose branches to build nests but later take whole trees!
Lind could freely admit the concept in front of him was not trying to mimic beasts but actually in line with the tenets of nature!
How?!
He wanted to look at it more but a presence drew his senses and he looked over to find a peak Sky Realm in pale robes walking toward them.
"Greetings, Maester Cord. Not many notice the wall like that. You have good senses." The figure was rail thin but he did not sense a human in front of him. It was a beast.
"I merely have the fortune of experimenting with many materials so seeing a new one drew my eye." Lind bowed as he examined the person in front of them.
The limbs were far too thin. Lind thought Sorcha could easily clasp them in just one of her hands and she possessed fairly small hands. The robes were almost like a drape yet he noticed it moved smoothly without snagging or restricting the beast.
The head was almost human but where the eyes should be was basically slits and no nose.
What appeared to be dark hair was clearly scales.
"You are not just an aether beast, are you?" The being nodded.
"Very few notice that! I am born of a serpent and a human that had latent divine blood. My mother was a powerful Immortal long ago. My father had the blood of a Hardened Steel Dragon that while weakened divine blood, still reacted with my mother's. I was able to gain sentience in the World Realm." The voice was perfectly normal but Lind noticed the mouth was not moving in time with the sounds.
It was not a beast language but an actual human tongue he was hearing!
The trick was not known to him but he narrowed his eyes at the claim of a dragon bloodline. He felt no resonance like he did with other dragons. Further, a snake's bloodline would be subsumed if a divine bloodline awakened.
He did not call out the beast as he felt no malice but filed it away to look into later.
"I am looking forward to holding a sermon here. It seems like a fascinating place." The slim beast smiled and bowed.
"Please, follow me." Lind returned to the carriage but the Thunderhooves just followed patiently behind him without the need for a driver.
[You two stay in the carriage. Do not leave it.] Sorcha was not surprised but Felcia was shocked to realize Lind was using telepathy. Previously, they had been inside one of the best Law Bindings so it was possible at such a close range to pull it off, but they were outside on the road!
It should not work at all!
The group came to the main gate and found 2 old men who were at the peak of the Sun Tier standing guard. One was bald but robust with good muscles exposed on his arms while the other was thinner and had a very long white beard down to his waist.
The thinner one felt as powerful as his larger counterpart so Lind knew neither should be underestimated. He noticed the flash of fear as the beast passed by. Why would Sun Tiers fear a Sky Realm?
Once inside the wall, the air felt not only cleaner once more but his harmony was stirred! He closed his eyes and let his aura examine his crystal that seemed to be resonating with something around him.
He tried to pinpoint it but nothing quite came into focus. He then glanced around and slowly got the picture. Rather than the standard signs of cleared streets and throngs of people in market feeling, he saw trees, bushes, and even normal animals living next to houses!
It was almost like a fresh village settled on a frontier but instead of people slowly displacing nature, they lived with it!
He saw a house with a tree growing out of it that did not harm the tree or the house!
The bark seemed fused to the roof and a branch to the wall it was coming out of! A window with leaves covering it shifted as a small head poked out in curiosity!
Not all sects allowed families but this one clearly did as a toothy child waved at them as they passed.
Lind saw similar things and slowly began to grasp something. His eyes brightened as emerald light lined his body briefly. Living with nature was not the same as being one with nature!
The balance of all elements was not as simple as one pair canceling another or being a counter to each other! His crystal blazed with emerald light as it grew more profound.
The balance of all 6 elements was a reflection of the cultivator and the world they could grasp!
Lind stopped as his mind focused on something critical to his cultivation! The emerald flame slowly filled the crystal in his dantian until all 18 elements began to seem lively as well. No one dared to disturb him as enlightenment was critical to any cultivator.
The Thunderhooves stopped automatically and Sorcha hopped down to stand near him as a guard. It seemed laughable that a World Realm would protect an Immortal but anyone that underestimated her would not live to regret it.
Lind's body felt revitalized as he focused on his dantian. He found he had to suppress his draconic desire to roar but all else felt wonderful!
The entire sect was grown! It was adapted to the way of nature to thrive in life and death! Each wall and facet was used from living beings but not in a macabre way. They hunted beasts to live but nothing went to waste!
Whatever could not be directly used was applied to help herbs like the plants outside or to build defenses that could pull on the natural energy that existed before the sect ever arrived!
Whoever founded it had not interfered and incorporated it! Lind felt his mind clear about his harmony and the emerald flame took on an aspect clearly for the first time.
{Balance of Nature}
The 3 words flashed in his mind and his aura shifted. The beast and other nearby cultivators all felt a tremor in their dantians as a feeling of renewal washed over them. None could pinpoint the cause but all were stunned as all the plants currently tainted seemed to revitalize without being cured!
Lind slowly opened his eyes and his vertical slits were visible for just a moment before they shifted back to human shape.
He had revealed his draconic aura but had not confirmed what he was to anyone outside of that.
"Thank you, senior." Lind's words made the beast guiding them jump as a voice came from thin air.
"It is our way to embrace nature. I should thank you for agreeing to my request." Both girls tried to find the source but Lind looked to the center of the sect where a massive tree towered over all.
"The sect master used wind to carry her voice to us. Come, we are running late." His words got the beast moving and the carriage resumed its journey. Only just arrived and Lind had benefited from the visit.
He looked forward to what else he would find!