Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 997 - 996 - Broken Souls

"The Gate was broken and tensions rose until all out battles began. The Eternal Flame Sect had set up a secret formation that stole souls to fuel their strength. None could stop them after that was activated, not even Lady Tsunade. It was all she could do to prepare to safeguard us." Belia was openly crying as she spoke but he did not stop her from speaking.

They passed many impromptu healing halls filled with broken men and women. Some were just physically hurt but most were crippled or mentally broken.

He assessed many of them were within his ability to heal but she took him to a very familiar suite.

The Oberon Suite was no longer surrounded by mists but few were near it. He walked up the steps and found several grown demonesses staring at him in awe.

They ran to him and he smiled to see them alive. He saw haggard eyes all around but life was still there.

"I am late. I deeply apologize." They shook their heads at him but he continued to follow Belia until they came to the sound of weeping.

He found Sorcha red eyed and lost. She was missing an arm!

It should be easy to fix, yet there she sat! She was in the Sky Realm but only the 2nd Tier. They would all be well on their way to the 7th or 8th Tier with all he left behind. Likely they had to use the majority to repair themselves and the increased tainted Qi impeded their progress as well.

He set Felicia down as he looked at 2 beds that held emaciated demonesses. He recognized them well. The rings were still on them but now that he was closer, he saw how serious the issues were.

Their souls were butchered!

It was not like with Fiends. They removed and refined a soul inside their dantian to both extend their life and improve their cultivation. Like all cultivators, it took increasingly more souls to progress in both and of higher quality to see results.

It was not impossible that the soul could be saved either in that case. Releasing it back into samsara was best but it was still within the realm of possibility.

What he saw in front of him was like a pale imitation that was barely functional.

The girls' souls were fractured, missing pieces where he knew they should be, and generally damaged. That they retained their original self was pure luck and a curse all at once.

Many in the room recognized him but no one came near him as his aura was anger personified. He carefully brought his emotions under control until he could calmly approach.

Sorcha did not even look at him as he passed but he could not blame her. It was clear that the horrific battles had reaped damage in a very different way on her soul.

"Master." One of the demon girls opened her eyes and saw him. The other slowly responded but neither could move beyond that. He smiled at them and took their hands.

"I am late and for that I apologize. I will take care of everything. I need your permission, though. Can I help you?" He did not deserve to enforce his will on them to assuage his guilt. He had jumped in time true, but he was the direct cause of all around him.

His curiosity had led to the current situation of Kun City and its residents.

Ignorance was not an excuse, not to him. He had known it was a risk to examine the spatial tunnel but not that it would shift him in time. It did not absolve him at all and he had to accept the consequences.

Confusion was in their cobalt and crimson eyes but both smiled at him.

The instant they did, emerald light flared across their bodies. A profound flame in crystal form appeared above Lind. It was his crystal! It was projected to show he was using all his power as a Crystal Tier Immortal!

Sorcha finally reacted and new tears formed but of joy, not grief! He was back!

Lind let his harmony dive deep as all 18 elements obeyed his commands. Natural and demonic elements could easily repair the body, but for the soul, only his harmony had any hope. The Celestial Qi would support him but he let the world fall away.

Compared to any weaving, what he was doing was like combining gossamer with finely threaded glass. Both were extremely fragile and would shatter with the slightest pressure.

His fingers began to glow as they danced in the air and horribly mutilated figures appeared above the girls.

It was so slow and pain was evident on their bodies, but then shock flooded the room.

The tiny threads of emerald Qi began to repair the figures. As they became closer to full humanoid forms, the girls' flesh began to fill out! It was a miracle!

A few Immortals came running as they felt an unfamiliar aura but froze in place to see a strange man at work on the wounded. The sweat pouring off his brow and soaking his robes made it clear he could not be interrupted.

The reaction of the other demons and the 2 human girls with them showed that he was not an enemy.

Time passed both quickly and painstakingly slowly for Lind. He felt like his fingers were too numb to continue but he pressed on. He finally wove the last repair into their souls before returning them to their bodies ever so carefully.

He then observed the reintegration as his Qi worked to supply the energy they needed to recover after that. His crystal was basically tapped out after that. He also felt like he reached an immensely deeper understanding of his harmony.

It was not a source of life but it could complement it. It could restore what was lost or damaged so long as enough material was there to use.

The 2 girls now slept peacefully and he nearly fell over before Sorcha caught him with her arm. He smiled up at her and gave her an elixir to recover the limb before slowly standing up to face the Immortals.

He bowed low and downed a few elixirs to recover himself.

"You are Maester Taren Cord?" A young woman with bright violet hair looked hard at him. He did not recognize her but he did recognize the old woman next to her. The sect master of the Eternal Blossom Sect had seen better days.

Tsunade was next to them but she too looked rather haggard.

"I am. Please excuse my rude arrival but my–" An attack came at him but Lind simply countered it with his harmony. The Art fell apart to the shock of all in the room. "Immortals cannot fight here. They are all injured."

Tired as he was, their tainted Qi was no match for his gram for gram.

"So, the rumors about you were true. You are not affected by the Corruption!" The violet haired woman was truly angry for some reason but the other 2 held her back.

"Regional Envoy, as we explained many times, you cannot hold Maester Cord accountable for what the Eternal Flame Sect has done here in Kun City." Lind felt surprised. He blamed himself, so why did those 2 blame him?

Tsunade might simply not want to aggravate him due to his status but the sect master had no idea who he really was.

"He sabotaged the Gate! He trapped those monsters here and allowed them to ally with the slavers against us!" He narrowed his eyes at her words. It was new information. It also explained much.

The Eternal Flame Sect was too far away for help but if they could call on local allies, it would be a vastly different story.

"It seems I have much to catch up on. First, however, let me finish my work." He saw the woman get angry but he moved to the next cots and began to heal. He was not holding back in the face of the suffering. No matter what the other 2 women said of him, it was his fault.

They watched in increasing awe as he seemed to heal and restore all in the Oberon Suite before moving on to the rest of the Golden Vermillion Inn.

It did not matter if they were Immortal or a Soul Realm, he could fix them all!

He also did it with his own skill and not just his elixirs!

There was little for them to say after he was done as he was clearly exhausted mentally, physically, and spiritually.

They had spent the last few years in a heated battle and lost miserably. They had lost their own morale with each defeat but in less than a day, a Maester brought it all back!

"I am going to recover and then I will hear all you have to say. I want to start with this, though, how does the Eternal Flame Sect expect to get away with all of this?" He assumed a lotus position and began to cultivate to return himself to peak condition.

The flow of Qi and Laws left the Immortals floored but none dared interfere any further. They simply waited for him to awaken.