Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1803 - 1802 - Shadow of the Fiends

There were 4 more corpses next to the burnt husk. It seemed the Oaths woven for the Kord Clan were the source of the self destruction trigger. The Immortal had been seared to take his soul as well while the Heaven Realms were just killed.

Even knowing they would trigger, Lind was amazed at how quickly they reacted. He had barely felt the shift in energies and it was over. Someone knew the speed a Divine Realm’s aura could act and planned against it.

That was only possible for a Journeyman Tier and above. An Oath by them laid with a trap would require their input to finalize the timing.

Still, he had begun to piece together a story far too old and yet leading to a nightmare still lingering in the Divine Lands.

When the Bastard died, natural sources of Fiend Qi went with him. The rise of Celestials was also increased beyond any hope to track them. Yet, their knowledge lingered if it could be found.

The Eastern Continent had been so devastated that nothing remained and the Northern Continent had never been a place of interest to them. That left the other 2 and sadly they had been everywhere.

Even as their forces had been routed out, it did not remove the hidden caches nor preserved knowledge others held. Some of it was totally useless without Fiends themselves, yet some of it could be adapted.

The current situation was pieced together enough for him to recognize what the demon king was trying to do. He was trying to make an artifact that could store souls.

How he would process the soul afterwards was still a mystery but given how fixated the orders were on the princess being returned alive made it clear she was key to that step. A container was actually perfectly fine as it was a method some Immortals employed to preserve the endurance of their soul after the body died.

They were, however, not made to be generic like a Fiend version was. They also usually designed for a single soul to allow continued existence, not store many souls to be consumed.

The latter was obviously never good. Souls were not as discrete as a physical body. If forced into a small space with others, things would begin to unravel quickly.

All that would be left was the vitality stored inside the soul itself.

There was no other purpose for that version. Sadly, it was all too easy to make even without Fiend influence. Yet, it was useless after that unless there was an artifact or Fiend around to convert that vitality into something that can be consumed.

It was not like a demon or human could simply swallow a pill or anything to allow them to magically be able to absorb souls like a Fiend. The issue was the existence of thralls.

While they were extensions of the Fiend that made them, it showed it was possible to make a normal person into a creature that could absorb life. The Fiend changed them so if someone could find documents or some artifact that could simulate the Fiend catalyst, it was entirely possible to succeed.

Lind felt anger rise as he considered how far the plan had come and how Divine Realm cultivators had gone along with it. It was not that the taboo was not understood but sacrificing others to live longer was hardly a new concept.

Many battles would be reduced to an older cultivators discarding their sect, family, or anything so long as they could live to rise and grow stronger. Even in the more chaotic times of the Fiends, it was deeply frowned upon.

The current age it would be a scandal worthy enough for even a Master Tier to get involved. The fact it had not gotten that far meant it was being hidden effectively.

A moderate power had found a method and found similar minded figures by their contacts to slowly gather what they needed. A few decades was nothing, even centuries, if they could make it all worthwhile before they died.

"Divine Lord Lind Frey, is Princess Bryth well?" The current senior survivor was the old man. He was actually a Shard Tier Immortal that had been hidden by a grade 8 artifact. His attack had shattered all of them.

He took no chances in his assault. He had used his full force of flames to scatter the defenses of the Journeyman Tier followed by using his Time Layer to accelerate the lifespan. He had taken a chance as few could defend against that.

The present forced into the future was not something easily grasped by others in time to disperse it. He had been stunned how quickly the Divine Realm’s mind and soul had collapsed. Fading had been lingering close to that one.

He found nothing tricky on the rest that died by trying to break their Oaths other than the speed. It confirmed he would need to act directly.

He could, in theory, alert friendly Master Tiers but that would set a bad precedent. If people thought they could simply ignore the taboo and the worst they would have to fear is him finding out to send other cultivators, they would plan accordingly.

It would simply be a matter of finding their own allies to hide behind and restrain other Master Tiers. Lind also knew the odds of him finding out were pure luck in the current instance and he had to make sure a more active role was taken up by others.

Hiding away in seclusion was not an excuse. He had to make that clear as he was in semi-seclusion for his own needs at the moment.

The old man Mu had given him information but it was 250 years out of date. All he had was some communications on what was the theoretical state of the Veridian Bone Sect. Lind reached out to his family for more concrete information.

It would take some time.

"She survived and has the loyalty of her followers." He shook himself from his tangential thoughts as he answered. He gave no more. While he may have torn the mask of the purpose of their journey, he did not trust these people.

Ryl suddenly came running over the hill and he sighed as it seemed the young Sky Realm had felt the danger had passed when his anger faded.

[Packleader! You are ok?] The question actually made him smile. It meant Ryl understood the seriousness of the current situation. He patted his head and relayed what he had learned.

Ryl seemed to dislike what the group here was sent to do but his words shocked Lind.

[They will not harm her!] Ryl had become friendly with his wives and friends, yet they were all Divine Realm beings. To Ryl, it was like being a child in a room full of adults.

He gained a lot of aunts and uncles essentially.

Princess Bryth was much closer in age to Ryl and also closer in realm. Lind smiled and Ryl seemed to suddenly not be able to look him in the eyes.

Could spring have finally come for Ryl? A demoness would be a good match for his personality yet it was clearly too soon as well. Ryl was not mature enough to understand why he was uncomfortable.

The peaceful distraction was welcome after the dark revelations.

He then looked up as several figures were flying in the sky. One was a decently sized snow dragon but the other was shocking to him. It was Viera!

Why was she there?!

The small woman floated down and knelt in front of him while the snow dragon merely bowed their head over their large body.

"Divine Lord, are these the men related to the Veridian Bone Sect?" Lind tilted his head as he had not called them.

"They are, but how do you know that?" She looked up fiercely and he was glad to see the shadow of grief was far diminished.

"Lord Sun was a good friend to Luxor. He reached out to free you up for what you have to do. He also said to tell you: Do not go too far." She did not flinch at giving an order to a Divine Lord.

The dragon next to her was clearly sent as a guide. He could sense the connection to a Divine Lord if he had to after meeting them once.

Lind smiled and motioned for her to rise.

"First, thank you. Second, Sun is wise about my temper. You have done well." He was formal at first but then he laughed and patted her shoulder. The snow dragon’s pale blue eyes went wide. "You look well. She would be proud."

A smile bloomed on her face as her dark robes seemed to move on their own.

"I have killed the known direct conspirators but these men are following the orders of the King of Blades. They have been truthful and forthcoming once they learned the full scope of the situation yet I cannot allow them to roam free." Many of the people bound became tense, but Lind was not merciless. "Keep them safe until proper authorities can decide their fate."

He had full authority to kill them. Even by human or demon powers, a Divine Lord was essentially the highest power even without exerting their Divine Authority. So, his words were equivalent to saying: You will not die yet.

Relief flooded them but Mu looked concerned before he spoke up.

"They followed my orders. I will take all the blame on me!" Lind turned to the older human and saw many of the men and women protest. There was no deceit that he could detect.

The dark eyes were clear and Lind found respect for the human.

He walked over and knelt down before him.

"Princess Bryth is currently the rightful heir and she will decide, but I will convey this event to her. You are not lying. You are willing to shoulder it all." Viera and the dragon both heard him.

Ryl also seemed to become warmer to Mu, but only a little.

Beasts respected strength, yet they also respected an elder willing to stand between the young and danger just as much.

Lind took Ryl and flew back to the princess. He had to get uptodate intelligence and plan the next step.

He was going back to war.