Eternal Emerald Dragon

After a time, both the old man and the old woman calmed down. Lind, however, had no time for them to recover.

"I need to reach everyone as fast as possible that is alive. How do I do that?" The young woman was about to shout more but the 2 older ones raised their hands as they grasped the reality of the situation.

"There is no quick way but we will do our best." The old woman was dead serious as several jade stones appeared in front of her. The old man did the same and Lind noticed they were all different colors. Some were variations but all held a different aura.

The pair were reaching out to their fellows but Lind noticed at least half turned to dust. The fear appeared in their eyes at that and silenced the younger woman.

Still at least a dozen others shimmered with bright light. Lind then saw several figures appear. Some were human, demons, and beasts but there were a few that were aether children and Elementals.

None were Celestials.

Lind did not wait for words and his emerald flames engulfed them.

Vile black mist emerged from their bodies as they screamed. Lind realized it was far worse than he had realized. It was not just markers but a level of corruption!

The instant several of them screamed in pain, a few were unaffected and looked at him sternly. Yet, the older pair of Eternal Realm cultivators held them off.

It was only as the various figures recovered and became hale that shock truly set in. They all turned to the man at the heart of the emerald storm that purified them.

Lind's vertically slit reptile eyes were cold and full of anger.

{YOU BASTARD!}

It was just 2 words but the hold shook as power surged like the might of Heaven and Earth when they were in lower realms.

Lind understood he was too late. The Bastard had already enacted his harvest on many innocent lives. Whatever constraints had held him back or caged him were gone and the complacency of the Eternal Realm cultivators became his ultimate trap.

A phantom emerald dragon was condensed and shot out of the hold. It streaked into the blackness and lit up like a sun.

Its power was beyond anything anyone had ever felt!

Screams and wailing were heard as yet another hold collapsed but the Fiend emerging was not happy. He had likely felt everything severed in an instant.

Just as he was about to turn and gloat, shock was revealed even on his shadowy face.

Lind's projection was washing the entire space in emerald light. Where it touched, all vile Fiend Qi was being extinguished!

[NO!] All his plans to strip Lind Frey of hope were being quashed and proved the damn nemesis was more than a threat. He was lethal to him!

{ALL FOR ONE!} Lind felt it. A sharp stab into his very essence he could not stop.

The phantom dragon roared in pain as it locked onto the source. The shadowy figure was pulling in life directly but in exchange, he could not hide!

The phantom roared in rage as trillions were dying before its eyes! It shot forward and even more power seemed to rise to supply it.

Fiend and phantom stared at each other.

There was no way to avoid a direct collision. Lind was going to hit him and stop the further loss of life. He refused to let more people die.

Yet, the white orbs squinted as a smile was crossing the Bastard's face.

[So naive. You think I can do only 1?] His dark arms moved and the feeling already in effect doubled!

{SEVER THE CHAINS!}

The emerald phantom, so full of power and righteous desire was stopped in place. It was starting to disperse as all the connections to his true body were broken.

[You caught me off guard, I grant that. Yet, you are still too stuck in old ways of thinking. Immortals and Divine Realm cultivators are just different shades of power. The Eternal Realm is completely different. You are stuck in old ways of thinking. Just wait patiently for me to come get you.] The Bastard sneered in front of his fading senses as the original power was increased.

Lind screamed in his mind. Something deep shifted in him as he did not dismiss the words of his enemy.

He was stuck in the old ways of things. He had barely scratched the surface of what he could do but time was not on his side. There was only 1 thing he could do and that was to try one last crazy idea.

The phantom was about to disperse when the remaining energy condensed back into a human form. It was weakening but it solidified enough to carry what he needed.

His emerald eyes locked on the mocking Fiend.

{I DEFY ALL THINGS!}

The instant those words were conjured, everything froze. Lind was snapped back to his original body in horrific pain as blood burst from him like a fountain. He was not dying but the pain seemed bottomless.

A stream of emerald light gathered around him before taking a physical form. It was a staff he recognized! His Dao Weapon!

It was creaking and cracking but it took all the power before shooting after his phantom self.

Lind distantly saw the figure take the staff and it was like thousands of stars were set off.

One trick and the Bastard was sent reeling in pain and the many holds, while damaged, began to heal.

[NOOOOOOOOO! YOU THRICE DAMNED DRAGON! I WILL MAKE YOU WATCH AS EVERYTHING IS CONSUMED! YOU WILL SEE ME ASCEND TO A FULL ETERNAL REALM!] The Bastard could not stay.

The emerald Qi was dangerous to him at that intensity.

It was the last thing Lind saw before he collapsed.

⬧⬧⬧⬧

Goldthorn was one of the oldest Eternal Realm cultivators. He had seen many things in his long life but overall, his opinion of most cultivators was they were greedy monsters that would never accept they were afraid of death.

They would loot, pillage, and cause suffering if it allowed them to hold onto power. It was all about comfort and living the life they believed the world should be giving them.

Even the most humble monk had that trace of desire left in them in his experience.

Still, the Fiend had made them all look like saints and when the monster began to consume them, he had believed it was long overdue karma coming for the many bodies in their collective histories.

They would not lay down and accept it, so they had fought.

When Lind Frey first appeared, he was so pathetically weak, yet driven. His drive to kill the Fiend was normal back then but it changed over iterations. It was a strange thing to see a man so normal become so selfless.

It was as if he was remaking himself into a shell of a figure that others could pour their hopes into and he would act as a catalyst to manifest it.

The Fusion path had that exact danger in his mind but it was also the only solution to the Fiend they had found. Nothing else could even slow him down. Once the Fiend was caged, they were able to breathe and prepare.

As other iterations died in that cage, it only bought them more time.

When the final iteration was in danger, they could not let him fall. Once that happened, their fates were sealed. There was no altruism or some grand desire to defeat evil. They just did not want to die.

What he saw today as he looked at the healing figure of Lind Frey, was an alien.

There was no benefit to pushing himself so far to nearly tear himself apart. There was no negotiation or calculation behind it. He had seen it clear as day. He flashed back to his earliest days as a mortal and saw warriors of his clan going out to die even though they knew it was pointless.

It was not about what benefited them but what saved even one more life by their power. He had thought they were all insane and had lived his life according to that belief. Yet, today he was shaken to his core.

He saw an Eternal Realm work to save as many lives as he could at great risk and with a fumbling understanding of his power. He saw him stumble onto the greatest skill he could wield, his path, and barely pull it off.

All to save lives he had never seen nor likely ever would. What exactly, had Lind Frey brought into the Sea of Realms? What kind of creature was that?

He had the same name, appearance, and soul, but that was not a man in front of him. It was almost like he was a concept, a dream given flesh.

Tears suddenly formed in his eyes as he felt his Dao heart fracture. He had been wrong! He had been so wrong!

It was not insanity that drove those clansmen to die. It was simply that they refused to let inaction and fear rule them. He could never ascend. He was going to live at the half-step or whatever tier he was in.

Lind Frey, the current one and likely the previous ones, were different.

The various Eternal Realm cultivators were all equally staring but he did not know if they also grasped that none of them could ascend. He knew them all well. They had been wrong from the start.

None of them could take the next step.

Lind Frey could.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!