Eternal Emerald Dragon

It took close to a decade for Lind to recover physically. His body recovery was remarkable even by Eternal Realm standards. Normally, injury from a fellow cultivator required extensive meditation and expulsion of alien energies so it was not unusual for centuries to pass missing limbs or in some way incapacitated.

Still, the dantian and energies were at full command in those instances. It was simply a matter of time and patience. Hiding away in their hold also helped keep them in peace.

What Lind had done, on the other hand, was far more complicated. It was his very foundation that had been pushed to the limit and wrecked his body in the process. Any normal healing or meditation was thrown out.

In fact, trying to use his cultivation at all would be a sure path to crippling.

Thus, after his body recovered, Lind went into seclusion to recover as quickly as he could. His recovery ability did extend to his meridians but his dantian was another matter entirely.

It took a full decade before he could safely use his aura again. Even then, it was now severely limited. It fulfilled Lind's requirements perfectly at that point.

A small pile of scrolls had been carefully sorted next to even larger piles of jade slips and other texts. The scrolls were mostly reports and final thoughts before the last battle. While they were illuminating on his alternate version's final days, they were only meant as a warning.

Most of the scrolls held the realization of failure and the need to try again. As iterations reclaimed the hold, it became clear that hope had dimmed at one point.

Yet, he and Karu persevered. Still, he felt like there came a point where they were actively not recording things. He suspected it was a precaution against something or maybe simply it lost the point.

The power ceiling of the Fusion path had become clear at that point so saying it was a dead end was beating a dead horse after that. Lind felt it difficult to accept their point of view.

They had allowed him to exist and were technically him, yet they felt more alien in those writings than at any meeting or glimpse he had before.

While he had become an Eternal Realm, he still felt like himself. He felt like he could comprehend more yet he had not tested that theory. He certainly could do insane things compared to a Divine Realm cultivator.

While he had endangered landscapes and created miraculous things, he had never transformed a fundamental force of existence! Even his Divine Tribulation Moon only emulated the trial a peak Immortal would face from Heaven and Earth.

His current hold broke every known rule and now Heaven and Earth had a foothold in a place far beyond its limits. He suspected there were severe limits and that Immortals would have to descend to face tribulations if they needed to.

He pushed the stray thoughts aside as he skipped the jade slips. There were crystals mounted in metal blocks. They felt far more complex compared to the slips. Also, he knew they were going to wear out long before he could get through the jade slips.

They were breaking down from some reason he could not quite grasp without his full abilities to analyze them. So, he carefully picked one up. The crystal was not elemental at all which he found odd.

It was completely clear, like a cut diamond but he could tell it was not that material. The metal was also dark blue, almost black that shifted as light skipped across its skin. He recognized engraving had been done to it but it seemed the weavings were gone.

"That must be why they are failing. They have lost the foundation and the energy is fleeing." His weavings usually did a combination of energy regulation and maintenance of whatever he created.

He gently used his aura to the crystal and words appeared in his mind.

{Authentication needed. Please enter user name and password.}

Lind blinked at the words before he narrowed his eyes.

"Work can go to Hell and praise be to beer!" The instant the words were spoken, not only the one in his hands but all of the metal mounted crystals lit up and the cultivation room vanished.

He found himself in an all too familiar study.

"You can't blame us. We were going to fight a hopeless battle and felt the futility of the old 9 to 5." A man with his face but much older sat in front of the raging fire. Lind also felt like things were very different compared to before.

He was no longer intimidated by the study or the objects in it. He had seen it all crumble to dust but the figure slowly moved as he stood up. His robes were tattered but intact. His emerald hair was a slightly different shade too.

"What are you?" There was no feeling of recognition as he had with other future visits and the older version smiled while nodding.

"They are called Sealed Collective Jewels. Some earlier version of us found them useful and so we kept making more of them. I am standing here because the wards were broken and you only have the soul mark. You are finally here." The study vanished and a much more lush version of the original hold appeared around them.

Lind saw familiar faces yet they were not the people he knew. There were hundreds of Qing, Shoti, and even Cyntilla but the others dropped drastically compared to them. Karu was the only one to come close.

There was no Chu or kraken princess at all. Lysanna was there but she was much older or looking frail for some reason. Annabelle was next to other female aether children with many other beasts too.

Lind was confused but the older him seemed to be taking them in.

"What are you?" Lind repeated his question and the older version nodded before waving to all the figures before them.

"An amalgamation of all of us. Pieces left behind for the final attempt. I am not a memory nor am I alive. It would be better to think of me as an echo in timelines. I need to keep it short but I wanted to see them one last time. All the times we watched them die at his hands. It weighed on us." Lind narrowed his eyes. A gestalt. He was looking at a gestalt.

"We are not compatible, are we?" The older version crossed his wrinkled hands in front of him and nodded.

"Indeed. That makes me happy. We broke the shackles at last. Anyway, the point of me is to do 2 things critically. I will impart how your dantian works and what those others got wrong. We got it wrong too but that was part of the trap. The Bastard would not let us see another way." Lind felt knowledge gently flow into him.

Many mysteries and issues were resolved but he noticed the gaps. There were clearly areas specific to Eternal Realm power that were held back. Before he could ask, the flicker of a different emerald flame danced on the palm of the older him.

"You have to fill in the gaps but the basics are universal. You seem to have already met Goldthorn and Violet Cloud. They are good people but do not trust them too far. That is a good rule of thumb for all Eternal Realm cultivators. They will act in their own interest but only that far." Lind snorted.

After dealing with the tantrums of Divine Realm Master Tiers, he did not need that warning least of all!

A knowing smile spread on his counterpart before he moved on.

"The second part is the reason we made these long ago. We could not take resources with us and we could not ensure storage treasures would last to the next incarnation. Once we died, the hold would begin to collapse. We are the source of it, after all." That last sentence made Lind frown.

The source? He certainly made it start but from what he had felt, the 7 Origin Seeds were happily churning away were the source of his hold.

He stayed silent as the older version seemed ignorant of that. He had said it himself, after all. Do not trust any Eternal Realm cultivator beyond their own self interest.

The older version moved his hands in very specific ways before Lind felt a massive spatial passage open. Resources by the mountain load appeared and he quickly realized what needed to be done.

He closed his eyes and felt the connection to Haro. The channel to the ring opened and the entire world of resources vanished.

The older version smiled in satisfaction.

"You saved him from that horribly lonely fate. Thank you." Surprise bloomed on his face. The world then shook as a look of relief appeared on the old face.

"What is going to happen if I win?" Lind had seen how the Divine Lands recovered with Heaven and Earth returning to peak power in less than a few thousand years.

Yet, that was merely an incarnation. The Original Bastard had consumed trillions upon trillions of lives. What would happen when he died?

The older version paused and seemed to think for a moment before sighing and looking at him seriously.

"There is no power in existence that can prevent the cataclysm to follow. Either you lose for the final time and he achieves his dark ambition which makes everything moot, or you win and all that stored energy rages across everything." Lind had suspected it but to hear it confirmed made him shiver.

"The holds?" The older version shook his head.

"They are strong but you must know they have a glaring weakness. Souls can be born here thus a creature like the Bastard dying will unleash a maelstrom of souls none can contain. Whether you tell them or not makes no difference. I am sorry." The world began to dim but Lind looked at that older version and finally had confirmation.

He was not that man at all! He had accepted there were no other solutions, but Lind did not. He would not be bound by the failure of those other incarnations!

"Thank you for allowing me to exist, but I reject your solution. I defy everything, even you." His words did not bring anger to the fading figure but a wider smile.

"Prove us wrong. Just promise me you will keep that spirit to the end!" The vision collapsed and Lind returned to his room. The various metal boxes were now dust. So were the jade slips!

How long had he been in there?! He was about to ask Haro when he froze. He had an innate sense of time!

He had only been in there a few days! His dantian was repaired!

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