Eternal Emerald Dragon

Lind had thought he knew what to expect. Vile Qi attacking from artifacts, hidden panels, or straight up obstacle courses that made them face insurmountable odds.

The Myriad Maze and even the metal corridors that could be used to consume their vitality were actually perfectly aligned with that perspective.

The revelation of the thralls had tossed out a lot of his hopes of facing a single Eternal Realm cultivator. Sheer numbers could work in their favor but that was now gone.

Worse, special realms had been inserted into the fortress to allow wave after wave to bring them down to a few hundred.

Once he overcame all that and they had recovered, the true nightmare began.

They found a much more mundane complex but it hid the horrific nightmare beneath. There were not just traps but a constant assault on their senses.

The Fiend Qi was a perfect disrupter even as a passive background energy. Lind, even with his harmony to clear it, was only an isolated bubble compared to the rest of the others. He also knew being blind made advancing deadly.

Each day, at least 5 people were severely injured and it took weeks to purge Fiend Qi from them if they did not suffer crippling to their foundation!

Worse, many of them had to split up or be stuck waiting for months to move forward. He knew it was bad but there were no other choices.

He issued some items to those that had already consumed their harmonic stores in their artifacts or weapons. He recharged what he could as well but there were limits to how much aid those would be now.

It was clear the Bastard was able to interrupt or use up such items very quickly. Still, they had no choice. They had to find him.

Thus, the vicious march ensued. There were no thralls, no special realms, and no artifacts attacking.

They were blind to all things and unable to avoid the surge of Fiend Qi invading from all sides at all times. Where was it coming from?!

Regardless, they were crawling forward. For every step closer to their goal, they paid in time, recovery items, and occasionally lost more of their numbers.

He tried to flush out each hallway or space with emerald flames but it did not seem to do much. He purified it for a time but the source was not actually there!

Further, the size of their task was becoming daunting.

Months after they began, Lind had to face reality. They were being grinded down until nothing was left.

"The next room, we need to rest and recover." He spoke and the dozens with him gave no argument. They were in a wood and stone corridor that would not be out of place in a sect or palace in the worlds they had lived in before.

There were several doors but just as they were about to choose a dark wooden one, a new one appeared at the end of the hall where it made a T intersection. It screamed of a trap but Lind frowned.

The Fiend Qi had suddenly vanished.

He had Qing and Annabelle get behind him while Chu coordinated the rest to be prepared.

Shoti, Fey, and Ethry had gone off in charge of their own regiment. With those 3, he had little to fear for their defense or offense.

He tested the sliding door but there was no reaction at all no matter what he did. He then used a metal rod from his ring to push it aside only for a violent smell to assault them all.

Blood, a lot of blood, was everywhere. Mixed in were withered husks and body parts but at the center of the room, on a short table splayed out as if he had been dissected, was Goldthorn.

His face was contorted in terror. The old man had not been simply killed but tortured at the same time. The gasps confirmed that all saw the carnage but Lind frowned.

While the others were clearly killed, Goldthorn was intact, relatively speaking. There was no sign of his lifeforce being extracted. Yet, his body was not healing. His energies were dead.

He then recalled the scrap of cloth with the partially consumed Younger Twin.

{Lanbao}

That was what had been inscribed with blood. He knew it was bait but it did not mean the Bastard had not meant it was fake. He really would hold her hostage.

He tested the flayed corpse and was shocked to learn it was alive! It was unable to heal because the mind was empty! There was no resistance at all to his evaluation.

The mental storm was just gone! The Bastard had collected Goldthorn, not killed him!

"Why? Why would he do this?" Annabelle was horrified. Qing was visibly enraged but Chu was actually disturbed. He was curious why she was bothered but he noticed she was far from alone.

The other Eternal Realm cultivators were more imbalanced than anything when they understood what had happened to Goldthorn.

Lind wanted to say it was that they did not understand it yet that seemed not to be the problem. The problem was that they had underestimated the Fiend's skills.

Having faced Soulmancers long ago, as well as many Fiend experts in the manipulation of life, Lind had a far better grasp of what Fiends could do. Refining was just their final goal, not the entirety of it.

The fact he overpowered so many at once just affirmed the harsh limits of what he gave them to fight back.

"A thrall can do all this?" Lightning Fist Eternal spoke up. She made Lind realize what was wrong. No thrall, no matter how well controlled, could do what he saw. A Divine Fiend would be easily wiped out and there would be signs if more had fought.

He was looking at complete dominance by a more powerful foe. The Bastard had done it himself!

His eyes narrowed as he took a closer look at the room. The carnage spoke of rage, a lot of rage. Why? The setbacks were not great for him but he had wiped out half their force or more by now.

Why was he so angry?

The pounding of footsteps came from the hall they had just left when Fey came through the door. Confusion filled her face as she saw their group at the center of the macabre room.

"Father?" She tilted her head as the rest of her group came running. Lind was only confused for a moment when he quickly summoned emerald flames.

The entire room reacted as dark beams shot out directly at his family!

Annabelle, Qing, and Chu were right next to him so they were hardly in danger. Fey, Ethry, and Shoti were just in the entrance or the hallway so they were beyond his ability to reach quickly!

His emerald eyes saw in slow motion as Ethry was about to be struck and there was nothing he could do. She had items to protect her but they took time to activate and it was too close!

It was not a trap to kill him but to lure him far enough away from his loved ones to get them!

The crack of thunder was heard as a human woman appeared before Ethry. She looked right at him with a smile.

Lind's eyes went wide as saucers!

"NO!" He screamed but there was nothing he could do. Her sweat slicked red hair seemed to brighten as sparks danced across her skin. Her tanned skin was still without scars despite the harsh battles they had survived.

She barely knew him and yet she had come to help. She had helped him grasp the basics and he could only watch as the dark Qi struck her. Her flesh withered and her smile wavered but her eyes locked on his.

There was no fear, only a wish.

{Kill the Bastard.} Ethry was slack jawed right next to her as she was killed. Fey and Shoti were able to react in time.

Shoti likely was the most aware of Fiend Qi next to Lind alone. Fey, it went without saying, was closer to death than anyone alive.

Several more people were caught up in the attack and met the same fate as Lightning Fist. One of them, an aether child woman, had also sacrificed herself to save her friend in the path of the attack.

Lind's flames purged the rest. Compared to the losses before, a handful should not have impacted him so much but it did. It was someone choosing to protect his family so he would not be distracted.

He was so weak in their eyes? He was so fragile?

[HA HA HA HA! I was unsure if that would succeed but it went better than I hoped! How do you feel, Lind Frey? Your family survived but at what cost?] The vile voice spoke but Lind hardly heard him.

Rage was trying to make him dull and he needed to be clear. He needed to be better.

His fist slammed into Goldthorn's body. He then looked up and his emerald eyes became reptilian.

He saw the split thread. He followed it and he instinctively felt the desire to make the 2 one. He followed that instinct and suddenly, the Bastard choked in their minds.

Goldthorn's body convulsed as brilliant white gold energy slammed into it from somewhere. Lind had a location! He knew where it came from!

The price was too damned high, but it was not in vain!

[FOUND YOU, BASTARD!] Lind's voice thundered wide and far while Goldthorn began to recover. His face was pale but he was alive. He had pulled one back from the jaws of death!

He looked directly towards where Goldthorn had come from and despite being beyond his aura, he knew where to go! He knew where his prey was!

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