Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1830: Chapter 1829 - Mystery Deviation

Qing was still checking him over, but Lind felt a lot better than when he first woke up. It was hard to describe that moment.

He had felt pain before darkness closed in. For a Divine Realm to experience that was very bad. For a Master Tier, there was no way fading was not the most likely result.

According to Haro, he had held on for almost a millennium thanks to his various spirit items. They had crowded around him once Qing gave the go ahead but the little grass fan never left his side.

He scanned her again and confirmed what Haro told him. She had his power. She had been so close to him, he must have partially refined her. The process was ongoing but he dared not continue.

She was too weak to withstand much more than she had. If she had not been refined, he would have died.

The weird part was he had never seen a refinement like it. She was not connected to him like an artifact should be.

His body recovered fairly quickly under the administration of Qing and Annabelle working together. The body and soul were actually fine, his foundation, however, was very bad.

Severe Mystery Deviation had occurred. His layers were intact but needed a lot of work. While he had a good chance of repairing that damage in a decade or so, the balance between them all was going to take a lot longer.

The issue was his final layer. It had tried to condense and he had not been able to stay conscious long enough to even start the process. It was murky and highly unstable. He could not ignore it as he repaired his foundation.

It was not even properly condensed. He was lucky that was the worst of it. His vitality had clearly been sacrificed by his status as a Divine Lord as well as he saw streaks of white in his hair that had not been there before.

While a Divine Realm cultivator did not technically age, their vital energy could be drained away and make living unbearable. Fading could be preferred.

"Do you remember what triggered it?" Shoti had come by with Lysanna. He wondered why they were all so free with their time but he was wise enough not to ask. He had just woken up after all!

"I think so. I had made a decision." He gently caressed the grass fan. The little spirit was sleeping. She had pushed herself far beyond what should have been possible.

"What decision?" Lysanna hugged him from behind. Lind wanted to answer but he felt it was dangerous. Even conjuring the words made his instincts flare.

"Not yet. There is danger." They all nodded. Mysteries were not kind in such a dangerous state.

Lind suspected he had only grasped a facet too. It made it worse as clearly that one facet would trigger the other 2. His current state was a death sentence if he did that.

The Tapestry Layer had been difficult enough when he was in far better condition.

Further, Karu had been right. Such severe deviation meant he had averted his final tribulation.

Karu had been vague and even other Master Tiers had no answers on what it might be like. It was that damned rare.

"What will happen to them?" Annabelle waved her delicate azure and gold hand at the gathered spirits. Lind did not even pause.

"This is their home. They can stay as long as they wish." When he awoke, he had made that choice. He knew it was tied to his Mystery as well. It felt right.

All present nodded. The guards moved out and left the Haven. It was clear there was no threat inside.

His family stuck around but there was a shift a few days later. Lind smiled as Fey walked in. She looked him over before walking over and embracing him.

"Do not scare us like that!" He hugged her back. She was not so effusive with affection like before yet he had never doubted her love. The spirits reacted to Fey very differently unlike anyone else.

Lind watched as the small children and the youths gathered around while seeming afraid to talk. Fey sensed them but as her eyes took them in they went wide.

She took them all in and then looked back at him.

"Father, what have you done in here?" Qing tilted her head in confusion but Annabelle seemed to grasp what Fey was asking.

"Sister, even the items below grade 8 are Transcendent. They are far beyond anything currently in existence." Qing actually froze stiff. She looked around again and then back at him. He scratched his cheek as he looked sheepish.

He had been crafting to his limits for over a million years. How could he not have reached the very peak in all 3 professions?

The grass fan was not even remotely close to the necessary materials for her grade.

How else was she possible?

"Father, I can’t help you." Fey looked disappointed but he sighed and nodded. He knew she had probably hoped her extreme abilities with Life, Death, and Samsara that far outstripped his own could help alleviate his condition.

"I can take care of it. I will need to use one of the naturally sped up areas here to not waste too much time but Qing has to sign off first." Did it get colder in the room all of a sudden? He must have imagined it.

Fey smirked but then felt a tug on her ornate robes of Balance. The small dagger spirit boy was there. He was looking awestruck up at her. She smiled and knelt down.

[You are so bright! Can you see through everything too?] His question made Fey confused but Lind’s eyes glinted.

"Voidsever is rather unique. He is able to slice the fabric of essence itself." Lind saw the boy beam but Fey was confused. Lind nodded at the boy and he snapped back into the dark metal dagger of his body and floated before her.

She carefully grasped his hilt and suddenly her eyes shimmered with a powerful aura. Her eyes went wide as saucers.

"FATHER?!" He laughed. He had felt the exact same way she had when he tested Voidsever.

"Do not put any Qi or Dao into him. He can handle a bit but the effect is insane. Voidsever can literally carve out the world with a slash." He spoke so casually yet all present looked as if their world had been flipped upside down.

A tiny dagger could rip open the world?!

"Uno." The gargoyle stepped forward and he waved to Annabelle. She looked uncomfortable but the giant kept his wings back and bowed before her.

The instant she put her hand on his head, her power skyrocketed! Annabelle had been the Goddess of Illusions yet her other abilities were far inferior to even an average cultivator. Now, even Cyntilla at her peak might not be able to stand up to her raw power.

"Uno is power incarnate. Whatever you lack, they can enhance for a brief time. They cannot be refined at all due to that, but they make for an impressive companion." He proceeded to speak about some of the others but he soon saw his family had gone all slack jawed and their eyes fogged over.

He had come back to the beginning. Simplicity to the Dao. Fantastical creations were flashy but they were always bogged down with doing too much. Lind had circled back to Soul Realm goals.

A single artifact for defense, enhancement, and so forth.

The essence was brought forth and blew past all limits.

A spirit was a given.

The only thing he could still not create was the ring on his finger. He was missing something there. It was not a question of his skill but likely a Mystery Layer or Talent.

He glanced at the grass fan in his hand and wondered if he was closer than he thought.

Still, that was not the path he was on, he could feel it. He now had a much clearer image of what he was aiming for.

Fey was about to let the dagger go but it would not move. Lind smiled.

"He wants to go with you, Fey." She frowned as she was a sword user but the small boy appeared and looked up at her with watery eyes. That was cheating but Lind was only amused!

She sighed and tried to refine him. Yet, it failed. Lind became sharp eyed.

"Fey, don’t think of him as an object." She looked up at him confused but then her dark green eye seemed to flicker. Life Mystery energy flared and the dagger body changed. It conformed with strange symbols as then Death Mystery and Samsara Mystery energy flowed in.

The little boy grew older and was so happy.

"SISTER!" The word caught her off guard but then shock flared in Fey’s face. She seemed to grasp something but Lind looked at her sternly. Fey simply bowed and hugged the spirit.

Qing, Lysanna, and Shoti were all in the dark but Annabelle was staring at him. She looked pale. If she had figured it out, she realized how crazy his new layer was. He still had no name for anything but at least a direction was now open.

"Could you get Karu and Chu to watch over them. They will be bored as I heal myself." The spirits instantly complained but he simply explained that he would not be able to interact with them as he healed.

He wanted them to live and meet more people. Haro would be the guard still for the Haven entrance.

It was long past time for that.

After explaining he still could not leave for a long time, they calmed down. He had a long road ahead before he could attempt to condense his new Mystery. Still, he had hope once more.