Chapter 1908 - 1907 - Finally

Lind drifted in the dark. The remaining pieces of the dark fortress were collapsing as the vortex also shrunk in on itself. There was no body. There was no grand final clash. He had defied the purpose of the vortex at the end.

He had changed its target to feed on the source.

It consumed the Harmonic Core and once that was gone, the Bastard followed. Lind recalled the strange phantoms. They had gone somewhere but they too were consumed.

He had no idea where they went or why, only that they were satisfied. His own body was ravaged and barely hanging on. He had nothing left to give even to stay alive.

[So, we die together, but I die victorious.] He could accept that. He could smile even as the darkness closed in. He was about to let go when the world changed.

He was now in a vibrant space and a golden sky burned above him.

{We would be poor beings if we let our savior die at the end.} The chorus of spirit voices of Heaven and Earth washed over him as soothing energies flowed into his body. The spark about to go out flared back slowly.

He smiled and sent a mental thanks as he passed out.

He awoke sometime later to a more familiar ceiling. The dark wood beams with white plaster were of his home in his hold. His body felt like lead but he could tell the pressure was building in his dantian and Harmonic Core.

His ascension was coming.

He turned his head with difficulty and saw his Mother with Cyntilla and all his family taking up space. He felt tears form as they were all alive! Even Fey was sleeping and he could tell they were all healing.

Cyntilla was in far better shape but the soft azure glow of the sphere next to her drew his eyes.

[Lanbao?] He gently reached out and the sphere condensed into a western dragon with full wings he remembered. The eyes brightened but she seemed to pause.

[I remember her. I remember the dragon that saved you and she is in here but so is the rest of me from across who knows how many more. We were not always with you but after a certain point we were. I am sorry.] Lind tried to shake his head but that seemed a bit beyond him.

[It is enough. I am just glad you are not dispersed. How long?] He had many questions but that one was important.

[Only a few days. I am stunned you are awake after how we found you. Floating barely alive in the darkness, you seemed about to disappear at any moment.] Lind knew it had been worse. He had absolutely been about to die.

Lind focused and saw his dantian had gathered enough power with his Harmonic Core to invigorate his regeneration.

He wanted to wake everyone up but he first relished in the truth. The Bastard was dead! The Fiends were gone forever!

Tears fell freely as a weight that had hung on him for so long fell away.

Lanbao calmly watched from her sphere.

[Do you want a body or to enter Samsara?] He asked the question before the courage left him. The soul looked out at him and he could tell she was conflicted. It was easy to say she wanted it to end but her soul was patched together.

There was a good chance even Samsara would not free her from the conflicted feelings inside her.

[They will be angry at you for not consulting them.] She made him smile at her delay tactic but he was not able to put it off.

[I may not have much time. The pressure is building. If not for my horrid state, I would be gone already.] He sat up to prove how insane his recovery was.

Her eyes went wide but she felt it.

Even as weak as she was, she knew he was telling the truth.

After a long silence where Lind felt his body return to full health, she finally made a choice.

[I have a request. If I go into Samsara, I would like to be complete. I do not want this patchwork anymore.] He smiled sadly but understood.

He then moved and gently picked her up.

He transmitted everything. Words were too inefficient and her eyes went wide in front of him.

[Why? Why give me all this after I chose?] He smiled at her.

[I have no say in what may or may not be remembered but I wanted you to know how much you meant to me. I wanted you to know I never forgot nor did I change how I remembered you.] A whimper came from the sphere. He smiled sadly.

It was not like her to cry.

He then looked up and his eyes flared.

Tendrils of golden light appeared and gently took the sphere into their possession.

{Rest now, splintered soul. We will care for you and a new journey will begin.} The chorus of voices were kind. Lind smiled and waved at Lanbao as the spirits of Heaven and Earth took her away.

His robes were now restored to full. He looked at his family and took his time. Cyntilla, especially, consumed him.

He wanted to stay. He wanted to talk to her and to be with her but time was slipping away. Still, he could do something for her.

He sat down and was about to summon things from his ring when he froze. The empty space on his finger made him sad all over again.

One of his family had not made it. He grieved all over again.

He sighed and checked the other storage treasures. He found what he needed. He conjured a bright emerald fire and water that shimmered with a trace of emerald in the blue.

Herbs, Qi stones, beast cores, and even a few exotic treasures were cracked apart as he extracted the very fabric from each and every piece. They merged into the water and it dramatically changed color.

A shimmering prismatic liquid appeared as the water burned away. There was only enough for one vial but no vial he had could contain what he had created.

It was an Infinite Grade elixir. All possible times and moments were inside that liquid. It would only work for one person.

He gently moved his hands and it merged with Cyntilla. The damage to her soul, body, and so many other aspects were resolved without so much as a flicker of discomfort. She was not the demoness he knew but all that had survived like Lanbao.

The difference was that the living soul was forced to the last Eternal Realm iteration the Bastard had. He was unsure how she would live going forward but he gave her the best chance at it.

The taxing experience actually bought him some time but only a little. He then quickly imprinted several jade slips from his storage treasure and then he divested them too.

He made a weaving to keep them safe and left the room. He then smiled as he saw Sun and many other friends all outside his courtyard. They were all keeping vigil but he quickly sealed their senses.

They would only try to follow him and they could not follow.

He checked his hold was truly secure and the Origin Seeds were humming along nicely. He flew outward and left his hold behind. The darkness actually gave him peace as he looked at the fireworks show.

He saw so much but a dark blot quickly closed in.

{You are leaving?} The First was much more friendly and he felt it was far more powerful than before.

[I have to. I forced myself to dance that edge and now it is pushing me out. It is a miracle it did not do it while I was unconscious.] The First seemed amused by his words.

{You are still outside the rules. You are still endangering all. It could happen again.} The warning was not lost and Lind simply waved his hands.

He saw the crack in the foundation and smiled. It was back to just being a small crack.

[I will have work to do then, won't I? Unlike all the rest, I am not going to be turned into energy for the next generation.] The First's body flinched. Lind had thought about it and now that he was on the cusp he realized the truth.

Only he and the Bastard could truly ascend. All the rest were consumed. They were not allowed to ascend. The reason no one at the Full Tier reached down was because no one was there.

A closed system. The ancestors knew the danger of letting others become like them and where it led. They had to let the process get to a point that the dead end would not occur again.

{Can you fix it?} He smiled at their question. He then reached out and his sigils appeared. Unlike before, however, their power far exceeded his current state.

Just as the elixir he made earlier, it was Infinite Grade.

He understood the mechanisms now. He understood what they intended and how flawed it was. It would run down eventually without reaching a result. The traitor had broken that future long ago.

Once the weaving flew outward, the First shivered.

[It will take time, but that should fix most of it. I will see what I can do once I ascend.] Power was building and he could not stop it. His dantian and Harmonic Core were merging. A true merging of all he was into a being that would never die ever again.

{We wish you luck, Eternal Emerald Dragon.} Lind smiled and pressure descended as he was then shot upward and out of the Sea of Realms. Finally, he was at the last step of his journey as a cultivator.