Lind awoke in his cabin. The outer hull was cracked enough that sunlight stread in from the outside but he could see the connections still held within the walls. Power flowed smoothly as well so he was not concerned but it was clear the self-repair function had stopped working.
Either there were no resources left to fix it, or the weaving broke down in favor of a higher priority. He put his guess on the forr.
His body ached all over but it was easy enough to move that he knew considerable ti had passed. The short term tests on the chair had proven to give a massive strain on his body even with just powering it up.
He had gone all out and then so so he was worried what had happened in that ti. The fact he had not woken up in the dantian of the Bastard was actually shocking.
What few weapons he had left charged would not have lasted that long against him.
He looked around and saw he also was left alone. That was not a good sign. He carefully sat up and touched a panel next to his bed. It lit up as his aura sank into it and he accessed the ship.
It was flying, which was very good but easy to tell for his physical senses, what he wanted was the network he had created. It had no practical use to cultivators but for soone from old Earth, it allowed him to get an army wide update without using his aura to do it.
It hid what he was doing yet it was limited. It could only give him an idea of the number of ships and their contents. It had no audio or visual information to grasp. Still, what he got back made his face darken.
The army had been in the billonions and still seed to be but severely crippled. The original 100 ships had been reduced to only 63. Their states were also barely functional.
He had guessed correctly that resources had been exhausted. Further, the weapons he had created were essentially gone as well. It was clear several battles had occurred.
Blood aura was clear even though it should not be detectable. It ant that much had been soaked into his weavings he could feel it!
He also saw the ships were back over land! It took years to cross the Void Ocean and they definitely could not have advanced to the Eastern Continent. It ant they had co back to the Southern Continent.
How long they had been there was irrelevant, what mattered was the location of the bridge! He quickly changed his access and felt a sting in his ridians while power flowed through the ship. He quickly scanned the area only to frown more.
The Void Ocean was full of life and no signs of failure lood on the horizon, if anything, it was stronger. What was going on?
His action seed to finally draw attention. A knock on his door was followed by Yue of all people coming in. She was looking exhausted but her slim figure was clean whereas many others seed unable to even find a bath.
"Lord Lind! How are you feeling?" Her smile was genuine. He could tell her emotions were not an attempt to escape a bleak reality. It confused him even more.
"Sore and far from my peak but I can see much has happened while I slept. Please update ." He would normally indulge a bit but there was no ti. He had lost enough already.
She responded quickly which made him smile. It was also sad as it ant he was not the only one coming back to wakefulness.
"Here are several jade slips with every up to date detail but overall, the army has pulled back after exhausting all their weapons and personnel." Her words flowed and Lind confird it had been bad.
The bridge, however, was a shining piece of unexpected good news on 2 fronts. It seed that while he was connected to it, the Bastard suffered so kind of severe backlash.
He quickly scanned the relevant jade slip and smiled for the first ti. Erald veins had grown along the Bastard's limbs and almost reached his body. Even better, they did not vanish right away!
It seed removing his harmonic Qi was not easy despite being so much stronger than Lind.
That answered the biggest question but Yue was not done. She relayed the horror of what followed.
The previous, and relatively short, encounters beca a long drawn out war to try and win it all while the 2 leaders were out of commission.
Lind sighed as that had been a mistake. Not just for his side, but the Fiends too. If anything, it gained him a slight edge as it would take a long ti to pull up Fiends from lower worlds to replace what was lost.
His side, however, did not have such an option. A controlled engagent with careful and prudent gorilla attacks could have made the Fiends pay heavily while they suffered limited losses.
The slug fest was much more common with cultivators. Beings that live so long and might makes right ntality resulted in a massive waste of life.
The only silver lining out of so much loss was that the barrier reached the broken bridge and actually shattered it. It was not destroyed but it could no longer advance!
His erald spine also persisted for over 2 years before it began to fade. In that ti, the structure of the bridge had weakened so much, it could not withstand the Fiend forces recovering from the frontlines.
That event, however, led to a brutal clash that caused both sides to retreat.
In a desperate bid to end it all resulted in a bloody draw. Without his weapons, the Fiends could no longer be killed as easily and even if they did die, the lifeforce would pass along to the Bastard.
His army had retained the wisdom to see the futility of continuing at that point. The Fiends also saw no reason to continue.
Without their respective leaders, it beca clear neither would actually win. Even Fiends, despite their desire to consu life, saw no chance of claiming the army with the Harmonic Dragons and other 6 elentals waiting to easily kill them.
It was likely the first ti the Divine Fiends tasted actual defeat and not a re setback.
Yue finished up by telling him how long he had been out.
"Five years?!" It was not the worst but it showed the deadlock had been a razor's edge. If the Bastard had recovered first, it would be the end of all. If he recovered first, it was possible he could have cornered the Bastard with no ability to ascend.
It was an unexpected opportunity and he had missed it!
Even now, he was far from his peak. A normal Divine Fiend would give him a run for his money.
Yue finally coughed and he smiled as she had been talking for most of the day by then. He summoned so tea from his ring and felt Haro, too, was exhausted. It seed his ring spirit had also fought.
No one could be set aside in the current war.
As she recovered, he reached out and felt a knot loosen to feel all his wives and friends were alive. They were not uninjured, however. Qing, of all people, seed to not have the use of her left arm!
Shoti was wearing bindings but was overall healthy. Lysanna was fine but was completely unconscious that she could not even be roused by him. Annabelle was missing half her hair and her lower right leg was just gone!
How had that happened?!
Chu had an eyepatch?! Why did she have an eyepatch?! A visual injury would be a priority and she should have similar recovery abilities to his own! She also had harmonic traces too! What was going on?!
Kora was currently being worked on but she was stable. It was very bad previously yet now she was on the nd. It was only after her that his eyes narrowed.
Where was Karu? He scanned more actively and many realized he was awake once more. So sent ssages but his searching was clear so so offered help on too many nas for him to track.
Instead, he finally found her in a sea of monkeys. His face paled. No!
He went to stand up but the strain was too much. He was still too weak!
"Lind?!" Yue's concern cald him enough to look at her.
"What happened to Sun?" Yue flinched but then waved her hands to have him sit.
"He is alive. The Fiends tried to sink us and would have succeeded if not for him. He gave it everything and slaughtered many. Yet, his weapon broke." Lind went even paler than before.
That staff weapon was not ordinary! It was directly tied to the path Sun walked! He may be alive but his foundation was likely fractured!
He did not need to speak as his question was clear. She sighed and summoned a communication jade. Harmonic Dragons appeared in human form and bowed low to him.
They took him across the camps and all bowed to see him awake. Lind ignored them but the monkeys parted easily while Karu was seated behind a pale and barely breathing Sun.
His larger than life energy was gone as the broken pieces of the pole lay next to him. Lind looked at both forlornly as he sat down.
"You should not be exerting yourself. You–" Karu began to admonish him when the broken pieces floated gently into his hands. Lind held them before he beca grim.
"Foolish monkey! Who asked you to go so far?!" The weapon had broken to unleash its ultimate power! It could never withstand it! Nothing he made could but Sun had pulled out all the stops!
He then cradled them as he sat in silence. The losses were grave. Hope was barely a flicker with his return but he doubted he was alone. The Bastard was likely on the nd as well!
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