Now that they were in the outer lands, life was far more varied. There were still many barren spots but anywhere a Sacred Path lay open was vital and alive.
They encountered a few Immortals but they avoided the ship as the power of Ilyria and Lind was enough to scare the living daylights out of most beasts on principle.
They did find a few primitive demonic and human settlents but they had only barely started to recover strength and were thus at relative peace.
Lind did not choose to interfere as he had previously. The villages were self sufficient and not in dire need at the mont. Rasker had been nearly wiped out and the pregnant Julia had no support at all!
His ship could have carried them all away but they were years from anywhere!
Thus he had invested ti and effort into helping them start anew. It also gave the Celestials a starting point. What they would all beco was up to them now.
It was almost another year before the topography began to change. The greens and yellows of living or dead plants were slowly replaced by more stone and then a silvery material.
From the ship, it looked like tal but Lind's senses were stunned when he actually felt it. It was so kind of crystalline material but the shocking part was it was packed to the brim with Immortal Qi!
It had been a million years and the rest of the realm had suffered but the traces that were increasing retained perfect Qi! How?! The scouting had not reported this!
He then realized his senses as a 6 elental simply exceeded theirs, also he was used to far stranger Qi auras. He was far more sensitive due to using all 18 elents in his cultivation.
He tried to analyze it more but then a new discovery was found. Laws! Incredibly powerful Laws! They were not there at first but now they were showing up. What kind of crystal held Qi and Laws of such power?
As they moved, the ground beca mountainous and massive but it was more of the sa material. As he had never heard of such a thing in any record he was confused as it was mapped out before the Cataclysm. Why was it not swarming with Immortals?
Ilyria looked at one of the jade viewers but she was looking for sothing else. Lind slowed the ship as he noticed sothing else odd.
No beasts, in fact no one at all! He saw no life of any kind but felt no danger.
"Ilyria, stay in the ship. I am checking sothing." It was possible the ship protected them so he moved to the steps and went out on the deck. The wind whistled but it was pleasant. Warmth and moisture were present which was odd.
Mountain air should be quite dry and they were far above them as well.
Where was the moisture coming from?
He did not even see snow on any of the mountains no matter their height. Even in the cultivation world, natural results still apply. Cold and ice should be forming but instead he was warm and quite comfortable.
His aura spread out and he saw in over 200 kiloter radius yet not a single iota of life was anywhere! No souls, and no response from the crystalline mountains.
He brought out the map the scouts had made and saw they were still a few weeks from the point they had found. He guided the ship from the deck and tried to see what he could.
He sensed no formations or any other kind of defense. The density of Qi and Laws were unlike anything he had ever encountered.
He sensed Laws of all kinds that had nothing to do with mountains, crystals, or even Qi in so cases. He could feel Laws of Sword Intent and Aura from different directions but why were they?
Various Laws of Gravity, Regeneration, and other living being related Laws were all over as well.
The other thing was the quality varied slightly based on how large the mountain was. The bigger, the more profound.
Yet there were a few ravines that gave him pause as his aura was bounced back at him!
He moved closer to where the cutoff of the Qi wall should be and had a shocking surprise. Where the clean cut was for either side the mountains continued!
It was much smaller and clearly still wore down as ti passed but he could see a dium sample of the mountains sitting solidly inside the previously devastated lands!
He massaged his temples as that little fact had not been ntioned in the scouting report!
Were they sleeping the whole ti? He was about to use the most powerful communication jade stone he had when a feeling of danger washed over him.
He took the ship up instantly and then watched in shock as the mountain at the border began to grow! Not only that but the entire range extended inward! It was growing?!
It took most of the day and only stopped when the sun began to set. He felt the danger pass but now understood why there were no beasts.
The instant the growth started, all the Qi in the air was sucked away! It swallowed it all.
"Uncle, what was that?" Illyria ca out on the deck and looked a little woozy.
"If I am not mistaken, that is a living thing. It is not based on anything I have seen before but I have heard of a theory." He looked at the wide open range in a new light that made sense of everything. "That is not a mountain range at all, it is a form of life and it cultivates."
George had always been excited talking about aliens after conventions or so other big event. The one argunt he had in Lind's hearing was about silicon versus carbon based life.
One of his buddies refused to accept such life could ever exist and Lind had rembered fondly wondering if he could hit them both with the empty soda can.
Still, he saw one right in front of him and realized it was very different from what he expected.
Cultivators ca in all forms but he had generally t ones that were already alive in so sense. Plants could not move but they could cultivate and gain sentience. As they grew more powerful than movent followed.
Still, they retained the roots of their beginning and could not simply get up and leave. Like beasts, however, Immortal plants could turn into a human form. It was far more rare for them but they could do it.
He now saw a new form of life cultivate but he had no idea how it ca to be!
In order for it to cultivate, it had to gather Qi, obviously, but how did it not beco spirit stones of so grade or precious ores?
Further, was it one lifeform or many?
Questions stord through his mind but the last one ca as he looked at Ilyria. Why were the black shelled tortoise's known to be near the range?
He did not dare land without knowing the interval of growth but he did head farther in as it was likely to be far more stable based on what he could see.
Sure enough, not even a few monts into the night, all the air behind them beca a vacuum once more as the sound of tinkling crystals filled the air. The air ahead, however, was quite stable and safe.
They headed back on course and spent the next few weeks studying what they could but not a day out from their destination, a massive mountain suddenly appeared on the horizon.
It dwarfed all the others but that was not the only thing. For the first ti, Lind felt life and one that was damned familiar to him.
Ilyria suddenly was wide awake from being asleep and staring at the mountain. Her hands hook as they both felt it.
The aura of an Immortal Black Shelled Tortoise! It was coming from the mountain!
Even so, he did not feel life from it like he should. He pushed his senses as best he could but they glanced off the mountain and would not penetrate its surface.
They spent the next day getting closer only to realize the mountain was farther away! It took an extra 3 days to finally get in range of it.
It reached far above the clouds but he finally found sothing disturbing visually. There was a crater colored crimson and very faintly had an aura he recognized.
"Mother!" Ilyria felt it too but he was confused as to why that aura endured after its owner was long dead.
He also did not understand what happened. Why would she battle in that strange crystalline mountain range and how was she hurt? Why was her aura still lingering?
He had no answers but he worried about setting foot on any of those mountains. Still, he had to try. The other aura also seed to still co from the massive mountain itself.
"Uncle, I have to go!" Ilyria suddenly opened the hatch and shot out. He went to try and stop her only to be frozen! He could not move an inch!
He could only watch as she dashed to the crater and then sat right in the middle of it. Tears stread down her face and he could see it clearly.
He tried to speak or send his thoughts but nothing worked! He was bound like a small animal by a human. He stood no chance!
"Mom, I am alive. I was protected by Uncle and he taught
like you wanted. I miss you." The aura did not react from either place but Lind knew they were being watched. Ilyria laid down and simply bathed in the aura without trying to cultivate or anything.
Finally, the Qi and Laws shifted on the surface of the mountain.
[Child of the Guardian. Do you wish to replace your mother?]
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