Chapter 1747: Chapter 1746 - Mystery of Defiance Alone

Lind knew his forces were getting closer to being ready to attack the current threat of the Fiend bridge. They would certainly kill some but not nearly the number he had hoped for. If he had the power, the bridge itself presented an opportunity as well.

If he could sever the flow of Fiend Qi and break it apart, the Bastard could not claim the lifeforce before Heaven and Earth.

It would only slow the Bastard down, but buying time was actually a huge win for them. Left with that fact, Lind had only one avenue left to him.

He had to break through to the Master Tier, but he was far from ready. He had a hint from his harmony yet not the one he hoped for.

He thought one of his Master Tier Mysteries would be his harmony, but the issue seemed more complex. Just as his Origin Seeds were separate but connected to his harmony, Mysteries seemed to work the same way.

His harmony was a separate existence interwoven into the 6 layers. It seemed that would hold true for the next 3 layers. So, what had he done that loosened the bottleneck?

He had been with Starweaver and Sage of Artifacts. They had been exploring both the past and alternate timelines. He had grasped the truth of what his other selves had done.

Yet, a piece was missing. He could feel it. So he focused on what he could grasp.

His harmony that was now the Mystery of Defiance.

It was not a layer but interconnected to everything. Did it have 3 parts like the others? He had no way to know. He did, however, feel it was the key to taking the next step.

For all that he had studied his harmony and so many others, there were many unanswered questions. He had some decent foundations for his explanations but ultimately there was one thing he had yet to grasp.

What did the harmony mean for a Master Tier? Why could they condense one after never having one at all? Why were 6 elementals able to do it all the way back in the Soul Realm if it was meant for the Master Tier?

There had to be a reason. Heaven and Earth were fair. The complexity for 6 elementals made far more sense given the purpose of harmonies being meant for the Master Tier. It was simple correlation yet even the Master Tiers had confirmed it was very difficult for them to advance.

It was the one facet all of them denied him. They freely admitted if they had a harmony but not how it worked nor what they did. It infuriated him considering the current state of affairs.

He had tried again after the revelations of what was going on but none of them, not even the ones he was close to, revealed the truth to him. They were silent and not even a hint!

Some apologized and were clearly sincere so it had to be more than a simple restriction. There had to be a piece that would bring it all into focus!

He stopped trying to apply all he had learned from the previous 6 layers. It was clear his harmony followed different rules or all his experience with harmonies would have long solved the issue!

He was not trying to apply a concept and condense Mystery energy. His harmony already seemed on par, if not superior, to the feeling in his dantian of all 6 layers together!

The fact it had also threaded and transformed each layer as if it was meant to do that naturally stood out to him.

He had asked about that but for once he got a clear answer. None of the Master Tiers had heard of such a phenomenon. His fellow Divine Lords also affirmed that was unique to him.

Ethry had forced her tribulation but she had felt something in the moment trying to form in her dantian that she had never had before.

He frowned as it seemed 6 elementals still walked a different path despite sharing characteristics with the Master Tiers.

It was nothing new for him. He simply discarded his pre-conceptions about the Divine Realm thus far. It was clear it was not so simple going forward and his harmony was the focus, not the next layer.

Lind was in a lotus position and considering his life. His harmony was inextricably woven into it. Many of the miraculous things he had pulled off could solely be laid at the foot of his harmonic alignment.

His first encounter with Fiend forces in Cimmeria to how his professions interacted with ingredients was so different compared to others. Even when other 6 elementals followed behind his path, they were not the same as him.

Some, like Kexin, were easy to understand as their harmonies had clear characteristics to define them. Others, however, might seem similar but they found very different ends. It proved that harmonies were as individual as people.

"Heh, it is almost as if the harmony was born from a wish." Lind recalled how many 6 elementals lamented their fate. Stuck with a likely dead end and wishing for any hope, he found it ironic that the harmonies acted like a wish too.

Still, Lind frowned. He was being a bit too fantastical about it and he had no time to divert his attention.

He was about to move on when he paused. Unlike any other cultivator, his harmony had once been something else. It was not wrong for him to think of his harmony as a wish. A wish to break the cycle and the doom of the realms.

Lind looked at his harmony, while an amalgam of previous facets fused to it, was shifted entirely from its original foundation. How it was done eluded him as he had no inkling on the Dao of Fusion beyond the surface level.

He had theories but the details were not worth delving into at the moment.

The result was that his harmony took a drastically different path. It was not wrong to think of it like a wish of his former selves, but what was it to him?

When he was born, was it already there? Had he already been on the path of defiance even then? That thought brought him up short.

He recalled the incident that shifted his fate in the old Frey Clan. The main family daughter became ill when his mother was away. He had made a sort of pseudo antibiotic with the knowledge of his old world and current one.

He had refused to accept he could do nothing. It was not his harmony that made him do it, it was only himself.

Going back further, he recalled his life on old Earth. He was absolutely giving off vibes of anime or gaming nerd but he had never touched it before George became his friend. He had never liked assumptions about his life but he had not argued about it either.

What stood out to him were small things. He had always chosen to walk away from the path of least resistance. He had been told to simply apply to his uncle’s business and apprenticeship under him until he became his own owner later.

Instead, he slogged through college and found his own way. It was not glamorous but it was his. George was also against the grain. He was only a cubicle neighbor at first, but he disliked how people avoided the man.

Lind had befriended him and while he deeply regretted some of the lectures, he never stopped smiling when he thought of his friend.

The final act, of course, was his last one on old Earth. A lot of people say their body will move before they think about it, yet Lind distinctly remembered the natural thought at the last moment.

{Do I want to die for a stranger?}

He was already halfway to her but he could have stopped. He would have lived and she would have died, but he chose to continue. It was not some moral stance, it was just that he refused to not act when he had the chance to help.

He did not want to die, but he had accepted that he could.

Lind slowly opened his eyes as his whole body began to glow with emerald light. He began to understand. Generally, the Soul Realm will not be reached until someone is 10 to 11 years old in the mortal realms.

The reason 6 elementals might come to exist at all was due to that brief period. His eyes slowly went wide as a similarity came to him.

The difficulty in reaching the Master Tier was possibly the issue of long life. Cultivators looked for advancement, sometimes at the cost of abandoning what they once thought was important.

Strength and survival were supreme. It was actually rather rare for a cultivator to start on a path and be able to stick to it and add to it without much deviation. Could Master Tiers be the culmination of such cultivators?

If 6 elementals started that way, what would hold them up at the peak of the Journeyman Tier? It would be the mistake of thinking they had to advance to the Master Tier Mysteries before truly grasping their harmony!

Lind had understood his harmony and lived it, but he had taken it for granted!

He had simply worked it and incorporated it into his dantian’s 6 layers by instinct! He had not actually tried to use it like he would the other Mysteries! He had simply treated it as his soul!

It just was!

It was not so easy! Lind stood up and held out his hand. He pictured all he had faced in his long life. Compared to other Divine Realm cultivators, he was little more than a child, but wisdom was not decided by age. It was decided by experience!

[I choose Defiance] The words reverberated in his head, his soul, and the world. The skies rumbled and suddenly he felt like a wall fell away.

It was as if some thin barrier he had never been aware of shattered and power flooded as well as knowledge.

{Defiance is not unbending, it is chosen.}

{Defiance is not reckless, it is necessary.}

{Defiance is not given, it is earned.}

Lind felt wonder as he understood! The Mystery of Defiance was never going to come to someone naturally in a single lifetime. It was always there but it was more of Heaven and Earth than any cultivator.

It was the culmination of all his previous selves and his current life! The instant he felt it settle he saw a path forward yet it no longer mattered.

His aura skyrocketed and all the Master Tiers in all directions looked shocked towards his location. He could feel them! He also felt like a weight was partially lifted from his shoulders.

He looked to the east and the vile sensation was both stronger and clearer to him.

[I am coming for you.]