Molting the Mortal Coil

Tao Ba was currently patting his bulging tummy and looking very pleased with himself. Sage’s plea seemed to make all the blood drain from his face. He looked around worriedly and there was a dark glimmer in his eyes, “I wish I could, but that man is troublesome. Even after he… It’s too dangerous for me to act against him.”

A chance!

Sage leaned in close and put his hand onto Tao Ba’s shoulder, whispering conspiratorially, “You won’t act against him. I will. If I can injure him and pull him into the Universe Ring, then could you…”

Tao Ba perked up, “Into the Universe Ring? Yes, if he was here I could handle him,” then his shoulder slumped, “But there’s no way you could do that, that fellow is too sly, even in his current state.”

Sage moved his hand from Tao Ba’s shoulder to pat his back, “You don’t need to worry about that. I just need to know, if I can bring him here are you confident in keeping him restrained? Is there a great price you have to pay?”

Tao Ba sat up in his seat and flipped back his long white hair, “Tch! Who do you think I am! If that lazy curr was here I could even shove him into a teapot and lock him up for all eternity. I am the…”

At that moment he realized who he was talking to and clamped his lips shut. He held up his hand and coughed into it, “Ahem. You aren’t worthy enough to know who I am or anything else in that regard, just know that handling him would take little more than a wave of finger.”

Is he some sort of guardian? The Universe Ring must be an Artifact and Tao Ba could be the spirit that inhabits it.

Sage clapped his hands and had giant trays of desserts brought out. He pointed to a Hoplite and had another movie start playing, “Wonderful! Let’s celebrate our wondrous partnership!”

Tao Ba didn’t stop to think about how he hadn’t agreed to this partnership, instead he was already pleased about the idea of getting some revenge upon Guan Zhenyan.

Three years later, in the Universe Ring.

Sage was standing in front of the corpse of the Fisher Punk, as he liked to think of him. Standing in front of him and just next to the dead body was Guan Zhenyan. Well, it was a projection of Guan Zhenyan. He looked exactly as he did normally, he wasn’t transparent like a ghost or flickering like an illusion. It was some sort of energy clone, one that created a completely real and solid body, but with only a fraction of his normal strength. Sage smiled, “Oh, so something was able to make you stop sulking? I must have found a real treasure then.”

He ignored Guan Zhenyan’s glare and started to carefully examine the freakish body of the dead man. That giant misshapen arm, larger than the rest of the man’s body combined, yet somehow able to function like a normal one. It was also many times stronger than the rest of the fellow’s body. Hmm, he never used telekinesis again after his arm mutated. Something must have really gone wrong without the gas mask to protect him.

While the corpse was interesting, he still hadn’t found whatever it was that got Guan Zhenyan so interested. Finally, after ten minutes of examination, Guan Zhenyan couldn’t help himself, “Kid. Promise me a portion and I’ll tell you about the treasure.”

“A portion? That’s pretty vague. Does that mean one half, one tenth, or will you be the one breaking it into portions and hacking off ninety percent for yourself?”

Sage was quite wary of Guan Zhenyan. Even if he claimed to be unbiased and base everything on business transactions, all of his business was filled with shady practices. He lured Sage in with one of those one year promotional prices and then price gouged him relentlessly.

“The portions will be obvious once I reveal the treasure to you. Don’t be so stingy. You’ll be looking for days or weeks at this rate. I’m only charging a single portion. That’s a mere pittance for the price of my advice.”

“Don’t remind me of your damned ‘consultation fees’. Alright, fine. I agree. One portion.”

Guan Zhenyan smiled and pointed to the corpses burned forehead, “In there.”

“His melted brains?”

He shook his head, “The Spiritual Sea. Even if he’s dead, there’s still a remnant of it. Inside you’ll find the treasure. Oh, and also that.”

Guan Zhenyan indicated the freakish and bloated arm, “The blood from that mutation should be pretty powerful.”

Sage had been drawn to the giant arm. He wanted to take it, but the strangeness of that feeling was enough to keep him away. He also felt a sort of strangeness to it, something unusual. Not only did it look disgusting, it also felt wrong. Something like when food goes bad, except instead of a smell, it was something he felt when his Qi drew near to it. First things first. He would confirm the ‘treasure’. Sage sent his Twin Soul into the corpse, traveling into the remainder of where the man’s mind was. The spot between the eyes, just behind the temple. That was where the Spiritual Sea was usually located. At first there was nothing, but after a close search, the Twin Soul found something.

A tiny ember of Spirit Power. A dying coal of what used to be something powerful. The Twin Soul moved closer and the ember grew larger and larger. Then the tiny spirit passed through a fog like membrane and after floating through mist for a few moments entered a dry desert. He could see places where small pools of sea water remained. The once mighty sea was now nearly completely dried up. Sage’s Twin Soul flew through the area wondering what he might find. Suddenly, a glimmer caught his eye and he flew towards it. One of the small pools of water wasn’t empty. On the bottom of that seabed there was a collection of three small crystals. They were a glimmering pink color. Like pink stained glass completely filled with purple glitter. The Twin Soul reached out and scooped up the crystals and remarkably was able to hold them. A few moments later it flew out of the Fisher Punk’s Spiritual Sea and the small crystals were now present in the material world. Sage was quite surprised to see them. Only the Seed of Life had ever been able to enter his own Spiritual Sea and so far as he knew, objects that could do so were extremely rare and valuable.

He held the three crystals on his hand and tried to examine them with his many senses, “So, what are these? Also, before you answer; don’t you dare lie or try to negotiate for more. Once you properly explain what this treasure is and how to use it, then you’ll get your share and no sooner. Understand?”

Guan Zhenyan seemed hurt, putting a hand onto his chest, covering up that exposed skin from the deep vee of his open robes. Sage didn’t buy the act.

“Of course! Advice about treasure always comes with a detailed explanation of the item in question and how to use it. If I only told you where it was located then it would be a retrieval request.”