Molting the Mortal Coil

The ashes of the giant that they all thought was their leader blew towards them. The Flares were disgusted by the true appearance of their leader, but also fearful of following in the giant’s footsteps. Without more specific orders, the thousands of Flares used various methods to cross the perimeter trench. Mutated muscle bound Flares leaped through the air. Flares covered in body piercings flew up into the air, the hoops through their skin flipping up and stretching their skin, like they were attached to invisible strings. Others formed narrow bridges to run across, and many without other means got assistance from their friends or just did it the hard way and climbed down and then back up the other side.

The forest made from a single tree still occupied the majority of the cordoned off area, each emitting a soft pink gas. The Flares might have been wary to act, but once they were committed, many of them lost their rationality. The majority of them seemed to be those who had partial masks. Their bodies were twisted or changed in some way and when rushing to battle many of them were pushed into a frenzy. One of them charging at the front had a huge torso, like a barrel with arms and legs sprouting from it. He ran at his top speed through the woods, completely ignoring the obstacles in his way. Smashing through three trees without any issue. Yet, by the fourth one he started to slow down and he fell to his knees before he could get much farther. Him and others like him, quickly reminded the other Flares not to touch those trees. The pink gas didn’t harm them, instead just adding an eerie feel to the forest they were rushing through.

The trees weren’t that dense, so they all watched the glowing tree getting larger in front of them, ignorant of what was going on. While many of them had attacked from outside the perimeter before, the great range reduced their strength. They didn’t dare to attack so weakly now, since none of them wanted to be made into the second example. They closed half the distance, and many of them stopped to focus their powers and begin the assault. Fire, Lightning, Ice, Water. All sorts of elemental psionic powers were launched into the air, but those brilliant attacks were the rare bits of excitement among a sea of bland moves. The most common psionic power among the Flares were the many variations of Telekinesis. They used what they had available, and it was like a sea of rocks and tree trunks came flying towards the ‘abomination’.

At that moment, the fluctuations of energy seemed to disturb the glowing tree and it stopped growing. The tree’s expansive roots disappeared and then the tree sank down into the ‘corpse’ of the huge snake. Even the least perceptive of the Flares felt the world stir at that moment. The tree was gone, but the dead snake was dead no more. The huge cobra came to life once again and its head lifted up into the air. It opened its mouth and a spray of green liquid was released. That same terrible poison that had infected so many of the Flares. Those same Flares were rushing into battle at this moment, with no idea how much more time they had, they were eager to get revenge.

Before, that green liquid had only been able to slowly melt organic substances, slowly burning through their leather clothing and then infecting their bodies through the skin. With so much debris filling the air, the Flares were confident that most of the acid-like poison would be blocked. Some of them were even more cautious and took cover behind large stones or quickly dug holes to hide inside.

Unfortunately for them, that poison wasn’t the same as before.

Sage had successfully fused together his mind and soul. The Seed of Life actually took the third position. He did not follow the usual path of shattering the mind, soul, and Golden Core, and then combining the pieces together to birth the Nascent Soul. Instead, his Mind and Soul entered his Green Core and fused together with the Tree of Life. His Dantian used to house a whole nebula, with a single large planet at its center. And at the core of that planet was his Green Core. That was where the Tree of Life was, the small sapling that had created the whole Nebula, each of its three leaves making up the many wondrous elements floating in that space. It was in the center of that space, yet it was also the source of everything around it.

After the birth of his Nascent Soul, Sage realized that the same impossible state was still present, but also different. That infant, newborn soul transformed into a seed and sprouted the Tree of Life. His Nascent Soul had become the Tree of Life. Inside the Tree of Life the Life Nebula continued to exist. That without had become within, and the within became the without. The pseudo-immortality of the Nascent Soul meant that the Inner World was even less vulnerable than before. Previously, if his dantian were to be destroyed, so would that whole Nebula. Now, even if his whole body was obliterated, that world could still continue living inside his Nascent Soul.

Sage reviewed these changes and tried to adapt to his new level of existence, but he was shaken out of his contemplation by the surge of hostile energy. The Nascent Soul returned to his body and he found the internal condition drastically different. He could feel many things that seemed wrong and felt like he could correct them, but he didn’t have time for that now. With his mind and soul no longer bound to his body, he felt a strange separation he never had before. There was also a feeling of empowerment. As a Nascent Soul he had already felt just as powerful as he had before his breakthrough, yet he had been outside of his body. Now that he re-entered it, he felt his abilities multiply. Before the breakthrough, the body was like a prison, weighing him down.

The human body has so many functions and processes that a normal person has no voluntary control over. You couldn’t just choose to stop the heart from beating, or decide when and how much to sweat. A person can’t just decide to stop being allergic to certain things, or to tell cancerous cells to go back to where they’re supposed to belong and stop growing incorrectly. You couldn't just decide to stop processing certain foods for calories and just burn fat instead. The path of cultivation was about changing fate, exceeding bounds, treading the harsh road towards immortality. As a cultivator grew more powerful, so did their control over their body.

Now that Sage had become a Nascent Soul Cultivator and re-entered his body, he finally felt like he was in complete control. No longer relying on that fleshly vessel to sustain his life, it became more than a prison. Now it was more like a vehicle. A vessel to propel him to greater heights. He was the driver and in complete control. With that control, it became far easier for him to interact with the Laws of the world. Instead of releasing Qi and then making it resonate with the energy of the Heaven’s and the Earth, Sage could now use his Meridians to form that same resonance. The power of the Laws were no longer external only, he could use them internally. That resonance could be maintained within himself and when he drew upon the power of the world, the response was instantaneous. Before he felt like he had to coax the world into cooperating, and now it served his will.

The green liquid he’d sprayed into the air, Greenrose Venom, was not the same as it used to be. Empowered by the Primal Law of Corruption, it could do far more than just slowly burn through leather. The tiny droplets were so concentrated that they could consume the sea of rocks and tree trunks flying towards him. Even the stone started to sizzle when that poison came in contact with them. Yet, would he have enough time to completely melt the many large stones and pillars of wood before they reached him? Poison couldn’t just remove momentum!

Or can it?

Sage focused his will and the many flying objects seemed to lose their propulsion. Their violent speed instantly disappeared. The sea of items falling back down towards the ground, following a simple throwing arc and clattering to the dirt with the forces of gravity and drag acting against them.

Hahahaha! Excellent!