Molting the Mortal Coil

Sage was treated with a bit of caution, but was gradually accepted after he took out his Sect Token to prove his identity. Each token was attuned to the Sect member using their blood. If the member were to die, the token would lose all its color and the linked token that was kept in the Sect would crack. The drastically changed appearance and different aura made it hard to identify Sage, but the Sect Token in his possession was proof enough. Before his change, Sage would have been confused over their reluctance to accept his words. With his changed nature, Sage naturally saw more. This body of his might have been a strange plot using the stolen clothing and possessions of the real Lang Sheng. His story about transforming was extremely strange and not easily believable, but the outlandish nature could act as a smokescreen to cause others to show less scrutiny. If he could pass the initial inspection they would be more surprised at his drastic change of appearance, and be unlikely to truly prove his identity.With how much suspicion he had faced from the Elders, Sage inwardly smiled. Glad to know that they were far more careful and cunning than they let on.

Joining the group as they walked the abandoned halls, Sage was amused at the sight of every door being thrown open and each room looking well searched. The five of them had not failed to do their due diligence in looting the place. Sage noticed the atmosphere was quite tense and silent so he didn’t say anything. He restrained the urge to ask Ding Zhen and the other four why the whole Expedition was here. After a dozen turns, the large group of fifty Inner Court Disciples, five Elders, and the Peak Master, stopped in front of a large set of double doors. Each door was ten feet tall and six feet wide. What an imposing doorway… must be something important behind it.

Sage suddenly realized why the Peak Master was here. The giant door was covered in a powerful array and it was likely that Ding Zhen and the other four had no way to break in. With Sage missing they either thought he was dead, inside one of the rooms, or a deserter. Since they had run out of places to look for treasure it was only nature they would report their findings to the higher ups to let them handle the locked doors, and the possible danger that Sage had stumbled onto. No longer concerned about the situation, Sage moved forward with the other Elder that was a Formation Master.

“Peak Master Zhen. Allow me to make up for my earlier failure by helping Elder Shuren with the formations.”

The Peak Master nodded, this was Lang Sheng’s job after all. He had just been missing and now transformed. It would be best if he could get back to doing his duties. His disappearance had caused a worry about whether or not there was something dangerous within this old estate. They were still on guard against this new snake person version of Lang Sheng, but it would be for the best nothing at all was amiss.

Sage did as before and copied down all the array formations before he looked to Elder Shuren and shared his deduction on the array’s composition and how to disarm their traps and unlock the door. He wasn’t about to just start operating the arrays without permission given his currently suspect state. At the same time, he had also studied the array formations within this Hidden Grounds previously. These arrays were nowhere near as complicated as the one that had locked the door to the Lake of Souls, but they did seem to be related. It seemed like someone had studied the arrays on that door and used that knowledge to construct the rest of the arrays in this place. Definitely not a bad idea. That door has some of the most advanced arrays I’ve ever seen. Only the arrays around the Well that held the Eye of the World had the same level of sophistication.

After a few minutes, Elder Shuren had double checked Sage’s suggestions and with a few pointers was able to gain a similar level of understanding as he had. It was at this point that Sage stepped back and allowed Elder Shuren to do the honors, deactivating the defenses and unlocking the door. He made sure to keep well back so nobody would have any more reasons to suspect him. The gains he’d made in this place were probably already considerable, so he curbed any thoughts of being greedy and merely observed. The Peak Master was here with the other Elders and even all the Inner Disciples. If he was to gain any more from these Hidden Grounds it would only be from the generosity of the Peak Master.

Swoosh!

Air rushed into the previously perfectly sealed room with a loud noise. The doors themselves swung noiselessly, the unknown amount of time that had passed could not hurt their flawless performance. As the doors swung open a majestic light flooded outwards, glowing energy screens lined a long wide passageway. Behind the transparent screens was an amphitheatre of treasure! Each long row of display cases and shelves was set on its own level, with a couple stairs leading up to the next row. It was like this hallway they were facing was an arena and the treasures sat in a stadium of display cases arranged around the hallway.

This seems like a really huge waste of space to store things, but I guess it’s easy to guard. You can see all the treasures from anywhere in here. Everything is waist high so there’s no big shelves to hide behind.

“Soul Taming Abode.”

As Sage was still looking around the room in awe, he heard the voice of one of the Elders call out. The sound was like a signal as everyone followed that Elder’s gaze to a sign hanging up at the end of the hallway. The words ‘Soul Taming Abode’ were drawn with an extremely overbearing style. The person who wrote them must have been quite powerful as merely reading the words filled them all with a sense of majesty and awe. Peak Master Zhen whistled softly, “Ahh… no wonder this place is so mysterious. It’s the property of a secretive ancient organization.”

Sage noticed that the stands behind the sign, those that were the farthest down the hall, were mostly empty. They were all much larger and seemed to have their own individual arrays, but unfortunately the treasures were gone. The stands nearest the door seemed to be the smallest and had the most amount of objects on display. Seems that this was a treasury and they took all the best stuff with them. I wonder what happened to this ‘Soul Taming Abode’?

The whole Soul Taming Abode was now property of the Sect so Sage didn’t have any thoughts about stealing these treasures for himself, but he did step up and examined the arrays that outlined the energy screens. Slithering his way over to the Peak Master and lowering his voice, he leaned towards the elegant woman and whispered to her the method by which to enter the energy screens. The Inner Court Disciples and other Elders were probably well behaved, but no sense in tempting them by telling them how to steal the treasures.

“Thank you Lang Sheng.”

The Peak Master thanked Sage and then took Elder Shuren along, having him verify Sage’s method before the two of them entered the stadium of treasures and began to collect them all. Many jealous gazes glanced over, but Peak Master Zhen only laughed before speaking to them all, “Don’t you all worry. As part of the expedition that has discovered this Soul Taming Abode you will all be rewarded with a large amount of contribution points.”

Chang Xia, that bratty girl who had been one of the five that discovered this place, suddenly seemed quite perturbed. Her face scrunching up and balling her fists, whining to the other girl, Lai Rong, beside her, “No fair. We found this place but now the Sect is taking it all.”

Lai Rong tried to shush Chang Xia, even starting to scold her petulant behavior before she was interrupted by Peak Master Zhen’s voice. Living up to her title, she had heard that whispering whining hundreds of feet away.

“The six of you that found this place have already received enough rewards for your hard work. This is still the territory of the Holy Flame Sect, it is only fair that the Sect should gain the greatest benefit from this windfall.”

Chang Xia could only grumble inwardly, not daring to say any more as she realized she had already profited greatly from this trip.