Molting the Mortal Coil

“I did. Those Juniors were being disrespectful. You don’t need to thank me for disciplining them on your behalf. My poison is quite fierce, you can consider it a gift.”

The Wu Elder clenched his teeth, but managed to retain his dire calmness. He rubbed his thumb against his fingertips, “How generous you are. What is the cost of the antidote?”

“There’s no need to be a stranger, Elder Wu. How could I charge my Clan for an antidote?” then Sage let out a pained sigh, “It’s just too bad there isn’t one for my Greenrose Venom.”

Being toyed with like this, the Wu Elder’s stony composure cracked and a frown showed on his lips. Then he took a few long and deep breaths before finally responding, “Is this how a Senior should treat his Juniors? Or should this be treated as a Branch Head rebelling against the Main Family?”

Sage laughed and glared at the Elder, “Are you going to continue to pretend that you know nothing about the team of Assassins you sent against me? We can also continue to play with words as long as you like, or perhaps that isn’t enough? Should we start delivering threats? There are only a handful of Core Formation Cultivators on my side, while the Wu has hundreds if not thousands, does it not? I wonder who is more vulnerable.”

The Elder finally realized why Sage was being so belligerent and also the folly of his clansmen for coming to pressure him. He’d completely forgotten such a thing had happened, but only now remembered that the man responsible for the attack and the threatening were related. Realization dawned, and his frown deepened.

“The fault lies with the Wu. We will deliver unto you proper satisfaction for this matter. There is indeed an internal dispute that needs to be settled,” then he paused for a moment, “The poison…”

Sage interrupted him, “There is no antidote, but I can personally resolve it. Bring them to me along with that satisfaction you speak of and our enmities shall be resolved.”

The Centipede Elder certainly didn’t mess around. His Qi moved and clouds formed around his legs, submerging him to the waist. Then Sage felt a motion of the laws and the man leapt up onto the clouds, his feet skidding across them and propelling him into the air. Clouds formed in front of him and his feet skipped and slid across them, sending him flying through the sky with rapid speed.

While Sage was quite displeased with the Wu and their assassination attempt, they had failed after all. A few Dragoons had perished, but the enemy was just too powerful for him to battle directly. The best he could do was punish them for their transgression and make a large enough show of force to ensure they never tried such a thing again. The only route to true freedom was power, but power was not easy to acquire. If his cultivation advanced beyond the means of the Chong Clan he could make them pay for neglecting his clan and belittling him, but was it so easy to advance? Sage had already felt that some of those Elders were hundreds if not thousands of years old, especially those wizened old monsters from the Wa Faction. Their leathery wart pocked skin was not just because they worked with Toads, it was also a measure of their age, and for Nascent Souls to age that much, they were truly ancient existences.

With how much time they’d spent on the road of cultivation it was quite obvious how difficult it was to progress further. The common knowledge of this world was that progress after the fifth rank was up to the heavens. One’s luck, destiny, and fortuitous opportunities became far more important than aptitude, talent, or hard work. Sage had no guarantees his strength would ever increase again, let alone that he would surpass the level of so many old monsters. While he had confidence that his path was far from over, it was still no guarantee. He would be a fool to completely rebel against the Chong Clan, especially not now as he was just starting to build momentum.

Making the Chong Wu bleed a little would have to satisfy him for now. Perhaps if they showed enough sincerity he would forget their transgressions against him. Otherwise, if their apology was only the bare minimum, it would be as they say: For a gentleman’s revenge, ten years is not too late.

Jinxi Shi didn’t show up again. Instead, a random attendant he’d never seen before merely arrived to ask if his visit had been good, and ask him to visit again soon. Everything the attendant did was extremely polite and warm, but given the events of the last few days and the lack of Jinxi Shi, he knew that he was being dismissed. He didn’t play along with their game and even caused trouble for the Wu. Sage left the Chong Clan lands and booked a room at an inn within Golden Cricket Cove. Every moment under their thumb had been stifling and he was happy to retreat from their property. On the other hand, he still had to receive a response from the Wu Faction so he stayed in Golden Cricket Cove to wait.

His next visitor was not actually the one he was expecting. Instead of the Wu Elder, a messenger from the Wu, or even Xiezi. Sage was greeted by a man of the Chong Clan wearing red. Xie Faction? Tujiu invited the man inside and Sage led him into a Formation Array and then activated a Little Birdy technique, ‘Windscreen’. An extremely simple technique, a double layered Qi bubble that blocked sound from passing through. The man bowed, “Lady Xiezi sent me to deliver you a message.”

Sage nodded, “I thought so, you must thank her for me.”

“Of course. Lady Xiezi says you have stirred up quite a storm. The Wu have always been Jinxi’s knife in the dark. The Cricket’s maintain their golden reputation while the Centipede does their dirty work. Along with those ass kissing lizards, the Xiyi, that means Jinxi has two factions on their side while only the Toads urge for peace and support our Xie against their suppression.”

This was a little more insight than Xiezi had for him earlier, but he hadn’t yet heard how he was involved. The attendant realized his folly and quickly continued, “With two factions against three, they’ve pulled the branch factions in. If the Jinxi could show an overwhelming advantage then the Wa would likely step back and the Xie would be at their mercy. On the other hand, if the Xie can pull over enough branch families…”

“The matter of you poisoning the Wu clansmen spread quickly and somehow,” the man gave Sage a wink as he spoke, “the matter of the Wu trying to assassinate you in the past became known as well. Attempting to wipe out the remnant of their own branch family is no small matter. A scandal has erupted because it seems the same man that sent the men to threaten you also sent the men to assassinate you in the past.”

Sage had just been peacefully training techniques in this inn for the last week, and had no idea there was so much activity back in the Chong Clan. He pondered a moment and then smiled, “I thought it was strange. The Jinxi were being so subtle in their manipulations and working so hard on pulling me over into their camp. I always thought it was weird they never even attempted to explain or apologize for what happened. Turns out they didn’t know. Haha, they are so proud of their skillful manipulative ability, so overlooking something like that must have really pissed them off.”

At the very least, Sage was happy to not be involved in all that political maneuvering and back door dealing. Insulting the Wu Elder and then running away was far more rewarding than he thought it could be.

“Unfortunately, this scandal has also pushed things to the next level. The factions and branches have started formally declaring their support for Jinxi and Xie. As always, the Frogs support the Toads. The Ants are backing Scorpion, and the Stingers have sided with Cricket. As of now, three factions and one branch are opposing two factions and two branches. Everyone has already assumed that Mantis will support Scorpion and Jinxi is now scrambling to pull Beetle over to their side.”

Sage was put for a loop from all this talk, this was all getting far too complicated. Did he really have to participate in this mess? Of these thousands of people, he barely knew a handful of names and was only friends with one of them, how far was this all going to go?