Molting the Mortal Coil

The Elders wanted to object, but not only were they outranked, but their Sect Leader was the most powerful person in the Sect. It would take all of them teaming together to just barely match up against him. That was without even mentioning the four from the Tang Clan, of which two were just as strong as their Sect Leader. They were at a complete loss as to what was going on. While they immediately suspected something had gone wrong, even if it had, what could they do? If the enemy could get their boss to reprimand them so fiercely, what else could they do?

Fleeing the area, the Elders rushed to their many disciples that were blocking the streets and ordered them to return back to the Sect. The few that started to object received a few angry fists and their reservations disappeared. The upper level disciples repeated the activity, beating the lower level ones into orderly retreat and soon enough the men bearing the character for ‘Violent’ on their chests were gone from the streets. The townspeople found the whole event strange, but most of them were normal mortals and weren’t stupid enough to critisize what cultivators did.

Having rid himself of a possible enemy, Sage was quite pleased and treated the five men to a meal. After that he bid them all farewell and left with Xiezi and Tujiu. While he’d been falsely accused in the past, he had also killed that grey bearded fellow and escaped without any other consequence. They were the victims of a murder after all, so after all this time he just let the whole thing go. There was also the fact that he didn’t fear these two groups, and because he had a way to alter minds, it was easy for him to put it all aside. It’s no fun to bully people, especially since they were just trying to avenge a dead man. Even if that dead man was a terrible little monster and deserved it.

He didn’t wish to judge a whole family or group based upon the actions of one person. It wasn’t like it was impossible for a terrible person to be born to a good family. Sure, the chances were low, and the people who raised them were usually somewhat responsible, but it wasn’t certain. As the victim of such a situation, Sage felt that while it was the most logical way to prevent future troubles, it was also extremely brutal and violent. Killing hundreds for the sins of one? Genocide was not on his list of preferred options, especially after he’d purged the strange temperament he’d gained from so many Merges.

After that delay, Sage seemed eager for them to leave Plum Lantern City, but Xiezi was not so easily distracted. She was taking her time, aiming to delay them so she could keep teasing him, “Ooo, this is quite a nice jewelry shop. Should we go in and find something for your fiancee?”

“She can choose her own jewelry.”

Sage chose the stonewall route, not caring if it made him seem uncaring in front of Xiezi. Of course, she wasn’t fooled and ignored his response, continuing to take them to other shops that might also be places to buy gifts for a woman. Thankfully, after an hour of this, Tujiu found a shop he liked selling unusual bits of clothing. In Sage’s opinion it looked like barbarian bondage. Leather straps with pieces of fur, chains, and spikes attached, but Tujiu seemed quite interested. The equipment on their own looked quite skimpy, but when they went inside he relaxed. All the strange harnesses and straps were meant to go over normal clothing. Well, at least that’s what they must tell most of their customers.

For a man with completely no hair from the neck up, it seemed Tujiu was quite interested in thick shaggy fur garments. Unsurprisingly, he purchased a thick fur mantle that gave him a red fur mane around his chest and shoulders, bringing even more attention to his bald head, missing eyebrows, and shimmering eyes. The Iridescent Flame Vulture even took out his huge spear and brandished it a few times to show off his new fierce looks.

Xiezi ‘giggled’, her creepy laugh just being a bit less loud than usual, “Che-He-Hehe. You look much stronger now.”

While she didn’t seem very sincere, Tujiu nodded his head, “Of course. With this impressive new neck frill, who would dare to underestimate me in the future!”

Sage could only roll his eyes and urge them to leave again, he’d already been forced to stay at the Chong Clan for weeks and there were many things still to do at Lionheart Town. There were still many improvements that needed to be finalized and lots of little problems for him to smooth over. We haven’t even started making sitcoms, let alone the huge market of reality shows.

Finally, he was able to convince them it was time to leave and they made their way back to where Uncle Zhuo was waiting. They walked towards a depression between a few short hills where Xiezi said the huge scorpion should be waiting for them. Everything seemed quite normal until they finally crested the hill. At that moment they saw something odd. The giant purplish black and red scorpion was waiting for them, but it was not alone. There was a lone figure wearing a large black cloak that covered their whole body standing in front of the scorpion. From their vantage point, they could only see the back of this figure. Xiezi was confused, her Uncle Zhuo was looking at the cloaked figure without moving.

Xiezi waved her arm, “Uncle Zhuo, we’re back!”

They were already walking downwards, approaching the giant scorpion, but the scorpion didn’t respond. Xiezi’s face scrunched up in worry for an instant before it suddenly turned fierce. Sage was already on edge as soon as he saw the black cloaked figure, as that person was invisible to his Spirit Sense. While Sage had a similar technique, anyone using something like that was usually up to no good.

The three of them started to circulate their Qi, readying their power and breaking into a run. Their figures flashed across the ground, the landscape flashing beside them. They moved closer and Uncle Zhuo was still completely still. When they reached within a dozen yards of the cloaked figure, there was a loud exploding sound. The ground was blasted apart and two figures were thrown to either side.

The black cloaked figure had not moved a muscle. Tujiu stabbed his spear into the ground to slow himself while Xiezi gracefully flipped a few times and tip-toed across the canopy of the nearby trees before slowing to a stop. She rubbed a hand against her stomach where Sage had hit her, and then her gaze moved to where Sage was facing off against the cloaked person.

At that moment, both Tujiu and Xiezi felt the terrifying power coming from the person in the cloak. The power seemed fiercest just a few steps in front of where Sage was standing. A great feeling of wrongness encompassed Uncle Zhuo, that aura spread outwards, growing larger and larger.

Sage knew this aura. It caused a terrifying chill to shoot up his back and he only had time to smash both Tujiu and Xiezi away before that powerful aura smashed against him like a wave. When it hit him, he didn’t feel or sense anything different. That was of course, the most terrifying thing about that energy he’d encountered once in the past. His body rippled, whipping his leg against the ground and causing large pieces of rock and dirt flying towards the person in the black cloak while he also flew backward out of the dangerous aura.

Then he looked down and saw that the skin was already slowly melting off his arms.