Molting the Mortal Coil

It took a few more minutes for the bright light to fade, and at that moment, they finally saw what they were up against. An old bald man was standing outside the second layer of the Seven Layer Barrier. The orange energy barrier cast a colored hue over their vision of the old man, but it was apparent he was wearing a purple robe. He had a long narrow white goatee that hung to his chest along with two similar skinny tufts of hair that came from either end of his mustache.

Fu Manchu. Goatee. Who is this bald Pai Mei, fellow?

The bright light seemed to have been coming from the man’s outstretched finger. A tiny mote of light still existed on the tip of his finger while he examined the orange barrier in front of him. Two dozen more men with more colorful robes stood at the old man’s sides. The central tabard-like piece of their robes was also violet, but their sleeves, pant legs, and sashes were varying shades of red and orange. With how far away they were, Sage and the others had no idea what they were saying, he could only see them because of the superior vision of a Cultivator. He was also outside the range of the Heart’s Tongue and regrettably never learned to read lips. I wonder if I’ll have time to learn that skill? It would be really useful with Hindsight.

Putting aside the distraction, the colorfully dressed fellows lined on up either side of the old man and violet lights appeared on their fingertips. When the old man started the move, the others followed along with him. He only got to see the start of their move, because the many violet lights grew brighter and brighter, blocking vision. They had to close their eyes or look away and at that time there was another loud boom. The light faded again and the orange barrier layer was shaking from the impact.

The commotion had already gained the attention of the cultivators in Lionheart Town. City guard reinforcements were being called onto the walls and thousands of Dragoons were swarming out from the Lang Clan Compound to fill the air.

Then there was another loud boom, the orange barrier rippled, but the violet light on their enemies fingers was still dimming from the prior attack. Sage turned his head and found another group assaulting the barrier. A bunch of figures covered completely in black clothing were standing there. They had tight masks covering their heads and faces without a single speck of skin showing. Only their dark eyes were visible, which even had some dark paint around them to cover the tiny bit of skin that would show from where their masks didn’t cover. Each of them were dressed exactly the same, but they all had drastically different methods of attack. Some of them threw out knives with pyramidal blades that exploded into shrapnel before hitting the barrier. Others used black bladed swords, stabbing them into the barrier in what seemed to be slow motion. Another had metal bands around his knuckles that were creating blue arcs of lightning. He punched the barrier and the lightning spread out over the orange light like a thousand snakes rushing over it.

The Fu Clan.

Sage had already leapt up onto the City Walls and he heard the guards calling out more targets. He swept his gaze in the other direction and saw another group. There was a gruff and muscular woman leading the group. She was carrying a staff the same height as her, made of white stone. She was followed by twenty four others carrying similar staves, though they looked to be made of a white wood rather than stone. They started spinning their staves in unison, then brought them down over their heads with a two-handed strike. The tips of their staves smashed against the orange barrier and caused another ripple.

“Whitestaff!”

He couldn’t hold in his recognition this time. Worse yet, that wasn’t the end of them. He directed his vision further to a fourth group. Thankfully, Lionheart Town was built at the edge of a mountain range and was flanked on three sides by large peaks. The enemy could only come from one direction, but due to the size of the city that still created a front many miles long. The four groups were quite spread out and so Sage only took them all in after a careful search.

Another group with roughly two dozen in it. Yet, this group was not nearly as unified in appearance as the others. They seemed to be grouped in pairs or trios, with most of them only having similar elements to their dress without uniforms like the other three groups. After a closer examination he noticed two of them had large drooping ears. The Shou Clan. Then he saw her. That damned old woman is back! I thought I’d have to wait for her surprise attack again, yet she’s back so soon?

Of course, that old woman was Hei Bai. Then there was Whitestaff, and the Fu Clan. So many of his enemies. Who was that fellow with the violet robe? He looked back over to that first group and he caught sight of something glass-like. Sage kept watching carefully. After that violet light grew dim from another attack, he finally saw it. On the fingers they were attacking with, they wore a sort of segmented finger armor. On the fingertip of their single finger armor, there was a large talon. A talon that looked somewhat like blue tinted glass. Yet, it wasn’t glass. He recognized them. The talons of a Breach Hawk.

At that moment, the old bald man with a fu manchu turned looked up from his attacks and stared directly towards Sage. The two of them locked eyes and the man laughed. The violet light on his finger disappeared entirely and he held the hand up like he was showing it off to Sage. With a big smile, the man waved his hand over the ground and a huge brown shape appeared on the ground in front of him. He put his foot on it, rolling it forward and twisting slightly. Sage saw what it was and he felt burning rage build within him.

Then he realized something and turned, his muscles tensing to propel him, but it was too late. There was a loud screech, the scream of a bird of prey. A wave of wind washed over the city wall, and then a lone figure in white launched into the air. She wasn’t alone for long, five others leapt off the city wall and they all landed outside the city and started running towards that old man.

Sage looked at that old bastard again and down at the object he was standing on. Sandy brown feathers with highlights of green, gray, and yellow. They had once been so vibrant and beautiful, but now they were smashed down and lifeless. Just like the glassy blue eyes that had once been so piercing. The blue tinted crystal-like beak was the most telling.

The villain was standing on her father’s head. There was no way Ruanfu could be held back at a time like this. Sage could only accept the change in circumstances and he gave an order to the Dragoon next to him, one that would be spread to the others in moments. He sent a message to Wan Ling, ‘Conceal yourself! The enemies are at the gates.’ There wasn’t much else that could be done, there were many Dragoons that were assigned to guard Wan Ling and their holdings in town. They were all here for him, so if he left the city the citizens should be safe. He would be giving up on many of the layers of the Seven Layer Barrier, but if he didn’t act now the Tiankong children would get themselves killed.

He rushed out behind them, activating the inner layers of the barrier. A violet layer appeared around the Lang Clan Hall, then an indigo one sprung up around the whole Lang Clan area. Next a blue wall shield appeared within the city walls, and a green one just outside them. Without him there to control them carefully, they would have to be left up. Only those with linked tokens could pass through them, which meant only his people for the inner two and city guards for the ones outside and inside the city wall. There was a controller in the Lang Clan Hall, and the barrier had limited energy. Wan Ling could keep feeding Spirit Stones into it, but he hoped it wouldn’t come to that.