Molting the Mortal Coil

Having just avenged their father, the Tiankong Siblings were satisfied. Even if they were all heavily injured and ready to flee, they had accomplished their goal. At least, they thought they had.

The yellow barrier layer shattered, but the enemy they faced slowed down. They had been moving at a fevered pace to try and back up the Violet Light Sect, but they were too late. With the group already destroyed, they slowed down to catch their breath. Figuratively at least. A cultivator that carefully controlled their energy expenditure could fight for days at a time without rest.

At that time, a ghostly figure flew up out of the ground next to Hei Bai. The spirit had the same shape and appearance as that old man who had just died, except he had no flesh and was only a glowing apparition. He immediately yelled at the old woman, “You dumb old bat, you lied to us about their capability! You said we could wipe them out with twenty, so twenty five each was five times more than necessary. You will be compensating me for Sunset and my destroyed body!”

Hei Bai merely chuckled coldly, “Violet Light Ancestor, calm down. As I told you, Lang Sheng is full of tricks. Don’t you worry, he’s nearly out of them and we’re just getting started. The damage you have suffered is unfortunate, but it is a small price to pay to finally get rid of this little monster.”

Ruanfu screeched again. In her anger she had failed to destroy that old man. She had only fought with other Nascent Souls a few times. Usually she practiced against Sage and they weren’t worried about killing each other off. Yet, the most powerful thing about a Nascent Soul was how difficult they were to kill. Even if their bodies were completely destroyed, they could live on as an energy being. While it wasn’t an ideal state, with great difficulty they could build a new body and continue their path of cultivation. The Violet Light Ancestor was a wily old man and he’d placed a fake core inside his body to distract them while his Nascent Soul escaped. In the chaos of the many Tiankong Siblings swarming him, he’d found a chance to slip away.

The birds were flapping their wings agitatedly, and Sage knew they’d lose their cool. He couldn’t trust them to follow the plan any more. Even so, he didn’t have much choice. There were just too many enemies. If they tried to run now, they only had a single barrier layer to buy them time, but he knew they would rather sacrifice themselves than let that old man continue to live.

The bright red toucan in the group flapped its wings and swept its large beak around in large smooth circles. As it moved, the heat in the air suddenly faded. The sun that had been burning down upon them seemed to dim. The wind started to pick up and a chill swept over them all. They fought in an open field, yet yellow, red, and brown leaves floated past them, carried by the breeze. A saddened, yet courageous feeling swept over the group, caused by that toucan, Juzui’s Mantle of Four Gentleman. The sword art that utilized the four seasons to varying effect. Autumn came suddenly upon them. With it came the end of the good times, the joy and warmth, ushering in a sad tone. At the same time, there was courage. The tenacity to face off against and survive the coming winter.

It matched their current mood quite perfectly. Sad that they had not achieved complete revenge, but also bolstering their courage to face off against terrible odds. Sage used the Messaging Jade again and yelled at them, “This is not the final face-off. Do you understand me? You cannot get your revenge if you’re dead! You will go all out to damage them, and then return to the Inner World. If you fall into their hands your flesh and bones will be turned into weapons that will be used against those of us that remain. You must not die.”

While Sage was giving his ‘pep-talk’, the enemy was also preparing. The Fu Clan had already started to spread out, forming a perimeter around the Million Scale Shell set up by the Dragoons. Many of them also started releasing black clouds of gas and disappearing into them, hiding from view. Whitestaff and her disciples stood strong. They closed their eyes and leaned against their staves, putting the wood against their foreheads and starting to chant something unintelligible. The last group, the one that Hei Bai had brought were the most unusual.

Sage still didn’t know much about them, he had only recognized a pair of them that had the long large ears that identified them as from the Shou Clan. The same Shou Clan that was working with and also seemed to be betrayed by Hei Bai in the past when she stole a map from them that Sage had sold at auction. Yet now, here they were working with her again.

The twenty five she brought didn’t seem to be from one consistent group, and instead from their styles and colors of dress they seemed to be many smaller groups. At this time, that assumption was confirmed. There was a pair of women that wore red dresses that looked much like kimonos with wide and elaborate belts. One of them pulled out a pair of large ornamental folding fans, while the other took out a small pillow and a musical instrument. She sat down on the embroidered pillow and cradled the bulbous end of her instrument on her lap. Her free hand held a bow which she set to the two strings on her instrument. The sound that came forth was lilting and eerie. It was an Erhu, a two stringed fiddle. It evoked a feeling of sadness, one that drew the opponents off guard and focused them to pay attention to the woman with the pair of fans. She didn’t attack, instead she danced. Her body swayed and spun, and many of the Dragoons near her were mesmerized. They saw visions of happy times, joyful occasions. Their own lives were quite simple, but at that moment they experienced a story. Living through another’s vivid memories. The Million Scale Shell faltered, a huge hole formed on it.

Then, a trio of old women wearing blue stepped forward and they waved their hands, causing three more instruments to appear. All three were stringed and two of them were quite large. Chairs appeared along with the instruments, which they sat down upon. One of them had a large silver harp, which released an angelic tinkling when her fingers brushed against the strings. Another held a large lute in her lap and she started strumming and tuning her strings. The third had the largest instrument, it sat upon its own table, and looked much like the inside of a piano. Long metal strings stretched out horizontally, with big frets holding them up. She had claw-like devices worn on the tips of her fingers which she used to individually pluck the many strings. The little bone plectra gave her exacting control and the three of them started to play in unison. When they did, waves of force were shot forth, they moved like invisible scythes, sweeping through the hole in the Million Scale Shell and slicing the Dragoons into pieces.

The more mixed elements of the group started to get involved. The two from the Shou Clan clapped their hands together and started to hum. Four men that looked completely different from each other pulled out swords and flicked the blades. The blades began to hum, matching the frequency of sound from the Shou Clan. Three with matching uniforms had the name ‘Yincha’ on their chest, and they released a Qi field from their bodies. That Qi field started to vibrate along with the swordsman and Shou Clan. Another four brought out weapons with integrated instruments, a huge tuning fork polearm, a bladed tambourine, an iron flute, and a large Suona, which looked like a cross between a trumpet and a clarinet.

Finally, a group of six burly men with bared chests brought out a bunch of giant drums. One of them had a pair of three part wooden clappers. Four drums were placed horizontally with three men standing between them. They each had a pair of long sticks in hand. Next, there was a man of immense size, easily ten feet tall. He was standing in front of a drum that came up to his waist, with a diameter equal to his height. Lastly, there was a chubby fellow holding a huge maul and standing next to a huge gong.

The giant brought down one of his sticks, smashing a deep bass tone from that massive drum. His other arm followed and he set a simple bass rhythm. The three men between the four drums swung to their sides, smashing to their left and right, hitting the drums to either side of them and filling the area with booming sound. The man with the clackers added a staccato beat and a strange energy emitted from the drumming team. It washed over the others in Hei Bai’s group and they all began to glow with a fiery red light. The glow coming from them was not focused, instead seeming more like a glowing gas emanating from their bodies. Like a heat mirage given color.

That same energy extended to the others on their side, Whitestaff and her disciples began to glow and a few wisps of red could be seen moving about within the black clouds of smoke that the Fu clan were hidden within.