Molting the Mortal Coil

By the time Sage ran into Whitestaff and her disciples, the Fu Clan realized what was going on. They’d come up to the crest of a hill and the molten boulders started flying their way again. It was another tactic the giant tortoise liked to use, launching molten projectiles up near the top of a mountain or hill so that it would come rolling down towards him. Many times it even caused a large landslide. That monster seemed to enjoy making things difficult for him. He still wondered just why that shellback was so intent on catching up to him. What was it about him that set him apart from all the other beasts?

The trees split above him, parting in the wake of a huge boulder, still partially glowing red. Molten pieces of it had fallen off and scattered about the peak of the hill, leaving behind huge pieces that would cool into large stones. Stones that might sit undisturbed on that mountain top for many generations, or they might be crushed into rumble by something like that massive monster that was following after him.

Once Sage caught sight of Whitestaff, he immediately altered his course. He only wanted to pull the enemies into the line of fire. There was no way he was going to face off against them head on by himself. That would be purely suicidal. He was already living on the edge with the giant tortoise following behind him. Whitestaff didn’t let him go that easily. When he turned away, she was already sprinting towards him. Then, she spun her staff at her side and the outline of her body started to blur. Somehow, her steps took her farther than they used to. As she took a step she blurred and disappeared, only to then reappear again, much closer than she was before. Sage had no idea how she was doing that, but that didn’t stop her from closing the distance.

She’d passed any of the other pursuers far behind and she thrust her staff forward like it was a spear. Sage couldn’t see what exactly was going on, but he felt it smash against his back. They were hundreds of feet apart, but her strike had rammed home. At that instant his theories about her seemed to be proven true. Her hit had not contacted his body, it had damaged his Nascent Soul. Before, when he’d been hit by her and her disciples it had rattled his Spiritual Sea, in the past the Spirit Power created by the Spiritual Sea was what he used to defend his soul. Now that he’d become a Nascent Soul, his Soul, Mind, and Core had all incorporated into a whole.

He felt Whitestaff’s attack strike right through his body and rattle his Nascent Soul. It was pretty impressive, really. Defeating a rank 6 as a rank 5 was pretty impossibly difficult. While Sage had taken on Core Formation Cultivators when he was only in Formation Building, the difference between 4 and 5 was a matter of energy. Once the core was formed it was like a power reactor, which in comparison to the batteries tha other cultivators had to constantly charge was a big difference. Even so it was only a matter of energy reserves, with the right tricks or if there was a great disparity in the techniques or skills involved, the rank 5 could be easily toppled.

On the other hand, the jump to rank 6 was predicated on having made significant advances in the understanding of laws. Those in the fifth rank would make progress in their study of laws, but those in the sixth had reached a certain significant understanding, and their power was a qualitative improvement over Qi use alone. With such a gap between them, it was nearly impossible to defeat, let alone actually kill a Nascent Soul without being one yourself. Whitestaff’s attack was impressive as it directly wounded him. Of course, wounding his Nascent Soul was a far cry from actually destroying it. It felt much like she’d used a small blade to leave a shallow cut on his arm.

If he was completely restrained and prevented from fighting back, she could certainly sentence him to a death by a thousand cuts. Unfortunately for her, he was fully empowered and not only pushing himself to his limits, but focusing his all on escaping. He could already tell she was overextending herself to increase her speed to such an extent and also had struck at him with her full force. He didn’t doubt she had some sort of trump card that she was holding back, most did, but she hadn’t held back in striking him and it had only ended up stinging.

To reward her for her troubles, he released a spray of thick green liquid in her direction. A spray of viscous fluid flew in her direction, creating a moving wall of poison for her to deal with. She broke off from the second attack she was preparing and took a hasty step. Her body flickered out of view and she appeared a few dozen yards away from her original position. Having expected that, Sage quickly turned his head and expectorated a large black globule. It flew at a much more rapid speed than the green acid, launched right when she’d just completed her previous evasive action.

Too bad.

Sage spun back around and focused on slithering away when he saw the black ball miss her forehead. She had thrown her body to the side, turning her head and avoiding the shot aimed right between her eyes. The acid brushed against her cheek and sunk down to her cheekbone before it burrowed through and started to burn. While it was nearby, the Third Eye’s End was only fatal if it sunk into the brain. Even so, Whitestaff was not having a good time. An uncomfortable heat flared up in her face, not causing great damage, but enough to lightly burn her internally. Such a wound was very unusual and likely to cause unforeseen problems if any of her internal organs were burned.

Even so, the physique of a rank 5 was strong and it was probably little more than an inconvenience. It was only meant to be a punishment for her attack, and also a method for him to sneer at Whitestaff. She was still on his list of revenge targets and she’d hid herself from him all this time. It was only when an alliance to exterminate him was created that she finally showed herself. He wanted to rush to her right now and finish her off for her betrayal, but the Fu Clan was still all around him, throwing random attacks at him and trying to slow him down. Worse yet, there was a giant volcano tortoise behind them, driving them all forward like the living embodiment of a natural disaster, forcing all to flee before it.

It was also about this time that the Fu Clan got to experience the might of the giant tortoise.

Flaming boulders were spat out in their general direction. They’d formed a loose perimeter around Sage and as he changed course, so too did their perimeter. The Fu Clansmen weren’t all Nascent Souls, so they didn’t face him head on. Their tactics were not meant to trap and corner their quarry, instead they kept him encircled and constantly harassed him, making it feel like there was no way for him to ever escape. No matter which direction he went they would always be there, watching him and throwing weapons in his direction. The Fu Clan in Sage’s direction of travel, the ones who would be in front of him, were thrown into disarray by the meteors falling down upon them.

The molten boulders that the tortoise launched weren’t targeted at them specifically, but they ranged in size from a shed to a full home. When they smashed against the ground, they exploded into little pieces, sending shards of rock, forest debris, and molten drops into every direction. The landscape was reshaped and chaos sewn with every attack. The Fu Clan was all about hidden assassinations, careful ambush and guerilla attacks. To be suddenly subjected to such indiscriminate wide area artillery attacks put them into disarray. Their loose encirclement was broken, abandoned to flee the apocalyptic destruction wrought by the mountain sized tortoise’s rampage.

Whitestaff returned to her disciples and fled the scene just as quickly, running from the explosive detonations she saw in the forest ahead. She’d watched the molten rocks flying over her head and landing in front of the giant cobra. Already an experienced hand, the porcupine-like snake avoided the incoming rocks, ducking into a depression and curling up. The shrapnel from the stone explosions spattered against the thick spines with only a few of them penetrating to the black oily skin beneath. Then the snake released blasts of wind and fire to clear itself a way, threading through the burning wreckage of the forest and continuing on its way.