Molting the Mortal Coil

Once he’d dove downwards, falling through the water and the web that held up the whole of the swamp, Sage readied a counter attack against the Nascent Souls that might follow him down. Sensing no immediate pursuer, he reached up to the web and touched against one of the roots of the Sacred Banyan that had extended through. Once he’d made physical contact with a part of it, it established a connection to them all. The Sacred Banyan created a forest with only one canopy, and by touching one he could sense them all. It was also how he could supply Qi to expand the Banyan without having to move from the center. The senses of a tree were quite limited, so he couldn’t quite tell what was going on, but there were no longer large parts of the Banyan getting damaged.

Did they move to regroup? This is a chance!

Back on the surface, Sage’s guess was correct. The trio of Nascent Souls were regrouping with the giant tortoise. It had finally righted itself and Whitestaff was sitting on top of its head. She continued to use her strange soul techniques to form a rapport with the beast. Even so, the tortoise was far from having a full conversation with her. She didn’t have a Heart’s Tongue, nor did she have a pair of old monsters who told her how to make one.

“Get the Living Disaster to go first. This whole swamp is a giant web. Get him to destroy it while we prepare.”

The serious woman threw her voice to Whitestaff, and then called over some of her subordinates. At the same time, Hei Bai had rushed up to the group and the Swordsman glared at her, “Don’t start with me. Stay with the others, we won’t be letting him get away this time.”

The many cultivators in the area converged and then spread out into two directions. People in robes of varying styles and colors spread out along the edge of the swamp, creating a large perimeter. Among them were the dozens of smaller groups that made up the Artful Life Alliance, as well as the distinctive violet robes of the Violet Light Sect. There was a distinct group of them wearing darker violet robes and they radiated the strength of a Core Formation Cultivator. They formed an arc along either side of the swamp, leaving the vast central area uncovered and giving the Living Disaster plenty of room to move.

At this, the second most powerful groups from the Artful Life Alliance showed themselves once more. While the Yincha and sword factions were the most powerful of the Artful Life Alliance here, because of the Nascent Souls, there were other skilled groups. Most notably the many groups of musicians. There was a trio of old men with zithers, the large flat instruments floated in front of them. A single pluck of the strings could create invisible blades of sound, which had killed many Dragoons. There was a man with a flute whose sound could make things slowly melt and corrode as if they were placed in a fat of acid. Yet, the most effective at this time were two groups.

First, a pair of beautiful women, one a dancer and the other an erhu player. The two string fiddle had a distinctive sound to it and their performance could create illusions. They danced and the sky brightened, releasing a golden and divine light that made everyone assembled feel like heaven was on their side.

In addition to the inspiring light, there was an even more powerful effect upon the assembled Cultivators. A thunderous boom echoed across the area. A second loud boom followed the first and when the third was struck, it was apparent it was no disaster, but the beat of a drum. The deep rumble of the largest bass drum built a steady cadence and soon came the addition of a staccato clack of wood on wood. Then a rumble of many drums beating in time followed, turning the lone boom of the bass drum into the approach of an army. Six burly men stood behind the Living Disaster, with the serious Yincha woman standing nearby.

A giant of a man with a size no mortal could ever reach was beating a bass drum ten feet across and five feet tall. Three others were in front of the giant, there was a double sided drum between each of them, placed horizontally and on a rack in the air. There was another drum to either end so each of them could swing to the left and right to strike a drum with the glowing sticks they held. Behind the quartet of drummers were the last two members of the band. One of them held a pair of three part wooden clappers, and he swung them around skillfully to accentuate the stick work of the others as well as fill the silence when the thundering drums stopped. Lastly, there was a round chubby fellow who did nothing, holding a large maul in front of a giant gong.

Just like the last time they’d tried to capture Sage, the drum group had a mysterious ability to empower their allies. Their glowing instruments were all magical tools and after a few moments of playing the drummers bodies also started to glow. A misty red aura sprung up around them, something that looked part flame and part steam. The haze around them grew brighter and larger and then spread outwards. The members of the Artful Life Alliance, Violet Light Sect, Whitestaff’s disciples, the Fu Clan, and most terrifying of all, the Living Disaster were all gradually surrounded by this burning aura.

The giant tortoise stared at the group of drummers with a fire building in its mouth, but then Whitestaff tapped her staff against the top of its head and it stopped. Then it snapped its mouth a few times and lifted and dropped its legs like it was trying something out. Then its head leaned back and it honked at the sky. It was a joyful sound, and at that moment it started to stomp back out towards the swamp. While it started to make its move, the Fu Clan did as well. They had remained well to the rear, but now that they were covered by the drummer’s aura they ran at their full speed. They moved with practiced precision, the bulk of them ran in a single file line, hundreds of them at the fourth rank. To either side of the line were dozens of rank fives, spread out equally to flank their weaker clansmen. Their Nascent Soul was at the head of the single file line, and led them to skirt around the side of the swamp. At that point, law power gathered around him and he made some hand signs, then threw a writhing ball of darkness into the air.

He lobbed it like a softball and it formed a gentle arc, one that carried it thousands of feet. The ball of darkness emitted a huge cloud of smoke around it as it traveled, creating an arch a dozen feet thick. Then the man jumped up onto the black smoke cloud and started to run along it like it was an arched bridge. What was even more amazing was that the Fu Clansmen behind him followed his path, each and everyone of them traveled up the smoky road into the sky. They traveled quickly, following the smoke road that led them out past the edge of the swamp where it transitioned to a sea.

While the Fu Clan moved through the sky to avoid the swamp, the tortoise was causing a ruckus. It had already been able to cause huge ripples in the water and displace all the muck and mud along the swamp’s bottom just by walking. Now that it was stomping purposefully with its full might, the whole swamp seemed to shake. If they didn’t know any better, they might have just thought it was a tiny earthquake caused by the force of its steps. Only, they did know better and could now see that the swamp shook a little too much and recovered a little too slowly. It swayed back and forth for a bit longer than it should. The Living Disaster continued to stomp further into the swamp, guided by Whitestaff. The further they were from the edge the weaker the web would be.

The many cultivators to either side of the swamp were not sitting around idle either, they gathered their strength and the stronger among them started to call out a cadence, organizing a unified attack in time with the beats of the drums. They released dozens of attacks at a time, targeting the ground at the edge of the swamp, chewing the place up in order to weaken the foundations that the web was attached to. The constant shaking had already taken effect and the trees in the swamp were falling one after another. Only those entwined with the Sacred Banyan stayed upright, but even those only lasted a few minutes longer. The giant unified canopy tilted and the remaining forest at the center of the swamp cracked and fell into the hole in the web. The parts of the now shattered banyan slid into the deep water.

At that moment large amounts of law energy gathered and the Nascent Soul Swordsman showed himself once more. He was at the right edge of the swamp where it met the sea and his sword became a flash of light. There was a creaking boom and the swamp started to sink.