Molting the Mortal Coil

Glowing matter splattered onto the ground like a splash of blood. It began to immediately scatter apart like dust in the wind, the glowing specks seemingly blown by a nonexistent breeze. Sage instinctively reached his hand down to clutch the place on his side that was just struck. Yet, he was only a Nascent Soul right now, and there was no blood to stem. The flecks of soul energy that were knocked off of him were permanently gone, whittling away at the insubstantial substance that his Nascent Soul was formed from. With the giant mass of lightning above them, the Violet Light Ancestor and Hei Bai attacked ferociously, wanting to inflict grievous wounds while Sage was distracted and before the new arrivals could enter the battlefield.

Sage hastily formed a shield of Blue Icesilver in front of himself while also forming a large tendril of Black Enhydros to lash towards the Violet Light Sect Ancestor. The tar-like substance was not very effective against spirit type beings, but it could still interrupt the attacks they released. It spread outward and moved to wrap around them. Hei Bai knew what she was up against, so she quickly evaded it, but the Violet Light Ancestor couldn’t sense any harmful energy and tried to fly right through it. Unfortunately for him, it wasn’t intending to restrain him. Instead, Sage manipulated the Black Enhydros to surround the Violet Light Ancestor, moving whenever the old man did to keep him trapped. The Violet Light Ancestor was free to go wherever he wished, but with his vision and Spirit Sense blocked by the Black Enhydros he was temporarily crippled.

With most of his attention upon blocking the Violet Light Ancestor, he started to get burned more by Hei Bai. Sage flew closer to the sphere of Black Enhydros and used it to obstruct Hei Bai’s attacks.

Hearing no response, the voice came down from up above again, “How disrespectful! Not a single greeting for this one!”

After the voice spoke, Hei Bai was overtaken by a terrible fright and she tried to flee towards the ground. She wanted to use the same tactic that Sage had used, hiding underground to buy some time. Her thoughts were instantly interrupted by magnificent pain. A bolt of lightning connected the ground to the sky, spearing the ghostly red skull like a fish. Hei Bai was little more than a skull shaped ghost at this point and lightning was the greatest weapon against evil spirits. It was said to be the weapon of gods, divine retribution and bane of ghosts and devils. The orange flames surrounding the red skull flared brightly, and the lightning fork shattered. Hei Bai dove into the ground, fleeing the new arrival at her fastest speed.

While not as vulnerable as Hei Bai, the Violet Light Ancestor was not foolish enough to tangle directly with the lightning being hurled from the sky. The tip of his finger lit up with a violet point of light and he held it above him as he fled to join up with the other Nascent Souls. The lightning falling from the sky had thrown a wrench into their plans and the enemy Nascent Souls took a moment to regroup. They had wanted to finish the battle before this new variable acted, but now it was better to properly observe this new arrival. They hadn’t called for any more reinforcements, so how could this new fellow be here to help them? It was far more likely that Lang Sheng had somehow found a way to call for help. The Fu Clan Nascent Soul had already taken out a Messaging Jade and sent some energy into it while their side regrouped.

Sage was oblivious to the thoughts of his enemies, and instead showing amazement at the sudden arrival. With Hei Bai scared away and the enemy regrouping, he finally had time to yell into the sky, “Big Brother! You are like the rain in a drought! Good thing you got here in time or you’d only be in time to plan my funeral. Is that Miss..”

The large mass of lightning swooped down to the ground and as he was speaking, Sage was interrupted by a blur of motion. He was startled into silence, by a face right in front of his own. He blinked a few times, “Dian Huifang. Is that you? Why are you so close?” He floated backward to avoid the penetrating stare and the saintly woman smiled at him, “You don’t seem all that different from other Nascent Souls. How did you get the Great Guardian Elder to like you so much?”

In the air, the graceful snowy white drake circled a few times and then landed next to Sage. She turned her piercing blue eyes on to the mass of lightning and carefully examined it. At the same time, the eel shaped lightning turned its eyes upon the drake. They stared at each other for a while and then Ruanfu abruptly spoke with fierce directness towards it, “You will be my second mate!”

Sage fell backwards. As he was only a Nascent Soul at the moment all that happened was he spun into something like a backflip, carefully regaining his balance and blinking at the strange statement that Ruanfu had so brashly made. Such was his amazement that he blurted out a few things, “Ruanfu! He’s thousands of years old, and he’s not a bird, or a dragon.”

She turned her fluffy feathered head down towards him on her long and sinuous neck, “So? I’m a few hundred years old, I’ll be mature enough for mating soon,” then she looked at the Cloud Swallowing Thunder Eel again, “He has pretty lightning and a nice long tail. Isn’t that good enough?”

“But… he doesn’t even have a solid body!”

Ruanfu laughed and her face swung down closer to Sage’s with the rapid acceleration and halt that small animals liked to do when they moved, “Haha, you are silly, Brother. You can just make him have a human shape like the rest of us! Have you forgotten about my father?”

Sage’s mouth dropped and he realized that his shock had made him forget many things. With the Human Seal they could have human bodies and that meant just about anything could mate with anything else. Even if he didn’t personally interfere and use the Mutate technique from the Insect Immortal Index, the Human Seal circumvented those problems. At least somewhat. The more powerful a Demon Beast was, the less fertile it usually was. Sealing them into a human form could alleviate this somewhat, but it wasn’t foolproof. It was also the deal he’d made with King long ago and how these Tiankong Siblings even came to be. Or else how would the rare and powerful Breach Hawk breed with something like a Miniature Red Toucan?

Across from them, the giant eel had been quiet for a moment and then there was a flash of power and the giant eel disappeared. In its place there was an old man with thin lips and a blunt nose. He looked hale and hearty, his short hair was white, but thick and healthy. At that moment he walked over to Sage and stood protectively next to him, “Are you alright, Brother? Thankfully we made it in time.”

The large white drake next to them also released a flash of energy and a beautiful teenage girl appeared next to Sage. She had snowy white hair and piercing blue eyes. Just like in the past she wore a tight long sleeve shirt and white pants that would leave little to the imagination, except she covered them with a skimpy blue dress that had a slit on either side to the waist and with a v-neck that went nearly to her waist. The combination of two revealing outfits layered together was provocative, but not actually revealing. She slowly walked around the old man and then reached out and smacked him on the backside. Manji leapt into the air and let out a surprised yelp. His eyes shot over to Ruanfu and with equal parts confusion, fury, and excitement on his face.

“Haha, he will definitely do! I bet this old lightning monster knows many things. Can you make him look a bit younger, Brother? I like this one, but he might get jealous when he sees my Little Lei,” then she leaned closer to Manji and smiled, “You must be very experienced. You should know many more tricks than Little Wei. Do you have many treasures to share?”

Aren’t we fighting for our lives? Why am I suddenly in the middle of some weird drama? She has a boy toy and now she wants a sugar daddy? What is going on?

At this time of confusion for Sage, Dian Huifang, the endlessly kind and caring woman had stopped staring at Sage from point blank range and was instead looking over at the two other battlefields that were still raging. The Living Disaster and the Swamp Genesis Spider were causing the ground to shake, leaving them all perpetually in the middle of an earthquake. At the same time, around fifty Core Formation Cultivators from the Inner World were facing off against a thousand others with the help of a few giant birds and a winged squirrel. She didn’t seem to care much for the giant tortoise and the spider, but when she saw the birds and the squirrel there was a glimmer in her eyes, “Are those on our side?”