Molting the Mortal Coil

“The spider and the birds are…”

Sage’s absentminded answer was interrupted by a dazzling display of lightning. Dian Huifang pointed her finger towards the second battlefield and white lightning connected her and a few hundred of the enemy. It chained from one to the next, connecting them all in a brilliant arc of shocking energy. After a few seconds the arc disappeared and dozens of them that were struck fell to their knees and crumbled to the ground, unconscious. The others looked to be in various states of dizziness and weakness. Dian Huifang didn’t waste any time, leaping into the air where a small stormcloud formed underneath her feet which flew her towards the large battlefield where she started throwing out more bursts of chained lightning.

With her sudden action, the enemy Nascent Souls felt the powerful Law energy coming from her and they realized that the woman was another at their level. Then they looked over to the old man and suddenly got a little worried. They had been five against three, which meant their victory was inevitable. Two more Nascent Souls? The odds were suddenly even. Lady Diyin turned her severe stare upon the Fu Clansman, “You must call your allies or our victory will not be assured!”

The Swordsman laughed and his eyes flashed with violence, “Haha, finally, things will get interesting! Slaughtering livestock is no fun at all. A worthy battle is a real man’s true pleasure!”

The Fu Clan Nascent Soul put his Messaging Jade away and grumbled under his breath. Then he started rapidly shouting commands, “Lady Diyin, restrain that old man. Violet Light Ancestor, hold down Lang Sheng. I will focus on that girl on the cloud. I trust you can handle the feathered drake?”

His last statement was said directly to the Swordsman, using his fierce attention to try and shock the man out of his fevered state. It seemed to work and the Swordsman turned his eyes towards the teenage girl that was previously a large white feathered wyvern. She was a unique new species after all, so they had no idea of what she could do, but they were out of options.

The giant lightning eel could take a form without a physical body, so they had to face her with pure energy attacks which only Lady Diyin could use with her sound based attacks. The Violet Light Ancestor had no physical body, so it would be a fair match to pair him up against Lang Sheng who was also missing a body. Dian Huifang showed off her lightning attacks and cloud flight which meant the Swordsman’s mobility would be a problem. Having the Swordsman face off against Ruanfu would leave them at a disadvantage, but the man felt his Law of Smoke would give him an advantage against the woman riding on a cloud. If they could take the lead in one of the battles they could regain their advantage. Since the Swordsman seemed so eager on facing a challenge, he was happy to let him take on the risky job while he would focus on winning his fight quickly.

Without any arguments, they quickly rushed into action, breaking up the calm chat that had been going on. Sage and Manji were forced into combat, yelling for Dian Huifang to be careful because the Fu Clan Nascent Soul had suddenly concealed himself. Sage was worried about Ruanfu facing off against the Swordsman, sending her a warning to keep her distance. He feared she would get complacent and allow the man to get close enough to slice her, and Sage had the feeling that nothing would be able to stop the man’s sword. With the help of two more Nascent Souls, Sage’s side felt a lot less pressure. While they were still involved in a battle they were no longer struggling with their utmost to survive another moment longer.

Manji spit a few bolts of lightning towards Lady Diyin, but she snapped her fingers and a loud boom collided against the bolt of energy. Sage couldn’t help but to look over and wonder how a lightning bolt and a sound wave could collide against one another, but he could only peek over for an instant before having to focus his attention back upon the Violet Light Ancestor. The old man was terribly predictable, seeming to only enjoy using that single attack where his finger glowed with violet light. On the other hand, Sage could feel the sheer power radiating from the attack and did everything he could to avoid it. The old man was one of those fellows that had a big hammer, and so every one of his problems became a nail. It didn’t matter what strange variation of Heavenly Material that Sage tried to use, the old fellow just smashed it apart with a single finger every time.

Manji traded a few blows with Lady Diyin and started to lose ground, upon which point he transformed back into his true form. The giant lightning bodied eel gave the woman a much harder time, putting the initiative back into Manji’s hands and putting the woman onto the defensive. The opposite happened with Dian Huifang. The Fu Clansman had flooded the area with black smoke which scared the gentle woman. She attacked blindly, releasing lightning around herself indiscriminately, forcing the Fu Clan Nascent Soul to hold back from attacking but also wasting much of her energy at the same time. Ruanfu had also taken her true form and was using Soul Fragments to control her large feathers like flying spears hidden among a storm of snow to attack the Swordsman. He seemed to be chopping apart the snow and avoiding the feathers with ease, but he also couldn’t do much against the flying monster.

While all the Nascent Souls were tied down in battle, the red skull lifted up out of the ground next to another battle. Without Dian Huifang to help them out, the remaining dozens from Sage’s Inner World were slowly losing ground again. Worse yet, that little red skull covered in orange flames cackled madly and released burning beams from its empty eye sockets. A burly woman with a white staff also chose this time to join the fray and things began to take a turn for the worse. The two elite warriors drastically tipped the scales. They were eager to win here and assist the rank sixes on their side. Even if a Core Formation Cultivator had no chance against a Nascent Soul one on one, if dozens of them attacked at the same time, the Nascent Soul would be forced to take them seriously. With a thousand of them, they would surely be able to turn the battle in their favor!

At that moment, the Cloud Swallowing Thunder Eel that was flickering back and forth in the air above Lady Diyin let out a loud laugh, “Took them long enough!”

Lady Diyin wasn’t foolish enough to let herself be distracted by the statement and redoubled her efforts to keep throwing booming sound waves towards the incorporeal Demonic Beast she faced. On the other hand, the Fu Clan Nascent Soul had time to stop and examine the situation. He was hiding in a dark cloud of smoke and harassing Dian Huifang to wear her down and make her expect a certain kind of attack in order to give him an opening for an assassination. His frown was hidden by his mask, but he was greatly annoyed and called out to the large battle of lower level cultivators, “Pull back and strengthen your lines. Strangers approach!”

“Fu Xidong! You aren’t foolish enough to believe that beast’s lies, are you?”

Lady Diyin stayed focused, and merely yelled out of frustration, but she got a terrible answer, “It is no lie. A Flying Ship approaches.”