Molting the Mortal Coil

Zhu Jiao and Wan Ling!

The two most important women in his life had suddenly appeared at the top of the ramp and then descended with more allies. He was so caught up in shock over their arrival that he barely registered three other important folks stepping out. Abbot Kunga, Bi Hongbing, and Liu Ao. The Seven Stars of the Jade Horde that hadn’t betrayed him. After the three leaders came a small army of Jade Horde members, most of them Hoplites, but many human mercenaries and Dragoons were present as well. The Flying Ship had been completely filled with reinforcements and the hundreds of Cultivators looked furiously at the forces of the Artful Life Alliance, Fu Clan, Violet Light Sect, and Whitestaff.

He had so many questions that he was shocked into silence. He just didn’t know where to start. Thankfully, the new arrivals were not as overwhelmed. Surprisingly, Wan Ling was the one to take charge. She held up a small paper talisman, and the characters on it lit up. Her voice was suddenly magnified and rippled through the whole battlefield, “Spread out and surround them. It’s far past time we remove these fellows that think our friend Lang Sheng has no relations in the world.”

Her words were simple and to the point, answering many of Sage’s questions while also directing all the new arrivals. None of those who had stepped off the Flying Ship were Nascent Souls, but the majority of them were Core Formation Cultivators, along with the thousands of lower level Cultivator’s from the Jade Horde.

The Nascent Souls that were facing off against Sage were initially fearful, but once their Spiritual Sense swept over the new arrivals they relaxed greatly. While it wasn’t good for the enemy to get a hundred new allies, their side still had hundreds of rank fives. Fu Xidong, Lady Diyin, and the Violet Light Ancestor quickly sent some orders and the vast army of their subordinates regrouped, giving up their surrounding of the Cultivators from the Inner World. While it was an advantageous position, if they continued to hold it, the new arrivals could surround them in turn and they’d have to fight at the front and back. It was a shame they had to let the enemy group up, but with their superior strength they would just surround them again. For them it was like simply adding more fish to their net, why would they refuse?

Sage began to move towards Wan Ling and Zhu Jiao, but he was interrupted by the glowing finger of the Violet Light Ancestor. The ground rumbled and without any further chance for conversation, the battle erupted anew. Lady Diyin had an annoyed expression on her face, seeming almost embarrassed that their battle was so rudely interrupted for nothing. The so called reinforcements wouldn’t make a difference in her opinion and Lang Sheng was just wasting their time. Over and over again, he continued to waste time and struggle on. She finally realized that old woman Hei Bai wasn’t as crazy as they all thought. Even if he wasn’t that strong, he was like an undying cockroach, everytime they thought it was close to being over, there was always something to waste more time.

With the thought that this would finally be the end to the changes and interruptions, it was only a matter of time till their side were victorious. Then her face blanched and she realized that she’d had the same thought almost a dozen times as they pursued Lang Sheng. Realizing her folly she redoubled her efforts, releasing a loud yell as she put her all into attacking the lightning eel. The others on her side had similar realizations, wanting to put an end to this whole thing before something new showed up again that pushed them into a real corner.

Their premonition was shown to be true.

While the battle among the Nascent Souls was not perfectly even, the differences were small enough that it would take quite some time for victors to be revealed. As long as Dian Huifang had energy, she could continue to fly through the air and hurl lightning down upon Fu Xidong. While he felt he had an advantage in ruthlessness and hoped to use the woman’s cloud against her, he still had to find the proper opening. Elsewhere, the Swordsman was at a distinct disadvantage against Ruanfu, but as long as she kept her distance all she could do was slowly wear down his defenses. Even the Living Disaster, who was much larger and more powerful than the Swamp Genesis Spider couldn’t win its battle in any short timespan. If neither party weren’t so intent on Sage then the Swamp Genesis Spider would have escaped and the Living Disaster would be helpless to stop it.

Battles at this level could only be solved quickly by surprise or if the power gap between two combatants was vast. Nascent Souls had far too many strange powers and techniques, they were all old and experienced characters. The Violet Light Ancestor was a good example, even when all his allies died and while vastly outnumbered he was still able to escape.

The problem was not with the high level powers, but with the lower level ones. They underestimated the strength of the reinforcements for Sage’s side. There might have only been a hundred of them, but they were all powerful elites. Even outnumbered by many times, Song Lu Tian, Kang Min, and Chong Xiezi were all the top participants from the Thunder Mountain Bridge Tournament. They were among the most powerful in their generation in all of the Dou Kingdom. Even if the Fu Clan was a first rate power, how could all of the random disciples assigned to this mission stand up to the most powerful young geniuses?

Song Lu Tian, with his burly physique, surprisingly didn’t use his huge size and overpowering muscles. Instead he had a serious look on his face as he brought out a set of flying swords. They were the same ‘Twelve Eighths’ that Sage refined for him many years ago. As the name suggested, the blades of the swords were not long and thin. They were wide near the handle and came to a sharp point which gave them a triangular shape. With eight blades arranged with their points together they formed a full circle, but there were twelve swords in total. The swords weren’t exactly the same as when Sage had created them, as they’d been reforged quite a few times over the years since then to improve their strength. He had grown fond of their shape and style, and also it was hard to find Blacksmiths that could refine a set of Formation Swords.

With the twelve odd swords flying into the air around him, he reached up and grabbed three of them. He threw one down to stab into the ground and held another in each of his hands. He crossed the swords in front of his chest and started to chant. As he did, the other nine swords floating in the air started to rotate. They spun with their meager crossguard as an axis, each sword moving faster and faster until they looked like whirring discs. Then the discs floated up into the air and formed into groups of three. Three discs aligned themselves end to end, forming a triangle. Then the three triangles formed together into a larger triangle. Song Lu Tian pointed with his swords and the huge triangle flew forward into the ranks of enemy cultivators. At the same time he dashed forward, and kicked the sword out of the ground in front of him.

The ‘Heaven Destroying Sword Formation’ flew forward, leaving a bloody massacre in its wake. He took a slightly different route, the sword he kicked landed in the forehead of an unsuspecting enemy, instantly taking his life while Song Lu Tian used the swords in his hands to slice off another man’s arm and leg. While his Sword Formation was unstoppable, so was he, just on a smaller scale.