Molting the Mortal Coil

Fu Zedong, the arrogant young genius, was still alive. He was on the larger half of the army and survived to see the Flying Ship float past and reveal the other battlefield that had been wiped clean. They had started this battle with around five hundred rank fives and more than a thousand rank fours on their side. After so many ups and downs, they were at only a fifth of their original number. Only about a hundred rank fives remained, which gave them almost equal numbers as their enemy. As for rank fours, less than three hundred remained.

Most second rate powers, the leaders of whole counties, would only have around a hundred rank fives in total. The Violet Light Sect had brought much of its strength to this battle and they had suffered horrifying losses. The Artful Life Alliance was made up of many second rate powers and many of their best and brightest had shown up to help give their alliance a greater name. The Fu Clan may be a first rate power, but even so, losing so many rank fours and fives was not something they could do without feeling any pain.

Sage had a whole planet at his disposal and after hundreds of years, less than two hundred people had reached rank five. While the world and culture there might still be under development, it was still a good indicator of how difficult it was for a cultivator to reach that rank. Having already lost more than half of those Inner World Core Formation cultivators, he was already feeling a great loss, but given the alternative he could only strive to hold on.

At this moment, Sage finally smiled at the Violet Light Sect Ancestor, “Are you not going to rescue the rest of your subordinates? If you leave now, you’ll still live for many more years.”

The old man with the fu manchu glared back at him, their two spiritual bodies shimmered with a strange glow in the light of the day. They were both weakened by battling during the day, but their Nascent Souls protected them from being destroyed by the sunlight like any common spirit or ghost would be. The old man spoke through gritted teeth, “You’re quite smug for someone chased for weeks on end and at the edge of death.”

“Hah, your reinforcements are still far away. You might be able to keep my leaders tied down, but your subordinates are going to be wiped out to the last man. None of them stand the smallest chance against Song Lu Tian, that man can probably match up with a Nascent Soul for hours without being defeated.”

“It doesn’t matter how long it takes, when they arrive you’ll be helpless to resist.”

Sage’s smile got wider and his eyes brightened, “So they really are far away! Perfect. That means we can go all out then without any reservation.”

The old man’s face wilted and he quickly sent secret messages to the other Nascent Souls on his side. They seemed to be rapidly discussing things, and Sage was not so kind to let them do it peacefully. He released gouts of orange and white flames towards the old man, while making a large pool of dark liquid surge up from the ground, forming a large tendril to try and capture the Nascent Soul. The Violet Light Ancestor growled and carefully avoided the bursts of flame, striking the tendril with a glowing finger to make it burst apart.

Then the old man turned and flew off towards Lady Diyin. Sage followed behind him, and flew over to Elder Manji’s side. Then the four of them moved to where Dian Huifang was fighting with Fu Xidong, and finally over to the Swordsman dueling with Ruanfu. Ruanfu was eager to fly over to them, but the Swordsman didn’t go along with this decision to regroup. Instead of moving to join the other Nascent Souls on his side, he charged towards Sage, Manji, and Huifang. He had a bloodthirsty look in his eyes and his sword was humming gently. The blade looked blurry and Sage felt a mass of law power concentrated upon it.

The Violet Light Ancestor and Lady Diyin yelled at the Swordsman to call him back, but Fu Xidong just shook his head and sent a message to Fu Zedong. The Swordsman was too eager to battle and Ruanfu had left him on the defensive the whole time. With these others being nearby he was eager to finally draw some blood. Ignoring the yells, he rushed towards the three Nascent Souls on Sage’s side and was suddenly drowned in a sea of lightning. Both Manji and Dian Huifang released huge columns of lightning upon the man, while Sage caused the ground underneath the man to sink. He was submerged into a slowly deepening pit, held in place by the electrical arcs dancing upon him.

Remarkably, he wasn’t instantly defeated. He waved his sword back and forth, collecting the arcs of lightning upon the blade. It was like a lightning rod, attracting the bolts yet miraculously not harming the man holding it. Even so he was pinned in place as he intercepted the lightning bolts which made him prey to the pit forming under him. The Violet Light Ancestor and Lady Diyin were ready to jump into the battle, but Fu Xidong held up a hand to stop them. The pit got deeper and deeper and then Sage opened a little trench from the coastline and started to fill the pit with water. Dian Huifang changed her target, directing her attacks towards the falling water and causing it to attack the Swordsman through the water he was standing in. He stumbled and then leaped out of the water, grabbing hold of the wall and holding his swords aloft to block Manji’s attacks.

Then Fu Xidong cleared his throat, his masked face giving little away of his feelings, “Alright, that is enough. I think he’s cooled down now. Continuing this battle any longer would surely be a farce.”

“Hah, so now that I’ve got the upper hand, you want to call it to an end? You work together with my most hated enemies to try to kill me, but now that you’re at a disadvantage you think I’ll just let you leave?”

Sage’s answer was not one their opposition wished to hear, but Fu Xidong expected such a response. He merely nodded his head, “You shall. You won’t want to be here when our reinforcements arrive, and we don’t wish to lose any more of our subordinates. It is in both of our interests to end things here. It looks like your Flying Ship is already quite damaged, if the battle were to continue, how do you plan on escaping?”

Sage wasn’t about to directly reveal his Inner World to offer his alternative, even if the enemy had suspicions about where his allies kept disappearing to, they didn’t know exactly how he was doing it. Sage glared back at the Fu Clansman, “You should know I have an endless number of tricks. You don’t need to be worried about how I’m going to escape. You need to be worried about what you’re going to do when your forces are wiped out and the Core Formation Cultivators reinforce us.”

“Fine. What do you want?”

“You may all take your subordinates with you and leave, but that tortoise must stay, along with Hei Bai and Whitestaff.”

Fu Xidong’s eyes seemed to flicker and then he looked back to Lady Diyin and the Violet Light Ancestor. They covered their mouths and sent a few secret messages back and forth, then Fu Xidong answered, “We can’t control that stupid tortoise anyway, and Hei Bai is a nuisance, but Whitestaff is coming with us.”

Sage grumbled. Of course they wished to retain the method they used to track him down. He would likely make a similar decision in their shoes, and given their positions he could only nod, “Fine, she will join the rest of you in living on. For now.”

The look in Fu Xidong’s eyes said the same thing as his own. That this was far from the end to things on either side.