Sage was still in somewhat of a daze. He sat in the darkness at the depths of that ancient tomb, trying to come to grips with his situation. He just wanted to improve his strength, to increase his ability, to remedy his lack of talent. Sage pulled out a memory sphere that he used to keep notes on his experiments and started to review them. That’s when he found the ‘plan’. The incident that led him to here. It was an idea he had as soon as he read the true version of the Insect Immortal Index. Find the strongest beasts and fuse together with them. The ‘plan’ was essentially doing research with himself as the test subject. He collected hundreds of eggs from different beasts in order to perfect the method he first used in desperation to merge with the Twin Ringed Soul Serpent.

The ‘Merge’ technique was a battle of mind and soul. While it was an equal merger, Sage’s conjecture was that if used on an egg, the soul would be weaker and the mind would be pure. That is to say it wouldn’t have experienced anything yet so it would hopefully have less of a personality that conflicted with his own. He also performed many experiments on what sorts of creatures the Insect Immortal Index would work on and to what limits. Before he merged with that toad he made one great discovery, the ‘Insect Immortal Index’ actually worked on birds. It seemed to work on anything that came out of an egg. While a link could be formed to adult creatures with Qi Feeding, that only seemed to work on the most weak minded beings. Even the more powerful insects had to have ‘merge’ used on them when they were eggs.

Bird, and even Turtle, eggs were perfectly valid targets. The problem was that the merge technique had no way to force itself upon another creature. Even for a tiny sparrow, he had to use a huge array and different sets of equipment to create a link. It was quite a bit of trouble. It was just too bad that he chose the wrong creature for his second fusion. That damned toad was far too insidious. It must have pushed him to accelerate his plans. In his notes he’d recorded that the fusion could improve his talent. If he were to fuse with mindless insects instead of more willful species it would have little to no impact on his mind and give him the greatest improvement to his talent. After the third fusion, the idea was confirmed and he fused again and again. After the fifth fusion the notes ended, presumably because Sage had completely lost his mind by then.

Greed had clouded his mind. The promise of power was right in front of him so he chased after it at full speed without regard for the consequences. Hah… at least I survived.

He could only think of how many had died to greed while chasing fortuitous encounters and how lucky he was to have been saved by the ancestor. With this dreadful reminder at hand, he resolved to repay the ancestor’s help. Despite his unease at getting pushed into essentially an arranged marriage, he could not let the ancestor down. The promise had been made many years ago and it was time to fulfill his end of the bargain. Standing up, he quickly left the tomb and followed the map that was in the jade scroll. It was from quite some time ago, but the basic topography was essentially the same. It was even easier after cross referencing it with the huge atlas he’d compiled years ago in the Soul Taming Abode.

A few weeks later he arrived at Plum Lantern City. A large city in Bamboo Axe County, of the Righteous Wind Province. He traveled like a regular person, forgoing his usual practice of riding a flying insect. During the trip he gathered information and sorted out his thoughts. It had been four years since ‘the beast’ was active. Nobody was sure what happened to it. Many strong hunting parties set out after it, but never a confirmed kill. It hadn’t killed anyone else so the most common was that it was killed by someone who didn’t like fame. It wasn’t like dangerous beasts were uncommon. That beast was just memorable for the fact that it seemed to specifically hunt cultivators. It knew how to avoid patrols and hunters and stalked trade routes. Most beasts stayed to their territories and only hunted intruders.

Sage had also eventually compiled a list of everyone that he’d killed, or at least those attributed to him, while his mind was gone. He’d never really considered himself a ‘good guy’, but he also didn’t think he was a monster. At least until now. When he combined with a serpent he had been so afraid everyone would look at him and think of him as a monster. He didn’t want to be judged for his appearance. He didn’t want to stick out because he was different. Fearful of being treated a certain way because of his looks and not his deeds.

Yet here he was now. Looking perfectly normal while having killed so many people for no fault of their own. It was true that many who died were those seeking fame and fortune for taking down a notorious beast, but many others were victims. There was innocent blood on his hands now and he had no idea how he could make up for it.

Plum Lantern City was quite charming and gave one an intimate feel even though it was a large city. The town was famous for its ‘plum lantern festival’, which started in the town, but was now common in the whole province. It was also the home of the Zhu Clan, and the reason that Sage had traveled across multiple provinces. It was even farther away from the Lang Clan than the Chong Clan was, though it was still within the bounds of the Dou Kingdom. Walking up to the gate of the Zhu Clan’s massive compound, Sage could only approach this situation in an upright and forward manner. Normally such arrangements would be made by his parents, but given he was the last remaining clan member… things had to be different.

After hypnotizing one of the guards to save time, Sage managed to get himself an appointment to meet one of the higher ups in the clan. Since it was just an appointment, he left and went to find an Inn. Having a meal, he started to gather information again, wanting to know more about this clan he was going to be so abruptly married into. The Zhu Clan was famed for their beautiful women. From the rumors he caught, they ran many businesses in town and everyone in Plum Lantern City only had good things to say about them. They were the best dancers, singers, musicians, and actors. They weaved the best fabric, mixed the best cosmetics, and no one could compete with their tea houses.

If the Ancestor chose them, they certainly can’t be as normal as just being businessmen.

Sage wanted to learn more, but no matter how much he listened he found nothing more. He even tried to ask a few people directly, but they all only had good things to say. Of course, he couldn’t think this was anything but suspicious. There was always someone that would say something bad about somebody else. Even a national hero with a sterling reputation would get people talking behind their back, even if it was just out of jealousy. To have nobody at all ever saying anything bad about you could only mean one thing. Fear. Only a terrible fear would keep so many people conscious of never saying anything bad about you. Even so, everyone he talked to seemed quite happy with the Zhu Clan. There was no look of terror when they were mentioned, nor did they look around suspiciously before saying anything.

They must be extremely terrified… or resigned to their fate.