They were attacked, just as Sage expected, but in a manner he wasn’t expecting. It was an assassination attempt, that wasn’t unusual, but the method was. Ruanfu and Baozhai were in a careful state of awareness while also talking about nonsense to pass the time. With sudden speed, Ruanfu thrust her fist into the air and struck a small object falling down towards Baozhai from the ceiling. Without any time to see what it was, she hopped back and struck another object that was falling where her head had been a moment earlier.

Baozhai also jumped out of her seat, but she didn’t know what she was avoiding. As a body cultivator her speed could nearly keep up with Ruanfu, but her senses were not equal. While Ruanfu was dealing with the objects falling from the ceiling, the floor beneath Baozhai burst open and a dark object darted towards her leg. She started to lift her right leg to kick it, but the thing zipped forward like lightning and collided with her other left leg. Baozhai felt pressure on her calf and then her foot came down and there was a loud squish. Another hole burst open behind Ruanfu, but she spun around and a white light flashed, striking the new enemy and stopping it in place.

Everything went still for a moment and the two women finally had the chance to examine what attacked them. A glossy black carapace sat next to Baozhai’s leg, it had a many segmented body that was already smashed up in a few places from her violent kicks. Many thorn-like protrusions extended from either side of the thing, but they were also segmented and Baozhai realized what it was when she saw the large mandibles. A black centipede the size of a firehose, it had burst through the floor and bit into her leg. She had only felt pressure and no pain. Beside Ruanfu, there was another centipede with a foot long feather poking out from its head. Then Baozhai looked at her wound and saw it was already turning black around the edges, yet still she felt nothing. Ruanfu examined the wound as well and she frowned, “Protect yourself and stay here.”

Baozhai wavered on her feet and then fell back onto her seat while Ruanfu stormed out of the room and into the main hall of the City Lord’s Manor. Icy winds started to swirl around her, and snow was dusted over everything in the hall. Her aura was infused into the snow and she could sense everything they touched, revealing the enemies hidden in the large main hall.

With their positions already compromised, the ten shadowy figures stepped into the light. Each of them was dressed in dark brown clothing with a dark mask over their faces. The mask was quite creepy, they were black, glossy, and covered in many bulbous domes with a reflective grid-like texture on them. With the mask on, these men looked like they had dozens of compound insect eyes in place of a face. More distressingly, there was something else on their bodies. Ruanfu immediately identified it as another centipede. The centipede’s head was just over one of the fists and it’s legs were clamped around the arm. It’s body curled up and over the shoulder and then wrapped around the back of the neck. It then wrapped around their upper body a few times, around the lower body a few times and then trailed down one leg.

These people were wearing a centipede as armor, and had a mask that made their faces look like a mass of bug eyes. Extremely weird. The choice of which hand and leg the centipede’s were curled around seemed up to their own discretion. Some kept them on the same side, which they turned towards Ruanfu defensively. Others had them on opposite limbs which they then used offensively as their fists and feet started to fly towards Ruanfu. These ten were of varying levels, but none of them was a Nascent Soul. Ruanfu didn’t have much trouble fending off their physical attacks, the snow swirling around her and reinforcing the motion of her fists and legs. After so many years, her kicks were even more powerful than they used to be. After a few short exchanges, she caught one of the enemies on their unprotected thigh with a low kick and there was a loud crack.

The enemy, now with a broken leg, fell backwards. Ruanfu rushed forward to finish him off, but the two bug faces to the sides of him pushed forward and closed the gap. Ruanfu blasted both of them with a swirl of snow, but had to go back on the defensive. She was fighting quite conservatively because there was no telling what else the enemy might have to throw at them. She was told not to overextend herself, it would only leave the enemy an opening.

In the other room, Baozhai suddenly heard a loud crash come from the room where Lang Sheng was. She hopped up with none of the earlier sluggishness and darted into the room. Inside, there was a massive hole, easily a dozen feet across, on the ground. Inside it was the now still body of another centipede. This one was a brilliant violet color with violently bright green spots along its sides. A fluid the same color as its spots was dripping from its open mandibles, and there was also a smoking black crater on its forehead. Her Boss was standing near the giant centipede’s corpse with the other four of her brothers and sisters beside him.

“They pulled away Ruanfu and thought this thing could take me out.”

Sage was actually quite impressed with the creature they sent after him. That centipede was already at the peak of tier 5 and would have given Wu Chang quite the fight. He looked down at the smoking black spot on the centipede’s head. As impressive as it was, the centipede couldn’t stand up to that poison. Third Eye’s End. It was an unusual creation, a poison that only had its full effect if it struck it’s victim on the forehead. It burrowed right through bone and then started burning. In some ways it was sort of like an acid, melting a concentrated point instead of spreading through the body. On the other hand, it was only like a small lance of poison until it struck bone after which it would burrow through and then burn. Most points on the body that it could strike would only end up with a small puncture, or a hole in a bone and a burn. Even if it hit a rib and then started burning next to the heart it wasn’t fatal, merely debilitating, it just wasn’t hot enough. It had some sort of odd reaction with brain matter, or the signals in the brain, which made it burn hotter.

Thankfully, the poison seemed to treat the carapace like a bone and then triggered inside the centipede’s brain. Sage used an extra large dose to make sure it was effective and was relieved to see it worked. If it hadn’t, he would have been quite delayed. As it was now, he looked to the Tiankong children and smiled, “Alright, let’s go back up your sister.”

The group of six rushed out towards the main hall. Songji disappeared into a shadow. Jiyao sliced open space and hopped into the rip. Juzui drew his sword and already it started to grow colder as he summoned winter. Tujiu grabbed Baozhai’s hand and then jumped onto his spear, rocketing through the air. Sage hung back a bit, letting the five of them enjoy the action. He’d already been observing the situation outside with his Twin Soul, so he already knew what they were heading into.