The giant cobra locked eyes with the only person remaining in the Fortress. Unable to move, Zhang Tu was helpless against the giant armored figure that stepped up behind him and wrapped it’s giant arms around his chest. While the sounds of cracking bones rang out, a barely visible shape lifted out of the ground and flew into Zhang Tu’s body. After a few minutes, Zhang Tu’s lifeless body disappeared into the Universe Ring. With a flash of power, the giant cobra was gone and Sage appeared once again in his human form. With a command the Dragoon’s ended their blockade and flew in to clear and occupy the Fortress.

Sage was exhausted and wanted to just slump down to the ground, but with Dian Huifang around, he didn’t want to show too much weakness. There was also a chance the Black White Army would return for revenge. Thankfully, they did not. After sacrificing a few dozen Dragoons, the Fortress was completely cleared of traps and emptied of anything of value. Not that there was much. Sage found a Storage Bag and Ring on Zhang Tu’s body and they were pretty bare. Ruthless as he was, the man actually kept a ledger and that’s where Sage learned how much was invested into hiring the Black White Army.

Even my enemy was traumatized by that mutiny. I suppose that’s something. Heh. I made two Nascent Souls run away!

Though he might feel a little pity over the traumatized Zhang Tu, the man was also his enemy. As a new leader that rose up in the wake of the mutiny, Sage wouldn’t show any mercy. Leaving an enemy alive would only lead to hidden dangers in the future, and the only enemies Sage had were those he couldn’t track down, those that were too powerful for him to face, or those he hadn’t yet hunted down. The latter list was actually quite long, though he’d just crossed one of them off.

Without many factors working together, Sage would never have been able to scare off the Black White Army. Not only were the Yin Yang Twins stronger than him individually, they had excellent teamwork. The most important factor being the laws they used. Sage had revealed his strongest card, one gained after extensive torture under Guan Zhenyan’s hands. Before meeting the man, he’d been making good progress with the elements related to his Heavenly Materials, studying them for insight. Yet, when he was forced to endure a new poison on a weekly basis, his understanding of them rapidly increased. In only a few years, he’d stepped through the door and reached the first degree of the Law of Poison.

The level of control and understanding of a Law that a person had reached was divided into degrees. The first of which was called ‘Threshold’, and gave a Cultivator only the bare minimum of control over a law. It was also the requirement for advancing through the first three stages of the fifth rank. To become a Nascent Soul, a Cultivator needed to reach the fourth degree in the understanding of a law. In addition to degrees of understanding, there were also differences in the quality of laws.

Laws were divided into five classes: Minor, Major, Primal, Core, and Origin. A Minor Law could exist for almost anything, but were usually smaller aspects or parts of something greater. The Law’=s of Burning, Combustion, Searing, Ash, and Smoke were all Minor Laws that were usually considered to be parts of the Law of Fire. Major Laws were understood to be the actual elements themselves, like Fire, Water, Wind and Water. Primal Laws take that a step further, referring to universal constants: Gravity, Time, Space, and Entropy. Or they might also be complementary and opposing pairs of elements: Dark and Light, Life and Death, Fire and Water, Good and Evil. Core Laws on the other hand, were said to be even deeper and unfathomable, covering metaphysical concepts. These laws were both extremely direct and also vague, like Heat, Sharpness, Creation, and Destruction. Finally, Origin Laws were complete cycles that included all things like Yin and Yang or The Five Elements.

Of course, speaking of such things and actually understanding them were worlds apart. While the names and classes of many laws had become common knowledge, few people even knew what having a Law did let alone knowing how to gain understanding of one. Those in power didn’t seem to want anyone to advance beyond the fifth rank, and made sure the already difficult path was left without any guides.

By their names, the Yin Yang Twins seemed like they followed the laws of Yin and Yang, but only after facing them did it become obvious they were actually trained in the laws of Dark and Light. They also seemed to have a varied number of techniques, so it was likely they followed a deep legacy. Dark and Light were both Major Laws, and if they were able to study them both at the same time it would become a Primal Law. Sage wondered if they followed a powerful heritage or if they were merely working towards the rumors that everyone knew about laws.

Luckily, the Yin Yang Twins were still only at the earliest stages of Nascent Soul which gave Sage a chance to compete with them. During his time with Guan Zhenyan, Sage didn’t just comprehend the Minor Laws of Toxin, Venom or Acid, he found the Major Law of Poison. Suffering from so many varieties of powerful poisons gave him insight into more than just the minor parts and a glimpse at the greater level. In fact, the only reason he had a chance was that he’d already reached the third degree in the Law of Poison. With only a single degree of Law understanding, and a few stages of cultivation to separate them, Sage had made up for the gap with his armies of minions, Heavenly Materials and unusual methods. It had been just barely enough to make them give up the fight.

Thankfully, they were only doing a job and also had their Disciples to protect. Sage’s chances of actually killing either of them were slim to none.

With the Fortress cleared out, they spent the night there to rest before continuing on their voyage to Dian Huifang’s clan. It was a time wasting errand, but Sage had plenty of that now and it wasn’t ever a good idea to piss off a Nascent Soul. There was also the chance that he might recruit the woman, so he didn’t mind going a few weeks out of his way.

Sage left a Legion of Dragoons behind as a garrison in the Fortress and he boarded the airship with Dian Huifang and Songji once again. The majority of the Dragoons had been collected, leaving only one as an escort. He rotated a Legion out once every few hours to allow them to rest and they made pretty good time. The airship’s speed couldn’t compare to a Flying Ship, but the straight path through the air was much faster than traveling by ground. If they used high tiered mounts, they would travel at much higher speeds, but the winding paths and possible monster attacks would slow them down. Traveling by airship was only slightly slower and much more relaxed, especially with a thousand flying bodyguards to deter attacks.

Eventually, they reached the location of Dian Huifang’s clan and Sage finally realized where he recognized her name from when he saw the majestic sign at the foot of a mountain in the distance: ‘Thundercloud Sect’.