With the Tang Clan members walking out and the Violent Fist Sect boasting around them, Sage was a little torn. Logically, to remove any future trouble he should just wipe these people all out, and then head to their Sect and Clan manors to pull up the roots. The only problem was that this whole situation was started by a misunderstanding. Slaughtering people by the hundreds, many which would likely be women and children, just did not sit well with him. Especially since he had another way out.

The dozen most powerful walked up to the restaurant. They were all over level 50 and might have been quite threatening to him just a few years ago. It was a shame these fellows didn’t know that he’d made a lucky breakthrough. When they walked into the building, Sage didn’t bother to fool around and stood up, leaning over the rail from the third floor and waving down at them, “Up here.”

When he called out, their eyes shot towards him, but the strange manner of his invitation caught them off guard. Their predatory looks were suddenly mixed with confusion. Was some fool getting involved where he shouldn’t be? The person they were hunting wouldn’t just call out and identify himself would he? If he had this much confidence was this a trap?

These thoughts and more ran through their minds and they momentarily froze. The middle-aged man in the lead of the Tang Clan members sneered, “Don’t let him fool you. It’s just a trick to make you put down your guard. Surround him, don’t let him leave the building!”

The Violent Fist Sect Leader nodded and made a few rapid hand gestures to his men. The seven of the Violent Fist Sect Elders shot out, leaping through the air. Four of them spread out, running outside and starting to climb up the outside of the building. The other three spread out outside the building. Then the Violent Fist Sect Leader and the four from the Tang Clan marched up the stairs, closing in on the third floor where Sage had claimed an empty table and was preparing the seats.

By the time the five of them reached the third floor there was a table with six chairs and a tea set already prepared. Sage even smiled and gave them the salute of a cultivator, “Welcome. Come, sit with me.”

The man in the lead of the Tang Clan stared at Sage for a few moments, slowly grinding his teeth, “It’s him! This bastard killed my son!”

At that moment, the five of them drew their weapons, their state of furious vigilance stepping up to the level of immediate violence. Swords appeared in the hands of the Tang Clan members, the Violent Fist Sect Leader raised his fists, and then Sage held up his hands, “Wait, we can talk this out! It was all a misunderstanding!”

Power rolled out onto the blades of the swords, creating a vibrant field of fiery energy around the metallic blades. They lifted them up and stabbed them forward, but they suddenly felt slow. Aura techniques were commonly practiced to show off one’s strength and apply a mental pressure to foes. Sage had never really bothered to practice with something that was purely flashy like that, but his cultivation technique, the Life Nebula had its own overwhelming aura. All he had to do was release it into the world and a crushing presence would burst forth. For others, it was like the weight of a world weighing down upon them. Of course, as an aura it was merely a show unless the other party was much weaker than the user.

As one to always want to keep a low profile, Sage barely ever used his aura, almost forgetting it existed, but at this moment he just needed a slight nudge to disrupt his enemies. In that short instant of distraction, he blinked his eyes and the black pupils at the center of his golden irises pulled to two sides, creating two copies of itself. The trio of pupils in his eyes formed a flat line, overlapping on either side to look like a single whole. Then the central black pupil started to undulate, changing size and bouncing up and down. A red outline appeared around the trio of pupils and his eyes locked open, staring at the five men across from him.

The five men that were on the verge of launching their attacks felt the world drain away, Sage’s eyes grew larger and larger and they could hear only a deep rumbling sound echoing through their minds. Sage’s mouth opened and a thick white fog rolled out, sinking towards the floor, but then as if it had a mind of its own, it condensed into a snake like shape and billowed through the air. The snake of mist swirled around the six of them, hiding both Sage and his enemies from view.

The spectators in the restaurant were impressed by the sudden turn of events, but the thick mist hiding their view caused them to frown. Their free show was over! The thick fog formed a hemisphere, the cloudy dome blocking all sight and vision. Xiezi and Tujiu weren’t worried when they saw their companion’s confidence. At least until many minutes had passed. Just as they were starting to get a little anxious, the thick fog disappeared from whence it came. Sage’s mouth was open and the fog was sucked into his lungs. The last of the mist disappeared with a soft sucking sound. At that moment, the crowd could only blink and rub their eyes. Weren’t these people enemies?

The four from the Tang Clan and the Violent Fist Sect Leader were now all sitting at the table across from their supposed target, who was now serving them tea.

Of course, how could they know he had a miraculous ability like the Hypnotic Eyes? Once he’d entranced them, he put up an obstruction and took his true form. At least from the waist up, so he didn’t destroy the restaurant with his size. He needed the boost of his pheromones and the swirling patterns of his Cobra Hood to implant suggestions into the minds of people one rank lower. It took just a few minutes to carefully tweak their memories, altering their recollection to make it so he was not the murderer, but the one who reported the Young Master Tang Zhelan’s death. Grey Beard was killed pursuing the murderer, and if Sage wasn’t the murderer, he was their benefactor, not their target. In fact, he even did them a favor and in the false memory passed them the memory of the weapon used to kill their Young Master. During that battle they’d never seen it and it had been removed while Sage was fighting them off.

Xiezi and Tujiu immediately relaxed, but then Tujiu pointed out the other 5th ranks who had just climbed up the railing and were just staring at the fog cloud. Once it dissolved they were even more surprised than all the spectators and they immediately rushed in.

“Sect Leader!”

The four men cared more for their Sect Leader, calling out for him and rushing forward. More confusingly, the Sect Leader held up his hand, “Calm yourselves. Don’t disturb our meeting with the Tang Clan’s benefactor.”

The men were confused, what sort of trickery was this?

“What did you do to our Sect Leader! Vile demon!”

The Violent Fist Sect Leader suddenly looked embarrassed, apologizing to Sage and the Tang Clan, “Forgive me, I don’t seem to have disciplined my men well enough.”

He shot to his feet and rushed over to each of his four men. The Sect Leader’s strength wasn’t that much greater than the four Elders, but their hesitance to resist led to them each receiving a pair of harsh slaps. Their faces slowly started to redden and swell, the Sect Leader glared at them, “Get out of here you oafs!”

Then he noticed the others on the lower floor, “Them too, get them outside. Stop disturbing the harmonious atmosphere!”