After walking outside, Elder Meng waved his hand and a wide bladed sword flew out. It started out the size of a palm and then rapidly increased in size until it was over twenty feet long. It landed upon the ground and then Elder Zhong and Meng started walking towards it. Sage and Song Lu Tian followed after them and they all stepped onto it. The blade was about five feet wide at this point and had plenty of room for them to walk upon it. Then Song Lu Tian turned to Sage, “Anchor yourself to the blade with Qi.”

Sage looked down and extended his Spiritual Sense, noticing that the other three had already covered themselves in a layer of Qi which shielded their body and wrapped around the blade of the huge sword under their feet. He quickly followed their example, crudely copying what they had done. As soon as he did, Elder Meng waved his hand and the sword under them started to move. It lifted them into the air and Sage heard a wind blowing around them. The sword flew up and into the air, carrying the four of them off into the sky.

Flying on a sword. Quite extravagant, and also impressive.

Sage couldn’t help himself, examining the sword carefully and finding that it wasn’t much different than a Messenger Flying Sword. It was made of much higher quality materials, but the arrays he could sense were very similar. Instead of carrying a small message, this was simply carrying people. The same principle, but requiring far more energy to operate. It sliced through the air, moving them at high speed. Sage quite enjoyed the view, but he also realized that only a Nascent Soul could support this sort of energy expenditure over a long term. A Core Formation cultivator would only be able to ride a Flying Sword for a few hours before they’d have to stop and rest.

After a few hours, Elder Zhong waved his hand and Sage sensed that he took over on manipulating the Flying Sword while Elder Meng recovered his energy. They took turns this way for a few days, the high speed of travel covering quite a long distance before they finally slowed to a stop. Going without food or sleep and standing in place for a few days was a pretty easy task for such high level cultivators, but it still wasn’t comfortable. The Flying Sword descended onto the peak of a small mountain and they stepped off of it. The sword flew back into Elder Meng’s sleeve and then Elder Zhong brought out a set of tables, pots, knives, chairs, and many bits of cooking utensils and ingredients.

A few moments later, he had rolled up his sleeves and began preparing a meal. There was a full kitchen and dining room set in front of them and Sage was about to join in when he was pulled away by Song Lu Tian, “Don’t worry, Tenth Elder loves to cook, but he has high standards. If you try to help without enough skill he’ll just kick you out.”

Sage watched Elder Zhong’s knife move like a flash, creating a rapid fire knocking sound as it thunked into the chopping board. Elder Meng sat down on one of the chairs and leaned back, joining his fingers behind his head to relax. Song Lu Tian waved to Sage and brought him over to the edge of the peak they were on. There was a forest beneath them circling the mountain, it extended a few miles and then abruptly stopped. There was a bare rocky stretch of ground, like a deadzone without any vegetation that stretched a few hundred feet, and then a dense purple mist blocked further sight.

The cloud of mist stretched a few hundred feet into the air, which meant it didn’t reach the height of the surrounding ridges. He guessed that the hills were the only reason the mist didn’t spread out any further. He’d already begun to check the forest down below with his Spirit Sense and it already seemed to be highly unusual. There were very few animals or beasts in it, and his first guess was that the mist might not be confined to its current area and the animals either sensed the danger or had been wiped out by it already.

After examining the mist for a while, they were called back to the temporary camp and the four of them ate a sumptuous meal prepared by Elder Zhong. He was no less gruff than before, but he did grunt in affirmative when Sage complimented his cooking. When they were finished eating, they rested an hour to reach their peak state and the many tables, chairs and other accoutrement disappeared with a wave of Elder Zhong’s hand. They leapt off the ridge and floated down to the ground. Movement techniques that a cultivator could use to glide through the air were not rare, and they’d all learned at least one long ago. Sage used the 1st Step of the Falling Leaf Steps, Leaf Spinning Slowly. He also reached out to the small of his back and then waved it to the side before stepping over the edge.

They soon reached the edge of the forest and the dead patch of ground. Elder Meng brought out a few small bottles and passed one to each of them, “These are Emerald Rebirth Pills, it took us a few decades, but we have a total of twenty. That’s five each. No one has an antidote for the poisonous miasma that surrounds Icefire Valley, but the Emerald Rebirth Pill will constantly regenerate the internal organs for a few hours.”

“I assume the poison breaks down internal organs, then? Is it a gas?”

Elder Zhong was quick to reply, “See for yourself! You think we’re idiots?”

Elder Meng merely smiled and indicated the miasma in front of them with a wave of his hand, “Many have tried to discern its mysteries, but if anyone has learned them, they haven’t shared. Please do your best.”

Elder Zhong gave Sage a glare, “If you can’t do anything, you should just give back the pills and head back. With more pills we can conserve more of our strength for the valley.”

Elder Meng shook his head, “Brother Ten, stop being rude. Lang Sheng is more powerful than you are, so don’t discount his ability.”

Elder Zhong was taken aback, and he looked somewhat shocked, but Elder Meng just nodded, “You are only in the third stage, he is in the seventh.”

“So what? Can he match my Major Law of Chopping? Hey, Lang Sheng” he turned towards Sage, “Shall we have a friendly competition?”

Song Lu Tian laughed and slapped Elder Zhong on the back, “Calm down, Tenth Elder! Lang Sheng is my friend. Do you think I would make friends with a weakling?”

Sage bowed cordially to Elder Zhong, still allowing the man to have seniority, even though Sage had known the Tenth Elder was weaker since the beginning. He also knew that Elder Meng was more powerful than himself. Sage had a vague feeling that the man was in the 9th stage, but he couldn’t be sure. It was quite difficult to sense the realm of someone more powerful than oneself after all.

Not wanting to get mired into more arguments, Sage walked forward and tried the simplest solution first. He held up his hand and directed his Divine Breath through his new Fluid Power Lines and released a blast of air. The dirt and debris on the lifeless ground was disturbed, showing the path of the wind, but it disappeared into the miasma without disturbing the purple mist in the least. He tried a few more times in different directions and then even threw a burst of orange and then white flames from his palm in the same manner. The others watched him, not saying anything as they’d already known that such things would have no result.

While the wind had no effect, when Sage used the Samsara Flame, he actually saw there was a response, which was why he tried it a few more times. Unfortunately, the orange flames only caused the miasma to sizzle for a few seconds before returning to its previous state.

So, not a gas, but perhaps something related to the soul? That would explain why nobody knows how to deal with it. Soul Cultivators are quite rare. Damned Whitestaff. I dare her to show up here.

He had assumed normal methods would be fruitless, but he still had to give it a try. With no simple solution, he turned to the reason they’d brought him along. Sage called upon that marvelous power that filled his body. Using his Qi to resonate with the energy of the world around him. The power of law filled the world around him and the two Elders watched expectantly while Song Lu Tian waited patiently. The burly man seemed completely confident.

A moment later, the purple miasma in front of them started to thin out and they could now see dozens of yards in front of them. They had planned to rely entirely upon their Spiritual Sense to guide their way, but the miasma corrupted it, such that even the Nascent Souls could only sense a few dozen feet away from their body. Now, they could see many times that distance.

Elder Meng smiled with half lidded eyes, “Wonderful, we’ll be able to see threats from much further away.”

They walked into the purple mist and the poisonous miasma seeped into their bodies from every direction. Elder Zhong brought out the pill bottle but Elder Meng stopped him, “The poison has entered our body, but its much weaker than usual. Let’s resist it with our bodies as long as we can before we take any Emerald Rebirth Pills.”

Sage felt firsthand how it wasn’t a gas that he breathed in, it passed through his skin and muscles, sinking right into the internal organs and starting to break them down. A few moments after it entered his body, his Blood of the Nine Pits activated on its own, pulling the

miasma into his poison meridians and drawing it into his poison dantian.