It took a few moments for the Prefect to make the connection between the size of his gut and his ‘success’. The bookish man with the stack of Jade Tablets pulled one hand away from his cargo and covered his mouth. He clamped his hand over his mouth to stifle any sound, while the large guard beside him immediately had a sharp edge to his gaze. He glared at Sage and his hand went to the hilt of the sword on his waist. At the same time, the fat prefect’s face had gone red and Sage thought steam was about to pour out of his ears.

The official that Sage had bribed to get this meeting stumbled backwards. His legs gave out and he fell to the floor, kneeling in front of the Prefect and groveling. He had thought a man who named himself ‘bribe’ was truly going to give the Prefect a windfall, but now he regretted everything. He tried to apologize and explain how he didn’t know this man, but the Prefect merely pointed at one of the guards. The guard came over and kicked the official’s face, sending him sprawling onto his back. Then the guard grabbed the official by the collar and dragged him out of the room. With the noisy and fearful man taken away to an uncertain fate, the fat man glared at Sage.

“So, Mister Hui, was it? You bribed your way here just so you could insult me? Who knew that someone would pay so much just to end their own life.”

The lead guard stayed at the Prefect’s side, while the others drew their weapons and started to advance. Five large spears were already pointed at his face while the other six held large shields and sabers, slowly advancing to box him in from all sides. Sage hadn’t shown any strength whatsoever and he was much stronger than even the lead guard, so they all seemed to assume he was a regular person. They were just being careful just in case he happened to know some method of hiding his strength. The idea that he was vastly stronger than even their leader never even crossed their minds.

Sage suddenly laughed. He chuckled for a while, which made the Prefect even angrier. The guards rushed forward, but Sage didn’t even bother to move. A golden light sprung up around his body and there was the sound of metal clanging against metal. Their weapons skidded off the aura around Sage’s body and they tried again, stabbing and chopping at him with saber and spear.

“Alright, that’s enough. Get out of here now if you don’t want to suffer like your boss.”

Even as he was belittling and dismissing the guards, their leader stepped out in front of the Prefect and brandished his sword. A blue flame sprung to life around the man’s sword and he rushed forward, stabbing it towards Sage’s body. The other guards seemed to receive some sort of order and they all stabbed back in unison. The six shields flickered with Qi and a layer of blue energy appeared on them. Then a blue flame just like the leader’s appeared on the tips of their speas and blades of their sabers. Meanwhile the leader was attacking Sage with his flaming sword.

A blade of golden light extended from Sage’s hand and he used it to block the flaming sword. They moved at high speed, their weapons clanging together a dozen times in a second as the leader darted from side to side. He rapidly changed locations, attacking at Sage from many strange and unusual angles, one instant he was stabbing at Sage's ankle from the left side and then the next he was swinging his sword at his head from the right. For a moment it seemed like his flurry of attacks had pinned Sage in place, giving the rest of the guards time to empower themselves and rejoin the fight, but even when the others joined in, Sage was able to block and parry each of their attacks without fail.

Sage smiled. That training truly was effective. Even without Foresight I can block them all.

It truly was unfair. Sage was a rank six facing a single rank five and eleven rank fours. In the past, this group might have given him a little pressure, but now he didn’t even need to use any tricks or powerful techniques to handle them all. He suddenly fell into a low and wide stance, with his left leg leading in front. He lifted his arms and without forming a fist, curled his hands downward at the wrist. A large blade of light extended down in front of each of his forearms, and in that posture he finally revealed his prowess. He darted forward, jabbing his hand to make the blade move in a straight thrust. Then the blade swung downward and caught a guard’s shoulder, cleaving the man’s arm off with a ripping motion. Sage’s other hand did the same to one of the large shields, tearing it in half with a single strike.

He had already given them all a warning, but they didn’t listen. Dashing back and forth his hands struck as a pair, one of them destroying a weapon while the other claimed a life. The leader was the last of them standing. Everytime he tried to attack, Sage would knock him back with one blade and then attack someone else with the other. He had already taken a hit upon the shoulder, and buckets of his blood would already be on the floor if he hadn’t quickly taken a healing pill.

The leader of the guards turned his side to face Sage so he could use his peripheral vision to check on the Prefect. What he saw startled him and he had to look directly to confirm it. Sage didn’t attack, letting the man see the helpless situation. The Prefect and secretary had started to escape towards the door, but they were stopped by what they saw in the hall. It was in the shape of a man, the same four limbs, the same ten fingers and toes, but it had a smooth featureless face. It had skin like black tar, yet it didn’t run or drip.

A dozen Blacksilver Pawns were waiting for them in the hallway, those faceless puppets with skin and flesh made with the Black Enhydros. The secretary stopped and ran back, hiding himself under a table, while the Prefect showed his own power. Red Qi filled the air, forming into the shape of an ox and smashing towards the Blacksilver Pawns. One of them was knocked back a step by the great force, but one of the others sent out a fist and the ox was blasted apart. The Qi dissipated, and then Prefect formed another ox, using the boundless energy of a Core Formation Cultivator to attack constantly.

The leader of the guards didn’t get the opportunity to show off how much energy he had. Sage darted forward and there was a clanging sound and then something flew into the air. It spun around and landed next to the Prefect’s feet with a thump. The fat man was startled by the grisly object and ran back from the Blacksilver Pawns, turning around just in time to see the headless body of the guard leader falling to its knees.

“You turned my people against me and got my friend killed. Yet, you can’t even recognize my face. What a farce.”

The fat man’s Qi formed another large ox and rushed towards Sage, but he just stepped to the side and spit. A dark bolt slapped against the Prefect’s forehead and he screamed miserably for a while before falling lifelessly to the ground.