“How could he—”

“The branch head is a monster.”

“You’re wrong, he killed the Clan Head, only a devil would do that!”

Many of the mid-level members of the clan were terrified, as they knew how great the Jinxi Patriarch’s influence had been among the Kingdom. Without him, what would they do against all the other powers? Who was going to lead them now? Would they be safe here? Would the Chong Clan be taken down? That same old man had been the Clan Leader so long that most of their grandparents and even great grandparents couldn’t even remember anyone else ever being in charge. They suddenly felt like the sky was falling down around them.

At the same time, the lower level clan members were extremely excited. They were far too weak to see what had happened in that split second of intense motion. They merely caught the moments when the two stopped to look at each other and tried to examine the states of their bodies to see how it was going. In their eyes, the Patriarch had looked invincible, completely exhausting the branch head and leaving him looking ragged. Then there was a sudden reversal and the Patriarch started to get serious. Then the clan leader looked angered and then all of sudden his body was impaled upon a tree root and his Nascent Soul incinerated and then cut apart. It was such a sudden reversal they were completely taken off guard. They barely heard the others talking worriedly and could only shout with enthusiasm.

“The Lang Branch Head is so powerful!”

“We Chong will be invincible!”

The Elders realized that this new branch head’s popularity in the clan would suddenly shoot through the roof. The factions that stood on the side of the Jinxi were suddenly worried about retaliation from this previously inconsequential person. Both Xiyi and Wu had caused problems with Sage in the past. Xiyi, the Lizards, had allowed some youngsters to bully the branch head when they were harassing Xiezi. Yet, that wasn’t much when compared to the Wu, the Centipedes, that had actually sent a hit squad to try to take his head. The branch clans on the Jinxi’s side were not nearly as worried. Ci, the Stings, as well as Yi, the Ants, had not had much contact with the Lang branch head so they were actually glad that their own branch members were far away and had no opportunity to form any deep enmity.

A beautiful and slim woman wearing bright yellow clothing with a black belt sash and hair tie turned towards a stocky and burly woman wearing simple dark red clothing. They both looked to be middle-aged, two mature women with extremely different builds and temperaments. One of them is intense while the other is calm and steady. They were also quite often at odds with each other. The Matriarchs of the Ci and Yi Clans locked eyes and despite their usual conflict, they both had the same look. Relief that they hadn’t been implicated.

There were similar exchanges happening between many of the other Elders as they tried to figure out how this person that was the last remnant of an eradicated branch could suddenly appear out of nowhere and suddenly become the most powerful person in their clan. There was a very quiet, but fierce argument going on between the Wu Elders, arguing over whether they should attack immediately or not. A similar argument was going on among the Xiyi Elders, but not so silently. One of the Elders was currently beating one of his subordinates with his fist, while the other two Elders had already sent orders to marshall the forces of their whole faction while also yelling at their subordinates that they had to bend the knee.

On the ruined stage of the Dueling Arena, Sage had already drawn back his Poison Qi from the blade of his Golden Mantis Armor. The poisonous miasma from around Icefire Valley was a spiritual poison and so it made the perfect weapon to attack a Nascent Soul. Once the body was killed, a Nascent Soul would usually be very disoriented and weak for a few moments. Sage was no longer a rookie that hadn’t faced other Nascent Souls in battle. Upon killing the body, he knew to strike decisively during that moment of weakness or else the opponent would just continue the fight. Even if they were now in a weakened state, it was not a good thing to allow such a wily and experienced enemy to have more chances. He’d plotted so thoroughly to lull the old man into an overconfident state, he definitely didn’t want to face off against the full power of a desperate Jinxi Patriarch.

As for how he killed the old man? He’d used another move that the Jinxi Patriarch would never have expected. After the two of them exchanged so many blows it looked like Sage used a desperate maneuver to push the Jinxi Patriarch back with his Divine Breath. In fact, he’d plotted attack after attack to push the old man to the edge. At that last instant, when it seemed that he had bought himself another chance, Sage used his Spirit Power. With his telekinetic techniques he simultaneously pushed the Jinxi Patriarch backwards and also manipulated a root lance to move faster than it ever had. He pushed the lance and the old man together, and once the Killer Garden was spread deep into the old man’s midsection the fellow reacted quickly to try and escape with his Nascent Soul. If he didn’t, then more root lances would have punctured his drastically slowed body and only delayed the inevitable.

The Jinxi Patriarch was no weakling. In fact, he was three stages stronger than Sage, just like the Great Elder of the Xie. They were both half-saints, level 70s on the verge of breaking through to face heavenly tribulation. It was just too bad they’d stayed at that same level for thousands of years and had no hopes of breaking through on their own. They both competed by raising the younger generations and pitting them against each other like their own personal sporting teams or racing animals. Sage didn’t win because of his great power, but because of his many unusual tactics. He’d groped in the dark for every possible way to be stronger in the past that now that he’d actually attained power he ended up with so many different methods that he could catch them completely off guard over and over again.

The many roots all over the arena started to retract back into the trees and the root and tree canopy fences retracted. The trees on the other hand didn’t go anywhere, since Sage wasn’t quite sure of what would happen next. Would these other Factions retaliate against him for killing the clan leader? Even if it was an official challenge that aligned with all the clan rules, he wasn’t sure if these people would follow the rules or if they’d band together and start a civil war. The Jinxi Patriarch had the whole Jinxi Faction behind him, but Sage looked to be alone. What if the Xie were worried about how strong he was and decided to tie up the loose end so they could take over without any worries. Once Sage was gone, the Great Elder of Xie would be the strongest again.

The innumerable flowers on the trees started to transform again. The red seed pods fell and new blue lotus buds grew in their place. This was a technique that Sage took from Lin Bao, that young genius from the Cult of the Woodlord so long ago. With the Timeless Master’s library Sage already had too many techniques to learn so he hadn’t bothered with the ten he’d got from Lin Bao. It was only after his trip to Icefire Valley and gaining the Thermal Law that the Soul Clone found this technique to be suitable. It was called ‘Winter Lotus’ and had three stages: Blue, Purple, and Red. The beautiful colors were not important, the key point was that it also followed a sort of thermal cycle. The Blue Winter Lotus absorbed heat, using it to change from a small bud to a fully bloomed lotus. Absorbing heat caused everything to cool down and it could create ice style attacks. The Purple Winter Lotus held all that absorbed energy within its petals, which hardened them and made them into a defensive structure. Finally, the Red Winter Lotus sent all that energy into the seed pod, shedding its petals and firing off burning seeds as projectiles. With careful training, the Soul Clone had learned the Winter Lotus technique and even found a way to combine it with the Sacred Banyan, adding a few more layers of complexity to Sage’s combat style.

In the forest around him, all the trees were now covered with deep purple lotus blossoms. Thick white mist swirled around his calves and a pink gas covered the surface of the trees. He didn’t seem to be affected by the cold air in the arena and he looked over to where the Xie were sitting. His golden eyes fell upon the Great Elder.