Jinxi Po’s rapidly fired arrows caused damage, but the extent didn’t seem to be enough. The man kneeled down and tilted his bow sideways. He drew it back to full extension and then hundreds of arrows appeared upon the bow. There were so many it was actually hard to see there was a bow at all. It looked more like the man was holding a plate of arrows out in front of himself. The arrows were stacked a couple feet tall and Sage couldn’t help but wonder what purpose such a spectacle held. Only a few of those arrows could be nocked onto the bow string at a time, so what was the point?

His question was answered, when that platter of arrows was suddenly launched towards him. A solid wave of matter came towards him and he realized it was the same attack that had been used upon his insects earlier. At that time he hadn’t got a clear look at it, only seeing the aftermath from afar as it destroyed all his mantids and severely injured the Lance Beetles. This time he saw that attack in its seemingly impossible entirety. The hundreds of piled up arrows were somehow launched from the man’s bow and even more incredibly, they seemed to multiply in number, transforming into a literal wall of projectiles. Then they dispersed over a wider and wider area, gaining greater distance between each arrow as it traveled and then landing against his body like a shower of rain.

Thankfully, these arrows suddenly launched in such immense volume and covering such an absurdly large surface area were lacking in penetration power. Rather than forming cracks or bursting through his carapace, these arrows were only strong enough for the tips to get stuck. Nearly the entire length of one of his legs was now covered in arrows. The wave of arrows was so large that a single limb couldn’t block it completely. The rest of his body had a few splashes of color upon them, the black fletching of the arrows made them almost look like patches of stubby hairs.

Jinxi Po wasn’t pleased to find out that this attack was only mildly effective. Since attacking a wide area wasn’t effective, the man tried a different tactic and from the fluctuation of Qi and law energy, Sage guessed he was preparing a powerful attack. Perhaps to try and cause more force to reach his organs or pierce deep enough to puncture something important. Sage was in no mood to let him try.

He hadn’t just been defending these last few moments.

Light flashed from a dozen different directions.

Jinxi Po flashed with a blinding light of his own. A brilliant flare of energy surrounded him just in time to deflect the beams of light crashing into him from all around. The energy that Jinxi Po had been gathering scattered and then fluttered. With a display of incredible skill that scattered energy was recollected and flew off his bow with rapid speed. He plucked his bow and released arrows back towards where each of the beams of light had emitted.

There was a loud clanging sound. Each of the arrows Jinxi Po shot were fired so quickly that they landed upon their targets at almost the exact same time, causing the sound to echo weirdly from all directions at once. Sage cursed inwardly as he examined the damage. The dozen rays of light were actually the crystal projectiles launched from his Shard Rifles. His goal all along had been to close the distance with his enemy. Now that this had been accomplished it didn’t matter to him whether or not those follow up attacks had gone disastrously for him. He didn’t care that he hadn’t gained the upper hand. He also dared to take his true form as it would greatly increase his survivability. Earlier, before he’d locked eyes on his enemy, he didn’t dare to become such a huge and easy to hit target. He would have just been slowly torn to pieces by an unseen attacker.

Now that he had the enemy in his sights, he was actually safer in this form. While he would constantly be harmed, the chances of catastrophic damage was now minimal. A single missed dodge might have killed him earlier.

The Shard Rifles were struck in different places by the incoming arrows. Sage manipulated them to dodge the return fire, but they weren’t fast enough to escape unscathed. Most of them were already charging a second shot, but three of them had been knocked out of operation by the attack and another two were heavily damaged. While they charged, Sage switched out the limb that was blocking his face and released a burst of green poison from his mouth in the process. Two of his legs were already compromised, but he still had six to go.

Jinxi Po dodged away, riding in a bubble of air and then bursting it to change directions quickly. He was actually quite impressive, using the same movement technique as the patriarch, but also having a wind law to make him move even faster and also to change directions constantly. Just as he’d heard, those who used wind laws could accomplish real flight. While the man couldn’t get much altitude because of the poisoned tree canopy, he was still able to float through the forest without touching the ground. He flew about with the unpredictability of an insect, completely avoiding leaves above and the spear-like roots shooting up from below. He flitted behind a tree to dodge the spray of Greenrose Venom and then shot to the left and then right, dodging the second volley of Shard Rifles.

Sage didn’t bring out more Shard Rifles at this moment, as they had already proven to be ineffective. In the past, Sage had used them to penetrate through many materials without any problem. Of course, he’d never tested them against the most powerful things this world had to offer and he now saw just how useful the most expensive armors could be. When they fired at Jinxi Po without warning he was not harmed. Even if he could dodge the second volley, the first were all on target and he was saved by that brilliant flash of light. That light came from the suit of soft armor that the man wore.

Soft Armor is a term for thin and flexible armor, which could be worn beneath the clothing without too much discomfort. It was also a favorite choice of cultivators. Full and heavy suits of armor were basically reserved for use upon true battlefields, or by career mercenaries or guards. Most cultivators were vain and wanted to show off with elaborate outfits and accessories. There were also those that liked to keep a low profile or hide their capability, so hidden armor was also more to their liking.

When the Indigo Quartz bullets struck against Jinxi Po, they tore apart his black robe before they were blasted away by the power of his hidden armor. Sage was surprised by the sheer power of the man’s Soft Armor and realized that this fellow was even more wealthy than he’d imagined. That suit of armor looked like one he’d seen on sale for hundreds of millions of Spirit Stones. To think it would be so effective! Yet, even seeing such a thing, Sage was not upset. The Shard Rifles were far from his final trick after all.