With the death of the four Nascent Souls, the remaining forces devolved into combat amongst themselves. There were those still loyal to the Alliance that struck back at those who turned against them. Most of the traitors were the members of Western Peace City that had quickly switched sides once things were not in their favor. The Purple Mist Sect let them fight amongst themselves, not in any hurry to save the turncoats. They didn’t stop fighting, but they took their time to carefully eliminate the rest of the Alliance.

The new traitors were upset, but then they realized the Purple Mist Sect was being conservative in order to make sure no one else could escape their encirclement. Some of the smarter members knew their only way out was to trust Lang Sheng’s forces and they called their people together, grouping them up tightly to make it easier for the Purple Mist Sect to surround and trap them.

Sage saw this move and immediately marked out a few of these leaders, remembering their faces and what groups they were from. There was something of a collective sigh of relief from these groups as they found that the remainders of the Alliance were dealt with more rapidly. They were quite fearful that this Lang Sheng would break his word and put them all to death as well. Given the situation, it was very likely, but they had no other hope to rely on.

“Those who want to live, do not resist.”

Sage gave a simple order and then walked forward, sweeping his Spirit Power over the crowd and starting to send them to his Inner World. Those who resisted him stayed where they were standing while those who didn’t disappeared from the world. A few of the more experienced people in the crowd sensed a bit of spatial power and informed their subordinates to comply. Even so, there were some who could not give in and they fought against his good intentions. Nearly a hundred wounded Core Formation Cultivators disappeared. Thirty or so others were still standing there with a resentful look on their faces.

“You have one more chance. Submit or die.”

Sage sympathized with the fate of these people, but he couldn’t allow others to know the strength of his forces. Even with so many Nascent Souls on his side, he still didn’t stand at the peak of this world. There was still so much he didn’t know about higher levels. His own strange abilities made him worried about what others might be able to do. Most of the first rate powers had only a handful of Nascent Souls, the Chong Clan was a standout that had a full dozen before he killed two of them. If news got out that he had fifty on his side, it might attract greater attention. What if a rank 7 had a power like his Hypnotic Eyes and came to enslave him?

His philosophy had always been to maintain a low profile to avoid the greed of others. It was too bad he’d already attracted too much attention and became a target. He had to ‘kill the chicken to scare the monkey’, which of course meant to intimidate through making an example. Not only would he get a measure of revenge, he also intended to deter others. It was a delicate task of showing enough power to scare the masses, while also not arousing the greed of the strong. If he showed off expensive treasures they would come to steal them. If he showed off amazing abilities, they would catch him to learn them. If he showed too much ambition, they would put him down to keep from being threatened. By showing off so many powerful subordinates they would want to recruit them.

Half of the rank fives gave in on the second attempt, disappearing from the world. Of those that remained, some started to take out Oathstones and swear binding promises to not reveal a word of what happened, while others were bringing out their riches and promising many times more. Their efforts were fruitless. Once the second attempt failed, Sage made a hand motion towards the Purple Mist Sect and they spread their poison over those who remained. The sixteen of them had their organs melted by the poisonous mist, collapsing powerlessly to the ground. Sage sent them into the Inner World, placing them beside those who entered earlier. At this time, they were surrounded by the rest of the Purple Mist Sect, led by another fifty Nascent Souls with hundreds just as strong as they were. Those people of Western Peace City were terrified, especially since they were just outside of the Purple Mist Sect. In the distance they could see a mountain range with a vicious purple miasma floating around it.

They had to wait for an escort from the human settlements, and only then were they informed of their situation. Just like Sage’s other prisoners, they were now forcefully immigrated. Just as they started to leave for this new life of theirs, they saw the corpses of those who resisted appear on the ground nearby. Without any thought of resisting they moved on to their new lives, thankful to merely start over in a new place rather than face death.

Sage informed some of those on the Inner World which of the talents should be watched and then led the fifty Purple Mist Sect members in the real world toward the escapees. They ran quickly through the forest, covering ground rapidly. The pace of the other Nascent Souls was no slower than their own, but for some reason Sage didn’t seem worried about them escaping in the least. In fact the only thing he was at all concerned about was if the Shou Clan Leader had a Messaging Jade.

In only half an hour, they caught up with the target. In a pile of broken rock and stones, three men wielding polearms surrounded a lone woman. One of her arms was a broken mess, and one of her calves was mutilated, like some sort of beast had bitten all the flesh and muscle off of it.

As they approached, Sage noticed tiny jade fragments on the ground beneath her and nodded his head to the mercenaries.

“You’ve done well.”

The Purple Mist Sect quickly surrounded this group of four, and the three mercenaries put away their polearms. They walked over towards Sage and saluted him with cupped fists, “Is the contract complete?”

Before they’d left, Sage had made a deal with these three. They were honorable mercenaries that would not abandon or break a contract they’d made, even if it led to their deaths. On the other hand, a Sellsword wouldn’t sacrifice their lives for no reason. The Artful Life Alliance contracted them to bring the Shou Clan Leader away. Sage contracted them to prevent her from using any Messaging Jades. Once she tried to, they destroyed it and kept her from leaving.

They were bending the rules a little bit by turning upon a former client just after completing a contract, but this was something of a loophole for mercenaries. If a client had them commit terrible deeds without informing them in advance, tricked them somehow, or if their lives were on the line, they would use this same trick of considering a contract complete at inopportune times. If they didn’t agree to the contract, then their lives would be forfeit like all the others, while if they took it, they would be handsomely rewarded.

Sage gave the three mercenaries a smile, “You chose wisely. Do you have any families or subordinates to take with you?”

The three nodded and told Sage which city he’d have to head to next. They were a little confused over what was going to happen, but it was already too late to change their minds. They were already surrounded by fifty Nascent Souls again. In fact they were somewhat resolved as they had already secretly debated this before taking the deal. After escaping from the battle they could have broken their word and fled, but the rewards they were promised were too rich to resist.

“Alright, don’t resist.”

Sage sent the three mercenaries to the Inner World where they met with his Soul Clone. They were led away by another human cultivator and taken to meet with the upper echelon of the Prosperity Company. The reason these three had agreed to his deal was because of what he promised them. Outside of the Purple Mist Sect, Nascent Souls on the Inner World were extremely rare. The three of them would be like Kings. As long as they didn’t bully the Prosperity Company, kill people en masse, or overly oppress the citizens of the Inner World they were free to do as they pleased.