The three mercenaries would have a few years to build a powerbase for themselves before Sage would call them back out to collect their friends and relatives. It would take Sage a week or so to head to the city they spoke of.

In the meantime, he looked over to the Shou Clan Leader, “The remainders of the Artful Life Alliance won’t be touched.”

She laughed, making her many facial piercings clink and tinkle together, but the laugh was self-deprecating not joyous. She spoke with sadness, “Without any of us returning, all the promising youth will be prey to our enemies.”

“Maybe you should have made more allies than enemies.”

“We did. You’ve killed them all, too.”

Sage realized his mistake and nodded, “The world isn’t kind.”

The Shou Clan Leader’s head fell from her shoulders and her Nascent Soul was engulfed in white flames, burned out of existence in just a few moments. What remained of her was also sent to the Inner World along with the Purple Mist Sect members. Sage carried on by himself to the home city of the mercenaries. He brought them out one at a time with ten of the Purple Mist Sect to ensure they didn’t get any ideas.

These men were not mercenaries for fun, they were in it for the money. They needed resources to improve and they had friends and families that also needed their support. These were men that were not part of any great powers or organizations, so they could only rely on themselves and those like them. They wanted to be the strength that held up the sky for their own families, building new great powers of their own. They were the lucky ones that had reached the sixth rank through luck, but they still couldn’t compare to those organizations with hundreds or thousands of years of accumulation. The best they could do was pool their power to keep from being forcibly recruited to another group.

Yet, after all that effort, they had still ended up being forced against their will. Against all odds, the place that they feared to be their end was in fact when their dreams came true. They brought their families and friends to the Inner World. By the time Sage left, half of the city was gone without a trace. Many had no idea what had happened, and rumors spread far and wide about the mass exodus of the city. Such a large number of people were never seen or heard from again, and rumors abound on their final fate.

That day would live on in infamy, and the city would take on a new name, Haunted Doorway. The city gate that all those people left from would forever earn the reputation as a door to the underworld.

Sage didn’t care about what happened in that city after he left, leaving to make good on an idea he had after being attacked by Jinxi Po. He nearly lost his life again fighting against that man. Sage had never really gone up against such a rich scion before and finally realized how dangerous such vast resources could be. In fact, he was quite fearful of what might happen if he went up against the full resources of a unified group. The Chong Clan was rife with infighting and factional warfare. Its resources were distributed into many parts. How much wealth did the head of someone like the Kang Clan or Fu Clan have?

He returned to the Mount Song Sword Sect and sent out word to summon back Wan Ling as well as the most important people of the Prosperity Company. He also had all those who were close to him in the Tiankong Clan assemble. There was Ruanfu, who was like a little sister to him, as well as her boyfriend Wanqian Lei. Jiyao, the handsome and cocky Diamond Eyed Sandpiper. Juzui, the short redheaded gentleman, a Miniature Red Toucan. Baozhai, the overbearing big sister type with long legs, coppery skin and auburn hair. She was a Copper Skinned Jacanas. Tujiu, the big bald headed brute with a spear and eyes that looked like holographic foil. His mother was an Iridescent Flame Vulture. Lastly, Songji. She was sweet and kind, yet she always wore a black leather catsuit over her thick body and was a terrible assassin on the battlefield, a product of her Violent Shadow Grouse heritage.

The six children of King’s children that he had the closest relationship with. King had many other children that were in the Tiankong Clan, but he wasn’t very close to them. It was only these six, seven really, that he cared about. When he told them of his plans, they were ecstatic. He even heard a few startled bird squawks coming from their mouths. He chuckled and they all happily started to join in the logistics of their trip.

“I’m the fastest, so I’ll fly you there. Then, I’ll take you to Manji. He’s even faster than me.”

Sage nodded to Ruanfu, she was indeed the fastest flyer of those present. Perhaps when some of the others reached her rank they might be able to keep up or exceed her, but at the moment the only one who could beat her was Manji, the Cloud Swallowing Thunder Eel.

A few days later, Wan Ling returned and Sage told her of his plans. The smile on her face suddenly froze. He walked over to her and gently took her hand into his own, “I need you to head back to the Holy Flame Sect. I know it's a long journey. That’s why I asked you to summon those close to you in the Prosperity Company. Leave others to run it in your absence, but take those who can keep you company. You’ll all be gone for years, so plan accordingly.”

She stared at him in stunned silence for a few moments before nodding her head, “Are you sure about this?”

“Very. We will be leaving immediately, I’ve already wasted too much time as it is.”

“Please take care.”

“You too.”

He couldn’t hold her gaze for much longer, escaping from the room and going to where the Tiankong Siblings were waiting for him. They checked their weapons and gear to make sure they had everything they needed and then disappeared from sight. Sage sent them into the Inner World and then disappeared into the Universe Ring himself. Ruanfu grabbed the golden ring and then resumed her true form. At one moment there was a white haired, blue eyed girl of a college going age with an intense disposition, in the next a huge winged monster appeared where she was standing. It was in the shape of a large two legged dragon, what might be called a drake or wyvern except with a twist. She had the beak and talons of a falcon as well as a body covered in snowy white feathers rather than any scales as would be expected. She had a long neck and tail, which gave her a wyvern-like body shape, rather than the bird-like one expected of her large wings, two legs, beak, and thick layer of feathers. Most amazing was the bright almost crystalline blue color of her beak and talons, of a color even more stunning than her eyes.

The gold Universe Ring enlarged and wrapped around one of her talons and then she leapt into the air. A sudden snow flurry kicked up behind her, leaving a snowy sky in her wake. A miniature snow squall pushed her along. It didn’t increase her speed as much as someone with a Wind Law might be able to, but her Snow Law still gave her a boost.

Within the Universe Ring, Sage was observing the outside world.

It's finally time.