Sage was faced with a difficult position. The only way to ensure the Four Major Businesses didn’t get their hands on the Insect Immortal Index was to take very drastic measures. If this concerned only the profits of the Prosperity Company, Sage would never do something so radical, but the strength of the Lang Clan was very reliant on modifying their bodies. Dragoons, Adjutors, and their own bodies were all created in this way. Giving others insight into their secrets could help them find their weak points. Since he didn’t plan to stay around forever, Sage wanted them to be as strong and secure as possible.

Faced with the choice of the safety of his own family, versus the complete freedom of these others, he went with the tyrannical option. It was something he had already done more than a few times in the past, so unfortunately he had grown used to it. Banishing his enemies to the Inner World against their will was terrible, but he comforted himself with the idea that it was far better than death or slavery.

Xie Bian looked shaken, but she was still not completely convinced. She gathered her strength and poured it into the scorpion beneath her. Its body was the size of a warehouse and their constant cooperation meant it could perfectly fuse with the Qi and Law power she injected into it. A beam of burning liquid shot forth from the stinger on the scorpion’s tail, firing towards Sage, the leader of her enemies. The power of two peak Nascent Souls fused into one, pushing it another level higher.

Sage merely shook his head as the five Purple Mist Sect members around the Chong Clan leader went into action. The Formation Armor they were wearing came to life, the many symbols carved into them filling with light and linking their strength together with brilliant purple chains of energy. One of the chains shook and a wave of energy echoed through the air like the ripples on the surface of calm waters. This rippling energy knocked up against the liquid beam attack, each wave disturbing the cohesion of the beam until it splashed apart. The high pressure ray was smashed apart, turning into a loose mass of liquid.

Taking a single step to the side, Sage instantly moved a hundred yards, avoiding the dangerous splash. The liquid spread onto the ground and there was a loud sizzling sound as the empowered venom of Ancestor Scorpion showed its power. The purple chains linked the Purple Mist Sect members together, forming a pentagon around Xie Bian. They didn’t spend their full effort stopping the attack as they were each busy forming a second energy chain. They flung these second lines across to one of the others and formed a pentagram that placed Xie Bian and the giant scorpion at its center.

The giant scorpion tried to jump away, but as soon as it lifted off the ground a translucent barrier appeared above it. With agility that was utterly out of line with its giant size it flipped over in mid-air, tapping its feet against the barrier above to send it back towards the ground. It spun again and landed lightly on the ground, doing less damage to the floor than Sage and the Purple Mist Sect members had. Xie Bian looked up to examine the barrier above them. Unlike most barriers that were shaped like upside down bowls, this barrier was not a hemisphere, but a pyramid with five sides, corresponding to the pentagon formed by the intersecting lines of the pentagram.

This was the Expanding Ethereal Chains, a trapping formation formed with a number of participants that correlated to regular polygons. In this world they didn’t use the term from geometry, but Sage recognized the pattern. Essentially, it was a polygon with matching sides and angles where every point could touch upon a circle, an inscribed circle. Basically, it required five or more people arranged in a loose circle. They formed two chains each to form a star polygon on the inside that matched the one on the outside. There was a pentagram in the center of a star, and a hexagram in the center of a ‘Star of David’. This was one of the main formations in the Formation Armor worn by the Purple Mist Sect along with the Shifting Swarm Formation. It was mainly intended for trapping, but could also be used to attack and defend when the chains were whipped.

Xie Bian didn’t give up just yet. The giant scorpion swung one of its house sized pincers forward and smashed it against the pyramidal barrier of energy. It shook, but otherwise seemed completely undamaged. Then it released another ray of liquid from its tail. It shot at such high velocity and with such volume that it appeared to be a beam, slamming against the barrier and splashing outwards. This time it showed off its viscosity, clinging to the mostly translucent wall of energy and sizzling as it tried to burn through. This constant attack made the barrier shake constantly, like it was shivering. Tiny holes formed upon the barrier, but these were only large enough to send hidden weapons through. Unless Xie Bian and her scorpion had a very powerful movement technique there was no way they could get through.

Sage watched her attack and he knew she likely had more than one way to break out if she really wanted to, but it certainly wouldn’t be easy. At this time as she was contemplating her options, Sage spoke up again.

“It’s still not too late. Please prevent the loss of more life. My people will do all they can to subdue the Chong Clan members without killing, but you know there will be many losses. Even if you tell them all to surrender, many will not believe you, but that is still better than how many will die if you continue to resist instead.”

Once he involved himself in the battle against Xie Bian he felt there was a very high chance of them capturing her. There was a small chance she could escape, but she certainly wouldn’t be able to stop them from overrunning the Chong Clan. The most she could do would be to escape and take along some of her people with her. The Chong Clan had a bit over ten Nascent Souls. He knew of eleven that had survived the war with the Fu Clan, but there was still the chance more were in hiding or had just risen using the resources taken as spoils of war. Even so, how could they hope to face off against more than a hundred Nascent Souls? A single sixth rank Cultivator could take on dozens of rank fives and hundreds of rank fours on their own.

“Do you really trust all your descendants to be prudent enough to calmly escape or surrender? Are you confident enough in your own strength that you think you can save them all without fail?”

Sage’s final plea seemed to remind her of something and Xie Bian sighed. She leapt down off of the giant scorpion’s back and looked resigned, “Fine, let’s do this quickly then. Do you trust me enough to operate the Sect’s arrays, or will you force me to sign a Blood Contract?”