Sage’s vision switched to those of the Sea Locust, rapidly switching through the different types and examining each of the two doors. Then he switched back to the Timeless Eyes, though this time both eyes were active. More specifically, he wasn’t looking at the huge double doors or the portcullis-like gate to the den. He was actually looking at the array formations used to protect them.

“How is this all possible? Don’t the Discipline Keepers have full control of the Academies formations?”

One of the golden haired students couldn’t hold it in any longer and suddenly voiced their fears. Previously, she’d been too scared to say anything, but now the tense situation had caused her to lash out at those she perceived as not ‘protecting’ her properly. The Discipline Keeper didn’t bother to answer her as he was busy looking at Sage and the eight people that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. The Demonic Beasts that put them in danger had all been handled, but now there was another dangerous variable right beside them.

“The Beast Keeper has authority over the formations used on beast cages. They might need them to restrain the beasts, or alter them to properly handle unique types of beasts.”

Teacher Gray was the one to answer the student, but this short answer seemed to shock the Discipline Keeper out of his restful inactivity to answer, “The Beast Keeper’s authority over the arrays here should still be lower than that of a Discipline Keeper. He must have carefully altered the formations to give himself the highest authority. As long as we can leave the area that he has influence over, then we can call for assistance.”

Hearing the Discipline Keeper say this and also after carefully examining the gates for weaknesses, Sage whistled to the Purple Mist Sect to leave the main door and head over to the portcullis blocking the den area.

“That settles it then. I can’t unravel the formations without a few days' time, so we’ll have to use brute force. My team will destroy the gate, when they do, you’ll take everyone out of here through those secret passages. If you go up a few floors you should be out of the Beast Keepers influence. Any random exit at that point should work.”

Sage ran over to the main entrance door, standing in front of the two huge double doors. Then he threw out a dozen fist sized seeds and they fell upon the ground in front of the big double doors. Then, roots sprouted out of them, some digging into the ground while others extended upwards, slowly changing colors and growing into vines. They crawled up the huge doors all the way to the top, curling around it and holding tightly. Then the vines branched, growing many other vines along their length. These newer vines branched again and then again while the other vines got thicker and hardened. They changed from soft green vine to a hard wooden branch.

In just a minute the conical tree that had grown to protect the students was completely overshadowed by the huge wall of wood. The vines layered upon each other over and over again, forming into a dense thicket of wooden branches a few yards thick. Every few seconds one of the vines poked against the barrier protecting the metal bars on the side of the room. At the two minute mark the barrier seemed to switch off on its own and the vines slid through the gaps. The wooden barrier spread into the walkway area and blocked off the human sized access door just like it had the huge main doors.

While this was going on, the eight members of the Purple Mist Sect were smashing their viper aura-covered fists against the gate blocking off the den area. They were going all out, rapidly consuming the aura around their bodies to boost their already prodigal physical strength to even higher levels to smash through the defensive formation as quickly as possible. Four of them were attacking the gate and stopped only when their aura’s were as thick as a hair. Then they stepped back while the other four took over. They started to rapidly recover their Golden Poison Body auras, pouring out their internal Qi to build the aura back up to its full size again. Then the two groups of four changed places again, swapping out those with full strength auras weakened ones.

As soon as Beast Keeper Deng left, Sage guessed he would spend a few minutes dealing with the Searing Greenrose Miasma. After that, the man would probably start setting up a grand ambush of some sort right outside the gate. Once it was ready the gate would open and they’d be overrun by who knows how many Demonic Beasts. At least that’s how Sage would do it. The Beast Keeper was going to defeat them with precision, but since Sage could breach the protective barrier with his miasma, the plan would probably change to brute force.

If his guess was right, then this flurry of attacks upon the gate would be noticed by those outside and they’d know that the battle with the Demonic Beasts was over in here. If that was the case, then the attack would be coming soon. That’s why Sage was putting so much effort into building a defensive wall in front of the door. The Sacred Banyans that wrapped up the huge door would help hold it closed and also reinforce it. The wall of bars to the side was actually quite helpful at this point as the many vines wrapped around and through it, using it to help strengthen the huge tree wall that was being grown.

Just then, there was a boom that came from outside the enclosure. Sage immediately guessed they tried to open the gate, but were unsuccessful. Now they had started to attack the door and it became a race to see who could break through faster. Would they break through the formation protecting the den, or would the main door to the enclosure be breached? Loud cracking sounds rung out through the room, caused by the first few layers of wooden lattice work breaking. The two huge doors started to move outwards, pulling at the many hundreds of woody vines that were wrapped around it.

Due to the formations still strengthening the huge pair of gates, the vines could not sink into them, and they also couldn’t wrap completely around them. The grip on the door could only be so strong because of these limitations and it didn’t take long for the two huge doors to be torn open. The wall of wood was now nearly a dozen feet thick and blocked all view of whatever might be waiting for them on the other side.

With the many sounds coming from the gate that was now torn open, the rest of the group had become anxious. The Discipline Keeper moved to help the Purple Mist Sect members, rushing over with his huge cleaver and smashing it down against the smaller cage wall blocking the entrance to the den area.

The solid smashing sound from the main doors had now changed to constant creaking and cracking as something, or things, were now ripping apart the tree wall that Sage had grown. He continued to thicken the wall, using his Qi as quickly as it was generated. As the wall thickened he had to step backwards. From his connection with the Sacred Banyans that he’d created, he could feel how quickly the wall was being destroyed and it was slightly slower than the rate he was creating it. He took a step backwards and felt the conical tree he’d made earlier behind him.

Running out of room.