Being forced back again, Sage glanced down at the vine in his hands and sent another Qi Technique into it. Tiny feather-like fluffs spewed from the vine by the thousands, the little seed pappus spread into the air wafting towards the eight Chu Shuai. They saw them coming and the chains changed their attack pattern, swirling horizontally like a fan blade to intercept them all. Sage glanced at the vine again and many tiny green spots sprouted upon its length. He chuckled and changed his tactics, kicking hard to send him moving to the side at high speed. Rapidly accelerating to circle around the tightly packed team of eight Chu Shuai’s. The black vine trailed behind him like a streamer, circling around and around faster than the fiery chains could track.

Sage spun his body and swung the black vine around like a hammer, lifting it up into the air so it could come down at Chu Shuai from above. The fiery chains moved to intercept it, but they were only fast enough to stop it about ten feet over Chu Shuai’s head. When they collided, the black vine wasn’t knocked away, instead it suddenly grew, extending forward and slithering down into the group of eight. As it did the many blue flower buds rapidly changed colors to purple and then red. They all bloomed simultaneously, the petals spreading open and releasing a sea of flame in the center of the group. The fiery chains spun, wrapping around the eight men to form a cocoon. The red flower petals transformed into flames as they were shed, but they weren’t alone. The tiny green spots on the black vine also dropped off, spreading onto the ground as the vine was pulled away by Sage’s high speed.

Sage pulled the vine back to himself where it shrank rapidly and wrapped around his arm once again. At the same time, the green dots sunk into the ground just as the chains started to unravel to reveal the eight copies of Chu Shuai. They looked down at the disappeared bits of color and then started to move. Each member of this group was linked together by their chains, so they had to move in unison, which was just slightly too slow. From where the green dots fell into the ground, hair-thin roots had extended upwards, growing like a sea of grass. A few of these hair-like grasses touched against the feet of a few of the Chu Shuai’s, but these men didn’t hesitate to sweep their fiery chains across their bodies. The green tendrils penetrated clothing and sunk into skin like a sea of needle, but the chains scoured away not just the tendrils, but the skin and clothing they’d sunk into. There was no hesitation to rip away their own flesh to stop the advance of the Parasitic Roots.

All of these moves weren’t just for fun, as Chu Shuai had no idea that Sage was currently having an internal conversation. The black vine with purple thorns around his arm wasn’t just a fun fashion statement, it was actually an Artifact. After making a deal with the Cult of the Woodlord and then attending an auction, Sage ran into a man who had helped chase him out of the Shihu Kingdom. He just planned to get a little payback, but then he changed his mind and killed the man because he’d sensed this item: The Tigerbriar. It seemed to want to harm its wielder as much as it was aiming to harm the enemy, which was because Artifacts were not simple weapons. Each of them had their own personalities and thoughts as they weren’t just tools, but the ‘body’ of an Artifact Spirit. That event had happened more than thirty years ago on the outside world, before Sage had left for the depths, but all this time the Tigerbriar had been on the Inner World. Unlike that other man, Sage refused to use the Tigerbriar until he could subdue its spirit and he had finally succeeded after tens of thousands of years. There was a reason that most stories said that Artifacts could only be wielded by those deemed ‘worthy’.

“See, just as I told you, this man’s flame is the natural counter to your abilities. One wood based whip versus many fiery chains is an extremely uphill battle.”

“Grrrr! That man is the worst! Why does he have to keep burning up everything I do!”

“Just relax. I told you this wasn’t a good fight to show off, do you believe me now? You’re very powerful, but this guy counters you too perfectly.”

Inside Sage’s mind, a huge salamander covered in short spikes had a grumpy look on its face. The many spikes on its body were ruffled up like a coat of feathers, as they weren’t just spikes. This scale-like coating was actually made up of many hundreds of clawed fingers. These stubby two-jointed fingers moved slightly making the claws move like hair or feathers, yet with the overlapping armored look of scales. The Million Clawed Salamander was a very unusual and terrifying sight, a visual which was a stark contrast from the very high pitched and ‘cute’ sound of its voice.

After flattering Tigerbriar, Sage continued to circle around Chu Shuai. He’d thought about wiping out the other clones that the Purple Mist Sect members were dealing with, but there had to be some sort of cost related to the creation of these clones. If the other clones continued to exist, he was sure there was a sort of cumulative effect upon this opponent. If that wasn’t the case then why didn’t Chu Shuai just make a hundred clones and drown them with numbers? The other battles going on provided excellent material for them to study this man’s abilities to help them find a weakness.

As for Tigerbriar, the Artifact was very well suited to Sage’s powers which was the feeling he’d got upon seeing it the first time and which had led to him changing his plans to obtain it. The black vine body could grow or shrink as needed, letting the whip become a rope and fit right in with Sage’s tendency to use lines as weapons. It was also plant-like in nature and allowed him to channel wood natured techniques through its body. More surprisingly, Sage also found he could use the claw shaped thorns to deliver poisons. The only unfortunate thing was how bad it was in this specific matchup. A single vine couldn’t face off against multiple chains, and even worse, Fire countered Wood.

Tigerbriar would only believe him after he tried so many moves through it. There was still one more option he could try with it, but he wasn’t so eager to try out the new ‘evil’ moves just yet. Instead, the Million Clawed Salamander had to reluctantly agree to back down. Sage circled around faster and faster while Chu Shuai regrouped and then started to wrap his chains around the group like a wall. At this same time, Sage’s voice came from all around him.

“This is your last chance. Surrender now and hand over what you owe to the Dream Dealer. If you continue to resist, we will no longer hold back. Even if you survive, you’ll never be the same.”

The eight Chu Shuai’s turned to share a look with each other. Sage didn’t attack yet, still circling around and giving them a moment to decide. Unfortunately, they were not so kind. While they were still sharing a look, Sage’s question was answered when a quartet of four chains burst out of the ground in front of him and shot towards him. He was moving at high speed, but since he was following the same route over and over again it was easy for the chain to stab into the ground and shoot out again right in front of him. Yet, it was also easy for him to change directions and run around the chains. Especially when he’s already seen it happening before he’d ever got there. He’d also seen that more of the chains were waiting for him if he were to run towards Chu Shuai. The many woven together chains had circled around the group many times to make a cocoon-like wall, but then their tips had stabbed into the ground, extending outwards to form a trap under the ground. The four chains that had shot out were merely the bait intended to make him run into the area where the others were lying in wait.

Receiving the man’s answer, Sage built a little distance between the two of them and prepared his counterattack. He held up one hand and a boulder the size of his torso appeared upon his palm. A bit of power flowed into it and it was suddenly covered with cracks. The cracks glowed with red light and he tossed the huge rock towards Chu Shuai like it was no more difficult than a normal person throwing a baseball.