The woman stared at him for a long moment while the other woman in the back had become even more venomous in the gaze she had fixed upon Sage. Eventually she seemed to come to a decision and smiled sweetly again.

“You’re quite correct, and the members of the Chain Ocean Palace will always pay their debts,” at this time she paused to let other meanings for her statement to set in before continuing, “Rest assured that we will ensure that Chu Shuai fulfills his obligations in the future. Unfortunately, he has to return to the Chain Ocean Palace with us right now to fulfill his duties there first. The commitment to the palace comes first, and we thank you for understanding.”

“Is that so? It seems that Chu Shuai is not a very responsible person then. Perhaps you should expel him from the Chain Ocean Palace. He can’t fulfill his responsibilities to your palace or repay his debts in a timely manner. After he finishes paying off his debts to the Dream Dealer here, I can send him over to your palace to make up for the duties he was shirking. I’m sure he will find a way to make up for the time and resources you wasted on him. This man’s debt has been overdue for quite a long time and I’m sure the Chain Ocean Palace doesn’t want to have its reputation spoiled by him.”

The woman was speechless for a moment. No matter how she phrased it or what threats she was sneaking in, this fellow was ignoring them and insisting to keep Chu Shuai hostage. If Sage didn’t agree to let them take Chu Shuai away, then there would be no simple way to solve the situation without putting them on opposing sides. She was left with a difficult choice and couldn’t decide if she wanted to escalate the conflict. Unfortunately, the woman to her side couldn’t help herself and she used a Messaging Jade to contact the other Nascent Soul up above. The Flying Ship was only a hundred feet long, small compared to many of the other Flying Ships that Sage had seen in the past, but it was covered in delicate carvings and elegantly curved in its lines. At this moment, the ship lit up with hundreds of intricate array symbols, the many formations upon it coming to life. The younger woman felt the fluctuation of energy and turned to glare at the woman beside her.

“Forgive me, my colleagues are getting impatient. We’ve been instructed to bring Chu Shuai back to the palace. As I’ve said, we will stake the reputation of our palace that he will pay his debt, but right now he is needed by the Palace Master.”

Sage glanced up at the Flying Ship and the many offensive and defensive formations coming to life upon it. Then he looked back at the woman and frowned slightly, “It seems we’ve got an issue then as I cannot release this man until he pays his debt. If you aren’t going to pay for him, then please leave.”

The older woman could no longer hold back her anger at this point and she stepped forward, “Do you think this is your territory and you can force us out of it? Don’t you understand the power of the Chain Ocean Palace?”

Sage ignored this woman’s threats and instead smiled at the younger woman, “Have you made your decision, yet? As a debtor, I have good reason to apprehend Chu Shuai and the Lord of this level will not step in.”

The young woman let out a long sigh, “I do not wish to come into conflict with you, but my associates will not agree with my decision. Please forgive me, we must take Chu Shuai away.”

Hearing this, the old woman sneered, showing that the statement was true. This woman had already decided to use any means needed to get her way. Even though she’d seemed the lower ranked party in the negotiation, it seems that the younger woman didn’t command her loyalty. Up on the Flying Ship the array symbols upon the front bow doubled in their intensity. Glowing blue circles formed in front of the bow, tiny symbols floated between the rings and the whole arrangement spun around like a huge lens. Then the layers of circles started to separate, the smaller ones extending outwards so the many circles formed into a roughly cone shape in front of the ship, pointing down towards Sage and the Purple Mist Sect members.

“A shame that it’s come to this.”

While Sage was speaking an even greater energy came to life in the distance. The Flying Ship was suddenly shrouded within a giant dome of green light. The whole of the huge plateau they were fighting upon had already been transformed into a huge Formation Array. Seeing the energy building around them, the two women in front of him were spooked and the chains still connected to their lower backs suddenly started to retract, lifting them back up towards their ship. Sage didn’t move to stop them, letting them escape as the Flying Ship was now in conflict with the huge formation it was now trapped within.

The multi-stepped cone became the barrel of a massive energy cannon, releasing a beam of blue light from the bow of the ship. The foot wide column of energy blasted downwards, aimed directly towards Sage. The brilliant light shrouded the whole plateau, splashing in every direction and blinding the whole plateau. The two women in mid-air covered their faces in surprise. The Sky Lance of their ship had never caused such a blinding effect before and they weren’t expecting such a strange response. It was only after the light cleared away that they could finally see what had happened.

Beneath them, a series of large crystalline objects were floating in mid-air above Sage and the Purple Mist Sect members. These gems were the size of watermelons, though they were in the shape of three sided columns and their edges were covered in glowing Array Symbols. They were created purely out of the energy of a Formation Array and like their shape were based upon prisms. The energy of the Heavens and Earth were not light waves that could be reflected in a mirror or split in a prism, but there were some similarities. The researchers on the Inner World had taken the idea of the prism that Sage once showed them and used it to create a new formation. It didn’t try to directly resist or redirect incoming energies, instead just slightly bending it and spreading it into different components. The incoming attack wasn’t blocked, it was just scattered, spraying over the whole of the plateau. The parts that still struck Sage and his people were then blocked by a secondary formation, suffering only a small percentage of the full damage.

Craters and large divots had formed all over the top of the plateau, the result of the attack having been spread over such a wide area. The target of their attack was completely unharmed and now they fully realized the trap they’d fallen into. The two women finished retracting their chains, hopping up onto the deck of the Flying Ship and meeting with a middle-aged man manning the helm of the ship. He was already operating the Sky Lance to fire another attack, this time aimed at the barrier surrounding the plateau. When the two reached him, they were just in time to see another beam of energy fire out. Their eyes narrowed, fighting the blinding spray of light. This time it was not as close to them so they could actually see a little bit of what was going on, and the energy prisms had appeared in the distance, scattering apart the Sky Lance’s attack, leaving many weakened bits of energy to splash against the barrier.