Faced with this enemy that was likely the most powerful he’d ever gone up against, since he knew nothing of Guan Zhenyan’s actual strength, Sage gave up on his plan to mask his capabilities. He’d intended to only show off his Infernal Qi and attempt to keep a clear separation between this persona and his prior identity as the Dream Dealer’s agent, but now those reservations were thrown out the window. He didn’t want to give away his identity, but survival came first.

A powerful Spiritual Sense smashed up against him. He kept his own Spirit Sense close to his body, using it to give him a little early warning system and a sense of his surroundings but keeping it dense and thick so he wouldn’t be vulnerable to attack. It was like having a set of earplugs or dark glasses on. It would keep him from being suddenly blinded or deafened by bright sounds or noises without being completely blind or deaf. Even so, he still felt an impact and pulled his Spirit Sense back into his body. The pressure was so great that this new enemy could probably injure his Spirit Sense in just a few minutes. He was also glad that the Psionic Crystals had been put to use to unlock Spirit techniques. One of them they’d stumbled upon was a method of leaving a mental mark on a person and the best way to defend against it was to keep the Spirit Sense just beneath the skin.

It was something he’d never known would be a problem, but for situations like these if he’d fully retracted his Spirit Sense back into his head, then it would leave him vulnerable to being marked by his enemy. For Spirit Sense to penetrate into his body, it would lose a lot of its energy which acted as a natural defense. By keeping his own Spirit Sense just beneath the skin he could sense if the enemy tried to attach anything to him, while also getting the layer of skin to use as a bulwark. It was like manning the city walls rather than sending out the troops to fight in an open field or retreating to hide within a castle or keep. It was a good thing too, as Sage soon felt an attack of this nature.

The giant pillar of water around the Spire released a trio of huge watery tentacles. Narrow jets of water shot out in an upward arc, like cannon shots made of water. They shot upwards and outwards, curving through the air in a parabolic arc, leaving a trail of water in their wake. After spanning the distance the watery arches gained a sort of life. They twisted and curled, changing from water jets to watery tentacles or chains. These three fell down upon Sage, falling to his left and right to seal his escape routes and one that was slightly delayed right down the middle. He spun around on top of the Flaming Chariot and faced backwards to throw a stone larger than himself up into the air, where it was caught by an Infernal Qi Tentacle, the bloody limb swinging the rock up into the falling water to disperse the attack and punch a hole where the Chariot could slip through.

The huge rock was shattered apart and the Infernal Banyan limb coiled around itself, piling up in the shape of a shield to block the wave. It was blasted apart by the force of the water whip slapping down from the sky. After smashing against two different obstacles it still had enough force to smash the Flaming Chariot downwards. The screech of bending and creak of crumpling metal rang out as the Magical Tools that Sage wore as protection and flew upon were damaged. The front wall around the piloting platform of the chariot was twisted and flattened, deformed to only half its previous height by the attack, but luckily it was still in good enough condition to keep flying. Most of the attack had been focused on Sage himself and his armor was cracked and crumpled and his blood was leaking out through the gaps between the armor plates, which were now much larger than they were before due to the deformation.

Facing such a huge disparity in strength from just the first attack confirmed for Sage that this new foe was out of his league. Even if he wasn’t using his full strength, he didn’t feel confident of his odds if he were to put everything on the line here. He just needed to escape while trying to hide as much of his identity as possible.

Sage placed a Formation Plate onto the Chariot and it activated with a rush of Qi, forming a spherical barrier around him and filling it with black smoke. It attached itself to the Chariot and created an obscuring and defensive shield. The combination of features meant none of them were at the peak of power, but he only needed to buy some time. The water from the first attacks had dispersed into a river beneath him, but it suddenly lifted back up into the air. It split to either side and rose up, forming a wall to either side of him. Then he saw the two walls start to ripple. The enemy lifted their arms and clapped their hands together, a gesture which the two water walls copied, but right at the start. The two walls smashed towards each other traveling in a wave. It took less than a second for this smashing wave to carry all the way to him and crash against either side of the barrier at the same time.

The barrier as well as the dark smoke within it was blasted away, revealing the occupant of the Flaming Chariot. Only, this time the smashed metal armor was replaced by a quilted silken armor. The black suit covered him from head to toe, with even the small slit over his eyes being covered by a small piece of smoky Gemsteel. Then just as he appeared, he split into nine. Nine people wearing the same armor, each of them taking a step back and appearing out of thin air. They took off on different trajectories away from the enemy that had attacked them. Up, down, left, right and many in between, each of them riding a Flying Tool.

These Flying Tools were shaped like the wings of an airplane without the fuselage. The space at the center of the wings was elongated, creating a place for a Cultivator to stand or lie down. The wing shape could provide lift, but it couldn’t be relied upon as the only method of flight like on Earth. Laws related to wind, or even variances in the energy of the Heavens and Earth were able to affect how much lift a wing could create. This was why they still used airships rather than using the Steam Engines to create airplanes. Instead, they used wings to improve Flying Tools. The Flying Tool had formations to allow it to fly and the shape of the wings could add lift which allowed the Flying Tool to use more energy on propulsion speed. When it was affected by adverse conditions that altered the lift that wings provided it still had the flight formations to rely upon. It had become the most common style of Flying Tool on the Inner World, just like how boat shapes were the most common on the outside world.

After the eight copies flew off in different directions, the new enemy swept towards them. A sphere of water surrounded this new person and it rolled off the top of the huge water column surrounding the Spire, gaining speed as it swept downwards. With the deep waters swapped for a small sphere, he could finally take a good look at the person coming for him. The middle-aged man had a savage appearance to him, wearing a robe that looked to be made from dark blue fish scales and hides with slits up the sides to show he had a pair of trousers underneath. His legs were spread wide to balance him upon the water he was surfing after Sage upon. His hairstyle was even more distinctive, short spikes that were all swept backwards. His hair was the color of silver, yet somehow each of the short spikes was tipped with blue. His eyes were black, without any white at all, which gave him a terrifying look, especially given how fast he was closing in.