Deep beneath the ground, a dark mass separated itself from the fleshy ‘root ball’ of bloody and spike-covered tentacles. The oil-like shape burrowed down into the ground, moving far away from the mass of fleshy roots that were already shriveling up rapidly. On the surface, the huge cage or net of tentacles had already been ripped apart and it was being torn into tiny shreds by the giant column of water that completely submerged the Spire. With all the remnants of the Infernal Banyan torn away, the huge column of water slowly spun around the building a few times and then slowly lowered back down into the river where it came from. During this whole time since the spiky haired man had appeared the huge waterfall had come to a complete stop. The many millions of gallons of water that fell constantly had all been diverted into the man’s attacks. It was only now that it was all finished that things slowly began to return to normal.

The waterfall came back to life, starting first as a trickle and then suddenly turning into a terrible torrent. The flow of water was suddenly twice as much as it normally was, needing to be at a higher flow rate to make up for the minutes where it had been forced to stop. Much of the water was still splashed over the forest to the side to create the two huge walls, but quite a bit of that rushed back to the river to join the huge volume of water that made up the massive column surrounding the Spire.

With the destruction of all that was above the surface, some of the water also seemed to move with a mind of its own, sinking into the ground and destroying the roots that had created the many fleshy tendrils from below. The whole of the huge root system that had taken many hours to grow was destroyed in mere minutes and every trace of Infernal Qi was wiped away from the water and ground. Luckily, the dark mass beneath the ground was more fortunate than the one above the ground. The two Blacksilver Pawns met different fates, one of them being smashed apart by the water column while the other shaped itself into an augur and drilled itself far away, leaving behind only some loosened soil in its wake. The water didn’t seem to notice the slight difference and the second pawn buried itself deep before going still.

The only reason it was still mobile was because of a small glitter of gold hidden among the wreckage of the Flaming Chariot. After being smashed apart, the pieces of it were thrown in different directions and one of the larger parts had a little golden ring hidden within it. This was no normal ring and on the inside, Sage was frowning as he took stock of all his losses. Despite wearing the Formation Armor of the Purple Mist Sect, those riding on the Flying Wings were not Purple Mist Sect members. While Sage would regrettably sacrifice some of them if he had to, this was not a situation where they would make a big difference. He wouldn’t throw their lives away without a good reason and thanks to the Inner World’s time dilation as well as his Foresight, Sage was able to come up with a countermeasure in enough time to save his life.

Those that died were not from the Purple Mist Sect, but they still represented a great loss. After his time at the Clear Sky Academy, Sage got a very useful reward. It wasn’t just the knowledge he collected from their immense library, but it was also the spoils from his battle with the Beast Keeper. Specifically, the Thousand Limbed Lungfish and its ability to create smaller clones of itself. Sage created clones of himself on the Inner World using his Soul Clone and then used the Master Seal to give them completely different appearances. Since none of them, himself included, ever used his original appearance it would be quite the task to distinguish which of them was the ‘real’ one. Losing each of these clones was not that big a deal as they merely required an expenditure and Qi and time as well as all the equipment they carried.

The actual loss was because of one final feature. Given that he was likely going up against a true Rank 7, Sage knew that the meager soul within each of these clones would not be a proper substitute for a true Nascent Soul. In that regard, Sage only learned the limitations of the ability after he fused with the Thousand Limbed Lungfish. In order to control its many clones, each of them were imbued with a tiny fragment of its soul. Sage finally ran into another creature that had a similar soul fragmenting ability as he’d received from Ruanfu, and the White Hawk Drake’s line. The Thousand Limbed Lungfish’s clones incorporated a similar ability with a bit more subtlety. It worked automatically, separating tiny fragments of its soul into its limbs as they grew and then detaching them into the clones. Then it used these fragments to direct the clones and when they died, the fragments shrunk down into nothing, returning their energy back to the main body’s soul. Whatever mysterious conduit existed between fractured souls that let them communicate and transfer energy was also used here for them to return.

This was much more nuanced and subtle than the Soul Fragment technique that Sage learned earlier, but it was also less controlled. It was only a part of another technique rather than an ability completely under his control. It was just a small part of a larger and more complicated program which he had no way to fine tune or alter. On the plus side, this gave him great insight into how to use Soul Fragment and this is what he used to complete his disguise. By creating much larger and more complete Soul Fragments, Sage injected facsimiles of Nascent Souls into the clones he created so that each of them would seem like a fully fledged rank 6 Cultivator.

It also meant that Sage had to carve off large chunks of his soul in the process.

No one would dare to do such a crazy thing, but Sage’s soul had constantly been nourished by the Eye of the World. One of the first Heavenly Materials he’d collected, it constantly consumed some of his Qi to produce its dark water that strengthened the soul. He bet that if any real Soul Cultivator knew what he did they’d want to rip him to shreds for how wasteful he was. Not only did he not take full advantage of this great resource, he wasted the hundred plus years of accumulation here just to fake his own death. Considering his lack of knowledge in the field of souls, Sage had usually let the Eye of the World create its drops passively rather than funneling all of his Qi into it to accelerate the growth of his soul. After this great setback, he was already altering the Inner World so that whenever his Qi was full it would send energy to the Eye of the World in order to put his rapid Qi regeneration to use rebuilding what he’d lost. He also figured he might have to use a technique he hadn’t bothered with for ages from the Twin Ringed Soul Serpent. He might have to use the Anima Devour to consume the souls of some beasts to grow his soul again. Since turning the Twin Soul into a Soul Clone he’d never even thought of this technique again, but his Nascent Soul felt so weak right now he was reminded of this ancestral technique.

While he was contemplating this, there was a sudden change outside as someone snatched up the gold ring from the wreckage.