After the orange flames spread outward and touched upon everyone he could easily sense, then he spread his Spirit Sense out to its full strength and gave the area a thorough sweep. A few others had hidden themselves well and he also noted a few blank spots, each of them also got a wave of orange flame over them. If there was still anyone he’d missed, then they’d avoided his ‘opportunity’ and had a bit of news instead. It wasn’t ideal, but there was only so much he could do.

With everyone in the area incapacitated, the strange tree suddenly rippled and Sage’s human form appeared in its place. He was in his most familiar form with long dark hair and golden eyes, robes formed by the belt around his waist. Being able to rapidly replace his destroyed clothing was convenient even if it wasn’t necessary for him any more. With the Inner World, he could have whole warehouses of clothing ready for himself to wear. The Wardrobe Spider had actually become something of a standard item for the Lang Clan as their powerful bodies meant their clothing was destroyed often and they looked more dignified if they didn’t have to pause to change. He tilted his head to either side, and rolled his shoulders around. Kicking lightly with each of his legs and shaking his hands. After advancing in rank, this was his first time in human form and was worried he would be disoriented. Contrary to his worries, he could manipulate his body just as easily as he always could. At least until he tried to move.

With the first step he tried to take he was shot forward, losing his balance and nearly smashing his face into the ground. The impact didn’t happen, as his reflexes had also improved and he was able to slap the ground and send himself flipping sideways. The force sending him downwards was redirected and he spun through the air before catching himself in a kneeling position. He took things a little more slowly this time, like a person stepping onto ice they knew was there, rather than the man who was clueless and flipped instantly. Once he was prepared for the increase in power, he carefully managed the force of his steps to keep from losing his balance.

By the time he’d returned to Stormport City, he’d gotten used to the changes and made his way over to Bear Three’s home. No one stopped him on his way back to the courtyard he’d been using for the last few years and nobody came to bother him either. As before, a set of servants brought food to the room at regular intervals, taking away the dishes or uneaten food at the same time. Other than that, the place was undisturbed. The Formation Arrays that protected the courtyard style building were also able to take care of dust, and fallen leaves, leaving the place spotless just like the rest of the buildings in Bear Three’s ‘house’. It was common for one large wall to surround many smaller buildings, incorporating them all into a single defensive formation. Instead of guest rooms, they had many guest houses. The value of mortal labor and mortal materials were basically nothing for powerful Cultivators so it was extremely common to have such immensely large and elaborate homes. Even a fourth rank Cultivator could easily afford such extravagant palace-like abodes. It was also possible for a relatively common third rank Cultivator if they focused on earning money instead of advancing.

Even though he’d just broken through to a higher rank, Bear Three and Guan Zhenyan didn’t bother him. Sage was a little surprised, but then he realized that they weren’t relatively young like he was. Despite his slow advancement through the early ranks, Sage was basically flying through the higher ones. Talent, as Cultivators graded it, could only carry one to the fifth rank. The perception of Qi rapidly accelerated the ability to gather and accumulate it in the body, but after the Core was formed, the understanding of Laws was necessary to advance further. Without insight into a Law, advancing through the fifth rank was extremely slow and forming a Nascent Soul was impossible. A very talented Cultivator who advanced quickly through the ranks to form their core could have a lifespan of nearly five thousand years. Simply reaching the sixth rank before a thousand years of age was already an immense accomplishment.

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Sage had reached the seventh rank before five hundred. He had no idea how impressive that was, because any information about those beyond the sixth rank seemed to be some sort of secret. He’d only found small clues about them, even in the great sects and clans he’d had high level access to. Of course, it wasn’t entirely true for Sage as he’d spent many tens of thousands of years on the Inner World, but physically his body was born around four hundred years ago. The back and forth between the Inner World and Outer World’s time scales had made him lose track of his actual age, so he only had a rough guess.

Given his recent advancement, it was only polite for Zhenyan and Bear Three to give him a few years to adjust to the changes. Spending decades or a century on a training session was already a common occurrence to them. Since he was given the opportunity, Sage took advantage of it. Using the courtyard to test out his new abilities. Of course, he was only confirming the changes that he’d already tested on the Inner World. Just the few hours he’d spent returning and waiting to see if he would have a guest was already more than enough time to give him months of training there.

Well, that’s a bit annoying.

There was now another difference between his two bodies. Before, only the Heavenly Materials were different and he could train everything else on the Inner World before using it on the outside. Unfortunately, he now confirmed that his interaction with laws had also changed. He had assumed the changes to his body would create a difference in physical strength, reaction time, or flexibility. That was not the case at all. Both of his bodies had the same purely physical capabilities, even though the one on the Inner World had experienced a much lower density of that special energy from the tribulation.

In hindsight, the actual change made perfect sense. Every action he took now carried the power of law. It was no longer just him resonating with the laws in the world around him. He now carried that power inside him and every action he took not only resonated with the power around him, but was also released by his body. Even without any effort, his law radiated from him.

No wonder I didn’t stand a chance against that guy.

On the plus side, the difference was only in severity. Thankfully, he could still practice with this new law body on the Inner World, it was just less potent. He was guessing that the law body was probably the major power boost for a seventh rank cultivator. Certainly, his physical body and Qi had become more powerful, but it was only increased a few times more. Each previous rank increase was easily a five times boost, and the legends spoke of ‘Immortals’ as impossibly powerful. He’d also experienced how overwhelmingly strong the ‘Sea King’ of Chain Ocean Palace was. Casual attacks from him easily overwhelmed Sage at the time. While Sage was trying to hide his identity and not show off his strongest abilities, it didn’t reduce his base strength. He was still slowly overwhelming a sixth rank cultivator using a defensive formation before the Sea King showed up. The Sea King didn’t instantly disperse the move Sage took a long time setting up, but he still beat it and tore through all of Sage’s defensive moves while he was on the run. Sage had no idea how long the Sea King had been in the seventh rank, but he was going to have to learn how to deal with him one way or another.