Floating in the sky far above the Spire, Sage donned a suit of black armor, just like he’d worn on his first visit to this place. Or at least it looked that way. The black armor with blood red accents was similar on the outside, but the surface had a deeper sheen to it. He also didn’t have the Flying Chariot from last time, merely leaping off the edge of the ship with his own body. He fell through the sky, and as he neared the Spire he threw out a handful of purplish spheres.

They rocketed down to the ground, adding the force of his throw to their falling speed and smashing into the ground like many tiny meteorites. There was a boom of impact and a red glow surrounded the tall spike-like building, the intrusion causing a flare of energy to erupt from the building. The defensive formations came to life again, forming a glowing barrier around the huge building.

The purplish spheres hit the ground on the banks of the river, burrowing down with the force of the impact before they suddenly expanded. Each ‘sphere’ started to unfurl like the petals of a flower, suddenly expanding as they unraveled, the ‘petals’ growing rapidly into giant tendrils. Immense purplish red tentacle flowers bloomed just under the surface, sending their limbs out in every direction.

The Spire sat in the center of a mile wide river at the edge of a huge waterfall, only it wasn’t quite the same as it had been decades ago when Sage first saw it. The battle of that time, and the abilities of the Sea King had reshaped the landscape. The general configuration was still the same, as it seemed someone tried to put it back to how it was, but he could tell many of the small details were different. Most noticeably he found that the tendrils trying to burrow into the ground were having a much more difficult time of it.

The Sea King must have reinforced the ground around here to make underground attacks harder. Smart.

Unfortunately, for the Chain Ocean Palace, Sage was much stronger than the last time he was here. He no longer had to attack from below to gather enough energy secretly. The giant blood dripping tentacle burst from the ground at either side of the river, stretching out into the water and dyeing it red. The color was carried over the falls where the lake at the bottom started to change color. The tendrils seemed too strong to be stopped by the river current. The more change his powers tried to enact, the easier they could draw upon the law energy of the world. It was actually easier for him to act over a wider area than to focus on a single target.

In the past, he was producing all the energy for his powers which then resonated with the world energy around it to empower itself. Now, his energy was like a net thrown out into the world. The law energy filled in all the gaps on its own, altering the world to his will. He was using his own strength to guide the energy of the Heavens and Earth now, instead of just coaxing it to empower his actions. The tentacles that sprung from the sides of the river were just as large as the last time he’d attacked this place, except they were laying on their side and he was making them on the fly. He didn’t have to store up energy for days, he could now use this much power constantly by manipulating laws.

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The giant stalk of tentacles that had attacked from below the Spire had taken him so long to prepare, but now he was attacking with twice as many from a long distance away, matching the distraction and attack he’d mounted last time without any prior preparation. It also wasn’t his full power.

It’s no wonder the ‘Sea King’ was able to rout me so easily. There’s little chance for any rank 6 to compete with this level of wide scale power.

The actual power of his attacks had not improved that drastically. The immortal law body had perfected all the parts of his body which improved everything holistically. The pure power wasn’t higher, but the speed of energy transfer and change, reaction and recovery time, thinking speed and just everything in general was greater. All of these factors meant he was much stronger overall as a fighter, but simply the attack power wasn’t a big difference. At least not in a direct comparison of Qi to Qi. The difference came in the wide area of effect. It was no wonder the Sea King had been making whole rivers move through the sky after him like a tsunami. The strength of the seventh rank was to twist the world to his will.

Influence the world’s energy over a wide area, then move all that power and concentrate it into more precise attacks.

The research teams were already sharing his notes and theories were being flung around. Perhaps the differences in ability in the seventh rank came down to mastering these steps. Spread the fastest over a wide area, control a greater amount of law energy, and compress it more precisely than your opponent. It was probably just the tip of the iceberg, but it was another layer of combat that needed to be mastered in addition to the techniques, tactics and misdirection that went into combat at the lower ranks. Prior tests of his strength had only occurred on the Inner World where he was using a weaker body, and the line between his control over the Inner World and the laws was blurred. This was a perfect way to test out how much he’d improved through this advancement. A target he’d already battled at his previous level, and one he’d already made an enemy of, so he didn’t feel the need to hold back to avoid making a new foe. Of course, he wasn’t planning on being too ruthless, as he might attract the ire of other groups in the Tianxia Capital.

That and he wasn’t sure of the Chain Ocean Palace’s full strength or reach. Unless he could be sure of wiping them out completely, he’d learned first hand that it was best to treat other groups with a certain amount of respect. It was one thing to attack them, best them in combat and rob them. A few might die in the process and the two sides would be enemies, but they would then be compelled to show a similar amount of mercy. As long as they established these sorts of rules, then the conflict would continue to build as either side tried to determine the full extent of the other’s influence and abilities. Otherwise, they would end up like Sage’s own clan. Left nearly extinct after provoking the wrong person.

With his black armor with crimson lining, he suddenly halted in mid-air. The Infernal Qi versions of his Sacred Banyans twisted and writhed around the Spire, treating the defensive barriers protecting it like they were a tree trunk. Crawling up and constricting around the large building while the flow of the river was completely disrupted. The tendrils kept multiplying and growing larger, first creating more intense rapids in the river and then starting to divert the flow enough that the river spread over its banks and out to a wider area. Meanwhile, Sage took advantage of the thing that ‘Immortals’ were known for. Well, their second most well known ability after being ‘immortal’ that is. He flew through the sky, no longer requiring the help of specific laws or a Flying Tool. Instead, his immortal law body felt so at home in the energy of the Heavens and Earth that he could float upon it or will it to carry him away.

Now to see if Six Grains recognizes me and dares to come outside like last time.