Molting the Mortal Coil

Chapter 781: Ancient Map

After leaving the solarium, Sage went to the other site hed found on that ancient map. The last time he was here, a terrible roar had knocked his dragonfly out of the sky and sent it tumbling to the ground. At that time, he stood no chance against the beast and fled as quickly as possible. This time, the Red Comet circled around the location while he glanced down from above. Sure enough, a powerful soundwave rippled through the sky and caused the Red Comet to shake.

Unfortunately, for the beast, this shake wasnt even able to alter the course of the Red Comet let alone make it crash to the ground. Even so, the canoe shaped leaf tilted and aimed toward the ground. It shot downwards into a rapid dive, coming to a stop just a dozen feet from the ground. Sage leapt off and Red Comet disappeared into the Universe Ring. He landed lightly and ran towards the beast that was the source of his prior misery and this newest attack against him.

It was the same monster that he had fled from in terror in the past, a black furred tiger the size of a dumptruck. It was an impressively large beast, and a close call in the past. The tiger roared once again and a vicious glint flashed in its eyes when it saw him coming towards it. It dashed towards him and lifted its front paw, but at that instant, Sage flooded the area with law power and it froze with fright. A jade aura sprang up around Sages body and a portion of it shot out from his wrist as he passed by the paralyzed tiger. Blood shot into the air and it let out a pained noise.

Without wasting any time, Sage pivoted and the blade disappeared from his wrist. His hands moved quickly, reaching down to his lower back and then making a tossing motion towards the tiger. He ran in a circle around the black tiger. It recovered quickly, but when it took a step it stumbled and then rolled around. Then its two back legs were stuck together. A few moments later the silken webbing that Sage was wrapping around it got thick enough to be easily visible and the tiger was almost completely restrained. He sent out his Spirit Power and defeated the last of its resistance, sending it to the Inner World where he treated it like all the other beasts, slapping a Human Seal on its forehead and locking it into a cage. Then theyd be given a Memory Sphere and taught how to act like a human.

This huge black tiger turned out to be at the peak of the 5th rank. It was absolutely a terror for him in the past, but was now nothing but a big cat. He dealt with it easily and walked towards the former home of the Violent Sun Sect. The name reminded him of the Violent Fist Sect, which resided in the same city as his wifes Zhu Clan. They were friends with the Tang Clan and helped to chase after him when hed accidentally been accused of killing Tang Zhelan. The Tang Clan was nothing to him now, but hed killed everyone that had seen him and considered the matter finished. They had falsely accused him, and paid for it with their lives. It was an unfortunate accident that led to a lot of needless deaths. Hed actually ended up helping the assassin due to his curiosity. Definitely wasnt one of my best days.

Putting aside the memory of that odd incident, Sage walked up to the dilapidated ruins of a formerly grand sect. Or at least thats what he inferred from the immense stone structures that still remained. There were eight huge pagodas arranged with two of them in each of the cardinal directions, standing side by side. Only one of them was intact, reaching over two hundred feet into the air. The other seven had been torn down and their parts scattered over a large area. Even the pagoda that was still standing had immense holes punched through it, but it wasnt quite enough to knock it down. The buildings were made entirely of some type of stone, and he picked up a piece, sending it into the Inner World for examination.

He noticed something unusual and found an array symbol beneath a layer of dirt and grass. He used a blast of air to clear it all away to see a stone panel. Since he wasnt in any hurry to go anywhere, he called out some help from the Inner World and a thousand Dragoons used shovels and brushes to rapidly clean the place up. While they did the grunt work, he did the task only he could, gathering up all the pieces of the shattered and toppled pagodas and sending them to the Inner World. Just a few hours later the place was completely cleared out and the Dragoons were sent back.

The pagodas were the only stone structure. The ground they were built on was a gigantic stone octagon, one that was covered with array symbols which formed an immense formation. Even more surprising were that the eight pagodas were part of the formation and their destruction had led to the failure of the Formation Array. From the scale of things, Sage recognized that this must have been the sect protecting formation of the Violent Sun Sect. With this observation he spent even more time collecting as much evidence as possible in the hopes of recreating the array. There was no telling how powerful this ancient array might have been, but the great scope and unique materials meant that its construction was certainly a great undertaking. Such an expenditure would certainly have a great result, right?

While he was still undecided on whether or not he wanted to slice the whole thing up and send the whole sect's ruin into the Inner World, he found a hole in the ground at the center of all the pagodas. The hole turned out to be a huge circular stairway, but the stones had been shattered and destroyed in such a way that the area was almost evenly flattened. It was only after he had examined and recorded the whole formation that he realized that spot in the center was not a part of the array and he started to remove the tightly fitted stone debris. It definitely seemed that someone closed this place up on purpose and it was only after he cleared half of the mess that he discovered a probable reason.

Using a jade energy blade he sliced a large rock in half. Then it rose up out of the ground towards him, like there was something behind it giving it a push. Sage hopped back, blinking his eyes and activating Foresight to prepare for danger. What he saw surprised him and he walked forward nonchalantly. There was nothing behind the stone but a heavy gust of wind. Once he compromised the strength of the stone it was naturally pushed aside by the air pressure from behind it. Sage felt like he was standing in front of a wind tunnel, the air escaping from this small hole was quite impressive. Back in the Soul Taming Abode hed spent most of his time recording old maps so he didnt really find much information about this ancient sect. From what he knew of the Cultivator world, they built their settlements upon precious resources. When those resources dried up, they moved away. Given the remoteness of this location, there was also the possibility that this sect was destroyed by its enemies and the resource was not precious enough for anyone else to care. This certainly wasnt an uncommon occurrence in the cultivating world as there were many things that most considered trash, but to some were treasures. It was just like the poison miasma from Icefire Valley, others struggled desperately to survive it, but it was a holy ground for Seething Purple Cobras and helped them reach tier 6.

After testing to be sure there was nothing wrong with the powerful wind blowing out, Sage kept his Foresight active and pushed through the forceful wind to descend the staircase.