Molting the Mortal Coil

Chapter 787: Cage

With the elemental captured, Sage felt hed found a way to get some value out of this trip into the ruined old sect. From the way the place looked to be looted as well as the amount of time that passed it was already pretty lucky that he could find anything of value. Hed gotten lucky with the solarium in that it turned out to be a good environment to grow a unique creature. Sage was only hoping something similar happened at this site, and something unusual had interested that black tiger enough for it to make a den out of.

He was actually quite surprised to find out that the draw for the black tiger was far more valuable than he imagined. Its not that he knew what was keeping the tiger around, but now that hed gotten to the true core of this place, he could only assume that the Wind Elemental was the source of the great pressure filling the old ruined sect. The ones that destroyed this place must not have had a way to capture it like he did so they could only leave without it.

If they destroyed the cage then the elemental would just run free and cause havoc, right? Maybe they were going to come back later when they figured out how to take it away.

Putting aside his speculation, it didnt really matter why they left the elemental behind because now it had fallen into his grasp. It was almost fitting really, because elementals were one of the main resources that had made Seal Masters so powerful and highly valued in the past. It was also a cause of much jealousy and ire. Elementals were beings of pure Qi, and with the use of Siphoning Seals they were a source of endless power.

If you ignored ethical concerns and tried to use a human cultivator as a battery for Siphoning Seals it would only work for a short while. There were those with iron wills and stubborn temperaments that would put up a heavy resistance and the power siphoned from them would harbor deep resentments, making it extremely low quality. As for those that gave in to their fate, their productivity was extremely limited as it was only a matter of time before they lost all hope and passed away. To make things worse, only a portion of their abilities were drawn out, so the more powerful they were the better. This led to the strong being captured and used as expendable short term batteries. Powerful figures that would have been around for hundreds or thousands of years were burned out at a rapid rate. The actions of these few vicious Seal Masters converting their enemies into short term power only served to boost the distaste for Seal Masters.

Elementals on the other hand were far better targets for siphoning. Their minds were foreign and had completely different thought processes than humans, which helped reduce the ethical concerns. It wasnt that they treated humans as contemptible or beneath them, it was more like they didnt even consider them as an existence whatsoever. Humans dont worry about whether the gravel path theyre walking on has thoughts or feelings, this is an idea so foreign to them that they arent even paying attention to the fact theyre walking on stones. Even for a people that worshiped a huge mountain, they would usually be paying tribute to the great spirit of the mountain and not the actual stones. Because of the makeup of their bodies, even the weakest elemental was similar to a Core Formation Cultivator in that they had a constant source of Qi. A cultivators core would constantly absorb the energy of the world around them, filtering out the energy they could use and ignoring the rest. Without requiring any cultivating they would always be filled with energy.

An elementals constant replenishment was even better because it applied to everything, not just their Qi. Since their everything was Qi, elementals could be used as endless sources of all attributes, not just Qi related ones. If a human cultivator was tapped for their physical strength, while their recovery might be much faster than a mortal, there was still a limit. Draining the strength of an elemental on the other hand would merely sap its Qi, which it was always generating. Their muscles were made out of energy, so with more energy they could always restore them. Yet, this was only icing on the cake as the real benefit was an Elementals timelessness. No one even knew if an Elemental could die from old age. Even better, they didnt suffer from depression like humans did. Once their spirit was broken, most humans burnt out quite quickly. Elementals never broke, they remained in a constantly enraged state as long as they were trapped. Better yet, their fierce resistance didnt contain the same sort of resentment, which made it purer than the humans that stubbornly resisted.

Siphoning a Human Cultivator was turning them into firewood chasing short term benefits, while doing the same thing to an Elemental was to create an endless power source. Sage had no idea what use he might have for an Elemental, but he was sure one of the Lang researchers could come up with dozens of ideas.

His attention was suddenly grabbed and he rode The Red Comet up towards the ceiling of the energy cage. Hed been searching the place to try to dredge up any last semblance of value while he discussed the elemental with the researchers, but his attention was caught by a discrepancy. While shifting through his different forms of vision again he saw something unusual which caused him to fly up to investigate. Once he got close to it, he felt an innate power tremble. Then he reached out and twisted his arms to make the backs of his hands touch. He poked his fingers out and then pushed against the empty air just like he was trying to pry the doors of an elevator open.

A dark crack opened up in space and he pried it wider, pulling it open and then letting go. He pulled back his hands and gazed into the hole in space for a few moments. He had already foreseen what would happen when he reached out and used Cosmic Traction to pull this entrance open. Tiankong Jiyao had mastered a similar technique combining Cosmic Traction with the Black Saber technique, and Sage was familiar enough with him to pick up a few of the tricks. Hed felt this spatial disturbance and now he was quite happy to see hed been able to crack it open.

With a smile, Sage pivoted his hips to make The Red Comet carve a circle in the air like a surfboard would, spinning to head away from the crack and then twisting back around to fly directly into the entrance. He saw no danger waiting inside and worried that the special separation interfered with Foresight. On the other hand, his curiosity was too great so he chose to take the risk and dart inside. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, as they say.

Thankfully, his vision was true and nothing changed after he crossed the threshold into a different space. No traps were triggered, nor was there anything that jumped out to attack or tried to poison him. He found himself floating in an empty bit of sky with a radius of a few dozen miles. A few miles above and below, as well as far out on the horizon, was a thick golden mist, like rays of golden sunshine had been trapped inside, just on the verge of breaking out. In front of him there was only one feature. A narrow peak of a mountain shot up from the golden clouds below. The top of this peak had been sliced down to a flat panel, which was where a large building was constructed. The outer wall followed the circular outline of the peak perfectly, with not even enough room for a goat to stand outside the walls. The walls were covered with large array symbols, which surprised Sage, because these symbols were the same style of Ancient Array Symbols that Sage had learned from Tao Ba.

Interesting!