Molting the Mortal Coil

Chapter 890: Thermal Vent

Sages gains from studying the undersea thermal vent were not small. On the outside world he seemed to go into a sort of trance, staring at depths of the vent with intense concentration. This trance spanned several years and allowed a layer of silt to build up upon his body. In fact, to maximize the power of his eyes, Sage had used a Master Seal to create a body that was as close to the original Sea Locust as he possibly could. This demonic Mantis Shrimp had sat motionless for years and many small barnacles had attached themselves to his carapace and a few small fish and sea life had started to use him as a makeshift reef. When he moved he heard a few small cracks when some of the hanger-ons that were placed upon his joints got dislodged.

For years the only part of his body that had moved were the large eye stalks, antenna, and two small mouth appendages that he used to clean and protect the eyes. The rest of his body had moved so little that it was nearly fused into the rock of the seafloor by a few of the little creatures building up the gap between his body and the ground like they were shoring up dens. Larger creatures had been scared away by the resonating laws that had been fluctuating around him during this time while the most tiny and harmless creatures were too weak to even notice. They were also so weak he felt no threat from them and his concentration was devoted to the vent. Only after he came out of this trance did he devote any energy to discovering what had happened to his body. Even with the time displacement of the Inner World they were clueless as hed devoted all of his bodys focus and concentration to studying the sea vent. With all his senses narrowed into one focus they were oblivious to the condition of the rest of his body.

Rattling away all the smaller beings clinging to and around him he had to stop and devote more attention to the more stubborn offenders. His Jade Mantle sprung to life, reshaping itself to only cover his forelimbs. He used the sharp blade-like appendage to scrape off the barnacles, anemones and other mollusks that had cemented themselves to his side. Once they were pried off, there were a few weakened spots on his exoskeleton and he shook his head at the damage the little buggers could cause to him. Even these tiny weak little beings, given enough time, could damage his powerful body. It was a good reminder of his philosophy to not underestimate anyone and always to be wary.

Once he cleared the outside of his body he took a closer look at the inside. The vast improvement in his understanding of the thermal law had pushed his cultivation to a new peak. Given the different quality in the classes of laws, it was somewhat tricky to understand the scale of power. Increasing a single degree of understanding in a Minor Law created far less of a boost in power than a single degree of understanding in a Major or Primal Law would. Prior to this time, Sages greatest understanding of law was in Corruption. As a Primal Law upon reaching the first degree he was equivalent to a level 64. Later, hed advanced to the second degree and that pushed him to level 67. In comparison, someone had to reach the seventh degree of understanding in a Minor Law to reach the same cultivation level.

Prior to these years of enlightenment, Sage had only barely comprehended the first degree of what he called the Thermodynamic Law. He wasnt sure why, but this time had advanced his understanding enough to not only match the degree of his Corruption Law, but to actually exceed it. The third degree of a Primal Law was enough to push him all the way up to level 70, to reach the peak of the Nascent Soul rank. If it was a lower rank hed be on the cusp of breaking through, but after the 5th rank it was no longer a matter of accumulation. At the same time, he was something of an anomaly among Cultivators. Two Primal Laws was something almost unheard of. Or at least it was in the two kingdoms he was familiar with. Learning Laws was already something that was left up to chance. Perhaps in the Tianxia Capital or the place beyond them, having two Primal Laws could be normal. He had no idea if this situation was a boon or a bane. What if he had to reach an equal understanding in both laws to advance beyond a certain rank? Wouldnt that make it impossibly difficult?

Whatever the case, Sage couldnt focus on those concerns. His goals in this life were to sate his curiosity and learn as much about this strange world as he could. To know more, he needed power, and unfortunately this route was obscured. The best he could do was try to forge ahead on his own and if he took a wrong path along the way then he would just have to deal with it. He already had a method to start his cultivation over again and be reborn, but he wasnt sure how that compared to his understanding of Laws. Would he lose that connection when he was reborn? Maybe he was stuck with these Laws forever and as soon as he reached rank five hed easily power up to this same state he was in now. There was a chance he could get this information out of Tao Ba or Guan Zhenyan, but both of them had harsh conditions for their most valuable information. Tao Ba always seemed to be under some form of restrictions and wasnt able to talk about certain things at all. Guan Zhenyan on the other hand always charged an equally valuable price for whatever question he answered and Sage was scared to even ask how high it was.

On the Inner World he was already hard at work training to master two of the Lang Clans schools of technique. These two schools of technique were founded by two of Sages children, and had many thousands of years to develop. Since the Thermodynamic Law was now his most powerful weapon he needed to ensure he had better ways to make use of it. Sages second and fourth daughters, both from Jiao, had entered a rivalry when they were young. One of them had a fire natured Qi, while the other had a water natured Qi. This difference turned into a sibling rivalry which then grew into the creation of their own fighting styles. The Lang Clans true body had many natural advantages when it came to poison, a conscious choice by Sage, which these two children of his played into. Each of them found a way to incorporate poison into their element. His second daughter, Bingqing, mixed poisons into her water based attacks, while his fourth daughter, Yujie, created a flammable poison gas.

Before leaving the Inner World, each of these two daughters were hundreds of years old and their fighting styles had already come into their own as a complete system. After leaving the remaining Lang Clan, mostly researchers, took not only these two schools but also eight others. Each of his ten children created their own styles and Sage encouraged the clan to take after them. These ten areas were all things that their true body could excel at, and it was much better to diversify the abilities of the clan members. Sage didnt want one certain set of skills to become stronger than the others and become the main path of the clan. Then their enemies would be able to counter them much easier. If they instead had ten different builds it would be much more difficult to defeat them so easily.

Sage had encouraged the researchers of the Clan to continue to use and improve these schools. Not only were they good options that matched their bodies, it was also out of selfishness. Sage planned to bring these advancements to his children which would make them far more powerful which meant they would be safer. His sons and daughters were all hundreds of years old, but he still wanted to find every way possible to protect them.

You know, I think its time to head back. Its about time for the Lang Clan to get a boost.