Molting the Mortal Coil

Chapter 916: Absolution

Some of the most righteously angry members of the crowd flared up, confused about if they should push to punish the man who now seemed to be free. Should he die to pay for his sins? Should he be forced to atone? How much did he know about what he did and could they gather more information from him?

None of these questions got asked. The now free guards eyes suddenly rolled back and the still free parts of his body convulsed rapidly. Bile and blood spilled from his lips before his body went still. Life left him in just those few seconds and the crowd was astounded. The man with the glowing aura was not surprised and he held up the vile helmet of the Yi Yang Group, I used a special method to delay his death for a few moments, but the truth is more depressing. Not only can their masters order them to suicide, but if the helmet is removed they also die quite immediately. I know of no method to save these poor souls once theyve been turned into these helmeted guards.

There was no way to free these slaves of the Yi Yang Group. At least none that anyone present seemed to know. Since what they were doing was hidden from the public, then any cures for it would also be equally as hidden. Of course, the group covered in glowing auras from the Lang Clan cared nothing about it. They picked up the Projector Magical Tool and left behind the dead guard. The bubble restraining the man had already dissipated and the Yi Yang Groups important personnel were dead. Theyd taken the most valuable bits of loot and left plenty of evidence for other groups to find.

Not everyone in the crowd was a fool and understood this attack's true purpose. There were always groups in the Cultivator world that cared about their appearance. Even if they were just as ruthless as others behind closed doors, they liked to appear higher and more honorable than the common mortals. These were the families and peoples that theyd grown up among and they liked to feel like heroes and great beings whod ascended to a new level. They needed to justify to themselves that the terrible things they did to other Cultivators was because they were needed to manage the normal humans like shepherds.

Even if public opinion mattered little to most of the Cultivation world, there were many lower level and righteous groups that valued it. By exposing the Yi Yang Groups viciousness to the common folk it gave these groups validation to strike. If everyone thought you were a group of villains then who would dare to stand up for you? The only issue was that most of these upright groups were not that strong and there were many villains they didnt dare to go up against.

Unfortunately, for the Yi Yang Group, the Lang Clan had also shown the world that they weren't that strong. Now that they knew about these suicide soldiers and could look out for them, what else did the Yi Yang Group have to rely on?

Most of these weaker ignoring groups were clueless that the Yi Yang Group was supported by the Yue Clan. The Yue Clan was one of the founding members of 100 Moon Phases, the first rate power that controlled the Clouded Moon Province. These small groups couldnt even be considered third rate powers, as they controlled no cities, but they would probably not realize they were doing someone elses dirty work. The Jade Horde had been greatly strengthened in the last few years and it was just like the Yi Yang Group for the Yue Clan, doing the Lang Clans work without directly having their name on it. At this time Sages eldest son, Juxing, was leading them to campaign against the Yue Clans interests. They were constantly harassing them and tying up the Yue Clans Nascent Souls which meant they couldnt spare the manpower to back up the Yi Yang Group.

The Lang Clan withdrew its forces after these seven major attacks, destroying their five backup bases, an important relay and control point, and putting on a big public show. They would let the other forces strike at the Yi Yang Groups other public locations in order to hide from the blame. How could the Yi Yang Group point the finger at them for destroying secret and hidden places? Would they then explain the terrible things they did there? If the Yue Clan tried to blame them for it, they could only say they stepped in when they found out injustice and struck at the offender. When the near hundred other bases were destroyed how could they be the one most at blame for just smashing one?

These shrewd choices were not because the Lang Clan was afraid of the Yue Clan, it was only because they were conscious of the supposed balance between the first rate powers in the Kingdom. Each of the provincial rulers had to answer to the Royal Family of the Dou Kingdom and if they stepped too far out of line or waged constant war on each other it would disrupt the resources delivered to the Kingdom. If that happened then the Royals wouldnt hesitate to wipe them out and appoint someone new in their place. As the newest member of this group, the Lang Clan didnt want to cause too big of a commotion. They had to prove themselves to be valuable to the Royals or become strong enough that the Royal Family would have to commit too much to destroy them.

If they wished to fulfill their goal of wiping out the Yue Clan they would need to make sure that Clouded Moon accepted it. That, or theyd have to reach a place so high in the Royal Familys eyes that they could do anything they wanted. As for now, they returned to Lionheart City with their heads held high as theyd accomplished their mission.

The leaders of these attacks were the core of the Lang Clan and if they could do it, then their descendants also felt they could be just as powerful. Things had been started by Jiao, who had finally got revenge upon her rival. A most terrible and gruesome revenge. Her first daughter Bingqing attacked the undersea base, using the style of her own creation just like Sages other children. The poison shed developed was not diluted by the water, but strengthened by it.

Jiaos second son, Xingwang, was the hulk with a metal body. The little boy who had constantly smashed his fists against a dummy till tears fell from his eyes had continually suffered setbacks to reach his current state. He was the first to experiment with the Mineral Body taken from the Spirit Jade Beetle. He ended up with a rock-like body, tough, but slow and brittle. All of his skin hurt constantly, but that didnt stop him. He used a chrysalis to start over and repeated the process, suffering more and more pain and strange transformations until finally discovering the tyrannical metallic body he had now.

Jiaos second daughter, Yujie, was the opposite and constant foil to her sister Bingqing. Due to the favorable terrain she single handedly destroyed an entire base. It took her a few weeks of preparation, but she did it simply for the right to gloat. Bingqings icy stare showed how little she cared for the accomplishment, but that didnt stop Yujie from bragging about it.

Jiaos third daughter, Fangdan, cared little about the antics of her two sisters. Instead, she followed in her mothers footsteps using the improved spider poison taken from her mothers Zhu Clan. They purposely deactivated their own poison immunity in order to drug themselves and enhance their performance. She was even less like the others as she had nothing to prove about the first generation of children. She didnt lead a team of Dragoons, but true Lang Clansmen. The hundred of them all followed the same path and trained together constantly, which showed as they destroyed the most troublesome Yi Yang Group base in the fastest time.

It wasnt just Jiaos children participating in the attack. Lings first son, Yating, was the Clan Head and all of this couldnt happen without his approval. There was also Lings third son, Yahui, who led a massive spy network. Without the intelligence gathered they would have to reveal far more strength and treat this more like a war and less like a series of carefully planned strikes.

They werent the only ones. Lings second daughter, Yawen, followed the path of the stealth assassin. She had broken into that command and communication base to assassinate some of the Yi Yang Groups greatest generals and throw them into disarray to prevent any reinforcements arriving to the other attacks. She was in the most danger, but if she were to bring along any backup it would only make it harder for her to remain completely hidden as long as she had.

Lastly, there was Yazhu. Lings second son, he had followed in the footsteps of his older half brother, Xingwang. He also experimented with the Mineral Body, but with careful manipulation. He altered the Spirit Jade composition that the beetles used not into stone or metal, but so that it was the perfect conduit for the Jade Mantle technique. He also wasnt foolish enough to go solo, but brought a small team so the public could see the Yi Yang Groups weakness. Those following his route had mastered maintaining two sets of Jade Mantles. Shielding their body with their normal Qi and using their Poison Qi to create weapons. They could be faster, tougher and stronger than those with the metal body or poisonous steroids, but only in short bursts when they burned up their Mantles.