The immense Infernal Banyan root system under the ground didn’t move yet, biding time for him to expand the many smaller ones upon the top of the spire. Until the net spread wide enough he wasn’t going to spring the full trap. Of course, this sudden attack didn’t go unnoticed. Even if he wasn’t assaulting the spire, the release of his Infernal Qi would likely draw aggressive attention anyways. Heading directly to the peak of the spire without interruption was already the best he could hope for.

Those down on the lower levels of the Spire quickly fled back into the strangely shaped tower while a swarm of other Cultivators rushed out of the higher parts of the building, filling the circular ramp on the outside with confused faces. That confusion only lasted a moment as they confirmed that an attack was going on and they instead switched to anger.

The sheer number of Cultivators here was the reason that this target was the last on the list. It was just a shame that the sixth precious material was in such a difficult location. This spire was supposed to be the last target as it was also the most annoying to strike. This seventh target, Six Grains or Liu Gu, was the leader of this Spire and was known to never leave. Or at least the times he left was so rare that nobody could predict or even remember the times it happened. Six Grains acted as many ancestral protectors did, constantly remaining in the Spire to protect it and act as a powerful deterrent.

Sage wasn’t really fearful of the majority of the Cultivators in the Spire, a single Nascent Soul and a dozen Core Formation Cultivators were not enough to stop him. The real issue was the Spire itself. Since Six Grains never left, he would have to take on the full Defensive Arrays of the building to get a shot at him. The sheer number of people in the Spire also meant it would be extremely difficult for him to sneak his way in which left him performing a frontal assault as he was now. He’d looked into and even personally attempted to try and draw Six Grains out, but the man was too dedicated, never leaving the Spire even when important students or clans related to the man were in danger.

In his current position, the many seeds of Infernal Banyans he was throwing out were connecting to each other and interposing themselves between himself and the Spire. The few attacks that some of those below threw his way were caught by the writhing spine covered tentacles that were expanding over the top of the Defensive Formation. These huge tree trunk-like tentacles were covered in sharp claws and horns, but each of the seeds that sprouted these larger tentacles also had many smaller hair-like protrusions that extended down to the formation. These much smaller ‘threads’ were also tentacles, the Infernal Qi version of the Parasitic Roots technique. They were so thin they had an easier time burrowing into the barrier of energy protecting the Spire and as long as they could penetrate just a little bit into that energy structure, they could start sapping power from it. The outer layer of a Defensive Formation had to be impenetrable, but that was only a saying. By being so thin, the small hairs could attack a very small surface area which effectively multiplied their penetrating power, and all they had to do was crack just the surface layer and then consume the particles that were freed.

Or at least, that’s what seemed to be going on from all the testing they’d done on the Inner World. Nothing was ever certain in science after all, truth and facts were only the most currently well researched and accepted explanations for things. The unending pursuit to understand how everything worked. Much of what he knew from Earth was overturned, but he’d taught the process to the researchers and they’d spent thousands of years studying. They had learned quite a lot, but they were limited by the strange nature of Laws. Even many basic chemical reactions were tied into the ‘energy of the heavens and earth’ and the laws that made it up. Figuring out how to create an explosive device was just as complicated if not more so than building Formation Arrays.

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Sage put aside these distracting thoughts as the ‘star of the show’ had finally arrived. A man who looked to be in his late fifties with thin layers of feathery black hair stepped out near the last dozen feet of the Spire. He exited the final door at the top of the ramp as it joined together with the tower to form a sharp point. From the shape of the building it was likely a single large bedroom with a very high ceiling inside, the purported dwelling place of Six Grains. The man’s hair had a little salt and pepper at the temples and he looked a little out of shape, but still quite dangerous beneath that veneer of a kind father. Even the man’s clothing was simple and more comfortable, dispatching with the elaborate and many-layered robes that most Cultivators wore in favor of just a vest and trousers.

Six Grains stared up at the aggressively armored appearance of the attacker, trying to lock eyes with Sage only to realize that there was a solid barrier blocking his view. The Transparent Gemsteel that Sage had helped develop for the Inner World was used here to create a helmet without any eye slits, and using formations to provide for air and cooling. This suit of armor was completely impermeable to the outside world, with exceptions created to allow his senses to collect information and for his own Qi and Law Power to be emitted. This separation should hopefully leave behind as little evidence as possible, which would be important in this case as it would be very hard to wipe this place out completely. Difficult as it was, he still intended to make the attempt, capturing everyone here and bringing away not just the whole Spire, but everything beneath and around it as well. There was no telling where Six Grains had hidden his treasures and after failing to retrieve the sixth valuable resources for Guan Zhenyan, it was important there were no problems here with the seventh.

Sage continued to throw out more of the Infernal Banyan seeds, flooding the sky with an almost eldritch abomination that continued to rapidly grow and expand, covering half the spire’s tall elliptical barrier. The shielding blocked sound from traveling out, but Sage could see Six Grains enough to read his lips and see the commands he was giving out. The fourth rank Cultivators in the Spire took control of the defensive array, the hundreds of them linking their Qi together and adding more power to the Spire. The dozen fifth rank Cultivators also linked together, bringing out a large hose-like Magical Tool which they then spread out to either side of and took hold like they were prepared to put out a huge fire. The end of the hose stretched back and into the open door of the Spire so Sage had no idea where it led, but he could tell it was some sort of combination weapon backed by arrays or treasures inside the Spire.

They turned the nozzle up towards him, which was in the style of a dragon’s head mouth open and roaring, from which was emitting a fearsome jet of water. Sage was truly not expecting to see such a thing, but given the position of the Spire in the center of a huge river, it made much more sense. The Infernal Banyan shifted to block the torrent firing upwards and Sage realized another purpose of the strange device. He could feel many weak Laws imbued into the water jet, likely the power of each of the Core Formation Cultivators that were driving it. It didn’t just allow them to combine their Qi, but also their Laws and was likely assisted by the Spire and the river around them.

What a great find! They can combine so many different laws so easily! Will it work with laws of higher degree, or only the low level ones these level 50s can control?