The Spire’s defensive formations were constantly under assault and Six Grains was getting increasingly flustered from the fact that he couldn’t fix the problem. He was no slouch when it came to Formation knowledge, in fact most Cultivators had picked up more than a few bits of knowledge when it came to formations by the time they had reached Nascent Soul. Even if they didn’t, by the time they reached the sixth rank they were pretty much guaranteed to be important figures in whatever organization they were part of and would then be expected to become experts with the unique formations they used. It was still possible for Core Formation Cultivators to be treated like hired thugs, or glorified bodyguards with higher pay grades, but Nascent Souls were just too rare for that. Even those who previously knew nothing about Formations would need to become experts at operating Sect Protecting Arrays in case there were any emergencies.

Six Grains was not exactly a Formation Master, but he also wasn’t someone that only learned Chain Ocean Palace’s unique formations after becoming a Nascent Soul. He’d always dabbled in the field so he wouldn’t be caught in traps and could get the biggest advantage from the many opportunities that came his way. After receiving the specialized training in how to operate the unique arrays of the Spire, he was quite confident in his abilities, which made it even more distressing to see them being bested over and over again.

Sage circled around the Spire, observing the situation to track any changes while continuing to feed his Qi into the huge Infernal Banyan that was assaulting the Spire from all sides. The growing look of concern on Six Grain’s face was what he was hoping to see as it meant things were going according to plan. Unfortunately, that worried face suddenly twitched and Six Grains frowned. The man looked downwards, staring at the formation symbols on the ground beneath him like he was concentrating.

That frown looks forced. What has made him go from anxious to just looking busy while frowning?

There was no need to be looking down at the symbols as it was far more effective and detailed to use Spiritual Sense to track the changes in the array. Six Grains had already been doing it for many minutes already, so there was no reason for him to just start staring down and frowning. Either the man was trying to hide his real emotions, or he thought that Sage was tampering with the array in some way that could only be seen with the eyes.

While Sage was trying to figure out what caused the change in Six Grains, the waters of the river down below caught his attention. The water level suddenly started to rise and the sound of the falls got quieter. With his attention so focused upon the Six Grains and the others at the upper levels of the Spire, Sage didn’t notice the changes down below until one of the people on the Inner World pointed it out. The water had already risen up to cover the base of the Spire, completely covering the large jetty of stone that they used as a sort of pier to approach the Spire without as great of a risk of going over the falls. This long walkway was completely covered up by the water and it had risen even further, covering the lowest dozen feet of the Spire. The defensive barrier kept the water out, separating those in the tower like the glass of a fishbowl, except in reverse.

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It was too late to mount much of a resistance against this new attack, especially since as soon as Sage noticed it, he saw it rushing upwards with his Foresight. It rose upwards in defiance of natural convention, it wasn’t moving fast enough to be like a giant waterspout. That would make too much sense. Instead it was like a mound, or a wave, except it wasn’t moving any direction but straight upwards. The water swelled up around the Spire, climbing upwards and submerging the Infernal Banyan as it did. It was hard to guess what effect it would have, but he soon realized that the parts of the Infernal Banyan that were covered by the rising water were being weakened.

Something was draining away their power. The Parasitic Roots they extended into the Spire was draining its power, while the water was draining the power from the roots. The drain became noticeable as the water level rose up to the height of the first floor of the Spire. It wasn’t enough to stop him, but using the Adjutor to calculate told him that whatever the drain would beat the amount taken from the Spire and then overcome the amount he could add with his own Qi as well. In just a few minutes the Infernal Banyan he’d spent so much time on would be completely overwhelmed. Yet, that was far from the most important thing.

Sage immediately piloted the Flaming Chariot to head away from the Spire and back towards the forest. At the same time he activated more of the Infernal Banyan roots to spring up around the Spire. The huge area of swelling water was targeted by the hundreds of Infernal Banyan just waiting beneath the ground. They sprang upwards, extending upwards and breaking the surface of the water, forming a small forest in the middle of the river. As they ascended, they sprouted many thousands of small hairs, spreading their Parasitic Roots throughout the river to try and counter the draining effect. Since his calculations showed that his plan was going to fail if nothing changed, he didn’t hesitate to burn through the reserves of energy he’d set up. He attacked with quantity in the hopes of overwhelming whatever the mysterious attacker was doing.

At the same time, he was treating the move as something of a distraction. Something had disrupted his plans, and he wasn’t going to stick around to find out what it was. Sage flew off at the full speed that the Flaming Chariot could handle, flying down to the forest on the side of the river and flying just over the top of the treeline to try and put as much distance between himself and the Spire as possible.

All of a sudden, the slowly rising water shot up into the sky. It blasted upwards like a fountain and then stopped. The huge jet of water turned into a huge pillar, the rushing waters of the river becoming completely still and placid despite the huge cylindrical shape it was maintaining. The entirety of the Spire was now hidden inside the pillar of water and in just a second Sage felt his connection with one of the Blacksilver Pawns severed. The Soul Fragment at its core was destroyed and Sage felt a pang of pain. He quickly directed the other one to disconnect from the Infernal Banyan just moments before the whole underground system of roots was inundated with cold water. The whole system started to shrivel up, tearing into pieces which sunk down to the riverbed.

That was when Sage saw them. A person appeared upon the top of the huge pillar of water, standing over the Spire and staring into the distance where Sage was fleeing. Worst of all, Sage couldn’t feel any energy fluctuations from this mysterious person. That meant they were either a common mortal, or much higher in level than Sage was.

Oh no.