“Grey Beard, don’t talk so loud.”
Sage waved the old man away and covered up his ears to try and drown out the shouting. The old man started to move towards him and Sage felt power starting to build in the air. It was only at this point did he realize something was going wrong.
“You killed him! I saw that spirit return to you. You killed Young Master Tang! You will face the wrath of the Tang Clan!”
“Wu Tang Clan? Where?”
His mouth ran off before he could stop it and the old man glared daggers at him. There was more shouting, something about paying and escaping. Sage didn’t quite hear it. He remembered he was plugging up his ears and then put his hands down, it probably wasn’t a good time to miss details. A dozen of the cultivators on the second floor stood up and started to surround his table. Twice as many of the other patrons immediately started to run. Grey Beard pulled out a paper crane covered in array symbols and whispered to it before throwing it into the air. The crane came to life and flew off rapidly.
The soup he’d been eating finally started to kick in and Sage’s head started to clear. It was only then that he began to understand just what he’d heard earlier.
Merde!
A sense of crisis was definitely one of the most sobering experiences out there. He’d already been eating the soup made for cultivators to recover from the physical effects, so now with the heavy mental pressure he quickly snapped out of the haze and started to think.
Did I murder that little bastard with my Twin Soul? Or am I being set up? It doesn’t matter, either way I’m the best suspect right now.
Even in just these few seconds of his recovery, Grey Beard had assembled over a dozen of his men. The cultivator’s rushing in from outside and moving as they were ordered. This was definitely a turning point. If he were to be taken into their custody they would pin whatever they wanted on him and nobody would be coming to save him. A lone cultivator whose only backing was thousands of miles away, there would be no chance for him.
Sage looked down at his soup for a moment, blinking his eyes as he did. When his right eye opened, there was a strange power contained within his gaze. The dark spot of his pupil became a pinhole view into the depths of space, one which would be hard to notice without staring directly into his eyes. Sage kept his head down and did a quick scan of the crowd around him, looking at about waist level to hide his eyes. After that he slowly stood up, bumping the chair with his leg. The sound and motion of the wooden furniture seemed quite normal, but a very careful observer would see some dirt spill from Sage’s trouser leg. He kept his head down and started to bow towards Grey Beard.
“Please forgive me, oh magnanimous one. This one drank far too much last night and wasn’t aware he was in the presence of one so wonderful. I just felt something cold pass through me, is that the spirit you were talking about? Have I been cursed by an evil spirit? Please help me!”
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Grey Beard seemed to fall for the flattery, standing up straighter and rubbing his beard as the unrelated people in the crowd looked closer at the ‘wonderful’ old fellow. The old man narrowed his eyes at the mention of ‘evil spirit’, wondering if what the drunken man said was true. He sure didn’t look like anything special. Just a middle aged man in cloud grey robes, dark eyes, dark hair, and decidedly average facial features. He wasn’t tall or short, nor did he have a large, small, fat, or thin build. A completely average looking fellow and only barely a Formation Building cultivator. A respectable level of strength, it was enough to be a small time leader. Rank 2 folks were cannon fodder, rank 3 were elites, rank 4 were mid level leaders, and rank 5 were the true powerful people. Anyone stronger than that were very rare in these provinces and would be a powerful figure through a whole kingdom. What would make an insignificant man like this get the guts to step out and kill an important figure like Tang Zhelan?
Even though the Grey Beard was contemplating these thoughts, he still didn’t back down. These sorts of questions and concerns could be solved once they had this character in custody. At the same time it also meant there was a good chance of other foul play. Not wanting to let anything go undiscovered he gave an order to one of the men and the further reinforcements began to spread out and surround the whole tavern. The many people that were sticking around for the sake of curiosity began to curse inwardly. They were just wanting to get some juicy gossip and now they were dragged into things.
Of course, Sage wasn’t counting on such a hasty story to earn his freedom. He was just buying a little bit of time. When he stood up and bumped his chair he’d already set his plan in motion. His Twin Soul had shrunk down and left through the sole of his foot, slipping into the floorboards and heading outside in secret. At the same time, the bit of dirt he tossed out had a seed hidden within it. While Grey Beard was giving out orders to widen their search net, the seed had already sprouted and twined its roots through the frame of the building.
Grey Beard was focusing completely upon Sage to make sure he didn’t try to do anything, when suddenly many of his men started to call out. Sage had gauged the majority of them as being leveled around the mid-thirties. The few forties were helping surround him, and Grey Beard was the only one in the fifties. It had taken them that long to notice the small sounds of movement coming from within the walls, floors and ceilings.
“Grab him!”
Grey Beard yelled out as he shot into motion. Sage seemed to know exactly what was going to happen, diving to the side and rolling past one of the guards. That guard had his head turned to the side, distracted in just that instant. Making a quick turn he seemed to glide upon the wind and flew right out the window of the Tavern. A sword appeared in Grey Beard’s hand and a huge beam of sword Qi slashed towards Sage’s back. The old man swung his sword and a crescent moon made of energy flew out. It was like the force of his cut was so powerful it created its own energy in the world. Grey Beard had been aiming at Sage’s form as he fell from the second floor window to hit him mid-air when he couldn’t avoid it.
Sage’s fall seemed to stop in mid-air, doing a quick pirouette on nothing at all, the sword Qi passing by harmlessly beneath him as if he knew it was going to be there. He floated forward while he completed the spin then seemed to be gliding on an invisible force, passing into an alleyway.
Grey Beard and his men were quick to give chase, but as they leaped out of the windows they were hopping into rapidly expanding roots. The tavern had been made into the supporting tree for the Sacred Banyan. The roots had already woven through all the outer walls and a large canopy was already expanding from the roof, many vines and roots were weaving over the windows and catching up the cultivators trying to escape the building. They used their swords to hack the roots apart to cut a pathway. Unfortunately for them, the sky roots had already extended outwards and were building a fence around the tavern. Layer after layer rapidly forming, it only bought Sage a few seconds of delay.
Grey Beard and level forties broke through the roots quite quickly, but the others couldn’t keep up. Sage had instantly reduced his number of pursuers from the many dozens down to five. At least for the moment. A few followed directly into the alleyway where Sage went while others hopped up onto the roof of the buildings on either side to get a better view. The first one into the alley heard a sudden boom. A Formation Plate had been left in the center of the alley and released a huge pillar of flame. The plate consumed itself from the force of its own activation, working as an expensive land mine.
Distracted by the explosion, it took a few seconds for them to realize that one of the men on the roofs had slumped down to the ground. Another ran over to check him and called out that he was dead. Grey Beard hopped up and after a quick look it was just the same as what happened to Tang Zhelan. The body and its internal were completely fine, the man had lost the light in his eyes, staring like a vegetable. His soul was gone. The injured man stayed behind, volunteering to head back and help clear the way for the others trapped in the tavern. The five pursuers became three.