Surprisingly, Ding Bo had avoided the spider silk net, his shorter height leaving him free. The boy rolled underneath the outer edge of it and started running. The flames only catching his heels as he dashed away from the cliff and entered the woods.

At this point, Sage had just finished his slaughter and looked over to see a round object spin into the air, leaving a brilliant red swirl in the air. Ding Bo’s head tumbled to the ground, having caught the attention of the Chameleon Mantis. Its bladed forearms were the size of sabres and with its camouflage, the villain never saw it coming.

Sage realized the Mantis was the most cunning of his Spirit Insects when left to its own devices. He had combined two very efficient ambush predators and it seemed to work out just right. After traveling so far down the river he was pretty sure the Demonic Plant was left far behind now, so he took his time checking the possessions of the ten dead. He found storage bags with spirit stones and low level pills. He even shook his head when he saw Su Ru’s storage bag. There was easily a hundred different types of poisons. What a treacherous woman.

He even found a skill scroll in her bag and when he saw the name on it, he didn’t dare to touch it. The ‘Thousand Poison Pamphlet’. Sage was glad it was already within the storage bag so he didn’t have to touch it or even let it enter the air. As a clan who handled so many poisonous insects, Sage had learned many things to be wary of when he was back in the Lang Clan. With this in mind he didn’t even give Su Ru or Ding Bo a thorough search, immediately burning their bodies from a distance after taking their storage bags. He checked the others carefully and found that Du Hou had an extra storage bag that was hidden under his shirt. He considered giving them a proper burial, but he didn’t want to get caught in this battlefield, there was no telling what the Earthdawn Sect or Ding Family might do in retaliation if they learned of this event.

Once the bodies and other physical evidence was burned, Sage smashed up the ground with the Giant Mace to further disrupt the battlefield before he collected his Insects and fled back to the river. It was a simple move to hop into the Dragonfly, float down and then change places. Hiding the Dragonfly inside his own body before slithering along with the current again. Once he’d travelled a few more miles down river he noticed a cave near the river and checked it with his spirit sense. Crawling out of the water and heading inside to confirm it was empty. Before he’d learned Cerulean Cloud he had thought that spirit sense was infallible. If a stronger cultivator used their own spirit sense they could block it, which could also be done by certain materials or formations, but he never thought it could be hidden from. Now that he had a way to hide from spirit sense he was more on guard for others hiding from his senses. Since he learned the trick of looking for the blank spot, he also applied the idea to his other senses, helping him to pick out camouflaged plants and animals.

Moving into the cave his motion was smooth and confident, seeming completely relaxed as he reached the depths of the cave. Searching the last chamber of the cave diligently. All the while he had locked onto a presence and pretended not to notice it. As he passed through the area he finally identified it. A shadow-tailed Civet. In the corner of the last cave there was a pile of rocks and his Spirit Sense found the gaps between the rocks to be empty of all but normal insects. Upon closer inspection he saw a spot where one of the larger rocks had room to be moved aside and it was sitting on top of a depression in the ground. While he carried out the ruse of searching the cave diligently, he had focused on that rock pile and found a few tufts of fur. Once he noticed some of the scat outside of the cave he had a good idea on which animal it was. Since he didn’t wish to get ambushed later he dropped a scent marker on top of the rock pile and then made a round outside the cave. Gathering some wood and kindling he also dropped off the Chameleon Mantis, letting it stand guard over the rockpile as he started a fire and started his recovery.

He hadn’t been injured in the successive battles, but he’d expended quite a bit of energy and needed to raise a few more Spirit Insects. Not wanting to alarm the hiding Civet he first checked the map to recover his bearings. Picking out where he was most likely located he was off track by half a day, and with the whole day he’d spent in escape he was glad he’d packed enough supplies for a few years and had no worries in that regard. Once that was confirmed he went through his spoils.

Sage searched through the ten storage bags and found a total of ten thousand spirit stones, hundreds of low level pills, four different technique manuals, a half dozen mortal weapons, two low grade magical weapons, as well as the ‘Lamp of Passion’ they had been fighting over. When Sage drew the Lamp out he was a bit weirded out and also felt a wave of heat roll through his body. The Lamp was crafted out of gold and sculpted in the shape of a pile of bodies in various illicit positions. The area between the bodies was where the light would be emitted from and the smell that came from the open top of the lamp was what caused the reaction in Sage’s body.

What the hell? This is like a magical aphrodisiac. Damn horny old Cultivators. Shouldn’t they move past this sort of thing once they’re a hundred years old?

Sage hurriedly put the weird object away and shook his head. It seemed this world wasn’t all that much different than his old one. There was people here that would pay thousands of spirit stones for sexual aids. Just like they spent millions upon millions to research drugs back on earth for the same thing. At least it seems to be worth a good bit of money.

The techniques were low level and as Sage read them he was disappointed to realize that they were about the same level of quality as the techniques he’d already learned. It wasn’t that he was sad to make gains, it just pointed out the sad state of his own abilities. While he’d been fortunate enough to find a few very powerful and versatile techniques, he was severely lacking in the most basic techniques.

Qi Cultivation Techniques were the foundation for a Cultivator. Sage had started with the Mantis Heart Manual, which at the time he thought was amazing. Later he realized it was merely a low level technique created to rapidly train hordes of infantry with no glaring weaknesses. He had attempted to learn a half-dozen other different manuals before he found out about innate affinities and finally purchased Verdant Firebrand from his Sect. Even then, Verdant Firebrand wasn’t that powerful of a technique, it was simply the most suited to his needs that he could find. He had an Innate Wood affinity to his Qi, but he required the use of Flame in order to practice many of his professions. At the time it had saved him thousands of spirit stones and contribution points by being able to use his own internal flame instead of renting access to fire sources or fire stones.

The same sorts of problems were present with his Qi Techniques and Martial Arts. The only techniques Sage knew that weren’t low ranked were Anima Print, Divine Breath, and the Immortal Insect Index. None of them were even directly combat techniques, but supporting techniques with combat uses. Anima Print was a foundation carving technique, Divine Breath gave him great versatility in combat, and it was needless to talk more about the Insect Immortal Index. While they were formidable, his own direct combat prowess was lacking. His body was strong after his combination with the Serpent, but he didn’t have any suitable combat techniques, nor did he know where to get any that could be compatible with his unusual physique.

Always more problems to solve.