The Twin Soul wasn’t an enemy, this time it was more of a suicide. All he could do was keep his attention focused and away from the Twin Soul. The Twin Soul was inside the cauldron and he had already ignited the flames, using a fire stone. Fire Stones could create more powerful flames than any normal burning wood. Most special refining required extremely hot or special types of flame and those who weren’t Fire Natured Cultivators would have to use special objects to make up for it. Because of this extra expense, most Alchemists and Blacksmiths were Fire Natured. Only those with the support of a powerful Sect would dare to pursue those paths. In a big enough Sect they would usually create permanent fire arrays or draw up ‘Earth Flame’ which Sage recognized as magma.

Even without using an Earth Flame, or having his own internal fire, under the influence of Sage’s Divine Breath the flames of a Fire Stone were still nothing to scoff at. It was the original purpose of Divine Breath in the first place, enhancing the control and power of a flame. As the flames intensified, Sage took out some spirit stones and fed them into the Soul Magnifying Wheel. This was the formation he improvised at the time to affect the soul. The Magnifying Wheel Formation focused the energy from the contents of one circle, magnified it, then pumped it into the other circle. The Soul Magnifying Wheel Formation was made with a slight change by Sage to feed the energy only into incorporeal energies. Essentially targeting souls or spirits. Last time he used it to weaken the Twin Ringed Soul Serpent’s soul enough for him to merge with it. This time he was using it to destroy his Twin Soul.

Sweat started to pour down his brow. The Twin Soul was like another limb to him, so at this point where it was slowly being burned and simmered to death it felt like he was holding his arm over a raging flame. It took all he had to maintain concentration, he had to control the Formation as well as continue to stoke the flames and resist the desire to free the Twin Soul. It was like having the resolve to sever one’s own limb. There was a mental block that would make it impossible for a person without great reason and intense desire. If a person’s arm was diseased or destroyed beyond saving it was best to chop it off in one go to prevent further damage. Sage didn’t have such a luxury. He didn’t have a way to instantly destroy the Twin Soul, all he could do was slowly burn it to death.

Through the process he was overwhelmed with pain at least a dozen times. Each time he lost control of the Formation and the flames, letting them simmer and cool as he fell to the ground and smashed his fists into the dirt. He yelled into the sky and rammed his chest into a tree. Using the different types of pain to try and distract himself from the burning away of his Twin Soul. Luckily, it was still trapped within the cauldron or he feared he might just send it to run off into the distance to draw away the mark. The only problem was that he would merely be delaying things. His enemies would probably find his Twin Soul and use it to harm him or seek him out. Worse yet, he’d lose the help of his Twin Soul if it was forced to hide in some obscure location.

I must endure this!

Finally, after half the day had passed, Sage was finally successful. The Twin Soul finally dissolved into tiny particles, the technique destroyed. The mark on it was suddenly released, detonating inside the cauldron and turning even the tiny particles of the Twin Soul into nothingness. The cauldron amazingly stayed in one piece, but from the look of it, was no longer fit for use. Previously it was a squat round shape, a sort of tomato or onion shape with, but now it was bulging and ballooning out in strange places like canned food far past its expiration date. Fearful of future complications, Sage didn’t even send his spirit sense into the cauldron, let alone open or take it along anymore. He collected the Dawn Pillar and then wiped away the Soul Magnifying Wheel Formation before escaping quickly.

Sage fled down the river once again traveling for a few hours, this time swimming with the current to increase his speed. Linking himself with an Emerald Dragonfly, Sage took some time creating false tracks. Climbing onto the bank and making a mess, heading into the woods then flying back and dropping into the river. Once he’d created a half-dozen different trails he left by the air and just flew off in a random direction. When night fell he headed towards the nearest mountain to look for a cave. After an hour or searching he gave up, none of the caves matched his needs so he just made his own. Linking to a Steel Silk Centipede, it only took a few minutes for its powerful blades and acid to carve out the ordinary stone into a small tunnel that led to a single cavern. The tunnel was about 3 feet wide, the same size as the Centipede’s body, and the room at the end was about the size of a large bedroom. After it was complete, Sage linked to a Chameleon Mantis and used it to start scouting. He had no idea where he was so he took a quick break to take his bearings and recover from his escape.

With the Mantid’s help, he soon got a rough idea of his location and planned a route back to the Holy Flame Sect. In the meantime he reactivated the Human Seal and dressed himself properly, wearing simple clothing and not one of the magical garments from the Soul Taming Abode. He’d already lost one set, so he didn’t want to wear another till he properly studied them. Certainly, if he had better protection it would protect his life, but it could also attract attention. He’d done another dozen searches of himself, looking everywhere he could think of and found no more marks or unordinary places. Even still, he was anxious. After he was recovered, he formed a new Twin Soul, splitting his soul in two once again. Luckily, the Twin Soul had gained a lot in the past so even losing half of it, his soul and Twin Soul were still larger than they had been before he went to the Secret Domain.

The distance was great, but Sage spared no expense this time. Each time a Spirit Insect grew tired, Sage would take a few minutes to grow a brand new one before continuing on again. Each time he wasted about ten spirit stones, but he was too worried to care. Before he ran into those people from the Cult of the Woodlord he had spent nearly all of his spirit stones. Thankfully, among the group of six, he had gained over twelve thousand spirit stones without even counting any of the other possessions they had. With that new wealth he didn’t care that the rapid escape wasted more than three hundred spirit stones, he was just glad to be home.

He wasn’t relaxed yet. There was a reason he hurried back. Immediately he went to Peak Master Zhen’s Cave. He put in an urgent request to meet with the Peak Master, talking to one of those little birds from the last time. Once again he admired the extreme and garish decorative style of the Peak Master. Thankfully, he only had to wait a few hours before he was summoned by one of the little pink telepathic birds, which he had since learned were called ‘Mystic Sparrows’, and he rushed to follow after it. Finally, Peak Master Zhen met him with a strange look on her face, “What happened for you to need to meet so urgently?”

Sage let his worry show on his face, quickly bringing out a stack of objects. All of them were the possessions of the Leader of that group of Cultivators. He even brought out the pile of ten thousand spirit stones and started to explain to Peak Master Zhen.

“You killed a group from the Cult of the Woodlord? What guts! They may be our rival, but this is the sort of thing that starts a war if it's found out.”

The Peak Master interrupted him a few more times before he finally finished his story. Once it was done, she closed her eyes and Sage felt a magnificent power descend upon him. It was like the air suddenly thickened like soup and a thousand pound blanket fell down on his head, forcing him down to his knees. A normal mortal would have been smashed to death just feeling the power of her presence pushing down on them, but Sage wasn’t a normal person after all. He could just barely resist. After a few minutes, she nodded her head, “You did well. There are no other marks on you. It’s also good you didn’t touch anything else. At least three more of the objects he carried have similar traps.”

Sage immediately felt a chill. The pressure of the Peak Master dissipated, but he felt sweat pouring down his back. If he had been just a bit more reckless it was likely he would be dead soon.

“Don’t be down, it seems you’ve found fortune in calamity. You’re quite lucky that I’m not going to take any of these treasures in return for my help. I’ll just be having some copies made of these manuals.”

Sage lifted one eyebrow, a look of curiosity on his face.