After attacking a dozen times in a row, the explosive sounds came to a sudden halt. The Jinxi Patriarch came to a stop on one of the few unblemished parts of the fighting stage. Across from him, Sage was standing amid a pile of rubble. Nearly three quarters of the ten foot thick stone stage had been turned into broken stones. Compared to the clean flat ground that the patriarch occupied, Sage looked like he was out hiking through a gravel filled ravine. The old man looked completely calm and serene, like an ancient master that was only here to humor this young upstart.

Silly old coot, he’s so worried about controlling the narrative. Do I really look so easy to beat?

Since the old man wanted to put on a show, Sage helped him out. As the dust cleared he made himself look especially miserable. He forced himself to breathe hard, making his chest rise and fall. He gasped loudly as if he couldn’t catch his breath and he even purposefully made his Golden Mantis Body fluctuate for a moment before stabilizing again. The solid energy armor around him faded and spread out, getting blurry for a few moments before it recovered. If the old man was going to underestimate him to such a level, why wouldn’t he play along?

The audience saw the Lang branch head looking tired after that rapid fire assault. The Clan Head had avoided every attack without lifting a finger while the challenger was already breathing hard and covered in dust.

“How can there be such a huge difference between them?”

“Shows what you know! That guy is only the branch head because the Lang branch was completely wiped out. How can he compare to the man who’s been our clan head for thousands of years?”

“Do you only know how to talk big? You better watch your mouth. If the branch head hears you do you think you’ll be able to use that big mouth to talk your way out of it?”

“He’s right. I’ve seen other Nascent Souls fight and the branch head is way stronger than they were. Don’t look down on him, he isn’t weak. The patriarch is just too strong!”

There were many similar conversations in the crowd now that everyone had a moment to catch their breath. When they were fighting everyone had gone quiet, completely focused on trying to catch every last thing that was going on in the fight. They didn’t have time to chat because they didn’t want to miss anything. Sage had stopped his assault as he realized the Jinxi Patriarch didn’t seem to be tiring because of his dodging. So, he was happy to play along and make the old man look good, especially if it helped make him overconfident.

Normally, this is the time when Sage would bring out some tricks to sway the battle, but he wasn’t supposed to use any tools. The Blacksilver Pawns and Shard Rifles would definitely fall into that category so he had to skip that step and so he moved on to a different avenue of attack. His hands moved rapidly and a brilliant green light appeared between his fingers, he wove the strands of light like thread and they formed into a small seed of Qi. Then he dropped downwards and pushed the seed towards the ground with his palm. The glowing green seed floated an inch away from his palm, driven towards the ground by his push. He fell to one knee and slapped his hand against the ground, driving the green Qi seed into the ground.

The Jinxi Patriarch merely smiled at Sage’s frenetic action that seemed like a desperate last resort. Before he had even made any attacks, his foe was already pulling out his trump card.

The seed sunk into the ground and energy poured from Sage’s palm into the earth. The ground cracked and vines sprung forth from it. These vines spread out into every direction and wrapped around the largest rocks that were closest to Sage. They curled around the boulders and then coiled upon themselves like a snake, forming a taller structure. Then Sage’s other hand moved and formed some symbols with his fingers. When he did, more roots and vines shot out from the tops of the rocks and climbed straight into the air. These roots passed over and under each other, weaving into a strong frame that shot a hundred feet into the air. Then the other vines still protruding from the ground stopped spreading out and climbed up the trunk-like lattice that he’d formed. They wove through it and strengthened the lattice, the green vines then rapidly turned brown and hardened into roots and then gained a rough bark-like surface.

The Jinxi Patriarch watched this all happening with a soft smile. Only when the hundred foot tall trunk finally sprouted branches and leaves did he finally seem a little interested. He turned his head up and looked at the huge tree that had sprung from nothing. From the time Sage placed his palm onto the ground until now only thirty seconds has passed. In that short time, a hundred foot tall tree had sprung from the ground and was now spreading its limbs outwards. Vines fell from those limbs and sunk into the ground, many of them winding together and acting as the frame for even more vines to wrap around. The tree grew new trunks from the sky down. The Sacred Banyan was both a single tree and also a forest at the same time.

There were loud gasps from the crowd and many surprised conversations. Where did this branch head learn such a technique? After just a few minutes had passed, the majority of the thousand foot wide stage had already been turned into a forest of hundred foot tall trees. Many of them were actually thankful the trees were so tall so that the branches and leaves were only able to slightly block their view instead of completely concealing everything that was happening from them. At this time, only the quarter of the stage that the Patriarch occupied was not completely covered by the forest of trees. That portion of the stage was the frontmost section of the stage, almost as if it was planned to leave the area clear so the whole audience could see what was going to happen next.

“Are you finished? Watch out!”

The Jinxi Patriarch waited patiently, letting the challenger set up the battlefield. Only when the trees stopped growing and Sage stood back up did he finally speak. He also gave a warning as his first true attack came. There was a soft stridulating, the gentle chirping sound of crickets. The sound spread over the whole dueling arena and those with greater strength could feel the Qi carried along with the sound. They quickly shielded themselves, but most of the crowd was not strong enough to resist it. The chirping got louder and louder and the people saw the sky changing colors. The bright midday sun dimmed and faded away, revealing a sea of stars. A cool breeze blew past, washing away the heat of the day to leave the pleasing coolness of a summer night.

Shoots of grass suddenly sprouted from the stone stage, growing rapidly until it was knee high. The Jinxi Patriarch’s lips were pursed like he was whistling. Yet all that anyone heard was the chirping of crickets. In just a few short minutes the Clan’s prestigious and impressive Dueling Grounds had been transformed from a giant stone amphitheater into a patch of tall grass at the edge of a forest. Day had turned to night and they all felt as if they’d wandered out into the wilderness to listen to the crickets and gaze up at the stars. What sort of strange battle was this? Is this what it was like when high level cultivators fought? The whole world transformed at their will?