Sage was instantly taken aback. Standing in front of him was not a projection, but an actual person. A person that was supposed to be trapped in a jail cell.

“You? How did a slippery piece of feces like you get here?”

Before Sage had come to terms with what he was seeing, the Ancestor had already spoken out. The slippery fellow turned out to be that pseudo master of his, Guan Zhenyan. The man in question didn’t seem to be affected by the insult and laughingly took a few puffs from his pipe. He blew out smoke with a vivid green tint to it and smiled at the casket before speaking, “To think the great Huang has fallen to such a degree. We really are quite a pair, aren’t we?”

At that instant another figure appeared in front of Sage. It was a young boy with white hair and a large belly. He let out a grumble and glared at Guan Zhenyan while lifting one hand into the air. Sage felt a sudden surge of law energy gathering around them. It swirled and concentrated around the man, but just as it was on the verge of collapsing around him, the ancestor’s voice spoke out, “Tao Ba. Let him stay for a moment.”

Guan Zhenyan bowed his head in thanks to the casket and didn’t even bother to say anything to Tao Ba before continuing where he’d left off earlier, “As I was saying before, I can smell a full pocket and a great opportunity for business. For an old friend I’ll be giving you the biggest discount and my full guarantee of quality goods.”

“Hah, a guarantee from you? Just like that time when you sold me weapons strong enough to break the armor you just sold to another customer?”

“That’s right! You paid extra for my highest level of customer service after all. You should be pleased, barely anyone ever pays for my highest level of service. As one of my most regular customers, the price for information about you is extremely high.”

“How reassuring. So, what is it you’ve got on offer?”

“You know me, a little bit of this, a little bit of that. Just off the top of my head, I have a Blood Silver Mirror, Dark Rebirth Milk, Sapphire Swamp Grass, Windstorm Boots, Ethereal Mammoth Bones, Asura’s Inferno Ring, Divine Iron Raindrop, and even a Frozen Shadow Lance.

“Gold Windstorm Boots and a Violet Asura Ring?”

“Brass and Yellow. They’re hard to get a hold of these days.”

“That’s it? If they’re not at least Silver or Blue then I have no interest. Is that everything you have?”

Guan Zhenyan closed his eyes for a second and then he opened them again with a smile, “That was most of my choice goods, but I just remembered something I was saving for the right buyer: a Gold Lightning Vine. Also, since I know you’re going to ask, it has a full seven stems. I’ve also got some Thundering Blood Sap that I was saving for this lovely woman from the Arcane House, but I suppose I can part with it for the right price.”

Guan Zhenyan gave the ancestor time to think about his offer and waited patiently. It was also the opening that Sage had been waiting for. He spoke up from behind Guan Zhenyan where he was standing to the side of Tao Ba.

“How did you get out? Tao Ba said it would be simple to keep you locked up.”

The slovenly man laughed loudly, then took a long drag from his pipe and blew the tinted smoke towards Sage’s face. Sage waved his hand and summoned a gust of wind to blow away the smoke. Unfortunately, the smoke did not agree with this manipulation and it was only slowed by the wind rather than being dissipated or blasted away. Sage realized his mistake and opened his mouth, releasing an almost concussive air blast from his lungs. He succeeded this time and was glad not to have to find out what sort of strange concoction Zhenyan’s smoke carried this time. In the past, the man liked to use his smoke to administer poisons and Sage wasn’t eager to taste a new one. He was still a bit shaken over the man being able to exit his confinement in the Universe Ring without any trouble.

Sage had gathered energy for years and prepared for months before finally acting out against this man and he thought he’d injured him quite heavily. Since then, Guan Zhenyan had been locked up in the Universe Ring and Tao Ba said the cell would inhibit the man’s recovery. I overestimated Tao Ba and underestimated Zhenyan.

Zhenyan just chuckled at him, “Calm down, you’ll find out everything later. The adults are talking now, so just wait patiently.”

He waved his hand and the smoke coming from the tip of his pipe took on a mind of its own. It flowed through the air and formed into a column around Sage. The smoke thickened and obscured Sage’s vision and hearing. After a moment he was mostly cut off from the outside world. He could still see blurry figures through the smoke but he could no longer hear anything. Tao Ba’s body language included some stomps and waving arms, so he seemed perturbed, but Guan Zhenyan was still standing nonchalantly in the same place so that must mean the Ancestor hadn’t been as offended.

If I kept my mouth shut I might have learned more. Damn.

Trapped as he was, Sage tried every method he could think of to circumvent the smoke barrier short of brute force. He wanted to eavesdrop upon the conversation, but the Spirit Sense, Qi, and Spirit Power he sent out were all blocked by the smoke wall. He felt pretty confident he could shatter the smoke with brute force, but he would instantly be discovered and would gain nothing but to annoy Zhenyan a little more. With how the man had left the Universe Ring with his physical body, Sage wondered if the guy had been faking it this whole time.

Didn’t somebody mention looking for him in the past? Is his disappearance related to why I was targeted by so many groups at once?

Sage never had any conclusive proof as to why he was the victim of so many assaults. He was certainly not rich enough to have such a high value attached to taking him out and there was no way that he’d believe Hei Bai, that witch, was able to rally so many groups to ally with her to chase after him. He’d always suspected it was some great power pulling the strings and coming after him because of his Seal Mastery. The practice was basically banned in this Kingdom as well as those around it, so he always thought it was some sort of black ops strike aiming to take him out without having to be directly involved.

Eventually, the smoke wall around him faded away just after Guan Zhenyan threw something onto a shelf and a small bag flew to his hand in exchange. Sage had no idea what transaction had just been conducted, but he cautiously walked out of the fading smoke. The column was disappearing on its own, but he just felt better not standing in the same place he’d just been trapped. He consoled himself by thinking that Zhenyan might have just made the smoke transparent and it might be easier to capture him again if he stayed upon the same spot.

Sage was on guard against Zhenyan’s next move especially because of the relaxed expression he wore. Yet, just as he felt the tension building to a peak, he was surprised to see Guan Zhenyan and Tao Ba disappear into thin air. Of course, his right pupil was already glittering with a field of stars and he saw this event happening in advance. He quickly altered his intent to attempt to change the future, but only one solution appeared.

“Wait.”

The simple declaration was all it took to make Guan Zhenyan stick around. Sage wasn’t sure what to say next as he’d always found that establishing intent with language was not only difficult to do, but he also couldn’t hear the future, only see it. Unfortunately, he couldn’t properly gauge response so he couldn’t really cheat his way through a conversation. Still, he’d bought himself an attempt at the least so he chose to say something unusual, “How can I help you?”