Regressor Sect Master

"Did you learn something, daughter?" Tundra asked as they were on the flying ship. Home. Anna wasn't sure she wanted to be home. There was a sense of freedom being so far away from home that delighted her.

"Yes. I am quite certain I would like to join another sect." Anna said, as she quickly angled it so that it focused on cultivation. "I find that there's a lot for me to learn, and it would help if I can learn from a large body of peers that are better than me."

Tundra nodded along. "True, true. Some people do benefit from the increased competition. The presence of others lights a fire in their hearts, and motivates them to move further. But I do want to caution against this reliance on competition. We face the challenges of cultivation alone, and you must find the motivation within you. The competition is but a favorable tradewind that speeds you along, but it should not be the horse that drives you forward."

"Is that a yes, father?"

"Yes. I am agreeable to it. How is Annaly?" Tundra answered. "How much more before she reaches the 3rd realm?"

This was where Anna felt a little uncertain. "I don't know, father. She'll- she'll need some time. The path to the peak of the 2nd realm seems to be unclear to her."

The regressor understood. "Annaly does seem a little uncertain. A little time is not a bad thing." Not everyone can consolidate their cultivation so quickly. Unlocking and reaching a higher minor step releases a little bit more power, a little bit more space.

Having power is not the same as understanding it.

***

Home. Tundra rested. He's been away for almost two months visiting the two friendly sects, and some time before that. It's almost as if he was away more often than he was home.

That was not how sect masters often were. Sect Masters often stayed at home while it was the elders who acted on their behalf.

But alas, there are some things only Tundra could do.

He sat, and meditated. He liked his room the best, even if some other places were slightly better for cultivation. It was comfortable, familiar, and reminded him of simpler times.

He reached for a pill from his pouch, a gift from the Scarlet Thunder Sect, and ate the Steel Serpentine Energy Pill. The metallic energies swirled in his soul, and he felt his own cultivation grow. Expand.

He formed shapes, and packed them together. These shapes each represented a different thing, some represented density, hardness, malleability, sharpness, weight, conductivity and magnetism. Metal can be many things, and each of these things expressed in different forms.

The pill was good, a strong, powerful pill, but all it took him was from one end of the 2nd step, to the other end of the 2nd step. Reaching the 3rd step of the seventh realm will need perhaps two more such pills.

The room shook gently as the expansion of his growing soul created small ripples. This was merely just minor movements within a step, not even a breakthrough. But such is the weight of the higher realms.

His soul focused on the weapons within his soul. Tundra, at this point, had three soul bounded weapons, and they were increasingly lagging behind his growth. In his first life, he replaced many of these soul-bonded weapons for items of better quality and materials. He would have to replace some of them, at least, but he would choose different items.

One, would be a soul bonded cauldron. In his first life, due to the constant wars, he chose more combat and defensive items to enhance his performance on those aspects. This time around, he wanted to experiment with a soul bonded cauldron. Linking cauldrons to the soul normally increased one's energy pool slightly, and also made it easier to trigger alchemical resonances through direct soul command. For that reason, it is fairly common for alchemists to have one of their soul-bonded items be a cauldron. In the later stages of the Zuja war, it was something that proved useful since it improved the efficiency of alchemy.

But, now that he finished digesting the 72 Bloodline Iterations of the Ancient Titans, he realized that there was another way to use soul-bonded cauldrons.

As a secret store of bloodlines, and a cauldron for experimenting for bloodlines.

Cauldrons are incredible containers on their own, but when they are held within the soul, the soul's direct command allowed the cauldrons to even act on the blood. Fusing, splitting, splicing and concentrating bloodlines didn't have to be done outside through direct energy condensation!

What he achieved with Azin was something similar to direct energy condensation, where his own spiritual energies searched the blood for those tiny special specks, and extracted them specifically.

There would be far higher efficiency if this process was performed within a soul-bonded cauldron.

It was amusing how this was so closely related to his realm of alchemical expertise, but he had never tried to take a direction in this step.

It was just the nature of focus, that sometimes, even great masters miss the forest for the trees. He was too deeply immersed in alchemy to realize where else those same skills could be used slightly differently.

He wrote a letter, this time to the Flaming Phoenix's merchant arm, and placed an order for a Phoenixflesh Cauldron, a treasure graded in the 7th realm. He would need to spend two to three months making the pills to pay for such a treasure, but it should be worth it.

***

"He's still the same." Elly said as she entered the room, and sat next to him. She immediately removed her outer robe, and held his arm.

"Edison?"

"Yes. He's... he's still giving me that long, blank look." Elly sighed, and then, she looked into his eyes. "I missed you, husband."

Tundra blinked, and felt it wasn't a total lie. Was this part of her maneuvers to have more children? But it was a nice feeling, even if he was consciously aware of Elly's attempt at seduction. He held her waist. "Now, now, we still have some things to do before we get to that part." The regressor said, trying his best to thread the needle of gently denying his wife's attempt without pissing her off.

"My mother sent me some herbs. She claims it helps, if we want stronger babies." Elly said with a hint of shyness.

"Oh, you visited them?"

"She came over to visit me while you were away." Elly explained. "I also sent them a letter."

"I see." The regressor nodded. "They came to see Edison too?"

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

"Yes." Elly looked torn. "I- I don't know how to explain it to them."

"Father-in-law should've seen this plenty." Tundra said with confidence. The older Patriarch Mistburn lived a long life, and such things are not uncommon. "There is nothing you need to explain."

Elly sighed. "Mother said the same thing, but I still- it still feels like I had a part in it." She leaned forward, and Tundra knew enough to wrap his arms around his wife. She took the chance to move even closer, and Tundra could feel the gentle warmth of her body through the thin clothes.

Of his three wives, Elly's cultivation was now the slowest. She didn't charge for the peak of the 4th realm like Marin, and so she remained now in the earlier steps of the 4th. Yet, though she is merely the 3rd step of the 4th realm, her leisurely approach was not without its advantages.

A spiritual realm built slowly and deliberately is often more robust, because the flow of time sometimes creates its own stresses, which helps reveal the weaknesses of one's soul. Of course, it is just as possible to ignore those stresses and not benefit from them.

"Have you made progress?" Elly asked.

"Some." Tundra said, as his wife's robe came undone.

"Well, you may not want children yet, but-" She looked shy, but her arms wrapped around his neck. "Can we practice?"

Tundra may be a man of many centuries of experience, but when his wife asked that way, he wasn't going to say no.

***

Her brother, Wilber Blackpetals, was a man with a brain too smart for his own good. "My good brother." Zuri Blackpetals said, with all the sarcasm it implied. She generally based herself at the heart of the Crimson Lotus Spire, but as an alchemist of her level, her services are often required elsewhere. "What do you want from me?"

Her brother didn't even respond, but instead, pointed to a table filled with preservation artifacts. Within them were extremely rare materials from many, many different places. Some were things she didn't even know still existed.

Zuri blinked. She walked and stood next to the table. She squinted, and peered at them, suspicious whether they were even real. She was almost tempted to touch them, but thankfully she could control her tendencies.

"Do you doubt the authenticity of Prince Gomerl's affections?" Her brother scoffed as he said it.

The alchemist rolled her eyes.

Her brother was only more amused.

"What's the meaning of this? A bribe?" Zuri tried to figure out exactly what the intent of this gift to be. The Flaming Phoenix Great Sect supported Prince Gomerl, and by extension, most expected the Crimson Lotus, an allied sect of the Flaming Phoenix, to share in their allied sect's support. "You didn't return it?"

"Return?" Her brother laughed. "Are you stupid? We can sell our entire family's wealth and won't even see the treasures here. And here, the Prince specifically extended it to you. Do you think we can afford to offend Prince Gomerl with what he just offered?"

"What does he want?" Zuri asked with a heavy tinge of annoyance. Her brother loved half-explaining things. And their family certainly wasn't so poor.

"You're smart enough to figure it out."

"I would prefer the truth to be smashed into my face." Zuri countered in language that the woman would never use in the presence of others.

"You would get a husband so easily if you used such words with someone else. Like Tundra." Wilber laughed, but hopped off his throne and landed next to his younger sister.

"Die!" Zuri's attack missed, perhaps deliberately. "Now out with it. What does that corrupt prince want from us?" Zuri's mind was already processing what to do with the materials. There was no use changing her brother's mind, and she didn't see a way of countering whatever schemes her brother cooked up.

"Stop working for Princess Luharl, what else?" Wilber said, as he took out a letter that was addressed to Zuri, but already clearly opened.

"I believe that was meant for me."

"As if you can hide things." Wilber passed the letter to her. Zuri read the content, it was unnecessarily verbose, and clearly written by one of the Prince's scribes. But it bore the Prince's imperial seal, and thus, represented his will. It was written between the lines, but it was clear. Prince Gomerl requested Zuri be exclusively contracted to produce pills for Gomerlia's forces.

In other words, she will be producing so many pills that she can't work for anyone else.

"Has the Sect Master Solfor endorsed this position?" Zuri asked her brother. In the end, if her sect didn't support the decision, she could leverage on her sect's support to continue to back Princess Luharl.

"Should I tell him?" Wilber said. "He knows, but I didn't discuss it with him. If it was a problem, he'll let me know."

Zuri blinked repeatedly as she struggled to comprehend her brother's action. The Sect master of the Crimson Lotus was in the high eighth realm, but even he could not control the factions within it. Still, she had the impression that her brother had a relatively good working relationship with the Sect Master. "What about father?"

"Father doesn't need to know." Wilber frowned, and answered. "What can you make from these things?"

"What of Princess Luharl-"

"Doesn't matter. Princess Luharl will have to rely on the weight of the Imperial Summons to gather the necessary alchemists to support her cause." Yet, Zuri knew that as the Emperor's life faded, the weight of the Imperial Summons dropped too. No one would enforce the penalties of the Imperial Summons, if that prince or princess wasn't the Emperor.

"Hmmm." Zuri decided to let the matter linger, as her mind refocused on the materials in front of her eyes. These were exceptionally rare things, likely from Prince Gomerl's private treasury. She once heard rumors that the Golden Dragon maintains secret realms where such rare things are still cultivated, and only the royal family could obtain them.

"Make me something for my coming ascension. Like that-" Wilber pointed to a dark, black stone that thrummed with stored fire energies. "I believe that's the Old Earthcore Tree's Spirit Seed?"

She nodded. "I do not know whether I can properly and fully harness its effects. This may need someone of a higher skill. And I need months of time, not something I have with Prince Gomerl's offer."

"I do not know any alchemist of higher skill than you." The part where 'he could trust' was omitted, but Zuri got the message all the same. "Such treasures would be coveted, and they will charge us a limb for the services."

The alchemist sighed. "I will try, then, if I can find the time. I can release perhaps 80% of it's true strength. That last 20% will have to be lost."

"Good. When do you want to start?"

"I don't know. I have some orders to fulfill for Elder Sharran, then I'm off to serve our new patron prince, if this is what it costs." Zuri said with much reluctance. "You know what he's like."

"That mad old man." Wilber frowned. "So be it, I'll keep these safe for that time. Also, I have another letter for you."

This one wasn't open, and it came from Lord Fox. "I'm surprised you did not open it." Zuri said as she snatched the letter from her brother's hands.

"He sent me one too." Wilber laughed. "I guessed the gist of the letter that I didn't need to pry into yours."

Zuri frowned, a little frustrated that her brother always got ahead of her. "I hate you." She opened it and understood the contents. "The Verdant Leaf Sect wishes to visit us, and asks that we put in a word to the Sect Master. Is that what he sent you too?"

"Oh? I thought it's a letter of love." Wilber laughed. "The Sect Master is agreeable, but it seems a few of the elders don't seem particularly keen in hosting a rising competitor."

"Fools." Zuri vented. "I can't even trust my own fellow sect members."

"Elder Sharran, Elder Fleck and the Sect Master are the only three people worth a damn." Wilber said. Of the eight Core Elders of the Crimson Lotus stationed at their main sect, Zuri began to suspect four of them were compromised or in cahoots with some external forces, especially Elder Kavan and Elder Portsen. It is only the Sect Master's strength in the eighth realm that gave him leverage over the seventh realm elders.

For now.

"Do you consider him a friend?" Wilber asked.

That made Zuri blink. "What do you mean?"

"If you don't, we'll just have to reject his request. That's all there is to it."

"Hmmm." Zuri frowned. She reread the letter three times. "Yes."

"Then it's simple. I will just inform Lord Fox that we can host him in Noria Firefields, but not our main sect, when times are more... peaceful. You and the elders can lead a delegation of Core and Inner Disciples that you picked to join this exchange, here. Let those rotten elders keep their heads in the sand, if they so wish. But first, go and placate the Prince. We can invite him after Prince Gomerl's desires are sufficiently served."

The alchemist realized while it was a great idea, it could be interpreted as some offense to Lord Fox. There is a risk that public perception was that the Crimson Lotus didn't view Verdant Leaf as a peer, but merely a lesser sect, therefore they are hosted at a branch sect rather than the main sect. "He may turn it down, if it's an invitation to Noria."

"On the contrary, I have a feeling he's not bothered by such things."

***