Regressor Sect Master

Imperial Year 34004, Month 8.

It's almost five years since he regressed in time. The wedding was over. The crowds left.

The town was quiet once more, but some of those that came would not leave. They would be new citizens of the Verdant Leaf. Perhaps, they found the conditions favorable.

Cities grew that way.

He would have to deal with the Blackshore family eventually. Whether they die, or they come to realize the follies of their plan, it didn't quite matter. It is just in the nature of cultivators to struggle against the more powerful.

It is also the nature of stronger cultivators to annihilate those who wronged them.

He breathed.

Zuja.

They didn't know the severity of their crime, and for now, the Southeast Fists left the town of Verdant Leaf.

He would get to them.

But not now. Not so soon.

Dealing with both the Blackshore family and the Southeast Fists would need planning. Careful planning, and ensuring that he had the right traps to set them up.

He breathed once. He felt the wiggling of spiritual energy in the air.

At his level, cultivation was slowing down, but even if it feels insurmountable, bit by bit, he would reach the peak.

He breathed again. The air was getting colder. Winter.

Verdant Leaf was already ready for it. The mortal citizens of his town stocked up on fuel and firewood to last them through the cold, while the wealthier families had heating formations. Cultivators generally didn't fear the cold. The energy radiated by their spiritual realms kept them comfortable.

Maybe it'll just be a blink of an eye, and it'll be spring once more.

Time ticked so quickly.

Spring. The season of renewal.

His sect needed some renewal too. And so, he too needed to teach something different to his family and friends. The Zuja was getting close, and so, he summoned his elders, and went into an underground facility deep beneath the city.

***

"[Soul Immolation Method]." Tundra declared, as he sketched out an intricate pattern. "This is one of the defenses us cultivators have to develop, if it so happens that a Zuja parasite is forcibly inserted into our bodies. I will now teach all of you how to do it, and how to keep a fire deep within our soul. This will be harder for those of the [wood] spiritual roots and [water] spiritual roots for obvious reasons, and you will have to prepare some ways to store this spiritual fire away from other parts, within our spirit realm."

Elders, all six of them, and of the three wives, only Celestia was present, for a total of seven.

"How does the Zuja possess our soul?" Jashen asked.

"Yes. I personally theorize Zuja comes in two forms, one as a parasite, which is the one we've seen in the Southeast Fists and many others, and another as a form of a bloodline. That is partly why learning the bloodlines is so important. The parasite's mechanism and process of conquering its' hosts mind is fairly simple. First, we must know that each parasite is not really a worm or a small creature, but instead, think of it as an extension of a greater creature."

"A greater creature?"

"Yes. It is eerily similar to the Golden Dragon. Each of the imperial family members have access to the great Golden Dragon through their bloodline, the stronger their bloodline, the greater is the strength of this access." Tundra declared, though even till now he didn't fully understand the Golden Dragon's bloodline. In his first life, he kept a distance from the royal family, even as they faced the Zuja. In hindsight, he should've worked closer with the royal family to counter the bugs.

Was it his pride?

Did he subconsciously look down on the royal family for relying so much on their gifts?

Maybe.

But whatever it was, it was a mistake. Not just his, but everyone. Every powerful sect thought they could deal with the Zuja on their own, and they only came together when it was already too late.

Based on the strength of the cultivation world at this moment in time, if all of them came together, there should be enough tenth realm and tenth realm equivalent cultivators to defeat Zuja's avatar during their last battle.

Convincing all the sects was impossible, but Tundra realized very early on that the only people he really needed to convince were those in the tenth realm. If he could get even five tenth realm masters to agree and move together, they could likely crush quite a few of the Zuja's various swamps before they spread.

"This influence spreads through the parasite which functions as a small gateway, powered by the soul's energies. The stronger the host's energies, the larger the gateway becomes, and the influence of a greater power greatly clouds the mind of it's thralls." Tundra explained. "It is similar to certain types of demonic cultivators that contracted their souls to powerful demonic gods."

"Ah. So referring to the Zuja as a parasite is incorrect labeling." Severian clarified. "Should we refer to it as a form of possession? Or a demonic pact?"

"Yes." Tundra nodded. "It is why many sects considered the Zuja as one of the demons during the first few thousand years of conflict. A fact that Zuja used to its advantage and spread itself even amongst the righteous sects. However, unlike demonic pacts, these bugs can be forced into one's body, and that makes its ability to spread so much more potent."

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Tundra paused as he recalled the words of those he rescued and freed from the Zuja. Many powerful cultivators confided their darkest secrets, how Zuja's presence was like a shadow that wrapped every part of their soul and they had no ability to even say no.

"Even this defense is not perfect. If it isn't strong enough, it could merely suppress the parasite for a few years. It is just as likely to recover itself and attempt to assert control over again."

His elders gulped.

"Now, I will teach the [Soul Immolation Method]. It is a deceptively simple method." Tundra declared. "We have to learn to burn a bit of our own cultivation to protect ourselves. But in order for this to happen, we must keep a fire within our soul, so that when Zuja's presence cause the barriers within our spirit to collapse, this fire is allowed to spread and burn up the parts we want to burn, and the fires would then weaken or even destroy the Zuja."

"Can't we just store a fire powerful enough to destroy the Zuja?" Yavin asked.

"Yes. It is possible to do so. In fact, you can even store a powerful fire-element weapon within your soul with a preset formation. It is one of the reasons why the Flaming Phoenix was one of the great sects to survive the longest through the Zuja's incursions."

In fact, all three fire-element great sects survived quite well into the later stages of the war.

There are tradeoffs, of course. Such a weapon would not be the most powerful tool a cultivator possessed, because its focus was elsewhere, and a fire-element spirit weapon was not ideal for anyone that didn't have a fire spirit root. Keeping a small fire as an 'emergency' fire to burn was more efficient.

Yavin nodded. "I see."

"Yavin and Jashen likely both can use a fire-elemental weapon with a spiritual burning aspect to protect yourselves, so this method is really for your knowledge only." Tundra clarified. "The rest of us will have to rely on this."

"But..." Celestia asked. "Doesn't this mean we will lose our cultivation?"

"Yes." Tundra said. Especially for wood-element spiritual cultivations, the spiritual flame that burned their spirit would also burn up the same structures and shapes that gave their spirit structure. "It is an inherent contradiction of the wood element, that a cultivator creates structures that embody the meanings and symbolisms of wood, and so, the structures in your spiritual realm thus burn when exposed to spiritual flames. It may thus be necessary to reinforce parts of your spiritual realm with structures of the other element, to act as firebreaks. The opposite issue exists with those of the water-element. The water structures can't burn as easily, and even when they do, they turn into steam rather than as flames. These are some issues to work through."

"Is there a wood-element way of dealing with these bugs?" Celestia asked, as she remembered the pill Tundra gave him the first time he regressed into this life. "Like that pill?"

"The purifying flames only work on the meridians, if the parasite's eggs are in the meridians, or if there is a dormant parasite in your meridian. The moment the parasite is awake, it will extend it's tendrils into the spiritual realm." Tundra answered, but Celestia raised a good point. Surely, there are other ways a cultivator can protect their own spiritual realms. It shouldn't only be a fire element specialty.

There may be more obscure ways to do so, but he truly believed the ways of cultivation are vast and boundless.

Their current ways is nothing but a lack of imagination and knowledge.

"I will, however, look into it. I do believe there are some ways to protect our spirits, only, I am not aware of them." What survived into the late stages of his first life was what worked. However, just because they survived doesn't meant it is the best solution. Just what worked at a large enough scale that they remained in use.

There are definitely niche solutions better suited for more specific circumstances.

***

Imperial Year 34005. Five years after regression.

The workshop was quiet, except for the occasional movements of Julia and two other disciples.

Tundra sat, and he could feel the cauldrons from where he stood. He walked over occasionally to check on them, but pillmaking was a key part of the Verdant Snow Sect's business.

The past few weeks and months were fairly ordinary. They focused on making pills, and training.

Tundra, also began to experiment on the bloodline transfusions, and began to prepare for the next one for his grandchild, Jihan.

Celestia didn't have any of the expected negative signs, and so, he was relieved and now ready to move on to his other family members. She was also showing some of her new abilities, and though for now, it is kept under wraps.

He figured his other two wives would catch on eventually, though in Marin's case, she would have to do without it. Both Elly and Marin were compatible with spiritual bloodlines he didn't have access to just yet, though it would be fixed soon.

The merchants should be able to acquire a spiritual beast with a bloodline compatible with Elly, and he hoped that maybe, with the bloodline, they could have children with greater talent.

Future heirs.

Tundra sighed. Focus on the present.

Jihan. Hana. He should work on them first.

***

Jihan played. He was still so young, and already he could feel his spiritual roots forming. Some of the materials he acquired from various merchants were made into horrible soups.

Jihan hated meal time. Tundra overheard whispers and talks between servants, about how it was difficult to feed the boy, especially the soups, fortified with all the extra stuff that should promote his spiritual root's development.

He didn't blame him. There was no real reason for such soups to taste that bad.

He wondered whether it was the boy's behavior, or maybe refusal to respect the maid's commands. He wasn't even a cultivator yet.

Elly, frowned. "Jihan, take your soup."

Jihan made a face. He looked really reluctant to try it.

"It can't be that bad." Elly said, pushing her grandson to try it. "Just a sip, first."

Jihan groaned. The boy frowned and then took a sip. He looked so disgusted by it that he immediately looked at his grandfather.

"Try it, grandfather! It's like I'm drinking soil!" Jihan pushed the soup to him.

Tundra blinked. It's been a while since one of his children or grandchildren tried to talk back to him. Yet, as he looked at his grandson's genuine disgust at the soup, maybe he had a point.

None of the maids would dare try the young master's soup. Many were mortals, and the effects of spiritually intense materials could cause them to fall sick.

And so, much to both Elly and Jihan's surprise, Tundra picked up the porcelain soup spoon, and took a sip for himself.

"Ah." He instantly understood the problem.

It was the very familiar, intense taste of a body replenishing 600 year old golden root ginseng, mixed with a strong, unpleasant taste of dirt. It wasn't washed, likely for fear of damaging such a valuable material. A common understanding. The cooks, many were just low level cultivators, would not dare to defy the orders, and so many stuck to ancient recipes to the dot.

It is quite unfortunate that some things get missed as a result. The materials should've been cleaned. Spiritual grade ginsengs were often transported with their skin untouched, and the sellers almost did no cleaning. Apparently, some sellers claim that this is evidence of their ginseng's freshness and purity.

Tundra's eyes then darted to Elly. "Elly, did you instruct the cooks to just put the ginseng in?"

"Yes. I told them to follow the recipe to the dot."

Tundra knew that recipes almost never mentioned cleaning.

"I see." A common mistake. In fact, many cultivator families inherited such practices from their parents, and they likely grew up tasting and enduring the foul tastes of the materials. There was a scripture written by an abbott who loved food, who once said that the bulk of the difference in taste is entirely down to preparation. "Elly."

Elly gulped.

"It appears that I have to reteach our cooks how to cook. It will also be a good idea for you to learn, if you intend to raise more-"

Elly blushed. "Understood!"

***