Truthful Transmigration

Tihomir Kelemen explained about many factions in the same general area of the Molten Sea as them. That included the central region, where the Gesine and the True Sea had their banner. That also included the Crimson Temple and the Flowing Flames.

Some notable mentions that John wasn't already familiar with were the Searing Sarcophagus and the Blistering Crest. Keeping all of the various sects straight in his head would require remembering precisely which form of fiery death they prescribed. Even those Molten Sea cultivators that were the most 'water' focused still had a strong core of fire element in their style- it was rather difficult not to.

The Searing Sarcophagus were more aligned with the True Sea, while the Blistering Crest were generally against them. As had been the case for some time, the Kelemen clan kept an official position of neutrality, only acting when their particular affairs were interfered with. John couldn't say he was fully behind such an attitude, but it was one he understood well enough and at least he was fairly confident that they should not end up as enemies.

Figuring out who to reach out to next would take some time. While in theory the Blistering Crest might be more aligned with the interests of the continent against certain groups, merely contacting them would be an active step towards potential conflict. They were here to fend off as much trouble as possible from the recent activities, not to cause more.

The Kelemen clan didn't have the full picture of what was causing a stir in the Molten Sea, but they knew enough. From the far side, there was a certain Empire of Elements gaining momentum. If one were to ask what elements were involved, the answer would be yes. All of them. Perhaps that was to be expected of a proper empire, as they weren't just a single sect. Indeed, at least on the surface they weren't too different from what was going on with the western continent- a grouping of various elemental regions.

It didn't seem that the Empire of Elements had quite as much voluntary participation. Even so, as far as cultivators went it was fairly par for the course. The Molten Sea was only in a frenzy because of how it affected them. It seemed that they had also caused trouble with this other continent sometime in the past, and some old grudges were coming into play.

As an empire, of course, they must have an emperor at the head. Or an empress, in this particular case. The details on her were sparse, but it was known that Empress Aldara was an Ascending Soul Phase cultivator of five elements- just like John. Except she appeared to have light and not darkness.

It wasn't so strange that someone like her attained such a position. The path of a full elemental cycle was difficult, but should one be successful? John himself could attest to the power it held. He was still one step short of a full cycle, but even upon completion of the minor allied cycle or the cycle of core elements John could sense how much his potential output grew. If this Aldara had not been wildly successful, she would have no doubt fallen into obscurity early on.

Nobody could agree whether she was early or mid Ascending Soul Phase, which indicated to John that either she had recently advanced or was known for rapidly advancing. That fit with the other details, which indicated she might even be younger than John himself. He wasn't the fastest growing cultivator on the continent, but he was among them. And he had only recently reached the late Ascending Soul Phase.

-----

John had a lot to ponder about, and thus it was that Astrid found him doing so in the small courtyard attached to some of the rooms their diplomatic team shared. The courtyard was quite tolerable in terms of temperature, removed from much of the extreme fire element and even shaded from the sun. It wasn't cool, but it was far better for relaxation than the majority of the sect. When he wanted to train, John would go elsewhere, but for the moment he was just contemplating.

"What do you plan to do?" Astrid asked.

She knew he wanted to do something. But unfortunately, John didn't have a good answer for her. "I don't know. Perhaps nothing."

She sat down on a bench next to him. "Is that the correct move?"

John shrugged. "I'm quite inclined to let this Empire of Elements take down our enemies. Determining if they intend to sweep all the way through the Molten Sea and include us next is of course another matter. What we have been told already does indicate this is based off of some grudge. I shouldn't imagine that anyone alive has any conflict between the continents."

"They might," Astrid commented. "Yustina could have, for example."

That gave John a moment of pause. Indeed, she could have been filled with a desire for vengeance to take down those who killed her. Was it so strange that there might be something similar?

Reincarnated individuals were not that uncommon. In terms of in-world reincarnations, John was aware of Renato, Yustina, and Gesine. He had some suspicions about Mandlen, who was also along with them. "I suppose it is worth considering," John admitted. "I can say, at least, there shouldn't be much of anyone who would hold a grudge with me."

Astrid raised an eyebrow. "Are you certain? You must have made plenty of enemies in your time."

"Only a few sects and clans, really," John said. "I suppose there are a few that would have sufficient timing to grow relatively powerful, assuming reincarnation is a rapid process. But beyond the Society of Midnight, there aren't terribly many enemies that I would be concerned about having a revival. That said, nobody has to hate me to cause trouble for the continent. There have no doubt been countless individuals killed by those who are now under our banner. We couldn't just give anyone up because someone said they have a grudge with someone from a former life."

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"Or they might just do it anyway," Astrid shrugged. "Empires tend to wish to expand."

John thought about that for a moment. "My initial instinct is to resist with all of our might."

"... but?"

"But that would depend on how the Empire actually operates and how strong they are. I can't say that I have any actual interest with joining up with such a group, but that might be mainly because I currently hold a position of power."

Astrid shrugged, "But you could also leverage your current position to maintain a high position under their rule. Hypothetically." She leaned against him. "I think we're plenty strong. And I suspect it would rankle you to take such a position."

"... Have I become so proud?" John asked. "I didn't mind being beneath others once."

She chuckled slightly, "I don't think that's the issue. You just care too much about what happens to people. More than… the traditional cultivation leaders. You have a few friends with similar temperaments. Perhaps this is the morality of your Earth leaking through."

"Or the idealized version of it," John commented. "Because… things were far from perfect there. I just didn't have any way to do anything about it, so it was easier to ignore it. Subconsciously."

"Well," Astrid shrugged. "In case this Empire of Elements turns out to be a big evil empire, I guess we have to continue to do what we were going to do anyway. Train and grow strong."

-----

Tihomir was kind enough to spar with John personally, and John barely even regretted it at all. He was reminded of some old memories. He felt like when he had first visited the Green Sands. The Furnace Sect. Yes, that was an apt comparison to how the Timucin clan did things.

Though it was obviously biased, he couldn't really reject an arena that was an unshielded region in the center of the island- an arena of lava. Was it unfair that he, a darkness-earth-air-water-fire cultivator had to face off against a cultivator in a water and fire element arena? Certainly, parts of it were bad for parts of him and none were strictly negative for Timucin, but John should expect something similar wherever he went.

Lava was just a bit more extreme than the norm. They were both Ascending Soul Phase cultivators, though, and it was a sign of proper respect that Tihomir wasn't trying to go easy on John.

It was hot. Obviously. But it rapidly became hotter. In some places, the red-orange glow escalated to bright yellows or even white. That was about as far as visual distinctions could go, but his spiritual energy could sense the differences where it was hotter.

John hadn't just let Timucin heat up the arena without doing anything. Half of it had happened almost immediately, with a rush of energy. The rest Timucin managed while John chased him around the arena, throwing daggers and slashing with his sword. Timucin himself carried a bow, concentrating fire element spiritual energy around some sort of metallic arrows with extreme melting points and shooting at John.

Even the fletching was supernaturally heat resistant. Phoenix feathers, perhaps? There were a number of things that cultivators might call a phoenix- a spirit beast like Cuah'arn with a bias towards fire instead of light would be sufficient. Mostly, John's avoidance of the arrows- which left their heat behind in the lava where they landed- suggested to him that he might need to increase the level of expense he spent on his throwing daggers.

He wasn't using cheap steel or anything, but there were materials that were quite receptive to spiritual energy that John had access to. It would hurt every time he lost a throwing dagger, but if he could be ten or twenty percent more expensive it was only reasonable that he did so.

Water element coated his sword as he deflected another arrow, trying to knock it upwards so that it wouldn't land within the arena. The formations around the arena would strip it of any excess heat and spiritual energy when the arrow hit the barrier.

If John allowed his weapon to be heated and cooled with water element, he knew the thermal shock would destroy it. That was why he had to prevent the infiltration of heat regardless. It was easier to block just the spiritual energy, but he had to focus.

He also didn't want to allow Timucin to keep raising the temperature. It wasn't so bad with John having his own fire totem, but it would still advantage his opponent. He no doubt had attack forms based around having extreme temperatures around… even if he hadn't displayed them yet.

To that end, John called upon a particular one of his elements to draw away the heat. He couldn't use earth to transfer the temperature deeper into the ground- he found no point in pushing the temperature a few centimeters deeper at great effort. The problem was that the lava was already hot. Instead, he made use of what he could to draw the temperature upward with air element.

He created something like a constant updraft, which was actually to his advantage against the arrows Timucin fired, drawing them off course. It wasn't impossible to wrestle them back towards their target, but it was a battle of efficiency and technique.

There was one weakness Timucin had, which was that the Kelemen clan didn't practice the water element. He couldn't expect them to be weak to it like traditional fire cultivators, but their options were limited. John began to play around with various forms of attack to see if he could find any weaknesses.

Timucin didn't easily sink into the ground when John loosened the lava. It would have been rather embarrassing to fall to such a basic manipulation, but John still had to try. He occasionally scooped up a lump of lava and flung it towards Timucin. Usually the man avoided them. Sometimes he siphoned off some of the heat as he did so, adding it to his current attack. And occasionally, John caused them to explode in the air when they got close.

Their first spar ended with neither claiming a victory. Having worn down their spiritual energy beyond a certain point, it wasn't safe to continue. The formations of the arena couldn't perfectly protect them from attacks, even if both parties wished for things to be safe. That was always true, but the risks were several times as high when they were fatigued.

John wondered if he should incorporate more light element into the spar next time. It might not actually help him win, but if he was considering his growth that might be optimal.