Forgiveness was not a word that John often heard nor did he dwell upon it frequently in his own thoughts. This world rarely had a use for it. It was seen as a weakness… and John could see why. The world was high in violence in part due to the significant personal power of individuals. The appropriate response to many things was violence in turn. No doubt some people from Earth would have pointed out how that promoted an endless cycle of violence. That might be true, but John also knew that it wouldn’t end if he allowed himself and everyone he loved to die.
There were alternatives. Wealth based reparations didn’t really make anyone happy, but sometimes things like that were sufficient for all involved parties to hold back. At least for a while. Rarely forever.
That was never forgiveness though, was it? Not really. People still held onto a grudge in their heart, and John could see how that would hurt them more than anything else. Over his surprisingly long life he had experienced trauma more than a few times, sometimes without any direction.
He didn’t usually think about forgiveness, but he had been doing so lately. He had to. That was because what he’d lost couldn’t be repaid with any amount of wealth. Yet at the current time, it appeared that seeking revenge would only bring negative consequences for all involved.
John truly wished he could stop thinking about Aldara altogether, but he couldn’t. Personally and politically she was important, no matter how much he didn’t like it.
He had to invite her to view the tournament. He simply had to. But that didn’t mean he was going to enjoy it. And he had no idea if he should or could forgive her.
-----
Never before had John agonized so much about seating arrangements.
“Opposite doesn’t convey the right message, does it?” John shook his head.
Viriato agreed. “It would appear that we are in opposition, which is not what you want.”
“Yet sitting together would imply things I’m not willing to deal with,” John muttered.
The information that Aldara was a reincarnation of Matayal wasn’t public knowledge, but it wasn’t completely unknown, even if only at a rumor level. Likewise, the vast majority of people didn’t know how directly involved she was in Astrid’s death. Obviously as the Empress she was in some ways responsible for everything her people did, but people didn’t necessarily know that she was there.
Saying that Aldara had killed Astrid wasn’t quite right, but it was impossible to disentangle that within John’s thoughts.
It wasn’t just about seating arrangements, but he still had to do it right. And John’s personal input was needed for this part. “Placing us some ratio of the way around the area simply doesn’t make sense. There aren’t other parties to balance things out.”
“Indeed,” Viriato said. “Implying that regional cultivators are on the same level as yourself and Empress Aldara would not only insult her but give others big heads.”
John didn’t like to admit it, but he personally was also important. Not just the alliance he’d managed to pull together, but him as an individual. He would still mean something without the alliance, but without him it would be a far more tenuous arrangement.
He wasn’t an emperor. He didn’t want to be. But he wasn’t far from it, was he?
John wanted to surround himself with emotional support. Friends and family. Family he could do, but he didn’t want to show too much public favoritism for particular groups. He already did it quite frequently, he was certain.
Some of the seating arrangements could be self-selection. John didn’t want to let too much factionalism emerge, but even though the Six Elements Crossroads ran the tournament he didn’t want to dictate everything.
“... We’ll have to be next to each other,” John said. “Just not too close. Adjacent boxes where we can interact, but that’s all.”
If they packed sufficient numbers of people into each, there would be enough mental space between himself and Aldara.
Of course, things would be simplest if she politely rejected the invitation to view the tournament.
-----
She didn’t, obviously. Once the mere idea of the invitation was in the public mind, it would have been bad for their recent peace to reject something so important. The tournament itself wasn’t important- it was what it represented. Unity. Unity for the continental alliance. They weren’t anywhere close to some sort of unity between the two separate continents, but John could at least show the Empire of Elements what they had. Within reason.
Some people were worried about giving away secrets or techniques being stolen. A rational fear, truth be told. However, John knew they didn’t have to be worried. Not because the Empire of Elements couldn’t do it, but because Aldara existed.
He’d fought her. He knew that techniques developed by anyone else wouldn’t be enough for her. The specifics really didn’t matter, but there was something different about six elements. Or perhaps it was simply the Exalted Soul Phase that was a differential factor. Either way, John had fought her. They had both advanced in battle. They were far too similar, so he was quite certain she would operate in that same manner. If she needed techniques for inspiration, she could look among her own people. She wouldn’t need to steal anything from her neighbors.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
The Empire of Elements would come to witness their tournament. They would not be participating, this time. No doubt people wished John and Aldara would display their prowess. John simply didn’t find the need, even if he was somehow assured of people’s safety. As for the rest? They might not be willing to display themselves in front of so many former foes… and they wouldn’t be as relevant anyway.
-----
The tournament didn’t happen right away. The schedule had already been broken because of the war, so shifting it slightly for convenience was easy enough. There were so many things to do before it came around.
Among those things was ensuring the future of the Six Elements Crossroads. John had absolutely no intentions to retire his mortal coil any time soon. He was still young… surprisingly. Cultivation was astounding.
Anyway, he had a number of disciples that were angling for the Ascending Soul Phase. Many had chosen the difficult path of a core cycle of elements- and achieved it in the Consolidated Soul Phase. Progress from there was difficult, but John’s own insights in recent times had let him guide them more clearly.
Ayhan and Lir would be first. Each was selecting a dual element totem, such that their combined elemental balance would still remain a perfect split between the core elements. That had always been the plan, it was simply that John’s guidance improved their confidence about safely advancing to the Ascending Soul Phase.
John was there personally to oversee their advancement. He could modify any external factors regarding the balance of spiritual energy. They would be in the highest quality training room the sect had- the secret valley was a bit too chaotic for their tastes. They didn’t need more power, but constructed stability. Obviously, John would not be neglecting any resources they needed. Only the highest quality for his best disciples… though it wasn’t as if anyone of the Six Elements Crossroads was ever denied what was necessary. If a disciple would not make good use of resources, they simply wouldn’t remain part of the sect. It wasn’t a matter of talent, but will and commitment. If talent was all important, then a handful of street orphans wouldn’t be approaching the highest echelons of power the continent had.
Obviously just entering the Ascending Soul Phase wasn’t enough, but John was confident they would continue to grow strong.
-----
John was nothing. He was the background spiritual energy of Astrein, which was to most as if there were no spiritual energy at all. Obviously his disciples could pick out individual elements from the region, but he himself could be even more balanced. A true combination, much like a single new element. Not a distraction, though.
He patrolled the area. A sect head should be particularly concerned with the growth of the best disciples. The first fully homegrown Ascending Soul Phase cultivators of the sect were important. John also personally cared for them, regardless of other reasons.
He avoided prying into the cultivation chambers. All he had to do was control the flow of things outside. If he observed their attempts to advance he might be tempted to interfere, something he was certain had no positive outcomes. The pair could be responsible for each other, but as their master John’s energy had no business trying to stabilize their dantians or assuage temperamental totems.
It seemed to be taking a long time. How long had it been? Hours?
John supposed advancing to the Ascending Soul Phase hadn’t been short for him either. Not really. His first, ill advised attempt had been quite lengthy. Then he’d met these very disciples during his period of rebuilding.
Advancing to the Exalted Soul Phase had been… natural. Not easy, but swift. Given the circumstances, he would have actually found it more difficult to not advance. It still wouldn’t have worked if he hadn’t dedicated himself to perfection for so long leading up to that point. If he hadn’t chosen to carry a full balance of elements even without a totem- a difficult task to maintain day in and day out- his efforts would have been insufficient.
And he probably would have been dead, though perhaps not at Aldara’s hand but to himself. He could only hope that he had properly prepared his own disciples for their next step. John had no idea if it would be their final phase, but he had been confident they could do it.
He just had to be patient.
Every once in a while, a certain element drained when they used an excessive amount of one thing. John could draw in that necessary element from afar better than the training enchantments could, and he was swift about it- without causing unnecessary disturbances.
The sun set, and the sun rose. They were not yet finished… but likewise John could detect no indication had gone awry.
After a total of twenty hours, he could once again sense his disciples as they opened the door to the training chamber. They were strong. Stable. And the two of them felt as one. Perfect dual cultivation partners not because they had been born that way, but because they had chosen to become thus. It hadn’t been an easy path.
John hoped their success would inspire his other disciples… without making anyone feel rushed. He knew that failures were inevitable, especially at the top end of things. His inner circle happened to be flush with monstrously talented individuals, but it was normal for some amount of failures to occur during advancement. John supposed that as long as he included himself, that was true even for his group.
Failure wasn’t always death. Sometimes it went smoothly, a minor setback. Sometimes it damaged cultivation. John’s near complete collapse was about as far as it could go, though a complete destruction of the dantian might not kill someone. Though they would likely wish they were dead, both from the pain and the loss of potential. It was hard to act beyond human limits and just lose that. John knew, even if it had only been temporary.
“Congratulations,” John said. “You have done remarkably.”
“Only due to your guidance,” Ayhan said.
“And your taking us in to begin with,” Lir pointed out.
There was humble, and then there was simply rude. John had to admit that they were mostly speaking truth. “All useless if you weren’t willing to put in the effort. I could speak a million deep insights and if there was no one there to properly receive it, it would be worthless.”
That was far enough. They could go back and forth with complements but it would get tiring. Fortunately, John’s disciples knew better than to be overly aggrandizing.
It was time for them to go show off a bit. Maybe tempt Viriato a little bit- John thought he might be able to help guide the man properly at this point. But if he liked where he was at, it was also fine for him to remain. His value wasn’t in his strength, really. Though higher cultivation would be for the best if only so that he could be around longer. John was intending to live as long as he could, and he’d prefer that those around him did the same.
