Given his position, one might have expected that John’s face would be known to most of the continental alliance. During the tournament, everyone had the opportunity to look at him. Yet while that was technically true, nobody was really looking at him.
They were looking at the sect head of the Six Elements Crossroads, a mighty Exalted Soul Phase cultivator. And while John was those things, they weren’t all of him. They also had very little to do with his face. A simple change in wardrobe and he could look like any commoner. Well, not a commoner. It would likely be obvious from his demeanor that he was a cultivator, but people might not recognize more about him.
Obviously he’d have to be hiding his cultivation for that to work. Even though it wasn’t too oppressive with a near-perfect balance of elements, it was bound to draw attention. What John actually wanted wasn’t an even split, because nobody should have all six elements unless they were him. And a few members of the Six Elements Crossroads that were attempting a full cycle, but they wouldn’t have proper totems and thus likely had different ratios for those missing elements.
John actually displayed light element specifically. After all, what better way to hide than to specifically reveal you weren’t hiding anything? With a seemingly modest cultivation- something around the level of the late Soul Expansion Phase- nobody would take much note of him unless they put a lot of effort into looking deeper for no good reason.
A different hairstyle was the final piece of the puzzle. Those who weren’t familiar with him probably wouldn’t connect John to his actual position, and thus he could travel the country incognito. It was a good thing nobody at the Six Elements Crossroads would make a fuss about him needing guards or something. Not since he’d reached the Exalted Soul Phase
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Normally John would have taken any opportunity he could to visit friends and family, if he was going to be nearby. He consoled himself that he’d at least gotten a few moments before and during the tournament. Pleasurable company would have to wait for a later journey.
John had multiple goals as he started his journey south through the Stone Conglomerate. First was to check on the state of each region and its people. To see what its leadership wouldn’t tell him about, good or bad. The second was to determine, if he could, what was so different about the Exalted Soul Phase.
One would think he knew about the latter, being one of the two known individuals to reach the stage. And he did understand it, but only for himself. It wasn’t just that his version required six elements. It required each totem he had, his personality, and probably his interactions with Aldara. At the very least, he’d skipped a few decades due to that interaction.
John had expected his friends to follow immediately behind him. They all had great talent and numerous advantages. He’d done his best to aid them, yet they all lacked confidence. Even he lacked confidence in teaching them what he could. But if he observed each element individually again, he might find insights that would be helpful. Maybe not soon. It might even take a century- but if nothing killed them, an Ascending Soul Phase cultivator would easily reach that age. Even Soul Expansion Phase cultivators could live well past a century in good health.
There weren’t any solid numbers, with the best lifespan they had to look at being Sitora. She was old, having transmigrated some two centuries before John, but as a cultivator in the Ascending Soul Phase she could go for a while longer. Maybe a century, maybe two… if not for the injuries she had received from Abritt during her final efforts to display superiority. Or whatever that was- John hadn’t been interested in talking, just crushing her under her own sect grounds. Either way, injuries to a cultivator at an advanced age were harder to deal with, and even if they recovered to good health it could cost them some of their potential lifespan.
John wanted his friends and his children to remain young and healthy as long as possible. If he could figure out a reliable method for them to reach the Exalted Soul Phase, he would do so. Just not at the expense of actually spending time with them. Going incognito meant he didn’t have to visit any sects or clans. If he only stopped in places he felt might have some insights for him, he could cover every elemental region in a couple months.
It would also help him sort out his thoughts about everything. Being even the slightest bit friendly with Aldara felt like a betrayal of Astrid, but he didn’t believe she would feel that way. And, just like she’d helped him do with Matayal, she would want him to let go. Not to forget. However, clutching tightly onto memories to the point they were distorted didn’t benefit anyone, neither the living nor the dead. Nor those who reincarnated.
It was quite difficult to ask anyone if they wanted revenge on people who had killed him. Not as impossible on Earth, but he only had three examples. Renato… didn’t remember enough about the circumstances. His experiences of cultivation stayed with him and had helped his path, but beyond that there wasn’t much. Yustina had stated that she was entirely happy forgetting about how she died on the other side of the planet. Even now, when she might have opportunities to visit the area, she hadn’t expressed interest in anything beyond visiting her old home. Though maybe she would change her mind if she came across some clan or sect associated with her death. Aldara had created an empire and started a war.
So, there were different responses. John chose to believe Aldara might have been the forgiving sort, given various circumstances. At the very least, the practical realities didn’t allow him to seek revenge for her, so remaining bitter wouldn’t benefit him.
There was a tiny thought lingering in the back of his head that he might yet be able to ask her. If Matayal reincarnated, why not her? But it was a foolish thought, because he was already having difficulty about whether or not he should accept Matayal as the same person. Hoping for more of that was… insane. He couldn’t entirely discount the possibility, though he did hope if there was some peace to be had beyond death that Astrid would have achieved it.
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Earth was solidity. Yet it was also growth. People thought of stones as unchanging, but John had lived long enough to see the effects of erosion on the hills he passed through. Not nearly enough time to raise or bury mountains, but he saw stones fade away just as anything else, if perhaps a bit more stubborn. Then again, soil was easily moved and that was also in the domain of earth.
Darkness. It was concealment, yet it was also a drawing close. It could be used for deception, yet at the same time it could be used for revelation. It was easier to conceive of its negative uses, but there wasn’t anything inherently evil or unpleasant about it. Just like any other element, the biggest factors relied on its users.
Darkness clashed with light. That was what he experienced in the Annihilation Strip. A young and foolish Nik had ventured into the area. John might not have needed to find him, but his assistance certainly helped the man avoid a longer period of recovery.
The two elements happily lived together inside John. Nik and Melanthina didn’t maintain any stores of the other’s element, but they had trained to accept each other. Ereli had been born with the elements, while Viriato had been foolish enough to attune to light and darkness as his first totems but also lucky enough to survive. With Aldara, it was clear it wasn’t an absolute mutual destruction. The two elements were just a bit more volatile. Mutually overcoming… yet in certain extremes, mutually supporting. What were shadows without light? John was well aware that especially in this world they still existed, but the two could either complement each other or tear each other apart.
He spent some time in the Annihilation Strip. Perhaps he would find some insights he could share. Nobody on the verge of the Exalted Soul Phase was training both light and darkness, but Ereli wasn’t far from the Ascending Soul Phase. Then another few decades and she might be interested.
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The Deadfields were an interesting place, for all that they lacked any form of life. Unlike the Gloom Desolation, it all appeared entirely natural. The land wasn’t fertile, but beneath the ground was a thriving ecosystem of light. The Prism Underfields didn’t tend to accept random visitors, but John was aware of certain tunnels that nobody paid any mind to. They didn’t connect to any of the major chambers claimed by cultivators, so they just had an interesting form of light element as well as a decent quantity of reflective crystals.
Insects in the Soulrot Bog wouldn’t dare to bother John. They weren’t that wise on their own, but he found little difficulty in replicating the aura of insect focused cultivators and previous guides through the area. Darkness and water produced life in abundance, even if most of it wasn’t the sort of life that John liked. He hadn’t spent too much time there because it was mostly a place people passed through, but he felt something different.
Along with the other two elements, he felt a greater portion of earth. It was possible the region had changed, but it also could have been John who changed. Having the three allied elements make up a region wasn’t an unexpected thing. With the quantity being lower, most wouldn’t count it as a tri-elemental region. Just like people had at one point not counted Astrein as having any elements, even if might have had more total spiritual energy than any of the surrounding regions.
Water and air. Familiar storms and beautiful islands among the chaos. Sometimes traveling through adversity brought rewards… and sometimes you just survived.
Water and earth. Life in abundance. Some might even say it was overabundant. Growth was rapid, with roads being choked over with plant growth in a matter of seasons. Plants and beasts grew massive. Great Ring City was an example of what had once been one of the largest trees anywhere. John was fairly certain there were a few candidates, like the Indestructible Kapok Grove. He did spot a few as he wandered through the wilderness, but he didn’t bother measuring them.
He witnessed great beasts, but only those that were lesser tried to eat him. His displayed aura was too weak for anything powerful to want to consume, and he was too small for some of the others to bother with. Though of course, that was only if he didn’t make himself seem a convenient meal. He stayed well away from the path of a giant panther measuring ten meters at the shoulder. He provided the locals a warning about it, as the beast was the equivalent of an Ascending Soul Phase cultivator. The Viridia Wildlands were prepared for danger in general, but such particular threats were beyond them.
John would be recommending Ursel visit the area. She would love to solve that problem for them and he was confident in her power.
He witnessed the Emerging Bamboo Sect from afar. Somewhere in there was probably one of the stalks of bamboo he had fostered the growth of. He wondered if anyone remembered which one. He hadn’t been that important at the time. Probably a bunch of people picked one out and said with certainty which one was which, but it wouldn’t be true.
John planted a new far out from the sect. It didn’t mean much, but he filled it with a little bit of each element. He hoped it would grow big and strong, but he couldn’t do much beyond give it an initial boost and a nice place to live. It was next to the bottom of a waterfall, where it would receive plenty of water. It was surrounded by fertile soil. The air quality was excellent, even if there wasn’t all that much air element spiritual energy. There was always some, though. John could even sense fire element, deep in the background.
The brightness of the Shining Coast. John cut through only one corner, but it was the side adjacent to the Blustering Peaks. From there, he could see all the way to the actual coast. He got a few ideas for how to improve his light body tempering project. Nothing he would try right away, as potentially blinding himself on the road would be inconvenient. Ultimately, though, he wanted to be resistant to truly bright lights. Like adaptive polarization, but without the risk of going too dark and losing vision that way. It would be a careful balancing act. He considered how he might modify more of his body along a similar fashion. He didn’t think he wanted to absorb or reflect more light, but there might be benefits. He could turn his skin into camouflage of some sort, but that really wasn’t relevant when he’d always be wearing clothes. He wanted practical benefits, not… weird body modifications.
His climb through the Blustering Peaks only involved a little bit of cheating. Sometimes the ridge he chose didn’t actually lead where he wanted to go, and it was annoying to walk or climb back the whole way when he could just fly a little. He thought about how wind was made of positive and negative pressure.
The Boiling Springs had springs that were beyond hot. Yet they were still pleasant if he protected his body against most of the heat so that he wasn’t boiled alive. The spiritual energy was also a nice mix. Fire supporting water, more or less. He might have a few new thoughts for Yustina.
The Muted Crags were much more pleasant when you weren’t fearing ambushes. It was always strange to have reduced senses, but it was interesting. Melanthina might be the one most interested in what he learned.
The Rolling Dunes were far more alive than they had once been. A potent earth element region, it had been free of conflict for quite some time now. Those who made their home there understood that growth was valuable.
The Phoenix Forest was still on fire. How good for it. A stable burn was valuable.
The Sunfields reminded John of Astrid. They always would, now.
The Frozen Heights weren’t that bad when you didn’t have to drag foolish disciples through them. There was more life in the area than at first seemed viable. And he hadn’t noticed what lived in the soil deep beneath the layers of snow and ice on his previous visits.
He passed through the Encapsulated Flow to get a glimpse of the Molten Sea. The Burning Delta would appreciate a visit, but he wasn’t visiting anyone.
The residents of the Breathless Plain mostly stayed out of sight, hiding from dangers in their steep canyons. They could have been plotting anything… but he somehow didn’t feel that was likely. Maybe that was just bias based on who he knew.
Without the light element being sealed, the former Gloom Desolation was darkness dominant with a smattering of earth. What light there was in the background was merely sufficient for causing those without proper training to stumble because of it. If they didn’t get used to dealing with difficult elements early on, they likely wouldn’t grow far anyway.
John was quite startled when he was struck by lightning in the Glass Hills. He hadn’t thought the area around him would be so conductive. He was glad his spiritual energy had protected his eardrums, but they still hurt.
Winds once more, but warmer.
Hot desert. It wasn’t at all unpleasant anymore. There were surprisingly many living things he hadn’t known about because they’d never tried to eat him.
A swift journey wasn’t going to radically change his level of insights, but taking a good look at everything once again could still awaken new perspectives over time. It was easy to miss so much. In another decade, John would no doubt discover more. Even if someone knew about things, it was all about what he could experience himself.
While he was gone, everything was fine. Viriato had held things in check for the whole war with the Molten Sea. He had more potent cultivators to supplement his experience and influence now, with some of the others reaching the Ascending Soul Phase.
A new opportunity to view elemental regions had shown up, though. It was unexpected, but it shouldn’t have been. An official missive from Aldara, asking John to visit the Empire of Elements. It wasn’t a rush, but he probably should do so within the next couple of years. That was how diplomacy worked, after all. It wasn’t just one side that needed to feel comfortable with the other. It had to work both ways.
John was invited to bring as many friends and allies as he wished. The Empire of Elements could accommodate a large group, and it was likely John should match Aldara’s retinue to some extent. There were also some hints that John might get to meet some of the transmigrated and reincarnated people from the Empire of Elements. It still wasn’t clear how that worked, but it was a select group of out… well, John didn’t know the population of the world. Or even much beyond Astrein itself, which was in the millions of permanent residents- compared to tens of thousands it had once had, with practically nobody living outside of Lunson or Pearl Landing.
The Empire of Elements. He wanted to see what made them prosperous… and if it seemed valuable to replicate, they could adopt some practices. Though he had the feeling they were quite close to the traditional cultivators of his early life- prone to conflict. It was merely that they were suppressed by Aldara’s power at the moment.
