Truthful Transmigration

Rather than rushing towards the Fifth Peak, the group took their time surveying the Sky Islands. For the most part they avoided any area controlled by larger clans or sects, as they didn’t have any particular business with them and didn’t want to draw too much extra attention to themselves. Obviously people would notice foreigners in a place they could rarely even exist, but there was only so much they could do.

While John had first noticed a mix of various elements, those who wanted to be taken as serious cultivators tended to cultivate either earth or air, usually both. It made sense, but John felt it had a certain lack of enlightenment behind it. Just like Astrein was not actually lacking in spiritual energy, earth and air weren’t the only things present in the Sky Islands. All of the core elements were relatively abundant, it was simply that water and fire were overshadowed by the other two.

Using a less common element was admittedly a disadvantage, but that could be made up for by a lack of competition and the competitive edge from an unusual style. And while in other places he might simply recommend that people migrate to an elemental zone that fit them, entering and leaving the Sky Islands was much more difficult.

The general sentiment that John gathered was that the Sky Islands were just better than the continental folk, so why would anyone want to be part of them, or put in effort to reach them? Even if nobody was directly confrontational, that could have partially been because of his cultivation rank.

Flying around the islands or along the connected paths was much easier than flying free throughout the air. Not only was there plentiful spiritual energy, but something about the islands augmented the effectiveness. Most likely the same crystals that allowed them to float in the sky in the first place, though the people were surprisingly rather protective of such things so he never got to observe them up close. He didn’t intend to force it, either.

After a few days of travel, the Great Peaks came into view. As they were even higher than the general altitude of the Sky Islands, they stood out even more. They were further from the continent, standing tall in a sort of helix starting from the Fifth Peak spiraling up towards what was presumably the First Peak in the top middle.

Merely seeing them didn’t mean they were particularly close, however. Some of them were as far above the other islands as the majority were above the sea below. If it were not for the mitigating factors around the islands themselves, it might not even be possible for people to properly breathe at such altitudes.

“Sect head,” Ayhan mused shortly after they spotted the Great Peaks. “How high do you think we can get?”

“All the way to the top,” John commented.

Ayhan shook his head. “I appreciate the encouragement, but that is not entirely what I meant. The three of us are weaker than yourself. I wondered how far we might get on our own merits.”

“My answer is the same,” John replied. “Though you might need a little time.”

Viriato added his own comments. “If one were to compare them to the phases of cultivation, we should at least make it to the Third Peak. Though it is unclear if they would be counting down from the true peak of cultivation, or just the Ascending Soul Phase.”

John frowned. “It’s a bit difficult to tell… but I feel like we would know if they had any Exalted Soul Phase cultivators. Even from here, unless they chose to hide their power. I can just feel something like the Ascending Soul Phase over there. Not any individuals, though.”

“That would put you at the second peak,” Lir pointed out to Viriato. “You are a Consolidated Soul Phase cultivator, after all.”

“But not one that fits into the local norms,” he countered. “I have no reason to believe that the challenges will be equally fitting for all.”

Ultimately, Deepak had informed them that as John’s retainers, they would be able to go along with him. But the better they performed, the more respect their group would have. The two disciples were nervous, though because of their youth they shouldn’t be judged too harshly. On the other hand, it was impossible to say how they would be treated as outsiders.

-----

Although the group spotted some flying beasts along the way, they never seemed to come close to the main islands. Most likely they had some sense of the danger, so travel ended up relatively safe and without obstructions. When flying was less intensive, matters of unfit terrain went out the window. Especially when there often wasn’t terrain to begin with.

They passed a few other travelers along the way, but not terribly many. While there were numerous islands, none seemed to have a terribly large population. Without knowing the full extent of things John couldn’t make an accurate assessment of their population, with his estimates ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. Seta had only a few hundred individuals, but the population density could certainly be higher.

The only other point of reference John had was the forces that passed through the Wuthering Steppes and the Darklands along with Sitora. They only totaled a few hundred, though their cultivations were relatively powerful. Many Soul Expansion Phase cultivators and a decent complement of the Consolidated Soul Phase as well.

At the time, that was sufficient to suppress the continental forces along their route. Even now they’d have to consider the consequences, but they were much less likely to simply allow outsiders to act as they pleased- instead they would be able to call upon the aid of others, instead of each clan and sect acting mostly as individual forces.

The point being, if Sitora was part of the Second Peak, it could be presumed they had greater forces than that. So even if the total population of the Sky Islands was likely under a million, they still had a high proportion of powerful cultivators.

Traveling for multiple days with frequent stretches that required flying got John much more familiar with the process. He’d learned it before, but now it became more automatic. Obviously he wouldn’t be as skilled as those who had lived in the Sky Islands their whole lives, but with the boost from the islands he didn’t find it particularly fatiguing. Even Ayhan and Lir were able to fly under their own power. Viriato unfortunately didn’t have much control over air energy, but it wasn’t like he would need that particular element anywhere else.

They were only a few islands away from the Fifth Peak, half a day of travel at most, when Viriato suddenly spoke while their group was transitioning between islands. “Trouble up ahead.”

“I sense them too,” John said. “And I don’t intend to doubt you, but I would like to know what makes you believe they’re trouble.”

“The fact that they confirmed we were more than halfway along the path before moving towards us. They’ve been waiting for a while.”

“Perhaps a member just arrived to join them?” John postulated. They had plenty of time to determine their course of action before they’d be close, so he felt it worthwhile to be thorough.

“I saw no one join them. And they were certainly looking at us in particular.”

“You can see them clearly from here?” John asked. “Impressive.” His own eyes were better than they’d ever been on earth, but that wasn’t unusual for cultivators.

“It’s a simple trick of Light,” Viriato said. “I imagine you could do it. It’s quite useful, as it doesn’t alert others.”

“This is why I brought you along,” John said. “Aside from your general strength and knowledge of trade, and all the other reasons you’re an Elder. I’ll trust your judgment.” He thought for a few moments. “Can you two support Viriato’s flight? He will be able to fight, and I’d rather be free to move independently if there is an issue.”

Ayhan nodded. “We’ll take care of it.”

“Great. Oh, and we won’t make the first move in any circumstances. If they’re smart enough to reconsider before they act, we’ll let them go.”

There were nine of them in total. Six Soul Expansion Phase cultivators and three Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators. John wasn’t familiar enough with the local factions to tell who they might be associated with. All he could tell was that they were mixed earth and air cultivators- with the Soul Expansion cultivators having earth as their majority element as two out of three totems.

They were so bad at hiding their hostility that John almost thought they might have naturally foul dispositions and were simply trying to pass by peacefully. But when they flew adjacent to the group without saying anything, John realized they might want to try to take out the more vulnerable cultivators first.

He was half right, as the three Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators all at once called upon their earth energy, surrounding John with it. Before he even realized, he was falling- and a moment later, he was below the level of the ‘path’.

“Hmph, how trivial,” commented one of the Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators, one of two women.

How interesting. They had negated his flying technique with a surge of earth element that latched onto him, which also served to weigh him down. Thus, even when he stretched air element beyond it he wasn’t immediately able to fly. But John couldn’t afford to inspect their technique for long, instead relying on natural counters. Flames crackled around him, burning away the lingering earth element.

A moment later, he was rocketing upwards in a swirling tornado of flames. It seemed Viriato had acted more swiftly than the Soul Expansion Phase cultivators, a burst of light blinding them and darkness throwing off their energy senses. Now, it appeared as if three version of Viriato, Ayhan, and Lir faced against the six. That fight they could win, but with the addition of three Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators? Viriato would have to pull out the best tricks John had ever seen.

But John wasn’t out of the fight for as long as they had predicted- or perhaps they had thought him unable to return at all, unable to fly outside of the paths. As if he could have gotten to the Sky Islands any other way.

He charged directly upwards into one of the three stronger cultivators, catching the man around the throat, ethereal flames enveloping them both. The three reacted by attempting their technique once more, but with flames twirling around John it barely caught hold for even a moment. In turn, John expanded his own earth and water energy around them.

Enough earth element to negate their flying, while the water pushed them all closer together. John sealed them all together with bands of earth.

“Turnabout is fair play, I think,” John commented.

One of the women almost immediately managed to reinforce their flying techniques, but that was why the three were bundled together. With others weighing them down, they all fell together. But of course, if John simply left them there was a good chance they would escape just as he had. They wouldn’t have fire element to burn away the restraints, but they could dismantle uncontrolled earth element.

Thus, John followed them down, keeping control of his energy even as he supplied more earth element. He also used his air to push off of them, supplementing his flight by pushing them down.

“What is this- how?” the man called out as they breached the edge of the path, the normal atmosphere taking over.

“Come now,” John said. “You came here for me. Don’t tell me you didn’t know what to expect from an Ascending Soul Phase cultivator.”

With one final shove, he thrust away from them, back towards the other battle. There was some chance they would be able to return to the battle, but given how they were surprised he did it he wasn’t expecting much. Either way, he could make use of the time without them to take out the others.

Viriato, Ayhan, and Lir clearly weren’t used to fighting in the sky. Even with the flight being supplemented by the path, most of the disciple’s focus remained on that. However, the enemies also clearly weren’t used to fighting light and darkness cultivators- and they couldn’t reasonably have been prepared for one cultivator who was both.

Viriato’s energy twisted towards them, allowing the interplay of light and darkness to detonate when it reached them. One had fallen already, and another was on his last legs.

With light, darkness, water, and fire Viriato created reflections, mirages, and other distortions they couldn’t keep up with. They almost never knew if they were attacking a real enemy.

John threw daggers billowing with flame as he approached, burning through their primarily earth defenses. With only one air totem, the Soul Expansion Phase cultivators were only just able to fly, and even minor injuries made them lose focus. John let them try to arrest their falls as he approached, cutting down one of those still- while Viriato finished off a third.

The Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators seemed to have caught themselves a few hundred meters down, but they were flying away towards another island. John wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to chase them down at the moment, as Ayhan and Lir seemed to be pushing their limits carrying Viriato. Better for all of them to reach solid ground than for John to go running off after some fools, even though they would doubtless cause more trouble later.