Trying to find a middle ground between burying himself in records and forcing random members of the Mozdar clan to help him search for wrongdoings of their own family was a difficult task. At some point, John stopped being gentle with the various records- though he also wasn’t going to let them be damaged. He had sufficient spiritual energy to destroy the clan, he could certainly prevent a few scrolls from being damaged. He just stopped concerning himself with the wrappings or whether they remained ‘organized’ in the same fashion. He just tossed them in a pile if they weren’t useful, though he did at least protect the physical writings.
John wasn’t really in a mood to be charitable, though. Someone trying to kill him had merely been the last straw, and wasn’t even close to the largest factor in his current mental state. If he wasn’t able to handle people trying to kill him he wouldn’t have made it this far in his second life.
Finally, he found the first tidbit. Along with the general lack of organization, the Mozdar clan wasn’t good at secret bookkeeping. They had scraped out a few layers of the parchment and written over it, mentioning recent finances that came from the Crystal Sea. Except traces of the original word remained beneath that, ink that soaked through further layers actually mentioned the Windswept Sea. All John had to do was narrow his energy senses significantly, but it wasn’t even close to the complexity of trying to rewire his own body.
The reason it had stood out was because there weren’t any sects in the Crystal Sea. They should have gone for something more remote. The Sky Islands would have been mentioned directly- and indeed they had been in other documents. That made him take a second glance to notice the slightly thinner parchment that had been altered, and finally the faint remains of the original text underneath.
It wasn’t perfect as evidence, but that wasn’t what John needed. He just needed some confirmation for himself. The main question he still had to resolve was how much of the clan was involved. Certainly whoever had written the cover up. Obviously that included the clan head Zelma herself, as she’d been the one who made the attempt. Other clan members who had come along with her to the feast had been captured as well, but their guilt or innocence would still be being assessed.
Rather than looking for specific words, John actually found it easier to look for especially thin parchment. Quite a few of the instances were just mistakes by the scribe- scraping away a couple layers of parchment was effectively the only way to erase. At least, without techniques that would be uncommon for air cultivators. Earth or water cultivators would likely be the best options for extracting ink from a page. John was intimately aware that any aspect of spiritual energy could accomplish any task, but some were still more efficient.
He finally found more actual concealments. Some on financial records, which were probably just for cheating on taxes- though it would have been better for them to never write down the correct values. He made sure to keep those records too, even if those wouldn’t be relevant to his current task.
Finally, John found records of journeys. Only a few entries were redacted, with some seemingly mislabeled from the beginning. The amounts of supplies and travel time simply didn’t match up, and John knew that because he’d gone back and forth across the continent multiple times.
Most of the business was normal. A decently sized clan should travel around for business. In the current climate, they shouldn’t have to conceal any dealings either. That was how he took stock of several specific names that seemed to match up with Zelma herself.
Was that the end of things? Likely not. But… John just needed to get those most responsible. Anyone tangentially involved in working with the Windswept Sea could be ignored. With the majority of the clan remaining intact they might hold a grudge against him… or they might appreciate how many opportunities for advancement he opened up. It was also likely that at least a few of the leaders in the clan might be directly opposed to working with outsiders… or at least trying to kill him. Especially once they were convinced he was in the Exalted Soul Phase, which he was going to prove… right now.
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John revealed himself in the air over the clan. Maybe a few people would have an inkling he had been around for longer, but it ultimately didn’t matter. He twisted his spiritual energy so that each individual element was most prominently displayed, instead of fading together into something that didn’t feel as grand to those with overly focused senses.
“Mozdar clan. Your clan head Zelma has made terrible choices that implicate your clan as a whole… including the elders Bronson, Pearle, and Sera.” As he spoke, John twisted small strands of spiritual energy around the individuals in question. Nothing actually restrictive, but sufficient to indicate he knew where they were for both their sake and that of the rest of the clan. “An assassination plot with sects of the Windswept Sea, sworn enemies of the continent.”
“What proof do you have?!” Pearle responded strongly. Her phrasing, however, was indicative of her having just woken up. Otherwise she might have declared that such a thing couldn’t be instead of indicating that he could have proof.
Plus he did have it. “Hundreds of witnesses from within Lunson itself,” John said. “And of course your own records damn you. How was your visit with the Stormy Sea Sect?” John increased the pressure around her as she started to brush away that single strand. He used the weight of earth to hold Elder Pearle in place, nearly knocking her to the ground.
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John floated the relevant documents around him, smiling down at them. Most people wouldn’t see his face well, but the strongest individuals would.
His smirk got exactly the reaction he wanted. Elder Bronson shot up as an actual bolt of lightning, hand extended like a spear. He directly struck one of the pages, but it was his hand that shattered. John grabbed him around the throat with his free hand. “I guess you’ve volunteered to be the first to die. The two of you might get a lesser punishment if you are cooperative.”
John wanted them to be certain he was in the Exalted Soul Phase, so he made sure to flex all of his totems as his spiritual energy bore down on Bronson. He didn’t even use a proper technique. His actions were extremely wasteful as he ripped apart the man’s spiritual energy. Finally, John’s fingers squeezed together- leaving little but the man’s spine intact. John tossed him downward.
Pearle caught the man to at least partially preserve his body. She shared a look with Sera. John prepared for them to attack together… but clearly they thought better of it. They then looked to the rest of the clan for support. Perhaps they would declare their innocence, how this was all a setup. The problem was… even if that had been true, which it wasn’t, and even if they could kill John with their entire clan- which they couldn’t unless he fought stupidly- they would still get erased from the face of the earth.
“We will cooperate,” Sera said firmly. She was livid. Cultivators hated to look weak. However, many of them preferred to be alive if it came down to a conflict. Especially when there really wasn’t much other choice.
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Flying with three people was barely different from flying alone. He did have to carry three times as much weight, but the actual limitations were how well he could split the air ahead of him to increase their speed. If he held the two elders properly, they barely created any extra drag.
Contrary to how he had been on the way over, John made sure he revealed himself on the way back. He flew low enough over various clans and sects for them to take a good look at his captives. He had obtained sufficient evidence, and if he could get either of the two women to snitch that would greatly help the situation.
He was thinking about the future on the return trip. They were literally just celebrating the end of a war, and it seemed like they’d have to get into another one in short order. Or maybe that was just what John wanted to distract himself. He supposed he should go along with the opinion of his trusted allies who were in a better mental state.
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Zelma was so angry about something. Maybe the fact that she screwed up. Honestly, John didn’t give her words much weight. There was a lot of yelling and screaming even as she headed towards execution, but he saw what she did. He had no personal doubts about her guilt, and he knew what needed to be done.
“For crimes against the continental alliance,” John finished a short speech, “You, Zelma Mozdar, are sentenced to death. What do you have to say for yourself?”
“You just want to found your own empire!”
“Eh…” John looked around. He was fairly certain he would have sufficient support if he tried that. Actually, he might be sufficient by himself- at least as far as public recognition went. There weren’t a lot of Exalted Soul Phase cultivators floating around. “I’ll pass. Sounds awful.”
Since she clearly didn’t have anything useful to say, he chopped off her head.
Sera was also executed. She hadn’t cooperated enough. Maybe she thought if she stayed quiet she wouldn’t incriminate herself, but that just wasn’t the case. Her association was already sufficient. And Pearle sun like a bird in a way that John assessed was mostly truthful. She might have pushed away some personal responsibility, but John really didn’t care except what he could expect from her in the future.
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Of the people he could confide in, Viriato might be one of the best choices remaining in the Six Elements Crossroads. He trusted his long time friend and ally with quite a lot… and without Astrid, friends were what he had. The rest didn’t live in the same city, though he could visit them fairly quickly, especially now.
“I’m glad we didn’t have to eradicate the whole clan,” John said. “But is it really a good result?”
Viriato shrugged. “As much as it can be? Yes. Circumstances don’t allow for perfect results. You would have been well within the norm to annihilate them entirely, but you were able to show some mercy without appearing weak. Not that anyone could claim you are actually weak anymore.”
John nodded. “But if I refuse to act, they won’t care how much martial prowess I have.” John was done with that topic. He wanted to think about positive things. “I know you have long given up on the Ascending Soul Phase… but I have new insights to share. If they change your confidence level, the Six Elements Crossroads will support you with any resources you need.”
Viriato had enough personal wealth to manage that sort of advancement, but having the sect pay for it was actually good for their reputation. Also, what else would they do with their money? Plate things in gold? Gold wasn’t even that nice of a color, certainly not in quantity.
The best use of wealth in this world was to make people stronger. Though, John did have to keep in mind that common people existed. Making sure cultivators didn’t completely oppress those weaker than them was already a huge advancement in how the world operated, but John knew there were more improvements he could make.
Most of his best disciples were orphans he took off the street, so John supposed that he was probably doing alright. It was just a shame he didn’t have someone with him to make sure he knew that.
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The continent didn’t go to war- not immediately, at least. That was for the best, because otherwise John might not have been present for Aldara flying into Astrein.
Their time apart hadn’t made him much more prepared to face her than the first time. It wasn’t about combat- there was no way she was strong enough to take on a city and John. No, it was just her presence… because there were some parts of her that John knew were Matayal. John loved Matayal- even so many decades after her death. But he also hated Aldara. Not a great mix for stability.
