The presence of Fermina came with a significant quantity of important information. Among the simplest of such things became maps and thus more general knowledge of the structure of the Empire of Elements. John suspected the maps and other information might contain some intentional inaccuracies, but that wouldn’t matter unless they were planning to go to war. Just knowing where each elemental region was and the potential to trade with them was significant.
The Empire of Elements weren’t just throwing their borders wide open. Even if Aldara was positively inclined towards them, John would have found it somewhat suspicious to do it all at once. The envoy gave the empire’s general plan regarding how they thought trade would best work. John was glad to have Viriato to manage such things, because they’d have to consolidate different trading desires between various groups. The Empire of Elements wasn’t willing to have representatives of every clan and sect- they were barely over the threshold where each elemental region could have a single representative.
They also wanted some ability to bring their own traders to the continental alliance. John suspected they would also serve as spies, because why wouldn’t they? He wasn’t going to reject the possibility, though. It was merely that a reasonable threshold had to be chosen. John would be taking opinions of the leadership in the various regions. He wanted to keep the various factions happy.
-----
It took some time for John to get to the report on the Empire of Elements’ internal conflicts. Frankly, John didn’t expect for the information to be accurate. He also had limited context for those involved. Obviously they had fought against a number of groups during the struggle over the Molten Sea, but he expected that the troublemakers would have tried to avoid involving themselves directly.
He needed Fermina to supply context for him, and she did so- in a matter-of-fact style.
“The final numbers were around ten percent.”
“Ten percent of what?” John asked. “Ten percent of the involved groups executed…?”
“Of course not.” If decent cultivators in this world could need glasses, John imagined that Fermina would have had them and pushed them up at that moment. “All of the traitors were executed. That was approximately ten percent of the population.”
John blinked. “... What? How many millions…?”
“Ah, I see there is a misunderstanding. I was of course only referring to cultivators of sufficient rank to matter. The general civilian population was only negligibly affected.”
John was relieved that Aldara probably wasn’t a psychopath. Or at least… not any more than the standard level that cultivators tended to be. There was a lot of killing. “Could you expand upon the population of traitors somewhat?”
He could of course read through a long list, but while it was arranged in a readable fashion, John was still lacking much of the context.
“I believe it would be simplest to begin with Erea,” Femina said. “She was a member of the Empress’ own sect, and the core of the rebellion. It appears she had been looking for opportunities to weaken Aldara for some time, and she was astute enough to determine that peaceful interactions with this continent would advance the Empress’ agenda significantly. Especially with regards to you. Those with sufficient insight into the Empress could see her change in attitude upon learning of your existence. Though I believe some speculated that you had slighted her in a past life, rather than being her husband. Though it could have been both.”
“Hmm. Does everyone in the empire know those details?” John asked.
“The Empress’ reincarnation is known to all. It is the source of her great talent, after all. And even if she was less open about it, her search for others of the sort would have given it away. Fewer people are aware of your prior connection, though Empress Aldara deemed it important information for my position here. She also mentioned the… sources of conflict.” Fermina paused for a moment. “But we should return to Erea. She convinced others to undermine Aldara. They worked in various ways.”
“Ten percent seems insufficient to overthrow her, though,” John commented. “Did they think they could win against nine times their numbers? Were they balanced towards the higher ranks of cultivation?”
“You presume that the rest of the population would have directly supported Aldara… or been present to stop her from being killed. Most would have stood aside if it came to civil war. Though, Erea herself wasn’t confident enough to make any direct moves.” Fermina shrugged. “Then you and the Empress advanced to the Exalted Soul Phase and her schemes became moot. Especially since she was able to put aside her obsession with you and see the schemes happening.”
“And the empire couldn’t get through even a simple message that she wanted to meet directly?” John wondered aloud.
“After your encounter with Roi, Erea managed to send a group of fools to ruin that avenue.”
“He could have tried himself.”
“He joined with the empress. I believe you avoided her a number of times. Though we now recognize that her honor guard was a bit too much.”
John nodded. “It was just an excessive amount of force in one place.” It annoyed him that small changes could have entirely changed the course of the war. It could have ended years earlier, or never even escalated to begin with. John would have been perfectly happy if they only took over half of the Molten Sea, and the locals wouldn’t have been able to do much themselves.
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On the other hand, small changes might have meant that when John and Aldara met they didn’t fight. They wouldn’t have advanced to the Exalted Soul Phase. And then Aldara and also possibly John might have been killed by plotting. Or at least significantly weakened, leading others to take their shot.
John liked to believe he had enough long term allies that the continental alliance would hold if he were weaker or gone. However, Aldara might not have had as many true friends. She only had so much time for frantic cultivation and empire founding. Being some decades behind him in building deeper roots was quite reasonable.
“So,” John said. “Ten percent.” John found it a bit unreasonable to have resolved such a thing in a matter of months. Then again, if Aldara was simply slaughtering those involved… it was feasible.
“Approximately,” Fermina confirmed.
If that was true, this was a perfect time to launch an assault. For what benefit? None at all, like most wars. They were always a net loss. Though of course, one particular group might come out ahead. John didn’t like thinking so small scale, though.
“Have you had any contact with a group known as the Sovereign Primacy?” John asked. “They control an archipelago off the northern coast.”
“Oh yes,” Fermina confirmed. “They were likely responsible for at least some portion of your failed communication attempts through that area. But unfortunately some of our coastal sects also had corrupt leadership. It wasn’t difficult for them to convince the rest to scuttle any ships from your empire.”
“It’s not an empire,” John protested.
“Perhaps it should be. Though it appears to be functional, so it doesn’t matter what you call it.”
-----
Were they instantly friends with the Empire of Elements? Certainly not. But at least they were talking, which was better than a complete lack of diplomacy. Would it be appropriate to invite some of them to the next tournament? Maybe the one after that, to give tensions some more time to die down and see how things were going.
The continent had missed one as a consequence of the war. They couldn’t exactly run a battle tournament if those same people were supposed to be on the frontlines. Well, there had been a half-baked lower rank tournament, but it was closer to a military training exercise.
The tournaments had been a good way to resolve internal strife- getting people together without actually killing each other was a huge step for cultivators. In some ways the war had let people get out their aggression in a fruitful manner… except of course for the general pointlessness of most wars. But at least it had built unity for the most part.
Except for the people that had been conspiring with the Windswept Sea. John wondered how many people were working for the Sovereign Primacy. It would astound him if the number were zero. They needed to learn more about the territory their neighbors controlled so they could infiltrate it. Maybe they should have done that long before, but most people would have wanted to just assault them if they were going to the effort of learning anything.
Future wars with at least one of them were inevitable. That was just a law of time- and John had seen much of it. He planned to see quite a bit more. He was still quite young, with his extended lifespan. He couldn’t say how much the Exalted Soul Phase had affected that, but he could see if he felt any older upon reaching the next rank.
He wondered if that would be before or after a war.
-----
John punched Renato into the ground, literally. He must have sunk at least a dozen meters. Normally that would have formed an impact crater, but a little bit of elemental manipulation changed that. Piercing through the ground spread out the impact force over a longer time. It also gave Renato some time to plan a counterattack, even if John chased after him.
“Seriously?” Renato’s voice echoed out from below. “I can’t even force you to use your weapon?” He didn’t surface alone, but instead took most of the surrounding rock with him as he shot upwards towards where John was flying. “Is that what a single rank means now?”
Some of the rocks cut ahead of the arc of his club while others followed behind. Either way, a widespread earthen lattice attached to John with the intent of dragging him downward- while also bombarding him with rocks.
John caught Renato’s club in his palm. If he was trying to win, he would never have done that- it was extremely inefficient. In some circumstances, it could have been insulting- except Renato was the sort that learned the best from straightforward conflicts. That was why he had been a good teacher for Ursel, though they did also have other learning styles. Renato could still get quite a bit out of a deep discussion on the elements, but Ursel preferred a few tidbits she could think about and go test on something. Usually, something big.
Even though his momentum was completely halted and his control over the rocks dispersed, John could feel Renato attempting another attack from a standstill. He was building up spiritual energy, but how would he use it?
John would find out later. The arenas really weren’t set up to account for battles with Exalted Soul Phase cultivators and people trying to kill them. John was confident in his power at his new phase, but not so much that he wanted to risk getting a hand blown off.
Heat flowed from him into the club, spiraling out from the core. Not enough to melt it right away, but sufficient to encourage Renato to let it go- or pull away. He did the latter. John was already following up with attacks of other elements- though he barely even thought of them as separate things anymore. His confidence in always defeating Renato- even barehanded- wasn’t merely the difference in phase. A full cycle of elements was so much more than he could ever explain directly… which was why he was trying to teach people through battle.
Blades of wind burst apart into flashes of light and darkness as Renato broke them apart. The fire inside his club turned into a heavy lump of earth, pulling him back. John’s style had always been flexible, but now he could improvise almost any technique he could conceive of. It was still better to practice something specific to a high state of proficiency, except for the surprise factor.
Renato hit the ground again, not quite as hard. This time he stopped on the surface, spreading out the impact. “Alright, that’s enough for today. How frustrating. We were so closely matched for so long… and now I can’t even beat you when you can’t see.”
“Ah. You noticed?” John asked. He could still read the expression on Renato’s face with his spiritual energy. “Don’t worry, it’s only temporary. I anticipated this stage in my new body tempering plan.”
Renato sighed. “Do you even need to bother?”
John created a flash of light. It couldn’t hurt Renato, but he flinched- just slightly. Overwhelming a single sense, even for a brief moment, could throw off everything in battle. “I absolutely do.” He wondered if he could do something for his ears. Would that be earth? Maybe Diamond Defense half-covered that already.
