With the Empire of Elements having pulled entirely out of the Molten Sea, John didn’t know if it mattered how long the peace would be. Nor did it matter if the purge of their own ranks was exaggerated. John himself was still on the fence of whether or not he believed them. Matayal he would have trusted, but Aldara wasn’t her. Or at least, not all of her. There were parts of him that told him that even if that was the case- or especially because it was the case- that he should seek out more opportunities to interact with her. To guide her into being who she was before. To form her into a better person.

  As if John knew what that was. His moral high ground was based on being better than others, but he still killed people. He couldn’t say the Empire’s move against the Molten Sea had been wrong. The escalation beyond that might not have been their intent… and of course if the continent hadn’t acted against them, maybe their people wouldn’t have been harmed. But he couldn’t relive the past and make different choices, so it was impossible to know for certain.

  Cultivation was amazing. Spiritual energy was powerful. John had seen how great it could be, his horizons widened. Yet even he knew there were things that were impossible. Turning back time was certainly one of those. At least, at any rank he could conceive of. If somehow cultivation extended to a twelfth phase, twice as many as John was aware of, and it continued to grow exponentially… even then, he wasn’t sure. He didn’t even have a theoretical basis to turn back time. It was merely a thought. A wish.

  It was the only thing he couldn’t do, so of course it was the only thing he wanted. A paradox of power. Except… it wasn’t quite all John desired. He still had the companionship of friends and family. He hadn’t lost all of that. Just a portion.

  It was easy to dwell on the negative. It hadn’t even been half a decade since Astrid passed so John felt justified holding onto things for a little bit longer. He knew that she would have wanted him to let go, though. Not to forget her- just to move on and be happy without her. With the memories he had.

  John was almost happy when the next war came. Not actually happy. He was a better person than that. But he could still appreciate a good distraction if it was happening anyway. And it was far better than some sort of internal conflict.

  -----

  Trouble from the Windswept Sea had been anticipated after the events with the Mozdar clan. John might have expected them to pull back upon their connection being revealed, but instead they chose to double down. Perhaps they were hoping that the continent would still be off balance. As far as cultivator timescales went, it was pretty close to an immediate attack after the end of the war with the Empire of Elements.

  But they’d had plenty of time to recover. And more importantly… they’d grown far stronger since the last time there was a clash.

  Word came to John about attacks on the Gloom Desolation. They were the closest landfall for those coming from the Windswept Sea, and had been one of the primary targets of the Stormy Sea Sect. They had also caused some trouble on the rest of the coastline, along with Morana of the Sky Islands.

  That was where the Windswept Sea made their first mistake. They were of course aware that the Sky Islands were not on their side, but they perhaps hadn’t expected them to so strongly support their sea level neighbor.

  Then there was the Gloom Desolation itself. It had undergone a transformation more than a decade prior, releasing their natural earth element and improving their spiritual energy levels at the tiny cost of allowing the natural light element to remain. However, more sophisticated training and sensory methods turned the light into a non-issue. Frankly, John thought that whoever had sealed the land in the first place was a fool. Or more likely, a whole lot of fools. It wasn’t something that could have been accomplished alone.

  Even those who didn’t use earth element could convert it to darkness fairly efficiently. The alliance was not shy about sharing such knowledge. Each sect and clan had their own techniques they kept secret to varying degrees, but fundamental cultivation knowledge was widely available. Converting elements had become one such thing.

  The assault was actually quite a large one, hitting the ports all along the coast, from Dusk to Dawn. In all cases, they were driven back- though rarely without causing some damage. Tenzing, the governor of Port Dusk, made an admirable defense of his home territory, sinking three ships together with his forces. Yet there were another handful that escaped that very same port- and many of those aboard had escaped to other ships.

  They did lose an Ascending Soul Phase cultivator in the process- a fellow elder of the Dark Shore- but they were outnumbered in that regard, so even driving off their foes was an accomplishment worth praising. The Sky Islands became aware of the conflicts in the distance, and had chased down some of the ships that had dared to go furthest along the coast.

  It was possible that a direct repulsion would be the end of things from the Windswept Sea. However, nobody from the continent was intending to wait around to find out. Instead, they intended to seek vengeance for those who dared to trespass on their territory- and it wasn’t just limited to one elemental region. John could have probably gotten volunteers from the northern coast, if he was trying.

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  But the fleets there were still needed, as the Sovereign Primacy could easily be looking for an opening. So it was mainly southern forces and landlocked regions that gathered forces.

  -----

  John quickly set out for Port Dawn. It was the closest to the Windswept Sea. He nearly went alone, but he restrained himself. He managed to have enough patience for Astrein to gather proper groups of cultivators, instead of just carrying a couple people from the Six Elements Crossroads and flying down.

  He could have probably brought all his best disciples, especially since most of them could handle their own flying- though not at the speed he would have been going. However, John did recognize that he should be a better example. Helping to lead the various forces from Astrein was the best option… even if none of the other sects were as good as the Six Elements Crossroads. It wasn’t an unfair assessment. The best among them could barely match John’s top disciples- and that would include their sect heads.

  They took a route that brought them through the Stone Conglomerate- stopping by Marble County and the Tenebach clan. Plus a couple Quartz Clans. Anyone ready and able to join them was welcomed. In this case, able meant a certain cultivation threshold- they were traveling at a pace that only Soul Expansion Phase cultivators could keep up with. They could perhaps gather more people if they moved slower, but then they might have an issue of fitting people into boats. Even with the Shimmering Islands sending a huge fleet, there were limits to what they could bring.

  Into the Darklands, they waited for the Calamitous Swarm and some of the cultivators from the western side. News had spread far ahead of them, giving people sufficient time to act. Even if it resulted in the roads flooding with excess people, it wasn’t for long. Surely the various towns and cities would appreciate the extra income from people packing into their inns.

  It wasn’t the most organized military operation John had been involved in… but it was organized enough. Especially with people moving together for a single purpose.

  Through the Wuthering Steppes, they took the largest roads up along the coast, briefly cutting through the Glass Hills as it was required. Then the Gloom Desolation stood before them, and John was quite glad that things had changed for them. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have had the food to supply so many extra people, regardless of whether they could pay.

  Keeping some logistics in mind, John arranged to leave behind various sections of the armies as they passed each port. There simply wasn’t enough room to dock all the vessels that would be necessary in just the Wuthering Steppes or its neighbors, so they continued onward. Higher phase cultivators could keep ahead of ships for a certain duration anyway.

  But now, John saw fields of various sorts of crops, growing in soil that was no longer listless and dead. Midnight rye was a staple in darkness element regions, though it had barely survived in previous times. The Gloom Desolation wasn’t completely managing all of their lands yet, but they still had sufficient supplies to supplement what the marching armies were bringing.

  All along the way, John received messages and helped coordinate movements. He was glad that he’d put so much effort into the continent-wide communication network. He wondered if it could be expanded into the Molten Sea or to the Empire of Elements… and if they would want to. Well, at the very least they could include some proper contact. But that was a problem for another day. Another week.

  -----

  It wasn’t good to show too much favoritism for his own kin, but John couldn’t help it. Tirto’s ships were the best. Anyone who said otherwise would have to deal with Carl.

  John marveled at Nitza, who was already in the Consolidated Soul Phase. “When did you get so strong, huh?”

  She shrugged. “About the same time as you, grandpa.”

  Right. The war. Even if she hadn’t been fighting on the frontlines- which she could have been on occasion- it was still enough time for her to grow significantly stronger. Ereli too. Actually, John had seen both of them since the end… but what was he supposed to do except tease them about how much they’d grown? It didn’t matter if they were full adults and had been for a long time. They still seemed like little kids.

  “Grandfather,” Ereli said. “We must share insights on light and darkness.”

  “That we must!” John agreed. “It’s a bit too late for you to go for a full cycle, but we can see where our philosophies diverge.” Of course, he would also be including Nik and Melanthina in such things. They weren’t forced into dual light and darkness cultivation, however. Indeed, they were actually single element cultivators by certain definitions. Melanthina had darkness totems compatible with light, and vice versa. Nik had a little bit of dual-element annihilation thrown in there, which still probably counted as light given the angle he came at it from.

  With nothing to do for a number of days as their fleets sailed across the seas, cultivation was a great way to pass the time. It was also a good way for them to arrive in an optimal state, instead of agitated. The response had been significant precisely because of how grueling the evenly matched war with the Empire of Elements had been. The continent wanted to show that they were strong. John knew they were, but they still needed to see it themselves.

  The various sects from the Windswept Sea that they had pegged as sending the assaulting fleets would be able to experience that capability, very soon. And possibly others, if they dared to interfere. John wondered what justification they came up with, if any. They weren’t physically close enough that they necessarily needed a diplomatic excuse, since they didn’t have to live with the continent day-to-day. However, that wasn’t going to help them not get annihilated.

  Most likely, a couple sects would be made examples of. The others could then pay tribute to settle things. But John was open to various avenues, because if he couldn’t fight certain people he might as well take his anger out on others who didn’t know anything about good timing.