A great many people died on the Stormy Sea Sect’s main island. The majority were from the Windswept Sea. Top cultivators from the Maelstrom Sect and Titanic Serpent clan fell there. John was eager to go after the rest of what they had… but he had to do a reality check.

  John gathered together those he knew best. His top disciples, his family, and friends. So many from the continent had joined… it was a bit excessive. But sometimes an excessive response was appropriate- especially not knowing the full power of the enemy forces.

  And sometimes, such an excessive force had to stop.

  “Do we wipe out these other two groups?” John asked. “Is that excessive?”

  Ursel shook her head. “They deserve it. They were aware of the consequences.”

  “You could merely demand recompense,” Tirto said. “But given their support of the first war, even tangentially, it would appear as weakness.”

  Steve just shrugged. “If they can’t take the heat, they shouldn’t have stepped into the fire. Unless you know another way to make them stop, you have to at least kill all of their important people.”

  John was just glad that the Stormy Sea Sect didn’t have many kids. Currently they were all captive, along with those who properly surrendered. They would join up with the ‘envoy’ Sanaa at some point. That fellow was pretty lucky to have been sent, honestly. John might have slaughtered him, but it was easier to capture them. If people had hope of survival, they weren’t as likely to lash out and kill people.

  “We’ll do a cursory investigation,” John said. “Probably kill most of the elders in each place. Take some of their good stuff. Would the Shimmering Islands be able to use sea serpents?” John asked.

  Tirto thought for a few moments. “There are a few beast sects that would very much enjoy the opportunity.”

  It was important to balance the opportunities and rewards for all of those participating. It didn’t have to be exact- though there would be some balancing factors. Extremely valuable knowledge might come at a price to a certain sect, but less than they would have otherwise expected. They would be glad to pay, and that payment could go to others who didn’t have any specific rewards.

  Of course, they already had the central vaults of one sect. They could manage without more… but it was better to get what they could. Within reason. They didn’t want to invite further attacks by not going far enough. But as long as they didn’t trouble the other powers in the Windswept Sea, they could likely manage far more. It was possible that they would be merchant ships at other territories- it was clear that everyone had seen the danger building up at the Stormy Sea Sect, so at least there wasn’t that complication to deal with.

  -----

  The approach to the Maelstrom Sect was quite difficult. The area was filled with rocky shoals… and of course the expected whirlpools were fairly common as well. They didn’t appear to have any constant whirlpools, but navigating ships was difficult. They were picking their way along with aid from fliers to get good angles, but John grew impatient and decided that they should just flatten them.

  John thought maybe he’d grown too strong, to suggest such a thing as one of their first solutions. It didn’t matter that Ursel was totally enthusiastic about the project. She was the weird one. Probably.

  In truth, all of the factions were fairly enthusiastic about the destruction they wrought. They weren’t slaughtering people, but they were destroying a unique environment. It was what made the Maelstrom sect, one of the primary sources of their insight no doubt. A protective barrier. And they would have none of that because of the foolishness of their leaders.

  A corridor wide enough for five ships was carved, though they stuck to two or three. Cultivators could turn ships in impossible circumstances, but it was better to not waste more energy by bumping ships up against each other or against sharp rocks.

  The Maelstrom sect was clearly aware of their actions, and they launched a response after about an hour of activity. They had a large number of smaller ships, better for maneuvering in the tough area. They tried to slip around the fleets, stirring up the waves. No doubt they intended to sink the whole fleet, but they never got that far.

  The continent had a wide variety of ways to respond. They also had John. Previously, he wouldn’t have been a good deterrent all on his own… but now he could make rocks flow like water. He didn’t need to melt them. It simply turned out that at certain levels of spiritual energy, it was easier to ignore what he had once taken as basic physics. If he wanted to also burn the ships he could have melted the stone, but he was perfectly fine with just creating a flow of rock that tethered them to random hunks of rock, returning to solid form with part of the hull captured.

  Enchantments weren’t made to defend against that sort of thing. Water cultivators could batter at the rock, and probably would have extricated themselves in a few minutes per ship, but that was a few minutes they didn’t have in battle.

  Air cultivators launched attacks from the sky. Fire cultivators from the continent weren’t afraid of a bit of water. Not any of the good ones, at least. They could easily walk on the surface, and some could manipulate it to their advantage. Yustina was good at directing bursts of steam, which was no surprise given her origins. John idly wondered if she wanted to visit her old home country. That might be possible soon.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  It was a fairly long day to actually reach the Maelstrom sect’s main island, but they had already defeated a good quantity of their forces when they arrived. The island itself had fewer defensive enchantments, because the barrier of rocks meant that it was harder for their surroundings to bring ships.

  Their elders were slain, their vaults emptied. Many technique scrolls were plundered. But, the rest of their people would survive. Possibly with hatred for the continent… but completely wiping them out wasn’t a pleasant option. They weren’t a clan, but some of their elders and disciples had proper families. More than the Stormy Sea Sect’s main island.

  Even with resources plundered, cultivators wouldn’t starve. They could also afford to feed a few spare mouths. John certainly wasn’t going to abduct children off to the continent, so they had to go somewhere.

  -----

  John suspected that Carl smelled like blood and death. He certainly wasn’t going to sniff the leviathan- but the sea serpents of the Titanic Serpent clan most certainly did. They were ordered to attack, and simply didn’t. Even when controlled by techniques, they absolutely wouldn’t leave the shelter of their island.

  That made it far easier to kill the elders of the clan. Then, they took a selection of newborn sea serpents and copies of the techniques used to raise and control them. Losing their exclusive techniques would likely devastate the clan, but it was that or be wiped out. And they would still be the only ones in the Windswept Sea who knew them. Unless others actually opened up trade with the continent and came with good prices.

  When everything was over, John was pleased. Not at their haul of valuables, just that it was over. They hadn’t been dragged into another decade long war with a power of similar strength. They had displayed their dominance to minimize future troubles.

  The new ‘treaties’ they signed were much shorter. It was also much more explicit how many people that the continental alliance would kill if any of the remains of the various groups stepped out of line.

  -----

  On the way out, John and his flagship were sailing ahead of the rest of the fleet, though not that far ahead. Even so, they were attacked by the Dark Island Sect. John had the feeling they hadn’t gotten the memo. The tri-element sect practiced darkness, water, and earth. They were fairly powerful as far as the Windswept Sea, but rather remote.

  Seeing a lone ship, perhaps they thought their few could cause some damage to the fleet. John didn’t really bother asking. Instead, he sunk their ships by ripping out the midsections of their keels. It was a simple wood manipulation technique. He did have to overpower some enchantments, but once a bit was taken out the ships were basically just flotsam masquerading as sailing vessels.

  John held a man by the neck, his power suppressing anything the man tried to do. “You can all swim, right? Out of respect for your people, you all get to live. Make sure to tell everyone about me.”

  Exalted Soul Phase. It meant a lot. No doubt the remnants of the other groups were already spreading the word in a terrified fashion, but it was always better when more people experienced it.

  It was nice to be strong, but John was still uncertain if he was too strong. With only one known individual who could match him, he might get sloppy. Hopefully those he knew would help keep his ego in check, even if they couldn’t currently do it by punching him in the face. Not in a fair fight.

  -----

  The few trading missions with the Empire of Elements- simple affairs meant more as a proof of concept than anything else- had been successful. So at least they weren’t slaughtering anyone who approached their shores anymore. John didn’t really care if they did that for other groups. Perhaps their other neighbors were awful. He just cared about the continent. His people.

  John simply couldn’t care about the entire planet. He didn’t know all of the various regions. Few had even laid their eyes upon the Sovereign Primacy’s islands- though they did have some of their best scouts working on that. They were likely to be the next big threat. Proactively seeking them out was the best call.

  Some people would have even advised John to launch an attack. In cultivator memories, a few decades wasn’t too late for revenge- and they hadn’t really managed to cause damage to the main body of the Sovereign Primacy. Though they had certainly killed a large number of powerful cultivators belonging to them, which while punishing wasn’t quite the same. They still felt safe at home. Free to build up their forces and grow powerful.

  If he didn’t loath getting people killed, John would have sent diplomatic ships to try to fend off any future issues. He would only have done it if he thought there was any real chance of success, though. But simply put, there wasn’t. No peaceful contact had ever happened with them. Any ships from their territory were meant to be captured instead of annihilated, though. Preferably with minimal casualties on both sides.

  Provoking battles that didn’t need to happen was no good. The continent didn’t need to expand to grow stronger. Instead, they already had sufficient resources. They continued to develop new techniques between them. Information wasn’t hoarded as much as before, and the whole continent could grow powerful. John was willing to provide guidance on how to reach the Exalted Soul Phase, unlike what some people seemed to think. It was just that his synergy with even those closest to him wasn’t good enough to provide a full guide.

  He couldn’t just say “feel the perfection of a full cycle from your former wife, now reincarnated, and make use of the emotions of your second wife having just died due to her to surpass your own understanding of everything.” That wasn’t a relatable circumstance. There weren’t any others close to being a full cycle cultivator. Some in the Consolidated Soul Phase. His best disciples were core cycle cultivators about to step into the Ascending Soul Phase, but they might not try to reach for light and darkness at such a late time.

  Communication technology improved. John hoped they didn’t need to send messages across the whole continent as fast as they could, but it had been quite valuable for retaliating against the Windswept Sea, finding them not yet prepared.

  Another tournament was coming up. John still wasn’t sure if he should invite Aldara to watch. He was certain she shouldn’t participate, because the wards simply wouldn’t hold up to the two of them fighting if they got too serious. John wanted to believe that she wouldn’t try to kill him. But he wasn’t quite sure that he wouldn’t try to kill her. And the Empire of Elements might not like that. Oh, and his kids. They were still uncertain, but they at least wanted to try to see how much of Matayal was still in there.