Ash fluttered down upon the courtyard while Sect Head Charlotte explained the situation. Despite the general lack of smoke, John was still glad he didn’t live in this place. The Phoenix Forest was amazing, but he liked his air quality in Astrein. The fact that he could filter his breathing didn’t matter, he’d rather not have to.

“The first incident was somewhere around six months ago,” she said. “A small skirmish with a group from the Muted Crags. Such things are bound to happen occasionally, when you have neighbors you don’t get along with. Normally, we are far enough for it to not matter. We had very few stakes beyond the midpoint of the Rolling Dunes, and the few native inhabitants usually don’t cause trouble. But since then, they’ve been pushing further and further, to the point we’ve lost about half our stakes in the Rolling Dunes.”

“I see,” John said. “And do you know what they were after?”

“Presumably the same things as us. There are certain medicinal herbs that grow freely in that environment. More than a few things prefer growing in the sand. Not everything, of course, but anything that likes good drainage but still frequent enough rain. I can’t expect they would be there for the spiritual energy, given that they are darkness cultivators. They might be interested in different things growing in the area, but that’s about all there is and they haven’t exactly been communicative.”

“So you’ve been having this trouble. What about other sects? I might expect the Phoenix Forest to move against them as a whole.”

Charlotte shook her head. “Many of the sects don’t care about what grows in that particular environment, or at least not enough to farm the area themselves. A good portion of sects here don’t focus on growth, after all. So it’s less that we are the sole targets, and more than we are some of the primary landholders there. I have heard that there was some trouble further west where some from the Blustering Peaks met the Rolling Dunes, however I have not managed to contact the right people. Either way, Firepine Palace may not have support of the Phoenix Forest as a whole, but we do have our local allies. And you, of course.”

John nodded. “I was just wondering, since you had indicated it to be something like a unified action of the Muted Crags.”

“Unified? That is still unclear,” Charlotte admitted. “But it is certainly simultaneous. They want something, and are unwilling to wait.”

“I see,” John said. “I assume you haven’t managed to retake any territory to figure out what they want?”

“Not yet,” Charlotte confirmed. “Our few attempts have failed. It’s quite difficult to deal with darkness cultivators who would rather dissuade your approach. The lack of direct conflict after driving us out might mean they don’t have sufficient forces to fight back, or perhaps they see that as more efficient. That’s much of the reason we wanted you and the Golden Tomb Guardians. You and your sect should at least be trained to handle their misdirection, I assume?”

“Everyone I brought along is at least prepared to do so,” John said. “Though of course few have experience against real opponents. Members of the Tenebach clan would be more effective given their higher cultivations, but Melanthina is doing such a good job running things and she doesn’t need me ruining things by dragging away a bunch of clan members.”

“Indeed, things haven’t escalated so far just yet,” Charlotte said. “The Golden Tomb Guardians should provide sufficient force, should we need it.”

-----

As it turned out, in a world without instantaneous communication and swift worldwide travel, it took time for people to respond and arrive. The Golden Tomb Guardians were indeed sending a group, but it would be somewhere around a week later than the Six Elements Crossroads’ arrival time.

John didn’t intend to let that time be wasted of course. Here they had access to a different balance of elements than normal- which wasn’t great for most of them, but was a good learning experience. They also had the opportunity to spar with Firepine Palace cultivators instead of just each other.

“Take a look,” John said gesturing to the firepine in the middle of the courtyard of the guest house they were occupying. “A visible example of a positive interaction of elements. I have previously gone over such things, of course, but with the elemental balance of Astrein it is not possible to maintain something like this. Here, however, the dominating fire and earth elements can work together to empower life instead of the fire simply consuming the earth. This requires unique plants or specialized understanding to replicate with your spiritual energy, but it might be something you hadn’t even considered.”

This was something they needed, he realized. The balance of elements in Astrein was useful for bringing together diverse styles, but they had to actually see those things instead of reading about them on paper. However, having been a sect head for just a few years he thought he was doing quite well. It wasn’t an urgent situation, just something to keep in mind for future growth. Obviously he already knew that experiences were the best way to grow, but not all of them could be found within the confines of Astrein, regardless of special places like the secret valley.

“Now then,” John said. “I’m sure many of you have found it difficult to fight here. Those from outside Astrein will understand the difficulty already, but with a different balance you have to rely mostly on your internal energy stores.” John scanned his disciples. “Now then, who can tell me what elements are available here in the Phoenix Forest?” Everyone looked rather confused at the question. “How about you, Toma?”

The man looked startled to be called upon. “Well, uh… the Phoenix Forest is earth and fire dominant. So mainly earth and fire.”

“Mainly?”

“Well, it is possible to convert elements so a cultivator here can replenish themselves still,” Toma said, confident in his answer. This was one of the core teachings of the Six Elements Crossroads, after all. “It is too inefficient for use in combat, but the other elements are still available.”

“That’s correct,” John nodded, “But not the full picture. Does anyone know what he left out?” Nobody seemed keen on answering, even though he wasn’t the sort to punish people for being wrong. They simply didn’t want to look foolish if they were. “Taurai?”

The young woman looked just as uncertain as the older Toma. “Well, uh… with this elemental balance… there’s probably some of the allied elements?”

“And those would be?” John asked.

“Air for fire, water for earth.”

John nodded. “That’s also correct,” John said. “But…” he shrugged. “What do you think comes after that?”

“Still incomplete?” Taurai asked.

“Maybe. Is your answer incomplete?” he threw it back on her.

“Umm, well… could I have a moment?”

“Of course,” John said.

Taurai furrowed her brow, clearly seeking around her. She drew a small amount of water element out of the surroundings. And then… a speck of darkness. “There’s darkness here too,” Taurai said.

“Which means?”

“There should be light as well. So all six elements.”

“Very good,” John said. “Even if the quantities are diminutive, all six elements make their homes here to some extent. They are not evenly balanced like in Astrein, so extracting them is more of a matter of seeking them out than separating them from the mix. How many of you have been to the Stone Conglomerate?” John asked.

A few hands were raised, reluctantly. But it was better than before, at least.

John picked out one student. “What elements were available in the Stone Conglomerate?”

“Primarily earth,” the man answered. “Though there should have been water and darkness as well. Outside of intentional gatherings like the Tenebach clan, I mean.” John looked at him, and the man looked back.

“What about the Darklands?” John prompted.

“I haven’t been there, but I would presume the same,” he said. He frowned. “Unfortunately, I don’t know what I’m missing.” John waited. He at least recognized he was missing something. “I could assume… that the other elements are available as well? Except perhaps light?”

“They are all present without exception,” John confirmed. “Though of course in the Darklands free light elemental spiritual energy will be extremely minute in quantity. It would have to be, to avoid reacting with the darkness element. But it would be there nonetheless. Ultimately, the point is this. While there may not be practically usable amounts of elements everywhere, there is always some amount. Pure elements are nearly myths in nature. Even spirit water contains traces of other elements, the same with everything else. Perhaps manmade concoctions might achieve perfect purity… or perhaps that might only be possible to the tolerances of what we can perceive. Now, why does this matter?” John asked.

Ayhan was willing to answer that one. “Because the elements are connected. The cycles and… everything,” he said vaguely.

“That’s it,” John said. “From a practical standpoint, if you can convert elements into others you may never need to draw upon practically nonexistent amounts of elements available in particular environments. But it is still important to know they are there, even if potentially a thousand times less. And sometimes, it matters.”

“Why?” asked one of the other students. “If it’s one part in a thousand, can’t we ignore it?”

“You might be able to,” John admitted. “But let’s say I made you a sandwich. Everything is as expected, except it’s one part in a thousand deathroot extract. Would you eat it?”

“Um…” the disciple frowned, clearly trying to remember how potent deathroot was. “No?”

“What about one part in a million?” John asked.

“I think that might be fine.”

“Then you’d be dead,” John said. “I picked that one in particular because of the extract’s great potency, but you’d be surprised at how much one part in a thousand actually is. And while one part in a thousand isn’t much, if you’re a single element cultivator, the higher Phase you reach the more pure you’re likely to want- or need- your element to get. A tiny amount of impurity is unlikely to prove fatal, except perhaps during a breakthrough to the Ascending Soul Phase or something like that, but one in a thousand is a tenth of a percent. That can throw off your abilities by another order of magnitude. A single percent might not matter, until it does. One percent of a Consolidated Soul Phase cultivator’s power is more than enough to pierce through the body of another cultivator.”

Except perhaps Ursel. But he was going to save information about advanced body tempering abilities until he was certain they were relevant. As for the single percent of power being sufficient, it was true- though it was unlikely a Consolidated Soul Phase cultivator would use more than a tenth of their power in a single attack from practical limitations in control, in which case it was more of an iffy statement.

-----

Verbal lessons, practical cultivation with disciples converting elements for themselves and others, and finally sparring with Firepine Palace disciples filled the rest of the week. John wanted to spar with Charlotte once more, but he wasn’t certain he was stronger than last time. His cultivation was lower, but he might actually be close to matching. Even so, they couldn’t afford to engage in such activities that might tire them out for days, or result in accidental injuries. And if they weren’t able to be serious, it just wouldn't be worth it.

That could come later. For now, Deirdre had arrived with disciples from the Golden Tomb Guardians, and that meant they would be heading out in a day or two. They did need some rest from their travels, after all. No point in making them head out immediately and lose that few percent of efficiency John had been harping on, and some of the Phoenix Forest sects that were aiding them had likewise just arrived.