Visits to various sects doubled as valuable training excursions for the upcoming tournament in Astrein. By the time the end of the decade rolled around, the Six Elements Crossroads had a decent complement of Soul Expansion Phase cultivators, including many of the former street kids.

That also meant that many of the disciples were at the most difficult step of their cultivation career so far. Obviously advancements became more difficult with each phase, but for cultivators who wanted a cycle of core elements, three totems was a state of imbalance. And yet, reaching that step also indicated a form of hope.

Then there were those who were angling towards a great cycle. The Soul Expansion Phase was the first time they would be stepping beyond an allied element, but they didn’t have enough elements to form a loop. The one thing that John could say was good for them was that Astrein had plenty of any type of spiritual energy. Most disciples of the Six Elements Crossroads could draw spiritual energy from the surroundings pertaining to multiple elements at once for training or battle.

There were still some mono-elemental disciples within the sect. In fact, John did his best to not bias people against the option. It was a path that worked for a great many people, with fewer pitfalls and a vast wealth of knowledge and experience to draw upon. But even they would train with people of other elements- both in sparring, and in groups that extracted different elements of spiritual energy from the surroundings.

John himself was at the peak of the Soul Expansion Phase. He could likely have returned to the Consolidated Soul Phase already, but the timing wasn’t good. Even going off for a month or two was a bit too much with the tournament rapidly approaching. So he had chosen to delay that particular step. He didn’t feel like he was in a particular rush. If trouble popped up… well, he happened to be good friend with all of the Ascending Soul Phase cultivators in the region, and they would be attending the tournament.

Specifically, that would be Lucanus, Yustina, and Renato. The latter had stepped across the threshold just recently. Then there were all of those who were close. Johannes Dalen, the one who had been on the cutting edge of the rise of Consolidated Soul Cultivators in the region, was a bit behind his reincarnated disciple… but he was fully expected to advance soon enough.

Crystin was close to that threshold for the Tenebach clan, and some others were in the late Consolidated Soul Phase. The Brandle Clan had Livna and Yonit, powerful guardians of the clan who were also expected to advance at some point in the near future. Charlotte of Firepine Palace was older like Johannes, but also an anticipated individual. Deirdre was just short of that step in the Golden Tomb Guardians, though Cuah’arn their guardian beast had reached that level of power.

Then there was Ciaritzal, who John was actually surprised hadn’t made that advancement. Or perhaps he had, and it was kept hidden from everyone- potentially even Melanthina and Nik. John could believe that, though even another decade or two would seem like near simultaneous advancement with Cuah’arn, given the length of their history.

Outside of those in the alliance, John only knew about a few handfuls of late Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators- but that was a vast change from four decades prior when the region hadn’t even had a single individual in the Consolidated Soul Phase.

-----

John had a fancy speech prepared to welcome everyone, but as he saw people gathered in the stands of the grand arena- encompassing many individual fighting rings- his desire to use a prepared speech left him.

“Welcome, everyone, from near and far! Today we come together to… punch each other in the face.” People were clearly uncertain how they should react to his words. Should they laugh? John didn’t pause too long, or things would get more awkward. He should have gone with what he prepared. But he didn’t want to. “Contests of martial strength are a long time tradition, and I think they have some value. But we must remember what that strength is for.”

He let those words linger for a time. Some of his prepared speech would still inevitably find its way into what he was saying, but this was much more freeform.

“Somewhere around a decade and a half ago, this city was occupied by cultivators of the Molten Sea… with barely a shred of resistance from any of us. Astrein hasn’t traditionally been seen as important, but that’s not the point. The Sky Islands still moved unimpeded through the Wuthering Steppes and then the northern Darklands.”

John looked around for reactions once more. He’d done his best to mix up the seating of various groups, instead of having them arranged geographically or by element. Hopefully, that would work out alright. People would still be moving around as the time came to watch individual matches, but he hoped that people would mingle and not butt heads. Too much, at least.

“Our strength… is to protect those we care about. And we can’t do it alone. Nor can we expect a single sect or clan would be enough. The combined efforts of many of us… barely sufficed. And even then they only withdrew because they didn’t see the value in staying. We need to do better… for the sake of all of us. So we don’t lose people we care about. I know that some of us have grudges with each other… but I hope we can deal with them in more productive ways here. Though of course, you can still punch each other in the face.”

It was a rather chaotic speech, followed by neither cheering nor clapping. John just hoped the general silence was people thinking about his words rather than put off.

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-----

Regardless of how the speech went, John thought the tournament started off rather well. They had quite a number of matches going at once. Otherwise, the tournament would last forever. The first day, most participants would fight three times, with several hours between each match. There was only so long they could draw so many people away from their homes, especially the various sect heads John had convinced to attend. This tournament was bigger than the last by far, and John hoped it was grander.

The tournament was not without hitches, of course. John was just glad he was not the only one dealing with the various issues that cropped up. The management abilities of Viriato were important in keeping things organized. Steve’s strength was also quite useful, as he mostly had to stand around and give meaningful looks to diffuse conflicts.

John was aware how tournaments could go. Even back on Earth, there could be riots and chaos after normal sports. Here, people could do a little more than smash windows. That was where part of the arrangements he had made would come in. First, there were the consequences- sports riots mainly had the threat of arrest as a deterrent, which wasn’t always enough to stop drunk fans who were either happy or upset. That was where having a few cultivators at a clearly higher level of power would help keep people reasonable.

Second, there was the structure of the tournament. This wasn’t a yearlong event, though people had been building up anticipation. There also wouldn’t be just a single winner. Many individual matches would raise and lower the spirits of different groups, and there were different categories beyond just cultivation levels. Single cultivator matches were still the mainstay, but there was a section for group battles- either two teams facing off against each other, or occasionally more.

That would change things up enough… and John hoped most people would be exhausted at the end of the tournament. It wasn’t that he didn’t want the tournament to end on a high emotional point, since he wanted people to remember it fondly, but there were reasonable places to stop.

-----

John would remember the first tournament for the rest of his life… but it wasn’t what he ended up most focused on.

As soon as he found the opportunity, he went to visit his children, which included Tirto and Verusha, plus their daughter. He’d seen Nitza a couple times in the last handful of years, but she was more adorable every time… and much more active now. Though she showed some clear shyness at the crowds.

“Hello, Nitza.”

“Hi, grandpa!” she said, hugging his leg.

Truly, this was a magical world. He wasn’t ready to be a grandfather. Sure, he was technically sixty years old in this body, with another couple decades of memory to go with it from his previous world… but he still felt young. No, he was young. His cultivation put him barely past his prime, or perhaps not even.

If he didn’t live past a hundred and fifty, he most likely met a violent death or some other unfortunate end. That thought was sobering… and he of course wished he had someone to share that time with. His children were something, of course, but he couldn’t constantly be around them even if he didn’t have responsibilities- because they did, and that meant being in geographically different locations.

His little granddaughter was now four years old, and he didn’t detect even a spark of spiritual energy within her. And that was great. She had sufficient protection to be safe- both her parents, plus Livna and Yonit. And of course her other grandparents, two of the strongest people around. And since Renato was an earth cultivator and the two fire cultivators were a pair, John could just say they were the strongest force in the area.

It was a bit odd to share a grandchild with his best friend, but it made a certain sort of sense- though it had certainly happened in an unexpected manner. It wasn’t odd for the world, either- his own marriage to Matayal had been arranged by his grandfather, after all. The generations had just been stretched out a bit further.

Melanthina came to see her brother and niece as well. John looked at her, smiled… and then his eyes betrayed him. He never had any intention to pry, but as a cultivator he couldn’t help but look out for odd pockets of spiritual energy. She’d hid it well behind an interplay of light and darkness… but there was something there. She saw his look, and John did his best to just maintain his smile as she narrowed her eyes at him.

So he was going to be a double grandfather… unless something went wrong. He knew that there could easily be complications for Nik and Melanthina, far beyond what normal people had to deal with. And if John’s glance had been correct, the spiritual energy wasn’t just Melanthina concealing things. He hoped nothing went wrong… but at least she would have access to the notes that he and Matayal took when she was pregnant with the triplets.

Speaking of triplets, Ursel was probably around somewhere. And most likely, not pregnant. John didn’t expect anything from her in that regard. Even his other two he’d expected to make their own choices in that regard- though obviously there would be the pressures of the clans behind them. Ursel seemed uninterested in having her own child, though that could always change. Though first she’d have to find an appropriate person.

John wasn’t going to tell her what she could do… but he would reserve the right to threaten the existence of a potential partner if they turned out to be a terrible individual. Though he couldn’t imagine Ursel standing for anything problematic. She’d be the first to smash someone into a paste.

Ultimately, the tournament went off without a hitch. John was glad. That was great for the sect. But he was even more glad to see family and friends.

He supposed it didn’t hurt that there was wider cooperation or at least tolerance between those that attended the tournament. That was probably more important for the world overall, but it was hard to think about the world when a little kid felt like they meant as much as a world ever could.