I had to transition inside the Torc whenever I needed to rest. The monotony of removing tons of stone requiring more work and Qi reserves than I'd initially thought I'd need. I was no miner, and without any affinity for Earth, I often found areas I'd cleared refilled as the ceiling I created crumbled under the mountain's pressure.

My memory was good enough that I knew where I was relative to the main branching of tunnels, but that only gave me direction. I found I was having problems progressing, often deviating off course the farther I excavated. They created the tunnels with a slope, and the water whip technique I was using took some practice to allow for changes in that slope.

I had tried digging under the tunnel structure, far enough down that the surrounding bedrock was solid enough that I didn't have to worry about further cave-ins, but that forced me to deal with a different set of issues. Mainly a network of lava tubes that crisscrossed the lower levels. Without an earth affinity, I had no way to track or avoid the river of lava that ran through those tubes.

To make matters worse, the woman who had triggered the core bombs and brought the mountain down around me had been talented with earth affinity. She had used her command over the earth to escape. Unfortunately, she had fused the fallen mountain behind her as she swam through the tons of stone like a fish through water.

She left in her wake, rocks fused together in giant slabs of hardened bedrock, transformed into a substance that might not have the hardness of diamond, but was certainly strong enough to halt my progress. Even as effective as my water whip was at boring through stone, this substance simply resisted every effort I made to break it apart.

I tried gathering and adding some of the material she had created into a type of slurry fused with the water I controlled, attempting to create a diamond drill construct, but I had no ability to control earth. I could lift the faux diamond dust and suspend it in the water, but I couldn't maintain the shape or durability. Instead of cutting through stone, when the diamond dust particles collided with the obstruction, they formed a sludge that pooled into mud.

If water and wind had been my only affinity, this stone might have been enough to trap me for good. Or at least forced me to burrow new tunnels in another direction. With no idea where that tunnel might lead, questing ahead using only my Qi perception, it would be a risky venture with no guarantee that I would eventually free myself.

But water and air were not the only elements I controlled. I also commanded lightning. An elemental affinity that could generate levels of heat that surpassed even lava.

My use of the element, to this point, had been limited to controlling the direction and path of each attack. I aimed at a target and released the electrical discharge. What I envisioned now would be a sustained release, a burst of plasma that lasted seconds, long enough to melt the faux stone.

The sustained lightning barrage, along with my water whip, to clear the liquid as the stone melted, became my focus. A cycle of lightning, then water, allowing me to slowly clear my way forward. The effort was Qi intensive, draining my Dantian and inner sea, but it worked.

And each time I transitioned to rest inside the torc to cultivate and refill my depleted Qi pools, I found myself able to gather more energy, a rapidly increasing amount of energy. My tier was slowly advancing towards mid-level mastery with the sustained effort required to free myself.

Elder Shadow had always mentioned that times of hardship were the most fruitful for advancement. It was when you were fighting for your life, or someone else's life, that you were able to overcome those limitations we set on ourselves.

The biggest reward I gained from my current predicament wasn't the advancement of my Realm, it was my mastery over my lightning affinity. My channeling of the element, controlling it in sustained bursts, increased my understanding of the element. An epiphany of awareness of the nature of lightning so profound that understanding coalesced into true mastery.

I'm not sure if my new understanding would have happened without the [Dao of Movement]. Lightning, for all the power it contained, was at its simplest, particles in motion. That understanding allowed my affinity with lighting to blossom, so much that it was no longer a sub-affinity.

I no longer needed to create the element by mixing my control over water and wind to make a change in my Qi. Without this transitory step, it became as easy for me to control lightning as wind or water. My new understanding of the element allowing me to add it as one of my true affinities. I was no longer a dual affinity cultivator. I had evolved. I now had as much control over lightning as I had over water and wind and become a tri-affinity cultivator.

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There were other tri-affinity cultivators. Not many. But they existed. And I resolved in that moment of enlightenment. When I realized that this trap had transformed into a Heaven-sent opportunity, that I would never mention this evolution to anyone, not even Elder Shadow.

As much as I respected Elder Shadow, I had been forced to realize, lately, that his goals and mine might not always align. Even worse, he seemed to have a narrow perception of who I was. He saw me as his disciple, a person to be guided. And that perception meant he made decisions for me without my input or discussing the decisions he made on my behalf first.

He always had a logical explanation and reason for actions he made on my account. But the bottom line was, he, like every other Elder, felt it was his right or duty to guide my advancement and make decisions that forced me to follow in the path of his choosing.

I needed to forge my own path. I had an entirely other life of experience and knowledge to draw upon. I wasn't the Elf that had barely reached maturity. The young woman that had barely entered adulthood. At least, not intellectually. Emotionally, I was still having issued with hormones and fluctuations within my body that were part and parcel of aging. Thankfully, this would pass.

If it were simply a matter of martial techniques and cultivation, I would welcome his advice. But ambush meetings with Elders, exposing my actions without my consent. A banquet to introduce me to a host of suitors with no explanation or discussion. Refusing to allow me to explore a Rift that I had discovered, and that had formed in my territory. Each of these events demonstrated that it was not only my path forward as a cultivator that he felt he had a right to direct.

Shade's advice concerning placing my trust in Clement would hopefully give me enough resources to change that. Along with the beast cores and Golden Lodoicea seedpods I had claimed, I should have the means to buy or hire the talent to make a major impact on my territory. I realized I would need whatever concessions he could procure. Because I was quickly coming to the conclusion that it was time to rely less on the Sect.

That was a natural evolution for most Sect members. There were only so many Inner Sect positions available, and even a few Elder roles that could be claimed. In order to make room for younger people to advance, the room had to be made. That was done by encouraging Sect members to explore, to leave, and strike out on their own. I simply hadn't expected the decision to scale back my connection with the Sect to come so quickly. As a new Inner Sect member, I should have enjoyed a century of guided growth before ascending to an Elder's position or forced to make way.

I wasn't so lost to my emotion that I would make any sort of precipitous decision, and I certainly wouldn't sever my connection with the Sect. Contribution Hall would be a means to supplement any resources I might need, and the connection between Sect and Empire was another avenue of resource allocation. One that I could use until my Barony was powerful enough and developed enough to create its own trade network with the mainland.

There were two advantages I would have in any trade agreement I managed to gain with the Empire, irrespective of the Sect. With the Rift open in my territory, any trade opportunities that might exist between this world and the one on the other side would need to be negotiated with my territory in mind. I would be able to tax goods and services that crossed the Rift.

And my capital city was located on the Ocean. The Sect was land-locked. They had built it almost at the exact center of the island and had no access to ocean waters. That meant I had the opportunity to form trade agreements with the Hindel that the Sect could not, simply because of proximity.

That area of my territory where the Triad of Spirits had been contracted was an ideal spot to build an embassy. And while I was building, I would establish a Dojo. Sects were highly regulated. It required a majority quorum to gain permission. An agreement of established Sects and the Empire to open a new Sect. I would never be able to start my own, at least not for many centuries.

But a dojo was a different matter, there were no restrictions or constraints to establishing a dojo. We could establish them without official permission, and they offered much of the same benefits as a Sect. Every powerful Clan established its own martial and cultivation center, a dojo to train their people. For the better run Dojos, they also had facilities to train and nurture those who concentrated on the secondary professions.

In truth, the more powerful dojos may as well be Sects.

I would use my position as a Baron to build a Clan and center it around a dojo of martial techniques that relied heavily on weapons that were more esoteric. The Tessen, the Flute, the Whip, and the Urami. Dance, Music, and Style would be the mainstay of my Clan and my dojo. I wouldn't exclude the more popular weapons from consideration, but they would never be the focus.

As I reached this decision, I also realized that this time spent trapped had the added benefit of allowing me to reflect on recent events. To stop and think logically, instead of reacting in the moment. My musings as I considered recent events and how I would deal with the Sect and my territory moving forward might have been as powerful a Heavenly opportunity as gaining true mastery and elemental affinity with lightning.

For a cultivator that was required to meditate, to channel my Qi carefully. To be focused and aware of what I was doing. I had spent little time reflecting on the present, let alone the future. This forced isolation had helped with that.