Traveling through the Muted Crags reminded John how much he relied on spiritual energy senses to feel the world around him. Even just walking along a main road, which had the greatest distance to the crags in question, he felt an almost oppressive lack of sensation. It wasn’t just spiritual energy senses that were suppressed but natural senses as well, though since spiritual energy was used to enhance the latter the overall effect was greater.

  Even during the middle of the day, it felt like walking around at twilight. John had enhanced darkvision which still retained some potency, but could still feel the relative difference in visual clarity.

  John’s natural instinct was to try to pierce through the limiting energy, bringing himself back to full clarity. He could do it, for an increasing cost based on distance. It might even be worthwhile training to some extent.

  However, that didn’t seem to be the most useful approach. Even as he got better at it, it still remained energy intensive and obvious. Focusing on the sensations he did get was far more valuable. The sounds around him being dull actually made it easier to pick out more distant ones, if he kept his ears focused. Small movements became more meaningful, especially from his position in front where he couldn’t see his own group.

  John couldn’t be entirely certain if that path was practical either, given that nothing came to threaten their expedition on their approach to Urdcliffe, but it was a worthy alternate pursuit.

  -----

  Unlike the Black Peaks, the people of Urdcliffe didn’t seem to feel the need to be reminded about the features of their elemental region at every moment of every day. The cliffs in question were a good distance outside the city, with a significant distance around the city being cleared of the natural darkness element material that hindered senses. There was still a small amount of the same effect in the area, likely due to the more distant crags and underground material, but it was a breath of fresh air.

  John felt color return to everything he hadn’t even realized was missing. It wasn’t like everything had become black and white, just less than it was before.

  The gates of the city stood open in front of them, but the group still approached cautiously. They did not have any long-established relations with the citizens of Urdcliffe, and the Six Elements Crossroads had previous conflicts with the Muted Crags. Just not this section of the Muted Crags, which was the whole point of trying to establish rapport with them.

  Before John thought they were even at a comfortable distance to speak, a guard atop the wall called out to them. “Halt!” she demanded. “From where does such an army come?”

  “We are no army,” John replied, projecting his voice back towards the city. “Merely a contingent of cultivators from the Six Elements Crossroads. I am the sect head, John Miller. We wish to exchange insights with the residents of your city.”

  “Have you been invited?” the woman asked.

  “Not by any in particular,” John said. “But we have no intention to cause any trouble. Is the city not open to visitors?”

  “No trouble?” the woman replied. “I recall the last time you came to the Muted Crags, you destroyed an entire mountain. You are not welcome here.”

  It was rather bold of the gate captain to say that, if she truly believed he was responsible for destroying a mountain- technically, he just topped a small part of a peak onto a city. She also likely didn’t have complete authority to reject them on her own… but her attitude was sufficient for John to make a decision.

  “You are quite fortunate that we are not here to cause trouble,” John said, immediately turning his back on the city while making sure his energy was clearly displayed. “Come, we are leaving.”

  It was a decision made in the moment. Some might interpret it as a lack of persistence, but it was meant as a show of strength. He didn’t need them. Even a casual rejection was enough reason to move on. He had no intention to plead for entry to the city or engage in prolonged persuasion. Instead, he would bring an offer to another city instead.

  There was some hope in John’s mind that someone would come to fetch them as they walked away. He would gladly return if they sought him out, but Ascending Soul Phase cultivators weren’t so plentiful that they could be casually turned away.

  -----

  None from the city seemed to recognize the opportunity they missed. Perhaps they simply lacked curiosity or awareness. Either way, that was the end of things.

  John thought he was easy enough to get along with. The Lone Spire had been a perfect example. Even if it was meant as something like a competition and a way to show off strength to outsiders, it had been a sensible way to interact.

  Even among warlike cultivators, hospitality was usually a given. And though John had a longer lifespan now, he also had more things taking advantage of his time and thus less patience.

  The intention was to seek out the next available opportunity without getting too close to the Black Peaks. After all, the sect in the area likely still held grudges about the war, regardless of where they ended up in the hierarchy afterwards. After all, many people would have been counting on Rezso and the Swirling Shadow Sect to improve their own positions. Though in that case, John thought they should have thought a few more times about provoking their neighbors. But they weren’t the first who hadn’t expected such an organized response, and the Stormy Sea Sect wouldn’t be the last.

  To avoid the Black Peaks, they had to either travel north to the coast or stick to the area near the Rolling Dunes to the south. Because of the uncertain nature of the situation, John preferred to avoid the northern route as that could potentially cut them off from reinforcements. While it was unlikely anyone would actually attack them, the Muted Crags most likely had the most people with current grudges against John, his sect, and their allies. Thus, the southern route was the best choice- and fit well with the rest of the planned route through the various elemental regions.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  -----

  After several more rejections from various smaller cities and sects they found along the way, John determined that the attitude of the guard captain at the Urdcliffe gates was not an entirely unique one.

  It was just that most people had the decency to be more polite about it. It didn’t take much insight to surmise what the possible reasons might be, and a short investigation revealed that the influence of the Black Peaks was still stronger than it appeared. It was not enough for anyone in the eastern region of the Muted Crags to act against John and his people, but they also would not associate with him.

  That was fair enough, because he would be gone soon and they would have to live with the remains of the various sects that still held the power within their region. Even so, John had been led to believe that the Black Peaks’ influence was weaker than it appeared to be at the current moment.

  That was something he had to pay mind to in the future. The Six Elements Crossroads would be insulated from any attempts to reach them, but the Phoenix Forest would be less so. They were stronger than they had been, but the Rolling Dunes still had little power of their own.

  In his quest to determine if any part of the Muted Crags might be more open to interaction, the best John could discern was that the western portion of the region could be different. Which based on the route meant passing through the Rolling Dunes first, since even if he wasn’t avoiding the Black Peaks he wanted to make sure to visit even the less significant regions.

  -----

  The Muted Crags quickly faded away into dry dunes- but the Rolling Dunes were an earth element region, not one of fire. At best, they were relatively hot during the day, but there was nothing supernatural about it.

  Despite being a bit dry, however, they were quite pleasant. Traversing sand could be unpleasant without the right mindset, but John could find ways to enjoy it both as a cultivator or as a person. Stabilizing the ground under his feet, even with distinct grains, was a fairly trivial task of earth elemental spiritual energy.

  When John came to the far side of a dune… he leapt off. He didn’t do anything special with his spiritual energy, not boosting himself any more than his muscles could manage on their own. Even though he could fly, he still managed to draw upon memories of youth and enjoy it quite a bit. Some of the disciples likely assumed it was a form of training and copied him.

  With boosts from spiritual energy, some flung themselves quite far, falling more than a handful of meters once they surpassed the whole measure of the slope. That would be a rough landing when just counting on the body, but a cultivator could easily distribute their impact in sand.

  Nobody asked John, so he provided no explanation. Frankly, if he had to tell people why they were doing every bit of training they might need to learn to figure it out on their own. And of course, that also meant that if he had to tell his disciples when it was appropriate to have fun they might need to learn to be more independent.

  This wasn’t like the Frozen Heights where he had lectured them on the dangers before approaching. The Rolling Dunes required practically no introduction, since the greatest dangers were snakes and cultivators already knew not to get bitten. The local pests weren’t particularly stealthy, either.

  Having been outdone by some of the disciples, John added a boost of air element to his next leap- happenstantially also throwing sand in people’s faces. He carried himself higher and further than any others, while trying to keep his use of spiritual energy efficient.

  When they came to areas that were actually occupied by people, specifically their hillside herb patches, John did make sure that he and his disciples acted more carefully. He was pleased to see that there were more actual people around, since last time he had been through most of those living locally had fled from the cultivators of the Muted Crags- or been their members waiting in ambush.

  A significant portion of those in the area had fire element cultivation, or fire mixed with earth. They would be representing the interests of the Phoenix Forest in the area, though John felt more than a few he thought were locals. He wondered how much might have changed in the last couple decades.

  If nothing else, he learned of a proper sect that had been established quite recently- the Succulent League. Altering the route to touch upon their particular segment of desert wouldn’t lengthen the planned route by any significant margin, and John’s whole goal was to make sure he had established contact with every group. Even if this sect likely worked with those of the Phoenix Forest, that was simply one step more removed.

  They controlled a relatively small territory, but it was extremely simple to find their border. They had an actual wall of cactus grown around their border. It seemed to be made of many large cacti braided together. It was only a few meters tall, so it would only keep out weaker cultivators, but it was an excellent marker. It also made it quite obvious where people were meant to come and go, as John quickly found one of the gates.

  There wasn’t a proper road through the sands, but the opening in the cacti was apparent enough. It also happened to be guarded by somewhere around six Soul Expansion Phase disciples. At the beginning of his journey, John would have said their presence alone could mark the sect as significant, but the current cultivation boom made their presence more ordinary.

  “Greetings, stranger,” said one of them upon approach. Perhaps John was just biased, but he much preferred the polite approach- even if it might lead to an equally polite rejection later. “What is your business with the Succulent League?”

  “We represent the Six Elements Crossroads, and we are on a training journey,” John stated. “I heard of your sect nearby, and my interest was piqued. There were previously no sects of note in this region.”

  “Maybe you just missed us,” said one of the younger guards. “We’ve been here for decades.”

  Another one smacked the younger on the head, whispering- though not quietly enough for John to not pick up what was heard. “Don’t you have eyes? That’s the sect head. Just because he looks youthful doesn’t mean he’s young like you. To reach the Ascending Soul Phase, he’s probably hundreds of years old!”

  It turned out both of them were underinformed. John wasn’t exactly young, but he wasn’t quite a hundred years old yet. At least, chronologically. Adding his total lifespan together between worlds put him a bit over a hundred instead. Still short of hundreds, though.

  Pretending he didn’t hear any of that, John continued to speak with the first guard. “We were hoping for an exchange of insights, or to at least arrange for such at a later date if your sect is unavailable.”

  “I can’t make such decisions,” said the guard. “But I can send a message to the sect head and- ah.” He turned slightly. “I believe she has already become aware of your presence.”

  John saw a woman with the appearance of middle age striding towards them. He’d been vaguely aware of her presence to begin with, though he hadn’t precisely felt her approach as she fit into the surroundings quite neatly. She was less intentionally hiding and more camouflage. Then again, John would hope that any sect head should fit so neatly into their sect. He looked forward to seeing what she had to say. At least she came to answer in person.