There hadn’t been any border security to speak of on the east end of the Muted Crags, where the Frozen Heights came down upon them. It had been too large of an area to cover without proper roads to cover. More importantly, the people that were of the greatest concern wouldn’t need to precisely follow roads. Because of that, the major cities and sects generally saw to their own security while only occasionally having checkpoints along the roads.
The Rolling Dunes side of things was guarded by the sects with particular interest in the area- or the few locals like the Succulent League. There was simply far too much area to cover, especially with the lack of blocking terrain features.
The western Muted Crags only had a small checkpoint upon entering the area that didn’t even have gates to block the road. It would have been possible for John’s group to simply walk past. However, he was curious so he stopped to take a look. It must have some purpose.
The strongest cultivator in the outpost was only in the Soul Expansion Phase. In the current era, that was respectable. A decent cultivation level without being threatening. The woman was making her way out to see them.
John’s senses swept the area but found nothing else of note. Just the woman and her small contingent of assistants or disciples.
“Welcome, senior,” she said. “If my knowledge does not fail me, you should be the sect head of the Six Elements Crossroads, John Miller.”
As far as John was aware, there weren’t any other Ascending Soul Phase cultivators with five different elements. Thus, it shouldn’t be difficult to recognize him. “That’s correct,” he said. “May I ask what the purpose of this place is?”
“It’s simple. We like to keep track of who comes and goes throughout the area.”
John frowned. “I didn’t see anything like this on the eastern end.”
“The region isn’t precisely unified.” John understood that, but it was nice to get confirmation- especially that this part might be different. “I represent the interests of the Shadowed Union.”
“We get very few travelers from the Muted Crags. I’m afraid I haven’t heard of this league.” John tried to stay abreast of the political side of things, and it was strange that something like that could go entirely unknown.
“We formed but a few years ago, a collection of smaller interests. Most visitors would attend the Black Peaks.”
John gave a half smile. “They’re not fond of me there for some reason.”
“I can’t imagine why that would be,” the woman said. Her tone of voice indicated she knew very well. It wasn’t like the Black Peaks had been able to cover up part of their three grand peaks falling onto the city. “May I ask who you are visiting?”
So that was her purpose here. Non-confrontational information gathering. John didn’t mind that. “I actually don’t know,” John admitted. “We’ve had little contact with this region, and thus I haven’t been able to send ahead. I was thinking the Silver Haze Sect or the Honorable Lake Compact.”
“I’m sure either or both would be glad to receive someone of your stature,” the woman said.
“Good. Can you send a message ahead to let them know we’re coming?”
“I am able to contact them,” she said. “But it might not arrive much before yourselves.”
That was a lie. Interesting. John could make some assumptions about why it was a lie, but he the woman wasn’t so easy to read that John knew for certain. However, it would be extremely odd if she didn’t have methods of communication that would outpace them- so John’s assumption was that she might be underselling the speed. “Excellent,” John said. “I believe the Honorable Lake Compact is closer, so I think we shall visit them first.”
After the conclusion of that business, John still had some questions to answer. Was a border guard of that sort actually effective? He supposed if a dangerous group came by they could be noticed, but it would be problematic if they wiped out the outpost. It was fairly poorly defended.
Then again, there weren’t a great number of marauding bandits to be had. The continent wasn’t entirely free of such groups, but they didn’t last long in the central territory. Perhaps that made the Muted Crags even more vulnerable.
John watched as a bird was released from the outpost. Not a shadowhawk or anything so impressive, but a decent flier nonetheless. Was that all there was? Perhaps they expected a regularly scheduled arrival, and receiving nothing was actually also a message.
No. The bird was a distraction. Perhaps it might indeed carry a message, but that wasn’t sufficient. He focused his energy on his eyes, looking at the top of the crags. All senses were limited by the local environment, but overcoming such a restriction wasn’t impossible. Even if John’s eyes of darkness weren’t sufficient on their own, temporary focus provided clarity. He picked out one or two people, and he expected there were more hiding.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The genius part was that they weren’t blending their spiritual energy with the surroundings, they were just hiding normally. No active use of spiritual energy at all, so only a few faces could be seen staring down at the road. No doubt they would catch people on alternate routes as well. As for how they communicated, a relay system like the Sunfields would be a bit more difficult given the natural terrain, but they had to be able to make use of their height somehow.
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Personally, John thought that putting terms like “Honorable” in the title of a sect was a bit pretentious. However, it did give a hint towards their potential attitude. He expected either quite decent people or self-righteous jerks. To be the former, the name would have to be chosen because Lake Compact was a bit too plain.
At least they weren’t the Shadowy Sect of Dark Shadows and Darkness. As far as John was aware there wasn’t an actual sect with precisely that name, but darkness cultivators tended to be quite limited in their adjectives. Choosing to tie oneself to a geographical feature was limiting, but at least more original for that particular element. To John’s understanding they were pure darkness cultivators, not mixed with water despite the lake aspect.
A late Consolidated Soul Phase cultivator was waiting when John arrived. It was unsurprising that they were able to pick out the approaching group at a distance, as the road was long and straight on approach to their domain- most likely on purpose, given how it curved oddly just before that straightaway. It wouldn’t be difficult to assume that it was the Six Elements Crossroads given the timing, but they shouldn’t have actually been able to pick out spiritual energy until they were closer. Either option showed a form of preparedness, whether they had confirmed it was them in particular or they simply chose to have a proper greeting for any incoming group.
“The Honorable Lake Compact welcomes the Six Elements Crossroads,” said the relatively youthful man. “I am the sect head, Cyrille.”
“John Miller,” he confirmed his own position, as if it was in question. “We appreciate the hospitality of the Honorable Lake Compact. We hope you are open to an exchange of cultivation insights.” John was primarily interested in establishing contact with the sect, but training was always valuable. Some were more hesitant to display their abilities around others, but the versatility of the Six Elements Crossroads was such that displaying general abilities was standard. Each disciple might have some individual techniques they specialized in that they could keep secret or not, but it was difficult to counter the main core of their techniques.
It would be possible to destabilize an elemental cycle, but only for inexperienced cultivators. Those at the Soul Expansion or Consolidated Soul Phase should have already learned more stability. Any sort of counter technique would have to be specialized for multi-element cultivators, which weren’t exactly the most populous opponents. Even with the rise of the Six Elements Crossroads, the vast majority of cultivators still focused on a single element, or at most a specific regional pair.
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The lake was beautiful and calm, yet at the same time quite odd. It was perfectly still, such that John would have expected it to reflect the sky like a mirror. Indeed, it did, but the local darkness element weakened the effect such that it was barely visible. Instead, the lake appeared quite dark with only a few patches reflecting the brightest parts of the sky. The crags surrounding the lake were nearly indistinguishable from pure darkness.
Yet when John drew closer, the dark segments actually faded away to reveal clear waters, with figures of fish swimming in the depths. As for whether others could actually make out their forms, John wasn’t quite sure.
Unlike with the Succulent League, the Honorable Lake Compact didn’t have their disciples train fundamentals together. Perhaps they were concerned about particular aspects of their style getting out, or just generally more cautious. Either way, the pieces of information John learned were all based around what he witnessed instead of any actual instruction.
There was no surprise that they drew upon the local terrain to power their darkness elemental style. Their form of darkness manipulation was not focused solely on concealment, but also adding to the surroundings, creating false impressions of terrain and the positions of people and objects.
Only some of the more experienced disciples participated in sparring sessions, demonstrating the technique with some proficiency. With the natural restrictive effects, John could see how effective the technique was. However, there were some flaws he picked out that didn’t seem as if they could be easily overcome. Then again, most people weren’t used to sensing extremely low levels of spiritual energy, so they wouldn’t miss a small fraction of air element or notice the faint earth element where a boulder appeared to be open air.
Rather than immediately inform his disciples of the weakness, John let them figure it out on their own. He could give some hints, but ultimately he thought it was something all of his disciples should be able to manage on their own. Some of those with earlier matches didn’t figure it out until they were able to observe from the outside, but soon enough word began to spread.
Not every disciple could make practical use of the information, and indeed some focused too much on looking at the minute details of the surrounding spiritual energy that they missed more obvious signs, but for the most part they were proficient enough to reduce the enemy’s effectiveness. Any light cultivators did very well, as they were experienced at fighting against darkness cultivators while the Honorable Lake Compact didn’t have easy access to their opposite element. In such circumstances, the individual with the appropriate experience had a very significant advantage.
-----
Somewhat disappointingly, none of the elders or Cyrille participated in any of the matches. That meant John also didn’t get an opportunity. He could have requested a match, but that might pressure the sect head into complying. If they didn’t want to reveal too much, they also wouldn’t learn as much in return.
At least John was successful in establishing contact, and Cyrille seemed open to future interaction. It was possible that he was just concerned about opening up to new individuals too quickly. Personally, John thought that the opportunity to witness an Ascending Soul Phase cultivator in action might have tempted him, but maybe John was just biased about his own abilities.
He did learn more about the situation. The Black Peaks still retained influence over the middle and eastern sections even if they only actually controlled their city-state, but the Shadowed Union had been formed in the west. They weren’t exactly enemies, but they certainly weren’t aligned with the rest of the region.
John hoped that the Silver Haze Sect would be more open, though if he had to wait for a longer term relation to be established before anything came of the contact he could accept that. At least having some connection to the region aside from the legacy of battle should be worthwhile.
