In his quest to explore the remainder of the continent- specifically with the intention to establish connections between the various elemental zones- John found himself in the worst place he’d ever been. He felt that strongly, even though he’d experienced the Soulrot Bogs.

And yet, for the locals… it wasn’t a particularly unpleasant place at all. That could only mean one thing. Light element. Aside from the Prism Underfields, John hadn’t visited anywhere with pure light element. The Sunfields weren’t so bad because they were actually fire element primarily, with the light element being secondary. Especially now that he had a proper totem, he didn’t mind fire- but he’d also been training his interactions with it longer.

There simply weren’t many accessible areas of light element, so he hadn’t been exposed all that often. He certainly hadn’t been able to train with it in his early cultivation, though it might have been valuable, if difficult.

The Shining Coast was only slightly further northwest than he’d been before. It was nestled just west of the Blustering Peaks and north of the Viridia Wildlands. Rather than trek directly over the Blustering Peaks from Astrein, he took a ship along the north edge of the Shimmering Islands to reach the narrowest point of the Viridia Wildlands, which was just at the base of the Peaks as well.

From there, John and only a small number of disciples trekked the rest of the way on foot. While normally he would have brought most interested disciples, since the area was less familiar he made the choice to limit their numbers for the moment. Not every outing had to be led by him personally anyway, and bringing along other disciples was more for prestige and safety than anything else.

This also included Viriato, as the finance elder also had some of the best control of light among all of their disciples.

“I’m surprised you haven’t been here more frequently,” John said. “I thought you sought out the best prices for everything.”

“Exactly,” Viriato responded. “And with a much more convenient source of light element goods nearby, I had little reason to come out here. Especially since many of our light element disciples are strongly influenced by the Golden Tomb Guardians.”

“Hmm,” John nodded. “That’s a bit of a flaw.”

“I don’t think we’ve been particularly failing to try to include diverse training options for every element. It is simply that the Prism Underfields are quite difficult to access, and the Shining Coast is… not actually that powerful, in the grand scheme of things.”

“They certainly haven’t involved themselves in any wide scale conflicts,” John admitted. “Nor did many of note attend the tournament. But I thought they might simply be conserving themselves and letting other people deal with their own hardships.”

Without any contacts in the area, they hadn’t been able to arrange to stay at any particular locations, but if necessary their group could camp out anywhere without too many concerns. The area was not known for such powerful beasts as the Viridia Wildlands, and that was information that would have spread.

Even though they had certainly entered the general area given the large quantities of light element, they should still be several days of travel from the coast the area was named after. The Shining Coast did not share the same waters as the Shimmering Islands, but ran up against the Enor Sea- a much less populated area, though it did still attract some amount of water element cultivators.

Rather than finding the light element around him directly draining, John felt it like more of an itch he couldn’t scratch constantly wearing about him. It would have been much worse previously in his cultivation path, but now that he had two elements allied to light it was tolerable to be around. Even so, he limited his use of the darkness allied elements, or he imagined he would be constantly converting elements to replenish his spiritual energy.

There were two destinations in mind, with the option to expand upon those if it seemed valuable. The Goldheart Clan was said to be a major influence on the area as a whole, and a few of their clan members had participated in the latest tournament in Lunson. The Solar Palace was closer, though reaching them required moving northeast into the high hills adjacent to the Blustering Peaks.

Ultimately, it had been decided that heading towards the Solar Palace first was a better path, as they were less distance into unfamiliar territory. An odd group of cultivators like them could cause a significant disturbance otherwise, especially considering their power with two Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators among them. Forty years prior, that would have been completely absurd considering the relative states of the wider region.

The path up to the Solar Palace was more long than difficult as they hiked up switchbacks and natural slopes that would take somewhere around two days at their current pace. John had to admit he could see why the Solar Palace had chosen their location, because they stood out from a great distance, shining in the mountains. Maybe shining a bit too brightly in John’s opinion, but that was more of a personal problem. At least it had practical merit to it when it was done by light cultivators instead of simply being a display of ostentation.

Without winds threatening to blow them off of every edge like the Blustering Peaks, it turned out that the trek was much simpler. They still didn’t encounter many people on the same route, but they did pass what looked like a few hopeful potential disciples. John wished them well.

The Six Elements Crossroads didn’t have a physical trial to reach the sect, and their tests focused more on ability to work with others and learn more than what cultivators could do before they entered the sect. After all, people who already knew what they were doing might be useful for bolstering the sect in the short term but there was no guarantee they would be any greater in the long term. They still accepted those who had prior cultivation experience, of course, it just wasn’t the main factor.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

-----

The first sunset halfway to the Solar Palace, everyone got an even better view than before. The sea was just on the edge of the horizon, and the fading sun reflected beautifully off of the water and the clouds in the area.

Even at night, the light from the sea seemed to focus towards their destination. Most likely that was not due to the efforts of the Solar Palace, but instead why they chose their location. It wasn’t just the sea and clouds, of course, as those would tend to reflect light relatively evenly across the landscape. Instead it had something to do with light reflected off of the rest of the area as well somehow focusing a majority towards a certain peak.

Night in an area high in light element was an interesting phenomenon. John could always see well at night due to his blessing of darkness, but it seemed as if even the light of the stars was amplified. More than that, the lights in the cities below seemed to stretch further. City lights were something John hadn’t really thought about since coming to this world, and he hadn’t realized he missed it.

Even though light pollution from cities tended to reduce the visibility of stars, that didn’t seem to be the case in the Shining Coast. Or perhaps he was missing something truly marvelous. Either way, the combination was almost worth traveling as far as they had just for that.

Something stirred inside John. He was still quite far from making a proper connection to light. In fact, he was already one totem overfull. But even so, he found he had stumbled across another set of insights, revealing to him more about light than he’d previously considered. The beauty of light wasn’t just in the way it revealed things.

It revealed more options for his eventual light element totem, most likely several decades off still even if everything else went smoothly. He had no idea how long it would take to surpass each rank of the Ascending Soul Phase, after all- though it seemed to be a few years at least if he were to judge by Steve and Yustina.

-----

Sunrise was less pleasant for John specifically, as instead of pleasantly fading away the light only continued to increase. At least it stopped reflecting directly into his eyes at some point. Or at least, not as much of it.

The rest of their journey up and across the mountain brought them ever closer to the Solar Palace, until they finally came into view of… the side gates. Of course, they were still suitably impressive, but the Solar Palace was oriented such that those coming from the center of the Shining Coast would receive the best angle.

Though it added more than a few kilometers to their journey, John decided it would be best for them to make their way around towards the main entrance. Most likely the more experienced guards would be there, and their group should cause them less consternation. Either way, it should give them more time to prepare.

The flow of disciples and prospective disciples picked up towards the main entrance, though it still wasn’t anything massive. Still, it was a healthy amount. If the sect was completely static, both in terms of current disciples and recruitment, then even having the best location possible would hardly benefit them in the long run. They still needed new blood, and current disciples needed proper worldly experience.

While John was used to either announcing himself or having people recognize him, he understood that in some cases it was better to have someone else do the job for him. Thus, he and the rest of the group stopped at a proper distance, with Viriato stepping slightly ahead towards the gates to announce them. “The Six Elements Crossroads comes seeking an exchange of knowledge and insights.”

There was more to the exchange than that, as the Solar Palace wasn’t expecting guests such as them. However, not having contacts in the area meant it was difficult to arrange for anything ahead of time. They were an isolated bunch that did very little trading, so even Viriato hadn’t known anyone appropriate.

Even unprepared, it didn’t take long for them to relay messages through the sect. Shortly thereafter, a trio of Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators approached to greet them. From what John could sense without prying too much, they might be the only Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators within the sect. Not that it was a poor showing, exactly, but even the newly founded Six Elements Crossroads matched them in that regard. Raul had no particular reason to come with them on the journey, however, so it was just John and Viriato.

“The Triumvirate bid you enter,” the gate guards announced.

Ah. That resolved the question of the sect head going through John’s mind, and reminded him that they didn’t know as much about these people as they ought to. But in the current state of his sect’s growth, he found it more valuable to gather some information directly instead of sending others.

The gates seemed to both draw in and reflect light, and John was glad when they were out of the way. Even so, he could barely make out the three figures in front of him. In the center was an older woman- John might have taken her as the sect head, except her cultivation was slightly below the younger woman to her right. The older woman might still have a higher position among them… or perhaps it was simply that they had to stand in some formation. Either way, the third of them was a man, his cultivation slightly between the other two seemingly just over the line of the Mid Consolidated Soul Phase. Very technically that placed him at a higher cultivation rank than John himself, not considering totems.

“Welcome,” the woman in the middle spoke as John and the others approached. “I am Tineke.”

“Nisha,” the younger woman said.

“Ukko,” the man respectfully bowed.

“We were not expecting guests, especially not the esteemed Six Elements Crossroads, but we can easily prepare accommodations for however long you wish to stay.”

John nodded. While they said that, John imagined their presence would begin to grate after a week or so, as they might have other plans that he had inadvertently interrupted.

“Thank you,” John said. “I apologize for the lack of forewarning, but we have very few contacts within the Shining Coast. Perhaps you can help us rectify that information for the future.”

John thought he was doing a pretty good job of not squinting. And while he felt a constant need to protect himself from the light element around him, he thought he managed it in a manner that was only minimally disruptive. At least he hoped so, because he wanted to make a good impression on this sect.