The arena of the Fifth peak was not terribly large, but it made up for the lack of horizontal space with a vertical component. Miniature floating islands, held aloft by the same crystals keeping the whole of the Sky Islands in place, were scattered above the base of the field.

They were close enough together that even cultivators that didn’t practice the air element would be able to make use of them, however there was certainly still an advantage for air cultivators. Not that anything else would have been expected in this place. Air was the prime element, though earth was nearly matched.

According to the rules of the island masters, they were to match the seasoning and cultivation strength of the challengers as much as possible. While there were no exact terms, it was critical that the match be as close as they could possibly make it. If the challengers didn’t get a reasonable chance to showcase their ability, then it was all pointless.

While a win for the challengers would guarantee them an opportunity to reach the next peak, a loss didn’t disqualify their advancement if they made a good showing. If either side won too easily, it brought some measure of shame to the island masters- unless the challengers were truly pathetic.

That was how things worked in theory. In practice, John didn’t know. The opponent picked out for Lir seemed quite reasonable. He was a disciple in the Mid Soul Expansion Phase, his totems weighted towards earth. The widespread dual element cultivation of the Sky Islands seemed to only apply to the particular pairing of earth and air, with the most common alternative being mono element cultivators of the four elements. For those of the Peaks, however, there didn’t seem to be an alternative- though their styles would still differ between groups.

The battle started on the ground, with the two cultivators facing off against each other. Lir held her glave and her opponent- oddly enough- a crossbow. Such weapons weren’t unheard of, but they were certainly not common.

The man’s battle strategy became clear quite quickly. He leapt upwards on the winds, shooting his weapon downwards as he ended up on one of the floating islands. Air wrapped around the bolt, but the main element was earth propelling it downwards. It blasted away a good portion of the ground of the arena where it hit, Lir deflecting it with her glaive.

The force and speed behind the shots were sufficient that the telegraphed nature of a ranged attack was not a weakness, and they forced a response. Even deflecting the attack took serious effort. A moment later, the crossbow was loaded again and ready to fire.

Of course, Lir wasn’t just going to stand still and get shot at. She fluttered up to a similar perch, limiting the benefit her opponent gained from height. The lack of footing around him was still an issue, but that wasn’t an insurmountable barrier.

Her opponent’s next shot came not when Lir’s feet touched down on the small platform, but the moment she leapt forward towards the next. She twisted her trajectory to try to avoid the incoming shot, but ultimately had to swing her weapon with a burst of fire. Despite the elemental advantage in the exchange, she was still worse off.

The disciples of the Six Elements Crossroads wouldn’t lose so easily, however. They were trained to be adaptable, regardless of their particular elements. Once more the crossbow in her enemy’s hands was quickly reloaded, but she pushed forward from one floating platform to the next, having moved about two-thirds of the way across the arena.

When the next shot came, Lir launched an attack far before the projectile reached her. Her glaive stabbed out, flames swirling around it. She didn’t specialize in long distance attacks, but the flames were able to latch onto the elements empowering the heavy crossbow bolt. Rather than trying to overcome the earth element it was strong against, Lir intentionally disrupted the weaker air element guiding the bolt.

She danced out of the way, conserving her energy compared to a direct confrontation. She was only one platform away from her opponent, and she leapt forward. The chances of him actually remaining stationary were negligible, and she was banking on him trying to leap to one of two platforms on either side.

Her judgment was right, but unfortunately he had the advantage of a burst of speed when he shoved off the platform. She wasn’t able to turn her momentum in time, and he reloaded once more in the air. The force of the shot propelled him more precisely towards his destination, clearly a practiced maneuver.

Lir, who was already trying to redirect her motion in the air, was in a difficult position. She was forced to meet the attack head on, further exhausting her.

John watched with great interest. She was certainly losing, but he was confident she could pull off a win. There were several things in her arsenal yet untouched, including the entirety of her water element.

Lir immediately jumped again, seemingly repeating her move. Her opponent was quite comfortable with that, and once again picked a nearby island as his destination. He was already on the way and his shot had been taken when he realized she didn’t even try to chase after him. Instead, Lir let her momentum carry her forward and over the floating platform, where she slid off the other side and hovered behind it for a moment.

The platforms were quite sturdy- most likely to protect the crystals, which had to be expensive. Even if the Crystal Sea was their source, they weren’t unlimited- nor were they always active. John didn’t know what the secret there was, but he resolved himself to find out if he could.

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Immediately after the attack impacted the platform, Lir was off once more, flying around the side of the platform. While she hadn’t directly clashed with her opponent, the unexpected change had thrown him off. He was still prepared to leap away, but a moment slower.

A huge wave of water pushed Lir onto the same trajectory as her opponent, and even slightly ahead of where he was going as it flowed with her. The unexpected burst of speed forced him to swivel towards her, and his spiritual energy was split between the attack and trying to end up on a platform.

Lir slipped past the crossbow bolt, circling around towards him as he tried to fly to a safe landing position. She spun her polearm as she approached, flames gathering around it. He blocked her assault with a barrier of earth, but was sent crashing to the ground below, unable to keep his footing.

He surrendered as she plummeted down towards him, following up on her previous attack.

John smiled, quite pleased. He was quite looking forward to his disciples advancing to the Consolidated Soul Phase. While it was likely still a significant time away, once they had all four core elements they would be a spectacular sight.

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Ayhan was next. With earth, air, and water he had elements both dominant against and weak to his opponent’s majority totems. The man he faced off against had two air totems, while also wielding short claw weapons strapped to his forearms. Most likely the man would be focused on agility, though John couldn’t tell any more without probing more deeply into his actual totems.

The two combatants didn’t seek out the high ground right away, instead moving towards each other at ground level. Ayhan had a long chain with spikes on the end, which he whipped forward. Water coated its length, directing its motion to try to entangle his opponent.

The man was swift, wind carrying him forward as he tried to slip around Ayhan, but his weapon caught one of the man’s arms. Or perhaps that was the goal to begin with, as a moment later lightning coursed through the water and chain.

Ayhan wasn’t unprepared for such an eventuality. The tail of his spiked chain dangled down to the ground, directing the electricity to disperse there. His opponent slipped out of his grasp with no particular advantage to either of them. Ayhan continued to try to entangle his opponent, but the man began dancing up into the air, staying out of reach- forcing Ayhan to shift his grip on the chain to try to reach him.

The intent was likely to prevent him from grounding the weapon, and it worked to some extent. However, while Ayhan was relatively new to flight the Sky Islands boosted such abilities enough that he could reach his target. Water and earth twisted together around his weapon, and the two clashed as they once more made contact.

Lightning once more charged down the weapon, nearly causing Ayhan to lose his grip as it passed between his hands. He had to redirect it as much as possible with his own air element… because the other two were focused somewhere else entirely.

Earth and water flowed over the flying man. He was obviously familiar with the local techniques to negate flight, and managed to hold himself up against that- until Ayhan’s weight began to drag him down. He had avoided the chain wrapping around him, only contacting the far end with his hand, but the water element leapt forward, turning to ice that bound the chain and his hand.

Ayhan’s feet reached the ground, and he yanked further as another surge of lightning came. Rather than resisting, his flying opponent rushed down, letting the chain slacken as he clawed at Ayhan. Ayhan blocked with his forearm, claws drawing blood… and then the Fifth Peak disciple crumpled to the ground.

John raised an eyebrow. That was certainly an… unusual tactic. It had all happened in a moment, with Ayhan directing the lightning coursing through his chain through his own body and back into his opponent. That required a careful maneuvering of elements both internal and external, with the most important part being that Ayhan was ready for the two of them to be a circuit.

A risky maneuver, though one that had great benefits when pulled off correctly. Not something that could be done frequently, as his opponents would catch on, but that was why versatility was so important.

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Viriato’s match wasn’t particularly thrilling. Even matched against a mid Consolidated Soul Phase cultivator, they were simply unprepared for him using all four elements uncommon in the Sky Islands. Light and darkness were the least prominent, and while they likely faced water or fire cultivators often enough very few people cultivated both. Though perhaps they should have, as there would have been more total spiritual energy available using the same principles as Astrein.

Either way, the woman Viriato fought was totally unprepared for the numerous illusions. Furthermore, mistakenly attacking the wrong place could result in a detonation of light and darkness. Those two elements together were the biggest factor in the battle, as very few people could expect any cultivator to make use of those. Even in a place of relatively high cultivation like the Sky Islands, they simply didn’t have that combination.

She did make a decent use of thrown axes, tossing them at potential targets so she wouldn’t have to risk the explosions herself, but drawing the weapons back to her afterwards was difficult. The explosions destabilized all sorts of energy, often breaking her connection to the weapons. That meant she had to draw more of her limited supply or maneuver to a position she could retrieve her weapons.

Either option provided moments of opportunity for Viriato, and the elder was quickly worn down. However, the results were still within the expected tolerances. Viriato would receive a decent amount of clout for his victory, and the Fourth Peak would likely be able to provide a better match.

John had no opponent. The Fifth Peak’s Island master was not an Ascending Soul Phase cultivator, and she didn’t have any reason to deny John’s advancement. He would have to turn out to be extremely weak for an Ascending Soul Phase cultivator for her decision to be unwarranted. Personally, John was fine reducing the number of times the locals got to see him fight.