Peaceful interactions with neighbors was exactly what John wanted with everyone. The world was not so strained for resources that people had to fight each other for each scrap- and while certain cultivation resources were indeed limited it wasn’t to a concerning degree. Perhaps with his perspective steeped in fortune John wasn’t seeing the whole picture, but he saw how effective sharing knowledge could be for growth instead of simply trying to gobble up more spiritual energy.
Of course, one needed to be careful with exactly what knowledge was shared with who. The continental alliance was still quite loose, more of a reluctant agreement than an enthusiastic partnership. John only really trusted those sects and clans where there was a history of cooperation- beginning with his own family though it had extended far beyond that now. There was even some uneasy trust with some of the Sky Islands. Abritt certainly wasn’t friendly, but her faction had taken some serious blows and was more focused on maintaining their position than causing trouble. At least for the moment.
The tournaments helped mitigate the various factions’ aggression, but there were still far too many memories of war among the various groups. Having the opportunity to go after an outside group was something that couldn’t be ignored.
Most of the continent probably had little interest in actually avenging the Wuthering Steppes or the Glass Hills, but they still jumped at an opportunity to set themselves against something more than wild beasts or the natural hazards of their regions. The movement against the Stormy Sea Sect was somewhat delayed, but as far as cultivators were concerned anything less than a handful of years could be a swift retribution. Quite often, grudges were held for decades, and it wasn’t unheard of them lasting for centuries- beyond the deaths of anyone actually involved in an initial conflict.
The delay had been in part to confirm that nothing more would come of the troubles with the Sky Islands. However, despite whatever Abritt felt about Morana’s death she couldn’t do anything publicly other than accept the woman’s death, whether she was intended to be nothing more than a useful crony or intended for some longer term plots. Morana had simply caused too public a mess, and worse from certain perspectives was that she had shown herself to be weak.
With Tirto and Verusha now in the Ascending Soul Phase, they would be part of the retaliation forces. Nitza was reluctant to stay behind, but they convinced her to do so by pointing out that she would be guarding the sect. It was one thing to go out pirate hunting with their heir, but bringing her to war was too much of a risk.
Cultivators from all different groups joined the fleets, with a greater proportion being from seafaring sects to help man the ships and of course the two regions most affected. Plus cultivators from the Gloom Desolation, of course. They wanted their revenge more than any of the others, as they had been the first targets hit.
-----
Melanthina was found at Port Dawn, with the last group of cultivators that would be joining them from the Gloom Desolation- except she herself was not coming along. John didn’t exactly have to ask why, as it was fairly clear.
“Do you find this to be a good location for a breakthrough?” John asked.
Melanthina shook her head. “Not particularly. But… it is certainly a valuable region to learn from. They have managed to persevere and grow through hardship through methods I had not considered myself. We would gladly join the expedition but…”
Nik took over there. “But she’s already upset that she’s going to be the last sibling to reach the Ascending Soul Phase. So we will remain here.”
Melanthina sighed. “I know Ursel didn’t have the responsibilities of a sect, but even Tirto…” she grimaced. “I can’t believe we were outdone by his relaxed pace.”
John chuckled. “I can. But not because I think your talent is inferior. Remember that you chose the harder path,” John gestured to the two of them. Light and darkness together wasn’t such a simple thing, no matter how well the two cultivators matched each other.
“We didn’t choose it,” Melanthina said. “It just happened without our input. Like fate conspired against us.”
“Or for you,” John pointed out. He knew that despite her protestations the two were as happy as they could be- and their daughter as well.
“That may be,” Melanthina admitted, sending a smile towards her husband. “But it seems you should probably be on your way. You’ve got a war to get to.”
John shook his head. “Don’t you think you’re forgetting something?”
“Like what?” Melanthin asked.
“Like your siblings. We can’t just move on before they taunt you for being last place.”
-----
The Crystal Sea quickly gave way to something more reminiscent of the Shimmering Islands, the weather getting increasingly inclement away from the southeastern coast. However, it didn’t have quite the same spark.
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Maybe it was because John wasn’t riding upon the Wavecutter, forcing his way through storms with Captain Sohan. Instead, their expeditionary fleet did their best to avoid the worst parts of storms for their overall convenience.
That said, they did still encounter storms and massive waves, but rather than focusing on what the ships could do, their cultivators softened the blows. John found himself at the helm of a certain ship splitting the seas as ten meter high waves crashed towards them. The turbulent sea was overflowing with water element, so John didn’t find it terribly difficult to split massive waves over and over. Tirto’s ship was perhaps even more secure than his own.
Most of the other ships didn’t carry Ascending Soul Phase cultivators with the water element, so the job was split between a few weaker cultivators, often working in shifts to keep them fresh. John had some others who could take over if he exhausted himself, but he preferred to keep active to push his limits. He couldn’t neglect his training with any specific element, and this was an excellent opportunity to improve his water skills.
Without their masts, John could have made a simple tunnel through the waves. However, the masts and furled sails being struck by the force of the waves would have turned the boat over on its back… or perhaps snapped the masts off, neither of which were something they wanted to deal with. Thus, John started at the top of the waves, cleaving downward.
If he could have made the exact shape he needed it would have been much less water displaced, but if he merely cut out the profile of the ship then the waves would inevitably fall upon them. Even most cultivators wouldn’t be able to resist being swept away, and the ship itself could sustain heavy damage from the weight of water. Thus, John actually had to cut widely at the top. At first he tried to split the waves vertically and force all of the water to the sides, but he found that the great walls of water resisted his efforts. He still accomplished what he wanted, but it was tiring.
Then he tried pushing the water backwards. That came with less resistance from unnecessary mass, but it meant directly countering the momentum of the water. He actually found that the most efficient method was to actually pull the water towards their ship. He just had to make sure the center of the wave crashed before they reached it.
Imparting a little bit of extra momentum to the top of the water caused it to naturally crash down, dragging more with it at the sides. It was still a significant effort, but he didn’t have to actively control tens of thousands of gallons of water.
Whenever John took the time to look back on where he’d come from, it was a vast gap. From struggling with simple sword techniques and the level of energy control required to prevent himself from overheating in a desert- even a rather hot one- to balancing on water, swimming up a waterfall, and eventually flight. A journey of many decades had brought about a great transformation in himself and the world around him.
But there were still greater heights to reach, and he intended to go as far as he could. That was he could best secure the safe future of his friends and family. Not that he was discounting their personal strength, but nobody could do everything alone. That had become very clear to John over the years.
-----
When there weren’t storms, John found the seas rather peaceful. The expedition fleet even found a nice rocky island with a harbor that could provide shelter for their fleet for a while. The island hadn’t been on their maps, but then again most of their maps didn’t extend this far off the coast at all.
Most of what they were working with as far as maps went were from the Stormy Sea Sect. Perhaps they had missed this particular island or not found it noteworthy. It wasn’t exactly huge- and the rocky harbor it made wasn’t large enough for their whole fleet. But some of them needed repairs after wear and tear from the storms, and that was best done in safety.
Before they actually set up they did some basic checks, specifically looking for strong sources of spiritual energy. The potential threats were things like beasts, unstable natural phenomena, or hidden sects. It wasn’t that they couldn’t deal with such things if they had to, but it was better to be ready first.
Upon inspection it seemed safe, so they sheltered the ships that were at greatest risk of sustaining further damage without repairs. Various people began that work, some replacing boards, sails, rope, and other sorts of damage. Other cultivators were actually able to repair the damage done. For the wood itself, some of the cultivators from the Viridia Wildlands were able to knit together even dead planks. Where there were pieces missing, they could regrow small portions if necessary- though drawing material from their supplies and realigning the grain seemed to be far more efficient.
Likewise, there were other cultivators who could stitch canvas together to the point it was actually as good as new. Repairs of that sort were easier to accomplish closer to when the damage happened, so it wasn’t possible to completely make their fleet as if they’d never been damaged… but with their repair supplies it would be close enough. And they’d be better prepared for the same scenarios in the future.
John wasn’t focused on repair tasks, but instead thought that after a week of sailing some of their number might prefer to take some time on land. That meant actually being able to reach the rest of the island without climbing up rocky cliffs. That might be good training, but they were here to take a break. Thus… he was going to do more work to make their rest overall more effective.
“Ursel!” John called towards the ships from where he was positioned at the base of the cliffs. He was briefly surprised when she vaulted off of a ship- rocking it back and forth- before crashing into the stone next to him. Briefly, because he should have expected her to do that instead of just yelling back.
“Yeah, dad? Need something?”
“I was thinking we would carve out some stairs so people could make it to the top of the island. Maybe set up some tents or something.”
“Sure, I can help with that,” Ursel said. She waved her armored arm in front of her, tearing out chunks of rock like they were soft clay. “How wide and deep do you think?”
“Wide enough for two people, perhaps. One each going up and down, plus some extra room for bulky supplies maybe.”
Ursel stretched her arms wide, scooping away more material and dumping it into the harbor behind them. “Kind of like this?”
“Something like that,” John said, looking at what she’d done. “Might not need to be that deep. How about we trace out the shape we want and then begin working from both ends?”
“Sure. What do we do with all the extra rock?”
“Well, I suppose we dump it down there. We could make a stone pier or something. Though it would be nice if there was enough to extend the edges of the harbor out a bit.”