It seemed like forever, but it had only been a handful of days on Great Eye Island. To John it felt far longer given the whole assassination attempt and the intrigue from that. He still wasn't entirely certain about the culprits being the Glorious Veil. Darkness cultivators weren't necessarily more likely to engage in assassinations than light cultivators. There was also the possibility that the Great Eye Sect were the perpetrators and intended to fail to place blame on the Glorious Veil. Or they didn't care whether they succeeded or not because of their backup plan.

If John had died, the continent would have come to avenge him- unless they happened to wipe out the entirety of the expeditionary fleet. That would be difficult, as it contained many talented water cultivators who could certainly outmaneuver the locals. The fact that they were keeping some of the vessels away from their shores actually made that potential ploy less likely, since it would make their lives harder than simply inviting in the whole fleet.

Then again, they might have suspected John and Astrid intended to conquer their sect. Cultivators were known to do such things, and they had only recently met.

Ultimately, John wanted to believe in the straightforward nature of Lochan and the fruit-loving persona of Jayendra. For that, they had to visit other locals and learn more about the temperament of various sects. John was slightly tempted to immediately return to the continent for backup, but it wasn't such a short trip that they could afford to make it extra times. Besides, they had only seen precisely one occupied island in the western seas so far. That wasn't a great survey of the locals.

Having gained a better understanding of where various islands were- instead of old low quality maps that they had scrounged up from various libraries on the continent- they chose their next destination. The Graveshore Society. They would no doubt be biased against the Glorious Veil, but John could hope to learn something of interest. Besides, they weren't particularly allies of the Great Eye Sect either so they could still provide a fresh perspective.

As they moved on, John regretted one aspect of cultivator life that they hadn't experienced. It might be a bit too much for a first introduction of their factions, but an exchange of pointers could be a good way to learn about a sect. Specifically, how they reacted to minor conflict and the way they carried themselves. Obviously, both sides would also get a sense of the other's martial prowess which would hopefully prevent future conflicts, but that didn't always work out.

Either way, as a completely new factor in the lives of the locals, John figured that only a single assassination attempt was probably about as good as they could expect for the moment. Proper cooperation would take time.

-----

In seas populated by humans, beasts were less likely to attack along common routes. It still happened of course, but humans tended to wipe out those that caused trouble. There weren't precisely patrolled roads, but under the sea still had its own locales. Swimming beasts didn't simply roam wherever they pleased- they preferred a certain type of environment which might rely on kelp forests, access to the depths, or even nearby islands or reefs.

The trip to find the Graveshore Society was rather uneventful, as it only took a few days of travel instead of weeks. It could have been shorter, but they actually preferred to be spotted ahead of time. If they approached too quickly, the sect might have a rash reaction.

Once they spotted the island from the crow's nest- John had been able to see it while flying over a day before- they continued about half the distance before only the flagship continued ahead. They wanted the locals to be comfortable enough, but if a conflict erupted they didn't want backup too far away.

Though if they had packed all of their strongest cultivators together, they might have stood a pretty solid chance of victory based on their understanding of the Graveshore Society's power. Of course, John and Astrid both were on the flagship- the two Ascending Soul Phase cultivators that were part of the expedition. Ahead, John could sense just one. Somewhere in the early Ascending Soul Phase, if he judged correctly. Astrid could likely handle that alone, unless they were particularly well trained against light cultivators. She, of course, was well experienced in handling darkness.

They made their way towards the docks where a group was already waiting to meet them. Astrid held up her hands to create the borders of a small viewing window as she manipulated the light in front of her. It wasn't a technique with which she had great expertise, but it still provided a properly zoomed in image of those standing in the distance. A bit less clear than it could have been, but sufficient to make out major details.

"White hair," Astrid commented, referring to the woman with the Ascending Soul Phase cultivation. "She doesn't seem old though, does she?"

"I don't think so," John agreed. "It might be related to her cultivation method."

There were one or two others with stark white hair like her, while there were more than a handful of elders with white or gray hair.

"It matches the beaches," Astrid noted, indicating the white sand.

"Interesting." John didn't have enough information to react more than that.

They continued onward, their ship pulling up just short of the docks. John and Astrid moved ahead of the rest, leaping onto the docks but still keeping some ten meters of distance from the waiting group.

The woman Astrid had noted earlier stood proudly in front of the rest. "This is the sovereign territory of the Graveshore Society. Identify yourselves."

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"My name is John Miller, and the expedition with me represents the interests of the continent to the east. Most recently, we have come from Great Eye Island."

As more time passed, no doubt word of their presence would spread between sects. Even if they didn't directly send information, as long as they had regular exchanges of any sort they would learn- and it was likely that they would be eager to keep tabs on their neighbors.

"Then you must know that I am Dina, sect head of the Graveshore Society. What is your business here?"

"We wished to meet our neighbors to stave off potential conflict. With increasing cultivations, many are setting their eye on a wider area. Our sects have more than enough space… but we wouldn't mind an exchange of goods or various resources. I am certain you have some unique darkness element treasures here that would be properly balanced with those from the continent." John emphasized his own darkness element with those words.

"Is that all?" Dina asked.

John shrugged. "It's an awful long way to go for war, so we'd have to have a good reason. If you are not interested in visitors, we can move on. Perhaps the Glorious Veil would be more interested in receiving us."

Dina narrowed her eyes. "I doubt it. Not if you truly come from the Great Eye Sect. If you did, you would be more cautious about them."

John allowed himself a pleasant grin. "Is that so? But don't they just sound so nice? Graveshore is a bit intimidating."

"It is only accurate," Dina declared. "The Glorious Veil is more prone to exaggeration."

"Is that so?" John asked. "Perhaps you could tell us more about that."

Dina looked beyond him. "We have insufficient space for all of your vessels, but we can likely accommodate your stay otherwise. Though perhaps some of your disciples would prefer to stay on your ships instead of our lowest accommodations." She turned, her long hair waving behind her. "Come, I will introduce you to the elders."

She wasn't nice, but she also wasn't unpleasant. Personally, John was fine with an openly disinterested individual… though she likely cared more than she let on. After all, she would not wish to allow any potential advantage to the Glorious Veil when they were already more powerful.

As they reached the end of the docks, John casually scanned the island itself. Darkness element came from the island below, far different in its composition than Midnight Island. It had a decent spiritual energy flow, though it wasn't exceptional enough that John would limit himself to a single elemental source. Water and earth were present, but not of notable quantity. Anything alight with light was almost completely missing.

The white sands themselves had an odd feeling to them. John couldn't quite pick out what it was, except that it was quite infused with the darkness element. Nothing about the island was particularly dark or hidden, however.

-----

Dina had many questions about the continent. At first, she concealed her probing nature. However, when it became clear that John and Astrid were actually open to answering questions she became more open about it.

"These Shimmering Islands, they are all water element?"

"Water and air," Astrid replied. "The entire region is suffused with those elements, rather than individual islands possessing their own auras."

Part of the reason that they could easily answer such questions was that the information really wasn't that secret… and the continent was feeling secure in their position. They wouldn't be going deep into fighting styles or techniques, certainly not on their first encounter, but mentioning the dominant elements in entire regions was not something relevant to keep secret.

"How long has the Graveshore Society held its place here?" John asked. Dina was clearly hesitant to reveal much about them… but John was trying to get her more comfortable. "The Six Elements Crossroads was established… somewhere around a handful of decades, now. Before that, Astrein had little in the way of large sects."

John was giving sufficient information to attract interest while avoiding explaining too much. Or at least, that was his intent.

"Then…" Dina hesitated slightly. "How did you come into your unique method of cultivation?"

"I found inspiration early on," John said. "Then I tread the path myself, with the aid of my clan. Now, clan affairs are taken care of by my very talented daughter."

Dina carefully looked over John, not bothering to hide her spiritual energy investigating him. "You must possess great talent." Her eyes turned to Astrid. "You made an excellent choice."

"I was already aware of many of his best qualities before we first met," she said. "But I've discovered far better qualities since then. Make sure to find someone that actually cares about you, and not just what you can accomplish."

Dina raised an eyebrow, but offered no further comment.

-----

Dinner was an exercise in subtlety. It hadn't even been a week since someone tried to poison him, so John was doing his best to inspect his food. He had also been spending more time training Pure Blood, but a few days wouldn't make much difference on their own.

Astrid cleverly disguised her efforts as light naturally pulling away into the surrounding darkness element, fading into nothing. It would be a bit unbelievable for an Ascending Soul Phase cultivator's control of their own energy to be so poor that it sparked a larger explosion, but motes of her energy flickering out of existence was quite believable. Some of them simply happened to be focused on her plate or fork.

There wasn't any poison, of course. Unless it was particularly subtle as it built up or sudden and virulent, John could rather quickly kill Dina regardless of what happened afterwards. She was three ranks behind him, in the early Ascending Soul Phase. Besides, at the moment the Graveshore Society only had things to lose if they came into conflict with the continent. Especially with all of their cultivators on the island, ready to fight. Or just relax, fortunately.

Everything was going smoothly. John did wonder if he could get Astrid to train in some sort of fire element body purification technique… though active sensing for poison was highly likely to reveal even the most subtle options. The one they had encountered a handful of days prior simply didn't stand out to passive inspection as it was not imbued with much spiritual energy.

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