The first thing John had to do was make it very clear to the Blistering Crest that the continent wasn't planning to go to war with any part of the Molten Sea in the near future. Rather than something that would worry them, it was more that he didn't want to get their hopes up. They certainly wanted backing to go against the True Sea, and they wouldn't mind gaining it from outsiders.

But it would be better to avoid wars as much as possible- and not just because their opponents were theoretically powerful. No matter what else happened in war, people would die on both sides. At the very least John didn't think the people on his side deserved to die, and many of those that he had fought against had conflicts that came about because of the warrior tradition of cultivators. At least the regular citizens were generally left out of the conflicts, though that was mostly because people tended to think of them as irrelevant. As if no powerful cultivators ever came from within the common populace.

It was true that they more commonly came from clans or were born into sects- there were significant advantages held by those in such positions. It was also true that some of the most prominent individuals that fit that mold also happened to be reincarnation or transmigrators, but the common populace was large enough to produce many with talent. Plus, that was where all of John's first generation apprentices came from. In fact, they might have even been considered below the common folk.

Not all had quite the same talent, but they were willing to work hard and had all reached at least the Consolidated Soul Phase- which was a cycle of core elements for those that chose that path. A century before, they would have been highly respected individuals who could run a large group. Even now, there weren't so many Ascending Soul Phase cultivators that people at the Consolidated Soul Phase could just be sidelined.

Samuel Vrabec wasn't really disappointed, but he did put on a bit of a show. "Alas. It seems that we will not be destroying our ancient enemies anytime soon."

He did seem quite pleased at the potential for mutual defense, however. It would certainly take a significant amount of effort for the continent to aid the defense of any part of the Molten Sea, but it was actually better than fighting in their own land if there was a threat that might eventually reach them. With the recent troubles, they couldn't be certain how far they would spread.

Sometimes empires constantly expanded. Other times they found pockets of stability. If Aldara had some sort of grudge against part of the Molten Sea, she very well might cease the advance of the Empire of Elements. But perhaps it was merely an excuse to seek after greater ambitions.

-----

Sparring was important to cultivators. Nominally, it allowed them to learn. John took it seriously for that purpose, but that wasn't the only one. Sometimes it was used as a show of dominance. In this case, it was meant to display competence. If the Blistering Crest was going to rely on the continent to support them, at the very least they needed powerful cultivators.

The arena was located on the edge of the island, including some portion of the Molten Sea itself. That appeared to be fairly standard- in some places John expected it to be entirely on lava. The Blistering Crest seemed to appreciate having solid land to stand on while still having access to the Molten Sea.

Various spars began with lower phase cultivators, eventually working their way up to the peak of the Consolidated Soul Phase. The battle of Adde from the Boiling Springs, Kehinde Abiodun from the Glass Hills, and of course Viriato from his own sect all displayed very different aspects as they matched up against the Blistering Crest.

In reverse order, Viriato was nearly incomprehensible to them. On the surface his water and fire elements would be familiar to them, but the way he made use of them was foreign to the Molten Sea. His water totem was that of a mirrored surface, and his fire totem was dancing flames and shadows. Misdirection wasn't unheard of in the Molten Sea, it simply usually came through other routes.

Then of course there were Viriato's direct light and darkness elements. Nobody was ever ready for those the first time. His opponent raised waves of lava from the nearby area, sweeping them across Viriato… or at least where Viriato appeared to be. Then he would actually be somewhere else, their energy wasted. It culminated in Viriato managing to confuse his opponent about the man's own location, causing him to flow lava over himself. He had the defenses to handle it, of course, but it was a huge waste of energy. The moment he disentangled himself from that mess, twisted beams of light and darkness struck him in the chest, detonating- though not with the full force they could have. It was a simple reminder that he was beaten, like a blade held to the throat. He properly surrendered a few moments later.

Next was Kehinde. He had an elemental advantage, being an air cultivators against primary water cultivators- though it was easy to forget that the Blistering Crest was made up of water cultivators as they shuffled around waves of lava. But they were, and quite proficient at their chosen techniques. John noticed how they tended to build up momentum but then let the lava continue on its own while they directed another patch of lava. It saved them energy and allowed them to confound their opponents, forcing them to be constantly aware of their surroundings and on the move.

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But Kehinde had lightning, and that meant his foe couldn't stand still either. She had to dodge lightning that came from the sky or occasionally from the ground. It wasn't just the reverse bolt of standard lightning either, but instead a reverse of the normal flow as conductivity was manipulated by Kehinde. He could strike wherever he wanted, and water element defenses were particularly vulnerable to being a target. Even if his opponent could redirect the lightning around herself a few times, she didn't have the expertise of a Shimmering Islands cultivator. Kehinde eventually wore her down while successfully avoiding enough incoming attacks to protect himself.

Adde was the most elementally aligned with the region. Their techniques were still unfamiliar, but throughout the journey he had familiarized himself with lava to some extent. Thus, both he and his opponent raised waves of lava at each other. Adde preferred to ride the wave, surmounting the incoming lava, while his opponent simply divided the flow around himself. Adde's control was insufficient to stop the man from doing so, especially when he was closer to the source itself.

Adde did have one good trick, though. He took advantage of the habits of his opponent, adding a special flare to a particular wave. John thought it was pretty clever to hold pressurized steam within the lava, and his opponent was quite surprised. But that was all. As it burst out, the man's defenses held. Even if it wasn't expected in an attack, it still wasn't unfamiliar to the Molten Sea. There were lava geysers around, after all.

Adde's ultimate defeat didn't mean that the Boiling Springs were inferior somehow. It wasn't as harsh of an environment, but their cultivators still had skill. If the arena had been more balanced- one without lava, either forcing the other man to make his own lava or rely on alternative techniques- then things might have gone differently. If nothing else, Adde wouldn't have been using so many unfamiliar attack styles. Hopefully he learned a significant amount from his battle.

With Samuel being the only Ascending Soul Phase cultivator in the sect, they couldn't exactly have a proper series of matches. It would either be a lot of the visiting group fighting each other or the sect head would rapidly exhaust himself.

With John's position in the group and their relatively similar cultivation ranks- John being one ahead and officially in the late Ascending Soul Phase- the two of them would have the first match. Samuel would likely end up sparring with others in coming days, as they would be excellent learning opportunities, but that would depend on his condition afterwards.

It was John's intention to exhaust him, but not too much. Defeat without embarrassment, something from which he could recover quickly. Knowing that air should be the weakness of Samuel, his first thought was to suffocate the man. Not a particularly nice method of combat, but it was quite reasonable. The only issue was that if Samuel did pass out and the formations didn't activate properly, he could be burned by the lava. The chances of that were fairly low, but John didn't want risk.

Instead he used his air element to carry thrown blades. That was fairly standard, but the difference this time was that John waited to be concealed by waves of lava cresting towards him. Then his throwing daggers surfed over the waves, riding the water element controlling them down the backside and skirting the ground towards their target.

Meanwhile, John cut apart the incoming waves with his sword, mainly using his own water element. He did his best to demonstrate all six elements, as it would be rather insulting not to use the best of his capabilities. Occasionally he rallied his own waves of lava, using earth to empower fire to enhance their heat. Even if Samuel could overcome his control to route it around himself, he wouldn't go entirely unharmed. Or at least his spiritual energy defenses wouldn't. Once things got to actual bodily injuries, battles were often over.

There were a few exceptions, of course, but it was rare to get only a tiny portion of spiritual energy through, and anything more than that could kill most people. Except when they had enhanced bodies.

The battle finished with an unexpected flare. Samuel was riding the top of one of John's waves of lava. John caused it to burst upward, but the water element he had imbued it with wasn't just for movement. Instead, it was for temperature change. He could have made it hotter, burning away Samuel's energy. Instead, he froze the lava- turning it into solid rock. It was probably still quite hot by relative standards, but solid.

An Ascending Soul Phase cultivator could absolutely break rock, no matter their elemental origin. However, Samuel still accepted his defeat. Most likely, he judged he couldn't do it fast enough. John had further attacks on the way, and he'd have to take them head on- or rely on superhuman dodging moves. Except John could just aim for his legs.

"Marvelous!" Samuel grinned widely. "I should incorporate that technique into my own style. Perhaps I have focused too much on liquid control, I forgot one of the pillars of the water element."

John did hope he had actually gained a great inspiration. As long as they would become allies in the future, that was for the best. And even if they didn't, it was unlikely that they would be enemies- the Blistering Crest had little to gain from the continent. Then again, Gesine shouldn't have either. The leviathan was a bit unique, but she shouldn't have even been able to get close.

The Shimmering Islands had more leviathans now. Though, they were a number of centuries short of them being anywhere close to the same size. Not a low number of centuries either. Carl was big, but at something around seventy years old he wasn't much bigger than a large sailing vessel. That wasn't even close to the vast number of kilometers that the original leviathan had covered. Carl's blood vessels- even if they mostly carried sea water- were still reasonably sized, instead of a handful of meters across.

The leviathan had been more like a small region than an actual beast. It was also mostly unconscious until the end. It never actively used its energy until Matayal guided it at the end… at the cost of her own life. John liked to think there could have been another way to take down Gesine, but they hadn't found it. And it was impossible to change the past. At most, they could change the future, becoming strong enough to prevent such situations to begin with.

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