Truthful Transmigration

Though John managed to create a slight cooling effect for himself that lasted throughout the night, quite a few others woke up slightly sweating. Even if they were away from the greatest concentrations of heat, the Burning Delta wasn’t concerned with completely negating the heat in the area. To them, it would probably be a waste of energy.

The Burning Delta provided breakfast, which happened to be something akin to sushi. The fish was raw because it was highly impractical to actually cook it- according to what John learned, it was common lavafish… and thus used to extremely high temperatures. Cooking it also wasn’t necessary for health reasons, since normal bacteria wouldn’t survive at such temperatures.

John couldn’t help but think about supernatural bacteria, but he was certain that the local would know if there were such risks with their dishes. Nor did his senses detect anything untoward. That was probably for the best… though he was training his blood to remove toxins and it might have been nice to get further examples. But it wouldn’t be great for the other guests.

The fish itself was… spicy. Not because of anything added to it, but because it was served still ‘warm’, and it also contained a significant amount of fire element. To the locals, warm was just slightly below boiling- something any proper cultivator could withstand but not always pleasant.

John couldn’t say he disliked it, but it wasn’t a new favorite. And he couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if you did cook the fish, frying it at some sort of extreme temperature.

After breakfast, sect head Zdislava led them to the ships. “Please be careful when approaching,” she said. “Be aware that the sides of the ship are just as hot as the lava itself, though slightly less conductive. If you fall in, you would do best to insulate yourself from the heat while we help you return to the ship, if you don’t have your own methods.”

It was likely that nobody needed to hear that lava was hot and dangerous, and the warning about the sides of the ship should have been pretty obvious… but it was better to have unnecessary reminders than to miss something important. John could probably catch anyone in a nearby vessel with a cushion of air or water before they actually hit the surface if it came down to that, but given the size of each ship he likely wouldn’t be close to all of them.

John wondered if Molten Sea cultivators could make lava not hot- without simply hardening it into stone, of course. Perhaps he would ask when it was appropriate.

Either way, he climbed aboard one of the narrow stone vessels after Zdislava. Before anything else they had to attach the sails- it appeared they were completely removed from the masts while docked. Once they were ready to depart, they cast off from the dock- the lines holding them tight being some sort of metal ropes that were untied by the sailor’s spiritual energy then rolled onto a special reel. The deck of the ship was only ‘unpleasantly hot’, but that indicated excellent insulative properties for something constantly sitting in lava.

The ships had wide sails, but despite the strong winds in the area that wasn’t sufficient for the vessels to move at any speed through the lava. That was another job for the sailors, and they used surprisingly familiar techniques. The sailors at the front of the vessel manipulated the lava to have significantly lessened viscosity, allowing the ship to push through it. The sailors were treating lava like water. Or perhaps it was better to say that water element techniques were functional on any sort of liquid.

John was aware of their methods beforehand, but seeing it in person made him think. Traditionally he would have thought of lava as earth and fire. That said, the local lava actually did have a higher amount of water in it- providing one of the dangers they had to deal with. Powerful bursts of steam and gas built up in the Molten Sea, flinging bits of lava up into the air and threatening those on deck and their sails.

The sails appeared to be little more than canvas- most likely specialized, but still flammable. Instead of trying to find some sort of flexible material that wouldn’t burn, the locals seemed to focus on avoiding hazards ahead of them. When anything got too close, they manipulated the buildups to release early- or away from their ships.

Some part of John wanted to say that lava couldn’t be ‘water’. However, if that was the case then sometimes ‘water’ wasn’t water. Water element cultivators still controlled it when it was ice or steam. Likewise, John expected he could control earth when it was molten- or if it were vaporized- with one important limitation. Water was supported by the fire element, whereas earth was dominated by it. So treating liquid stone as ‘water’ was perhaps more efficient.

In truth, it was all about perspective. As a cultivator of five elements and with some experience in the sixth, John understood there were many ways to accomplish a task. Certain sorts of spiritual energy were more efficient for a task, but most could accomplish the same thing eventually. Fire element in the form of heat could help plants to grow, in moderation. When traditional earth was a liquid, perhaps it was better to treat it as ‘water’.

John had an interesting idea for one of his modular techniques. He had added the air element to his Sinking in the Mire technique, which was traditionally water and earth. Using it with sand, he was able to make people sink… and then when he stopped injecting air they would be buried. Why not do the same thing with fire? Specifically, if he could turn the ground into magma and momentarily reduce its viscosity, it would be extremely difficult for someone to get out. The only issue was that anyone who would remain immobile long enough for that to happen- even if it took just a single second- was far below the level John was concerned with. But if they were already naturally using lava as footing- which he had experienced before- then it might be viable as the most intensive part would be forming the lava.

John stood off to the side of the vessel, attempting some experiments with the lava. He confirmed what he thought about controlling its movement as either ‘water’ or ‘earth’. Both were possible, but one was amplified by the abundance of fire element and one was hindered. With water permeating everything, it really was best to treat the lava as water and fire element mixed. It was no more odd than the Phoenix Forest mixing earth and fire.

Their travel was smooth, and aside from the heat and how everything looked John didn’t feel like anything was much different than a sea voyage. The biggest difference was that there were only shallow waves, and they didn’t seem to be caused by winds or any form of tide as much as by buildups of pressure causing a burst that pushed large quantities of lava around.

“Are there tides in the Molten Sea?” John asked Zdislava.

“There are,” she confirmed. “Though in most places, they are less extreme than what I have heard is the case for a more traditional sea. But one must be aware of these tides. Our sect grounds are only a few meters above the highest tides.”

“Are there ever… extreme tides?” John asked.

“On occasion we have to defend our sect grounds from overflow,” the old woman smiled gently. “Sometimes, we must let it be overrun and focus on survival.”

“The harsh environment must build strong cultivators,” John said.

Ahead of them, John noticed an issue he had no idea how they would overcome. It was simple, really. One of the rivers flowing in its obsidian beds- but even if their ship could function on water- and he doubted that it would be a smart idea to dunk the glowing hot ship in ‘cool’ water- the riverbeds would be an issue.

But Zdislava herself showed how the locals dealt with that issue. She built up her spiritual energy, forming the backbone of a molten bridge of lava that their ship sailed up. She was not the only cultivator to support the bridge, but her contribution was by far the greatest. John paid close attention to what was done, though it wasn’t that much different from what he might expect. He could do the same thing with liquid water- though most seafaring vessels would need a deeper bridge to stay afloat. Their draft was relatively shallow, though John noticed that the ‘bridge’ was still deeper in the middle, forming a sort of half circle downward.

Special care was taken for the lava to not collapse onto the river- John could just imagine how they might accidentally divert the flow of the rivers if they just let it fill up with random bits and pieces. The rivers already branched out quite easily, no doubt they didn’t want more chaotic patterns.

After they were once again traveling ‘as normal’, Zdislava began a conversation with John. “I noticed you manipulating the lava with earth element earlier. As a tertiary element here… do you think it would be valuable for our cultivators to learn?”

John gave that serious consideration, then explained his earlier thoughts about efficiency. “It could be useful, but if anyone is planning to cultivate three core elements, I would suggest all four.”

“But there is no natural air element here,” Zdislava said.

John shook his head. “That is not true at all. Are there not winds? Do gasses not build up in the sea?” Of course, the mere presence of something didn’t mean there was spiritual energy… or at least not usable amounts. “Of course, it is relatively lesser than the others. One must know how to extract it.”

John held up a hand, creating a small whirlwind with only external spiritual energy. Extremely small, as without cycling spiritual energy through themselves a cultivator couldn’t do very much with any form of spiritual energy.

“But of course, I am quite biased towards a cycle of elements. Even so, three core elements would be unbalanced. That, I can guarantee. Your current methods would be far superior given the relatively lower density of earth element.”

John was happy to speak on cultivation- and he was not worried about giving up ‘secrets’ when speaking of elemental cycles. In short, three core elements was about the only style John didn’t think was worthwhile, except perhaps mixing light and darkness directly with each other- despite a few examples of that working- or with opposite core elements. Any pair of core elements had its own focus, a cycle of three allied elements, or a cycle of the four core elements or the full six element cycle were all valid paths. Perhaps John would only add a pairing of light or darkness and just one allied element to his disfavored list, but that would still be ranked above trying to balance only three core elements.

“I see,” Zdislava nodded. “I wasn’t planning to change the methods of the Burning Delta to begin with, but I still had to consider potential routes to improve our power.”

“You can still study earth,” John suggested. “Understanding other elements will never be a detriment. But intentionally reaching an incomplete cycle would require… very specific intentions, if nothing else.” John couldn’t say that nobody would be able to make good use of such a thing- but it certainly wasn’t a great plant for a sect.

The tour of the surrounding area continued, and while Zdislava seemed to think that what they saw wasn’t particularly impressive, John thought that was part humility and part familiarity. Because personally, he thought that lava, massive pit geysers, and obsidian bed rivers was more than enough to impress. And how their ships navigated the Molten Sea was just as impressive as the area itself.

John had also seen Tirto and Verusha excitedly manipulating lava behind them. He wasn’t certain what sort of place would be best for them to try to break through to the Ascending Soul Phase, but surely they would find it here. Water and fire… at least from the right perspective. And sometimes, perspective was all that was necessary for a cultivator to accomplish great things.