[Reap the Wind] was the newest martial technique in my arsenal of [Tessenjutsu].

It evolved and combined the offensive abilities from the forms [Dancing Wind and Rain], [Wind Over Water], and [Thunder Strikes]. I flicked both Tessen open, extending one as far forward as possible. I began fluttering the other, creating small eddies of wind that were directed at the extended Tessen.

Once the fluttering began, I used more extensive sweeps with the extended arm to capture the wind, control it, and form it into a small but concentrated cyclone. Once created, I moved the construct to orbit our group and began developing another.

I managed ten in all before sending each construct spiraling throughout the cavern; my movements changed. My Tessen moved from creation to control as I extended both arms and created wind streams to determine path and trajectory. Those streams would feed the wind, and Qi needed to sustain and grow each cyclone.

The cyclones ripped every spiderweb from the cavern's surface, destroying spiders and egg sacs simultaneously. Stalactites and Stalagmites were damaged in the process, and part of the cavern collapsed.

Not enough to seal the cave or the tunnel leading downward, but enough that I encouraged the cyclones to gather the fallen rubble and deposit it in one area. The miners could sift through it later to see if there was anything of value.

I was pleased with the efficiency of [Reap the Wind]. I had been able to generate storms that released tornadoes before, but I had no control over those forces of nature. The path they took and the destruction they left behind were left to chance or fate once whatever I had targeted was dealt with.

I liked being in control of what was targeted. And the skill would synergize well with [Falling Cherry Blossoms] to do more area effect damage.

Once I was satisfied that the cavern had been scrubbed free of webbing and spiders, I calmed the wind allowing the cyclone constructs to fade. A spider or two might have survived inside a deep crevice, but any danger they presented could be quickly dealt with. No one would have to worry about getting trapped in a maze of webbing, and without that impediment confronting any spider bold enough to attack would not be an issue. It would soon be dead.

“This side tunnel opens into another cave covered in spider webbing,” Siam said, returning from scouting ahead, “do you want to leave it to farm the silk?”

Killing and clearing that cavern was the turning point in how we moved forward; each of us took turns from that point, turns exploring the side tunnels and caves, clearing them out by ourselves where possible as we moved forward. We spent too much time clearing, and we needed to speed things up. I had other responsibilities I needed to worry about and had decided that learning to work together as a team was great in concept but not something I should strive for.

My cultivation had advanced to the point that I stayed in the back, leaving the fighting to the other team members, or I killed everything by myself. The only bright discovery of this delve into the cave system was learning about Zui’s talent for identifying and targeting beasts we encountered. And creating on-the-fly strategies to deal with them.

She would make a great General in any army. An army, I realized sadly, I would need to create. Onkei was isolated enough, but when Cultivators and flying bonded were added to the mix, that isolation was a tenuous defense at best.

“Let’s leave it. I’ll mark it as off-limits and dangerous, but it’s enough out of the way that no one should stumble across it by mistake.

“I’ll speak with Tine and have her check the silk. If it can be harvested and is valuable, we’ll move whatever spiders remain from that area into a spatial device and allow them to breed and expand to meet any demand she might have for their webbing.

“Everyone ready to move on?” I asked. Siam had returned from the last branching tunnel we had discovered, so it was time to delve deeper. “This will take us to the deepest tunnels, so if you need time to cultivate to replenish your Qi, now is the time.”

No one needed a break, so we began our trek downward.

There were fewer branching tunnels to navigate, which made progress faster, but the animals we started encountering were definitely more powerful. The weakest was about the same level as the cave bear we had killed.

Salamanders and Diplocaulids, a larger, more deadly version of the salamander, were frequently encountered. They weren’t a problem, but I didn’t understand the ecosystem of this cave system; what the salamanders and Diplocaulids were finding for food in enough abundance to breed colonies and grow so massive, defied explanation.

I would have to have someone look into what was going on. Even the spiders shouldn’t have enough food to have claimed so much territory.

The monsters we were fighting required more coordination between the five of us, but only when we encountered a group of Diplocaulids. They seemed to gather in colonies between five and ten, so we had to prioritize the order we killed. With the narrow confines of the tunnel hampering some of our more powerful martial techniques, I relied on my Bow.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that I had neglected my Bow skills and had none that really meshed with my new Realm. My one technique, [Water Pierce], needed to be replaced or updated. It still worked, but that was more due to my Realm and the power from my Qi to form arrows than the skill itself.

The Bow had become a niche weapon for me. I barely used it anymore, which was a failing I needed to address. The [Tessenjutsu] technique allowed me to use the perfect weapon and martial skill when I had the room to maneuver, but in tunnels like here, the Bow could shine.

Granted, I could use the melee aspects of [Tessenjutsu], and I did. But Siam and his pet were attacking from melee range, and it was better to stay out of their way as they fought. They worked well together and could communicate their intentions so quickly that their fighting synergized.

They fought as one, and the few times that I had to engage in melee range, that synergy was lost. They spent so much time ensuring their attacks didn’t endanger me that they ignored openings that could have dealt lethal damage.

We discovered a few places that may serve well to plant the spirit seed. Areas that were not so out of the way that miners couldn’t harvest it but remote enough that finding it without a map would take effort.

This last cavern had one of the spots I was considering. There was a tunnel barely large enough to walk in that had been hidden behind a stalagmite and stalactite formation. I had Ming install a concealing array to conceal the spot further and noted it on my map construct.

Once she had finished, we ventured deeper, only to be stopped when the tunnel and cave system ended. My perception was powerful enough to know that there were lava tunnels further in, but to get to them, we would have to get past what looked like a giant worm.

A worm that was so large that it filled the tunnel completely.