Something about the particular elemental balance of the Rolling Dunes caused the earth to be sandy while not being particularly dry, nor extremely hot or cold. At least during the current season, it was quite a pleasant place to walk through, though perhaps in the summer the lack of shade from trees would make it uncomfortable.

The area was not lacking in plant life, it was simply not those that fit within a ‘typical’ landscape, if such a thing even existed.

John made certain everyone got some practice moving around atop the sand in combat scenarios when they stopped to rest for the evening. Along with members of the Six Elements Crossroads, there were members of Firepine Palace as well as Golden Tomb Guardians Deirdre had sent with them. She was leading the rest of their forces to a different location, with John taking the command of those around him.

The goal was to find members of the Muted Crags and gather information that would help stop their encroachment. Any encounters would likely result in combat, but it wasn’t required. There was no need to go to war if they could help it. Though given the state of things, perhaps it was already too late to call it something else.

Their route was guided by one of the senior disciples of Firepine Palace, Helen. She was senior by virtue of cultivation and perhaps contributions, but not so much in terms of age. Helen was no more than a few years older than the triplets and still had a cultivation in the mid Soul Expansion Phase. On some technical level, she was even higher rank than John currently- though her three totems included two third rank and one fourth rank, which while decent for her cultivation were one of the limiting factors.

“We have almost arrived,” Helen indicated. “Though much of the dunes seem the same, there are important variations in slopes and… well, some things grow better in certain places. A good variety of medicinal herbs grew here. It used to be marked with signs of the Firepine Palace.”

A few minutes later, they crested a rise and could see the area she spoke about. There were some damaged buildings, partially buried in the sands, as well as a small number of plants scattered about among some broken fences.

John approached one of the plants. Comparing to others, there were only a few varieties around- and all vaguely fit within intentional placement. “They seem to have harvested most of the fields, only leaving a small number of plants.” Why would that be? “Perhaps they weren’t ready to harvest?”

Helen shook her head. “Most of the fields wouldn’t have been ready to harvest, or we would have done it ourselves. Of course, it is still possible to get some value for things plucked early, it’s just not optimal. I’m not sure why they’d leave some. These are actually closer to harvestable, now.”

“To let them grow back,” John surmised. “Without doing the work themselves. Otherwise they would have simply captured this location and farmed it properly.” It did mean they were betting they could remain in control of the area- or perhaps they intended to raid it, later. “I don’t know if there’s much else here to see,” John said.

“On to the next one, then,” Helen commented.

“Yes. But…” John crouched low to the ground, feeling for lingering traces of spiritual energy. If he could pick something up, he might be able to recognize it later. As darkness cultivators they had covered their tracks fairly well- metaphorically, of course, since actual tracks faded quickly wherever there weren’t rooted plants and the sands could shift more easily. “Found something. It’s faint, but I’d say someone passed through not more than a day ago.” He approached the building in the best condition, finding more lingering traces there. Neither were enough to follow, but he tried to pick out the weaves of darkness. He might be able to unravel them later, with some forewarning.

-----

John was fairly certain he was the first to notice. Even if it was small, he was highly sensitive to differences in the natural elements. The only question is when he should react. They were currently traveling in a small valley between two larger sand dunes, an easier route than trekking up and down slopes. That left the dunes as natural barriers between them and those lying in wait.

He didn’t want to lead them into a disadvantageous position, but he also wanted to test the capabilities of those with him. He decided upon a point where he would stop them, not so far that the enemy could surround them.

Several of the disciples displayed signs of unease. Perhaps they hadn’t made the conscious connection yet, but they noticed something was off. Maybe they were realizing, but doubted because they expected him to make a remark. Fortunately, one of them made her way forward and spoke to him. “Sect head,” the young cultivator from the Soulrot Bogs, Taurai, spoke up. “There are concealed energies on either side of us.”

She kept her voice to a minimum, but the ambushing cultivators were likely sensitive to any changes in their structure. Before he saw their reaction, John spouted orders. “Advance up the dune to our right! Earth cultivators, secure our footing in the front and rear!”

John himself moved with the front of their lines as the subdued energy began to react. Instead of gathering earth energy, however, he mainly gathered air. Their opponents reached the top of the dune before them, though even John could only barely make that out. They weren’t covered in a simple shroud of darkness, but a miragelike haze that blended together their figures. A decent tactic, given the surroundings.

Even so, John had a plan ready for them. He charged a few steps forward ahead of the group then dropped to one knee, placing his free hand in the ground and injecting his air element into the sand. It was only for a moment, but he liquified the sand beneath their feet.

There were two general results. One was to leap away from the area, scattering some of those in the middle third of the enemy lines, and the other was a lack of reaction at all. About half of those in the area were surprised as sand suddenly gave away beneath their feet in an unexpected manner, only to resolidify a moment later when they were sunk halfway into the ground. It would only take them a few moments to extricate themselves, but that was a few moments for at least a half dozen individuals that they wouldn’t be spending attacking John’s forces. And the others who had scattered were out of position, either grouped up with those on their sides or behind their own lines. Except for a couple unlucky individuals who were out front of the rest, and outside of the combined distorting field.

With discrete targets, a few beams of light struck one of the targets simultaneously, provoking a very familiar reaction of light and darkness. While the Golden Tomb Guardians were not even close to the Combining Luster Sect when it came to ranged light element attacks, they’d still at least picked up the basics. It was quite effective against an unprepared opponent.

One of the others was bombarded with flames launched by Helen, fire that instantly melted the sand beneath the target woman’s feet. However, there was little time for her to be concerned about sinking into molten glass as the immediate consequences to her body were nearly as great. Her defensive energy helped the darkness cultivator maintain her form, but she was severely injured from just that.

John took in the battlefield. He couldn’t quite determine the cultivations of the other group, making their way down the opposite dune, but there were several Soul Expansion Phase cultivators among the ones they were already engaged with. It was best to push through one group so they didn’t have to fight on two sides. To that end, he launched himself forward with several others, swirling earth and darkness around them in a sort of replica of the enemy’s concealment technique.

A moment later, John was toe to toe with a cultivator at the twenty-fourth rank, two higher than himself. There were two or three others nearby, weaker but still near the peak of the Foundation Phase. Their main danger was how their figures overlapped with the actual target John wanted to fight. He couldn’t swing his sword as precisely as he would like, instead having to opt for wide sweeping attacks- and even those could be ducked under as his perception of his foes’ positions were off.

Dodging their attacks in turn was also difficult. He took more than a few cuts as he got used to their attack timing, though his defensive energy prevented anything fatal. His elements cycled within him, feeding into each other. His swings seemed to become more wild, horizontal slices and chops moving up and down at various angles into the mass of enemies. However, the speed of his attacks made it impossible to truly avoid everything, not and continue engaging him together.

When they tossed daggers at him, he blasted them away with swirling tornado of wind, picking up the sand around himself. John infused some more of a particular form of the earth element into the sandy tornado and pressed forward.

One enemy fell back, and then another. Soon, the forms resolved into three figures still engaged, meaning John had underestimated their numbers even on the top end. Their positions were still inexact, but he could feel that he’d damaged some of the weaker ones that remained as well. His wild slashes hadn’t just been for the sake of small cuts, but instead the petrification that would spread from those wounds. A muscle or two forced into stiffness could compromise an entire limb.

He could feel the rest of the battle, many of his disciples fighting humans for their first time in actual combat. However, they were mixed in with more experienced Golden Tomb Guardians and Firepine Palace disciples. The Golden Tomb Guardians spun their short staves, using them as glaives when it benefited them, cutting into the darkness cultivators to great effect. They were also weak to counterattacks, but with their own training their defensive energy wouldn’t react so explosively- and they had allies of other element to cover them as well.

Down the hill, instead of directly engaging the portion of earth element disciples holding their ground were simply shoving sections of the dune at the approaching group, wave after wave. They would retreat further up the dune as they did so, while other disciples made use of whatever ranged abilities they had. They would run out of room soon if the battle at the top of the dune didn’t resolve, but John wasn’t worried about that.

His elements combined, air augmenting earth to force the patches of sand he and his opponent stood upon closer. Fire and water created a burst of scading steam that forced the man to block with his arm, while darkness element surrounded John’s sword, slicing a gouge into the man’s arm. But that wasn’t all. Spiritual Energy Absorption drew the man’s energy out of the gash, and with darkness being John’s most familiar element he siphoned his opponent’s energy at little cost to himself.

He couldn’t actually replenish his own stores of spiritual energy in such a scenario, but John’s own net expenditure was light in comparison. He didn’t need to keep up the attack for long, either, as he cut down one of the others- fully revealing his opponent.

A moment later, a head rolled on the sands, blood soaking into the dune along with that of many others. Darkness cultivators began to flee, and John threw a dagger towards the back of the knee of one. “Don’t pursue! Join forces to take down any who remain!” He hoped his attack would make it clear they also weren’t letting them go if they had a good shot. He simply didn’t have time to give chase, instead vaulting down the dunes towards the enemies below.

He landed in a great crash, having gone over the heads of all of his disciples. It was… fun. Not the fighting, but the simple act of using his spiritual energy to do what he wanted. John filtered fire element through his totem as more waves of sand were launched at the enemy lines, but this time invisible flames clung to them, causing more than just a bit of pushback from the wave of sand.

The battle involved every element- though slightly less water and air than the other elements. It was kind of a chaotic mess… but John thought he felt a greater flow to things. Whether or not it really meant anything, he found an opening to pursue. His disciples charged towards the second line of enemy cultivators with him, and soon enough they were fleeing as well- there was no point in staying to fight if it was obvious they wouldn’t be winning.

Perhaps if they had been after someone in particular it would be different, but that didn’t seem to be the case. Instead, they’d simply thought to take advantage of an approaching group of foes trying to reclaim their territory.

John watched as attacks flew towards the fleeing darkness cultivators. Most of his disciples listened to his orders not to pursue. One of those who didn’t was too hasty, getting ahead of the group where three opponents turned on him at once. He fell to the ground full of holes. Another had been on that same trajectory, but she passed by John and found herself mired in the sand.

The final arrows, beams of light, and the rest settled down as their opponents faded from view further away in the sands. John looked around, seeing the results of the battle. They weren’t without their own casualties, but they’d clearly come out ahead. Especially with the generally young and inexperienced disciples of the Six Elements Crossroads, their losses were acceptable.

But he wasn’t going to tell them that. Instead, they would honor their fallen comrades, and John would encourage them to continue to train hard so that they would not end up among them too early. Further conflict was inevitable, at least with the world as it was.