In and out, in and out, John watched the flow of air between the outside world and his lungs as he took slow and careful breaths. His spiritual energy very carefully searched for impurities. At some point, he had to make a decision about what was and wasn’t ‘impure’. It took a relatively large amount of carbon dioxide in the lungs before it was problematic for the body- and more because it could not filter it out of the blood rather than because it directly harmed the lungs. Yet John was aware that some gasses could be dangerous in the parts per million range, just the tiniest fraction of the whole.

Obviously there were none of those just drifting around the Blustering Peaks, but he hadn’t yet reached a point where he was actually testing his body yet. He just needed to be acutely aware of how it worked normally so that he could guide any potential changes.

In the past he had consciously filtered the air in his lungs, either replenishing the stock of breathable air by breaking down carbon dioxide or removing poisons with his spiritual energy. Turning that into an automatic process wasn’t so simple. Ultimately, John had to make some decisions. Carbon dioxide handled itself through normal breathing, so it didn’t need to be a major consideration for a technique that resulted in purity of the lungs. If he was fully cut off from any breathable air he would need to be manually refreshing himself anyway. Having that process continue if he was unconscious was a luxury that he might consider if he found it viable.

The major problem with a number of toxic gasses was that they fit into the lung’s natural processes, being absorbed in the same manner and moving from high concentrations to lower concentrations. And from there, they caused damage. Very few things would be directly damaging the lungs. The inhalation of smoke was a problem in that category.

So there were really two separate goals. First, strengthening the durability of his lungs against direct assault. Most of the time that would be managed by spiritual energy defenses, but not relying on them would overall improve John’s safety. Second, figuring out a way to alter the filtering of different gasses without preventing the normal flow. As this was a new area of study, he was going to have to be very careful. Altering the body was dangerous, especially where it concerned vital organs. He’d have to start with a very small part and see what the results were. Which meant getting access to toxic gasses at some point.

At some point, he’d have to look for materials to support the process- working entirely with his own spiritual energy might work to a point, but it was unlikely to reach maximum effectiveness. At some point, he needed to consider time efficiency, and expending resources for such a purpose was reasonable. He just hoped he could find something a bit more efficient than Diamond Defense so he could share the technique more widely.

-----

Despite the chill air of the high mountains, sweat dripped down Ayhan’s forehead. If that wasn’t the case, he would have been failing in his training. He had to push himself to grow stronger. If that meant defeating people two ranks above himself? He would have to manage it. And if they were three ranks above him, in the beginning of the Soul Expansion Phase? He had to manage that as well.

Perhaps it was unreasonable to compare himself to the sect head. According to what he had heard, the man had nearly reached the Ascending Soul Phase, and was not re-cultivating through the ranks. Some said it was intentional, some said it was a failure on his part. Ayhan didn’t know, but he certainly couldn’t say that someone able to defeat Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators with only a Soul Expansion Phase cultivation was anything but strong.

That was the kind of strength he would need- no, they would need to survive. Both he and Lir had been part of the war with the Black Peaks, and one thing they agreed upon was that they were not strong enough yet. She was working just as hard, though her effectiveness in the sparring matches was not in her favor. Then again, she was moving next towards an air totem, so she was still benefiting greatly. It was just less pleasant of a training process.

Their cultivations were about to cross paths. In the Foundation Phase, the two of them together had the four core elements, and their dual cultivation augmented both of their growth. In the Soul Expansion Phase, there would be a period of imbalance. Regarding the four core elements, it was inevitable that the next step would result in doubling up on elements. Since they already had the four core elements, one new totem each meant they had to double up on two elements. There was no way about it, unless they swiveled towards a six element cycle… but that was a little bit overly ambitious.

As two street kids, presuming that they would reach the peak of the world was quite arrogant. Even with an excellent sect head, the cycle of four core elements already seemed overambitious. And then there was a matter they hadn’t been concerned about until the war… the possibility of cultivating alone. Either of them could have died. In which case, what would become of them at the Soul Expansion Phase? An earth-air-light cultivator or a fire-water-darkness cultivator would both be lacking, not even having a proper minor cycle. They were aware the sect head had basically done the reverse of one of those with darkness-earth-air, but he admitted that had been one of his weakest periods.

The winds whipped around him, and Ayhan swung his chain around, focusing on how its trajectory shifted. He couldn’t always go along with the wind, but if he minimized how much he fought it his movements would be more effective.

Likewise, Lir trained without an air totem, her spinning glaive surrounded by flames that Ayhan knew could easily turn to ice or blast away an opponent with waves. She, too, studied the flow of the wind. That was one thing both of them could improve here, a concept of flow as they moved towards their respective water and air totems.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

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Despite fanciful images he had seen, John found that the inside of his brain was nothing close to an electrical storm. Certainly, compared to the rest of his body the brain outpaced the electrical currents in the muscles by a large margin, but except as a vague whole it was extremely difficult to feel electrical activity in the brain. That was why it required huge machines that cost millions of dollars.

But even so, John knew spiritual energy senses were not so easily outpaced by great technology. Especially as it came to his own body, what John could sense was amazing. So while it took a great amount of effort to sense anything close to the scale of individual neurons, John could feel the effect of clusters.

As for what he was going to do with that information… well, he certainly wasn’t going to start with his brain. And perhaps the whole idea would be scrapped before he even started. The idea was to smooth the pathways in his body to improve the flow of electricity. That could make his reactions faster. Or… he could upset a delicate balance of the body, throwing everything off in a way he could never fix. He knew that timing was important. What if he threw off the rhythm of his heart? He might be able to reverse the process and fix it. Or he might not.

The inspiration of the lightning storm was certainly a great one, but not every idea that popped into his head was meant to be. If he’d actually tried every single one… well, he’d probably have ruined his cultivation a hundred times over. Not everything that was possible was good.

But… his mind still stuck on the topic, unwilling to let it go. That didn’t mean it was a good idea- it was easy for a cultivator to be driven off sensible paths if they let themselves- but a short term obsession could at least provide him with a variety of insights to use if he was careful about things.

In addition to relying on his own thoughts, John would bring up the topic with Bahadur, the grand elder. Or perhaps if the sect head was interested whenever he was available. He’d been isolated in cultivation for several weeks already, which hopefully meant good things for the man.

-----

Winds were a constant in the Blustering Peaks. That was a given. Any local wildlife was well adapted, because the rest of them had no doubt died out. So it was strange for John to see a bird high in the sky being buffeted around wildly. Perhaps it was injured?

As he focused his senses on it, he found something familiar. It was a shadowhawk- and emblazoned with the sigil of the Tenebach clan. It had to be carrying something important, to be sent to find him here. Something that couldn’t wait until he returned to Astrein.

John gathered the spiritual energy within him, reaching out towards the skies. He formed a bubble of less turbulent air around the Shadowhawk, along with a corridor it could fly along as it approached. At the current distance it was difficult, but fortunately as he grew more fatigued it was closer and his job was easier.

He held his arm up for it to land on, stroking it on the head. “You alright fellow? This is a difficult job.”

With his other hand and a bit of spiritual energy he took and opened the missive. It was from his daughter, Melanthina herself. Though he wouldn’t really have expected any different, as she would be the one to decide if something was important.

As for the actual contents of the message… they were quite short. It was an update on the status of Lucanus and Yustina. His mind jumped to the worst possibilities as he glimpsed the names. But it wasn’t anything awful. In fact, it was good news. They were alive and well. Better than well, since they had both reached the Ascending Soul Phase.

John should have perhaps been ecstatic, but instead he simply took it in. Was he happy for them? Absolutely. But he didn’t find himself surprised or otherwise particularly emotional. It almost felt like an inevitability. Not that he thought his friends were above everything else, but rather… the world was surging with cultivation, and they had been some of the highest in the region.

The main result was that John was filled with determination. He needed to continue regrowing his cultivation. He had to at least return to the Consolidated Soul Phase within the next few years. No, he could be faster. Retreading his old steps, he found it much easier. Insights already gained, experiences already absorbed. The only issue would be the boundary between phases itself. John had found himself delayed on several of those.

Except… this time, he was already well aware of what the connection was. That wasn’t necessarily going to make the process easier, but at least it would be more expedient. Though John didn’t really intend to rush either.

The totem he’d gained upon originally reaching the Consolidated Soul Phase was that of the Deep Sea, a water totem. Water and darkness, of course, but all of his totems were similarly situated. There was no doubt in his mind that his guiding light there had been Matayal. He could never shake his memories of her, even for a moment. Nor did he want to- not now. The memories of her life were good memories. He just wished there could have been more.

And of course, he remembered where his advancement had taken place. It was here, in the Blustering Peaks. It was the Great Waterfall Reversal, the two of them advancing together. A wonderful moment.

John felt he was ready to return to the Consolidated Soul Phase… except for the minor detail of his gathered spiritual energy being insufficient. He was still vaguely in the twenty-fifth rank, only one step into the late Soul Expansion Phase in terms of raw spiritual energy. But improving that would only be a matter of time.

John scratched the shadowhawk. “Why don’t you stay here with me for a while? No need to try to fly home through all that. We’ll be going back down the mountain in a week or two anyway.”

The bird cried out, seeming to agree with him. Perhaps it was. They were smart creatures. Not quite humanlike intelligence in the category of Ciaritzal or Cuah’arn, but not terribly far either.

“Come on,” John said, “I can condense some darkness element for you.” He said that while at the same time displaying the effects, and the shadowhawk looked quite pleased. He would also find some meat to fill its belly. The message it carried… John agreed it was of great importance, but to him the actual message was more of an afterthought. This was only what he expected. Others would soon follow… and hopefully more would be friends than foes.