The Triumvirate of the Solar Palace were quite accommodating, especially considering John had shown up unannounced. They provided a place for him and his entourage to stay, while at the same time making arrangements for a proper meeting the next day.

The Solar Palace did keep guest rooms with a neutral element to them, for which John was extremely grateful. The rest of the sect was simply too inundated with light element for him to handle it long term. It would be fine during the day, but he would never get any rest. While John could probably last a few weeks without proper sleep, that wasn’t something he wanted to do.

Most of the others with John actually had trained in the light element, or at the very least they weren’t from opposed elements. That included Viriato and Toma, along with a number of other disciples. They could likely get in some proper training, though that wasn’t the goal of their current excursion. The main point was simply to expand connections into the Shining Coast, as John didn’t want to miss even the smallest pockets as he built up a wider alliance.

-----

In the morning, John was brought by one of the local disciples to his meeting with the Triumvirate. He exchanged greetings, but they rather quickly got into the meat of things.

The older woman, Tineke, began things rather simply. “To what do we owe the honor of your visit?”

John wanted to say something about it not really being an honor, but he understood that it was just a polite way of asking what business he had with them. “I’m sure you heard about the incident in the Shimmering Islands some years past.” For each of them, it would be a recent memory even though it was more than a decade prior. “Powerful cultivators came from afar, and they were only defeated by a small margin. I found our response to be inadequate, both in terms of speed and coordination. Thus, I began creating a greater defensive pact. That is why I have come to you.”

“We are aware of your activities,” said Ukko. He stroked his chin. “Yet we are not such a powerful sect that you would have need of us.”

“One would hope so,” John admitted. “But you might become something greater, and you are not weak as you are. The more we have to stand against outside threats, the more we can share the burdens. All of us can prosper.”

“And what does this entail?” asked Nisha, the last of them.

“As I said, a defensive pact. In addition, agreements to settle disputes within the pact without battle. It is my intention to establish courts of neutral arbiters to help resolve such issues.”

John doubted any system would be perfect, but any attempt had to be better than letting people kill each other. It was the way of the world, and John doubted they could entirely get away from the cycle of violence. Even if everyone in the region suddenly got along, they would still need martial power because people like the Molten Sea might wish to take advantage. More importantly, as each local sect grew stronger the consequences of local wars would become more disastrous. Trying to prevent that ahead of time was the best option.

“And how would such things be accomplished?” Tineke asked. “People will not easily give up their current control. The same is true of us, as we would need clear benefits.”

“Aside from the defensive pact, which I think you could see the value of should anyone cross the Enor Sea to the northwest, I believe you would find the other benefits quite valuable. I should imagine you have rivals here, and while you could most likely stand up to any of them alone, if they joined forces things might not go so well. This would include both martial matters as well as other areas. An unbalance of the markets or political pressure, for example.”

“And how would such disputes be resolved?” Tineke asked.

“Through a series of courts. Specifically, the intent would be to have a balance of greater and smaller sects… and some cross pollination of others from within the pact to be a neutral force representing the interests of all.”

Ukko frowned, “I think I can see some flaws in such a system.”

John nodded, “I would imagine we have already considered many of them… but we would of course be interested in hearing your feedback. Especially before things are established, when the system is more mutable.”

“What is to keep the ‘neutral’ parties from consorting with certain groups?” Tineke asked.

“A good question. First there would be a matter of term limits, so people don’t get overly influenced. But we have ideas for other safeguards as well. That includes some more advanced voting systems regarding which sects to select representatives from, both local and foreign.” John smiled, “It wouldn’t come down to simple majority.”

John wasn’t going to let outdated voting systems lead to factionalism and gridlock, if he could at all help it. Nearly any other option was more representative than a first-past-the-post voting system. And of course, starting with one that worked was required or it would never change, as whoever was in control would want things to stay the same.

Actually reaching a fully democratic system in this world was… highly unlikely. Nor did John necessarily believe it would be the best option, as nice as it sounded. Sometimes, swift and decisive action had to be taken. If they had done so with the Molten Sea, they could have most likely prevented them from gaining a foothold to begin with- and taking out a single Ascending Soul Phase cultivator wouldn’t have been so unreasonable.

-----

After a week with the Solar Palace, John had managed to secure promises to remain in communication through the relatively nearby southeastern port. As there had been no official channels for most groups, it was a significant step forward towards bringing the Shining Coast into the wider community. It was better to do so now than wait until the next emergency, and certain elemental zones had grown far too isolated from the rest of the world, even though in most cases it had been unintentional.

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Clear communication wouldn’t solve all problems, but the plan was to reduce conflicts to preserve as much life as possible. Likewise, wasting resources on unnecessary wars was better avoided.

After concluding business with the Solar Palace- or at least what could be accomplished in the near future- John and the others set out to the northwest. The plan was to travel through the center of the Shining Coast, visiting any notable sects or clans along the way to Moonport on the coast.

Everything was going more or less according to plan, and they had reached beyond the halfway point of their journey… but they were approaching a particular stretch of territory where they expected some trouble. Locals had warned them about the Goldheart Clan pushing into the area, but rather than avoid it they continued onward. Not only was it a very long detour to go around, it was a good opportunity to determine if they were a troublesome group.

Normally, John would be content with letting the locals solve their own problems. However, if travelers from the Six Elements Crossroads were going to be in danger he would rather know ahead of time and try to smooth out any potential problems.

John was being slightly deceptive by concealing his cultivation along with Viriato, but if he was harassed because he felt weak that was exactly the behavior he wanted to punish. Their first day of travel within the supposed territory of the Goldheart Clan was uneventful, but in the middle of the second day a squad of riders on golden horses approached them. They numbered about twice as many as the group with him, but John didn’t judge their combat ability to be problematic.

Many of their number were in Spirit Building, and the old woman in the lead was only in the early Consolidated Soul Phase. Naive calculations put her at the same strength as John, but that simply wasn’t the case. Even if she had not been one rank beneath him, John’s passive estimation of her totems placed her best totem at the fourth tier. That was decent, but with her other three totems being of the second and third tiers her strength would be about three quarters of a cultivator with all fourth tier totems, and that was before accounting for the advantages of John’s own cycle of elements.

That assessment was important, as if he thought they had any chance of being outmatched John would have chosen to retreat. It was possible that they would be run down by the horses, of course, but everything was a calculated risk. He’d heard ahead of time that this woman’s name was Lenka, as she seemed to be the elder in charge of toll collection efforts.

“Halt!” the old woman called. “You must pay a toll to pass through the territory of the Goldheart Clan?”

“Is that so?” John asked. He kept his tone doubtful, but not too confrontational. “Did you build this road?”

“Of course,” Lenka lied. “We also keep the road safe, so it is only our right to be compensated for our efforts.”

John sighed dramatically. “Very well, how much is the toll, ma’am?”

“Let us search your storage bags and we will determine it from there.”

Up until that point, John had been willing to give the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps their tolls were uncomfortably high, but ultimately worth paying. If they actually provided road security, it could be reasonable. But asking for people to hand over everything they had even if they weren’t going to keep it all was beyond overbearing.

“I trust my storage bag will be enough to provide a representative sample?” John said. He was still going along with this because… well, he wanted to see how unreasonable things might get before things went down.

“Fine,” Lenka said, reaching out her hand.

John tossed his storage bag towards her. He hoped she didn’t mess it up too much, but it was less of a pain than if they all had to get their bags back. And while it would be annoying if this group simply rode off with his bag, everyone else had all of their tents and stuff. If his bag was stolen, he could simply finish the trip then come back and wipe out the clan later.

The woman’s eyes actually shone with greed as she looked into the storage bag. Or perhaps her eyes shining should have been interpreted as some sort of perception technique, but it was ultimately the same. She smiled broadly when she finished. “I think that… half of everything you have should be sufficient.”

John was actually impressed. Obviously he wasn’t going to hand over half of everything, or a tenth, or a twentieth… or even a single percent. But the woman looked at the wealth in his bag and still had the guts to say that? She hadn’t even asked who he was. Obviously, the Shining Coast had been a bit too isolated lately.

“Alright everyone,” John said, gesturing to either side with his arms sweeping forward. “Make sure none of them get away.”

At that point, he released his hold on his energy where he had been building up his elemental momentum. With a flick of his wrist, a throwing dagger charged with the four core elements whistled through the air towards the center of the woman’s chest. The old woman reacted with great alacrity, her body beginning to glow from the inside and enhancing her defenses. Her energy negated the elemental mix, but the dagger was pierced part way into her defensive energy, where its true payload was revealed. Obviously that remaining piece was darkness, and its reaction with her light element was astounding.

Lenka was blasted backwards at the same time as all of the horses were spurred forward, the waves of energy startling the horses. Even though they appeared quite well trained they jerked and twisted, allowing an opportunity for the rest of those with the Six Elements Crossroads to surge forward.

The revelation of two Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators- with Viriato being a moment behind John- was quite a surprise for the Goldheart clan. John’s opening attack was quite significant, but Viriato actually proved even more problematic. With his founding elements being light and darkness, he had the ability to defend himself easily while attacking with their main weakness. No matter how good they were at balancing the reaction of light and darkness, the majority of pure light cultivators would fall short. At best, they could prevent any explosive results but still receive injuries.

The rest of the group with John were all Soul Expansion Phase cultivators, and while they might have been somewhat disadvantaged due to the numbers without John and Viriato, they were easily able to match up to one or two opponents. John watched proudly as Toma fought, recalling how short the man’s career as a cultivator was and how far he’d progressed in that limited time. Not everyone had to start young, they just needed a proper chance.

The old woman was staggering to her feet at the back of the squad when John reach her, having cut his way through a few others to reach her. “Please wait!” she said, her torso in tatters. “I’m sorry!”

“Too late, and too insincere,” John said. His sword came down, knocking aside a shortspear she attempted to block with and slicing into her chest where her energy was in the greatest turmoil.

John very much doubted she would have stopped at half of everything, once the greed had taken over. As for the rest of the Goldheart clan… they only had one other Consolidated Soul Phase cultivator, so even if they came chasing after John instead of fortifying themselves against opportunistic neighbors he was quite confident that they could cut them down. But he was still going to ride out of their territory on their own horses to get some comfortable distance before they bedded down for the night.