Truthful Transmigration

The more sensible majority of the group began to climb down the large vertical pit after Ursel. About fifteen seconds after she had jumped down, they heard a loud crashing sound. That was good, because the sound of a fragile human hitting the ground would have been much quieter.

Climbing down wasn’t trivial either, with the walls of the pit being almost perfectly smooth. John went down first, paving the way for the others by creating handholds and footholds that would be valuable for climbing back out. Even if they weren’t deep, cultivators didn’t need much. Professional climbers from earth without cultivation could handle holds of less than a centimeter, and while their actual experience with climbing was less, supernatural abilities made up for a lot.

The important part was that John was using only earth element. That was the easiest to replenish in the Crystal Caverns, as they were flooded with earth elemental spiritual energy. Later, Ursel had requested that he leave as much as possible for her- which meant now was the best time to use what he had and replenish it.

John was ready to catch anyone if the slipped and fell, but there wasn’t anything supernatural about the edges of the pit except perhaps its formation. The material held together under their weight, and even those who were a bit more unsteady held on with the help of their own spiritual energy.

They made it to the bottom in just a few minutes, moving a steady pace straight downward. During that time, Ursel battled with a few earthen creatures attracted by her sudden appearance. They were turned into rubble quickly, as it would likely take the entire population of the caverns to threaten Ursel. Though perhaps as deep as they were going they might find more challenging opponents.

Ursel said nothing about having to wait, and soon the weaker disciples were once again in charge of fighting the enemies they encountered. They had the most to learn, and everyone else wasn’t going to suddenly learn something amazing from defeating enemies far beneath them.

The two who stood out among them were Lir and Tlaloc, given their rather different styles. Lir had planned out a reverse cycle of elements from the beginning, going from elements into those that they supported. Her first element was fire, however, and that was dominant against earth. While internally she might have functioned quite differently, externally she was capable of rapidly bringing down creatures formed of earth.

Lir didn’t try to burn them down or melt them, but instead focused her energy on her glaive, driving her energy deep into specific sections. Rapid heating of just one small part caused the stones to fall apart- and they could not reform with the fire element interfering. Though their forms were malleable by default, they were also simple formations of spiritual energy that instinctively wrestled with the fire element, even if they couldn’t win. Thus, once the damage was done they used up their remaining power struggling pointlessly.

Tlaloc, with exactly the same three elements, fought in a very different manner. Fire was his third totem, and he fought with the flow of water and power of storm that the Shimmering Islands had. His energy was very fluid, but the way he used fire was more like waves of flame… and burning rocks from the outside simply wasn’t that effective. If he had enough more power he could certainly annihilate his foes, but unless the fire permeated deep into the earth creatures they suffered only superficial damage.

That didn’t mean Tlaloc had a flawed style. Indeed, it was quite similar to how Yustina battled. However, he was currently missing some key insights. John could just tell him what to do, but then he would know one method instead of learning properly. When Tlaloc asked for advice, John still helped- he just didn’t hand him the solutions.

“Fire is supposed to be dominant against earth,” Tlaloc said. “But these creatures can’t be caught alight nor can they overheat. I don’t have enough power to take them out swiftly with my third of fire element energy.”

“That is true,” John agreed. “And it is one of the key weaknesses of a cycle of elements. Until you reach the Consolidated Soul Phase, your cultivation is somewhat incomplete. However, you still have the necessary pieces. Doesn’t air support water and water support fire?”

“Should I fight by using up all of my spiritual energy, then?” Tlaloc asked. “I think I will exhaust myself quickly.”

“That shouldn’t be the case if you kept up on your elemental conversion training. But also, you need to seek out efficiencies,” John said.

That is where Ursel interrupted. “You’re using fire like waves,” she said. “But unless you have years, that’s now how water best defeats earth.”

Ursel was insightful enough to not actually tell him the solution either. John wasn’t actually sure if her words were helpful, either. Tlaloc floundered for a while, struggling against his opponents. He tried using fire like rain and mist… which was even less effective than before. He was battered around frequently, relying on water element defenses to dampen the blows.

When more dangerous spines of crystal threatened to puncture him, he carried himself away with a gust of air. John was ready to step in at any time in case he was in real danger, but for the most part it was just his offense that was ineffective. As long as he wasn’t surrounded by enemies, he would eventually defeat them.

Tlaloc sat out of several battles, watching Lir and the others. After some observation he once more threw himself into the fray, focusing his fire element into a spear that pierced through the midsection of a large clump of boulders. However, while the attack pierced through his target it didn’t disable them. For a human, a hole through the center of the torso would destroy them. For a being made of earth, it merely meant that it tossed aside a few hunks of rock that were no longer listening to its spiritual energy.

The man wasn’t far from figuring out what he needed to, however. Tlaloc was well aware of how to fight earth element cultivators, but this particular sort of opponent was difficult with his particular experience. Which was exactly why it was good he came along.

John gave him a few hints when the next group of enemies attacked. The weaker cultivators couldn’t handle the number of enemies that came all at once- both the number and strength of which were increasing as they continued deeper. He did much the same thing as Tlaloc, but instead of his fire piercing out the back of his targets it lingered inside. He only did that a few times, however, also choosing to melt a few enemies. It was nice to be a proper fire element cultivator sometimes, and he needed to make sure Tlaloc could pick out the important techniques.

The Crystal Caverns were open for several days, and thus their group stopped to rest regularly. Once they had cleared an area, it would remain safe for at least a few hours. As cultivators, that gave them enough time to rest in shifts. It wasn’t the most comfortable or relaxed they would ever be, but as long as they paced themselves they moved forward at a good pace.

John could feel the concentration of spiritual energy Ursel was aiming for now. It was a bit concerningly powerful, even at their current distance. It might be just what she needed to break through to the Ascending Soul Phase, however.

Tlaloc pierced a gout of flame into the midsection of another stone creature. It was still not a proper representation of technique, however. John indirectly demonstrated a few more times, both for him and any others watching. He tried to make it clear when he was simply overpowering opponents, and when he was being efficient. There was a significant difference between huge gouts of flame and jabbing darts.

John also lashed out with a whip of flame, a thin tendril that wrapped around limbs that seemed to melt through them. And certainly he did, to some extent, but he wasn’t doing so purely based on heat.

The disciple finally got it near the end of their trip. He wasn’t supposed to use less energy to puncture halfway through an enemy and expect that would be more effective somehow. Nor was that particular method even necessary. Tlaloc eventually settled back into a form resembling waves, but his flames lingered… and more importantly, sought their way into the cracks in his foes.

Personally, John thought that was obvious. But then again, Tlaloc was from the Shimmering Islands. Water only eroded rocks through constant waves… it didn’t crack apart rocks when it froze in the winter because it didn’t freeze. Because of that, he couldn’t apply those particular water element principles because they were outside of his specialty.

Ultimately, when his fire clung and sunk into the gaps in the structure of the stone creatures- or where they had no gaps transmitted heat through the most conductive materials- he was able to infiltrate the body of the creatures and break down the earth element holding everything together. If a human cultivator’s earth element was reduced to a small fraction they would still be standing unless their body was also harmed, but for a creature ‘alive’ only because of spiritual energy it just ceased to hold together. The creatures crumpled to the ground, hunks of rock no longer held together.

Good. Hopefully, Tlaloc would remember better than simply being told to try to get a small portion of his energy deep inside and leaving it there. The earth elementals wouldn’t sweat or overheat in that manner, which meant going from outside in was rather difficult, but once the core of their energy was disrupted they stopped functioning without having to wear it all down.

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Their group came upon a large cavern, the floor covered in millions of tiny crystals- most as thin as needles. Ursel stomped on them and crushed them, but some of the less cautious disciples found how dangerous needle thin crystals could be. The crystals punctured their energy defenses, but John was ready to pull them back with their footwear partially stabbed through and at most a couple small holes in their flesh.

Following precisely in Ursel’s footsteps or otherwise crushing the crystals before stepping down was the proper way to move forward. It was more difficult than it might have seemed, as each crystal was imbued with sufficient earth element to hold it strong. Ursel’s armor covered even the bottom of her feet and was durable enough that the needles wouldn’t even scratch it, but even John wouldn’t casually step wherever he pleased.

“This is the place,” Ursel said as she approached the center. The entire cavern was vaguely spherical- perhaps a bit flat, but Ursel was making her way to the bottom of a depression. “I’m going to need the earth element here to be as steady as possible.”

John looked around. The room was possibly the worst layout they could have, if she attracted the notice of the local elemental being- and she certainly would. The entrance they came in was far from the only one. First there were a dozen much like it horizontally around the edges of the chamber. Then there were more both above and below, tunnels entering and departing vertically. It had more holes than swiss cheese.

“We’ll have people watch a few neighboring tunnels,” John said. “Viriato, I’d like you to focus on those directly above Ursel’s position. I’ll focus on anything coming from below in the center of the room, and whatever slips past the others.” John looked around at his disciples. “Don’t be afraid to let enemies past if you have to. We don’t want anyone getting overwhelmed. Now then, before we begin… we should make sure to rest once more.”

Ursel had already been settling down into a meditative posture, as if she had intended to begin her breakthrough immediately. She changed her position to by lying down in a relaxed manner. Of course, everyone else was going to move back into one of the other tunnels where there weren’t millions of durable needles.

They made sure to advertise their presence first, drawing in the closest natural creatures. Any they didn’t have to fight later would ease their burdens. But in the ‘morning’, they were making final preparations- including carving out places for people to fight without harming themselves. But no doubt any incoming foes would make their lives more difficult.