The final stretch of the journey would bring the Six Elements Crossroads through three fire element regions- though only the Green Sands was pure fire element. The Sunfields were as much if not more focused on light, while the Phoenix Forest was a fusion of fire and earth.

  It was an opportunity for various fire element cultivators… and yet it was also rather mundane, since they were now circling around Astrein. These were some of the regions that were easiest to take a training expedition to. However, that didn’t mean disciples could just go whenever they wanted- at least not paid for by the sect. The Six Elements Crossroads would also make certain they actually got full access to facilities. Allies might accept visiting allies at all times, but they wouldn’t necessarily be willing to share some of their better training grounds year round.

  John watched with hidden glee as some of the lower ranking disciples nearly melted in the heat of the Green Sands. Mainly, it was the earth cultivators since they were all at least Foundation Phase. Without an elemental weakness, cultivators should be able to resist the general heat of the area, even if it was somewhat supernatural.

  Chi would have been one of those melting if not for Fedel. He kept the fire element from growing too strong around her- though John was pleased to see that he didn’t completely negate it. She would still need to train active resistance herself.

  If they thought things were hot now, John wondered what the weaker disciples would think when they got to the Furnace Sect. He wondered what he would think, actually. It had been quite some time since he actually interacted with the sect. The last time was probably before he had a fire totem, at least as far as he could recall.

  The trick of the Furnace Sect was that they amplified the already powerful heat around them to an even higher degree inside their sect, containing power like a furnace. It wasn’t just fire element that they built up but actual heat, creating a rather unpleasant environment- even for some fire cultivators. That was why it was good for training.

  The walls appeared a bit higher than last time. Perhaps they felt like they were capturing an inadequate amount of heat previously. It wasn’t strange that they would have been some development in that regard, as a cultivation sect that stagnated for so many decades wouldn’t have lasted. Even if they weren’t destroyed by their enemies, no disciples would have joined and they would have lost their base.

  John noticed a significant change in the grounds. It was certainly a bit hotter than the already high ambient temperatures of the Green Sands inside the first wall, but after that there were additional layers. Generally, he felt stronger disciples in the inner layers. Most of their disciples were given temporary residences in the outer layer- only fire cultivators were given deeper rooms to begin with.

  The elder escorting John- an elder more by title than actual age, as he retained his youth- explained the process to John. “We’re not quite sure what to do with multi-element cultivators,” he explained.

  “Water and fire cultivators should be placed at the same depths you would arrange for one of your disciples of similar rank,” John explained. Water was empowered by fire, so they would have no issues. That didn’t mean they would want to dwell at a more powerful level, of course. “Other mixed cultivators would likely be counted a few ranks lower, at least for constant endurance. The exception would be those who have a full cycle- like myself, Ayhan, and Lir.” John gestured to the two of them.

  “I see,” the elder nodded. “We don’t have any areas meant for mid Ascending Soul Phase cultivators, so we will place you in our strongest residential areas. Or we can make room for you anywhere else.”

  “Thank you, Madoc,” John said. “The Six Elements Crossroads appreciates the hospitality.” Individual disciples might not, but they were here to train, not to relax. If people wanted a beach vacation, they should have made certain they were there for the Shimmering Islands. The core of Pualani, at least, was devoid of the frequent storms. “There was a disciple I remember from long ago. A fellow with a chain… Karolis, I believe. Is he still around?”

  There was silence for a few moments before Madoc replied. “His journey ended during an attempt to reach the Ascending Soul Phase.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that. The Sect lost a great man.” John barely knew Karolis, but it was the right thing to say. He wondered how much Karolis had remembered him. Most likely he would have heard about John’s various activities- he had become quite famous under the name Fortkran and that continued after he ‘changed’ his name- but when they met John was barely into the Foundation Phase, and not all that impressive. He’d barely managed to pull off a win because of his opponent’s unfamiliarity.

  John realized why Madoc had offered him another location when they reached the innermost layer of residences. There were a few carefully constructed stone buildings… all devoid of residents. It seemed that Karolis would have been the first Ascending Soul Phase cultivator from their sect, if he had been successful. A reminder that not all were as fortunate as those John knew. The fact that many were reincarnators and transmigrators was a significant factor, no doubt.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

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  It was swelteringly hot in John’s room. That was by design, but he thought maybe they had gone a little bit overboard. Or maybe the Furnace Sect was secretly trying to kill him. Not likely, though, since he knew they had hotter areas- they just didn’t have any dwellings.

  Just to see how hot things got, John wandered another couple layers further into the sect, the heat intensifying to the point of a constant haze filling the area as air distorted.

  It was excellent for training. John had more than a few days to disperse or control heat now, the simplest of which was to absorb it as fire element. That would only work up to a point, though. Once he absorbed all that he could bear, he needed other techniques- the same would be true even if he was a pure fire cultivator. Alternatively, he would need to release some of his stored energy.

  John opted for a mix of both. He was cautious about transmitting heat into the ground as at some point it would actually start to melt. With the kind of temperatures he was working with, that wasn’t actually impossible. With nowhere else for it to go, it would probably just build up if he did it for too long.

  That was why John used some of the fire element he absorbed to actually reverse the changes in temperature. It took a lot of active control and seemed contradictory, but spiritual energy wasn’t limited to just one thing. Fire element made things hot, of course, but John had already used it to help freeze water many times before. A change in temperature, rather than temperature itself. Spiritual energy could usually be divorced from the things that birthed it, though not with only basic experience.

  Along with some amount of dispersal into the ground, John also reached up into the skies, using air element to blow heat away. Then he transformed some of the excess fire inside of him into the spiritual energy he used by converting though his cycle of elements.

  John stood at the very center of the sect, where they had a dueling arena. Temperature was the highest there, but as John stood at the center of the area with his blood threatening to boil, he gathered the energy around him. Then he shot a burst of fire element straight up. The heat rose… and much of the surrounding air followed it, providing a cooling breeze. For a few glorious moments, the central courtyard was a pleasing temperature before the sweltering heat began to build once more.

  -----

  Back in his room, John had to figure out how to sleep. He doubted that members of the Furnace Sect were meant to stay up all night meditating. At least, not usually. That meant there were supposed to be passive ways to deal with the heat. As far as John was aware, they didn’t perform any sort of advanced body tempering. Subconscious control, perhaps. It wasn’t a bad thing to have your spiritual energy ready to respond to specific circumstances.

  John doubted they were supposed to disperse the heat, so he focused on using his cycle of elements to use up some small but constant amount of spiritual energy while drawing in the fire element around him. Soon enough, he had a cool breeze… but it required a bit too much active control to remain while he was unconscious.

  He focused on his breathing. Normally, blowing through narrow lips resulted in cooler air… but that was only because it pulled along ambient air with it. With the surrounding temperatures being so high, the way he breathed in and out didn’t change.

  John had considered altering his body for the sake of temperature regulation in the past. He wasn’t going to suddenly try to push that technique here, but it certainly made him consider it.

  Rather than any of that, he took stock of the room around him. It was made to focus heat inward, but there must be some sort of release. Otherwise, it might actually build up indefinitely depending on the mechanisms. In the case of formations, they could absolutely push fire element and heat into the room until something caught on fire- probably his clothes, then himself, then the specially formed mattress and bed sheets.

  Considering the design of the sect as a whole, John focused on the ceiling. It seemed as if it was solid brick, but rather than reflecting heat onto him like the rest of the room, he actually found it to be… relatively cool. John focused his spiritual energy around him, turning himself into something like a bonfire with the flame around him rising. Somehow, he felt slightly cooler afterwards with the heat focused upwards.

  John flew up to make certain his spiritual energy senses were picking up the correct temperatures, but it was still relatively cool up above. Barely hotter, if at all. So it wasn’t an entirely incorrect method.

  That said, it still required active thought. John focused once more on drawing in heat- though it formed around him naturally enough- then letting it flow upward. With purely fire, he couldn’t find quite the right flow unless he wanted to nearly set himself on fire… which might have been correct, from what he had seen.

  Personally, he was more comfortable with something related to the cycle of elements. When he let it, his own spiritual energy actually solved most of the problem naturally. The elements in his dantian were constantly exchanging with each other like the natural cycles of a planet. None of it was real, of course, but the exchange of elements could withstand a certain level of instability and balance itself out.

  All it needed was a nudge in the right direction, a recognition that there was going to be a constant input of heat… and as long as he let his spiritual energy react naturally, he was actually quite pleasant. After stripping down to his underwear, at least. He was still sweaty from previous exertions and it wasn’t cool, but it was manageable.

  He found that the sheets actually drew away excess heat rather than trapping it, so that took him most of the rest of the way to a comfortable- or at least tolerable- time of rest. He was going to appreciate normal sleep after this, though.