Truthful Transmigration

Chapter 549 549

There was a limit to how fast Rukiye could grow in spiritual energy, so her attempts to kill John were fairly predictable. She didn't have many options. Overpowering him was beyond impossible, so she had to successfully ambush him or otherwise kill him via subterfuge. Her stealth skills were developing decently, though John didn't think she would be particularly effective until she completed an allied cycle. That was the current direction her cultivation was trending, adding darkness to earth and water. She was still a decent bit away from actually reaching the Soul Expansion Phase, so they would have plenty of time to discuss that.

The other method of subterfuge was attempts to poison him. However, most of the attempts were painfully obvious. For one thing, if John was properly paying attention he could follow her movements at all times and know precisely what she was doing. It wasn't really 'fair', but John wasn't going to let her kill him. That wouldn't be a good result for either of them. Thus, he had to take her seriously.

This time was a bit disappointing. Seeming to be disappointed about the quality of poisons available, she had gone for quantity. For Rukiye to not poison herself and potentially others, she had to make something with individual servings. Steamed buns were a popular one, but this time she was actually doing soup.

Some poisons would break down with sustained heat, but she avoided that by putting the poison in the bottom of the bowl. Then she had handed that one to John. When he got seconds, she poured more out of the vial hidden in her sleeve. She was certainly putting in every effort while taking advantage of his permission to try to kill him.

John thought she might have actually acquired enough poison to kill him, but there was one problem. He wasn't going to eat that much. First, it would be stupid to keep eating poison forever but barring that… his stomach simply couldn't fit that much soup.

After four bowls, John was full. "That was tasty," he said. He meant it, too. Rukiye did try to pay attention to the flavor profile of any poisons she had. If they tasted foul, it would be too obvious. Of course, John could tell when his enhanced body was working to eliminate poisons and he knew about them beforehand… but it was a decent effort.

"... Do you want more?" Rukiye asked. "There is plenty."

"I'm truly stuffed," he said.

Her look of disappointment only flashed for a moment, but it was fairly obvious. She wasn't inherently deceptive, and she was still young. It would be stranger if John didn't notice something.

-----

John didn't want Rukiye to kill him, despite Renato's implications. What he wanted was for her to forgive him, somehow. Without actually remembering who she was, there wasn't a way to convince Rukiye that he hadn't killed her mother, nor would giving her another target accomplish his goal. He wanted forgiveness. To be judged by someone on the other side of the war and pronounced as righteous.

He didn't even know if that was possible. After all, he himself didn't believe he was perfect in his actions. He could have killed fewer people, even if it came at a cost. He simply wasn't willing to pay it.

John wanted to show Rukiye his good side, and he did it as much as possible. They had successfully completed negotiations with a number of sects now. Even if the overall terms were backed by the threat of force, they could be considered generous given that the twin continents had the upper hand. They still had two Exalted Soul Phase cultivators- and they had grown stronger. The remains of the Sovereign Primacy didn't have anyone who could stand up to them at the moment. Indeed, it might be more expedient for John and Aldara to eliminate their strongest foes than to try to negotiate with each sect.

Unfortunately, the results there wouldn't create the sort of world John wanted to continue to live in. His children were strong enough to fend for themselves. His grandchildren too. But he wanted following generations to not have to worry about being strong. Not merely for the sake of battle. There were other benefits to growing in cultivation, and being able to explore spiritual energy from more peaceful angles should only be beneficial to the world as a whole.

That was what John wanted. But sometimes, he had to fight. Trying to hide that from Rukiye would be far too obvious. If he forbade her to observe battles, no doubt her imagination would make things far worse than it was.

It wasn't possible for John to perfectly predict when battle would happen anyway. He had been hoping that the Mirrored Sun Sect would be willing to negotiate, but he had to enter their shockingly bright valley to find out.

John had no idea if the area came about through some sort of supernatural process or if it was crafted by previous generations of the sect. Either way, the Mirrored Sun Valley was pretty straightforward. It was a wide bowl with a mirrored surface, quite likely melted into shape. In the center was the sect itself, with all the light of the sun focused on a point above the main sect, creating intense heat.

Even as they barely stepped into the area, Rukiye was sweating profusely. The temperatures in the Endless Swamp could get quite unpleasant and muggy, but never truly hot. Barely around human body temperature. Merely the entrance of the valley was already hotter than most of the Green Sands, surpassing any temperature Earth ever experienced.

"Send your excess heat beneath the surface," John advised Rukiye. "Use both earth and water elements."

John's disciple and future killer listened seriously to his words. "Won't my earth element incinerate?"

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John raised an eyebrow. "Do you think the ground is hot?"

"... How could it not be?" Rukiye asked. "The amount of fire element in this valley is…" she drifted off as she actually explored the surface with her senses. It wasn't cool, but since the mirrored surface very specifically reflected heat and light it was relatively tame. Sufficient for her to reach beneath it to the truly cool ground beneath, siphoning away the heat affecting her. "How strange."

"There are many oddities in this world," John said. "Light and heat act very similarly in some ways," John explained. Actual lessons on thermodynamics and waves would be later, if they seemed necessary. Besides, spiritual energy was only partially beholden to the laws of physics. "Here, it is all focused somewhere else. Make sure to be efficient with your usage, because we will be approaching even greater heat."

Rukiye nodded. "I will properly protect myself."

John's disciple was squinting, to the point that in a few steps she might just completely squeeze her eyes closed.

"Did you know that it is possible to temper your eyes to reduce glare?" John commented. So far she hadn't shown any interest in advanced body tempering methods, but if he was going to honestly raise her to be as strong as possible she needed some. "And it's even possible to improve your body's self-regulation of heat."

"No way," Rukiye said, half covering her face with her forearm. "You're just making those things up."

"I've done both of them."

It was far too late for her to practice either for this place, as even a fast change to the body took weeks to show any results, but she might see the benefits in looking ahead to some other region.

Soon enough they reached the core of the sect, where they had their main walls and buildings. Nobody had come to greet them yet, but people were waiting there.

John was pleased to be greeted by a woman of significant strength. An old woman at the late Ascending Soul Phase, presumably the sect head.

"We have received news of your coming," she said. "I am Etaine, sect head of the Mirrored Sun Sect."

"John Miller. Sect head of the Six Elements Crossroads and leader of the continental alliance."

Formality was pleasant, but sadly politeness wasn't enough.

"Please, join me," Etaine gestured further into the sect. She didn't comment on any of John's companions. Renato wasn't present at the moment, instead taking responsibility for the ship while those with more suited elements supported John.

Etaine didn't even question Rukiye's presence, with her phase far below all the rest. Perhaps that should have been one of the signs.

They moved towards the core of the sect, heat radiating from the surrounding buildings. They weren't mirrored like the valley itself, but they absorbed great quantities of heat from what was essentially a miniature sun focused above the sect.

It was quite clever. John was having more and more difficulty believing it was entirely natural. Specific curvature was required to have a single focal point, among other things. Still, weirder things had happened.

The lack of conversation along the way was another sign. Stirring spiritual energy wasn't unusual, because even fire element cultivators could overheat. Like Steve.

Memories of one of his best friends put John in a foul mood even before they reached the core of the sect. He wasn't in a charitable mood when Etaine made her move.

"I heard that the Triptych fell by your hands, among others," Etaine said. She didn't give John a chance to respond. "But that was in territory of your own choosing. Here, you will be subject to my domain."

Etaine wasn't a complete fool. She was already gathering her energy to attack before she spoke the second sentence. John could still feel the changes within her and those gathering around them, though. Too much of the sect was focused on them. Attempting to spy on their conversations would be one thing- this was an important moment after all- but moving in a loose formation was something else entirely.

An intense wave of heat suddenly bore down on John. He could handle the power of a late Ascending Soul Phase cultivator just fine, but with the rest of the sect involved he needed his allies to help break things up. Taurai immediately moved to split apart their foes, disrupting the flow of energy between sectmates. Viriato was somewhat lesser in cultivation so he could only shield himself. Cultivators from the Viridia Wildlands created a watery barrier around them. Various disciples of the Six Elements Crossroads simply allowed John to direct their spiritual energy.

Even as a surprise attack, John could have countered with great force. No, he could have instantly killed Etaine if he focused on it. And in other circumstances, he would have. She would be dead, but…

John had to defend Rukiye. Even though she was not a direct target- her strength was too irrelevant to the battle- she still would have been incinerated by the field of heat that was bearing down on them all.

After he created a wall of dark ice to block Rukiye, Etaine grinned. "Oh, is that a fondness for your apprentice I sense? Feel free to risk your neck. Or you could just let her die."

The diffuse energy was concentrated further. With the aid of the various sect members, Etaine was channeling vast quantities of fire element from the solar orb not far from their location. She concentrated that energy, her eyes focused on Rukiye.

John could have solved two problems at once. He had promised not to harm Rukiye, but he hadn't really promised to save her. And even with all the power she was wielding, Etaine was at best a poor reflection of an Exalted Soul Phase cultivator- with her abilities focused on offense, John could take her down.

But he'd already saved Rukiye on instinct, and he didn't want to be the sort that consciously let a child die under his care. It didn't matter that she wanted to kill him.

Etaine's eyes weren't focused on John, so she didn't see him look directly into hers. And then she couldn't see at all, because everything went dark- for everyone in the valley.