221. Wuxing

A/N: Sorry for the delay

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Alistair arrived at Elder Aylesfort’s combat lesson the next day with renewed enthusiasm. He was curious how the elder was going to grade their written exam performances.

Even without Elder Fanghorn’s threats of expulsion for missing his class, all of the disciples arrived early. Elder Aylesfort commanded a certain presence that was hard to deny.

“Now that everyone is here, let us begin,” he called out from behind his desk. “I apologize for my absence for the last four weeks. I was dealing with threats to the sect.”

“Threats the sect, elder?” Yan Zheng asked, perhaps impertinently. 

While invisible to everyone else, Alistair felt the Visionary lightly touch his aura. Whispered words sounded in his mind. “Stay after. I shall bring your friend.”

“Perhaps that was an exaggeration,” Elder Aylesfort conceded. “The Five Sublimed Machine Academies often act aggressively with regards to the sects. I was merely defending our territories against their incursions. Nothing to worry about. Now, if Disciple Yan may permit, I shall begin today’s lesson with a review of your exam material.”

The elder raised a hand and one of the ledgers comprising the walls of the room shot out. When the book opened, hundreds of pages of paper floated out. 

“Very good. The majority of you answered sensibly, showing good foundations. Even our new disciples and those from less fortunate backgrounds demonstrated solid, analytical thinking. Today would normally be when I would introduce controlled environments, but I have realized the importance of a separate topic. War between polities.

“I do not refer to the sporadic raids or wars with the Fractured States. I am speaking of a true interuniversal war between polities. Only the very oldest cultivators of the Empire can claim to have seen true war. The last one ended 900 thousand years ago against the Zarbax Collective. I was born amidst the aftermath.”

Alistair remembered the hatred that Eavol the homunculus had for the Zarbax Collective. The history books said that the Final Frontier Empire’s struggle against their neighboring polity lasted over five million years, ending with a small territorial gain for the Empire at the cost of hundreds of trillions of lives on both sides.

“What is the most important aspect of war between polities?” Elder Aylesfort asked the room. 

Alistair was the first to respond. “Honored elder, there is no most important factor. Everything depends on everything else, so you have to look at things as a holistic whole.”

“Incorrect. Any other takers?”

Helena Kladen smiled and raised her hand. “The strength of your most powerful cultivator.”

“This is the first level of war between polities or even war between sects. If the Final Frontier Empire possesses an Exalted realm and our enemy does not, then there is almost no avenue for their victory. Even if they have overwhelming numbers, the Exalted exists as a mobile unit. Theoretically, if you trapped them against a force of thousands of Visionaries who had pseudo-Exalted weapons, the Exalted might fall, but no one alive that long would fall for such a trap. The first rule of warfare is never engage an enemy with a cultivator of a higher realm than your highest realm.

“Now, what if both polities have a strongest cultivator in the same realm? Say, the Final Frontier Empire and the Republic of Stars? What is the next most important aspect?”

Alistair answered with only a smidgen of apprehension. “I’ll repeat my earlier answer. There is no one factor. But Elder Aylesfort, I do have a question—I thought that you said that realm isn’t everything in our last lesson?”

“Your old answer is correct after taking into consideration the strongest. As for your question, let me explain. The peak that one can achieve on the frontier is Exalted. You cannot become an Ascendant on the frontier except in highly extraordinary cases. It’s not a matter of talent—we simply lack the resources to raise up an Ascendant of our own. As you might know, Exalted is one of the great watersheds of cultivation. The gap between Exalted and Visionary is the second largest of all the realms, only surpassed by Truthseeker and Divine, though that last point is merely hearsay; we on the frontier can only rely on the words of those in the involved who have witnessed such majesty. So, keeping that in mind, you might wonder if you could gang up on a sole Exalted with an army of Visionaries. Perhaps, but there is no such thing as a lone Exalted on the frontier. It does not happen. The resources poured into raising an Exalted are beyond reckoning. What you must understand is that battles do not happen in a vacuum. Wars do not happen in a vacuum. Any group that has an Exalted will inherently be stronger than a group of which the apex is Peak Visionary, even disregarding their strongest members.”

Elder Aylesfort merely glanced at the books along the wall, and they dispersed into motes of light, forming beautiful projected holograms for the class to see.

“Returning to my main point, I shall now give a brief overview of the various factors that determine who wins a war. Any offers from the class?”

Yan Zheng answered first. “Population.”

The holograms shifted to show millions upon millions of cultivators swarming an impossibly tall mountain defended by a great armored guardian.

“Quantity is a quality in and of itself. Good.”

Helena offered, “Powerful heritages, like the Clear Water Sect’s Vostra.”

The classroom filled with depictions of ancient magic and powerful bloodlines. Black bones that, when consumed, made the recipient’s skeleton nigh-invincible. A collection of mathematical equations that, when solved, stopped time in local environments.

“No doubt an important factor, though if two empires are unequal in heritages, there is most likely a larger factor that is also imbalanced. The law of large numbers suggests heritages have a relatively parsimonious distribution as long as the ambient Mana in both locations is equal. However, this is not always the case—a newly formed polity will almost certainly have fewer usable heritages than a 150 million-year-old empire. And for all those wondering, Vostra is a Grade-5S, or pseudo-Exalted, heritage of the Clear Water Sect. For security purposes, I cannot give you more information than what is publicly available—what I can say is that Vostra is a giant golem left behind by Gideon the Golemmaker to protect our sect and has capabilities even the Emperor is wary of.”

Alistair went next. “Supply lines? If a war lasts long enough, there should be enough time for the weaker cultivators to grow stronger, so being able to deliver things like leveling pills or purification elixirs is huge. Also, Health pills and Mana pills, and all that. In my studies, I’ve found that Mana pills become essential for armies once both parties have used Mana-siphoning bombs.”

The holograms depicted the bombing of civilian crafts in outer space, like a tragedy in a war movie.

“Excellent response. You’ve even anticipated one portion of one of the key war doctrines that I’ll expound upon later. To explain for those who are unaware, the battlefield will be riddled with Mana-siphoning bombs that absorb ambient Mana and then explode. These are the most common weapons of war in all Sublimed Machine satellite polities and possibly the entire multiverse. They are a complete game changer, as their suction extends far beyond their explosion, meaning hundreds to thousands of light-years of territory can be sucked completely dry of ambient Mana. That in turn raises the importance of having protected supply lines to deliver Mana pills to troops.”

“I thought that soulcores naturally produced Mana, Elder Aylesfort,” Alistair asked. “I didn’t get very far in my studies of them. How would a Mana-siphoning bomb work?”

“Hmm, that’s a common misunderstanding,” Elder Aylesfort replied, stroking his beard. “While it is true that soulcores naturally produce a tiny amount of new Mana, most of what we would term natural regeneration comes from the absorption of ambient Mana. And whether that soulcore Mana or even the Qi coming from the Heart of All Creation is truly ‘new’ is a debate that rages amongst the greatest Cosmic Theoreticians. Now, any other thoughts?”

Berengar casually raised a hand. “Leadership. A great general that outwits his foes.”

They all pitched in some more ideas. Riyord offered the ambient Mana density as a factor. Ka Zhongting mentioned the culture of the people, their savagery and preparedness for war. 

A girl only a few years older than Riyord suggested morale. That young woman, Alistair watched out for—at eighteen, she was ranked #107 at the sect after one year, and would be in his cohort for joining the inner sect if, no, when, he made it. 

Her name was Autumn Springer, an ethnic Trexian adopted by two local Sharders. Like Riyord, she was a prodigy, though in the nue arts rather than magic. Alistair intended to befriend her, being the only nue artist he had ever heard of, even in the history books.

After ten minutes of lively discussion, Elder Aylesfort clapped his hands. “I enjoy the argumentation over which aspect is more vital, but now I must teach you the two doctrines of war that are known across the multiverse. The first is Dao Superiority, and the second is Quintessence Balancing.

“Quintessence Balancing is simpler, so I’ll briefly explain it. As I stated previously, Mana-siphoning bombs are a paradigm-shifting technology. But let me expound further. The effects of reducing ambient Mana in a region to near zero are more widespread than you might first imagine. As Adept realms and higher, we no longer require food, water, or air to survive. Yet if we are starved of Mana, then our bodies require natural products once more. We are not infinite energy machines—even our Dao energy, or our attuned spiritual energy, comes from our soul’s processing of life force. If you’re dying of hunger or thirst, you will not be able to regenerate Dao energy like normal.

“However, perhaps an even more important consequence of Mana-siphoning bombs is the imbalance between the quintessences. As you should know, the three quintessences exist in a triadic cycle, where the Dao transcends Mana, Mana overwhelms nue, and nue severs the Dao. While true nue artists are seldom found on the frontier, we utilize Beast Cores stuffed full of the mental energy, as well as nue cannons. If one side of a conflict runs out of Mana, they’ll be sitting ducks to any mental attacks.”

Alistair felt like he was being introduced to a whole new world. Much of what the elder said he had already surmised through experience, but that only left new questions. For a third of the underlying energies of existence, nue seemed underused. Dev'rox remained silent on the matter.

“Elder Aylesfort,” Alistair began, “why are nue artists so rare if nue is such an important part of war?”

Elder Aylesfort looked right at Autumn. “Disciple Springer, would you care to educate Disciple Tan?”

“Nue artists are known for being weak individually,” she stated honestly. “Our attacks can be resisted with high Wisdom and Mana disrupting the mental energy itself. In a fight without intel, we can be dangerous, but in a military setting, the armies will outfit their soldiers with protection. Plus, for some reason nue heritages and build manuals are hard to come by.”

Elder Aylesfort’s lips tugged into a smile. “I couldn’t have said it better myself. Maintaining Quintessence Balance in warfare is essential, especially for drawn out conflicts. Now, lastly I shall explain Dao Superiority. This will require some demonstration.”

The elder returned the holograms to stasis. “Does anyone here follow any of the Daos within the Wuxing?”

Four people raised their hands. Ka Zhongting possessed the Dao of Water, Yan Zheng held a Dao of Fire, while two other disciples followed Wood and Earth. They were only missing Metal in the five classical Chinese elements, but Elder Aylesfort said that he could replicate it for their purposes. 

“What are the generative and destructive cycles within the Wuxing?” Elder Aylesfort asked.

While Alistair wasn’t as well-versed in Chinese culture as his sister, he still remembered his lessons. “Fire burns everything to ash, which is earth. The earth contains metal. Metal condenses moisture. Water feeds wood, and then wood is the fuel for fire. Conversely, fire melts metal. Metal chops down wood. The roots of wood break the ground. Earth absorbs water, and water extinguishes fire.”

“To demonstrate the principles, Disciple Yan, please fill this room with flames imbued with your Dao energy.”

Yan Zheng stood up, using his freehold manipulation over Mana. He spread his arms out and a purple fire burst out of his body into the air. Despite their color, simply by the extreme heat they emitted, he knew this was fire affinity and not soulfire. 

The flames expanded across the ceiling of the classroom, bathing everything in their purple  light. The outer disciple, now ranked #6,657, controlled the heat so as to not burn everything. Alistair could feel the pressure of the flames, and while the Dao underlying them felt multivalent and not pure, the majority of the meaning was certainly elemental. 

Elder Aylesfort merely stared at the flames, and something shifted. Alistair didn’t understand what happened fully. Somehow, with just a glance, the Visionary realm dispersed the mixed-meaning parts of the Dao and culled the flames into pure fire. 

“Disciple Kladen, please counter Disciple Yan’s fires with a completely equal attack.”

Helena nodded, also simply using her freehand water affinity. She obeyed the elder, making sure not to overdo the amount of Dao energy. 

Her water crashed against the flames, producing clouds of steam. After fifteen seconds, despite having equal amounts of Mana and Dao energy, the water won out. 

Alistair felt the clash within the Dao. Since he followed none of those truths, it meant nothing to him, but he could imagine that a Foundation following one or both of Fire and Water might find some hidden meanings within the battles. 

The elder allowed Helena to beef up her water, since the fire had mutually destroyed a portion. Next, the disciple with the Dao of Earth acted. Interestingly, when the earth and water clashed, they stalemated.

Elder Aylesfort gave Helena a nod of approval. “Disciple Kladen’s depth in her water is admirable. Despite the elemental disadvantage, her water held out against the earth’s absorption.”

He willed away the water and let the disciple replenish the earth. The outer disciple of wood allowed his roots to demolish the earth. Elder Aylesfort produced metal, which cut the roots. Finally, he allowed Yan Zheng to melt the metal he created.

“Please extinguish those fires, Disciple Yan,” Elder Aylesfort ordered. “As you can see, the destructive cycle is obvious and harmonious. What about the generative cycle? Fire begets Earth, so Disciple Kong, please use the same amount of Mana and Dao energy as before.”

Kong once again filled the room with earth in the form of churning rocks, but this time Alistair felt a noticeable increase in power. Was that merely from the flames making a superior environment for earth?

They repeated the process until the cycle repeated. The display hearkened back to his Chinese lessons. 

The initial fire was greater yang, representing activity and growth. Too much yang would burn everything, creating a neutral balance of earth. A foundation that never changed became yin-aligned, as yin was passivity, receptiveness, and softness, becoming metal—lesser yin. The deepening of yin was the polar opposite to the expansion of yang, with the softness of metal becoming the complete formlessness of water. 

And finally, in what Alistair found to be the most poetic, when yin energy reached its zenith, becoming utterly still and dark, it inverted. Greater yin became lesser yang as life emerged from sterility. Lesser yang expanded into greater yang, wood becoming fuel for a passionate and blazing fire. 

“What is Dao Superiority?” Elder Aylesfort announced. “It is manipulating, altering, ordering the truths within the scope of your mission field to achieve dominance. If your Dao truths have defeated your opponents within a region, all their moves become limited. Supplanting an already existing Dao is more difficult than establishing it in the first place. If you lose the initial conflict over the terrain, your work becomes ten times harder. One of our number has some experience in this regard.”

The elder turned to Alistair, whose eyes widened in shock. “Disciple Tan’s world was attacked by a fire cultivator. Before the initiation, the Dao was almost nonexistent on his planet, so sparse that you could barely connect to it. That wastrel molded the truths of that world into those of fire. If someone at his level attempted to assault him, the world itself would be his ally in that specific region. Of course, nothing on the level of the advantage a Visionary or Exalted realm would accrue, but it is something. For that reason, being the aggressor in war is ill-advised unless you are sure of your victory.”

For the rest of the lesson, they tested out more compatibilities. While the Wuxing was the most known, there were other opposites and generations. For example, Alistair’s Dao of the Ghost was strong against the Dao of Time. 

After everyone left the room, Elder Aylesfort stepped into the void and pulled out a very nonchalant Red. The elder sighed, sitting on the air itself behind his desk.

“Disciples Tan and Harmonia,” he began, “am I correct that you received a Quest after defeating the beast?”

Alistair spent a split second thinking before answering “Yes,” while Red emphatically stated, “No.”

Elder Aylesfort raised a single eyebrow. 

“Yes,” Red conceded, shooting Alistair a look. 

“I spent the last four weeks looking for clues,” the elder said. “Perhaps you might have noticed the lack of serpentine beasts. I examined over a dozen worlds, searching for potential hints. The perpetrators were quite subtle, but I was able to glean a few things.”

The Visionary realm felt like a still body of water, full of potential energy yet absolutely calm. Alistair realized that he was testing them. Were they worthy to be included in his investigations?

“I’m putting you two in harm’s way,” he said. “Danger lurks behind all corners in the path of the cultivator, but avoiding the wrath of Visionary realms as an Adept; I wouldn’t place that kind of burden on disciples in ordinary circumstances. These circumstances are not ordinary. I am powerful but not all-seeing.”

Those words felt so different than his proclamation that no disciple would come to harm under his watch. What happened in those four weeks? What did Elder Aylesfort learn that troubles him so?

“I accept anything,” Red declared. “Danger is of no consequence. Alistair agrees.”

“…I agree, Elder Aylesfort. This mission is personal to us.”

“Then I shall share with you some of my findings—I truly cannot reveal everything at this point in time or I would be risking my own hide. First, the level of care and power behind the missing beasts is in the Visionary realm. Only an elder of the Clear Water Sect could be capable of such a feat, or someone greatly aided by an elder. Second, this process only began five months ago, as far as I can tell. The local authorities seem to be unaware of what is happening. Second, while all serpentine species were missing, they also extracted specimens of multiple other venomous and poisonous beasts, such as centipedes, scorpions, and frogs. I believe that the intent is for a massive gu ritual.”

“What is that?” Red asked.

“The creatures are combined in a sealed container, where they are forced to eat each other to survive. The last one contains a highly potent and concentrated venom.”

Alistair frowned. “A Visionary realm gu ritual needs a Visionary realm target.”

“That is the worrisome part,” Elder Aylesfort said. “To the best of my knowledge, we do not have a single poison cultivator at the sect. While you do not have to be an expert on poisons to perform a gu ritual, it is unusual. As disciples, you have eyes and ears low to the ground. You can learn things I cannot.

“There are a total of nineteen suspects that I’ve narrowed down to seven. It is possible that the culprit is not one of these elders, so don’t narrow your search too far. You are to investigate the names I give you with the utmost caution. If they are truly traitors and suspect you of knowing their secret, they will not hesitate to kill you. Befriend their personal assistants. You can move without alerting their attention. I am trusting you with this. Do you accept?”

“Yes,” Alistair and Red said simultaneously. They both received a jade slip with a list of seven names. 

Garrick Veylan - Armory

Yan Shiwu - Self-Defense

Da Rui - Cultivation Chambers

Lian Qingfeng - Infirmary

Jhara Voss - Infirmary

Quotha Kvasha - Apothecary 

Wen Xuelia - Apothecary

“Four of these men and women are heads of their divisions. Be careful. You are dismissed.”

Alistair and Red took their leave, waiting to discuss the list until they were out of the building. 

“Da Rui is on there,” Alistair noted. “We already have you on that.”

“How about you tackle the Infirmary for now,” Red offered. “Remember that Jinti girl? The other woman called her over when she detected that there was venom involved. That’s a lead.”

“Good one, I’m on that.” Alistair grinned with one side of his mouth. “Now, what did you and Pristine get up to after the gala? I can’t say that I’ve ever seen your bed empty before last night.”

“You’re not qualified to know that until you can land a clean blow on me. Plus, what did you and Fuhao do after the gala?”

“We explored the city and returned to our respective dorms like proper traditional cultivators of Mai Atal.”

“Uh-huh,” Red hummed. “If you don’t share the whole story, then neither can I.”

“I did share the whole story.”

The two of them continued to bicker as they walked to the dining hall. From the smiles on both of their faces, one could ponder the truth of the matter.

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Over the next week, Alistair reached level 109.  

His cultivation had never been faster with his deep-sea routine. Alistair’s merit points began to stack up as he only used them for purification elixirs and food—he needed to find a use for them. Perhaps the apothecary would answer that, as he investigated Elder Kvasha and Elder Wen.

On top of his daily routine of sparring with Red, hanging out with Pristine and Gu Fuhao, deep-sea cultivating abusing [Karmic Battery], doing sect missions, and daily challenges, Alistair began cozying up to Jinti from the Infirmary.

It was easier than expected. Turned out, there were benefits to being the second-ranked outer disciple in a cohort already considered the highest potential in living memory. 

Everything was going smoothly when Alistair received a challenge. 

That in and of itself was nothing special, he usually got one every other day from an enterprising outer disciple. 

This was different. Up to that point, he had never dueled anyone above rank #6,000. Alistair consistently moved up the rank of those he challenged in line with his own rank. 

His reasoning was simple—there was no reason to face opponents that would force him to use his hidden capabilities when he was already on track to be in the top 50 by the year’s end. Biding his time would allow his raw physicals to build up, meaning he would still be able to conceal his true strength.

Alistair had been expecting such a challenge, especially after hearing from Nora Seaborn about her peers wanting to knock him down a peg.

Xaden Katrionus, #4,352 requested a duel.

For a brief moment, he considered losing on purpose.

That was not Alistair’s style. 

The outer disciple’s last name was familiar. After hearing that he was going to be targeted, Alistair did some research on all the top disciples.

Korinth Kaevor, the current #1 ranker of nine years at the sect, had the biggest clique among the outer disciples. The Kaevor Clan, if you could call it that, was a small family derived from the power of their unaffiliated Visionary cultivator, Kahli Kaevor. 

The Katroniouses were a ducal clan of the Disputed Shard that had been humiliated by Kahli, an orthodox warrior who had mastered all weapons under the sun. It seemed that the master-servant relationship extended to their descendants.

Alistair licked his lips. They were going to learn he was above their silly politics.