The Essence of Cultivation - Chapter 17

Chapter 17: True to Form (6)

Following Quanhao’s return from Tribulation, Sylar had stayed for only a short time in the celebration that followed. There were many who were curious about the cantrip he had performed, about what he had done with the adamantine, and how he even knew of its name in the first place, but Sylar had been too exhausted to answer all of their questions, since he had just spent several hours observing him without getting any rest of his own. He promised to talk to them when the morning finally came, but then quickly retired to the guest room for a nice, long rest.

When he was finally fully awake, Sylar considered whether he might have perhaps been a little too impulsive in how he had reacted last night. There could have been several better ways to investigate whether the stone that Quanhao had recovered was truly a chunk of adamantine, and he knew that his chosen method of confirming its identity might have raised more than a few questions about him and what he knew.

In his defence, he had just spent several hours sitting in self-imposed silence with as minimal movement as possible, all while kept in a stuffy room filled with the overwhelmingly pungent fragrance of incense smoke. With it being well into the dead of night when Quanhao returned, coupled with his growing frustrations about how new questions kept arising when he thought he finally knew something, Sylar hadn’t been quite in the right state of mind to consider the consequences of his actions.

Now, he was again in a private meeting aimed at a mutual exchange of information – and this time, there were more eyes on him than during his previous ones. Elder Yang and Elder Hua were both in attendance, joined by their personal ranking disciples Guanzhong and Xingling. Qiyu had insisted on listening in as well, and he saw no reason to deny her. Quanhao was likewise present, since it had been he who had recovered the adamantine in the first place. Besides, he would likely soon progress to become a ranking disciple as well, now that he had awakened the Second Revelation.

And so, he now found himself seated at a grand table of majestic oak, jade, and ivory, with a haphazard pile of parchment that he had not yet even begun to analyse laid out on top. The adamantine stone was placed in the centre of the table on top of a small decorative pedestal that had been retrieved sometime after Sylar had retired to bed.

They looked at each other, and no one quite knew where to begin.

Elder Hua rolled her eyes as they all waited politely for each other to speak. “Oh, please. Don’t everyone speak up all at once.” She looked at Elder Yang in a deference to his seniority, who made a subtle gesture and allowed her to take charge. “Alright, Sylar Spellsight. You want to ask your questions first, or shall we begin?”

Well… if they were offering…

“I’ll start then,” he said, about to raise his first question, but then paused.

Where did he even begin? Nothing about the Planes Beyond ever came up when Elder Yang had spoken to him of Tribulations, and the cultivators didn’t seem aware of their existence. He did want to know just what Quanhao had seen in his Tribulation, but to open with that question seemed a little tactless.

“Sylar?” Guanzhong questioned.

“You were calling the rock a Divine Treasure,” he said instead. “What exactly did you mean by that?”

“If it is willed by the Heavenly Dao, when the spirit returns to the body, one may retrieve a sacred treasure alongside their Revelation from the realm of their Tribulation,” Elder Yang explained. “Most of the time, a Treasure only reveals itself to those further down the path of cultivation. Recovering one from a Second Revelation as Song Quanhao has done is not unheard of, but it is rare indeed.”

He glanced aside at the two ranking disciples in attendance. “Disciple Wu and my daughter are the two most recent members of our sect to have successfully overcome their second Tribulations, but neither of them returned with a treasure. Elder Hua and I each retrieved a treasure following our respective Third Tribulations that we have since forged into our personal artifacts, now kept in our Hall of Treasures.”

Sylar frowned. “May I see them?”

“Why?” Xingling challenged, but she was remarkably calm and composed, not bristling as Sylar might have expected. “They are the greatest treasures of our sect, Sylar Spellsight, and even we only utilize them in times of the greatest need. It will be a slight against our predecessors to allow an outsider to witness them.”

“There’s just something I want to confirm by seeing them, but if not, that’s perfectly fine,” Sylar conceded. He looked next at Quanhao. “Can you tell me how you obtained this?”

What came next was perhaps the most bizarre tale he’d ever heard, which was saying something, considering his breadth of experience with the wild stories that traveling adventurers told. It had been interesting to learn that time did not pass quite the same way during a Tribulation as it did in the waking realm, but the more Quanhao spoke, the more Sylar became bewildered.

His initial thought was that somehow, Quanhao had been spirited away to the Elemental Plane of Earth during his Tribulation. Many things fit – the desolate landscape, the friend he’d called Pebbles that Sylar had a sinking suspicion was a Gem Sprite, as well as the small chunk of adamantine that he had recovered. If, indeed, his body were a conduit to the Plane of Earth, then perhaps somehow his spirit had indeed been transposed there?

Many things didn’t fit, however. One could not survive for a prolonged period of time in any of the Planes Beyond without being warped by the primal energies that raged there. Biological life that ventured close to a Nexus of Power were gradually mutated into transcendental beings, such as the Spirit Wolves that he had encountered on his arrival in the Immortal Lands. Unless one readied the right set of protective spells and equipment and paid due precaution, entering the Elemental Planes would tear even an archmage’s body apart.

Sure, he conceded cultivators had qi… but was that truly enough as a form of protection? It took a damned Eighth Level spell for a mage to even cross the threshold into a Nexus of Power, and though he knew that cultivators had powers of their own, he refused to believe that the qi of a cultivator at Quanhao’s level could compensate for the most potent of protective spells that one could only dream of casting at Spellsong level.

When it seemed that he was finally nearing the climax of the story, however, Sylar knew immediately that his assumption was false.

“Wait. What?”

Abruptly, Quanhao paused, when he’d been rambling on for the past twenty to thirty minutes.

“Huh?”

“You said there was water?”

“Uhh… well, yeah. It was this huge bog that we found after we climbed to the very top of the mountain… maybe stretching on for about another kilometre or so?” Quanhao responded. “So anyway, then Pebbles and I went into the water, but get this – there were these beings of living water that came and attacked us! I thought I sensed a bit of spiritual energy about them, but it was hard to tell at the time. So they dragged me down, and I…”

Quanhao continued regaling his story, Sylar listening raptly. What he was describing were Water Elementals, of that he was certain.

But why? If Pebbles was a Gem Sprite, this had to be the Plane of Earth. How could there be a bog in the middle of that Plane? And how could there even be Water Elementals?

It just made no sense. Putting aside the question of how a cultivator might be brought to the Planes Beyond during a Tribulation, why did it behave so strangely?

It was fully possible that the Elemental Planes might be different here in the Immortal Lands, Sylar acknowledged. Even then… the notion of the Planes bleeding into each other just felt wrong. Each was a representation of the respective primal forces that governed all of existence, and they were each a separate entity that never once intersected with any other. Their mutual opposition was such that in the vicinity of a Nexus of Power, any reagent containing traces of a different type of Essence would slowly but surely have its stored Essence dissipate.

There were too many questions now piling up, and they were all intertwined with one another. What he needed to do was to try and see the big picture, then separate them into individual objective questions, and see if he might have any hypotheses to work on. From there, he would need to see which ones could be tested with the tools and models he had at his disposal.

Even as he listened with growing discomfort at the vivid description of nearly drowning that Quanhao had experienced, he began to work his way through his thoughts. If he took his observations from the night before, and combined them with the new information he was gathering from Quanhao’s account…

Sylar had witnessed multiple types of Essence being released from Quanhao, and if he truly had been transported to the Planes Beyond, it would fit with the possibility that the Planes somehow intersected and converged, and the Essence within the Planes flowing out through the conduit that was Quanhao. It didn’t escape his notice that the sudden spike of Water Essence had occurred near the end of his period of observation: that might correspond to when Quanhao made his way over to the bog.

If that were the case, how was this conduit established? And if the Planes truly did intersect, how could this system remain stable as long as it had? And why would everything ‘crumble away’ once it was all over, as Quanhao was now putting it in his own words?

Unspoken but easily inferred from the way cultivators so prized these Divine Treasures was the fact that any other object couldn’t be brought back from the realm of their Tribulation. He had wanted to have a look at what other treasures the Righteous Heart Sect might have in their possession, so that he could verify his suspicion that these were all innately touched by the ambient presences of the Elemental Planes, and hence possessed permanent magical properties that were independent of the magics of Enchantment.

Then there were the peripheral questions. Why had there been Spirit and Form Essences being released through Quanhao as well? As far as he could tell, neither of the two Planes those two Essence types corresponded to had influenced the manifestation of his Tribulation. It neatly accounted for the question of why the Transcendentals were in such abundance that had bothered him for the time he had been in the Immortal Lands, but how did that factor in together with the other observations?

There was surely a model that could satisfactorily explain and unify these different observations. He just couldn’t yet think of what that might be.

“Sylar?”

He had been in deep thought, and though Quanhao had already ended his tale with how he returned to the meditation chamber only to discover that the stone remained in his hand, Sylar hadn’t spoken another word. It took Qiyu elbowing him from her seat beside him before he realised that a silence had set in.

“Sorry,” he said, glancing at Quanhao. “Just thinking.”

“What is on your mind, Sylar?” Elder Yang probed. “Perhaps you might have some opinions of your own from the teachings of your homeland?”

He was not the only one curious. Elder Hua was still in a nonchalant posture, but there was no mistaking the tinge of interest in the way that her eyes flickered. Even Xingling, who probably wasn’t the fondest of him, still waited for him to speak.

“I have some ideas,” he said slowly. “They’re more just conjectures, really. And even then, I’m not sure if I have any way to test them.”

Quanhao held the adamantine stone in his hand and waved it about. “But you know what this thing is, at least?”

Sylar nodded. There wasn’t any avoiding this question, and he trusted those in attendance anyway. “Adamantine. It’s extremely powerful, and in my homeland even those that didn’t engage in cultivation could use it to fashion weapons and armour that were not only supremely effective in battle, but also bolstered the physical capabilities of their wearers.”

There was a downside to that, however. The most famous of skilled fighters wore them to great effect in conjunction with their mastery of armour and blade, and there were certain branches of mage-swordsman hybrids that likewise took to wielding them. However, most generalist mages actively avoided adamantine equipment. Donning such equipment restricted their spell-set dramatically, because the lasting presence of the Plane of Earth imbued within adamantine actively opposed anything belonging to opposing Planes, and thus spells that incorporated any Essence other than Earth had an inherent instability to their casting when wearing it.

“Adamantine, huh?” Quanhao fiddled with it, bouncing it lightly in his hands, and treatment of the Divine Treasure in so frivolous a manner earned him a look of disapproval from Guanzhong. “Wait… if you know about this – then do you mean that everything in that Tribulation realm was real?”

That earned him many more looks of keen interest. It was no surprise. From the sounds of things, cultivators couldn’t agree whether Tribulation was purposefully designed or simply a thing that occurred. Even if it truly existed or was simply a figment of a cultivator’s imagination was a contentious topic.

Unfortunately, this was something that Sylar had no clue about. There were many similarities to what he knew of the Elemental Planes, but also plenty of significant differences.

“I can’t really give you a definite answer to that,” Sylar said. “But back in Resham – in my homeland, that is – we could find adamantine in places where there was plenty of, uh… earth elemental energy, I think is the term?”

Elder Yang nodded, intrigued. “Are you saying that your people could collect this Divine Treasure outside of a Tribulation Realm?”

“It requires due precaution to even think of doing so. The region in question possesses enough energy to tear apart the soul of any unprepared person,” Sylar answered. “But… yes. We could find them, although they are exceptionally rare. There are places where they can be found in greater abundance, but only the absolutely most gifted of us are able to survive the energies raging there.”

“Hmm. Interesting,” Elder Hua said, leaning forward in her seat. “You’re thinking that the other Divine Treasures might be the same, Spellsight?”

“That was my hypothesis after discovering that Quanhao returned with adamantine,” he said. “But… I still can’t explain how he returned with it, or why there’s such a big difference between how it is in my homeland and here in the Immortal Lands.” He looked at them sharply. “Are you sure that you can’t find a Divine Treasure anywhere else?”

The Elders exchanged looks. “It might be possible,” Elder Yang admitted. “Rare treasures possessing blessings of the Dao have been described in places that bear powerful forces of the natural world. But each sect jealously guards any treasures they recover, so…”

“It’s difficult to confirm whether a copy of a treasure recovered from Tribulation can be found elsewhere,” Sylar finished, and sighed.

Fair enough. Just taking the Elemental Plane of Earth alone, there were many prized materials that each possessed different properties. Mithril, adamantine, orichalcum, mantle diamond… the properties of adamantine alone even had some degree of variance between individual ores. If each sect hoarded their treasures, it was nigh impossible to demonstrate that the rare Divine Treasures they obtained might have their counterparts at Nexuses of Power that had a sufficiently strong connection to the Planes beyond.

“Hey, Sylar!” Quanhao said suddenly. “Does that mean that you also know what Pebbles is?”

“A Gem Sprite, probably,” Sylar said, shrugging. “I haven’t met one before, but I’ve read accounts written by those who have. The way you described Pebbles sounds similar.”

“Wait… so you mean he wasn’t just part of the Tribulation?” Quanhao frowned. “Do you know how to find him?”

“I think Pebbles probably does exist, yes.” Considering that the adamantine was real, he couldn’t see a good reason as to why the elementals present in the Tribulation might not be. “And finding him isn’t going to be easy. Even with my present competencies in the Spiritual Arts, I won’t be able to survive the journey.”

Summoning was an option – but with his present capabilities, all he could do was summon a Gem Sprite, that may not necessarily be Pebbles. Attempting to locate the precise position of a specific individual and then draw them into the material world required not only expertise in Divination and Conjuration, but also a high-tiered spell.

“Even you?”

Sylar glanced at Qiyu, who had spoken up softly. “Even me,” he confirmed. “Compared to some of the most talented people that I know of, I still have a long way to go before I ever reach their level.”

It was touching and more than a little amusing how that notion seemed like an impossibility to Qiyu. There really were far too many parallels between his own apprenticeship and hers.

“But where is he?” Quanhao pressed eagerly. “If I can visit him some day, then…”

Sylar hesitated. The Planes Beyond were something that cultivators had no knowledge of. He wanted to keep his knowledge of Essence relatively secret for now, but as for the Planes…

He could probably share a little of what he knew. If ever he wanted to learn more about what they knew about cultivation, it would require an exchange of information.

“I could tell you that,” Sylar said, but then looked at the two Elders. “In exchange, however, I want some information in return.”

“Oh?” Elder Hua spoke, assessing him carefully. “What sort of information?”

“There are two things I want to know right now,” Sylar said. “First and foremost, I want information on bodily cultivation. Not of the techniques of the Righteous Heart, mind you,” he added quickly, seeing Xingling about to protest. “I know that the basis of my cultivation is drastically different from your own. What I hope to do is build upon your base of information, in order to determine how best to safely go about my own cultivation.”

“How do you intend to go about doing that?” Elder Yang asked, frowning.

“From what I surmise, Qi Deviation is the major risky outcome from improperly engaging in cultivation. I would like access to records of your sect that detail anything about those who encountered Qi Deviation, particularly in terms of what elements they were cultivating, and the circumstances in which Qi Deviation arose.”

“That… can be further discussed,” Elder Yang said slowly. “You must understand, though, that we will have to heavily censor any reference to our sect’s techniques. You will not have much information to work with, and even if you managed to discover something with the knowledge of your homeland, I would think it impossible to try and apply it to cultivation relying on a different foundation.”

“Even so, that is what I’m asking for.”

It was a long shot, Sylar knew. Essences were distinct in terms of how they behaved. Even the activation methods corresponding to each type of Essence were different, such that mages tended to specialise in spells corresponding to the element they felt the closest affinity with.

Still, there were general rules that governed Essence Dynamics. If he took a series of observations that the sect held, and combined it with a framework of Essence Theory, it might be possible for him to theorise a general model for the cultivation of Essence that he could then test.

“And your second condition?” Elder Hua probed. “If we agree to an exchange of information, know that we also expect for your information to be of value to us.”

“I understand.” For his next request, Sylar looked directly at Elder Yang. “I want to know more of what you know of Tribulation.”

“Tribulation?” he questioned. “We spoke briefly about the subject yesterday. Was there something that you wished for clarification on?”

“I want to know more about what a Tribulation is,” he said, and forestalled the incoming response. “I know that there is disagreement even among cultivators about the subject. What I want to know are the facts – just exactly when it is that a cultivator faces a bottleneck in his cultivation and must undergo a Tribulation, records of how a Tribulation manifests, the types of Revelations gained from them, the elements that their cultivation was based on… any information you have, really.”

Now they exchanged uncertain looks, a silent discussion passing between them. Guanzhong and Quanhao seemed supportive of him, though they also appeared to be confused about what his intentions were. Xingling studied him intently, and there was much the same expression on her face now that was bereft of the usual prickly coldness she directed at him, just as when he had returned from the battle at the Demon’s Pass after having achieved the First Comprehension and truly began his path of bodily cultivation.

“And what is it that you intend to do with this information, Sylar Spellsight?” Elder Yang spoke formally. “You may be an ally of the Righteous Heart, but these records are just as sacred to our sect as the artifacts in our possession. We have a duty to protect them. We must ensure that your cause is just – and that what we receive in turn is equally of value.”

“I have… suspicions, about what the realm of a Tribulation might be, and this ties in with what I propose to share with you in exchange. Many of the details still don’t make sense to me, but I’m certain that what I do know is essential to begin understanding what a Tribulation truly is. How it arises, what each cultivator faces, and more importantly – how they are different – will likely be central to any model we can come up with that might explain the nature of Tribulations.”

He paused, trying to convey his seriousness.

“I want to know why there even exists a cultivation bottleneck, and why overcoming a Tribulation is necessary for progressing past this limit. I want to know why it is that a cultivator only earns a Revelation following a Tribulation. I want to know why it is that one can choose to return from Tribulation before it truly begins to manifest, but not at any later time. And…” He looked directly at Elder Yang. “For those who turned back from a Tribulation, I want to know how to recreate one.”

-x-x-x-

To recreate a Tribulation?

Yang Xingling bristled at that. Sylar Spellsight dared? As one who only just began to practice bodily cultivation, he dared to suggest that he could recreate a Tribulation just like that?

She looked at her father. They both had their differences, but he was still her father. She heard stories of how the Yang Renzhi of old had been a powerful warrior, one who would surely surpass Grandmaster Mu Siying – the fabled Mu of the Four Shadows that struck fear in the hearts of the sect’s enemies. Her father had achieved the Second Revelation by the age of eighteen, and then the Third when he was close to thirty.

He had honed his skills for the next two decades. He had been an undefeatable force in battle, and she had heard the tales of how he had led his fellow brothers and sisters of the sect and their allies within the Penshan Alliance in battle against rogue sects that attempted to establish a presence in Jinxiang.

It was then, when he finally progressed to the bottleneck at the very limits of one who mastered the Third Revelation, that Yang Renzhi faced his first defeat.

On the brink of achieving his Fourth Revelation, and entering the same realm as Grandmaster Mu himself, he had finally been defeated. Moments after the Tribulation Storm began, it abruptly abated. Those who had been present in the sect at the time had thought that he had conquered his Tribulation within a matter of seconds, but one look at his pale face and shaking body was enough for any to realise what had happened.

Yang Renzhi, the rising power of the Righteous Heart Sect, whose very name was enough to deter any who walked the Evil Path from stirring trouble in Jinxiang… facing his fourth Tribulation, he had done the unthinkable. He had fled from a challenge.

That had all happened before she was born. Her earliest memories of her father had been of him scouring the texts of the sect’s library, and consulting with experts within Jinxiang and beyond. When she had been but three, he had left on a long pilgrimage, intending to venture beyond the state of Wu to see if the sects of the other states might have some other profound knowledge.

Yang Renzhi had abandoned them. When he returned five years later, her mother – who had been by his side and believed in him even when all others thought that this would be where his path ended – had been deceased for two years.

He had been almost unrecognisable on his return. Gone was the Warrior who had struck fear into the hearts of their enemies. He was meek and mellow, a shadow of his former self, and he had settled into his new role as Elder of the Sect. From the man who had always sought out new challenges to overcome, he had become the sect’s custodian, choosing to spend his days providing instruction to disciples of the sect and otherwise secluding himself in his chamber.

Her feelings were mixed toward him. On the one hand – he was her father, and even if he could no longer progress in cultivation, he still had all the powers held by one who was at the stage of the Third Revelation and the respect they demanded. Yet, on the other, he had left behind both Xingling and her mother, and returned just like that without a word. She hated how he had become a timid shadow of the Warrior he once was.

For years, they had shared a rocky relationship. She had dedicated herself to her training, intending to surpass her father in all accounts. Already, she was working her way through the stages detailed in the Nine Unification Processes Scripture, and beginning to progress toward her own Third Revelation.

Yang Renzhi had found a new place in life – found acceptance in his new role as an Elder of the sect, and as one who nurtured the younger disciples. He was at peace with himself – and as his daughter, despite her frequent disagreements with him, she was thankful that he stopped torturing himself over something that could never be accomplished. He had already lost his wife; there was no need for him to suffer more for the single mistake of his past.

But now, Sylar Spellsight intended to open old wounds once more.

“To recreate… a Tribulation?”

She whirled to face her father immediately. It was clear that Sylar’s words had struck him deeply. He had his expression well-hidden, but there was an unrest to the flow of his qi as his usual calm broke – not that the fledgling cultivator Spellsight would be able to tell that. She recognised the look of false hope in his eyes. It was a faint echo of her earliest memories of her father, when he had dug for the barest scraps of knowledge to no avail.

“That is the ultimate goal, yes,” Sylar spoke. “It will be difficult, of course. It will take an understanding of how a Tribulation arises naturally, and then determining if there exists any means of artificially forcing a state that closely mimics these unique circumstances.”

Gone was Elder Hua’s usual easy-going expression. “Do you think this to be truly possible, Sylar Spellsight?” she questioned, a stern look on her face. “I have known many cultivators who have failed their Tribulations, both within and beyond the sect. For those who have turned their backs on Tribulation, acceptance of their fate is sometimes the far better outcome.”

“Even so…” Sylar Spellsight spoke. There was a look of conviction in his eyes – but was that naivety, arrogance, or a true belief that it was possible? “I have to try. Even if I hadn’t learned of Elder Yang’s past, it is something that I must understand.”

“Why?”

Heads turned to face her, and it was only then that she realised she had spoken out of turn.

“Why?” Sylar echoed. His expression made it seem as though she had asked the strangest question he’d ever heard. “Does a Scholar really need a reason to try and understand something?”

A Scholar. Something in the way he said the word carried with it a certain sense of weight, and she knew it was more than a general term. It was what he identified with, what the very essence of his cultivation revolved around.

She knew without being told that Sylar Spellsight walked the Path of the Scholar. As far as she was aware, there were no cultivation techniques utilised by the sect that nurtured such a path.

Was it truly possible? As much as she tried to deny it, he did possess knowledge that even her father knew nothing of, and had a proficiency in the Spiritual Arts that she would grudgingly acknowledge as superior to those of their sect.

And if what she suspected about Sylar was true, she doubted he had yet revealed the true depths of his abilities. For all that he seemed honest and friendly, and for all that her friends and mentors viewed him as their ally, there was still a certain sense of calculation and cunning about him.

Could it be possible? Could he restore her father to his former glory?

She didn’t know. Even as she settled back into her seat, intently paying attention to Sylar Spellsight as the Elders began their own questions, she promised herself one thing.

If Sylar had deliberately stirred false hopes to her father after he had finally stopped putting himself through undue suffering, she would never forgive him.

-x-x-x-

“The Elemental Planes are each unto themselves a sphere of existence that lie separate to our own,” Sylar lectured. In the middle of the table, he had conjured a series of Minor Illusions, and now there was a central sphere in the middle, that was in turn circumferentially surrounded by four that were each of a different colour. “Each corresponds to the elements of Fire, Earth, Water, and Air. Within them are contained the purest states of each element, and it is believed that each Plane is the representation of a fundamental and primal aspect of creation.”

He let the information sink in for a moment. He wasn’t sure whether they yet believed his words, but they were polite enough not to interrupt.

“Most of the time, the Planes do not manifest directly in the material world. There are, however, sites where they can begin to bleed through and make a connection into our world. For most cases, these are only minor connections that allow for a mild and temporary flow of power. Other more stable connections exist, and these sites are rich with energies emanating from the Elemental Planes. We call these the Nexuses of Power.”

He shifted the illusion, and now distorted the base of each of the elemental spheres outward and elongated them toward the material world, until at last they made a connection.

“At certain sites, however, these connections are strong enough to directly influence the material world and form a gateway into the Elemental Planes,” he said. “At the core of these rare stronger Nexuses of Power is a stable rift into the corresponding Elemental Plane. The power embodied by the Plane leaks out into the physical world, and it begins to alter everything in its surroundings to become more like a representation of the Plane in itself. Adamantine is one such example of such an alteration, and there are those who specialise in recovering it from Nexuses of Power connected to the Elemental Plane of Earth.”

“Ah… and you believe that other Divine Treasures might be the same?”

He nodded at Elder Yang. “That is the conjecture, yes.”

“But you think that Tribulation realms might actually be these Elemental Planes that you’re telling us about?” Quanhao asked.

Sylar hesitated. “That is one possibility, but… no, I don’t think so, actually.” He looked at Quanhao. “No offense – but I really don’t think that you’d be able to survive a trip to the Elemental Planes without any protection, and if even those who have yet to receive their First Revelation have to undergo a Tribulation, I really don’t see any way that it could truly be the Elemental Planes.”

“What do you think it might be, then?”

“That’s what I want to figure out from all of this,” he said. “At the very least, I need to test the hypothesis of whether there is a relationship between the type of cultivation one practices and the manifestation of a Tribulation.”

“And you want to utilise our records to see if the realm of a Tribulation fits with these Elemental Planes that you speak of,” Elder Hua surmised, frowning. “The idea of it is intriguing, but…”

“But?” he prompted.

“Tribulations don’t always correspond to the element that one cultivates,” came the reply, and she looked at Elder Yang. “Does he already know?”

He nodded his head with that same pained expression from before on his face.

“I told you that I turned back from my Tribulation because I saw… saw things that I never wanted to see. Saw enemies that I knew I could never defeat with all the strength that I possessed.” He breathed in, steadying himself. “My cultivation is mostly derived from the elements of fire and water at its core. I thought – in my arrogance, perhaps – that I had been close to mastering those two elements, and yet, what I saw in there…”

The master cultivator, who must have faced hundreds of foes with power that Sylar couldn’t imagine, looked shaken. Even now, more than twenty years since he had failed his Tribulation, the memory was still firmly etched into his mind.

“It was completely unlike the elements that I knew of, Sylar,” he said. “There was not even the slightest trace of the calmness of water, or the ferocity of fire. What I saw in that darkness went beyond what I thought even possible, and I…” His words caught in his throat. “I couldn’t bear it. Even looking at it, I knew I would fail if I continued forward. And so… I fled.”

Could the Transcendentals be at play here? Sylar had not yet revealed their existence, but…

“I’m sorry,” Sylar apologised, but knew that he could not stop here. He needed clarification on Elder Hua’s words. “But is this the exception? Do most Tribulations draw a heavy influence from the type of energies they have cultivated?”

Elder Hua nodded. “Yes, that is often the case. No two tribulations are ever alike, but they are almost always rich with the energies they have chosen to cultivate with.”

So… why? What factors made Elder Yang’s case different?

It was no good. Sitting here and theorising would do him nothing.

“That’s not the only hole I have with my theory, though,” he said, looking back at Quanhao. “The Elemental Planes shouldn’t be able to intersect with one another. They are in mutual opposition, and if they were to begin to mix, they would begin to consume and destroy each other. Water doesn’t exist in the Plane of Earth, and neither can even the smallest stone exist in the Plane of Water. If one attempted to bring a pebble in, it would soon crumble away into nothingness.”

Then there was still the most obvious question of all – how could Quanhao’s spirit or consciousness simultaneously be in the Tribulation realm, while his body remained in the material realm?

“Do you think the knowledge from your homeland might be able to explain this?” Guanzhong asked.

“Perhaps. I need more information, though; concrete facts and examples.” He sighed. “I think that’s about all that I can manage to put together for now though.”

They lapsed into silence for a moment.

Xingling spoke first. “Perhaps there is one thing we haven’t yet mentioned.” Sylar startled, not having expected her to contribute. “I assume that no one raised the point because of how obvious it is, but we should bear it in mind.”

“Huh?”

“Even if the sets of teachings and techniques of every sect are different, there is always one point in common. No matter what, if a cultivator does not engage in this, they will never be able to reach their first Tribulation,” she said. “You should already know this, now that you’ve achieved the First Comprehension.”

Sylar frowned. Was this meant to be some puzzle he had to decipher? He tried to parse the meaning in her words, but there was nothing that came to mind.

“…what is it?”

She stared at him for a long moment, and only then seemed to realise that he was genuinely clueless as to what point she was trying to make.

“No one told you?” She seemed surprised at the notion, then shot a glare at Guanzhong. “You were just going to let him continue blindly without telling him that he needs to learn to start cultivating his yang energies at this stage?”

Guanzhong took a moment to react, but when he finally did, it was with a widening of his eyes and a profound startlement.

“I –“ he spoke, chagrined. “It… it completely slipped my mind. With your Spiritual Arts at such a level, I never imagined that -”

“He’s the equivalent of a Junior Disciple,” Xingling stressed, interrupting him. “No, worse than that. He’s someone who blundered his way into the First Comprehension. He knows nothing about it. Even with the need to keep our techniques secret, we have a duty to prevent a guest from having their cultivation crippled.”

Guanzhong’s embarrassment deepened with each scathing word that Xingling spoke, but Sylar didn’t quite get what was happening here. “What are you talking about?”

“From the Dao came the One, from the One came Two, from the Two came Three, and from the Three came the Ten-Thousand things,” Elder Yang recited.

“Ten thousand things, backed by yin and embraced by yang, are infused with qi to achieve the truest Unity,” Sylar finished, and looked at them. “Yeah, I’ve heard that before. How does that relate?”

“Exactly that,” Xingling said. “If you fail to cultivate yin and yang, you will never be able to achieve unity with the dao. You will remain at the bottleneck, and… you will never progress any further. Your path would end there.”

There was a relative softness to her tone as she said that – ‘relative’ being the operative term. It was surprising, but perhaps there was more to Xingling than the impression he had of her.

But yin and yang? The Core Essences? Cultivating them in some way was somehow a prerequisite for a Tribulation to be met?

This was essential information. Perhaps blindingly obvious to a cultivator, in the same way that he never had to explain fundamental calculus and geometry to any mage, but this was novel information to him. He kept it in mind, but even with that piece of information, it was little more to go on.

“Thank you for telling me that,” he said to Xingling, then addressed the Elders. “Do we have a deal, then? Will you allow me to access some of your records?”

They shared a look. “That, again, is a matter for the Grandmaster to decide,” Elder Yang said. “But… I suspect he will not refuse, though he may remove any reference to our sect’s techniques. If we come to understand even a little more about Tribulation, if nothing else, we may be able to make it safer for our disciples.”

Again, it was up to the Grandmaster. Perhaps what Sylar told them of the Elemental Planes might help leave a good impression on the man, but from what he’d been told, it seemed that he placed equal emphasis on action and deeds as he did on talent.

“Shall we leave it here, then? It seems like we each have much to think about, and you seem like you’re eager to begin doing… whatever it is that that’s supposed to be.” Elder Hua raised a brow, gesturing toward the pile of parchment that still carried a faint scent of incense upon them. She stood up and stretched, once again the same laid-back Elder he had met at the Demon’s Pass, and yawned. “Goodness, all that talk got to me. Xingling, we’re beginning our training at three. Don’t be late.”

And with that dismissal, the discussion broke apart. Sylar would have wanted to stay for longer to catch up with Quanhao, but he knew that Jin would grow worried if Qiyu did not return soon. Besides, he had much on his mind, and he still needed to make sense of the data he’d collected from observing Quanhao.

So it was that no more than fifteen minutes later, they were once again at the gates of the Righteous Heart Sect, Huoyang readying the carriage for the ride back down. He and Qiyu were exchanging their goodbyes with their cultivator friends – and surprisingly, Xingling was among that group.

Shurui knelt and gave Qiyu a soft hug. “We’ll come visit soon and play, okay?” Then, she turned to Sylar. “Good luck on setting up your school.”

Ohh, boy. With that would come a new set of responsibilities that hadn’t been on his mind the entire time he’d been thinking about the latest knowledge he learned. It seemed like he would have enough on his plate to occupy all his time for the foreseeable future.

“Come and visit any time, Sylar,” Guanzhong said, then lowered his head. “And again… I’m sorry for forgetting to mention the need to work on cultivating your yang. With all that you manage to surprise us, it completely slipped my mind that there were things you may be ignorant of.”

“Don’t worry about it; I know that feeling. I still find myself assuming some fundamental basics when teaching Qiyu, only to discover fifteen minutes later that she hasn’t understood a word I’m saying.”

Qiyu snorted – she was growing far too comfortable with him, that cheeky apprentice of his – and pretended to whisper conspiratorially to Shurui. “It’s funny to watch him talking to himself. The record so far is a full hour.”

Okay, that was a lie, and she knew it. He let her have this victory, though he promised he would repay her with a long lecture on fundamental Essence Theory when they returned.

“Can’t wait for our duel,” Quanhao said, grinning. “Once I start getting used to the Second Revelation… you best be ready, Sylar, ‘cause I’m sure not going to go easy on you!”

He winced. “Please, please do remember when that time comes that I’m as fragile as a housefly.”

He hoped that Quanhao took his words to heart, or that Guanzhong would at the very least clamp down on some of his excitement, because Quanhao looked far too eager for a spar between them. One thing for sure was this – he sorely needed to bolster his repertoire of defensive spells, beginning with the Dispersion he was certain he would soon be able to re-derive.

“Sylar.” Xingling spoke icily. “A word?”

He looked at her, then glanced curiously at the others. Guanzhong, Yao, and Quanhao looked equally confused and curious, and Shurui was still engaged with entertaining Qiyu. Annoyed, Xingling grabbed him by the hand, and pulled him to one side.

“Can I help you?” he asked, when she stopped frowning after looking to see that they were out of earshot.

“What you said.” She looked at him intently. “Do you really think you can do it?”

A flicker of emotion broke past her usual stony expression for the barest of instants, but Sylar knew better than to mention it.

“It will take time, but… yes; I think that at the very least, I might be able to come up with something more comprehensive about the nature of Tribulations,” he said. “And with that one step will come another, and another, and another – and someday, I do think it possible for Elder Yang to return to face a new Tribulation.”

She was silent for a long moment, and simply stared at him, assessing his words.

“One can have eyes but only ever see the base of Mount Tai,” she mused, though Sylar had no idea what the context of it was. It sounded vaguely like some sort of saying. “We shall see if you can ever glimpse the peak.”

He was about to turn around and reconvene with Qiyu, but then she delivered some parting words.

“Know this, Sylar Spellsight,” she said dangerously. “You think you know my father now, but you have never seen the burdens of his past. If you dare to reopen his old wounds with all your false hopes and empty theories, I will never forgive you.”

With that, she departed, heading back to the interior of the sect.

He could empathise with her, truly. No matter their differences, they were kin. If he were in Elder Yang’s place, after having spent years trying and failing to find an answer, then coming to accept a new place in life, only to be told that perhaps a way forward might exist… it would be torturous to subject oneself to such a cycle.

Still, Sylar had to try. Not just for Elder Yang’s sake, and not just for the sake of satisfying his thirst for new knowledge. He wanted to help, that was true – but there was something even more pressing.

No; his primary motive for pursuing this instead lay in his projection of what he thought might be happening, only taken to its most extreme limits. If the Planes Beyond were involved in all of this, and were somehow able to bleed into each other, there was a real potential for a catastrophic outcome that may not be confined to the Immortal Lands alone. They were fundamental constants of creation itself, and a grand catastrophe to such a balance would impact all the Planes.

Certainly, this was the most extreme scenario, and perhaps it would never come to pass. Still, no matter what, he could leave no stone unturned if there was even the slightest possibility of that occurring – whether by accident or purposeful design.

Even as he began his lecture on a more in-depth account of the Elemental Planes to his apprentice, these thoughts continued to bother him as the carriage made its way down the mountain pass. Working out a theoretical framework for cultivation to guide his own path forward, discerning the true nature of a Tribulation, setting up an academy of his own, all while continuing to practice with his spellwork… he would definitely have his hands full for the foreseeable future.