The thing about spines was less secret and far less exciting than John thought it might be. Apparently, only younger and more vulnerable trees usually grew the spines. They were meant to protect them against certain sorts of herbivores and to help store water until they reached a certain level of durability on their own.
If John were to extrapolate that, then the members of the Indestructible Kapok Grove that made use of spines would still be immature. Which wasn’t necessarily true, because humans who could choose when to form such defenses weren’t really all that similar to trees that had to grow for the long term.
As for why they wouldn’t use their spiritual energy to make the largest tree continue to grow spines, the answer wasn’t given clearly but John was able to surmise that it was for defensive purposes. The durable roots were good walls, unless they happened to have plentiful handholds and footholds to help scale them. The scale of the spines would simply become too large to be a threat for most cultivators.
Based on what he saw with the other trees, the trees that continued to grow spines didn’t concentrate them in any specific location. In addition to the fact that the grand tree was durable enough to not need it, most likely it would cause more harm than good to continue to force it to grow thorns. After all, they would have to be removed from certain locations like the outer wall.
-----
There seemed to be some sort of internal sect debate about whether the Indestructible Kapok Grove should be pure earth element, or if they should mix in water element to take advantage of the surrounding spiritual energy.
If John had been asked for his opinion, the result would have been quite obvious. More elements wasn’t always better, but if there was a good reason and a proper connection to be made, he was certainly for elemental addition. Half of the point of the thorns on a Kapok was to store water for times of trouble, so aside from John’s general feeling that the field of plants could include both water and earth, there was a specific reason.
The grove didn’t shy away from displaying techniques, but John didn’t find he was gaining much in the way of insights. Zorana, the sect head, was barely more advanced in her specialization than John was. He’d studied with several plant focused groups already, so he could use related abilities at a level of proficiency he found acceptable. Zorana was doubtless more skilled, but that was mostly training time and less special knowledge.
John found her to be very traditional and lacking in innovation. That might be good for holding together a stable sect, but John didn’t think it was as valuable in times of great change like they had been experiencing lately.
-----
About three days before John and the others were set to leave, Mandlen appeared. It wasn’t something that could easily be mistaken, with his energy clearly displayed as he approached the outer walls. Apparently, he was the sort that didn’t bother with official entrances, making his way directly inside. That meant leaping over the wall. The defensive formations seemed to not react to his presence. It seemed like it could be a security flaw, though it was also possible that Mandlen was simply familiar enough to suppress them. That was its own sort of flaw, but John thought it would be easier to disguise his aura so the former was more easily exploitable.
Until that point, John had continued to believe that Mandlen’s absence was a convenient excuse not to interact with John. However, he should have easily received information on when they planned to leave.
John was a little bit surprised that he showed up, but more surprised that the other man had reached the forty-second rank. He wasn’t quite in the late Ascending Soul Phase yet, but at least in terms of pure rank he had surpassed John. He was able to make that assessment as Mandlen strode purposefully towards John, who happened to be sitting on one of the tall and thin buttress roots of the central tree. It gave a good view.
Mandlen leapt next to John, his energy on full display- earth element with a background of water. His totems seemed to be purely earth element or close to it, however. “Greetings.” Before John could stand, Mandlen sat next to him.
“Greetings,” John said in return. Could he really say ‘welcome’ to someone in their own sect? “I hadn’t been sure if you would be here.” Some portion of John thought that perhaps Mandlen had been intentionally kept away, but in that case he would have to reassess his opinion of Zorana’s lying skills. “It seems your training has been productive.”
“For those with proper insights, an advancement in rank is only natural. What do you think of the sect?”
John wasn’t entirely sure what Mandlen wanted. “It had quite a solid foundation. I can see it lasting far into the future.”
“Or until someone chops down this tree,” Mandlen shrugged. John seriously doubted many people could ‘chop down’ the tree. If it were completely undefended, he expected it would take quite some time even for a dedicated team of cultivators. And it was entirely possible that below a certain cultivation, people might never succeed. “What do you think about the contradictory aspects?”
Mandlen sure went directly into things. Was he trying to learn something? John didn’t really have any secret motives here. “Like, the use of thorns in your cultivation while the actual trees shed them upon maturity?” John gestured to the very tree they sat on a tiny part of. “Honestly, easily enough resolved. Though it does mean that one must make anew the concept of thorns with each use, I’d imagine.” John shrugged, “I doubt many people would want permanent thorns.”
“I thought the same,” Mandlen said. “But by that point, I was already rather deep in things.”
“Do you regret choosing this sect?” John asked.
“Given the available options, I have no regrets,” Mandlen commented. “The rapid growth of the Emerging Bamboo Sect didn’t appeal to me. What about you, John?” It was strange to be called his name by someone he didn’t really know, but it wasn’t inappropriate for another Ascending Soul Phase cultivator, either.
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“Cultivation has been going well for me. I’ll admit it was a pretty audacious plan when I set out, though.”
“When you began again, you mean.”
John nodded. “Clearly, mistakes had been made. A different path seemed more appropriate.”
“It’s good to be able to make such decisions.”
With that, Mandlen stood, leaping down from the root and making his way off.
How odd. Not at all what John had expected, for various reasons.
John wondered how much Mandlen knew, and how much the encounter supported Sitora’s information. There was certainly something different about Mandlen, though perhaps he was simply an eccentric genius. That wasn’t unheard of, after all.
-----
If Mandlen could randomly come up to John and then leave when he felt like it, John thought as an Ascending Soul Phase cultivator he should share the same privileges. He did take his time to prepare some talking points first.
Frankly, missing any opportunity to exchange insights with another Ascending Soul Phase cultivator would be criminal. Especially one who might be reincarnated. Truthfully, the fact that he had become powerful was more important than why. At least, if it was a battle between genius or reincarnation. If there were more nefarious methods involved, that was where there would be a concern.
The next day, John found Mandlen at the very top of the central tree. Most people didn’t seem to have the necessary audacity to climb, but John doubted it was actually forbidden. Either way, the rules applied less to the strong regardless of whether that actually made sense.
He could have flown up, but John leapt from branch to branch or climbed where it was convenient. “Planning to cultivate air or light?” he asked. The view was astounding, revealing a broad picture of the world around them.
Mandlen looked at the sky around them. “I’m just getting some sunlight.”
“Is that useful for cultivation at all?” John asked. It hadn’t been one of his prepared questions. “It definitely works for me, but your elements are both on the darkness side. Though I suppose you could empower your water with fire, that doesn’t sound efficient.”
“It improves my cultivation as much as having a good breakfast after sleeping well,” Mandlen said simply. “Mental state is important.”
John couldn’t help but agree. He had found that cultivators who stressed out about their growth often performed more poorly. Unfortunately, just telling people to relax didn’t always make that possible. “There’s plenty of time. People don’t need to rush. Though of course, that only applies to this current generation. Growth wasn’t as quick before.”
“Spiritual energy levels improved.”
“You know that for sure?” John asked. “By the time I realized, it was already too late to do many tests. In the last couple decades they’ve seemed overall quite similar. Any changes could be explained by random fluctuations.”
“You live where there are more people,” Mandlen stated simply.
“I do. But hasn’t the Indestructible Kapok Grove gained membership as well?”
“Not as much.”
That seemed to be the end of that conversation, so John wanted to ask something else. “How much have you studied light and darkness? I’m trying to balance them, and I keep losing the light or risking disaster.”
“Do I look like I cultivate light or darkness?”
John moved his eyes up and down Mandlen. “Nope. So what’s your opinion?”
“Nobody successfully balances them.”
“I don’t know if I believe that,” John said. “There’s Viriato and my granddaughter Ereli for sure.”
“Why not ask them?” The words could have implied Mandlen was annoyed, but John didn’t feel it yet.
“I already have. Viriato stumbled into it by accident. Ereli has created a great mental construct.”
“Use that then.”
“It doesn’t fit me,” John said.
“Then don’t. You’re probably just trying too hard.”
“If I screw this up, I die,” John reminded him.
“You’ll die anyway. Just later.”
Was that some great insight about the world, or just morose musings?
-----
Ultimately, John couldn’t determine with certainty any details about Mandlen being reincarnated or not. He was alright, but not amazing. So he wasn’t going to be invited to the club anyway. Not that they got to meet often. The stronger they grew, the less freedom they generally had. How weird was that?
Soon enough, John and the disciples were traveling again. That meant walking along a road while at the same time actually turning it into a road. The Wildlands tended to reclaim the land in days or weeks, so there could have been a group passing just ahead of them and they would have hardly noticed.
It was a good way to practice plant cultivation, nudging them away from the roads instead of incinerating or squashing everything. If done right, John wondered if they could convince the roads to stay open. Probably not, but they might be able to plant some sort of groundcover that would keep away everything else. The difficulty was preventing that from spreading into the surrounding forest if it was vibrant enough.
Then again, sometimes problems didn’t need a better solution. Everyone passing through the area could get mandatory training just from the act of travel, and it didn’t have to be anything more special than that.
Great Ring City felt smaller. It wasn’t, obviously. The remains of the old stump wouldn’t just shrink, and it probably had more buildings. But John felt that after a number of decades, things just didn’t seem as impressive as they once were. It was probably all of the flying.
Even if the Emerging Bamboo Sect wasn’t the best in the region now, John still had plans to visit them again. There was no reason to cut off old relationships when they were still friendly. In fact, leaving groups behind just for being less strong was exactly the opposite of his intentions with the alliance. And it was possible to help promote the strength of those who hadn’t quite made it to the next Phase.
