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The entrance to the Prismatic Caverns was not just a small tunnel, but a gaping maw- complete with teeth formed of stalactites and stalagmites. John actually hesitated, wondering if this was another creature similar to the leviathan. But if it had been alive, it was certainly not now. The stone around the entrance felt as natural as it could, easily explainable through natural processes.
There were more than just a few sects and clans gathered. All told there had to be thousands of people pouring into the place, a few confident independent cultivators but most sticking to their sects or clans. They all rushed ahead, intent on getting the greatest benefits.
Surprisingly, the teeth did not chomp down on them. Sure, it wasn’t a living thing but with all the spiritual energy floating about John wasn’t going to bet something like that couldn’t happen.
“What are you thinking about?” Matayal asked from next to him.
Given his thoughts felt rather silly, he considered lying. Instead, he went with the simple description. “The rock looks like teeth. I was wondering if the cavern itself might be an obstacle at some point.”
Matayal nodded, “Perhaps. That would depend on how the energy manifests itself.”
The other group with Renato and the Order of the Amber Heart should have theoretically been most interested in the resources in the first area, but they were also not rushing ahead. And why should they? With a reasonable understanding of the area’s scale, it was not like rushing into a conquered city to claim spoils of war. The area was much more expansive than that and not so densely packed with rewards.
The darkness-water-air group split off from the others not far inside the Prismatic Chambers. Their trajectory was mainly northwest, while the others would be heading more northeast. The youths, on the other hand, would be slowly working their way through the nearby area, looking for smaller challenges that had been passed over. Any place with higher concentrations of spiritual energy would be gone over thoroughly, but it was impossible to completely explore everything.
The first thing of actual note, since John wasn’t going to count vaguely interesting rock formations, was a body beneath a large mushroom. The fungus was somewhere taller than head height, its cap looming over the height a man would stand. Beneath it was an individual with a torch dropped next to them. Still alive, it seemed, but unable to move.
“Hmm, spores,” John noted as he gathered some air element to himself, gusting wind over the fallen figure while following that up with another gust of wind and a stomp on the ground, sending a small shockwave through the rocks and flinging the large mushroom back. The movement dropped more spores from its gills, but those were also carried away into a corner. There was a good chance the mushroom was good for something- medicine, maybe, and clearly it could be used for poison- but John didn’t have the expertise to collect it without ending up like the fallen individual.
The man remained paralyzed on the ground, and John propped him up against the wall as he felt through the man’s pockets. He didn’t even have a storage bag. Finally, John fished out what seemed to be the best quality general antidote the man had. It wasn’t clear if it was any good, but John tossed it inside the man’s mouth and made sure it went down into his stomach to be dissolved. The man could either guide it with his spiritual energy, or he could not. John then placed the torch upright next to him, so he would not be unmoving in the dark. All of that only took a minute. If the man recovered, hopefully he would be smart enough to just leave. Or at least be more cautious.
After what was at best a minorly good deed that took little effort, the group continued onward. There was no point in doing any more- robbing or putting in the effort to get on friendly terms with someone such as that was a waste. But it seemed a bit too callous to just ignore an easily dealt with plight.
There were more than mushrooms alive in the area, pools of water and general moisture providing some amount of sustenance for some amount of spiritual cave beasts and other forms of plants. Well, actual plants given that fungus were not technically in that category- but they were close enough.
Some healthy vines dangled from the ceilings, tendrils that attempted to grab anything that brushed past them- a frightened bat was too quick in its flight to properly avoid them as the group approached. That was after one of their own had gotten caught looking down a side corridor- but with allies the vines were easily chopped apart and the individual released. The incident would teach them to be more cautious.
As they kept a moderate pace, they soon began to pass other groups that had rushed ahead- either locked in combat or taking a break from their exertions. Nobody wanted to pick a fight with a group including several Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators, and their group didn’t intend to start anything. As they traveled, John did begin to pick up some decent concentrations of earth energy. While they might not specifically be looking for earthen treasures, there was no point in leaving potential resources behind if they found them. They could exchange them with the Order of the Amber Heart or sell them to others easily enough.
As they approached a certain chamber, John and Matayal stopped together at the front of their group. Harta Mulyani was not far behind them, but he was more vulnerable with his lower cultivation so he didn’t quite keep pace. The married couple exchanged a glance as they looked at the room ahead of them.
“What is it?” Harta asked.
“There’s an exceptional spirit stone in there,” John said.
“And you’re not currently getting it because… there’s some sort of danger?” Harta looked around, frowning. “I can’t pick it out. Is it hidden in the darkness deeper into the chamber?”
“You’re thinking too narrowly,” Matayal said. “The chamber is the danger.”
Harta could be seen probing the area with his spiritual energy, finding no pits nor anything particularly sharp. There were neither poisons nor other hazards to be seen. Nor did he sense hidden cultivators. “I guess I don’t know what I’m looking for.”
“Perhaps you’ve been cooped up in your clan for too long,” Matayal said. “This will be good practical experience. An elemental spirit.”
This was not John’s first encounter with such- the Crystal Caverns likewise had such things, though their forms were more consolidated into moving piles of crystal shards. Here, it was less obvious. “We should demonstrate,” John said. He looked at the edges of the cavern entrance, making some estimations. “Everyone be prepared for combat.”
John hefted his sword. He didn’t have much in the way of attacks that were particularly effective against earth, but he wasn’t weak against it either. Since he had time, he carefully gathered what fire element he could, augmented by a core of earth. With two hands he stepped forward, chopping at the base of a stalagmite. His sword impacted the stone, shattering it more than it cut through, but his attack forced the majority of the shock away from his sword. It would be a shame to break his weapon carelessly.
For half a second after his attack, nothing happened except for the settling of rock shards. Then they began to pile together as the walls began to flow towards them, sharp spikes of rock twisting through the moderately sized opening.
“Direct your power to us!” John ordered. He would have had that happen sooner, but there was a significant increase in wind up between using his own energy and directing a group’s. The elemental spirit would not have stayed put if a large attack was being formed right in front of it.
With the power flowing to them, John and Matayal launched their attacks at the surroundings together. While it might seem like a fruitless endeavor to attack the cavern itself, the elemental spirit was only inhabiting a relatively thin portion of the rock. If that was destroyed, it would have to shift its essence into other stone surrounding it or reincorporate the shattered pieces, both of which would drain its energy- and ultimately its very existence. The exceptional spirit stone it formed was a trap, meant to lure people inside it where they could be easily crushed.
Instead of doing that, John and Matayal did their best to hold it at the mouth of the chamber it had been inhabiting. That wasn’t completely possible, but John’s sword cut deep gouges into the stone, ripping chunks away on his side while Matayal pierced her spear into the stone, forcing water inside and bursting it apart. The two of them then directed some of the power being offered by the group to those on the outer edges on either side. When it tried to flow under their feet, they stabbed their weapons into the ground, creating simultaneous shockwaves and driving it back. Unfortunately they weren’t able to fully prevent it from flowing along the ceiling above them, but they weren’t completely encompassed.
The cultivators of the Mulyani clan found themselves in a tough position. They couldn’t simply combat stone walls with gusts of wind- though they weren’t actually so limited. Some summoned bolts of lightning, while others chose to serve as distractions. The portions of the elemental that rose above them dropped spikes of stone that might have once been stalactites, but could have easily come from another position as the stone flowed towards them. The air element cultivators empowered themselves and others with the swiftness of the wind to avoid those effects, allowing the rest of those in the middle to keep their focus on empowering the outer row.
Even as the elemental tried to force itself into the group, combined attacks pushed it back. Some individuals staggered away from the heavy lunges of rock walls, but others were able to prevent it from fully entrapping anyone. If only John or Matayal had been present, perhaps even the two together, the battle could have been quite difficult. However, with the two Consolidated Soul Phase cultivators and dozens of Soul Expansion Phase cultivators it was unable to completely surround anyone. Its expansive nature became a weakness as it opened it to attacks from more individuals.
In the end, the last bits and pieces of it were broken apart, the spiritual energy losing the semblance of life it had come to possess. Piles of rubble lay around the group and more than a few individuals had bruises or broken bones- but they were not deep into the Prismatic Caverns. The dangers were not so great yet, with this particular challenge being an exception.
As for the rewards- why John bothered with provoking it instead of their group leaving- the bait spirit stone was still of exceptional quality… as well as bits and pieces of the rubble maintaining a high level or spiritual density. Battering apart rock was not a simple task even for cultivators so there was a break to bind wounds and simply to rest. The air cultivators would not have the easiest time recovering their spiritual energy, but the area wasn’t completely lacking either. In the worst case, John could convert some other spiritual energy for them.
Aside from the rewards, John had another reason to challenge the elemental- promoting teamwork. Though their clans had a history of working together, the individuals in question might not have. Things hadn’t gone quite as smoothly as they might have, but it was better to determine those things now, where there was a significant enough threat to have everyone participate without it being a true danger. But the spirit stones were a nice reward too. Running a clan was expensive.