Growing Pains 323 Book 2 Chapter 17

[Reap the Wind] was the newest martial technique in my arsenal of [Tessenjutsu].

It was an evolved form of [Dancing Wind and Rain], [Wind Over Water], and [Thunder Strikes]. I flicked both Tessen open, extending one as far forward as I could. I began fluttering the other, creating small eddies of wind that were directed at the extended Tessen.

Once the fluttering began, I used larger sweeps with the extended arm to capture the wind, to control it, and form it into a small but concentrated cyclone. Once formed, I moved the construct to orbit our group and began forming another.

I managed ten in all before sending each construct spiraling throughout the cavern. My Tessen moved from creation to control as I extended both arms and created wind streams to determine path and trajectory.

The cyclones ripped every spiderweb from the cavern's surface, collecting spiders and egg sacs simultaneously.  Stalactites and Stalagmites were destroyed in the process, and part of the cavern collapsed.

Not enough to seal the cave or the tunnel leading downward, but enough that I encouraged the cyclones to gather the material and deposit it in one area. The miners could sift through it later to see if there was anything of value.

I was pleased with the efficiency of [Reap the Wind]. I had been able to generate storms that released tornadoes before, but I had no control over those forces of nature. The path they took and the destruction they left behind were left to chance or fate.

I liked being in control of what was targeted. And the skill would synergize well with [Falling Cherry Blossoms] to do more area effect damage.

Once I was satisfied the cavern had been scrubbed free of webbing and spiders, I calmed the wind allowing the cyclone constructs to fade. A spider or two might have survived inside a deep crevice, but any danger they presented could be easily dealt with. No one would have to worry about getting trapped in a maze of webbing, and without that impediment confronting any spider bold enough to attack would soon be dead.

Killing and clearing that cavern was the turning point in how we moved forward. “This side tunnel opens into another cave covered in spider webbing,” Siam said, returning from scouting ahead, “do you want to leave it to farm the silk?” 

Each of us took turns exploring the side tunnels and caves, clearing them out by ourselves where possible as we moved forward. We were spending too much time clearing. I had other responsibilities I needed to worry about and had decided that learning to work together as a team was great in concept but not something I should strive for.

My cultivation had advanced to the point that I either stayed in the back, leaving the fighting to the other members of the team or killed everything by myself. The only bright discovery of this delve was learning about Zui’s talent for identifying and targeting beasts we encountered. And creating on-the-fly strategies to deal with them.

She would make a great General in any army. An army, I realized I would need to create. Onkei was isolated enough, but when Cultivators and flying bonded were added to the mix, that isolation was a tenuous defense at best.

“Let’s leave it. I’ll mark it as off-limits and dangerous, but it’s enough out of the way that no one should stumble across it by mistake.

“I’ll speak with Tine and have her check the silk.  If it can be harvested and is useful, we’ll move whatever spiders remain from that area into a spatial device and allow them to breed and expand to meet any demand she might have for their webbing.” 

“Everyone ready to move on?” I asked. Siam had returned from the last branching tunnel we had discovered, so it was time to delve deeper. “This will take us to the deepest tunnels, so if you need time to cultivate to replenish your Qi, now is the time.”

No one needed a break, so we began our trek downward. 

There were fewer branching tunnels to navigate, which made progress faster, but the animals we started encountering were definitely more powerful. The weakest was about the same level as the cave bear we had killed.

Salamanders and Diplocaulus, a larger, more deadly version of the salamander, were frequently encountered. I didn’t understand the ecosystem of this cave system. What the salamanders and Diplocaulus were finding for food in enough abundance to breed colonies and grow so large defied explanation.

I would have to have someone look into what was going on. Even the spiders shouldn’t have enough food to have claimed so much territory.

The monsters we were fighting required more coordination between the five of us, but only when we encountered a group of Diplocaulus. They seemed to gather in colonies between five and ten, so we had to prioritize the order we killed. With the narrow confines of the tunnel hampering some of our bigger martial techniques, I relied on my Bow.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that I had neglected my Bow skills. My one technique, [Water Pierce], needed to be replaced or updated. It still worked, but that was more due to my Realm and the power from my Qi to form arrows than the skill itself. 

The Bow had become a niche weapon for me. I barely used it anymore, and that was a failing I needed to address. The [Tessenjutsu] was the perfect weapon and martial skill when I had the room to maneuver, but in tight confines like here, the Bow could shine.

Granted, I could use the melee aspects of [Tessenjutsu], and I did. But Siam and his pet were concentrated on melee range, and it was better to stay out of their way as they fought. They worked well together and could communicate their intentions so quickly that their fighting synergized.

They fought as one, and the few times that I had to engage in melee range, that synergy was lost. They spent more time making sure their attacks didn’t endanger me, that they ignored openings that could have dealt lethal damage.

We had discovered a few places I thought my serve well to plant the spirit seed. Not so out of the way that miners couldn’t harvest it, but remote enough that finding it without a map would take effort.

This last cavern had one of the spots I was considering. There was a tunnel barely large enough to walk in that had been hidden behind a stalagmite and stalactite formation. I had Ming install a concealing array to further hide the spot and noted it on my map construct.

Once she had finished, we ventured deeper, only to be stopped when the tunnel and cave system ended. My perception was powerful enough to know that there were lava tunnels further in, but in order to get to them, we would have to get past what looked like a giant worm. 

A worm that was so large that it filled the tunnel completely.