The Profound and Mysterious "Round Softness"

Barn was by no means overestimating himself; he truly possessed a degree of certainty.

The primary reason was that the Laws of Fate remained a dense fog to him. The insights he had previously fused—those belonging to the original Barn—were not gained through his own personal realization. While this did not completely sever his path to advancement like refining a divine spark would, it kept the essence perpetually out of reach, making further deduction impossible.

In contrast, comprehending the Profound Mysteries of the Water element was far smoother. Firstly, the Water element was his innate talent, and coupled with his formidable soul at the level of a Saint Magus, he only needed to grasp the initial entry point to see his speed of deduction far outstrip that of an ordinary person.

Secondly, relying on the fragmented records from the original work, Barn had already summarized the names and characteristics of four of the six Water-style Profound Mysteries: the Profound Mystery of Ice, which focused on control and attack; the Profound Mystery of Round Softness, which emphasized resilience and support; the Profound Mystery of Water Body, which provided comprehensive amplification; and the most fundamental Profound Mystery of Water Elements.

As for the Water-style Profound Mystery used by the original owner of the spear Mist Hidden, Barn was in no rush. Once his Water-style cultivation reached the God level and his spiritual energy could fully resonate with the divine artifact, he would inevitably unlock clearer memory fragments and be able to investigate it then.

Although one Water-style Profound Mystery remained a total mystery, these five alone were enough to support his ascent to the level of a Mid-level God.

And right now, if he wanted to quickly gain entry into another Water-style Profound Mystery, he had a shortcut that no one else could replicate: the thousand-year accumulation of his past life's Chinese civilization.

A five-thousand-year-old civilization might not seem particularly grand to the Panlong world, which had endured several epochs, but the philosophical wisdom distilled by countless sages of China was more than enough to support Barn in entering a Profound Mystery.

"The highest excellence is like water; water benefits all things and does not contend." "Use softness to overcome hardness; combine hardness and softness." As his spiritual energy operated to its limit, the philosophical sayings of the sages he had encountered in his past life surfaced clearly in his mind.

He pondered the deep meanings of these words repeatedly, cross-referencing them with the threads of the Water-style Laws, searching for points of convergence through contemplation and perception.

Time flowed quietly, and just before the half-corpse of the Lion Suan was about to be exhausted, Barn finally achieved a breakthrough.

"Round Softness—I have finally grasped this Profound Mystery!" He gripped the spear Mist Hidden tightly, a wisp of fluid, free-flowing Water-style magic energy swirling around his fingertips, his face unable to hide his joy. The original work had only a passing mention of the Profound Mystery of Round Softness, but Barn's past-life memories of the sages' insights into heaven and earth happened to align perfectly with the core essence of this mystery. This realization felt as natural as water flowing into a channel.

Barn quickly calculated in his heart: "The original work says the Profound Mystery of Round Softness is easy to enter but difficult to master. Since that is the case, and my Water Body mystery has only just been mastered, pushing for the fusion of the two is the optimal solution."

Although the difficulty of fusing two Profound Mysteries was likely no less than bringing one to perfection, his overall strength had already reached the Saint-level limit. If he stubbornly focused on only one mystery but failed to break through to the God level, even deep insights would not provide a decisive breakthrough in his overall power.

By comparison, attempting to fuse two Profound Mysteries was the most cost-effective choice at the moment.

However, even the most exquisite cultivation plan had to be set aside for now—the most urgent matter was finding food.

The Lion Suan's corpse was nearly gone, and the Gobada Abyss was never short of crises; sufficient food was the foundation of cultivation.

Declan dived into the shadows of the ground first, fumbling along while sending a soul transmission to nag Barn: "May the Highgod of Fate show favor and let us find food smoothly. A fat magical beast would be best, enough for the two of us to eat for ten years!"

This hunt was far less smooth than the previous two. They hadn't encountered any powerful enemies that posed a threat along the way, but they also hadn't seen any weaker Saint-level magical beasts.

Barn's movement speed was far superior to Declan's, but if he sprinted at full power, he would inevitably cause a stir and scare off the prey. Now, he could only follow Declan, crawling along the ground, and ended up falling behind.

Suddenly, Declan's figure froze, his soul transmission carrying a hint of alertness: "Eh? There was a very distinct energy fluctuation here just now."

Barn also focused his perception, his brows slightly furrowed: "I felt it too. If it were the fluctuations of a battle, it would be far too weak; but if it were a Saint-level moving underground, the disturbance is a bit too large, which doesn't fit the stealthy habits of the Saint-levels in Gobada."

"Could it be a newcomer? They haven't learned how to hide their aura here yet!" Declan's eyes suddenly lit up, his tone full of anticipation.

Every so often, new Saint-levels were exiled into Gobada, and the number far exceeded Barn's original estimates.

The root cause was that the number of Saint-level magical beasts in the oceans was far greater than those on the Yulan Continent. Beirut had always focused only on the affairs of the Yulan Continent; as for the endless oceans and the North Pole Ice Sheet beyond the continent, he never interfered unless it concerned his core interests.

This gave the Plane Overseer Hodan ample room for power: every hundred years, he would exile several Saint-levels to Gobada.

After all, as a Plane Overseer, his core duty was to maintain the stability of the material plane and send as many Saint-levels as possible to the four Higher Planes and seven Divine Planes.

One must know that although the four Higher Planes and seven Divine Planes were vast and boundless, filled with life, Saint-levels were merely the lowest existence there, struggling for their lives every day and wishing they could pour all their energy into the cultivation to break through to the God level.

Unless they had the protection of a God-level expert who actively kept them, Saint-levels rarely had the opportunity to reproduce.

Thus, Saint-levels from material planes became an indispensable population supplement for these higher planes.

In the material planes, many Saint-levels would act recklessly and slaughter others as soon as they broke through, or established experts would be jealous of talent and harm newly ascended Saint-levels. These became stumbling blocks to the material plane's ability to supply power to the higher planes, and naturally, they became the targets Hodan focused on clearing out and exiling.

The sluggish fluctuation the two had just sensed was, in all likelihood, a new Saint-level who had just been exiled and had not yet adapted to the rules of Gobada.

"Barn, let's go!" Declan's soul transmission carried a hint of urgency; he could no longer suppress the urge to act.

Barn hesitated slightly but did not stop him. With their current strength, even if they faced a powerful lone Saint-level, they could easily retreat if they couldn't win.

Still using their familiar tactics, Declan slowed his speed, sneaking quietly underground, inching closer to the source of the faint fluctuation.

On the way, the two continued to communicate via their soul link, Declan's tone certain: "That guy's stealth technique is too clumsy; his aura is flickering, so his strength probably isn't much."

"Can you tell what race it is?" Barn asked.

"Feels like a human." Declan's tone was a bit vague, clearly not sensing it very clearly.

"No way?" Barn's heart skipped a beat. "There are hardly any human Saint-levels left in Gobada."

He knew clearly that since the great war ten thousand years ago, apart from the Yulan Continent and the North Pole Ice Sheet, all other continents of the Yulan Plane had sunk to the bottom of the sea. This meant that, outside of the Yulan Continent, it was almost impossible to find many human Saint-levels in the entire plane.

And Beirut rarely exiled human Saint-levels from the Yulan Continent to Gobada; as for those exiled by Hodan, they were either magical beasts from the sea or the remnants of life on distant islands—Barn being thrown in was the result of Hodan settling a personal vendetta.

Over ten thousand years, the human Saint-levels who once made up a significant proportion of Gobada had either successfully broken through to the God level and left the bottom rung, or had perished in endless slaughter. Now, they were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.

Declan smacked his lips, his tone revealing a bit of disappointment: "Human Saint-levels have too little meat; the cost-performance ratio is really not high. I'll go up and test them first; if they're trouble, we'll retreat early and find another target."