"First, tell me about yourself. For example, have you been tested for elemental affinity?" Jason asked as he roasted meat.
Jason was terrible at roasting meat, but it didn't matter. A Bloodthirsty War Boar had plenty of meat. He could simply cut away the burnt and undercooked parts and eat whatever remained-
"I have a high affinity for the fire element, but my spiritual energy is too low. I don't have the aptitude to become a magus."
"Could someone from a clan that produced Dragonblood Warriors not be so shallow?" Jason retorted.
In Jason's view, cultivation in the Coiling Dragon World depended on affinity in the early stages, bloodline talent in the later stages, and a person's wisdom and luck in the very late stages.
Battle-qi, spiritual energy, divine artifacts, Sovereign Artifacts, and Sovereign's Might were all secondary, things used only to get through a particular stage.
"What did you save me for? To use me as a 'vessel'?" Veronica asked.
"Huh? You mean Angelic Descent? Only the two churches need that. The Rhine Clan doesn't."
Veronica stared at Jason, making his scalp tingle.
"All right, I admit it. I saved you on a whim, and I haven't figured out what to do with you either." Jason was telling the truth. "But I do know how to activate the Dragonblood Warrior bloodline."
"Hmm?"
"Drink the fresh blood of a Saint-level dragon or a dragon at the peak of the ninth level, and you can activate the Dragonblood Warrior bloodline," Jason said bluntly.
"I've heard that rumor. Someone in the Baruch Clan tried it and died when the dragon blood burned him alive." Veronica had already separated herself from the Baruch Clan.
"Blue Heart Grass can prevent the dragon blood from burning you alive," Jason said. But when he saw Veronica's expression, he added, "I'm telling the truth."
"I know. You have no reason to lie to me."
Things grew a little awkward between them.
After a while, Veronica noticed Jason looking at a list.
"What's that?"
"A sightseeing plan I wrote earlier," Jason said.
On a sheet of paper was written:
"Visit the Baruch Clan in Wushan Town,
feed the pigeons at Radiant Temple Square,
eat at the Ernst Institute's dining hall,
buy a stone sculpture at the Proulx Gallery,
ask around about the whereabouts of the Purple Flame Warrior Clan and, if possible, ask them to forge a weapon,
search the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts for Mist Valley,
and form a contract with a magical beast, preferably a Shadowmouse."
"Looks like only the last two are still worth trying," Jason muttered to himself.
Jason prepared to tell Veronica what he planned to do next.
"I'm looking for a valley with a very high concentration of elemental energy. It's filled with mist, so I call it 'Mist Valley.'" Jason thought for a moment, then added, "I read about it in an ancient text. It's somewhere in the middle region of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, east of Fenlai City."
Veronica nodded. "Whatever you want."
"There should be Blue Heart Grass in that valley. I read in that text that it suppresses the effect of dragon blood burning you alive, so you can give it a try when the time comes." Jason raised a finger. "There's a Silver Dragon's wing in your clan elder's Interspatial Ring. Its blood should be able to activate your bloodline."
"That man was my great-grandfather. He used to be." Veronica's face showed neither grief nor joy.
"Oh, sorry, but I can't give the Interspatial Ring back. Not now, at least." Jason loved the Interspatial Ring far too much to give it up.
Veronica showed little reaction, and the two fell silent again.
"So you know how to roast meat?" Jason asked, seeing that the meat Veronica had roasted wasn't burnt at all.
"I worked in a tavern kitchen for two years."
"Oh, nice! Damn, I forgot to get some pots and bowls, and I didn't bring any utensils either." In the past, Jason had always cut his meat with a knife or cooked it on a stone slab. When he craved something better, he would go to a nearby human town for a good meal.
Veronica showed little reaction.
Next, they had to search for Mist Valley.
It was actually easier than Jason had imagined. After his brush with death a few days earlier, his spiritual energy had broken through to the sixth level.
His Soul Probe could now extend to a range of two hundred meters and detect souls at the sixth level and below.
In the middle region of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, the strongest magical beasts were only at the seventh level. Eighth-level magical beasts occasionally passed through, but only stayed for a short time.
When Linley first entered the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, he had only been a magus of the fifth level. He hadn't stayed there very long, so he couldn't have covered a very large area.
Jason only had to keep using Soul Probe and look for a place where large numbers of sixth-level magical beasts had gathered to identify Mist Valley.
On the nineteenth day, Jason found Mist Valley.
Well, it was probably Mist Valley.
"If you sense it carefully, the elemental concentration really is a little higher. It isn't obvious here, but it rises a lot farther inside. And I can sense a lot of sixth-level magical beasts in there, as well as a lot of magical beasts I can't sense. They're at least seventh level."
Veronica looked down, then turned to Jason. "But where's the mist?"
Indeed, what puzzled Jason was that there was no mist here.
The two of them had passed this valley before, but Jason had dismissed it because there was no mist, so it couldn't be the one. Only when they passed it again and he examined it carefully did he realize it might be what they were looking for.
"Uh, the ancient text I read was written a very long time ago. Well, seas change into mulberry fields. Right, seas change into mulberry fields, you know." Jason was a little embarrassed.
Veronica spared Jason further embarrassment and looked at the rock wall beside them.
"How do we get down?"
"Let's go around it first and take a look."
The long, narrow valley was probably over a hundred li in length.
The two circled the valley and found that the elemental concentration was highest a little south of the center. They could even sense it from outside the valley. Jason guessed that was where the magic formation was.
Jason chose to enter from the northern end. It was farthest from the core area, and according to his Soul Probe, there were many fifth- and sixth-level magical beasts here. Correspondingly, there should be very few magical beasts at the seventh level or higher.
Earlier, around the core area, Jason hadn't been able to sense any souls at all. Clearly, the magical beasts there were all at the seventh level or higher.
There was no mist, but there were all kinds of plants. Dense vegetation covered the valley floor and walls, making it impossible to see at a glance what kinds of magical beasts were spread throughout it.
Jason had already confirmed that magical beasts were relatively sparse here.
Jason was a little curious about what kind of magical beast currently controlled the valley.
In the original story, all sorts of dragons lived outside the valley under the Spined Iron-Armored Dragon's control. Jason had reason to believe that, when the Purple-Striped Black Bear ruled, bears had held the advantage in the valley.
Jason used a Levitation spell scroll and floated down with Veronica on his back.
He stayed close to the rock wall throughout the descent, constantly on guard against an ambush by magical beasts.
"Is there something on the wall?" Veronica asked, seeing Jason repeatedly glance at the cliff face.
"No. I mean, the ancient text said the walls here were covered in Green-Striped Giant Pythons." Jason looked closely, but there was no sign of any magical beasts hiding on the wall.
Just as Jason was about to reach the treetops below, a black-and-red snake as thick as a forearm sprang out.
Jason swung the single-handed saber in his hand, splitting the snake's head in two with one slash.
"A mere fifth-level Red-Scaled Spotted Snake."
By the time the snake's body hit the ground, Jason and Veronica had landed as well.