Jason and Veronica went out traveling.
Ever since arriving in the Rhine Empire, the two had spent most of their time cultivating in Rhine City and Bloodshadow Valley. They had not traveled abroad in seventeen years.
"I haven't spent much time with you lately." Jason and Veronica were walking through the streets of the Luo'ao Empire, with the black cat Linda perched on Jason's shoulder.
"It's all right. I've been cultivating in seclusion in Bloodshadow Valley these past few years too."
It had been over two years since Veronica reached the ninth rank in her human form. During the two years Jason had spent seeking sparring partners, she had been stabilizing her realm. She had also made considerable progress in the fire-attribute Profound Mysteries and had grasped the basics of the destruction attribute.
For Saint-level experts, grasping even a little of the Profound Mysteries was enough to count as a Peak Saint. Veronica's current understanding of the fire element was about the same as Olivier's when he had just broken through to the Saint-level in the original story.
Jason could not tell Veronica much about the Profound Mysteries. Fortunately, the fire-attribute mystery Veronica had grasped was the "Fire Body Technique." Many Saint-level experts had insights into that particular mystery, so she could learn which direction to take her cultivation by talking with them.
"The Profound Mysteries of a single attribute include many different mysteries. If you run into a bottleneck, you can try looking at it from another angle. You might be pleasantly surprised. Also, different mysteries of the same attribute can be fused. My Water Body Technique and Elemental Essence of Water have shown some signs of fusing." Jason briefly explained some things he was allowed to share, knowledge that Saint-level experts outside the clan also knew something about.
"Was all that knowledge obtained from the forbidden area in Bloodshadow Valley?" Veronica asked.
"No, I can't share the knowledge from the clan. I learned these things in discussions with other Saint-level experts while sparring with them over the past few years."
"Mm. Speaking of which, you got quite close to that Violet-Eyed Bladewing Fiend named Ailin while you were going around issuing challenges these past three years."
"Uh." Jason's face stiffened. Knowing that any explanation would be met with disapproval, he hurriedly changed the subject. "Speaking of which, Linda has reached the peak of the ninth rank. You need to work hard and reach the Saint-level."
In a treasure land like Bloodshadow Valley, with a group of ninth-rank experts around her providing pressure, Linda had only needed to put in a little effort to reach the peak of the ninth rank. However, Linda was already old for a Moonshadow Flame Cat. A few years ago, Jason had learned that Linda had once had a mate and children, but had lost contact with them all.
"Meow." Linda was very unhappy that Jason had used her to change the subject.
"Where are we going first this time?" Veronica asked.
Through his conversations with Saint-level experts over the years, Jason had learned that there were many things on the Yulan Continent worth seeing.
The Rhine Empire's Violet-Eyed Bladewing Fiends and Bloodshadow Valley might be highly confidential to those below the Saint-level, but they were nothing to Saint-level experts. Thanks to the two great wars nine thousand and four thousand years ago, all sorts of strange things had been left behind on the Yulan Continent.
For example, the Luo'ao Empire, where the two were now, had been founded by a group of demon warlocks who worshipped a demon lord.
Of course, the Luo'ao Empire's imperial family had now completely cleaned up its act and taken to legitimate pursuits. The demon warlocks were also very restrained. They knew they had to be cautious when making deals with the demon lord, and had not performed a large-scale blood sacrifice in thousands of years. They only sacrificed a few death-row prisoners in exchange for increases in strength.
For this reason, the Luo'ao Empire had strict laws and harsh sentences, but public safety was unexpectedly good. Because both had connections to the Abyss, the rulers of the Luo'ao Empire had a good relationship with the Rhine Empire's imperial family. The two empires were allies, jointly resisting pressure from the Yulan Empire and the O'Brien Empire.
Besides the Luo'ao Empire, an "orc tribe" also remained on the Far East Prairie. It was said that during the great war ten thousand years ago, the continent dominated by the orcs had sunk, and the experts of the orc race had brought some of their people over as immigrants.
The "Golden Royal Court" they had established had long stood against the "White Deer Mountain" founded by Tulilei, the "Martial Saint" at the Saint-level Limit.
(Tulilei did establish a force on the prairie, but I couldn't find its name.)
The Yulan Empire's High Priest herself was an elf, and the Temple of Life she had established also had a small group of elves, as well as a Tree of Life. Rumor had it that she had received the title of "High Priest" from the elves back then.
In the Blazing Sun Desert, there was also a faith dedicated to the "God of Yellow Sand." The Rhine Clan's upper echelons had once come into contact with him. He was a god from another plane who had established a faith in the Blazing Sun Desert. He had few followers and no particular ambitions. According to the God of Yellow Sand himself, he had merely come across a means of communicating across planes by chance and decided to try it out, to see if he could communicate with experts from another plane.
(The Radiant Church has Angelic Descent, blessings from the Radiant Sovereign, and oracles, so clearly there must be a way to circumvent Spatial Turbulence.)
There were also the three major gathering places of magical beasts: the Dark Forest, the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, and the Sunset Mountain Range.
The Dark Forest had Beirut and two lines of divine beast descendants, the Shadowmice and Stone-Eater Rats. The Mountain Range of Magical Beasts had three kinds of divine beast descendants: the Lion Suan, descendants of the Heaven-Swallowing Beast Dylan, as well as the Golden-eyed Lion Mastiffs and Green-eyed Tiger Mastiffs. The Sunset Mountain Range also had a line of divine beast descendants called the Icejade Scorpions, who ruled its central region. As for what magical beast their ancestor had been, there was no way to determine it anymore. Perhaps Beirut knew.
There were also the dragons scattered across the continent and the oceans, who formed a force of no small size.
Then there were the Skysea Serpents of the southern sea, descendants of the divine beast Ba-Serpent. They were magical beasts with both wind and water attributes, but they had always occupied the southern sea and showed no inclination to interfere with the Yulan Continent.
"Do you have any plans for our time in the Luo'ao Empire?" Veronica asked.
Linda, who was eating braised fish nearby, also pricked up her ears to listen.
"Just sightseeing," Jason said casually. "Those demon warlocks are insane. I don't want to deal with them. Besides that, it would be even better if I could find a way to cultivate life or Fate Magic. My soul defense is a weakness, and I've heard that both kinds of magic have ways to defend the soul."
"Perhaps we could visit the Temple of Life. I've heard the High Priest has a very good temper," Veronica suggested.
"I don't want to risk my life testing the High Priest's temper. Saint-level experts all know that the High Priest herself is an elf and hates the Rhine Clan, with its demon bloodline, from the bottom of her heart. Besides, even if the High Priest has a good temper, the people under her might not."
The route Jason had planned took them north from the Rhine Empire into the Luo'ao Empire, then through the Chaotic Territory and along the edge of the Dark Forest to the Eighteen Duchies of the Northern Territory. After that came the O'Brien Empire to the west, and farther south was the Yulan Empire.
The two deliberately avoided the Holy Union and the Dark Alliance. Jason knew Veronica did not want anything more to do with her past. As for the Far East Prairie, it had recently gone to war with the Rhine Empire again, so they could only avoid it for now.
"Have you considered taking in a magical beast?" Veronica suggested.
Jason's eyes lit up. "Good idea."
Jason had previously thought about keeping a Shadowmouse for fun, but this trip would take them through the Dark Forest. Wouldn't bullying Beirut's descendants right under his nose be dangerous?